TUSC South Yorkshire Public Meeting report.

This week, SY SP branch joined the public meeting of the SY TUSC (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition; an anti-cuts and socialist electoral alliance involving the RMT transport union and Socialist Party and others). TUSC has recently recommenced electoral activity after suspending it in 2018 so as to not muddy the water under Corbyn’s Labour leadership.(1)

In view of developments in the Labour Party, TUSC is now holding meetings at National, Regional and Local levels to organise the campaigning for the May 2021 elections. (2)

The online meeting was attended by around 55 people, who heard Dave Nellist (TUSC Chair), Gaz Jackson (RMT Nat. Exec. Yorks & Lincs.), Chris Williamson (ex-Labour MP, now representing the Resistance movement, that has affiliated to TUSC) and the thoughts and contributions of SY Trade Unionists, Socialists and community activists.

Gaz Jackson (L)
with RMT Humber Shipping Branch

Gaz Jackson, a guard on Trans-Pennine trains, opened the discussion, with expressions of enthusiasm. He commented that ‘it is an honour to have an association with an organisation that wants to fight cuts’ and that having the ‘support or like-minded people is very, very important’. While praising Corbyn, Gaz continued that despite Corbyn’s best efforts, ‘he can’t do it on his own’.

Gaz also reported that his regional areas and branches therein receive regular news and updates about TUSC from Jared Wood (RMT Nat. Exec. representative on TUSC steering Committee). He also went on to say that the RMT are prepared and willing to support TUSC candidates, and he encouraged appeals for financial support from the union, indicating that it would be forthcoming if approved at the National Executive level.

Reporting on the specific problems facing RMT members, he warned of a ‘tsunami’ of situations where workers will be ‘scapegoated’, by being forced to pay for the mess made by Covid with their jobs, indicating that the RMT represents not only Rail workers, but Bus and Ferry workers, mentioning the recent announcements about the Ferry routes from Hull being scrapped.

He warned that we all need to be prepared, and that there was more trouble in the pipeline.

Next Dave Nellist gave his comments. Discussing the coming period in which the government would be seeking to ‘recoup the COVID spending’ and the cuts which would inevitably materialise, he said that this would be ‘the backbone of the May elections’. Labour councils have been cutting and it is Labour councils that will be filing for bankruptcy, citing Croydon and Northampton Councils (amongst others) as examples.

Dave Nellist TUSC Chair (C)

Dave drew attention to the fact that the Tories have and will carry out massive cuts, and these will only deepen because they were ‘picking up on the signals’ from the Trade Unions and the Labour that the government would receive no opposition.

He went on to point out that after the 2008 financial crash, it was recognised that there was a ‘crisis if Working Class political representation’, which lead eventually to the setting up of TUSC.

Calling on the unions, he put forward the idea that the unions should call a general conference to discuss Working Class political representation, and to include in those discussion Socialists from both within and outside the Labour Party, noting the mass resignations from Labour membership and where these ex-Labour supporters might go next.

Reporting to the meeting that TUSC had decided, that very day in a steering committee meeting earlier, to adopt policies from Corbyn's 2019 election manifesto that can be implemented by councils if they wanted to, he urged that no councillor, from any branch of the establishment, who is committed to cuts, should go unopposed in local elections.

Chris Williamson

After a few contributions from the audience, Chris Williamson of the Resistance movement (4) was able to join the meeting. Unsurprisingly, he had little more than scorn for the Labour Party, commenting that if the Labour Left had strongly fought the smears and back-stabbing against the leader and other left MPs (such as himself) then in Winter 2019 we could have had a Corbyn premiership and a left Labour government. He likened his own suspension from the Labour party (of which he had been a member for 44 years) as ‘a bereavement’.


He went on the suggest that with these actions and others, such as the undermining of the grassroots membership at the national conference, Labour had lost it’s chance to change itself into a party of it’s membership, that is, of the Working Class. He also commented that TUSC could act as a ‘lifeboat’ for all the disgruntled, and now politically-homeless, ex-Labour party members.

Chris then appealed for unity of the Left, saying it was essential if TUSC were to make electoral gains, and that we should attempt to focus on those things that we agree on and unite us. He also went on the say that TUSC should not be about elections only: “People let you down in politics”, so we’d need strong grassroots campaigning and a structure in TUSC that could recall wayward MPs and councillors.

In a similar vein to Dave, Chris suggested that Trade Unions urgently need to discuss ‘defunding and disaffiliating’ from Labour. Now, he said, after Corbyn and the mess in the Labour Party, we have an opportunity to build something big, to build hope and consciousness in the Working Class.

The meeting ending with announcements about the National TUSC Local Election Conference (7^th Feb 2021), and an invitation to anyone interested in being a candidate or being on the SY steering committee to get in touch with TUSC or affiliated groups.

(1) https://www.tusc.org.uk/17409/08-11-2018/tusc-suspends-electoral-activity-national-steering-committee-statement

(2) https://www.tusc.org.uk/17410/04-09-2020/back-at-work-tusc-to-stand-in-elections-again-against-pro-austerity-politicians

(3) https://www.rmt.org.uk/about/branch-directory/yorks-and-lincs-branch-directory/?preview=true

(4) https://www.resistmovement.org.uk/

2021 Update on Rotherham SP Branch.

In mid 2019, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster Socialist Party branches merged temporarily into the South Yorkshire Branch, on the grounds that each branch had not been at full strength for some time and it was felt by members of each branch that joint meetings, with more people in attendance, would be more useful and inspiring.

Since March 2020, we have moved to online zoom meetings, apart from a brief spell in the summer when physical meetings were still possible.

Over the past few months in particular, we have had some really good meetings, and have seen a lot of new faces. So far in 2020 at least 12 participants have joined the discussion each week, and non-SP members have been welcome and encouraged to contribute.

Meeting topics for the coming weeks have yet to be agreed, but there will be reports from the Women's meeting, the Youth meetings, and discussions around organising for the May elections.

Obviously campaigning is limited to online activity for the most part, but standing TUSC candidates in the local elections in May will probably be the main project we will be working on together, with more localised TUSC public meetings being planned to try and bring other groups and activist into the coalition.