Original article, an open letter, via socialistworker.org.uk:
Here’s the letter, and some thoughts after:
Gordon Brown’s government is in meltdown after the MPs’ expenses scandal and the disastrous Labour vote in last week’s elections.
Labour trailed in behind the Tories and UKIP, with just 15 percent of the overall vote.
This is a shocking result for a party in power, but one that is wholly understandable. Labour’s vote has haemorrhaged during its time in office.
The party has abandoned ordinary people and gone on the offensive against them.
It has handed over billions to the rich and the bankers, yet we are expected to put up with cuts in pensions, services, pay and jobs.
All of this has opened the door to the right.
The Tories, the fascist British National Party and UKIP didn’t do well in last week’s elections because millions of people suddenly decided to vote for them.
They made gains because Labour’s vote collapsed.
We have to come together to fight the Nazis, and to stop the government and the bosses making us pay for the crisis.
But we need something more too.
None of the mainstream parties reflect the views of millions of people in Britain. Most people want to see higher spending on health and education, an end to privatisation, a better deal for pensioners and an end to war.
But who speaks for them in parliament?
There is a desperate need for an alternative. The absence of a credible left group to vote for means that people remain without a choice when it comes to elections.
Many people wonder why the left can’t unite together to provide a stronger, more credible alternative to the pro-war and neoliberal policies of the major parties.
There is real potential for a united left group to make a real impact-not just by winning votes but also in helping to pull people together to build resistance on the ground.
We need to fight to make that potential a reality.
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