Fight the cuts

There are 2 sides to this result. On the one hand, 5% of a vote is, for a small branch like ours, far from an embarrassing result, and we would like to thank everyone who voted for us; we are grateful and encouraged, and we know that these votes demonstrate that there are people out there, in greater numbers than the other parties would have you believe, who are dead against any cuts which our 'leaders' all agree the working class will have to face.

It must, however, be borne in mind that this 5% is taken from 1 ward only; it is a fair guess that voters in other wards would've liked the opportunity to vote for a organisation dedicated to the working  class and the poor, and which is committed to fighting all cuts.

On the other hand, perhaps the most important outcome of the election result is that it will give some confidence to those folk who want to fight these cuts... as I mentioned, 5% is far from a drubbing!

The election result has shown that small groups of committed folk can work together to get things done.

The Rotherham branch of the Socialist Party realises that voting and elections do not change the world; we have been active for 2 years on the streets of Rotherham and it is rare that we don't have a stall set up outside the markets on a Friday lunchtime.

Instead, we see the election as the beginning of our real campaign to help develop the Anti-Cuts movement in Rotherham.

On Thursday, May 19 at 7:30pm at the Bridge Inn in the town centre, we will be holding a public meeting where we will pose the question "What Next?" and ask how the Anti-Cuts movement can be advanced and what we can do to challenge and defeat the coming cuts.

Labour won the election, but it is a Labour council that is carrying out the Con-Dem cuts.

It should by now be clear that the Labour Party is nothing more than a faction of the Business Party of Great Britain, with other factions calling themselves Tories or Lib Dems.

The coming cuts are upon us, and they are nothing more than an ideological attack on the Working Class, and despite the mainstream consensus, they are in NO WAY necessary... for example, are Rotherham's Youth Centre (half of which are to be closed down) responsible for the collapse of the world's financial system? Hardly...

Make the bosses pay - come to the meeting on the 19th May and join the Anti-Cuts movement... WE CAN WIN!

Chris Bingham, Rotherham Socialist Party member and TUSC candidate, Clifton.