Elections Follow

The biggest conference of rank and file trade unionists for two decades took place in London last Saturday. Over 1,000 trade unionists from across Britain came to the event organised by the Socialist Alliance, which will be standing hundreds of candidates at the May local elections. The Scottish Socialist Party also supported it. The conference signalled a further step in the deepening rift between the government and trade unionists.

The Socialist Alliance is gearing up to challenge New Labour in hundreds of council seats in the local elections on 2 May. The deadline for nominations is approaching fast. This means that Socialist Alliances are selecting candidates over the next few days.

"I THINK there is a mood of change in the country." So said Derek Simpson, who is challenging Blair's favourite union leader, Ken Jackson, for general secretary of Amicus. Derek came to the Socialist Alliance's trade union conference to speak to members of Amicus, a union made up of the old AEEU and MSF.

The racist far right has made a frightening breakthrough in local elections in Holland. Supporters of Pim Fortuyn, who put forward anti-immigration policies, took a third of the vote in the country's second city, Rotterdam.

The Socialist Alliance's campaign is taking off across England in the run-up to the local elections in seven weeks on 2 May. The alliance is hoping to stand over 100 candidates in London and over 300 across England. The mood for a socialist alternative to New Labour was seen in Scotland last week. The Scottish Socialist Party, the Socialist Alliance's sister organisation, won 16 percent in a local by-election.

THE NAZI British National Party (BNP) hopes to make a historic breakthrough in the local council elections in seven weeks time on 2 May. Anti-Nazi activists are mobilising to stop it. The annual conference of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) was held in Manchester last Saturday.

The Hindu fundamentalist BJP party did badly in three key state elections last weekend. The very good news is that the BJP's attempt to whip up chauvinism over Kashmir has failed to deliver votes.

It is less than ten weeks before local council elections across England on 2 May. In London every council seat will be up for grabs. The elections will be a chance to challenge New Labour and the other main parties.

Revelations that an official in the Trades Union Congress has been trying to stop the election of left wing candidates in union elections are fuelling anger among trade unionists. Socialist Worker reported two weeks ago on smears against Bob Crow, the left wing candidate for general secretary of the RMT rail union. A meeting of the union's west of England and South Wales region took place in Bristol, also two weeks ago.

Over 85,000 Unison union members working in local councils across London are moving towards action over pay. In a few weeks workers in all the 32 London councils will be taking part in an indicative ballot organised by the union. If that goes well a ballot on action will follow, and could coincide with May's council elections.

The Anti Nazi League will be holding its conference in early March as the fight to stop Britain's Nazis moves into a crucial phase. The Nazis are convinced that they can win council seats in the local elections in May 2002. The BNP and NF Nazis are targeting areas across Britain including the north west, the Midlands, the north east and east London.

SOCIALIST WORKER has seen vital documents about the involvement of the Trades Union Congress in the current elections to high office of the RMT rail union. They make it clear that at least one official at the TUC has been plotting with a right wing official of the RMT to improve the vote of right wing candidates and smear rivals from the left. The main documents are: