Part Six

The bin tax campaigns and the Local Elections 2004

The local elections of 2004 was the first opportunity that working class people had to directly register their opposition to the parties and councillors who had imposed the tax since the elections in 1999. The idea of standing candidates against the establishment parties flows concretely from the work of the campaigns like the bin tax and can be a good way of putting the parties under pressure.

However, taking on the political establishment in such circumstances should not be entered into lightly. It is not easy and if it isn’t approached properly, the movement can actually be weakened. An electoral challenge should not be seen as a substitute to having a mass, active campaign of non-payment but as an auxiliary to such a campaign. In fact the success of such a political challenge can only be guaranteed if it is based on strong campaigns with a real base in the communities.

The issue of standing a slate of anti bin tax candidates across the four council areas in Dublin had been consistently raised from a very early stage, in particular by the SWP, long before the local elections were due. The SWP and others in the campaign placed too much importance on standing in the election. Given the situation in the campaigns and the perspective of serious non-collection, they were running ahead of themselves and overstating what the elections could achieve. They were more focused on their own political ambitions as opposed to the best way of organising the campaign.

The question of an all Dublin slate of anti-bin tax candidates became a controversial issue and Dermot Connolly has publicly blamed the Socialist Party for the fact that a slate wasn’t established. Dermot says the Socialist Party had a public position that it was "in favour of a slate of anti-bin tax candidates, provided it contained people who actually had involvement in the struggle." He says that while this sounds reasonable in reality the party was moving to make sure there was no slate of candidates.

It not only sounds reasonable, it was reasonable. How could anyone who is serious about advancing the anti bin tax struggle favour a list of candidates that contained people who hadn't bothered to build the campaign or get involved seriously in the struggle when it was at a crucial point? Such a slate would be a deception of the working class. Yet incredibly that is what Dermot Connolly, the SWP and others argued for!

We were not in favour of allowing any such abuse of the anti bin tax struggle by candidates or political groups in order to boost their own electoral prospects. However contrary to what Dermot says the Socialist Party actually proposed a serious and credible slate of candidates for Dublin city, which if agreed could have opened up the prospect of an overall slate of close to twenty candidates.

On what basis should the battle be taken onto the political plane?

From the start the Socialist Party felt that political pressure and standing campaign-based candidates in the local elections were legitimate tactics and could be used as appropriate. The vote that Joe Higgins got in the Dublin West By Election in 1996 certainly strengthened the campaign against water charges. However before the By Election, that campaign had already decisively knocked back the councils and the Government in the battle because of its strength in the areas, mass non-payment and the other tactics including direct action against water disconnections. The result in the By Election did play a crucial however in forcing the actual abolition of the tax nationally just before Xmas 1996. The size of the vote, nearly 25%, made the establishment parties scared of the political impact the campaign could have in the general election in 1997. Abolition was the least bad option from their point of view.

The water charges campaign didn't take a light-minded approach regarding the By-Election. It discussed what type of election campaign would strengthen the water charges movement and what size of vote would be respectable and therefore put the establishment under pressure rather than weaken the campaign. It entered the election confident that the By Election would strengthen the anti water charges campaign because in Dublin West the campaign had deep roots and had been built properly over the previous three years, with the candidate Joe Higgins playing a crucial role. Here the water charges campaign moved into the electoral plane from a position of strength.

The situation with regard to the bin tax was different in some important ways. In the case of the bin tax, it was an essential part of an even more serious drive to impose not only double taxation but also privatisation. Unlike the Rainbow Coalition, this Government didn't have the weak link that Labour and the Democratic Left represented at that time. As mentioned there was a clear and consolidated pro bin tax majority on the four councils.

The Socialist Party and the proposal for a slate

The Socialist Party's view regarding the bin tax and the local elections was that the issue needed to be looked at concretely in the run in to the election period. Any serious electoral challenge could only be based on well built, fighting campaigns with a base in the areas. Weak or phantom campaigns standing candidates would be likely to get small votes. We were opposed to the over emphasis that some were giving to the election a full two or three years before June 2004. In our view whether it would be possible or correct to stand anti bin tax candidates or slates would depend on what stage the campaign was at. If the tax had been imposed and the campaign had been knocked backed decisively by non-collection, then the relative importance of the issue and a slate would be diminished.

