On 21 July over one thousand trade unionists – on Zoom and via a live feed – met to discuss the fight for a new workers’ party. The meeting arose from a petition for trade unionists – with over 2,000 trade unionists, including 43 current and former members of trade union executive committees signed up so far – that declares: “We, the undersigned, believe it’s time for the trade union movement to seriously discuss founding a new anti-austerity, anti-war party. Our movement will be weakened if workers see us as a voice for pro-austerity Labour. We call for urgent discussions within our union and across unions to organise a conference to establish a political voice for working people. The Establishment has four parties – it’s time the working class had one of its own.” (see the online petition at www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty)
The meeting was initiated and hosted by Dave Nellist – a Socialist Party member, former Labour MP (1983-1992) and now chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). Jeremy Corbyn MP was a keynote speaker and Zarah Sultana MP also attended and addressed the meeting.
Jeremy covered a range of issues, including the importance of the Unite conference decision to back any of its members refusing to send arms to Israel, and the crucial character of the Birmingham bin strike because “if the government is able to get away with appointing commissioners in Birmingham whose job appears to be to make workers’ pay for the financial problems of the local authority… then it will be tried elsewhere”. Jeremy concluded that “we need an alternative political voice, an alternative political party”, emphasising that a new party had to be “rooted in our communities, rooted in the democratic activities of people” with “the voice of community independents around the country, the voice of local communities all around the country, the voice of trade union members all around the country, and the voice of the political left all around the country that can come together.”
Zarah spoke about how inspiring it was to see “over a thousand on this call, and also the fact that I have had over 100,000 sign-ups after I posted my resignation from the Labour Party, and that we all know there is a real appetite and energy for a new left-wing force”. It’s time, she declared, “for a party that stands with workers not the wealthy, a genuine democratic socialist alternative that is rooted in the trade union movement and built by and for our class, the working class.”
Dave Nellist began the meeting by talking about the enthusiasm for a new party, and how opinion polls have indicated even before a party has been formed that a Jeremy Corbyn-led initiative would win between 10 and 18% of the vote, and come first among 18 to 24-year-olds.
New working-class party
The purpose of this meeting, however, was as a practical discussion on how to take forward the fight for a new party – based on the workers’ movement – in different trade unions.
This modest, ‘nuts and bolts’, meeting was attended by members of at least 30 of the 48 TUC (Trades Union Congress) affiliated unions. Members of nine of the 11 unions affiliated to Labour were present – including around 200 Unison activists and more than 500 from Unite. In reality it was the most important discussion on a new party to have taken place since Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn’s declarations that, as Jeremy put it, the “democratic foundations of a new party will soon take shape”.
The potential support, and the urgent need, for a new party of the working class are very clear, and the Socialist Party actively supports every step to make such a party a reality. That is why we voted for the offer of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) steering committee to, as an interim measure, ‘hand over’ TUSC’s electoral “registration to Jeremy and Zarah if that helps the process along” (see below).
But wholeheartedly fighting for a new workers’ party does not mean simply cheering every announcement, regardless of whether it takes the process forward, but rather fighting for a party to be founded in the way that gives it the best chance of success.
That means fighting for a party that is rooted in the workers’ movement. The trade unions are existing mass working-class organisations with over six million members. Their strength comes from the fact that they are collective, confronting the employers with demands agreed by the membership as a whole – not as associations of individuals fighting their own personal battles. A new workers’ party needs the same approach – with a founding conference made up of democratically elected delegates from trade union organisations, alongside others of course – including socialist groups and community campaigns – but a new party would, above all, be a political voice for the organised working class in the trade unions.
Trade unionists speak
At the meeting Jared Wood, the RMT transport workers’ union London Transport regional organiser, pointed to the role of the RMT’s predecessor union the ASRS in deciding that “hand in hand with an industrial fight there has to be a political fight, because an industrial fight alone cannot win lasting social change”, and therefore helping to found Labour as a voice for the working class. Jared was confident that RMT members would draw the same conclusions again but, he warned trade unionists, “don’t outsource your politics to a party. The trade unions have to be absolutely integral to a new party.”
This meeting, then, was a vital step forward in that struggle. All the speakers were there in a personal capacity, but they pointed to the opportunities in their trade unions. Unite Executive Council member Suzanne Muna explained why the Unite conference, “the parliament of the union”, voted overwhelmingly to “re-examine” the union’s relationship with Labour as a result of the threat to ‘fire and rehire’ striking bin workers: “The government has a direct role in Birmingham through its appointed commissioners to the council and it led our conference to vote overwhelmingly, with only 5 out of 800 not supporting, and a standing ovation for the mover”. Suz concluded that “it certainly feels like Unite is strongly positioned to disaffiliate and consider alternative political representation.”
Marco Tesei, a member of the NEC of the University and College Union (UCU), explained how he had successfully moved a motion at his union’s congress this year which called on UCU members to stand in elections, linking up with other trade unionists, to fight for union policies. The motion also called for the UCU to invite Jeremy Corbyn, the Independents, and other pro-worker MPs to attend the UCU executive and discuss how they can support the union’s campaigns. Marco concluding by asking: “What do we do now to ensure that the resolution is put into practice? Clearly we have to put persistent pressure on our general secretary and national executive. It is vital that UCU branches across the country insist on the implementation of that policy. Local reps and activists should get in touch with me.”
Concrete proposals to take the struggle forward were a theme of every speaker. Sheila Caffrey, National Education Union (NEU) Executive member, explained how she was circulating a model motion to NEU branches asking them to pass them at September meetings. Marion Lloyd, of the PCS civil servants’ union, reported on the motion she and others would move at their NEC meeting in the coming days.
