[Individual-members-EL] EL Individual Members

[Andrew Stevens]

As regards No2EU, as a matter of accuracy, Respect is not involved.  It was
invited to do so by the organisers (the RMT trade union) but could not agree
on whether or not to do so by the time of the March launch as the necessary
decision-making body (national council) could not discuss the issue until
its scheduled April meeting.  It is my understanding that in the English
regions other than London it will either support No2EU, or in the case of
the North West, it will support the Green Party owing to the longstanding
agreement between the two parties*.  As I understand it, Respect intends to
stand in London only this June, not least as it feels it needs to keep going
in its strongest areas etc.

* the Greens stand their greatest chance of a third seat in the European
Parliament in this region and the far right also has similar hopes there, so
the left has paid more attention to splits etc. in this region and held a
number of discussions through the 'Convention of the Left'.  For their part,
the Greens agreed to make anti-fascism a main theme of their campaign and to
not stand against Respect in future local elections.

The main parties involved in No2EU are the Communist Party of Britain and
the Socialist Party (former Militant).  The RMT organisers refused to allow
the Socialist Workers' Party to participate, though they have still offered
it cautious support etc.

If anyone in Europe is interested in the No2EU group and its
platform/history etc. then these should illustrate things further:

http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/the-rmts-no2eu-initiative/
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=3973
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/rmt2-a07.shtml
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/766/splitover.html

2009/5/2 pablo sanchez centellas <superpablo3 at hotmail.com>

> Dear comrades,
>
> Well, the point is that the different parties that run for the
> coming European elections do not even take individual members into account.
>
> It is a pity that there is not a website or a blog but I think that the
> hard reality does not encourage people to work towards something that you do
> not even know if it is going to be acknowledged.
> The Cercle in Brussels has gone trhough a similar period, people do wonder
> what is the point of meeting if we are a talking shop.
> Apparently the italians are going together with the communist list but I
> wonder how much life does Sinistra Europea does have?
> I am very pessimistic about the future of the individual members, on the
> other hand there have been some changes such as the depart of the hungarian
> partner if the ELP had had a hungarian group of individual members they
> could establish a base to the left of the current government so there
> is some room for us to exist.
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> About the No2EU campaign in the UK, i think this is the same people that
> tried to create RESPECT, the Socialist Alliance, the old CPB and some trade
> unionists that have attempted to build a left alternative for the last 10
> years. I fear that this will be another fiasco. The ELP should debate the
> situation in the UK as far as the left is concerned.
>
> I would like to see the ELP taking more seriously both the individual
> members and people who are trying to build a left alternative in difficult
> conditions. I hope that after the elections they realise the need to develop
> a wider base of support.
>
> Yours
>
> Pablo
>
> ------------------------------
> From: stephen_spence at btinternet.com
> To: individual-members-el at listi.jpberlin.de
> Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:27:56 +0100
> Subject: [Individual-members-EL] EL Individual Members
>
>
>  Dear Comrades,
>
>
>
> I have not seen any discussion between individual members on this list for
> many months.
>
>
>
> In the UK individual members still do not have any status within EL despite
> asking Helmut Scholz on several occasions to ask the Executive Board to
> grant observer status to our network.  The network here has now taken down
> its website and its blog as the lack of status within EL has resulted in
> very little activity from the members we do have.  So far we have built the
> network up twice only to see it dwindle again.
>
>
>
> The majority of the UK Left remains anti-EU as demonstrated by an electoral
> platform ‘No to EU, Yes to Democracy’ being run in the European Elections by
> the RMT union, Communist Party of Britain and the Socialist Party of England
> and Wales, which I certainly do not support.  I am not part of the
> anti-Europe left.
>
>
>
> Those of us who support EU solidarity within the Left do not have a UK
> party and the EL appears to have little interest in us.  I think all of us
> are considering what future we have with the EL.
>
>
>
> In solidarity
>
>
>
> Stephen Spence
>
> ------------------------------
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