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| A historic opportunity for the British left is being thrown away. This very public Your Party row must stop now | A historic opportunity for the British left is being thrown away. This very public Your Party row must stop now |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| People desperately want and need a party with socialist values. Future generations will be damning if this fails | People desperately want and need a party with socialist values. Future generations will be damning if this fails |
| We write as friends and comrades. | We write as friends and comrades. |
| The need for a new party of the left has long been clear. It is now more urgent as Keir Starmer’s Labour party falls headlong into one moral void after another: surrendering to corporate raiders and the City, cutting disability benefits, placating racists, rescinding political rights, colluding with Israel’s genocide etc. | The need for a new party of the left has long been clear. It is now more urgent as Keir Starmer’s Labour party falls headlong into one moral void after another: surrendering to corporate raiders and the City, cutting disability benefits, placating racists, rescinding political rights, colluding with Israel’s genocide etc. |
| The prospect of a new party lit up this darkness with new hope. It inspired hundreds of thousands to sign up. It ignited real hope, for the first time in decades, that a party based on socialist principles, and committed to grassroots democracy, could present a serious challenge to Margaret Thatcher’s dictum that there was no alternative. | The prospect of a new party lit up this darkness with new hope. It inspired hundreds of thousands to sign up. It ignited real hope, for the first time in decades, that a party based on socialist principles, and committed to grassroots democracy, could present a serious challenge to Margaret Thatcher’s dictum that there was no alternative. |
| Expectations were high, the hope was exhilarating. Communication from the centre was sporadic and increasingly unsatisfactory, but still the enthusiasm remained. | Expectations were high, the hope was exhilarating. Communication from the centre was sporadic and increasingly unsatisfactory, but still the enthusiasm remained. |
| Now the last few days have caused anxiety, confusion, despair and not a little anger. Many are at a loss to understand it, but the effect is devastating. One thing is clear: this public row must stop, and stop now. | Now the last few days have caused anxiety, confusion, despair and not a little anger. Many are at a loss to understand it, but the effect is devastating. One thing is clear: this public row must stop, and stop now. |
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| This project now belongs to the hundreds of thousands, potentially to the millions, who need it desperately. You can weaken it by persisting with this dispute, or you can work together in good faith. | This project now belongs to the hundreds of thousands, potentially to the millions, who need it desperately. You can weaken it by persisting with this dispute, or you can work together in good faith. |
| We implore you, the organisers of Your Party, to choose the latter so that the hope and ambition you have inspired will not be wasted. We demand of you that you work diligently so that a new voice is given to those who have none. | We implore you, the organisers of Your Party, to choose the latter so that the hope and ambition you have inspired will not be wasted. We demand of you that you work diligently so that a new voice is given to those who have none. |
| We entreat you to do whatever it takes so that we will have a conference, and it will be organised democratically, and we will have a party where power is with its members. | We entreat you to do whatever it takes so that we will have a conference, and it will be organised democratically, and we will have a party where power is with its members. |
| We urge you to grasp that this is not about you or anyone in particular, that it is for the many, that the political necessity of the new party transcends personal grievances. | We urge you to grasp that this is not about you or anyone in particular, that it is for the many, that the political necessity of the new party transcends personal grievances. |
| Without you all working together, this historic opportunity will be lost. With you all working together, we can change history. | Without you all working together, this historic opportunity will be lost. With you all working together, we can change history. |
| Future generations are watching us, they are watching you. Failure is incomprehensible. This must not be our legacy. | Future generations are watching us, they are watching you. Failure is incomprehensible. This must not be our legacy. |
| Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, a former finance minister and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Ken Loach is a film director | Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, a former finance minister and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Ken Loach is a film director |
| Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. | |
| Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, a former finance minister and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Ken Loach is a film director | Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, a former finance minister and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Ken Loach is a film director |
| Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. |