ARGUING FOR A FIGHTING WORKING PEOPLES’ PARTY

By Alayande Stephen T.

The political equation again has brought to the fore the need for a Mass Working Peoples’ Party. More than before, the masses are suffering and are reduced to slaves in their own country, even amidst abundant and stupendous wealth.

The perspective of building a campaign for a genuine Mass Working Peoples’ Party is borne out of the realisation that none of the existing political parties truly represents the idea of what a genuine party of the working masses should be.

Meanwhile, it is pertinent to, at this stage, recall the fact that the DSM, right from inception had always been calling for the formation of a mass working peoples party, especially one which is built on a socialist programme.

Yes, there exists a Labour Party formed and led by trade union activists, who in fact, have led many tumultuous general strikes and mass protests. But these strikes and struggles were not given the necessary political bite and orientation particularly because labour leaders have refused to lead struggles with the perspective of the masses capturing political power with a view to implement policies that would best served their own interests. One result of this is that the Labour Party, for all practical purposes and intents, has remained an empty political shell.

Faced with this situation, the perspective of a campaign for a genuine Mass Working Peoples Party retains all its validity till the present moment. If this campaign is systematically organised in a coordinated manner by labour leaders and pro-labour organisations in Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) and Joint Action Forum (JAF), it could fill the political vacuum created by the liquidation of NCP by the rightwing elements who have hijacked the party. Hundreds of thousands of working class people, who are yearning for a change to the existing rotten politics of bourgeois ruling parties of PDP, AC, ANNP, etc, will most likely receive the campaign with great enthusiasm.

The labour leadership therefore need to take the bull by the horn by immediately kick-starting the campaign and initiating the process to actualise formation of a mass working peoples party. If well repositioned in the interest and aspiration of the poor working masses, the current Labour Party can serve as the germ of such party. The practical step to take in this direction is to convoke a conference which will involve all labour organisations, LASCO, JAF, pro-masses organisations etc. Labour leadership should make hay while the sun shines. if this is not done, 2011 will come and meet the poor working people without a political party of their own as in 2007 electoral farce where the masses were faced with no political choice of their own.