John Wight dissects the UK election at Socialist Unity. Basically, the Left got clobbered, with the happy exception of Caroline Lucas being the first Green ever elected to Parliament.
Despite concerted efforts by sections of the far left to create viable left of Labour formations, failure has met each attempt thus far. Respect’s failure to break through in this election is a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
As far as electoral politics goes, the locus of any intervention by the left has to be at local level from this point on. It is here, where campaigns can directly impact on people’s lives, that the left can be most effective. It’s no surprise that Salma’s impressive result in coming second to Labour in her constituency was built on the foundation of her reputation and work as a local councillor. And with the axe about to fall in the shape of draconian cuts in public spending, local campaigns against the closure and withdrawal of services will be crucial in the coming period.
Ultimately, it is only out of such local campaigns against cuts, and perhaps even a national campaign in conjunction with the unions, that a reinvigorated and cohesive left will have any realistic chance of emerging.
IMO, the left, both in the US and UK, needs to seriously address the economy, jobs, the banksters. This is what people are focused on. They basically don’t much care about the interminable number of issues that the left tries to drag into everything. They aren’t focused on Cuba, anti-war, or LGBT issues now. The left needs to go where the bulk of the populace is, not where they think they should be.