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Suggest pagesIndependent Working Class Association
| Independent Working Class Association | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | None |
| Slogan | Working-class rule for working-class areas |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Ideology | Workerism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| International affiliation | None |
| European affiliation | None |
| European Parliament Group | None |
| Official colours | Blue |
| Website | |
| http://www.iwca.info/ | |
| Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections |
|
The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political and economic structures.[1] It has been most successful in the Blackbird Leys and Wood Farm estates of East Oxford and has councillors on Oxford City Council.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Founding
The IWCA was formed in 1995 by several organisations,[3] including Anti-Fascist Action, Red Action, and the Revolutionary Communist Group,[4] who argued that the likely election of a New Labour government would entrench the legacy of Thatcherism and further diminish the political influence of the working class.[5] It says its ideology stems from the trade union collectivism of the 1970s,[2] and it has received support from some anarchists,[6] [7] but it criticises socialism.[8]
From 1998, the Independent Working Class Association formed groups in Birmingham, Oxford, Glasgow, the London boroughs of Islington and Hackney, and a few other areas. In 2003, the IWCA was launched as a national organisation.[9]
[edit] Electoral performance
In the 2002 Oxford City Council elections the IWCA achieved the election of a local councillor, Stuart Craft, with more than 40% of the vote.[10] Three more candidates received over 20% of the vote in the local elections in London, in Heaton ward in Havering, Clerkenwell ward in Islington and Haggerston ward in Hackney.[11] They won 22% in Bunhill ward in London in a by-election in 2003.[8][12]
The IWCA was able to raise the £20,000 required for participation in the 2004 London mayoral election and nominated Lorna Reid,[13] a resident and advice worker on the Highbury council estate. Her campaign focused on opposing anti-social behaviour by funding youth facilities and cleaning up estates, establish community restorative justice schemes, local drugs detox centres and progressive local taxation.[14] Reid came ninth with 9,542 (0.5%) of the first preference votes and 39,678 (2.1%) of the second preferences.[15]
In the local elections that took place on the same day, the IWCA picked up two more seats on Oxford city council.[16] At the 2006 local elections, they stood six candidates[17] and gained a further seat from Labour, taking their total to four.[18] However, they lost two of their Oxford council seats to Labour in May 2008.[19][20] One of their councillors, Jane Lacey, stood down in 2010 to continue as a community campaigner, saying that she was disillusioned by the politics of the council.[21]
Maurice Leen contested the seat of Oxford East for the IWCA in the 2005 UK general election,[22] receiving 892 votes (2.1%).[23]
In 2008, the Thurrock branch of the IWCA contested the working class Stanford East and Corringham Town ward and won 98 votes, down from 144 votes in 2007 and behind the BNP's 344 votes.[24]
[edit] History
In summer 2004, the Hackney branch of the IWCA split away to form Hackney Independent.[25] [26] In 2006, the Oxford branch of the party won a libel action against Bill Baker, Deputy Leader of Oxford City Council, who had posted defamatory material alleging the IWCA had links to violent extremists and Irish Republican groups to homes in Donnington Brook in the run-up to the 2005 local elections. The IWCA, represented in their suit by Carter-Ruck, said it would use the £15,000 it collected in damages to fund their 2006 campaign.[10]
In 2009 the two IWCA councillors missed a meeting at which an above-inflation rise in council tax of 4.5% was decided, due to work and family commitments. A tied vote was decided by the casting vote of the Labour Lord Mayor.[27]
According to its statement of accounts to the Electoral Commission on 31 December 2006 it had 312 members, down by 7 on the previous year. It had a total income of £17,710 and an expenditure of £9,892.[28]
[edit] Campaigns
"We don’t really recognise the term left anymore, because looking around I don’t see any of the people that profess to be left or socialist as actually pro-working class."
The IWCA has adopted tactics of community action to tackle anti-social behaviour, which has led to it being accused of vigilantism.[8] In contrast to many other left-wing groups, the IWCA actively campaigns on crime affecting working class people and a lack of services.[2] It campaigns on issues of local concern such as council housing stock transfers, muggings[29][30] and inner-city regeneration,[31] and against social harm due to drug abuse.[32] The group has also argued that many racial issues are symptoms of the wider issue of social deprivation, and for taking a stance against what it describes as multiculturalism in the belief that it encourages segregation.[8] [33]
[edit] References
- ^ Independent Working Class Association - national website
- ^ a b c Watt, Bob (2006). UK election law: a critical examination. Contemporary issues in public policy. Routledge Cavendish. ISBN 185941916X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k9L-13geilMC&pg=PA204.
- ^ A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Red Action
- ^ Barberis, Peter; John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley (2005). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826458149. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA150.
- ^ 1985-2001: Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), libcom.org
- ^ Franks, Benjamin (2006). Rebel alliances: the means and ends of contemporary British anarchisms. AK. ISBN 1904859402.
- ^ "Organising for change within the Community". Organise! (Anarchist Federation) 47. Winter 1997/98. http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue47/communit.html.
- ^ a b c d e A class act in Oxford", Red Pepper
- ^ IWCA National Launch
- ^ a b "Leaflet slur costs £15,000", thisisoxfordshire, 5 January 2006
- ^ "Chasing votes: two wrong approaches". Weekly Worker (CPGB). 30 January 2003. http://www.cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=90510. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "BNP victory overshadows council polls". guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/jan/24/thefarright.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ^ In The Footsteps of Heroes
- ^ London mayoral candidates 2004, Guardian Unlimited
- ^ GLA Mayoral Results, Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames
- ^ Labour loses Oxford City Council, BBC News, 11 June 2004
- ^ "Oxford City Council candidates". Oxford Times. 26 April 2006. http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2006/4/26/94140.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Labour suffers Oxfordshire losses, BBC News, 5 May 2006
- ^ [1]
- ^ Horne, David (2 May 2008). "Election: Full picture in Oxford". Oxford Mail. http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2242099.election_full_picture_in_oxford/. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "LOCAL ELECTIONS: Parties battle to take control of city council". Oxford Mail. 26 April 2010. http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/8120610.LOCAL_ELECTIONS__Parties_battle_to_take_control_of_city_council/. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "‘We live here too!’". Oxford Independent Working Class Association. 20 January 2005. http://www.iwca-oxford.org.uk/news/news0004.htm. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "Constituency profile: Oxford East". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/constituency/1211/oxford-east. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Thurrock council election results
- ^ 'Hackney Independent' in Hoxton by-election, Workers Liberty
- ^ "Hackney Independent". http://www.hackneyindependent.org/films/index.php. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Walker, Chris (20 February 2009). "'We put family and work ahead of city budget meeting'". Oxford Mail. http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/4142979._We_put_family_and_work_ahead_of_city_budget_meeting_/. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Statement of Accounts for Year Ending 2006, Electoral Commission
- ^ "Our park a no-go area after muggings". Oxford Mail. 19 August 2008. http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2008/8/19/256693.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "Yobsmacked". SchNEWS. 24 October 2003. http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news428.htm. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ What should the Socialist Alliance say about crime?, Workers Liberty
- ^ "Cannabis plants no more offensive than tomato plants, says judge". Oxford Times. 4 August 2006. http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2006/8/4/101157.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Craft, Stuart (7 February 2005). "Labour accusations shameful and untrue (letter)". Oxford Times. http://archive.theoxfordtimes.net/2005/2/7/5488.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
[edit] External links
- IWCA national website
- IWCA Oxford website
- IWCA Islington website
- IWCA Thurrock website
- Electoral commission entry
- Articles on the IWCA by Red Action
- Articles on the IWCA by the Alliance for Workers Liberty
