Campaign for a New Workers' Party

File:Cnwpblack.jpg

The Campaign For A New Workers' Party was an initiative of the Socialist Party of England and Wales that argued for the establishment of a new mass workers' party, involving trade union activists, socialists, anti-capitalists, anti-war and environmental activists. It was launched at the party's annual Socialism event in November 2005. There were more than 4,000 signatories to the campaign's founding declaration,{{Cite web |url=http://www.cnwp.org.uk/declaration.htm |title=Founding declaration |access-date=2006-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003005742/http://www.cnwp.org.uk/declaration.htm |archive-date=2006-10-03 |url-status=dead }} many of whom were trade unionists.{{cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/tm_objectid=17284657&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=labour-isn-t-working--says--union-leader-name_page.html|title='Labour isn't working'|last=Williamson|first=David|date=24 June 2006|work=Western Mail|accessdate=8 February 2010|location=Wales}}[http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/3771 Building the Campaign for a New Workers' Party] – retrieved 14/02/08 Some left parties claimed that the CNWP was a front for the Socialist Party.{{cite web|url=http://www.workerspower.com/index.php?id=47,1886,0,0,1,0|title=Why Workers Power has left the Campaign for a New Workers' Party|date=10 March 2009|work=Workers Power|accessdate=8 February 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/07/22/rank-and-file-participation-and-political-representation|title=Rank and file participation and political representation|last=Jordan|first=Stuart|date=22 July 2008|work=Workers' Liberty|publisher=AWL|accessdate=8 February 2010}}

Like the Socialist Alliance in the early 1990s, the CNWP joined local electoral fronts, such as Save Huddersfield NHS,{{cite news|url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/tm_objectid=16673002&method=full&siteid=50060&headline=campaigning-gp-aims-to-start-new-party-name_page.html|title=Campaigning GP aims to start new party|date=6 February 2006|work=Huddersfield Daily Examiner|accessdate=8 February 2010}} which had a CNWP supporter and SP member as a councillor. The CNWP supported the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the 2010 general election.

Founding

The campaign stemmed from the dissolution of the Socialist Alliance in 2004 when Respect - The Unity Coalition was founded. A conference in Liverpool in March 2004 called for a 'Campaign for a Mass Party of the Working Class'.{{cite news|url=http://www.workerspower.com/index.php?id=10,13,0,0,1,0|title=Campaign for a new workers party launched in Liverpool|date=April 2004|work=Workers Power|accessdate=8 February 2010}} The first formal conference was in London on 19 March 2006, chaired by Dave Nellist, a former Labour MP and current Socialist Party councillor in Coventry.{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-143345519.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103020811/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-143345519.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 November 2012|title=Nellist joins campaign for new party|date=17 March 2006|work=Coventry Evening Telegraph|accessdate=8 February 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4814162.stm|title=New party 'for workers' launched|date=17 March 2006|work=BBC News|accessdate=8 February 2010}} The conference debated nine resolutions about the future shape of the campaign, and elected officers and a steering committee. Policies included a "living minimum wage", full trade union rights and the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Delegates argued that due to what they saw as previous false starts in trying to establish a party to represent working people—such as Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party—any new party would have to be democratic, open and inclusive, taking a federal approach, to bring in as many supportive organisations and groups as possible, with no one group or individual dominating.

Delegates came from the refounded Socialist Alliance, the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, the Communist Party of Britain, the Socialist Unity Network, the United Socialist Party, and Walsall's Democratic Labour Party.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2006/mar/20/workersofthe|title=Workers of the world, (re)unite|last=Taylor|first=Ros|date=20 March 2006|work=News blog|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=9 February 2010}} Over 300 of the delegates at the conference were active trade unionists, including members of trade union national executive committees. The campaign allowed trade unions to affiliate to it and over half of the new steering committee were elected by trade union commissions.

2007 and 2008 conferences

The second national conference of the campaign took place on 12 May 2007 at the University of London.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cnwp.org.uk/conferencereport.htm |title=Conference report |access-date=2007-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070619062826/http://www.cnwp.org.uk/conferencereport.htm |archive-date=2007-06-19 |url-status=dead }} Speakers included Chris Baugh (Public and Commercial Services Union Assistant Secretary) and Dave Nellist (Socialist Party councillor) as well as a video address from Ricky Tomlinson. The conference discussed and debated the adoption of a charter and some of the issues likely to be central to the campaign.

The 2008 conference took place on Sunday 22 June 2008 and was addressed by RMT leader Bob Crow.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

In 2009, 'No to EU – Yes to Democracy' (NO2EU), the forerunner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was founded initially as a result of an electoral alliance between the RMT, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Britain, for the purpose of contesting the European elections, and in 2010 TUSC was formed. In the view of the CNWP it was a progenitor of a new workers party, and leading participants in the CNWP such as Dave Nellist, became leading participants in TUSC.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnwp.org.uk/news.92.htm|title=TUSC's first steps|work=Campaign for a New Workers Party|accessdate=3 May 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://www.socialismtoday.org/169/tusc.html|title=TUSC and the road to a new workers' party|date=June 2013|work=Socialism Today|accessdate=3 May 2014}}

References

External links

[http://www.cnwp.org.uk/ Campaign for a new workers' party] official website.
[http://www.indymedia.ie/article/73103 Campaign for a New Workers Party launched in England and Wales]. Declaration of the founding convention. Indymedia Ireland. Retrieved April 4, 2006.
[http://www.socialistunitynetwork.co.uk/voices/cnwp01.htm "Campaign for a New Workers Party conference report"]. Jim Jepps. Socialist Unity Network. Retrieved April 4, 2006.

Category:Political organisations based in the United Kingdom

Category:Organizations established in 2005

Category:Socialism in the United Kingdom

Category:Socialist Party (England and Wales)