Communists
advise our supporters and other progressive people in Gorton to vote Labour in
the forthcoming by-election, brought about by the death of Gerald Kaufman.
In line with
our programme, Britain's Road to Socialism, Communists usually call for a
Labour vote unless we are standing a candidate ourselves or there is an
alternative left candidate with significant local labour movement support to
vote for.
We are fully
aware that the seat is being contested by George Galloway, former Labour and
Respect MP, and we do understand that there will be those who for very
understandable and positive reasons will be tempted to vote for him, whether it
be his opposition to imperialist military intervention in the Middle East, his
support for the Palestinian people (a cause also supported strongly by Gerald
Kaufman), opposition to austerity or his support for withdrawal from the
European Union.
But the
bigger picture is that under Jeremy Corbyn, and with the phenomenal growth of
Labour Party membership in support of him and his team, we have the best
potential in decades for a Labour government committed to a progressive
socialist agenda which rejects austerity, privatisation and racism at
home, and imperialism abroad.
Furthermore,
Labour’s Afzal Khan has made some strong statements in defence of workers’
rights and had the support at his selection of most of the local trade unions.
He also has a strong record of support for the Palestinians and opposed the
invasion of Iraq, which did so much to discredit Labour during the Blair years.
Finally, we
believe that anything but a strong and decisive vote for Labour in this contest
will be used nationally by the right wing inside and outside the Labour Party
to escalate their campaign to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
27th
March 2017