Class War Election Manifesto Launch at Buckingham Palace: On Wednesday 29th April 2015 I went with Class War to Buckingham Palace for the launch of their manifesto for the 2015 General Election.
Although as good anarchists Class War are not in favour of our flawed electoral system they had decided the election campaign would be a good opportunity to generate some interest in working class attitudes and issues, get some publicity – and have a little fun.
So they had registered as a political party and invited their friends to stand for seats. There were quite a few volunteers but finding the funding for the deposits they knew they would lose and getting the required number of nominations in the constituencies whittled the numbers down in the end to seven candidates for the roughly 650 seats.
Three of these were in the Greater London Area and I was able to cover all three in the constituencies where they were standing, John Bigger in South Croydon, Lisa McKenzie in Chingford, and on this occasion Adam Clifford who was standing in Westminster.
The campaign that attracted most media attention was that of Lisa McKenzie because was standing against former leader of the Tory party and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith.
Adam Clifford was standing in Westminster and there were 31 of his potential voters registered in Buckingham Palace so he had come to the gates of the Palace to demand his democratic right as a candidate to canvass their votes, but was not allowed to enter.
But the event was also the launch of the Class War Party’s campaign, with a simple five point manifesto which had largely been drawn up as I walked with them from the White Hart to one of their many ‘Poor Doors’ protests at One Commercial Street – all of 110 metres away. It was simple and to the point.
- Double Dole,
- Double Pension,
- Double Other Benefits,
- 50% Mansion Tax,
- Abolish the Monarchy,
- Abolish all Public Schools
As well as myself, BBC News were there to record the manifesto launch, though I don’t know if it ever made the airwaves.
However the electorate was not ready for the radical proposals of Class War and at the election their seven candidates recorded only a total of 526 votes.
But since one of the key anarchist policies has long been ‘Don’t Vote – It only encourages them‘ they could claim that the 97,870 spoilt votes and the roughly 35% of registered voters who didn’t bother actually put those who shared their views in a majority. Though most of us might see it as a near victory – the Conservatives actually got slighly more votes than this – for apathy rather than anarchy.
And Class War decides its time to leave before the police become too interested.
More pictures at Buck Palace Class War Manifesto Launch.
Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos
All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.