FOR ANY Your Party member following the central executive committee (CEC) elections, you might be forgiven for feeling at times like it might not be your party.

When conference voted for collective leadership in November, instead of a single leader, many sighed with relief that we would be spared the continuing Corbyn v Sultana psychodrama.

With the emergence of two competing CEC slates, however — The Many (Corbyn aligned) and Grassroots Left (Sultana aligned) — that battle feels far from behind us. 

That is not to criticise the existence of slates — it is part and parcel of organised politics and can be an effective way to communicate the shared vision of each collective. In this case, however, at the very start of a political party, burdened by sectarian histrionics from the outset, the possibility of an executive committee made up of warring factions threatens to put the final nail in the coffin of a project with so much potential.

That is why I, along with dozens of other Your Party members across the country, have put ourselves forward as Independent candidates, running only on our own personal record, experience and skillset, and crucially, our ability to do the work necessary to build the foundations of a new political party of the left.

I led the historic victory for socialism in Worthing, a previous Conservative stronghold, where we won a Labour council for the first time ever, on a bold, socialist manifesto, based on the Preston model and community wealth building.

Our mantra was simple — socialism in action. All year round we would knock on doors, listening to what people wanted and needed, and responding. We set up community hubs, foodbanks, mutual aid groups, uniform exchanges and more. It was that type of organising that turned into electoral success, as people started to see we were serious about supporting them.

Much of that model came from the paid community organisers that were hired by Labour under the Corbyn leadership. I believe Your Party should look to replicate this strategy but also go much further.

Branches must be empowered with funds, data and skills to organise effectively, but structures also built that allow grassroots campaigns to feed directly into policy-making by the wider membership.

This is especially crucial in workplace organising, where we need to encourage many more people, particularly younger workers, to join a trade union. Only by engaging people in participatory campaigns, that they then see reflected in our own policy-making, will we start to build a different kind of political party.

As an example, I am currently co-leading a grassroots campaign with my own union, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, to expose and address the exploitation of volunteers and third sector Community Food workers, who are propping up our failing welfare system on a daily basis.

My day job is working for a local charity, running community food projects in some of the most deprived areas of south-east England. We provide food, advice services and social spaces for those that simply cannot afford the rising cost of feeding themselves and their families.

The “foodbank” sector is unregulated and run predominantly by volunteers, giving up their free time to support some of the most vulnerable in society. This means there are no regulations around training, safeguarding or support when they encounter people who are experiencing deep and complex trauma — we want to change that. 

We aim to build a collective representation model with a charter of rights that will provide volunteers and workers the right to be adequately trained, resourced and safeguarded, recognising the enormous contribution they make, despite the moral trauma many face, doing a role we fundamentally believe should not have to exist.

As a union, we are now engaging with organisations all over the country and these workers and volunteers are having their struggle recognised for the first time. 

The Bakers Union is a progressive force for change, exemplified in its disaffiliation from the Labour Party in 2021, ending the 119-year relationship between the two. That’s why I am proud that the national executive of the Bakers Union have officially endorsed my campaign for the Your Party CEC as an Independent candidate in the South East, and to have the personal backing of general secretary Sarah Woolley.

Your Party has the opportunity to rewrite the political playbook — to leave behind the outdated institutional machinations of the Labour Party and to build something distinct from the insurgent Greens.

Your Party can rewrite the rules of left politics and that must include our relationship with the trade unions. Your Party conference committed to a workers’ movement commission, which would consist of senior trade union movement figures and be tasked with “deepening the party’s relations with trade unions, laying the ground for national affiliations, and drawing up a political and organising strategy to more deeply root the party in the workers’ movement.”

This is absolutely necessary, but risks repeating the errors of the Labour Party in positioning union bosses over the workers themselves. 

Many of us will have seen in the Labour Party how trade union bloc voting too often stripped the rank-and-file membership of their power.

It is impossible to be the party of workers if the voice of the workers is silenced, in favour of back-room deals by trade union leaders. The CEC, with the membership, should look to broaden the scope of this commission to include rank-and-file trade union members within Your Party.

Those representatives should reflect the reality of the most exploited, underpaid and under-represented workers in our society, including young people, global majority and LGBTQIA+ workers. The CEC should lay the foundation to support members in their own workplace organising, and to be the voice of the real struggles encountered on the ground, in order to shape the campaigns and policies that will ultimately be decided at conference.

It is this type of organising, with members at its heart, that I want to see the groundwork laid for within Your Party. To do that, we need a CEC committed to serving the members, not distracted by factional infighting.

The CEC is not the space for this — it should be the vehicle by which a transparent, democratic movement is built.

So, as official hustings begin to take place and the ballot opens on Monday February 9, please do look beyond the slates and consider the Independents as well. Interrogate all candidates on how they will contribute to this moment.

We have the opportunity to build a new socialist party, rooted in the working class, that can take on the far right, but to do that, we need a collective leadership that can unite behind a shared vision, wherever you sit within the spectrum of left politics, of a country where everyone has the right to live and work freely, not only affording the basics, but a life they can enjoy. Bread and roses.