Can Your Party leapfrog the Greens and lead Britain’s left?

Away from noxious social-media debates, there’s a grassroots buzz about what Your Party could become. And now the founding conference is over, that energy could potentially help Your Party to catch up with the surging Greens. But it won’t be easy.

The challenge of doing things differently

The conference opened with comments from Garston councillor Lucy Williams saying that the party shouldn’t be ‘Team Jeremy’ nor ‘Team Zarah’, but ‘Team Working Class’.

She was absolutely right.

If Your Party is going to become a major force for progress, the focus must be on the communities that sorely need it, not on personal differences. And it seems its members overwhelmingly wanted that, voting for a united socialist party with working-class people at its heart. They also voted for collective leadership – a mould-breaking shift for a political system where ‘main characters’ are the dominant players.

There is some refreshing clarity at last. But in the challenging months leading up to conference, hundreds of thousands of potential members took a cautious step back. Just over 1% of the 800,000 who initially expressed interest became full members participating in the weekend’s votes. A combination of secrecy, public spats, poor communication, and leaks to the corporate media have seriously hurt Your Party’s image. Despite the positive developments at conference, the negatives have seen them trailing behind the Greens in popularity.

While Your Party definitely offers a new approach that inspires hope, outdated practices linger and must change.

Push past the Greens, while learning from them

All of Your Party’s hiccups came just as the Green Party elected a media-savvy leader in Zack Polanski. He hit the ground running, visibly rattling the political establishment. The clarity of his messaging and member-centric approach stood in stark contrast to quibbles within Your Party, helping him to attract new support. The new party can absolutely learn from Polanski’s messaging strategy.

The birth of Your Party is now official, so it can start learning to walk. And as humans historically raised children collectively, members must nurture the young party with dedication and patience in time to stop fascists from entering Number 10.

The Greens, now over 50 years old, have a headstart in terms of organising and ironing out internal issues. And while they’re arguably the most democratic and left-wing of the old parties, the plan for Your Party is to go beyond that by empowering communities and rooting itself within working-class struggles. Regular assemblies promise to ensure Your Party is about grassroots power, and not party leaders. This, alongside a much better communication strategy, may well bring back a big chunk of the cautious initial supporters.

Another issue that Your Party needs to deal with is how broad an alliance it wants to be. Because there’s some disagreement on that. And it needs to resolve that asap — clearly marking its red lines and ensuring united public positions.

Focus anger at the system, not ordinary people

Most left-wingers will find that, in most parts of the country, they’re unlikely to find people around them who agree with them on absolutely everything. And the more radical we are, the less favourably society will see us.

But does that mean we refuse to work with everyone who disagrees with us? Or does it mean we accept our differences and align with people who agree on shared priorities? The answers Your Party members give to those questions will absolutely determine whether it will be a broad election-winning alliance or another minor left-wing party that gets little done.

Particular personal social views are a clear challenge for Your Party. For example, its understandably strong support for trans rights has caused heated debate recently, with some people leaving as a result. Most British people are accepting of personal differences but, on trans rights, acceptance has been slower. However, some people have stayed in Your Party despite differences of opinion on this and other issues because they prioritise unity in the fight against fascism and neoliberalism. And members have overwhelmingly voted in favour of letting local members recall their party officers if they don’t act in line with member expectations.

All this suggests that, at its heart, Your Party has the ability to do politics differently. Its members want unity and community empowerment. And if they can focus their justifiable anger against the political and economic system that has hurt the country so much, rather than inwards, it can grow in coming months.

A stronger left is key to stopping fascism

We need a strong left. And we don’t have the luxury of time. Fascism is creeping further and further into the public domain, with rising intimidation and attacks against minoritised communities. Its electoral wing, meanwhile, is banging at the door of 10 Downing Street. Zack Polanski wasted no time in taking the fight to Reform UK after getting his mandate as Green leader. Your Party must do the same.

The left as a whole will absolutely need to unite come election time. But if Your Party and the Green Party can learn from each other in the meantime, the country will be in a much better position to resist encroaching fascism.

Featured image via Your Party