Communism in one Council!

[dennisr]

Look at the trouble the Greens and ICWA association are having trying it in Oxford or Brighton. The bast example of a radical council is probably Poplar under Lansbury in 1921.

http://www.liverpool47.org/

Poplar was like Liverpool 1983-87 - they even adopted the same slogan - "better to break the law than break the poor" - its defeat was it isolation by the other 'left' councils (GLC, Sheffield etc) that existed at the time who limited their campaigns to gigs and propaganda rather than working with the local population and workforce.They built more houses than the rest of the country put together - a basic necessity in the city.

Legacy of the Liverpool battle:

* 6,300 families rehoused from tenements, flats and maisonettes
* 2, 873 tenement flats demolished
* 1,315 walk-up flats demolished
* 2,086 flats/maisonettes demolished
* 4,800 houses and bungalows built
* 7,400 houses and flats improved
* 600 houses/bungalows created by ‘top-downing’ 1,315 walk-up flats
* 25 new Housing Action Areas being developed
* 6 new nursery classes built and open
* 17 Community Comprehensive Schools established following a massive re-organisation
* £10million spent on school improvements
* Five new sports centres, one with a leisure pool attached, built and open
* Two thousand additional jobs provided for in Liverpool City Council Budget
* Ten thousand people per year employed on Council’s Capital Programme
* Three new parks built
* Rents frozen for five years

It was not 'communism' it was a workers led council though.

 

[Rod Sleeves]

perhaps some of the former militant types could comment about liverpool.

You know they don't like to talk about it.

 

[ovaltina]

Invade and conquer Sealand

http://www.sealandgov.org/About.html

 

[JimPage]

A good strating point would be for the left to actually start fighting local elections seriously, and when they poll well, follpw it up by standing in the same ward again. For example, there is a ward by election in Preston which is pending where Respect polled 18% in 2006. Rather than build on this, which is feasible, this election will probably be ignored, leaving that 18% of the electorate to go elsewhere, or nowehere. If the left can't be bothered in its good wards- what hope for it?

 

[dennisr]

You know they don't like to talk about it.

 

[joevsimp]

Look at the trouble the Greens and ICWA association are having trying it in Oxford or Brighton. The bast example of a radical council is probably Poplar under Lansbury in 1921.

what do you mean by trouble? We're not going to turn Brighton and Hove in to an Eco-hippy-commutopia any time soon. (not unless Hove actually breaks off or gets sqished by a meteor or summat)