There's only what 55 days or so to go to the general election and the major parties are still squabbling about whether David Cameron should attend all the TV debates. Everyone is trying to get heard not just Labour, the Lib-Dems, UKIP or the SNP. But also the Greens, the DUP and now it appears the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition who write:
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has reached the broadcasting authorities' threshold for 'fair media coverage' in May's general election.
The latest approvals by the TUSC national steering committee take the number of parliamentary candidates to 111. A full list of those agreed so far can be found at www.tusc.org.uk/txt/324.pdf. TUSC will have the sixth biggest presence on the ballot papers in May.
This number of candidates, with more to come, is well over the threshold for a party to receive 'fair media coverage', including a TV broadcast, of standing in one sixth of the seats up for electi
on. Now we will see what the broadcasters mean by 'fair coverage'.
Now there's a thought. According to them the TUSC (backed by the Trotskyist cult known as the Socialist Party or the Militant Tendency to older readers) is the "sixth biggest presence" on the electoral scene.
I don't think so. The fact this loose alliance of Trots, the RMT and a couple of Left Unity supporters is hardly the "sixth biggest challenge". Hardly anyone, let alone most trade unionists will have even heard of them or even care less as to who they are.
At the last general election they managed a grand 0.04% of the vote. Yes they have a handful of Councillors, most of whom were malcontents kicked out of the Labour Party but the average worker is not going to be attracted by demands for open immigration, when the main concern raised by working class people is exactly the opposite.
Hence the rise of UKIP which the activists of the far-left has proved unable to cope with.
Except shout at.
Which is pretty much the level of most these comrades.
They bureaucratically take over (and bankrupt) other organisations through tactics of rant and bore.
- In the eighties in Liverpool council: Sent their own workers redundancy notices by taxi.
- And now in 2015 in the PCS union: Planning to make half the unions staff redundant.
People might want to take their "anti-austerity" with a rather large pinch of salt
The Socialist Party has at most around 2,000 in it's cult, probably less and an alliance with the Socialist Workers Party now down to well under a thousand is hardly a major electoral challenge, even with some financial backing from the RMT union.
The real choices at the ballot box will be among a number of parties and with the decline of the Liberals both UKIP and the Greens will make inroads into the electorate . In Scotland the SNP are seemingly set to supplant Labour as the largest party.
Even the DUP will get a seat or two in Northern Ireland, where politics are somewhat different to the rest of the UK.
The TUSC? At best will get a few votes in marginal constituencies and let the Tories back in.
Which is the last thing that trade unionists need in this election.
The TUSC is yet another waste of effort that may distract a few people who should know better.
Anyone remember the Workers Revolutionary Party standing a slate in 1979, the year Thatcher came to power?
Only us inveterate Trot spotters probably.
Here out of historical interest is Corin Redgrave (Vanessa's brother) in some clips from their election broadcast. (Couldn't find the full one which I recall also heaped praise on a certain Libyan Colonel amongst others.
Didn't impress the workers much then. Not sure a TUSC one will manage any differently.
Still maybe there will be slightly different scaremongering. Slightly less military coup talk. Can't wait.
Meanwhile over to our "favourite" Trotskyist Thespian:
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