Socialist party eastern region conference

I’ve just returned from an excellent regional conference of the socialist party in eastern region. Held in the centre of Cambridge 15 comrades from across the region got together in a little café to discuss the perspectives for Britain and in the second session our regional perspectives. In the morning we had Steve Score who is a full timer from the East Midlands come to speak and I was very impressed with his contribution a well put across points figures and convincing argument for socialist ideas. Steve touched on TUSC and the recent by elections we contested and lamented the difficulty we face in getting a public profile and to do as well as we did at this stage was a good marker for future struggles as I’ve previously outlined in this blog too. The wider global economic crisis could not be over looked and Steve and other comrades linked the struggles in Britain into the wider crisis in Europe and beyond. The discussion was excellent with many comrades discussing the role of the LabourParty left celebrities such as Owen Jones and their downfalls. Many comrades were aware we are just at the start of a movement and workers in Britain will return to struggle in the coming period despite the setbacks and the sell out’s of various right wing trade union leaders in the last year or so. The afternoon’s session after a lovely lunch was focused more on regional matters the development of TUSC and the 2013 county council elections will be key in the development of building a profile for TUSC in the coming period. As for the socialist party we heard reports of an excellent year for the eastern region anyway with a net growth of 65 odd new comrades we have since lost some due to some leaving the region to go to university moving away or fallen inactive for whatever reason. The regional committee which has been recently restablished after years of low activity is looking to build up a presence and develop the leadership in the eastern region as we look to build the party further still. We have gone from 4 and a bit branches to 9 now and we will look to increase that further in 2013. As Marxists we must patiently explain the alternative arguments and an alterative system to this rotten capitalist system. The number of young comrades joining us in the region is up and also we have a terrific record on ethnic groups joining our party with many Indian/tamal comrades now which can only bode well for our interventions in communities. The youth are a key component with our student work taking off major in the last year with the biggest up take of socialist ideas in our societies across the region for many years. There is plenty of potential for our rapid growth if we in bed the ideas of socialism, democratic Marxism and look to take our newer members with us and always approach new people with a friendly open comradely fashion I think we have big potential. Of course we are in a minority and probably will be for a very long time but we are starting to have an impact across the region in terms of numbers and influence. I can only see the socialist party in the East of England going from strength to strength.