April 2008
Towards The Convention of The Left: Progress so Far.

The following is an entirely personal account of where things have got to with this initiative and, in particular, an appeal for further contributions to the blog discussion.

I write as one of the dozen or so people who thought it would be a good idea to hold the "convention". Since that decision was made a few months ago a growing number of people from in and around Manchester have got involved. Probably as many as 50 people have attended at least one meeting, and from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

At the last meeting on 31 March comrades from The SWP attended for the first time, as well as comrades from the LRC ( Labour Representation Committee) There were also comrades from Red Pepper, Respect Renewal, The Green Party (myself !), The Labour Party, Permanent Revolution, The Communist Party of Britain and the AWL (Alliance for Workers Liberty)- sorry if I've missed anybody out- as well as a number of comrades who are not members of any political grouping.

All of us attended as individuals, rather than as delegates from particular groups, and there appeared to be (as there has been throughout) an attempt to focus on what we all agreed upon and shared in common, rather than what divides us. On Monday the comrades from Socialist Worker appeared anxious to ensure that our plans for Saturday 20 September complimented rather than clashed with the planned Stop The War Coalition demonstration which is likely to be held in Manchester on the same day.

The meeting affirmed this and the conference which we have planned for the Saturday will certainly break in the afternoon to allow participants to join the march. We also discussed the possibility of moving the conference to the following day or possibly running it over the two days (The Friends Meeting House is not available for most of Sunday 21 September but there is a possibility of a booking at The University Students Union).

In addition to the "main" meeting at the weekend there is also an intention to hold a number of meetings on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday (rooms have been booked and initial themes have been agreed)

The meeting on Monday began to discuss how best to use the space that we have. It was agreed that although much of the focus of our monthly organising meetings would necessarily be on the arrangements for the week itself we also hoped to encourage discussion and debate beyond Manchester in the months between now and September. Ideally such a debate might encourage comrades to attend our conference and possibly get involved in an ongoing project to build something more permanent thereafter.

Although discussions at our Manchester meeting have been largely positive and encouraging there has been limited contact from comrades beyond the Manchester area. I at least am anxious to find out if anybody else is interested in what we are trying to do. If you are please let us know.

Peter Allen