I sincerely hope , on Saturday 13 September, the key people involved in the ‘Your Party’ project took time off – from what looks like interminable time-wasting, opportunity-losing bickering – to participate in the anti-racist/anti-fascist counter-demonstration in London. 

I further hope they considered both the size of the mainly racist UTK demo – around 100,000, making it by far the biggest far-right/fascist demo the UK has ever seen – and the noise of the xenophobic, racist, homophobic and transphobic chants, as a massive ‘Wake-up!’ call.

For the past five years, those who say they want to launch a new radical left party have been talking, and talking, and talking… mainly to themselves! Pushed into finally taking action by Zarah Sultana.

They should have been encouraged that, within months of the announcement such a party would form, around 800,000 people signed up. Many, like me, also donated . It now increasingly seems it was money obtained ‘under false pretenses’!

Having said that there would be a founding conference this autumn, it now seems there won’t be one until 2026.  This is neither as soon as possible, nor as soon as needed. It’s urgently needed – right now: to push back the far right, and to give hope to all in times of devastating inequalities, the break-down of communities, and the collapse of national and local services.

Given the track-record, it would be no surprise if that founding conference is put off until 2029. And by then, the ‘YP’ project will have lost many – most? – of those 800,000 sign-ups who will have got tired of the seemingly-endless Beckett-like experience of ‘Waiting for Your Party’.

This is especially likely following Zack Polanski’s overwhelming victory as the new leader of the Green Party – even more so, if he’s able to drag the Green Party back to the more radical positions it had before the ‘Realos’ got their way after 2017.  The ‘YP’ foot-draggers can then say what some have been from the outset: “This is not the time to launch a new radical left party!” Talk (sadly, the operative word, it seems!) about a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Holding loads of meetings, and making crowd-pleasing speeches, might feel good – but, while it’s obviously important to have discussions to motivate people, sort out organisational issues, and connect, these are no substitute for action. Especially in such ‘interesting times.’

At moments, I wonder if some of those at the ‘top’ in the ‘YP’ project want to wait until Farage has become PM – so that they can then drop back into a purely, and more comfortable, ‘anti’ political mode.

What many of us want – especially those of us who don’t live in large cities – is something, now, that we can use to stop Farage becoming PM in the first place. The xenophobes, racists, misogynists, creeping fascists, fascists, homophobes, and transphobes have got Reform– a single organisation they can rally around. What that – and ‘loadsamoney’ from the likes of Trump and Musk – can do, was only too painfully visible and audible on 13 September.

Whilst ‘YP’ will fight elections – especially, but not only, the 2029 general election – we also need a large and fighting left party, now, that can rally and mobilise anti-racists and anti-fascists; and those rightly angry at how neoliberalism has made them economically and socially poorer.

Ideally, ‘YP’ could also help build an effective United Front with the Green Party, as well as the unions. Stand Up to Racism and Unite Against Fascism have done amazing work over the years – but the numbers (around 20,000) they were able to put on London’s streets to counter ‘Robinson’s’ fascist stunt, show we need much more than what we’ve got at present.

As Dave Kellaway’s recent article makes abundantly clear:

‘YP’ can not only provide a needed electoral response to the far right, it can – and must – also become “a useful tool for defending migrants, self-organization, and the struggle of the working class.”

Encouragingly, opinion polls show ‘YP’ could play an important role in stopping the continued rise of Reform – especially if it combines countering anti-refugee attitudes with positive radical policies that improve the lives and communities of working people.

The bottom line is that there is now an increasingly-sharp race between trying to grow and radicalise the left, and the growth of the far right. ‘Your Party’ could play an important role in halting and then pushing back that growth.

An up-and-running ‘Your Party’ could do that by creating a living left ideological foundation for demanding our right to equality and good lives, in opposition to capitalist exploitation. And it can further the real-life changes needed in impoverished areas where people turn to the far right out of frustration and hopelessness.  

But ‘YP’ won’t be able to play that role successfully, if they don’t start now! To keep on talking, without action, is not an option – time is most definitely not on our side! Those involved in the ‘YP’ project need to get this new radical left party up and running this year, not next year – and most definitely not ‘some time, never’!

If they wait another year, Reform may have become so entrenched in local government it could roll on towards the next general election like an ever-growing snowball – and thus even win that election.

So, ‘YP’ – pull your collective fingers out, now, before it’s too late! We know building a new party is hard work: but we need to pull together! Stop waiting, and stop fiddling while the country burns. Instead, act . Because now, more than ever, a radical left party is desperately needed. Because these are desperate times.

As Trotsky, desperate to see a United Front set up to stop the rising Nazi Party, warned German workers at the end of 1931: “Make haste… you have very little time left.”

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