A contribution from PACE
The genie is well and truly out of the bottle. Over recent weeks, the idea of a New Left party has migrated out of corners of the organised Left to take Britain by storm.
The new party (which, *pinch yourself* does not even exist yet) is already neck-and-neck with Labour in the polls. on 24 July, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana made a powerful and official joint announcement confirming a process towards the party’s foundation, a call which we wholeheartedly support and will build for energetically. Already, almost half a million people have signed up in interest, a clear indication for the hunger that is out there for political representation that can oppose Tory, Labour and Reform.
However, the concrete steps which will be taken to really bring this idea into being remain unclear. The urgency of the situation, with Reform UK leading all polls and seeking to monopolise opposition to this disgraceful government, cannot be overstated.
What will the birth of this new party actually look like and when will it happen? Here are some ideas to contribute to the debate. None are put forward in an ultimatist manner but rather are suggestions from PACE, to stimulate debate and take our movement forward.
- Launch the party and sign up members!
It is now beyond doubt that a bold call, announced at a press conference and online by Jeremy and Zarah, for people to not just sign up but to join the new party would gain tens of thousands of members – maybe even hundreds of thousands – within days. People should be asked to join, based on support for a basic political programme of opposition to austerity, war, racism, oppression and support for workers’ rights, public ownership and other socialist policies.
Criteria for joining should also include the payment of a modest (for eg £5 monthly, with a cheaper option for those on low incomes) membership fee, which would create a powerful financial war chest to finance the next steps in the process proposed here. This should and could happen NOW.
- A massive rally to turbocharge the momentum
A few weeks following this launch, a massive in person rally should be held to further boost the party’s momentum and showcase its most important unique characteristic: an unrivalled active social base in working class communities. Transport should be organised to a single national location (maybe a football stadium, and not necessarily in London) to a rally addressed by speakers including the party’s MPs as well as workers and campaigners in struggle, from the Birmingham bin strike and BMA to the Palestine Solidarity movement.
This would surely be the biggest political rally for many decades in Britain, and make Nigel Farage’s puffed up hate gatherings look like peanuts in comparison. Its energy would reverberate around the world.
The rally would end with a clarion call – ‘go home and build the party in your community, workplace, school and union!’
- Local and union members’ conferences to organise the party
In September, this momentum could feed into local conferences, organised to lay the foundations of the party in every corner of England, Wales and Scotland (with full autonomous rights for national party organisations).
Local meetings would need to be advertised to all members of the party within a given area. These meetings would discuss the party’s aims, programme and mission, and elect delegates to the party’s founding national conference, which we think should be held in early Winter.
In anticipation of campaigning for trade unions to affiliate to the new party (which in many cases will mean breaking affiliation to Labour), caucuses of party members should be formed in every trade union. These caucuses should also meet in September/October to elect delegates to the launch conference, based on the number of party members in each union.
As and when unions are able to formalise a break with Labour and affiliate to the new party, they should be given democratic representation within it and a real role in developing relevant party policy.
Existing community groups and campaigns, supportive socialist groups and locally based anti-cuts parties should also have the opportunity to affiliate and send delegates to the founding conference. This includes several already existing community groups, many founded in anticipation of the new party in recent months, which would need to be recognised as bona fide affiliates.
- A national launch conference
This bottom-up process of events and meetings should lay the basis for the founding national conference. This conference could consider motions and proposals from local recognised groups, party organisations and union caucuses, as well as from interim party leaders/elected officials.
It should be empowered to adopt an initial party programme, fleshing out and adapting the basic programme party members have already signed up to. As well as committing the party to oppose all austerity, war, imperialism and all forms of oppression (including LBGTQ+ phobia, sexism and racism), this programme should also enshrine socialism as the party’s ultimate aim.
It should also adopt a party constitution, guaranteeing democratic rights and responsibilities for all members, affiliates and party organisations, including the right to recall leaders and democratically select elected representatives.
A party leadership would also need to be elected . This should include the direct election of a national executive body which would be charged with implementing the conference’s decisions and taking day-to-day decisions for the party’s functioning. This executive should have a broad composition (of 30-50 members, for example) and include on-the-ground campaigners, trade unionists and others, as well as elected representatives. This collective and accountable leadership should be the highest authority in the party, second only to the party conference itself.
The party’s parliamentary and public-facing leaders and spokespeople should also be determined democratically, as should certain other national officers (for example media spokespeople, communication and party administration officers). Any paid organisers and officials of the party should receive no more than the average wage of a skilled worker.
5. Political education
Although not a replacement for in-person democratic structures, technology should be used where appropriate to enable all members to be informed and involved in the democratic process. This should widen engagement within the new party, in which all members should get to have their say and express their opinion. This could include the possibility of routinely holding discussions and enhancing democratic involvement.
To ensure that all members engaging in the discussion and decision making processes are doing so in an informed manner, it is likely to be necessary to promote political education, including the circulation of suggested reading, viewing and audio material. It is imperative that this material accommodates and encompasses multiple viewpoints, is factually accurate (or is transparent about the degree to which factual accuracy can be determined) and is delivered in an easily digestible format and accessible manner.
The party should therefore plan from the start to include an educational section, which is resourced and funded directly to ensure independence and the continual delivery of quality content. At root, all political debates within the party should be based on informed democratic discussion among the membership.
There should be transparent processes to vet and agree appropriate subject matter experts, progress the production of material, review and publish the educational output and oversee the delivery of the educational material.
6. Protest, struggle, elections
The new party, armed with a massive membership, strong programme and democratically elected leadership would then be in a position to throw itself into struggle against this government of the billionaires and genocide-apologists. It would immediately shake up politics fundamentally, offering a real working class opposition to cut across the rise of Reform.
It should be the main political force on every picket line and every anti-war or anti-racist protest. Its leaders should support and amplify all struggles against injustice and use media, council and parliamentary platforms to promote the party’s programme, whose demands will both enthuse and educate millions.
As Zarah Sultana correctly stated in a recent online meeting, such a party will have its current 15-20% support levels not as a ceiling but rather as a floor. Even beyond Britain, workers will be inspired to launch parties on a similar basis, such would be the impact of a Corbyn/Sultana led mass party here.
With this strategy as its springboard, the party should then take the 2026 local elections in England, and the Scottish Holyrood and Welsh Senedd elections, by storm. It would return thousands of elected representatives whose voices will in turn magnify both the struggles of working class people, and the party’s socialist message. That’s when the even bigger battles would begin.
We stand on the cusp of dramatic struggles and events. The spent two party system is about to be wiped out and the socialist movement must play its part in redrawing the political map, by offering a real working class alternative to establishment parties and Reform’s dangerous and racist demagoguery. It is our duty and responsibility to fully engage in this process and to assist in making this new party a reality. As Zahra Sultana correctly said when announcing her resignation from Labour – the choice facing us in this epoch will be between socialism or barbarism. There can only be one choice – socialism!