Five ways we can fire up Your Party

At the Your Party launch in south London in September

The first national conference of Your Party is set to open in Liverpool this weekend. Hundreds of its members there will begin the process of forming the organisation and its policies.

But the mood will likely not be as buoyant and confident as it should be. Weeks of leadership infighting and the recent departures of two Independent MPs will undoubtedly lead to confusion and tension.

Here are five ways that we can turn this situation around and make Your Party the fighting organisation it needs to be.

1. We need more democracy, not less

The process of founding the party has, unfortunately, been dominated by the decisions of a small, self-appointed group.

This way of doing politics reflects the worst of Labour Party culture, where MPs and officials see members as mere foot soldiers to knock on doors during elections.

Your Party needs to be different. It can engage its 50,000 paid-up members and 800,000 supporters in democratic debate across Britain.

And it can enlist them in an insurgent politics that, in the words of Zarah Sultana, puts the case for socialism over barbarism. Local branches must be centres of debate and campaigning.

The Socialist Workers Party supports the democratic demands put forward by Sultana on these questions.

2. Collective leadership with Corbyn and Sultana

Debate and discussion about politics and strategy are important.

However, much damage has already been done by reckless social media statements and briefings to the press. The sniping about money, data and membership lists has put off people we want to be involved in the party.

If we want to build a mass organisation that can win more members, our best hope is a united Your Party with Corbyn and Sultana in the leadership. 

3. No to a Labour Party mark 2

Trade union leaders set up the Labour Party as a way to represent working class people’s aspirations. But, from the first Labour government of 1924, Labour has always tried to rule in what it calls the “national interest”.

In practice, this means managing the state and protecting the system of profits that destroys workers’ lives.

The result is that, for the past 100 years, Labour has lined up with the interests of big business and imperialism—and against working class people. This betrayal is as deep today as it has ever been.

Keir Starmer’s government backs Israel’s genocide while attacking our living standards rather than taxing the rich. And it lines up with the far right against refugees and migrants.

Starmer is no aberration. His actions flow from “Labourism”, a tradition that sees parliament and elections as the way to bring about social change. It is one that wants to reform and defend capitalism, rather than end it.

Your Party must break from this tradition. Of course, we need more socialists in parliament and to run good election campaigns, but these shouldn’t be the only focus.

Those representatives must be part of a wider struggle. Elected officials can be megaphones for strikes and protests outside parliament.

We should remember that if it wasn’t for the Palestine movement, Your Party wouldn’t exist.

Your Party must orientate on both struggles and elections. But it must do more than that. It must not try to use social movements simply as a prop to help left wing MPs.

Instead, we want elected socialists to build and champion struggles. Ultimately it is mass action that is the key to winning lasting social change.

That’s why, as revolutionary socialists building Your Party, we will always prioritise ordinary people’s battles over the needs of parliament and council chambers.

4. We must be radical

The logic of focusing primarily on elections is to moderate your message to win votes.

Some conservative Your Party members see taking on the racist myths about immigration, supporting trans+ rights and opposing landlords as divisive.

But the lesson from Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York is that insurgent politics can excite people—and be extremely popular.

Your Party must champion the most radical solutions to our problems and present its policies as an inspiring and coherent package.

5. Let’s not waste any more time

The glacial pace of the founding and early stages of Your Party has been part of the reason for its precarious start. Let’s get candidates in place now to run in the English, Welsh and Scottish elections next May.

The best candidates will be those implanted in workplaces, social movements and campaigns. And let’s get Your Party at the centre of every working class battle and every struggle against oppression.

It’s time to get this show on the road.