by Linda Taaffe
As it became clear that the Your Party leadership had no intention of standing thousands of candidates in the May council elections, Socialist Party members in Waltham Forest decided we had to step up and encourage others to also stand under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
That would mean standing on a fighting manifesto aimed at workers, who are being so ground down by the cost of living, austerity and now war. Having read so much about the Liverpool 47 in the 1980s, it was high time we launched a similar campaign for the 21st century. We decided to start by recruiting candidates that we called ‘The Workers’ List’.
Photo: Socialist Party
People in the proto-Your Party branches also wanted to stand, but disagreed with us about standing big numbers of candidates. As they concluded that they wouldn’t be able to stand under the Your Party name, we offered that they join with us under the TUSC umbrella, but they declined. So we proceeded, but stayed in contact.
Striking porters
We started to approach workers with whom we’d been involved previously. Firstly, we arranged to meet a group of porters at the local hospital. A number of them had stood with us in a previous election. We socialists had always been supporters on their picket lines, especially when they went on strike to get private company Serco dropped. This was the latest in a long line of private companies that porters, cleaners, caterers and security were outsourced to. All services were brought back into the NHS. Their success owed much to their own determination, and that of Unite branch secretary Len Hockey.
So around a canteen table we put the case. We’ve had enough. If services continue to be cut there’ll be nothing left — especially for young people with rents costing £1,000 for a single room in a shared house; or the 8,000 households on the housing waiting list. We want to drive private profiteers out of housing; we need a massive programme of public works to repair homes and build council houses. We would restore services for children and adults with special needs.
We would have to build a massive campaign of trade unions and communities to get back the money stolen by successive governments — just like in Liverpool!
Three porters and a ward host agreed to stand — sadly, one had to drop out due to a bad accident.
With Socialist Party members being added to the list too, numbers were increasing.
Bus pickets
Next, we approached the local Stagecoach bus drivers who had been involved in a long-running conflict with their management. We had supported their picket lines and helped in practical ways. We got the Unite rep and organiser to speak at a big Your Party meeting with Zara Sultana, and about a half dozen drivers came too. We organised a gang of pensioners to ride the buses on their strike days to hand out leaflets and hold pop-up meetings on buses. So, when asked to join us in TUSC, two drivers came forward.
Then we went back a few years to the Butterfields campaign. This was a campaign to stop 63 families being evicted from homes built by a philanthropist nearly a hundred years ago but now taken over by a wide-boy wanting to make a quick profit, by getting rid of low renters and making a killing in a fast-gentrifying area. We socialists helped the tenants in a year-long campaign, and they won. We kept up contact through nights out together at the local pub. It’s usual for politics to be part and parcel of the drinks. So, one night we popped the question to the main leader who’d coined the phrase ‘Butterfields Won’t Budge’. And she said ‘yes’!
Trade unionists
Altogether we gathered eighteen candidates, amongst whom are three union branch secretaries, the secretary and president of the trades council, activists involved in the Save Our Square campaign against private property developers, a conservation worker, and a parent involved in campaigning for SEND support.
We will have at least one TUSC candidate in 14 wards – two thirds. I will be standing in a ward where three Tory councillors have jumped ship and gone over to Reform. There’s no way we are giving them a free run.
So, workers in those 14 wards will have the opportunity to vote for a workers’ candidate in a workers’ organisation that, if elected, will take the traditions of trade union struggle in the workplace into the town hall.
We have just finished getting all the election forms completed and confirmed. Our leaflets have arrived from the printers, ready to kick off campaigning directly after Easter. I have been involved in many elections, but the landscape in this is like nothing we’ve experienced before. Anything could happen! Let’s go for it!
Why I’m standing: ‘First-hand experience that if we organise collectively we can change things’
Ade Wallace, ‘Butterfields won’t Budge’ tenants leader
Standing in a local election with the Socialist Party, for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), for me is to show by example that while the options appear limited with the mainstream parties and the outcome looks bleak, there are other options – it doesn’t have to be a case of ‘the same old same old’.
The Socialist Party stands head and shoulders over the others with its tradition of class struggle.
Many people feel disconnected from politics because they do not see their experiences reflected in decision-making bodies. Talking to friends, colleagues and family, there is a sense of desperation and disillusionment about the state of the world and the continued battles we face on a day-to-day basis.
‘We didn’t budge’
I know what it is like to battle. After being threatened with the loss of my home that I had rented for the previous 20 years — my own safe sanctuary being taken from me by greedy banks and landlords — I helped build the Butterfields Won’t Budge campaign. It was a campaign to prevent the eviction of 63 families from a long-established housing estate in 2015. It seemed initially that the odds were firmly stacked against us. However, as we met, talked, planned and campaigned, it created a momentum, and a camaraderie which inspired us all to stand up. We found our voice and we made those who had put us in this position listen and change tack. We got our message out there and through sheer determination, we won through.
Socialist principles emphasise equality, solidarity, and democratic control over resources. At the local level, this means advocating for genuinely affordable housing; to cut rents, create jobs, restore essential services; and ensuring that public money is spent in the public interest. Too often, councils are pressured to prioritise private development or austerity policies that widen inequality.
Genuinely affordable housing
By standing in the election, I can challenge these priorities and argue for alternatives that benefit everyone. Even if winning may be difficult, campaigns can raise awareness. It can push other candidates to address issues more seriously and hold them accountable. In this sense, the act of standing is itself a form of advocacy and pressure for change.
Finally, running as a socialist reflects a belief that change is possible when people organise collectively. I have first-hand experience of this. Standing offers a vision of a community where resources are shared fairly, decisions are made democratically, and everyone has the chance to thrive. Standing in a local election is one step toward turning that vision into reality.