Coalition

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

In Britain there are many small socialist parties(SWP), communist parties(CPB) and anarchist groups(class war). And George Galloway and respect tried to bring all these together in the RESPECT colalition (it needs a leftist name instead !). But the CPB and many others refused to join, why?
They are getting no where on their own...and after all in unity there i strenght. If theRESPECT could eventually disolve the other grops and decide on manifestos democratically, then the left would have a voice! Unlike now, where secterianism is tarring us apart. In my regional election there are 3 leftist parties, if there was a coalition the one party could get a stronger voice, and more influence as well as votes.....anyone agree?

[bolshevik butcher]

Respect is actually a classic sectarian organisation set up to try and take working class votes from Labour which it will never succeed in doing on a large scale. It is a cross class coalition of anyone against the war and contains a basically a mixture of just about anyone who was against the war. From oppertunist members of the far left like the SWP to islamists who are basically fascists. One third of their funding comes from a charming individual who calls for homosexuals to be thrown off the highest building.

Ultimatley as socialists we must call for independent working class parties. In my view we must work where the working class is, the Labour Party.

[Coggeh]

well as history tells us the main reason leftist parties don't join coalitions is because their ideologies will be watered down e.g anarchists join with Trotskyists and Stalinists . After a short while you will have them splitting no doubt . But most parties like the swp are a part of a wider international organization , plus you must also take into account that bourgeois elections prioritize only in getting publicity for the workers movement , if you get elected great but thats only a secondary way to getting power .

[luxemburg89]

George Galloway

do not trust this man. he is no friend of the left he is out for himself and his own career - he has no love of any movement. i mean he was friends with saddam and please don't tell me saddam was a friend of the left - he was a military dictator, he was as much our enemy as bush is. To be mentioned in the same breath as Galloway is, quite frankly, an insult to the left. We should cast off idiots like him. Of the coalition, something like that would be preferable (without RESPECT), but how long would (real) communists last before they start to argue with liberal socialists for example. I can't see a coaliation working, i can rather see a stronger, more dominant idealogy leading the way. Sectarian groups would be absolved into the broader working class movement - at least i think thats one way to get rid of all these splits. whether that is a fair or correct way to do things is another debate but that's how i see it happening.

[Cheung Mo]

Galloway is the only "Trotskyist" (in that the main party in his electoral coalition claims to be such an organisation) I know who identifies with Josef Stalin, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Saddam Hussein.

[bolshevik butcher]

Just as a point of information, Galloway is not a trotskyist. He calls trotskyist ultra left and talks of the need to build a centre left party. I wouldn't have any illusions in him either. He is an absoloutely spineless populist who has shown time and time again that for personal gain he is willing to work with anyone.

[luxemburg89]

He is an absoloutely spineless populist who has shown time and time again that for personal gain he is willing to work with anyone

well-fucking said comrade. 'spineless' is the absolute right word word for him, and he is certainly no trotskyist - trotsky would have HATED Saddam Hussain, almost as much as he would have hated Galloway.