I want Socialist Equality for Wales!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

When the list of candidates for May 3rd was finalised last week, the inclusion of the Socialist Equality Party on the South Wales Central list turned a few heads.

Actually, that's not true. It didn't turn any heads. They might as well be the the People's Front of Judea as far as most people are concerned. But it did turn my head ever so slightly - a fraction of a movement, like the sort you'd make if you happened to be balancing a pint of battery acid on the tip of your nose.

I've always reserved a degree of admiration for the plucky underdog parties, contesting elections against the odds. But I've also wondered why they bother, especially when it comes to standing in Wales. Resources may be thin, finances steep, supporters virtually non-existent, but if you're going to stand in the Welsh Assembly election surely you should be, well, just a little bit Welsh?

Not so the Socialist Equality Party, it seems, who are so committed to equality they've given Scotland and Wales the same manifesto. That's just about fair enough, you might think, not everyone's got a pocket David Melding to hand. But the SEP aren't even fielding any vaguely Welsh candidates: Chris Talbot is from Cheshire and works in Huddersfield, David O'Sullivan is a London Underground worker, Stuart Nolan is a train conductor from Birmingham and Poopalasingam Thillaivarothayan is not just a mouthful but also a mature student in England.

During the formative years of my political consciousness (so pre-school!) I met more Welsh socialists than most. In fact, I've probably met all four of them at some time or other. But they are out there. They may be a little bit odd (with a penchant for poetry and hemp clothing) but they most definitely exist.

So here it is, my plea for socialist equality in Wales. Justice for the Welsh socialist minority. If they could rouse themselves from their copies of Das Kapital, they'd be with me:)

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posted by Blamerbell @ 8:19 am,

6 Comments:

At 9:08 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I met more Welsh socialists than most. In fact, I've probably met all four of them

As many as that? Good God.

 
At 10:24 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

looking for hemp clothes and long earings as we speak
Just in case we need gender balance here

 
At 2:38 pm, Blogger Deleted said...

According to Wikipedia they are trots. Yet as an offshoot of the WRP are they more tankies?

I need to know for my scrapbook of left wing splinter groups of left wing splinter groups :)

 
At 2:59 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's no way to talk about your dad...

 
At 3:01 pm, Blogger Marcusian said...

yeah even i get a bit confused by what socialist party or group is what...

I still think it will be a good thing to have some sort of socialist representation in the Senedd...

 
At 10:43 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like that group of trotskyite flying saucer geeks who oppose the concept of socialism on one planet.

 

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