George Galloway wins byelection

[blake 3:17]

George Galloway wins Bradford West byelection


Respect candidate takes seat from Labour with 10,140 majority, claiming 'the most sensational victory in British political history'
Patrick Wintour, political editor
The Guardian, Friday 30 March 2012


George Galloway, right, is greeted by a supporter as he arrives to hear the results of the Bradford West byelection. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA
George Galloway, the leading figure in Respect, has grabbed a remarkable victory in the Bradford West byelection, claiming that "By the grace of God, we have won the most sensational victory in British political history".

It appeared that the seat's Muslim immigrant community had decamped from Labour en masse to Galloway's fundamentalist call for an immediate British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and a fightback against the job crisis.

On a turnout of 50.78%, Labour's shellshocked candidate Imran Hussein was crushed by a 36.59% swing from Labour to Respect that saw Galloway take the seat with a majority of 10,140.

Labour had held the seat in 2010 with a majority of 5,763. It marks an extraordinary personal and political comeback for the controversial politician who lost in the UK general election in 2010, and in the Scottish parliament in 2011, appearing to confirm that the remainder of his career would lie in broadcasting and celebrity programmes.

It is also a bitter blow to Ed Miliband, who failed to capitalise on the suddenly plummeting support for the coalition, and did not see the threat posed by Galloway until too late.

The result raises wider questions over whether the result is a simple one-off reflecting Galloway's personal charisma, or instead a sign of a wider detachment among immigrant communities from mainstream party politics.

Hailing his triumph before the official result was announced, Galloway said: "By the grace of God, we have won the most sensational victory in British political history … Labour has been hit by a tidal wave in a seat they have held for many decades and dominated for 100 years. I have won a big victory in every part of the constituency, including in areas many people said I should not even compete."

Labour were privately conceding defeat long before the official result which came at 2.30am on Friday morning.

Galloway claimed the path to his victory went back to "the path of treason by Tony Blair in 1994" that has taken Labour "so far away from its traditional supporters that people feel neglected and betrayed".


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/30/george-galloway-bradford-west-byelection

[ed miliband]

awful politics but it's hilarious seeing the labour-types squirming because they took such a beating

actually it's quite funny having a stalinist back in parliament

[bricolage]

yeah the one good thing about george galloway is that he pisses people off.
'the bradford spring' lol.

[Rafiq]

Galloway isn't a Stalinist. He's a reactionary.

[gorillafuck]

Galloway's fundamentalist call for an immediate British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan haha what?

[Rooster]

I totally disagree with Galloway's politics. He's a poor Marxist. He's one of those people who believes that the USSR was socialist and since that it failed, the best option now is the one that's left i.e. capitalism.

[l'Enfermé]

I love the guy, he's such an idiot.

[Q]

I totally disagree with Galloway's politics. He's a poor Marxist. He's one of those people who believes that the USSR was socialist and since that it failed, the best option now is the one that's left i.e. capitalism.

He's also a committed defender of the theocratic regime in Iran, in the name of "anti-imperialism".

[human strike]

Nothing to celebrate here. Literally nothing at all. Although, having said that, it will make parliament a little more farcical... :laugh:

[bricolage]

true, nothing to celebrate but nothing to mourn either.
the 'this is a victory against austerity' and 'this is a massive blow to the left' crowds are just as bad as each other.

[ed miliband]

Galloway isn't a Stalinist. He's a reactionary.

i don't think the two are necessarily mutually exclusive.

insofar as there is arguably no solid definition of 'stalinist' i think the term can be quite suitably applied to galloway tbh. whatever.

amazing:



When Galloway eventually emerged from the sports centre, his supporters carried him aloft like a football captain who had taken his team to an FA Cup triumph. "RE-SPECT! RE-SPECT!" chanted his patient fans, adding, "George for prime minister" He was then driven into town in a Hummer – the armoured car favoured by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was governor of California – where hundreds of supporters had been waiting for him since polls closed at 10pm. Car horns honked to celebrate his arrival at the campaign HQ in Grattan Road, and Galloway climbed on top of a grey car and was handed a megaphone to preach to the assembled faithful. "All praise to Allah," he yelled, to jubilant cries of "Allah, Allah".

[bricolage]

this is quite funny.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q47q0Pwgsn0/T3QZfonHdPI/AAAAAAAAH_M/iA8ub8WX2HY/s1600/Galloway%2BMuslim%2Bletter.jpg

[Sam_b]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.

[ed miliband]

this is quite funny.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q47q0Pwgsn0/T3QZfonHdPI/AAAAAAAAH_M/iA8ub8WX2HY/s1600/Galloway%2BMuslim%2Bletter.jpg


i was going to post that last night when i first saw it on u75, but when i searched for it i could only find one source, a christian conservative blog, so i kinda doubted the authenticity.

i want it to be real but i'm not so sure. even tho i can totally imagine him doing something like that.

[bricolage]

i was going to post that last night when i first saw it on u75, but when i searched for it i could only find one source, a christian conservative blog, so i kinda doubted the authenticity.

i want it to be real but i'm not so sure. even tho i can totally imagine him doing something like that.
yeah I dunno, I'm doubting it too. I saw it on libcom but you're right it probably needs some verification.

[bricolage]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.
he's a celebrity populist who can work communal politics very well. aside from the irrelevance of by-elections to actual class struggle it's hardly a strategy that can be generalised in many other places, as shown when he tried to win poplar or when respect tried to stand someone other than him in bethnal green.

for sure it's an impressive victory and I don't agree with those on the left who say it would have been better for labour to win, but this is hardly 'huge'.

