From: Martin Ralph
Date: Thu May 6, 2004 9:17 pm
Subject: Respect attack MSA/DSA candidate




The Liverpool NUS held a hustings today. I spoke at it for the MSA and the
DSAP.

The hustings I think went well, Greens, Respect, Liverpool Labour Comm
Party all spoke against the war etc.

The entertaining thing and the disgraceful thing was that Michael Lavatte
came to the platform, shouting to the meeting in the middle of the meeting,
to explain that I was not standing as Socialist Alliance, I think he made a
fool of himself, he said the SA had
decided not stand, he was on the national exec etc. this was not after the
meeting but made a strong intervention against me. I told him that the MSA
had decided to stand in the elections in two members meetings, unopposed in
the meetings. So the Socialist Alliance in Merseyside had decided to stand,
and was supporting the 8 candidates who are SA candidates, the name we are
using is Democratic SA, the leaflet i handed out in the hustings says
the MSA is supporting the DSA; the name of the newsletter was DSA.

He accussed me of being dishonest, and directed his only comments in the
meeting against me, not the Tories, not the Lib Dems, not the Labour. The
chair person trie to wave him aside

He said I should have explained that the SA was not standing, I told him I
was not going into the history and that to give an explanation would have
meant attacking Respect which I did not want to do in a Hustings, although
abviously he was happy to support attack the SA. he also had SWP students
around him and they perhaps have told that the SA is not standing and does
not support anyone from the SA standing unless as Respect. So I think such
a spectacle reveals some tensions inside.

My label did say Martin Ralph Socialist Alliance, which is another point he
raised. I had explained to the student president, who did the notices that
we were standing as democratic socialist alliance, the students decided to
write Martin Ralph Socialist Alliance.

I spoke on the policies on which we were standing, the issues important to
students and the people of Liverpool, the war, tuition fees, loans,
immigration laws, privatisation. There was a Respect candidate who spoke
against the war etc. She had nothing to say about my presence and I likewise
avoided mentioning Respect. The provocation was all Lavettes.

The attack was like we suffered from some very sectarian groups in the late
1980s.