This is the best manifesto I’ve seen so far. Want to play guess the party…?
Palestine: Solidarity with the Palestinian people — stop funding and arming Israel’s genocide, prosecute the war criminals and recognise the Palestinian State.
Austerity: End austerity and properly fund local and national public services by taxing the rich and big business.
The NHS: End the creeping privatisation of our NHS and properly fund it with massive investment across Britain.
Public ownership: Take the railways, Royal Mail, water and energy sectors into public ownership and democratic control — without compensation for the privateers.
Jobs and industry: Create quality and high-paying jobs and apprenticeships across Britain by rebuilding productive industry.
Women’s rights: Give women full protection of the law against domestic violence and misogyny. Pension justice for WASPI women. Protect women’s sex-based rights. Equal pay for every type of work. Rights to socialised childcare and full employment rights for women from day one at work.
Migration and anti-racism: Bring workers together at work and in communities. No scapegoating of refugees or migrant workers. For an anti-racist immigration and nationality law. Oppose right-wing racism and fascism. Combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Housing: Begin a mass campaign of council house building and introduce immediate controls on rent.
Democracy: Abolish the House of Lords. Reverse Tory and Labour attacks on our democratic rights, civil liberties and trade union rights.
Progressive federalism: Devolve new powers to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and create regional assemblies for England to intervene for working people, jobs and public services.
Peace: An independent foreign policy for peace. Withdraw from Nato. Demand peace in Ukraine. End the new cold war against China and get rid of nuclear weapons.
The environment: A new green industrial revolution to fight climate change.
I know, there’s no likelihood at all of the CPB winning the General Election. In this all-or-nothing system that we have in this country, I’m not even saying I’d want them to – but in a year when both the in-with-a-chance parties are more of a liability than a source of hope, we’re all looking for alternatives, and for constituencies that might return an independent or small-party candidate to Westminster, because — let’s face it — it’s the only way we’re going to get an effective opposition.
And it’s not just their manifesto that makes me want to talk about CPB. They have a tremendous women’s section, and they are one of the few lefty organisations that have held the line for women’s rights in recent years, never succumbing to the craven pretence that sex didn’t exist or didn’t matter, the way so many progressives did when faced with the corporate gender-ideology / trans rights onslaught. Honestly, how much intelligence does it take to work out that if you reject gender-ideology, you can preserve your genuine support for sex-based rights and protect and respect trans people? (Actually, I’m not sure if this is about intelligence or just having the guts to speak up against a “cool” fashionable policy but whatever it was, CPB managed it.)
CPB are very good on political education, and cite that as one of the reasons they endeavour to file candidates even where there’s little chance of their winning – it gives them an opportunity to go out campaigning and remind people why we need, for example, council houses and a healthy, not-for-profit NHS. That’s valuable work, and all too rare. It was at a CPB women’s event, at the Karl Marx Memorial Library in Farringdon, that I had the good fortune to meet India’s exceptional women’s activist, Marian Dhawale.
So even if you’re not up for voting communist, I heartily recommend getting yourself along to some of their events.
CPB candidates
In the council elections two years ago, when I looked at the campaigns of the people standing in my ward, I did a comparison and the clear winner on both policy and honesty was the CPB’s Nick Davies…
Now, Labour is not what it was, but Nick is standing in Hastings and Rye for the General Election. After the May elections this year, when there were no independent or lefty options in my ward, I’m very relieved to have Nick as an option to vote for in July and there are quite a few others – here’s the initial list of CPB candidates, according to the CPB website — do check if you have a candidate where you are…
“Candidates so far include former housing and local government worker Lorraine Douglas, who will be challenging ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss in South West Norfolk, and trade union organiser Darren Turner, also an activist in the Toothless in Suffolk campaign. He will be flying the red flag in Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket.
“The current list of candidates is below however a number of branches will be confirming their candidates in the week to come:
• Drew Gilchrist – Airdrie and Shotts
• Richard Shilcock – Edinburgh North and Leith
• Rochelle Russell – Taunton Deane
• Andy Chaffer – Birmingham Perry Barr
• Jordan Roden – Stoke South
• Ann Green – Leicester South
• Dan Ross – Bury South
• Nicholas Davies – Hastings and Rye
• Lorraine Douglas – South West Norfolk
• Darren Turner – Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
• Ron Brown – Newcastle East and Wallsend
• Freddie Sofar – Ipswich
• Oliver Snelling – Lewisham North”
And their slogan for the election…
“Tories out – unite for workers’ rights, public ownership and peace!”
… and that’s fine by me — how about you?
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Cheers,
Kay
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Kay Green 