[Franz Fanonipants]

it might not be huge but from over here it sure is pretty entertaining

[The Guy]

Absolutely loving the news. I, somehow, managed to stay up this morning until some ungodly hour to hear it.

Sure, he's a bit of an arse in the public eye, a supporter of the infamous Iranian regime and a failed lefty, but I certainly did believe the age-old slogan "Vote for change" when his face was printed next to it! Any swing to the left is desperately needed within Britain - especially the North. The New Statesman have really put a nice spin on the whole situation: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/03/labour-election-galloway

Perhaps BBC Parliament will be worth watching nowadays. Popcorn, anyone?

[Dr Doom]

haha what?

yeah that was a bit strange coming from the guardian.

anyway i sorta have a soft spot for galloway, hes entertaining if nothing else.


"And as a religious man, I have to believe that there is some divine intervention in this – the retribution of the main parties for the treason against the country and against their supporters that they have visited is something sacred. Justice has been done!"

[bricolage]

it might not be huge but from over here it sure is pretty entertaining
oh definitely very entertaining.
I'm especially loving the labour left getting so worked up about it.

[Brosip Tito]

I totally disagree with Galloway's politics. He's a poor Marxist. He's one of those people who believes that the USSR was socialist and since that it failed, the best option now is the one that's left i.e. capitalism.
He's not a Marxist. He's just a utopian socialist.

[Manic Impressive]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.
As long as he's not claiming to be a socialist I have no problem. He probably is claiming to be a socialist, also now it seems a muslim and probably next the reincarnation of Mohammed. I wouldn't put it past him if he thought it would win him votes, but taking the piss out of Gallloway aside. I agree that for those of us in parties who contest elections it is definitely a positive sign that some people are starting to look away from mainstream politics which do not represent them at all. But in no way can this be seen as a victory for socialism.

On Galloway's politics I always assumed he was more Trotsky flavoured than Stalinist. Given that Respect was an SWP front.

[Sam_b]

Given that Respect was an SWP front.

No it wasn't.

[Manic Impressive]

No it wasn't.
Really? :blink: If not that's a hell of a popular misconception.

[Brosip Tito]

Really? :blink: If not that's a hell of a popular misconception.
In my pre-Marxist days, I used to idolize Galloway. I'v enever heard anything about him/RESPECT being connected to the SWP.

I can't say I've ever heard him even mention Tony Cliff.

[Sam_b]

The SWP were a part of RESPECT, but it was neither initiated by them; nor did they have overall control of what went on within the organisation. Indeed, several left groups were part of the initiative.

[Manic Impressive]

The SWP were a part of RESPECT, but it was neither initiated by them; nor did they have overall control of what went on within the organisation. Indeed, several left groups were part of the initiative.
ah ok so it's just nasty ultra left propaganda against the poor old SWP. :)

How do you personally feel about so called "socialist" parties joining a coalition in order to campaign for reform?

[Die Neue Zeit]

He's also a committed defender of the theocratic regime in Iran, in the name of "anti-imperialism".

To what extent, comrade, is he such a defender? [Recall our debate on nuclear weapons as a specific issue, for example.]

[Sam_b]

ah ok so it's just nasty ultra left propaganda against the poor old SWP

I don't know what you're incinuating here because I am not a member of the SWP. I could care less what you think about them.


How do you personally feel about so called "socialist" parties joining a coalition in order to campaign for reform?

I think at times it can be an acceptable tactic, in others not so. There is of course a difference between electoral coalitions and the idea of a united front however. Without any actual detail in the question it is too general here. If you're looking for me to justify Respect, I won't and as someone who isn't and has never been in Respect you're better looking for someone else to have a go at.

[Firebrand]

I don't think anyone thinks his election will change anything in and of itself. It more significant as a barometer of public opinion. The fact that a candidate calling themselves socialist got a majority is proof that even as political parties move to the right the electorate is moving left. And its a warning shot over the bow to labour. Maybe it will make them rethink their move right.

What i'm getting from this is that people are pissed off at the fact that all the main parties are saying the same thing about everything that matters and their debates are reduced to arguments over pastys and jerry cans and that people want to move further left not further right. It has to be considered promising

[ed miliband]

As long as he's not claiming to be a socialist I have no problem. He probably is claiming to be a socialist, also now it seems a muslim and probably next the reincarnation of Mohammed. I wouldn't put it past him if he thought it would win him votes, but taking the piss out of Gallloway aside. I agree that for those of us in parties who contest elections it is definitely a positive sign that some people are starting to look away from mainstream politics which do not represent them at all. But in no way can this be seen as a victory for socialism.

On Galloway's politics I always assumed he was more Trotsky flavoured than Stalinist. Given that Respect was an SWP front.

i don't think there was anything ideological about his work with the swp, especially when you consider he has a history of trot-bashing (ie blaming the poll tax riots on the swp).

he's also mates with people like the cpgb-ml, for example. here's a video of him at one of their 'hands off china' meetings:

LuWNlFkrihQ

EcLzvV08ohY

aEgkdD97HbE

they really say all there is to say about his politics.

[bricolage]

I don't think anyone thinks his election will change anything in and of itself. It more significant as a barometer of public opinion. The fact that a candidate calling themselves socialist got a majority is proof that even as political parties move to the right the electorate is moving left.
people are saying this but I don't think it's really the case. the same stuff was said when galloway won the seat at bethnal green but when respect passed it on to someone else it swung back to labour and when galloway tried to stand in poplar he failed. it wasn't so much that public opinion has changed but that gorgeous george is a skilled populist when he function in an area conducive to his brand of politics. his is a big name and can garner the kind of support that got him this win in bradford, but it's hardly a generalisable strategy (respect doesn't have any other celebrities) and not really representative of much more beyond itself.

and I'm not sure he called himself a socialist while campaigning for this but I might well be wrong.


