North Devon Socialist Party branch meeting report 25th November

The main focus of the latest North Devon branch meeting was the housing crisis.

Introducing the discussion, JL noted the dramatic increase in housing repossessions, which seem to be particularly acute in North Devon. He gave background about the cause of the crisis which has resulted in soaring private sector rents and mortgages, and the decimation of social housing.

He outlined the importance of the neo-liberal measures brought in by the Tory government of 1979-1997, most notably the Right to Buy scheme, the attacks on the unions and the restructuring of the economy away from manufacturing and mining and towards financial services.

The move towards financial services and the increasing lack of social housing resulted in a house price bubble, where house prices rose to ridiculous levels. These prices are now declining due to the banks being much stricter in their lending since the so-called sub prime mortgages came to light and paralysed the financial 'industry' with fright. This, combined with rapidly increasing unemployment is resulting in the elevated repossessions. As GS noted in the discussion afterwards, the situation for people repossessed now is worse than it was 40 years ago, when there was more of a social safety net and more council housing.

It was agreed that as socialists we need to put the political arguments forward for nationalisation of the banks and construction industry under democratic workers and for a house building programme to be initiated and for repossessions to stop.

It was also agreed that practical support needed to be offered, and pressure put on the council to improve its provision of housing benefit and help for those threatened with, or victims of, repossession. A housing campaign will be established, and contact made to other organisations and interested individuals to help kick-start and build that.

In the discussion on organisational matters, a new branch programme was agreed, and the forthcoming regional conference debated. In industrial reports, DL outlined the 12% pay rise over two years the Appledore shipyard workers had achieved, and looked forward to Robbie Segal's forthcoming election campaign in the USDAW union.

4th November North Devon Branch meeting report

Members and non-members of North Devon Socialist Party gathered last night in Barnstaple, and enjoyed extensive discussions about the American elections, building the left in the US and in Britain, and future activities of North Devon Socialist Party.

JL, introducing the discussion on the American elections, noted the importance of the grassroots movements built up by Barack Obama and Ralph Nader (the independent pro-worker candidate). He reiterated the political positions and likely acts of the incoming President Obama, including making the American working class pay for the economic crisis caused by the capitalists, as well as continuing with the substance of Bush's imperialist foreign policy, albeit with a different focus and Clinton-style charm and superficial multilateralism. He emphasised the need for the movement built by Nader to continue to organise on 'November 5th and beyond' to build an independent pro-worker force, preferably moving towards forming a workers party with other elements including peace campaigner Cindy Sheehan.

Those present agreed with the characterisation of the Democrat Party as just a wing of the capitalist party in the US, the Republicans being the other wing. The mass movement backing Obama were set for disappointment, and it would be the task of the left in America to engage with those people, and patiently explain the need for a break with the Democrats.

Concerns were raised about the scale of the task facing the American left, and certainly the challenges of organising and building on a continental scale are great, but there was consensus at the meeting that there was no alternative, and the best we could do in Britain and Europe would be to offer practical and political support to our American comrades. In addition, we need to work towards establishing our own workers party in Britain, emulating and learning the lessons of the tremendous efforts in Germany and France in this respect.

There then followed industrial and student reports, in which our support for the Appledore shipyard workers was reiterated, and an update was provided on the efforts to build the Shop Stewards Network in North Devon.

Next week - Exeter and North Devon Branch Meetings

Exeter Socialist Party Meeting

Date: Tuesday 7th October, 7.30pm

email socialistpartydevon@gmail.com for details of the venue.

Agenda includes discussion of trade union and industrial news, Socialist Students activities, our fuel poverty campaign and a discussion on the individual under capitalism introduced by SB.

North Devon Socialist Party Meeting

Thursday 9th October

7.30pm

Henry Williamson Room, Barnstaple Library

Agenda includes discussion of the National Shop Stewards Network, a report back from the Devon, Cornwall and Somerset aggregate meeting, Socialist Students and ISR campaigns, the fuel poverty campaign and a discussion on the roots of the current economic crisis introduced by JL.

Successful first meeting of North Devon Socialist Party

Last Thursday marked the first meeting of the Socialist Party’s new North Devon branch. New members from Barnstaple (pictured left) and Braunton, a mixture of youth and experience, met in Barnstaple Library to listen to an introduction given by Robin Clapp, the South West regional secretary.

The introduction was wide ranging, from the current economic situation to the role of the Socialist Party locally, nationally and (for the CWI) internationally. This was followed by a discussion of how the Socialist Party could work in the current climate to get our ideas across and shape events, which all who attended contributed to. There was agreement with Robin’s point about our work, in workplaces, colleges, and the wider world, was about a dialogue with working class people, listening being as important as getting our own views and analysis of events across.

We discussed how the party would build in North Devon, a large rural area with dispersed population, low union membership and no real history of left activity. It was agreed that our activities needed to be centred around helping youth and workers to organise, at the local Further Education College, individual workplaces and unions and through setting up a local branch of the National Shop Stewards Network. In addition to leading the fightback against low pay and exploitation at work, the point was raised that young people in particular need help in combatting the growing authoritarianism of the police and local councils.

Ambitious but achievable targets have been set for raising fighting fund and attending national and regional events, new members being very keen to learn more and get active. We are a small branch, aware of the challenges as well as opportunities of working as socialists in Britain in 2008. We are optimistic about the impact we can have in North Devon, while realising that it will take consistent hard work and patience to achieve what we want to.