The following letter in reply to Polly
Toynbee was carried in the Guardian on Monday 31 March in an edited form.
It is carried here in full:
Poly
Toynbee makes some very important points (One small electoral change
could rouse the sulking apathetic hordes, Guardian, 28/03/08). Voter
turnout is low because voters aren’t given any real choice. Labour,
the Tories and the Lib Dems are so close politically that it seems
like we have three wings of one party that artificially split for
elections!
Low
turnout is something that worries establishment politicians
basically because it undermines their legitimacy & its for that
reason we hear talk of electoral reform and an ‘alternative vote’
system.
But
Polly misses one key point - for workers to feel engaged with
politics we need a party that clearly represents and fights for our
interests. Without this any amount of electoral ‘quick fixes’ will
come to naught.
In the
coming council elections a number of left & anti-cuts candidates
will be standing. This include socialist Councillor Dave Nellist
defending his seat in St Michaels, Coventry, Fire Fighters standing
in Merseyside and Huddersfield Save Our NHS campaigning for a second
seat on Kirklees council, amongst many others.
In
these areas, odds are the election will be more hotly contested than
elsewhere as ordinary people are given a genuine choice – the
“them-and-us” that Polly writes about. If this alternative were
offered on a national scale – a new workers’ party – it would have
the immediate effect of “letting other voices be heard beyond the
diminishing returns of centre ground vacuity,” as Polly puts it.
Greg
Maughan
Campaign for a New Workers’ Party