And its a warning shot over the bow to labour. Maybe it will make them rethink their move right.
I suppose in one way it's interesting as it could be seen to show that labour has not been able to co-opt and control all the anger felt towards austerity measures. on the other hand as, I believe, so much of it rests of galloways personal popularity and celebrity it's not a very good case study. I seriously doubt it will change anything the labour party is doing.

[ed miliband]

all kicking off in bradford:

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2012-03-29/bradford-west-by-election/

[The Guy]

all kicking off in bradford:

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2012-03-29/bradford-west-by-election/

Kicking-off is intellectual egg-throwing? How times change.

Many thanks for the link though. I expected it to be a bald very northern male screaming about a 'Muslamic' conspiracy.

[Jolly Red Giant]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.


I don't think anyone thinks his election will change anything in and of itself. It more significant as a barometer of public opinion. The fact that a candidate calling themselves socialist got a majority is proof that even as political parties move to the right the electorate is moving left. And its a warning shot over the bow to labour. Maybe it will make them rethink their move right.

What i'm getting from this is that people are pissed off at the fact that all the main parties are saying the same thing about everything that matters and their debates are reduced to arguments over pastys and jerry cans and that people want to move further left not further right. It has to be considered promising
Not surprisingly most of the posts on this thread are of the sectarian variety - and completely miss the potential significance of this result.

Whether you agree with Galloway or his approach - or not - this is a significant victory for him in Bradford. He literally came out of nowhere to win the seat. Galloway is regarded as an anti-establishment figure (people can argue about his socialist credentials) and his victory - and particularly the scale of the victory - is the probably the biggest every parliamentary victory for an anti-establishment figure ever.

The result poses the following question - is Galloway's victory an indication of a shift in public opinion away from the three establishment parties in England or is it an indication of communalist voting (26% of bradfords population si of Asian origin or decent)? Looking at it from the outside I would regard it most definitely as the former - but I would like to read opinion from people who were actually on the ground during the campaign.

If this vote is in fact an anti-establishment vote then it opens the potential for the most significant shift in political opinion in the electoral field for the past hundred years both at national and at local level.

[Agathor]

An awful MP and an even worse cat.

If Galloway had high aspirations for Respect he would focus on building a base of poor, working men and women, rather than exploiting the waning resentment over the Iraq war to give Labour a headache in the half dozen constituencies where the Muslim vote is a factor. This is vanity.

[The Idler]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.
If you think this vindicates CoR or CF/ISG playing up anti-war and anti-austerity positions while its popular and playing down socialism then it might be a short step to think that Rees-Bambery-German or even Solomon have the electoral potential of Galloway then you might be in for a shock. Rees has stood a couple of times in elections I understand and that was before he wrote Algebra for Revolution. In a funny way, George is probably more of an opponent of Labour than some "revolutionaries".

[Sam_b]

You're pretty much a full-time CPGB hack, aren't you? This post smacks of the very very distant fringes of politics, where we refuse to work with people who are anti-war, anti-imperialist or anti-cuts and try to build a movement because these people aren't 'socialist' enough. Why do you assume that I care about electoral politics?

It seems as usual you can't admit that someone like GG breaking both sides of the austerity coin - Labour and the Coalition - isn't somehow positive or shows how far the movement has come in working class areas such as Bradford.

I also wish you'd stop following me around, because it's really creepy.

[NoPasaran1936]

I'm not an ultra-leftist, so I won't deride Galloway for not being a 100% revoultionary socialist, who is spot-on on every issue. But let's look at the wider picture here. Over 50% of the vote, in an election Labour was supposed to walk away with easily. A 10,000 majority for an anti-war and anti-cuts candidate. This is huge.

Precisely this. I don't like him as an individual due to his dodgy friends, however, as Sam has rightfully pointed out. He's spot on every issue. He's not revolutionary, but he's definitely gonna make Parliament interesting, and we'll see what comes from his next 3 years in Parliament. I do enjoy his rants and stuff, so perhaps his attacks on Tories will be good.

When the BBC interviewed him today, and asked him about the troops in Afghanistan and whether he condemns the insurgents fighting back, my fairly conservative step-dad completely agreed with him.


Also, Baroness Warsi's "look at the huge swing from labour" Whilst ignoring in many council elections, the swing was above 23% from Tory to Labour was pretty funny.

EDIT: I also want to add; this shows that people want an alternative, if there was a united leftist group (difficult, I know) presenting differing views than that of the 3 bourgeois parties, then people are going to vote for it. This could be a turning point for us if we act on it.

[Manic Impressive]

I don't know what you're incinuating here because I am not a member of the SWP. I could care less what you think about them.
it was just a joke :)




I think at times it can be an acceptable tactic, in others not so. There is of course a difference between electoral coalitions and the idea of a united front however. Without any actual detail in the question it is too general here. If you're looking for me to justify Respect, I won't and as someone who isn't and has never been in Respect you're better looking for someone else to have a go at.
I wasn't trying to set you up. I was genuinely looking for your opinion on whether you view campaigning for reforms was a valid tactic. I had a conversation with a Trot recently and was absolutely shocked by their blatant support for reformism and I was wondering if that was a widely held view among Trots or if it was confined to that party. But thanks you've answered my question fighting for reforms is sometimes ok.

