The Greens and the Trots are no alternative

The news that Peter Pinkney, President of the RMT union is to stand as a Green Party candidate in the forthcoming general election was surprising given his unions long backing for the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition.  The Daily Mirror reports:

This weekend the RMT rail union’s president announced he will stand for the Greens in Lib Dem seat Redcar.

Peter Pinkney said he was attracted to the party by its plan to ­renationalise the railways and other left-leaning policies.

According to the Mirror the Greens were attracting more than a few "hard left activists" and is now claiming a membership of some 60,000. It's hardly surprising that Pinkney would choose a the Greens with a large membership and a growing number of councillors around the country, especially when some polls show the Greens attracting as much as 14% of the vote.

They also have an MP in the form of Caroline Lucas and a couple of MEPs as well.

This stands in stark contrast the TUSC where the RMT has developed a long standing alliance with the Socialist Party (nee Militant) which is believed to have around just 2,000 members and doesn't even register in polls.

Given that the new RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash is a Labour Party member the TUSC looks set to lose the backing of tthe only trade union in it's so-called "coalition.

How much longer will RMT activists wish to spend their time and considerable amounts of cash on a tiny "organisation" of losers? 

The other union that is semi-officially involved is the rapidly declining civil service union, the PCS. Unable to get the union on board the TUSC on a formal basis, the Socialist Party have instead installed two PCS Grandees on it's National Committee. 

Chris Baugh the rather useless PCS Assistant General Secretary and Socialist Party "fixer John McInally sit on the TUSC in a "personal capacity" but make sure their rank in their union is well to the fore to try and bolster the standing of the TUSC.

Add the discredited Socialist Workers Party and  the Independent Socialist Group the TUSC would amount to even less without the RMT.

The Socialist Party, like many others on the far-left have tried to jump on the "Syrzia" anti-austerity bandwagon, but the Greens are far better placed to attract "socialists" and other activists of their ilk than the tiny TUSC.

Indeed the Mirror continues:

....the anti-austerity message seems more important to the party than its green roots these days – Ms Bennett barely mentions the environment once in our interview. It’s a winning formula which has chimed with Greek voters, and the Syriza coalition’s poll victory there last month is a big boost for the radical left.

Of course some voters may wish to recall the nonsensical statement of the Greens "leader" Natalie Bennet that "membership of terrorist organisations should not be illegal."

Tell that to the victims of 9/11 and 7/11 and the family of Lee Rigby.

Not the sort of people I'd trust wit the security of this country.

As for "anti-austerity", the Greens record in the one council they control in Brighton has hardly been a beacon of resistance, something their far-left rivals are often keen to point out.

However those considering the TUSC should be aware that the Socialist Party run PCS union has been instituting a cuts programme that is terminally damaging the largest of the civil service unions. PCS staff have got a worse deal on pensions than the one demanded by the union for it's members.

On top of that a substantial job cull is about to take place inside PCS because the "anti-austerity" crowd have err.. been unable to balance the books.

They blame the end of "check-off" but the financial crisis faced by the PCS goes much further back than that as was discovered when a panicked Socialist Party tried to get Unite to literally take over PCS.

A move still on the cards

Of course the Socialist party has a bad track record when in control of Liverpool Council as see a few decades ago.

Neither the Greens nor the Trots have a real answer to austerity and frankly Syrzia doesn't inspire despite its rhetoric anyway.

At the end of the day whilst the TUSC will probably fail to even get noticed, the Greens could if their surge turns out to be real help the Tories back into power by cutting the Labour vote.

That would be the worst of all scenario's.

All these false dawns on the fringes of politics are a distraction from the real task.

Kick out the Tories and their Liberal allies.

That means voting Labour.

There is NO other alternative.