The IWCA,the Independant Working Class Association, did incredibly well in the recent local Elections. They stood in only 5 wards , Clerkenwell in Islington, Haggerston in Hackney, in Havering and in 2 wards in Blackbird Leys in Oxford. In all wards they got over 20% (!) of the vote and in 4 almost won while in Oxford they now have a councillor, represewnting this working class estate!! This compares very favourably with the BNP vote in Burnley and Oldham. The S.A. of the SWP was humiliated almost everywhere it stood. In the SWP heartland of Hackney where they have for decades boasted of hundreds of members their top vote for the nationally famous paul foot was not 10% of the vote.In many seats they got less than 100..(the Socialist Alternative of ex-miltant did better...with councillors elected in Coventry and Southwark(?))..The idiots that they are they have proclaimed these votes a sucess, at a time when left wing parties could( for better or worse!) be winning councils!
the IWCA were set up in the 90's by people from the street fighting Anti Fascist Action and Red Action and other individuals.They were created on the understanding that right wing groups in this country, following the lead of Le Pens Front National, were abandonning street fighting for door to door campaigning over dumped cars,housing and poor services..the IWCA also rightly pointed out the growing disillusionment of the white working class with politics and that the BNP had the potential of mobilising this. Their tactics are down to earth...they go door to door and ask people what they want for their area..these surveys have been a key their sucess..the idea that the left could actually ask working class people what they think instead of telling them what to think is also pretty unique!!
There are problems with the IWCA...is it honest? do its voters know it's connection with the republicans of RedAction? ..Red Action used to criticise Militants efforts in Liverpool in the 80's..is what the IWCA doing differrent??..are they just making promises they can't keep? shouldn't they be getting people to do things themselves instead of saying 'we will sort it for you'? etc..
to me though a clear message comes through...working class people are sick of the political establishment ... of being patronised ...of being told what to think...sick of their powerlessness... the anti-authoritarian/anarchist wing of the anti-capitalist movement must see in all this that working class people haven't given up on change..they've just been let down too many times...if we get stuck in we can change things around...keep on with the Maydays but don't neglect the nitty gritty ..the union work ..the tenants/residents association.. the estate commitee ...if you do capitalism will win..and you might find all your neighbours have allgone BNP!!! and check out the iWCA websites...they come up on Lycos and Yahoo searches