It’s Your Party What does it mean for Starmer’s Labour? And can it achieve its goals?

I have surveyed the response across the left to Zarah Sultana’s announcement that she is leaving Labour to co-lead the creation of a new party with Jeremy Corbyn. Link in comments.

Good analysis of the ways different sections of the Left are responding to the announcement of a new party by Sultana by @anselleade.substack.com open.substack.com/pub/ansellea...

Stay in Labour and fight or join the Greens and #backZack? In an interview with @curtisdaly.bsky.social on @turnleftmedia.co.uk Green Party leadership candidate Zack Polanski commented on John McDonnell, who this week called for a Labour leadership challenge to Keir Starmer:

New on ‘Road Bloc’: Zack to the future Are we all Polanski-ites now? anselleade.substack.com/p/zack-to-th...

On ‘Road Bloc’: Learning from Lenin Why we need his Erfurtianism today

New on ‘Road Bloc’: Rebranding the revolution Can we use different labels yet keep the same programme?

I have a letter in this week’s @socialistworker.bsky.social It responds to an article on electoral strategy by @tomashtengely.bsky.social I agree with Tomáš & the SWP, a “broad-based, pluralist umbrella” is needed to intervene in elections. Next step: a delegate conference of left organisations.

Good bit on the Socialist Alliance: “At the start, the idea of a genuine left-wing unity pulled in hundreds of activists who had been distanced from the left. That initial energy was not sustained – but the start at least was encouraging.” We can do this again - and sustain it!

Good to see @climatevanguard.bsky.social taking part in this discussion on the party question.

Les P Litts reports from the We Demand Change summit and ponders what should be the next steps for the left in Britain? prometheusjournal.org/2025/04/04/c...

💷 Meet the Billionaire 💷 This is Michael Platt, the richest man in the UK. Wouldn't it be good free up that cash to do something useful? #greenparty #billionaires #politics #taxwealthnotwork

Nice to read short pieces from @tuscoalition.bsky.social candidates here:

Good point here about how the We Demand Change summit united trade unionists and campaigners who support different parties (or none) and that future summits must do the same. I think what’s needed is a separate delegate conference of left groups to form an electoral alliance…

This was a good intervention from the floor at the ‘party time’ session at the #WeDemandChange summit. It is a proposal that Collective may be best placed to undertake, having coordinated the independent leftwing challenges in the general election last year.

Sounds like Britain is going to be hit by Trump’s tariffs. There are measures beyond retaliatory tariffs which Britain can threaten: - End all US operations in Britain, close their bases. - End UK military support for US foreign policy. If these aren’t on the table, why not?

There’ll have to be open letters published over the coming weeks with signatories calling for Starmer to go: One from remaining Labour Left members to push the party’s elected officials to speak out. Another more important one, from elected reps in the Labour-affiliated unions.

We’re supposed to believe the rich will leave if taxed more, so let them grow the economy. Ok, but that’s not been happening? We’re supposed to accept public spending cuts, deregulation. Yet we’ve had years of that - and slow growth? Britain needs public investment, not cuts.

Labour could’ve ripped the bandage off last year: A big public investment programme to stimulate growth. They could still do this. But they won’t. They’re led by people who are paid saboteurs. Yet we can’t even assume ‘the markets’ will think ‘Labour does four years of austerity’ is credible!

There are local and mayoral elections in England this May. That’s an opportunity to ask the candidates where they stand on cuts to people with disabilities. They must be made to speak out - charities and unions can take action on this. No opposition to austerity, no votes!

There is a moral case for economic planning. A workers’ government could draw up a plan to defend living standards and revive the economy. Britain needs public ownership in strategic sectors - like banking, house-building, and utilities - with price controls on essential goods.

People are asking Labour MPs to quit. They won’t. Better to ask them to do this: Vote against cuts. Prepare a statement for May 1st with other Labour MPs. As soon as polls close for local elections on that day, issue the demand: “Starmer must change course or we’ll back a leadership challenge.”

