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Independent Socialist Network calls on TUSC and Left Unity to collaborate and build the largest possible left General Election challenge

For a united socialist electoral challenge – a call to action from the Independent Socialist Network (ISN) for TUSC branches and local steering committees, Left Unity branches, and other socialist organisations

Although the left in Britain remains small, efforts to bring it together and heal its divisions are an integral part of building it up on solid foundations. The Trade unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) confirmed at its Steering Committee in May that it “would to continue with approaches to other socialist and anti-austerity organisations conducting electoral activity that are not currently within the TUSC umbrella to ask them to become participating organisations or at least come to an electoral arrangement for 2015”. Left Unity’s policy, as voted for at the March conference, is that “Left Unity should open discussions with other left groups, coalitions and parties to avoid electoral clashes and move towards electoral pacts – with the initial aim of creating the largest ever left challenge in the 2015 General Election”.

Left Unity’s goals therefore coincide with TUSC who have set down a significant marker by standing 561 candidates in the recent local elections, and who are now committed to building upon that in order to be even stronger next year. We feel that we have a duty to working class communities everywhere to present a credible, united socialist alternative for which they can vote and campaign. The Independent Socialist Network urges you to show support for that aim by passing this resolution.

This branch/steering committee/organisation notes:

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) stood 561 candidates in the May 22nd2014 local elections, an achievement not seen in left-of-Labour politics since the end of the Second World War;

Left Unity has got off to a promising start, with 2000 members and a commitment to electoral collaboration

TUSC has written previously to Left Unity, offering temporary co-operation on the limited basis of support for an anti-cuts platform fully compatible with Left Unity’s current policy;

In several key areas, Left Unity and TUSC activists have been involved in supporting each other’s campaigns, electoral and otherwise;

This branch/steering committee/organisation:

1) Calls on the TUSC Steering Committee and its officers to facilitate a thorough going debate on the potential for intensive and structured collaboration (as opposed merely to non-aggression) between serious forces on the left at the 2015 elections;

2) Requests that records of this and relevant communication to be promptly minuted and circulated to local co-ordinators, as well as supporting organisations via the website.

3) Affirms that while talks should be held at the highest level and take priority given the tight timeframe at hand, local activists in communities and branches are best placed to take the lead in determining the nature of co-operation far in advance, in order to present the most united and strongest possible socialist challenge at the 2015 elections.