Anger at Labour
April Ashley, who has just won 28,792 votes to be re-elected as the female black members’ rep on the Unison National Executive Council, reported on the enormous anger at Labour among her union’s members: “At Unison conference 2025, every delegate who called for a new party for workers got massive applause. However, that was not the only view expressed. Our current general secretary, Christina McAnea, praised the ‘significant changes’ she claimed we’re seeing under Starmer’s government.”
However, April explained, the left candidate for the upcoming Unison general secretary election, Andrea Egan, had pledged to review Unison’s relationship with the Labour Party and how Socialist Party members are fighting for her to call for a new workers’ party in her manifesto.
Katrine Williams, a member of Wales TUC general council, reported on the initiative of Cardiff Trades Council to convene a conference this autumn to discuss how the unions can ensure a workers’ voice in next year’s elections for the Welsh Senedd.
Socialist Party
Nancy Taaffe, the Unite conference delegate who spoke to the Unite conference emergency motion on the Birmingham bin strike and the union’s relationship with Labour, also talked about the role of the Socialist Party in her contribution. She reported she was one of just six Socialist Party members who were elected delegates to the 800-strong Unite conference, but by putting forward a clear socialist programme in bulletins and on the floor, that small group had made a very important contribution to the debates at the conference, not least on the need for a new workers’ party.
A future workers’ party will inevitably face relentless attacks from the capitalist class, combined with pressure to move away from defending the interests of the working class and be more ‘reasonable’ and ‘moderate’ – in other words to become just one more capitalist party. The freedom of the Socialist Party to argue for our programme for the socialist transformation of society within a new party, and for all others to put their point of view in the inevitable debates on the way forward, will be crucial to resisting those pressures.
Next steps in the unions
The meeting concluded with a speech by Ian Hodson, President of the bakers’ union, BFAWU, and with a pledge by Dave Nellist that this was just the beginning. Next steps would include meetings of activists for a new party in each union in order to plan their campaigns, to which Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana should be invited.
Inevitably those campaigns will vary from union to union, and the structure of a new party will need to take that into account. Some unions may affiliate nationally at an early stage, with others it will be some local branches or regions that take the first step. There too we can learn lessons from the workers who fought for the foundation of the Labour Party in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They also faced fierce struggles with those in the movement who wanted to continue backing a capitalist party – at that stage the Liberals.
Labour origins
It was in 1900 that a motion moved by the RMT’s predecessor, the ASRS, successfully led to the foundation of the Labour Representation Committee, bringing together trade union and socialist organisations in the precursor to the Labour Party. At the time, one left newspaper, the Clarion, called the LRC “a little cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand, which may grow into a united Labour Party”. Yet from these small beginnings the Labour Party became a mass force which, however imperfectly, did provide a voice for the working class. It was not formed ready made in one act, however. For example, the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain was then the most powerful union in Britain. The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’ Federation was an early affiliate to the LRC. However, the first members ballot for national affiliation in 1906 was defeated, and the Federation as a whole did not join until 1908 when a second ballot was won.
Today – with the Tories falling apart and Starmer’s capitalist Labour elected by only 20.1% of the electorate – the support for the parties of the capitalist establishment is lower than ever before. The need for the working class to have its own party could not be clearer. What will be needed this time is not just to build a workers’ party with a mass base, but to fight for it to have a programme and leadership capable of leading a successful struggle for socialism. Over recent weeks some small but important steps towards such a party have been taken. Now they need to be built on.
TUSC offers full backing to moves towards a new party
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) all-Britain steering committee has offered its full backing to the recent moves made towards the establishment of a new political voice for the working class to challenge the continuity Tories of Keir Starmer’s New Labour party.
The TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist, also a former Labour MP (1983-1992) from Coventry South East, said:
“Our activity has always been aimed to help develop the self-confidence of the working class that it is an alternative power to the tiny capitalist elite who rule our society. And that it has the capacity to create and build its own democratic mass workers’ party to realise that power politically”.
“It is from that starting point that TUSC has been involved in some of the discussions that preceded Zarah Sultana’s announcement on 3 July. And it is on that basis too that we will enthusiastically contribute what we can to the process of getting a new party off the ground”.
Party registration offer
Dealing with the next practical steps to be addressed, the TUSC national election agent Clive Heemskerk added: “Establishing a new workers’ party able to bring together trade unions, anti-war protesters, working-class community campaigners, environmental activists, young people fighting for a future, and the already existing groups of independent councillors, is a process and not something to be achieved in one act”.
“One issue is the requirement under Britain’s election laws to register a party with the Electoral Commission before it can appear on ballot papers, including the restrictions on what the name could be if it overlaps with already existing parties. As an interim measure, the TUSC steering committee agreed that we would be prepared to ‘hand over’ our registration to Jeremy and Zarah if that helps the process along”.
“It would allow things to get going straight away. And actually, TUSC’s ‘federal coalition’ model of organisation also fits in with how a new, inclusive party could operate, at least in its early stages, to achieve the greatest unity. Over the years various socialist parties, independent councillors, community organisations – and for ten years a national trade union – have participated in TUSC’s ‘consensus method’ of decision making which, while often requiring patient discussions with everyone’s viewpoint both being and being seen to be equal, has brought everybody along”.
“Of course, once a party is registered – or, in this case, if our offer is taken up, new statutory officers appointed – things can be amended later on with the democratic involvement of members. That could include a debate on the best ballot paper name, although TUSC’s legally-registered descriptions including ‘Socialist and Trade Union Candidate’ and ‘Independent Trade Union and Socialist Candidate’, have the advantage of saying clearly which side of the class division of wealth and power the new party’s candidates would be on”.
“But the most important thing to realise now is that the idea of a new party is out there and the chance to take a big step forward for working-class political representation must be seized”.