Peter Hadden Archive | ETOL Main Page
From The Socialist, October 2008.
Copied with thanks from Irish SP site.
Marked up by Ciaran Crossey.
Editorial Note from ETOL: In Spring 2003 the SWP in Northern Ireland approached the Socialist Party and other parties, groups and individuals inviting them to participate in a socialist slate to contest the Assembly elections. Below we have published the correspondence between the Socialist Party and the SWP which deals with this discussion.
The SP documents were essentially drafted by Hadden, which is why they are included in this collection. |
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Dear Comrades,
We wish to urgently raise the prospect of a socialist slate in the Assembly election scheduled for May 29th.
The widespread expectation is that if the election goes ahead it will be no more than the usual sectarian head-count. There is a crying need to assert the relevance of class by presenting a socialist alternative.
The development of the anti-capitalist movement and the related emergence of the anti-war movement has re-drawn the political terrain in which socialists operate. There are opportunities open to the left which weren’t there a couple of years back. We think a real effort should be made to realise these opportunities.
We have to be realistic about what’s possible. But we also have to use what possibilities there are.
Time is very limited. But together we mobilised thousands in 48 hours for the Bush-Blair war.
A few points which we think are worth noting:
We don’t under-estimate the difficulties that would arise. After all, they have arisen in the past. But we believe the pros far outweigh the cons.
As for the programme an alliance of socialists would put forward: Agreement might centre on opposition to imperialist war-plans, opposition to sectarianism and oppression, a pledge to use seats won or influence gained to help a fight against privatisation and for decent wages, union rights etc., support for a woman’s right to choose, integrated comprehensive education.
We don’t offer this as a definitive list. Obviously, there’d have to be discussion of what to include. There might have to be accomodation on issues such as policing, the Belfast Agreement, etc. But we’d envisage the main thrust would be to campaign to realign politics here along the line of class and not of community.
We are circulating this proposal to the CP, the SP and individuals who might be interested. Again, we don’t have a definitive list. You may wish to show this to others who you think ought to see and might consider it.
We ask you to discuss this within your organisation and respond urgently. The most obvious aspect of the matter is the shortness of time. We look forward to hearing from you. This idea is a runner if we all want it to be. If it is, you might agree we should aim for a meeting to thrash out the practicalities this coming weekend.
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Fraternally, |
Dear Eamonn,
The Regional Executive Committee of the Socialist Party has discussed your recent letters on the idea of a socialist slate in a future Assembly election.
We have been discussing with a number of individuals and organisations the possibility of running candidates for some time and these discussions are ongoing.
We are hopeful that a slate of credible candidates could be put together on a broad “anti-cuts – anti-privatisation – defend public services” platform. This might involve community campaigns and would most likely not be an explicitly socialist slate.
While we would generally be in favour, where possible, of a united left or socialist slate in elections, we do not believe that the basis exists for a political bloc of this character at this stage in Northern Ireland.
The forces to make up such a slate do not exist at present. We have quite fundamental political differences with other groups on the left. This does not mean that we absolutely exclude standing in an alliance with others on an agreed minimum platform, provided our candidates had the right to go further and stand on the programme of the Socialist Party.
Such a bloc would only be justified if it could make a considerable impact in the election. We are not convinced that the forces for a credible political alliance of this character exist at present.
Nor can we ignore the fact that we have profound differences with other groups, including the SWP, on the national question and issues, like parades, that arise from it. These issues come up in all elections in Northern Ireland, but especially in an Assembly election fought around the central question of the future of the peace process.
The experience of our sister party in England and Wales in the Socialist Alliance is also a concern. Our comrades had no choice but to withdraw from this body when a decision was taken to impose a party structure on it. To stay within it under these conditions would have meant, for example, ceding political and organisational control of the election campaigns of our sitting councillors to a central executive in which we were a minority.
Should we decide to put up candidates in a future Assembly election we would run as Socialist Party. We would like to do so as part of a broader umbrella of “anti cuts, anti privatisation” candidates. If some of these candidates won seats it could be a significant step towards the creation of a new mass political organisation of the working class, and it might then be possible to consider concrete initiatives in this direction.
We are happy to discuss these issues, understanding that such a discussion would have to deal frankly with differences on ideas and methods and with problems we have encountered in various “united front” activities in the past. In this light we regard the idea of a “Left Assembly” or a “socialist slate” as premature at this stage.
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Peter Hadden, |
May 12th 2003
Dear Comrades,
I am following up the letter of last month in which, on behalf of the Northern Committee of the SWP, I raised the prospect of a socialist slate in the Assembly election then scheduled for May 29th. Of course, the election was postponed. However, the case for a socialist bloc in the next Assembly poll, whenever that is, registering as “Other” and putting defence of the public sector at the centre of its campaigning, remains as strong as ever. We would like to pursue the idea.
A number of points in favour of a united left intervention were made in the previous letter:
It was suggested that the development of the anti-capitalist movement and the related emergence of the anti-war movement had re-drawn the political terrain in which socialists operate, and that there were opportunities open to the left now which weren’t there a couple of years back.
It was suggested, too, that the programme of an alliance of socialists in the North might centre on opposition to imperialist war-plans, opposition to sectarianism and oppression, a pledge to use seats won or influence gained to help the fight against privatisation and for decent wages, union rights etc., support for a woman’s right to choose, integrated comprehensive education, etc.