[The Idler]

EDIT: I also want to add; this shows that people want an alternative, if there was a united leftist group (difficult, I know) presenting differing views than that of the 3 bourgeois parties, then people are going to vote for it. This could be a turning point for us if we act on it.
Ok but before we repeat very recent history again, what has been learned from the experience in Respect, TUSC, Socialist Alliance etc. ?

[Martin Blank]

The clown is back in the circus. Hooray. :rolleyes:

[Threetune]

Left centrist opportunist like so many before him in and around the working class in Britain.
Good that he is a harbinger of things to come, but he and his left centrist politics are a million miles from Leninist revolutionary understanding. Workers will work all this out very soon.

[Threetune]

Ok but before we repeat very recent history again, what has been learned from the experience in Respect, TUSC, Socialist Alliance etc. ?

You tell us.

[Firebrand]

Ok but before we repeat very recent history again, what has been learned from the experience in Respect, TUSC, Socialist Alliance etc. ?

That we have to play nicely or we won't be allowed to play with the placards anymore.

[NoPasaran1936]

Ok but before we repeat very recent history again, what has been learned from the experience in Respect, TUSC, Socialist Alliance etc. ?

Timing? You think entering general elections just before austerity measures are bought is a smart move? They've never been timed properly, you should be striking when there's a high possibility class consciousness has been raised. 2010, I don't think there was much, since the Tories got the most seats. Now, they're losing massive support. But most of this support isn't going to Labour, as we've seen.

[Rainsborough]

He is, to coin a phrase, a usefull idiot (although some would say leave out the 'usefull'). If he's started something usefull, then we need to use it.

[~Spectre]

I confess, I have a soft spot for Galloway ever since he came to the U.S. Senate hearings and delivered this performance:

lLT47_H2gb4

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

Galloway victory shows potential for challenges to the main parties

In a press release today, Trade Unionist and Socialist London list candidate Nick Wrack said:

George Galloway's overwhelming win in Bradford West shows that Labour can no longer take its working-class voters for granted.
Labour has paid a huge price for its support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its endorsement of the government's austerity policies.
He added:

Millions are facing cuts, unemployment, pay freezes and the privatisation of public services they depend on, while millionaire bankers and bosses continue to pick up massive salaries and bonuses.
Why should ordinary people pay for a crisis they didn't cause? There is a deep discontent with the three-party consensus and this result shows that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition has a real chance to win seats in the London elections on 3 May. Labour should be prepared for another upset.
In Liverpool, TUSC mayoral contender Tony Mulhearn commented:

I applaud George Galloway's victory, which symbolises a total rejection of the policies of the Con-Dem government, and a recognition that New Labour no longer represents the interests of working people.
Tony added:

This underlines the need for a mass movement to provide a real anti-cuts alternative in the interests of the 99%, which I and my colleagues in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition intend to provide at the mayoral and council polls on the 3rd of May.
For more information see: http:// (http://)www.tusc.org.uk/ (http://www.tusc.org.uk/)

[bricolage]

Not surprisingly most of the posts on this thread are of the sectarian variety - and completely miss the potential significance of this result.
It's very lazy to dismiss the criticisms here as 'sectarian', and really doesn't help any kind of argument you are trying to make.


Whether you agree with Galloway or his approach - or not - this is a significant victory for him in Bradford. He literally came out of nowhere to win the seat.
Yes, a victory for him. He is a skilled politician, I don't think anyone is denying that.


The result poses the following question - is Galloway's victory an indication of a shift in public opinion away from the three establishment parties in England or is it an indication of communalist voting (26% of bradfords population si of Asian origin or decent)? Looking at it from the outside I would regard it most definitely as the former - but I would like to read opinion from people who were actually on the ground during the campaign.
However there doesn't seem to be much that you are basing this on. I'm still waiting for the questions I asked on this thread earlier. Namely, in what way is this any different from his victory in Bethnal Green and what is there to suggest that it will be any different from the eventual shift back to Labour that happened there. Secondly, in what way is this generalisable given that the aforementioned Bethanl Green victory showed it was clearly built on Galloways celebrity (yes, as a nominally 'anti-establishment' figure, but still celebrity) when respect failed to get any candidate other than him elected in the same place. The communalism is another very good point to discuss and I think it's quite obvious Galloway builds on this, are you suggesting other 'anti-establishment' figures adopt his approach, will the Socialist Party be celebrating future election victories with cries of 'All praise to Allah'? That being said I'd much rather get some answers to the first two questions.

EDIT: In the interests of fairness I might add that from what little I know Galloway might have cost respect in Bethanl Green by simply not being, as MP's go, a very good one. It seemed that he wasn't in the constituency much for the usual lip service antics, despite his fiery speeches in Parliament. If you are going to play bourgeois politics you have to play by bourgeois rules, turns out he didn't quite read them.

[moulinrouge]

I thought george galloway is a muslim.

[bricolage]

I thought george galloway is a muslim.
Nah, he's a Catholic.

[Threetune]

It's very lazy to dismiss the criticisms here as 'sectarian', and really doesn't help any kind of argument you are trying to make.


Yes, a victory for him. He is a skilled politician, I don't think anyone is denying that.


