As soon as Rishi Sunak called the election, Socialist Alternative and our members sprang into action. We discussed carefully what our main slogans should be and produced thousands of new colourful posters and leaflets. Some demanded money for public services, not war, others for nationalisation, others against transphobia and the cost of living crisis. But all boldly asserted “we need a new left party”.
In every town where we are active, our members have been out talking to people as often as possible about this main conclusion. Our branches organised extra campaign activities like selling the Socialist Alternative paper at train stations during busy commuter times, and meeting early before their weekly branch meetings to do campaign stalls. And we received lots of support!
Sometimes that has been from campaigning directly related to the general election and the establishment parties’ campaigns — for example against the racism of Reform UK, or against the Tories’ proposal for compulsory national service. But no matter what issue we are campaigning on, the call for a new left party strikes a chord with many.
Whether getting organised against gender oppression and transphobia, fighting for a pay rise, or demanding an end to the British capitalist class backing the Israeli state’s onslaught on the Palestinians, it’s clear that a real political alternative is needed. On Pride events that have taken place so far in York, Huddersfield and London, of those who stopped to sign our petitions against the genocidal war in Gaza or to discuss what kind of Pride movement we need to build, almost none — unsurprisingly — told us they were voting Labour.
Some of those people — on Pride and all our campaigning — were in areas where they could vote for a left or anti-war independent candidate. Many were following Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign with enthusiasm. We got involved in these campaigns where we could — joining three of the Corbyn canvasses and some of the rallies in Islington North, for example. Our members were keen to help the efforts to get Corbyn re-elected, and also took the opportunity to speak to other canvassers about the need for Corbyn to lead the charge in the formation of a new party after the election.
Overall we sold 905 copies of Socialist Alternative and raised £2,928 during the campaign. Hundreds of people have listened to the special episode of our Revolutionary Ideas podcast on the election, and thousands watched our short video response to the results on social media. Many new people have met us for the first time and are now discussing with our members about joining Socialist Alternative.
Polling day was not the end, but just the beginning. Socialist Alternative will be taking part in all the movements which need to prepare to fight a Starmer government, starting now! This was summed up by someone who contacted us via our website saying:
“Labour may have had a default victory today, but Starmer will be no better than the Tories, what with his stance on Palestine, immigration, LGBTQ+, working class — I could go on! Maybe I will be able to voice myself through this movement for causes that matter to me!”
