I would not agree that New Labour is hopeless from a socialist point of view. I think it is using its alliance with finance capital to nudge British politics to be more socially accountable. This is not gloriously revolutionary, but it has already made substantial constitutional changes. But nor, would I say, is the strategy that your question assumes - namely that all the really progressive left can do is to find a minority party that is bearable enough to vote for. That is not a strategy for actually changing things.
However if the Workers Party can define a position from which it could lead a coalition which would appeal to a great majority of the population *including* those working people who incorrectly think they are not working class but "middle class" then it might pull off an advance like that of the Party of Democratic Socialism in Italy, until their recent election defeat.
Chris Burford
London
-But the PDS in Italy wasn´t able to avoid a (relatively modest) policy of attacks on the welfare state and privatization. And after this election its percentage of national voting fell to a historic low (16%). I would hardly say this is successful. If our Worker´s Party moves to center, maybe we can win an election, but will be able to change things, just now the right wing of Worker´s Party is not so different from our government (a right wing coa- lition), fortunately, they are are had only 8% of votes in the last Congress. Well, I understand your your point, but I doubt if it is a good way to so- cialism. In those difficult times we must listen to the arguments of all the left tendencies. Maybe you´re right....
Alexandre