However there doesn't seem to be much that you are basing this on. I'm still waiting for the questions I asked on this thread earlier. Namely, in what way is this any different from his victory in Bethnal Green and what is there to suggest that it will be any different from the eventual shift back to Labour that happened there. Secondly, in what way is this generalisable given that the aforementioned Bethanl Green victory showed it was clearly built on Galloways celebrity (yes, as a nominally 'anti-establishment' figure, but still celebrity) when respect failed to get any candidate other than him elected in the same place. The communalism is another very good point to discuss and I think it's quite obvious Galloway builds on this, are you suggesting other 'anti-establishment' figures adopt his approach, will the Socialist Party be celebrating future election victories with cries of 'All praise to Allah'? That being said I'd much rather get some answers to the first two questions.

EDIT: In the interests of fairness I might add that from what little I know Galloway might have cost respect in Bethanl Green by simply not being, as MP's go, a very good one. It seemed that he wasn't in the constituency much for the usual lip service antics, despite his fiery speeches in Parliament. If you are going to play bourgeois politics you have to play by bourgeois rules, turns out he didn't quite read them.

“… in what way is this any different from his victory in Bethnal Green…”
It was seven years ago, that’s the difference.
Before the crash, before coalition government, before MPs sleaze scandals, before exposure of wholesale police press and parliamentary corruption, before over 400 dead Brit soldiers in Afghanistan (six recently from Bradford/Yorkshire area) before austerity pay cuts, before privatisation of National Health Service, before slashed social services, etc, etc. Need I go on?
You my friend can’t see past your petty sectarianism.

[bricolage]

“… in what way is this any different from his victory in Bethnal Green…”
It was seven years ago, that’s the difference.
Before the crash, before coalition government, before MPs sleaze scandals, before exposure of wholesale police press and parliamentary corruption, before over 400 dead Brit soldiers in Afghanistan (six recently from Bradford/Yorkshire area) before austerity pay cuts, before privatisation of National Health Service, before slashed social services, etc, etc. Need I go on?
You my friend can’t see past your petty sectarianism.
so people aren't capable of forming political opinions outside times of economic collapse? look seven years ago everyone was saying it was representative of massive changes in public opinion, albeit it was more to do with anti-war stuff but still meant to be a change. it didn't happen. now I'm not saying there hasn't been changes in said opinion, students fighting cops, public sector workers striking for the first time, kids burning down shops, electricians wildcatting across london, these are meaningful measures of changing class revolt. maybe this by-election has something to do with it but I'm yet to see any evidence that it's not also just a part of electoral cycles.

and by the way there were job cuts, service cuts, dead soldiers, there was nhs privatisation, corruption, etc, in 2005 too.

[MotherCossack]

yeah.... but,.... you know what....
this clown you like to rip the piss out of....
yeah .... this buffoon in a tartan sari....
at least he has a voice.....
you bloody pompous lot..... with your.... it is never gonna happen , perfect, theoretical dogma, picture postcard, fantastical communism....
i'll be long dead before you ever even cause a field of carrots to turn red.
fuck me what is wrong with an alliance of the left, at least he is not a tory.
dont get me wrong...all i am after is the quickest route to a BONA FIDE socialist/communist state or world if possible.
to get that we on the left are gonna have to work together.... support each other..... be a little bit more grown up about it.... not just rip the shit out of each other cos we happen to prefer a different flavour of crisps.
how many of you lot actually actively want a revolution?
cos sometimes it dont half come across as a hobby, just another more interesting kind of social networking.
i dont agree with a hell of a lot of galloways views.... but at least he had the bollocks to say 'fuck you ' to that war criminal tony blair.
i quite like him.... as politicans go.... and he has more charisma in his toenail than the whole of the present parliament.

[Threetune]

so people aren't capable of forming political opinions outside times of economic collapse? look seven years ago everyone was saying it was representative of massive changes in public opinion, albeit it was more to do with anti-war stuff but still meant to be a change. it didn't happen. now I'm not saying there hasn't been changes in said opinion, students fighting cops, public sector workers striking for the first time, kids burning down shops, electricians wildcatting across london, these are meaningful measures of changing class revolt. maybe this by-election has something to do with it but I'm yet to see any evidence that it's not also just a part of electoral cycles.

and by the way there were job cuts, service cuts, dead soldiers, there was nhs privatisation, corruption, etc, in 2005 too.

Oh, so your saying there’s been change since 2005 but not much, it that what you’re saying now?

[bricolage]

Oh, so your saying there’s been change since 2005 but not much, it that what you’re saying now?
a change in what, living standards or public opinion?

[Threetune]

a change in what, living standards or public opinion?

Are you really so dull? The ever deepening world crisis of capitalism of course! Has it got deeper, more extensive, more all encompassing (changed) and more violent and repressive since 2005 or not? Has the working class been watching all this happening, or do you think we are all asleep because we stopped voting or following union officials and ‘left’ pessimists?
There is seething revolution engulfing the whole world. Do you think there is some Chinese wall between British workers and the rest of the world? You seem to think that only riots and big demos are of any significance as if they were not traditional actions in Britain and you dismiss other traditional actions like voting or not as circumstances require. You have much to learn.
Oh BTW, what is “public opinion”?

[bricolage]

Are you really so dull? The ever deepening world crisis of capitalism of course! Has it got deeper, more extensive, more all encompassing (changed) and more violent and repressive since 2005 or not?
yes the global financial crisis has got worse, yes capital has been re-entrenching itself. I've never disagreed with that. I don't agree with you that workers have to be hit by things like this just to change views of society. I don't agree that because the crisis has done everything you say that the electoral shift in bradford is therefore qualitatively of a completely different level to that which happened in bethnal green.