Therefore the Socialist Party's view on a slate when it was raised in late 2003 and early 2004 reflected the actual situation in the different campaigns. An anti bin tax slate had diminished in importance for Fingal because non-collection had pushed non-payment up. While the role of our party in the anti bin tax struggle became an important plus for us in the election, people did not vote for us thinking their vote could force the council to abolish the bin tax. The situation was moving in a similar direction in South Dublin.

Of course in Dublin City and Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown non-collection hadn't been imposed but the campaigns had still been significantly affected by the outcome of the battles in Fingal and South Dublin. The Socialist Party shared the desire of genuine activists for a real slate of candidates and outlined on many occasions, the positive role that a credible slate could play. However we believed that in the conditions that existed a slate would have a limited impact. On the one hand the established parties were determined to hold the line on the bin tax. On the other, for a slate to really be more that the sum of its parts, there would need to be a developing mood to use the election to protest or as a launch pad for a new political alternative. That wasn't the general mood throughout Dublin.

Even though the impact of an anti bin tax slate would be limited, we recognised that having a credible one would be a step forward. Dermot says the Socialist Party was moving to make sure that there was no slate. As mentioned, that is contradicted by the fact that we actually proposed a specific slate at a special meeting for activists in the city. What is true is that we were very concerned that the SWP would try to stack a slate with candidates with little credibility. Our attitude remained that any individual or area that was looking to be endorsed should at least have played a serious role in the battle in the September and October period of 2003. In that sense for us the character of any bin tax slate had fundamentally already been determined by the actions of people and parties in the struggle last autumn.

The areas in the city where strong campaigns existed and where the issue of elections had come up were - Finglas, Cabra, East Wall, Ballyfermot, Crumlin and the Liberties. At the meeting mentioned earlier we put forward the positive proposal that candidates from these areas, which included two in Finglas, should be part of a slate. This would have included - two members of Working Class Action, a member of the Irish Socialist Network, one SWPer, one ex SP now independent (Joan Collins), one Sinn Fein and one Socialist Party.

Dermot Connolly opposed our proposal and wanted the inclusion of the SWP's candidates in Ringsend and Coolock onto the slate. He says "When it was proposed by people at this meeting that areas where there was a question mark over the local campaigns' level of organisation and activity, such as Ringsend or Coolock/Artane, we could write to the membership, calling a meeting and then judge whether to support candidates on the basis of the level of turnout and local support. This was rejected out of hand".

No proper campaign, with consistent activity existed in either area. The campaign in Coolock, led by the SWP was non-existent. So Dermot Connolly’s call to convene meetings of the campaigns to decide if a candidate should be endorsed was meaningless. Such an approach is not serious or democratic. On that basis it might as well have been proposed to hold public meetings anywhere and see if those present wanted to stand in the election!

These individuals and the SWP as a party, had more than three years to build strong campaigns in their areas and had de facto refused or failed to do so. In our view they could not be lauded now and given the status of anti-bin tax candidates. For us the broadening out of the slate in the way that Dermot Connolly and the SWP wanted would undermine and devalue the struggle that had been waged. In effect the SWP would be rewarded for their lack of struggle and political opportunism, which is the opposite of what the working class needs. Based on experience it would have meant giving the status of a very significant struggle to people who in all probability would go missing after the election, and possibly when non-collection was actually being imposed in their own areas. Socialist Party members correctly rejected the suggestion of convening of such meetings as a stroke.

Dermot points the finger of blame at the Socialist Party when he says: "The SP eventually gave an ultimatum; either their version of the list or they would not participate in it... The upshot of all this is that there is no list." Dermot again rushes his arguments. It is very important to be clear on this. It is entirely reasonable for the Socialist Party to say it will not participate in a slate of candidates if we believe that slate is bogus. That is not an ultimatum against anybody; it is the Socialist Party exerting its own rights in a responsible manner. That Dermot portrays it as an ultimatum perhaps indicates that he thought a slate needed to have the participation of the Socialist Party in order to be credible.

The key question that needs to be answered regarding the anti bin tax slate of candidates, needs to be answered by Dermot and the SWP: if you really wanted a credible slate, why didn't you support our reasonable proposal of seven candidates in the city? Such a slate could have been expanded to close to twenty with the inclusion of the other council areas. You had the power to make that happen! The Socialist Party's position was completely legitimate.