Worth your time: “Leaving the means of production firmly in private hands was precisely what enabled capital to unpick Labourist reforms when a crisis of sufficient magnitude presented the opportunity.”

Dave Kellaway of @anticapitalistresistance.org discusses what kind of strategy the left can adopt now and if the Labour Party holds any opportunities. prometheusjournal.org/2025/03/12/t...

Michael Chessum, author of "This Is Only The Beginning", looks at the need for internal democracy within any future left organisation. prometheusjournal.org/2025/02/27/d...

New on ‘Road Bloc’: One Big Alliance? Towards a mass party anselleade.substack.com/p/one-big-al...

Great to see this ongoing discussion on the party question include the left in the Greens.

Good to read Mike Macnair’s criticism of my @prometheusjournal.bsky.social article in his latest piece for @weeklyworker.bsky.social

Owen Jones makes the case for electoral alliances on the left.

From the Third Way to the Third Runway.

Electoralism from below Is the SWP about to take another electoral turn? @socialistworker.bsky.social anselleade.substack.com/p/electorali...

Left-wing groups come together to offer public funding and training for local organising Transform, Assemble, The Ron Todd Foundation, For the Many, Majority and OCISA have come together to start the fight back from the bottom, up www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

Solid “party political broadcast” here - they have a story to tell which could see them polling consistently in double digits for the first time as we head to local elections in May.

Let’s get real. Can Reform go from a handful of MPs to a majority in just 5 years? Not unless the Tory party suffers a split and dies out. Reform’s best hope for 5 years time is ending up as junior partner in a government led by the Tories. But not all Reform-curious voters will like that idea!

Chris Nineham, a leading member of Counterfire, examines the prospects and politics needed for any new left organisation in Britain. prometheusjournal.org/2025/01/24/a...

Interesting development ahead of local elections in May…

Steve Freeman argues we need a republican labour party and a Commonwealth Party in England to overcome the divisions between communism and social democracy. prometheusjournal.org/2025/01/15/t...

In the next article of our "What is the Party?" series, Ansell Eade argues that the road towards a mass communist party is through an electoral alliance. prometheusjournal.org/2024/12/11/o...

Hi new followers! I'm interested in how we form a mass, democratic working class party in the UK Here are some good accounts to follow if you're interested in debates surrounding that: @prometheusjournal.bsky.social @weeklyworker.bsky.social @anselleade.substack.com @socialistparty.bsky.social

This offers some practical proposals which deserve to be resourced. But I do think the reason a new organisation would want to do these particular things is to pursue a left bloc electoral strategy.

Because Starmer is Britain’s Biden, whoever succeeds him as Labour leader and PM will have to do much more than Harris in terms of differentiation. But if the Labour Right retains leadership of the party after Starmer it will pitch the new leader to his right on economic policy.

Is it time for a new left party in Britain? rs21 members contributes to the debate: revsoc21.uk/2024/11/25/i...

The left needs an electoral alliance at the next election which is bound by more than economic demands – we must own the issue of electoral reform. Labour MPs declaring in favour of proportional representation are only a 10% of Labour’s MPs: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

🚨🚨🚨 CALL FOR ARTICLES Recent discussions of regroupment and reorganisation of the left in Britain have been welcome to see. prometheusjournal.org/2024/10/21/w...

Good write-up of Collective and the Party Time events by Andy Beckett in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I’m staying on X to see if The Onion will buy it in an auction.

Collective action New on ‘Road Bloc’: The Left in Britain needs annual conferences to assemble an electoral alliance Link: anselleade.substack.com/p/collective...

New on ‘Road Bloc’: What do the Greens Organise? The new group in the Green Party and what it means for a left bloc strategy. anselleade.substack.com/p/what-do-th...

On the Road Bloc blog now: ‘New reds on the bloc’ Communist Future at the ballot box anselleade.substack.com/p/new-reds-o...

Back to fronts How do we stand up to racism? New on ‘Road Bloc’: A united front, a popular front, an electoral front? anselleade.substack.com/p/back-to-fr...