Has the working class been watching all this happening, or do you think we are all asleep because we stopped voting or following union officials and ‘left’ pessimists?
I already gave several examples of how the working class has been fighting back in the UK alone.


Do you think there is some Chinese wall between British workers and the rest of the world? You seem to think that only riots and big demos are of any significance as if they were not traditional actions in Britain and you dismiss other traditional actions like voting or not as circumstances require.
are you actually saying that voting in a by-election is the same as wildcat strikes and urban rioting? and I didn't even mention mass demos.


Oh BTW, what is “public opinion”?[/COLOR]
a meaningless phrase I agree, there is no such thing as public opinion. I mentioned it because I was under the impression that is what you were talking about.

[Jolly Red Giant]

yes the global financial crisis has got worse, yes capital has been re-entrenching itself. I've never disagreed with that. I don't agree with you that workers have to be hit by things like this just to change views of society.
The consciousness of the mass of the working class is determined by their material well-being


I don't agree that because the crisis has done everything you say that the electoral shift in bradford is therefore qualitatively of a completely different level to that which happened in bethnal green.
The circumstances are fundementally different - the world economy collapsed in 2007/8


I already gave several examples of how the working class has been fighting back in the UK alone.

are you actually saying that voting in a by-election is the same as wildcat strikes and urban rioting? and I didn't even mention mass demos.
Elections can be a barometer of the mood of the working class - it can be a leading indicator of a changing mood among the class or it can lag behind the mood of the class.

The result in Bradford might - and I stress might - be an indication of a shifting mood in political terms (rather than industrial) among working class people - it might be an indication that anti-cuts campaigns are begining to have an impact among wider layers of the working class. I am still waiting to read a report from people on the ground in Bradford - not as to what kind of a campaign Galloway ran - but as to what was the mood among those who voted for him.

As an alternative example of political moods - in Ireland half the population have boycotted a household tax imposed by the government - the scale of the opposition is significantly greater than during the poll tax in Britain 20 years ago - yet in an opinion poll this week both government parties went up in the polls and those parties who opposed the tax actually went down fractionally - now what was more important - the stunning victory in round one of the campaign or the rise in the polls for the government parties?

I think that the Bradford victory by Galloway might be the initial indications of a move away in political terms from the three establishment parties in England - the mayoral and local election results in May will be another indicator and if the Bradford result is replicated even to a small degree then it is positive in terms of building a mass opposition to austerity and capitalism.

[bricolage]

The consciousness of the mass of the working class is determined by their material well-being
not always the case. it is true that the communist movement and working class revolt can only be a product of self-interest but this does not necessarily correlate to declining 'material well-being', if this were the case then the poorest countries in the world would be continually engulfed in class struggle - they are not. additionally in a country such as the UK the most militant sectors of the class have often been the better off workers, for example tube drivers on 40,000 are now much more likely to strike for their interests than precarious cleaners on 15,000. may '68 for example happened in a time of relative prosperity. now this isn't always the case, and in many cases class revolt increasingly dramatically when living standards decrease. neither of them is a rule though and if you are to say what the 'consciousness of the mass of the working class' is determined by it's only really possible to go as far as saying it is determined by material conditions (ie. exploitation) than material well-being (ie. the degree of exploitation). I agree that there is definitely more class anger existing now than in 2005 and yes this is largely due to the economic collapse and subsequent austerity (but in no way divorced from processes that were going on in 2005 and in the case of western intervention in the middle east could be said to be existing at a lower level than seven years ago) however it's still unclear to what extent this will propel the events in Bradford further than they went in Bethnal Green.


Elections can be a barometer of the mood of the working class - it can be a leading indicator of a changing mood among the class or it can lag behind the mood of the class.
Can be, but most often are not. As a side not, this might have more value to it if elections weren't also participated in by all other classes.


The result in Bradford might - and I stress might - be an indication of a shifting mood in political terms (rather than industrial) among working class people - it might be an indication that anti-cuts campaigns are begining to have an impact among wider layers of the working class.Yeah I agree it might be, but equally it might not. It's a mistake to immediately jump to conclusions.


I think that the Bradford victory by Galloway might be the initial indications of a move away in political terms from the three establishment parties in England - the mayoral and local election results in May will be another indicator and if the Bradford result is replicated even to a small degree then it is positive in terms of building a mass opposition to austerity and capitalism.
Uh uh I agree, we'll have to see then.

[bricolage]

But I'm going to stop posting here as much because it looks I'm just repeating myself now and so is everyone else. We'll know a lot more if we either see a) widespread insurrection throughout Bradford or b) similar election results in other places. Till then I guess we just keep on doing what we're doing.

[Subvert]

I think it's very dangerous to celebrate Galloway just because he's anti-austerity. He's an awful human being. Stalinist, misogynist, careerist, pro-life, sceptical of evolution in favour of creationism, directly supports Islamic fundamentalism (he donated £25,000 to Hamas and supported Ahmadinejad's presidential campaign in Iran). The Left are having a field day because he's anti-austerity, but he's not a socialist, however much he claims to be. Electing an anti-austerity MP is not going to combat austerity anyway. That has to be done through grassroots self-organisation of the working class. Galloway is just as bad as any other politician.

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

Editorial of the Socialist, issue 712
George Galloway's stunning Bradford victory shows the potential for anti-cuts election challenges

It was a week when New Labour was passively benefitting from multiple crises of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition - in particular Osborne's budget for the rich, the 'cash for Cameron' scandal, and the queues at petrol stations.


But then came the earthquake of George Galloway's astonishing byelection victory in Bradford West.


