[Individual-members-EL] SWP Respect Councillor Defects To The Conservative Party!

[Steve Spence]

Dear All,

I keep adding other individual members that I know about to this list.  I suggest if you are not on the list you should approach the Brussels office to be added.  Sometimes I remember to include you sometimes I don't.

In London a Tower Hamlet Respect elected Councillor has defected to the Conservative Party (The Tories).  In the Respect split he was with the SWP section of Respect rather than George Galloway.  A defection to Labour, the Greens, even the Liberal Democrats might be understood, but the Tories!  The concerns European Left England members have had about some elements of Respect have never been so clearly demonstrated

In relation to the Greater London Authority elections later this year the SWP Respect have selected candidates, George Galloway is still trying to put together a 'progressive' list although I have heard nothing more about this initiative.  I read on the Communist Party of Britain website or in the Morning Star, I can't remember which, that a 'Unity for Peace and Socialism' list is being developed for 'communists and their allies'.  This all seems to be the usual madness, three micro lists for 'the left'  The film 'Life of Brian' scene involving the 'Peoples Front of Judea', 'The Judean Peoples Front', and the 'Popular Front of Judea' comes to mind.

It is very hard to know how European Left England should intervene positively in this situation.  Only Francis gave some feedback which was not against the 'progressive' list whilst wary.  However the development of the 'Unity' list seems to me to make the 'progressive' list  less likely to bring people together.  It seems we all prefer to stay in our little groups or our independent individual position.

I have heard nothing on my request that European Left England be accepted as an observor member of EL but a few more indivduals have been in contact since the website www.theleft.org.uk was put together.

We continue to be a small group after six years of patiently putting things together.  Effectively in England we are a small network of individual leftists attached to nothing outside the EL.

It seems to me we either need to develop our connection in England with other groups to build something else broader (I thought the 'progressive' list was maybe a way of doing this) or decide its a waste of time trying to develop a samll nation based network and take the pan-European position of building the individual member network as one body across Europe through this list and to simply exist as the 'European Left Party - Individual Member Network' with no England, Belgium, Germany borders.

Does anyone have a view?

Bestest

Stephen   
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