Editorial

"Election? What Election?" is the murmur from living rooms across the country amongst rank and file labour members.

With the election turnout set to be the lowest yet, the disgruntled membership in kind is staying away from Committee Rooms and canvassing this time round. Many New labour candidates are reduced to relying on their families, their paid staffers and the centralised team of ambitious, black suited boys and girls that surround the political elite.

But who can blame Party members like those in Falkirk West, who refuse to go out and work for Blair's Military Puppet, the Galloping Major? And there will be many a set of gritted teeth in Glasgow South, Eastwood and Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East before the final election addresses are delivered.

And what are we to make of the call to tactical voting from the Brownite New Statesman? A labour journal ...A labour journal, calling on us to vote against Dr John Reid and Adam Ingram?

Of course the Statesman exposed either its own very specific agenda, or a complete failure of research, by adding to its 'hit list' two fine new candidates of the left, Katie Clark in North Ayrshire and Jim McGovern in Dundee. Far from opposing these two, the left and the trade union movement should be pledging them extra assistance over the next few weeks and adding to that list, Ian Davidson in Glasgow South West and Carolyn Manson in Argyle and Bute. When consideration is given to the number of Scottish labour MPs who actively opposed the War and/or have taken a principled stance against the Whip on some the excesses of New Labour ideology, that list of supportable PPCs grows.

Trade unions have received the familiar call for money and bodies and, of course, they will oblige. The alternative is too horrific to contemplate, as Howard brandishes the race card, outbids Gordon Brown on Civil Service job cuts and places privatisation of the NHS firmly in the Tory field of vision.

But when we awake, with a labour majority on May 6th, the real task for the labour and trade union movement will begin ...and it is not a simple as "out with Tony in with Gordon".

We must ensure that every dot and comma of Warwick is delivered.

We must oppose the European constitution -a privateer's charter which would further centralise and militarise Europe while enforcing little or nothing in terms of trade unions and social rights.

On global poverty, we must ensure that to the commitments on aid, labour promotes fair trade and international workers rights as the fundamental building blocks of sustainable development.

The campaign to defend public service pensions will have to begin again immediately.

We need to revitalise the politics and revitalise the democracy of our party if a third election term is to really mean more than just keeping the Tories out.