After a three week campaign Galloway received more votes than all the other parties on the ballot paper put together! With 18,341 votes, he beat the Labour Party candidate by more than 10,000.


Labour reeled in great shock as its share of the vote fell 20% on its 2010 figure, losing a seat it had comfortably won with a 5,000 majority just two years ago.


The Labour leaders - some of whom had visited Bradford during the election campaign - were so out of touch that they considered Labour victory secure even as the polling booths were closing. Yet Labour was in fact losing a constituency that it had held for 38 years.


The Tory vote also fell dramatically, by 10,000 votes, a 23% drop in share and the Lib-Dems did so badly that they lost their deposit.


This result was a major haemorrhaging of support for the main parties - a sharp rejection of their policies of austerity and support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Only four out of every ten votes were cast for them. This mood is not confined to Bradford; a recent YouGov national poll revealed sinking ratings for the leaders of all three main parties, to a negative degree described as "quite exceptional" by psephologist Mike Smithson in that he could not find any other period in modern history when all three leaders had such poor ratings simultaneously.


Galloway summed up his victory as being a result of "massive dissatisfaction with the political system... and the main political parties...


"If a backside could have three cheeks then they are the three cheeks of the same backside. They support the same things, the same wars, the same neoliberal policies to make the poor poorer for the crimes of the rich people".


He also pointed to the problems in Bradford: "A rotten combination of complacency, incompetence, opportunism and rule by clique has presided over Bradford's decline.


"It was going down even during the 13 years of New Labour government... now it is in danger of sinking under the sado-monetarist austerity of the Con-Dem coalition" (Guardian 31.3.12).


Bradford has a run-down city centre and a closed main library. It has the 12th worst unemployment rate in the UK - youth unemployment has tripled in three years - and its schools are near the bottom of the national league tables.


Voting for Galloway was seen as a way of protesting against these deprivations and of agreeing with his main campaign demands: against the "smashing up" of the NHS, the lack of NHS dentists, against tuition fees and the scrapping of EMA, and for his strong anti-war message.


It was a reaction to the false promises of the main political parties and their lack of solutions for the acute problems workers and young people face.


George Galloway was viewed by many as somebody who, in comparison, 'tells the truth' and 'fights for justice'.


The way in which he vociferously stood up to US senators in 2005 over the Iraq war had left an impression.


The Labour candidate, Imran Hussain, was an Asian Muslim in a constituency in which around 38% of voters were from a similar background, but he was in a different camp to most of them.


He was the deputy leader of a council that has made massive cuts, including up to 1,000 job losses, and he supports Britain's military presence in Afghanistan.


So indefensible were his policies that he refused to publicly debate with the other candidates during the election campaign.


For Galloway though, over one thousand people crammed into a hall to hear him outline the need for change in Bradford.


His Facebook page had over 82,000 followers and he urged people to use social media and to simply send text messages to everyone in their address lists urging them to use their vote for him on polling day.


Divisive politics?
The Socialist Party has in the past sometimes criticised Galloway and his Respect party for creating a too narrowly based appeal aimed specifically at Muslims - especially in Respect's former stronghold of London's Tower Hamlets where it once had 12 councillors plus Galloway as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow after he overturned a 10,000 majority held by Labour's Oona King.


In Bradford West, he did though place some emphasis on the need to represent "all" against austerity attacks and he made a forthright appeal for the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, appealing to white working class families as well as Asian.



He lambasted the "village politics" of a Labour campaign that leant heavily on the Asian community networks, and the history of carving up of positions by the existing Muslim political leaders.


He also argued with effect against supporting the Labour candidate simply because he was local: "What's it going to do for you, if you vote for a local man whose father came from the same village as your father 50 years ago...


"If I was a local politician I'd be embarrassed when I look around at the problems in this city to say vote for me I'm a local politician, because these local politicians are the problem not the solution".


These comments fell on fertile ground in the Asian working class community, especially among the young.


Over half of British people of Asian origin are living in poverty and suffer from inordinate levels of unemployment.


This byelection result shows that they are now strongly questioning traditional support in their communities for Labour and are open to casting at least a protest vote against Labour's cuts-making policies.


However, one of the shortcomings of Galloway's campaigning is that he gives a confusing message about the Labour Party.


Despite condemning Labour's austerity agenda and support for imperialist wars, he says that he is only outside of the Labour Party because the party expelled him. "I am real Labour, not New Labour" declared his leaflet.


So rather than giving a clear message, as the Socialist Party does, that a new mass workers' party urgently needs to be built to give workers a political voice, he has adopted an ambiguous position.


Also, unfortunately Respect has failed as yet to build a solid and growing active membership base on a lasting basis.


It has suffered political difficulties as a result of not predominately taking a class-based approach and developing roots in the trade union movement.


It lost most of its elected positions in Tower Hamlets in part because it had a number of councillors who were not taking this standpoint, and it suffered a split in 2007 (separating from the SWP and others).


Prospects for the left
Notwithstanding the criticisms that can be made by socialists of Respect and Galloway, the Bradford West victory is extremely significant and indicates the electoral potential that is opening up for anti-cuts candidates standing against the main parties.


It is easier to win protest votes in a parliamentary byelection than in a general election, but huge disaffection with the three main parties now exists on a sustained basis and is widespread, as was shown when none of them achieved a majority in the last general election.


It was also shown in Scotland last year when the SNP won a majority in the Scottish parliament.


The Lib Dems have in the past been a recipient of protest votes against the Tories or Labour, but this is a different prospect now that the Lib Dems are in a brutal cuts-making government.


