The following letter about the anti-war
movement was
carried by the Guardian on 16 February 2008:
John Harris hit the nail on
the head (The day politics stopped working, G2, February 15) when he said:
"In different times, some of the marchers might have been eventually
propelled towards the Labour party, but the serial contortions of the
Blair years surely ruled that out." It's not just the war that repels
people; on the question of public services, pay, union rights, pensions,
council housing and much more, the Blair-Brown years have seen a
fundamental change. Bluntly, it's no longer a party for workers.
The big anti-war demo on February 15 2003 offered a chance to redress
the balance in British politics - if the call had been put out to launch
an anti-war, anti-privatisation, pro-public services party from the
platform, then on that day alone tens, if not hundreds, of thousands would
have signed up. Unfortunately, this was a missed opportunity, but the
fight for such a party is still going on. It seems simple really: if the
bosses have now got three parties, isn't it about time we had one of our
own?
Greg Maughan
Campaign for a New Workers'
Party