Our support for a credible but limited slate was not based on petty rivalry with the SWP. That is shown by the fact that Socialist Party was willing to make a certain concession and accept SWP candidates from Dun Laoghaire, Ballyfermot and Clondalkin on a central slate. We were prepared to do this simply because we appreciated the genuine desire of some activists to establish a slate. We would have continued to argue against the position and methods of the SWP but the overall character of the slate would still have represented a step forward.

As mentioned if our proposal for the city slate had been agreed, it could have resulted in the establishment of a slate covering the four council areas, with up to twenty candidates. All the Socialist Party can be accused of is taking its responsibilities to the working class seriously. We take the issue of endorsing candidates and slates seriously and were not going to be involved in endorsing a bogus slate.

The Socialist Party's position on slates of candidates flowed from and was consistent with the actual struggle on the bin tax. The subsequent results in the local elections vindicated our position.

The outcome of the local elections 2004

The same people, who have been overstating the importance of the elections all along, now of course must overstate the outcome of the elections. Some have stated that the votes achieved by anti bin tax candidates in June's local elections represented a significant breakthrough for the left.

The overall vote of the anti bin tax candidates and left in Dublin was credible and included some strong performances. Just under 27,000 votes were cast for 29 candidates who would claim to be connected to the anti bin tax campaigns. Four were elected, Clare Daly, Ruth Coppinger and Mick Murphy, all from the Socialist Party (all getting between 15 - 20%) and Joan Collins Independent Socialist, ex Socialist Party, (14%) in Crumlin. Three other candidates came close. A switch of less than a hundred votes would have elected Cieran Perry of Working Class Action (9.5% Cabra), Lisa Maher, Socialist Party (7.5% Dundrum) and Pat Dunne, Independent Socialist (7.5% Greenhills).

The idea that if a slate of candidates had been established it could have resulted in the election of up to ten councillors ignores reality. Apart from the three mentioned, on the basis of a serious examination no other candidate could be said to have come close to being elected. Even in these three cases, the task of bridging gaps of even less than a hundred votes isn’t as easy as it sounds. Having more resources would be much more likely to have had an impact than being part of slate.

The idea that by getting as many candidates as possible, a certain point will be reached when you’ll have the numbers to be seen as a viable alternative is false. In order for a slate to have an impact there needs to be a developed mood on an issue or a desire on behalf of the working class for the alternative represented by such a slate. The mood and the consciousness of working class people are the crucial questions and unfortunately the mood wasn’t developed enough at the time of the local elections.

In Dublin the Socialist Party got just over 13% of the vote in the areas where it stood. (We got our first county councillor elected outside of Dublin when Mick Barry topped the poll in Cork North Central with 17.5%) The SWP got just over 5% in the areas where they stood. The vote of the credible anti bin tax candidates independent of these two parties, people who the Socialist Party would have advocated should be on a slate, like WCA, the ISN and Pat Dunne averaged just under 9% of the votes in the areas where they stood.

In general the best votes were achieved in areas where parties or activists had built strong campaigns and / or had seriously fought the battle. As it turned out all the candidates benefited from the battle that were waged by the Fingal campaign in particular. Certainly without the bin tax issue itself, the votes of some of the candidates would have been significantly less. In an overall sense, especially when looked at from a national point of view, the votes for the left candidates were credible but did not represent a serious move by sections of the working class towards the building of a new working class political force.

The SWP, Dermot Connolly and Joan Collins who had overstated the importance of the elections and the impact they could have, in turn had to overstate what was actually achieved in the elections. Amongst other things the votes have been referred to as a significant breakthrough; an historic vote for the left in Dublin; showed clearly that the conditions were maturing for a new left force. Socialist Worker of 23 June 2004 stated "Socialist candidates registered some of their best election results in the history of the state." They reported that four councillors had been elected in Dublin and stated that the SWP "came very close" and the Socialist Party "came close" to winning an additional four councillors each!

As shown earlier such statements are simply incorrect and indicate a wrong assessment of the objective situation. Long before the election this wrong assessment was also demonstrated in an over emphasis on political pressure and lobbying; an overstatement of the power of the city campaign and the sowing of illusions that it was possible to get the bin tax scrapped by a vote at Dublin City Council.

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