The Bradford West byelection also indicates, as the Socialist Party has been saying, that Labour councillors will not be viewed as being innocent after passing on government cuts.


This shows the growing potential for anti-cuts candidates at council level, with the May council elections fast approaching.


Respect has decided to challenge for council seats across Bradford in May, with great possibilities if it stands on the basis of firmly opposing all cuts in deeds as well as words.


There will be many other anti-cuts candidates across the country, including over 100 standing for council seats as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), at present being ignored by the mainstream media.


Much of the media is claiming that Bradford West is a one-off, arguing that there are 'no other George Galloways' - that he is the only figurehead to the left of the main parties.


This is deliberate distortion. Tony Mulhearn was a key leader of the fight of Liverpool City Council against the cuts of the Thatcher government in the 1980s and is now a TUSC challenger against the Labour leader of Liverpool council for the newly created position of mayor.


In Coventry, Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist, a former socialist MP, is standing for relelection to the council in St Michael's ward.


In London, Alex Gordon, the president of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union is head of the TUSC list for winning seats in the London Assembly.


The strongest possible campaigns are needed in the next few weeks to make sure that voters in areas with TUSC and other anti-cuts candidates know that they have the chance to strike another major blow against austerity politics, and also in favour of a socialist alternative.

[A Marxist Historian]

The SWP were a part of RESPECT, but it was neither initiated by them; nor did they have overall control of what went on within the organisation. Indeed, several left groups were part of the initiative.

When Respect fell organizationally into the lap of the SWP, with it before the collapse having nearly as much control over it as the CPUSA had over the Henry Wallace campaign in 1948, didn't Galloway walk? Taking most of the British mullahs supporting it with them?

Respect was controlled by the SWP organizationally for a while, but that meant little, because Respect never had the politics of the SWP in any way, shape or form.

Respect from the very beginning was an *explicitly* non-socialist organization, in which Islamic bourgeois angry over Afghanistan etc. could feel comfortable. And the SWP is, in theory at least, a socialist organization. So the fact that the SWP ran it for a while could only be temporary, and would inevitably blow up in the SWP's face. Which is what happened.

The name of an organization usually has a lot to do with its program. Basically, Respect is an organization which thinks Muslims should get some respect. End of story really.

People voted for it in Bradford as a protest, as Galloway is the only candidate who is really angry vs. the Tories. Labour's opposition to the Tories is pretty pathetic and worthless, and British workers by and large know it, these days only voting for Labour the same way Americans vote for the Democrats, as the lesser evil. Plus what's left of class loyalty, as Labour is still, unfortunately, the party of the British working class.

Not too different from Americans voting for Ralph Nader or Ron Paul. Not something that a working class movement will come out of.

It is nice to see it annoy the powers that be, but that's just a passive pleasure, not anything of any actual worth to the working class.

-N.H.-

[zoot_allures]

He's an awful human being. Stalinist, misogynist, careerist, pro-life, sceptical of evolution in favour of creationism, directly supports Islamic fundamentalism (he donated £25,000 to Hamas and supported Ahmadinejad's presidential campaign in Iran).
"skeptical of evolution in favour of creationism" has absolutely fuck-all to do with whether someone in an "awful human being" in my view, but:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff9j3997J_o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llQnHrafWsE

Maybe he's changed his mind though.

[Devrim]

The result in Bradford might - and I stress might - be an indication of a shifting mood in political terms (rather than industrial) among working class people - it might be an indication that anti-cuts campaigns are begining to have an impact among wider layers of the working class. I am still waiting to read a report from people on the ground in Bradford - not as to what kind of a campaign Galloway ran - but as to what was the mood among those who voted for him.

Just looking at the results, the Conservative, and Labour Parties lost similar amounts of votes (9.892 and 10,200 respectively). The collapse of the vote of the Tories and their liberal allies is actually bigger than the majority that Galloway won by.

Looking from afar at Galloway's campaign, I think that it would be equally possibly to suggest that what actually won him the election was a shift of conservative Muslim voters.

Devrim

[Jolly Red Giant]

Looking from afar at Galloway's campaign, I think that it would be equally possibly to suggest that what actually won him the election was a shift of conservative Muslim voters.

Devrim
There are no indications that this was the case - in fact the opposite appears to be valid - there are not that many 'conservative' Muslim voters in Bradford West.

[Devrim]

There are no indications that this was the case - in fact the opposite appears to be valid - there are not that many 'conservative' Muslim voters in Bradford West.

Just by looking at the statistics, it seems that the Tory vote collapsed by approximately the same number as the Labour vote did, and that the Tories and LibDems combined lost more votes than the majority Galloway won by.

Unless you have any evidence to the contrary, it seems to me quite reasonable to presume that Galloway picked up at least a large proportion of those voters.

Devrim

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Egotistical old-school Leftie wins one seat in the House of Commons...meh

[bricolage]

Respect from the very beginning was an *explicitly* non-socialist organization...
The name of an organization usually has a lot to do with its program.
to be fair the s does stand for socialism ;)

[blake 3:17]

There's a lot of fondness for Galloway here due to his challenging both Canadian and US governments. The hard right Conservatives here effed with him, keeping him out of country on the grounds he was aiding Hamas, and he and most of the Left here backed him up.

He does seem an egomaniac, but better nerve and a loud voice, than being passive and theoretically correct.

[ed miliband]

omg lol:

http://www.socialistunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/phil-football-bradford-spring-front.jpg

http://www.socialistunity.com/bradford-spring-fundraising-t-shirt-now-out/