This wasn’t offered as a definitive list. It was recognised that there’d have to be discussion of what to include, and that accomodation on various issues might be necessary.
As a means of making progress, we are now suggesting that a number of individuals who generally agree with the proposal should jointly issue a call for a conference of the Left in the North to launch an electoral initiative. This, we believe, would give the project a better chance of success than a call seen as coming from one organisation. We believe such a conference should be inclusive and democratic and should be open to political, trade union, community and campaigning groups.
We are circulating this letter as widely as possible to relevant groups and individuals. We have no objection to the letter being passed on to relevant people we have inadvertently omitted or don’t know of.
If people willing to sign a letter calling a Left assembly of the sort envisaged here contact me, I’ll undertake to arrange a meeting where we can come together to make the practical preparations.
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Fraternally, |
Herewith text of letter distributed a few weeks back. Hope it’s fairly self-explanatory. As mentioned in our conversation this morning, there’s no objection on my side to it being scattered among anybody you think might be interested.
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Eamonn |
Dear Comrades,
RE: Meeting to discuss Left Unity: Belfast Unemployed Centre, Saturday June 14th, 4.30 p.m.
In a letter in April on behalf of the Northern Committee of the SWP, I raised the prospect of a socialist slate in the Assembly election then scheduled for May 29th. Of course, the election was postponed. However, the case for a socialist bloc in the next Assemby poll, whenever that is, registering as “Other” and putting defence of the public sector at the centre of its campaigning, remains as strong as ever. We would like to pursue the idea.
A number of points in favour of a united left intervention were made in the previous letter:
It was suggested that the development of the anti-capitalist movement and the related emergence of the anti-war movement had re-drawn the political terrain in which socialists operate, and that there were opportunities open to the left now which weren’t there a couple of years back.
We are circulating this letter as widely as possible to relevant groups and individuals. We have no objection to the letter being passed on to relevant people we have inadvertently omitted or don’t know of.
Date and time of meeting again: Belfast Unemployed Centre, 4.30 p.m., next Saturday.
Meeting to discuss these ideas.
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Eamonn McCann |
June 14th 2003
The Socialist Party is issuing the following short statement to clarify our position on the call made by the SWP for a socialist slate in the Assembly election.
The SWP have organised a meeting on 14 June in Belfast to discuss this and have issued invitations to left parties, groups and individuals, including some members of our party.
Apparently some people have been assured that the Socialist Party have agreed to participate in the discussion about the formation of a socialist slate. We want to clear this up in case there has been any misunderstanding about our view.
We received the initial letter that was circulated by Eamon McCann on behalf of the Northern Committee of the SWP. We considered the proposals carefully and, on 20 May, sent a reply outlining our position. (copy attached)
This letter points out that we have already held discussions with a number of people about the idea of a “Defend public services” slate. It sets out some of the difficulties we have with the SWP proposal which we regard as, at best, premature. There is no ambiguity about our position.
We have not received a reply to this letter, nor have we had any discussion with the SWP about it’s contents. Nor did we give any indication that we would be participating in the 14 June discussion.
We have now decided to send an observer to this meeting solely in order to ensure that the reasons we are not in support of the SWP proposal at this stage are accurately represented.
We are in favour of the maximum unity of the left. For years we have campaigned for a new mass party of the working class to challenge the right wing and sectarian political forces. We will support all genuine moves to build such a party. If it were created we would participate within it.
We are also in favour of working with others on the left, where unity on specific issues would make a greater impact than acting independently. This will only work where there are democratic methods of decision making and where differences are not glossed over or suppressed, but all those involved can put forward their own ideas.
We believe our record on working in broader formations speaks for itself. For many years we have worked with others in the unions in broad left and other opposition groups. We have participated in many community campaigns. On the electoral front we have worked with others, despite considerable political differences; most recently in the Labour Coalition.
While working within broader organisations we have, until very recently, faced criticism from of other left groups, including the SWP for doing so. The SWP consistently opposed working in broad left formations in the unions, arguing that it was wrong to seek election to leading union positions and criticising us for doing so.. The SWP also attacked us for participating in elections, accusing us of “electoralism”. This was the charge made against us when Socialist Party member, Joe Higgins, was elected to the Dail representing the Dublin West constituency. We have stood in Westminster and local government elections here, as well as the Forum and Assembly elections. The SWP did not support us. In fact there were occasions when they advocated a vote for Sinn Fein against us.
This does not mean that we exclude working alongside the SWP, and others on the left. During the war we attempted to do this. No doubt other issues will arise that will require some degree of co-operation.
In deciding whether such co-operation would be beneficial we have to decide whether the difficulties that arise in linking with others with whom we disagree on quite fundamental questions are outweighed by benefits of united activity in advancing the class struggle.
With regard to the SWP proposal for a “socialist slate” we do not consider that this is the case. There are a number of reasons for this, including the following:
We would only enter the proposed alliance if we considered that it would have a significant impact on working class communities. This is not the case. Even if it were we would insist on a full discussion on the problems that we have encountered in every past attempt to work with the SWP, as well as a discussion on political differences before we would be prepared to participate.
We are in the process of discussing an electoral initiative as outlined above. If we decide to go ahead and stand we hope that we will be able to work our a “non aggression pact” with the SWP’s “socialist slate” to make sure that our candidates do not stand against each other in any constituency.
Peter Hadden Archive | ETOL Main Page
Last updated: 27 March 2015