Transform: the first 12 months

 21st October 2024

By Linda Wall

“Political parties, organisations and individuals from across the movement have united to take the next step: founding a new party of the left to provide a real alternative to our broken political system. The question is, are you with us ?”

This was the call that went out on social media in July 2023. Over 8,000 people quickly signed up to support the call.

What did those 8,000 people hope to see ? I know what I hoped for. I wanted to be part of a project that could quickly draw in some of the most charismatic figures in our movement, inspiring thousands to join and become activists; becoming not just a party but also a vibrant political movement, able to reach sections of the population that small left grouplets never connected with, and in this way begin to redraw the political landscape.

Measured against these aspirations, you could say that Transform has failed. We’ve not grown in size and influence in the way that we all hoped. Truth be told, our membership numbers are actually lower than they were six months ago.

That’s only part of the story though. We’ve reached out to others on the left, made some great contacts, supported many independent candidates in the General Election, seen the independent movement rise and secure some spectacular results in the election. A large progressive section of this independent movement is involved in the new body Collective, along with Transform. Discussions are taking place in this forum with a view to setting up a new party.

Creating a mass party of the Left is the goal. That’s why Transform was set up. Our aim is to bring large sections of the Left together. The rapid collapse in support for the Labour government makes this work all the more urgent. If anyone tells you that Transform is finished, don’t believe them. We’re busy learning the lessons of the last 12 months so that we can move on, fight another day, and play our part in giving birth to a credible left wing alternative to Labour.

Our Officers

In December 2023 we elected a team of 15 EC officers. Several of them hadn’t known one another long, the roles weren’t defined in any great detail, and support and training were non-existent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we’ve had quite a high turnover of officers.

It’s taken a while, but we’ve now got an EC team that’s much more robust. Our new National Secretary Marianne Cramp-Jukes has her feet on the ground, is hard working, and is supportive to others. There is some guidance now, some officers have appointed deputies, and some have set up whole teams of volunteers to confer with and to help shoulder some of the work.

Most importantly, our EC officers are part of a wider group of activists who’ve all been on the same journey together over the last 12 months, who’ve been communicating regularly on WhatsApp and on Zoom, and are by and large building up trust and comradeship. Our London Conference had something of the feel of a family event, where at every turn you’re saying hello to familiar faces from around the country who you’ve not seen for a while.

Website

More than a few of you have voiced your frustrations with the party website. These frustrations are shared by the EC team and by Transform Council members. The website is where people look to find out who we are and what we stand for. It can and should also be a place where activists go regularly to keep themselves up to date about what the party’s doing and saying.

We’ve set up a website working group that had its first meeting on Tuesday. We’re going to be looking at every aspect of the Transform website, and doing whatever we have to, to make it not just look good, but be an active living part of the work of the party.

Party strategy

Transform has no leader, or any one person who decides on the strategic agenda of the party. It’s up to the EC Team to give direction, and make sure that the party is on track.

All our teams need strategic direction. Our messaging and slogans at any one time should tie in with what we’re doing around recruitment, the literature that we’re producing, and our social media output.

The EC acknowledges that Transform needs to improve, and has set up a Strategy Working Group, which has been meeting regularly. By all accounts these meetings have been highly productive, and you can expect to be hearing more soon about what they’ve been up to.

Party policy

Transform set out its stall from day one on the basis of ten core principles. A conscious decision was made not to develop a more detailed set of policies prior to the launch, as it was thought to be more democratic to leave this to an elected leadership and a subs paying membership. 

The debate continues as to whether this was the right move, or whether it’s more important to the credibility of any party intending to contest elections to start out with a clear policy offer, however this is arrived at.

At Transform Conference we moved forward a couple of steps on party policy, and our new Policy Officer Hugo Garvey set out what will be happening next.

Local networks and forums

Parties of thousands of members with campaigning bases up and down the country don’t spring into being from thin air. They build on what already exists. Whatever left organisation you’re in, you’re going to know people with decades of campaigning experience. There’s countless groups and campaigns in every region. If a new party can bring just some of this together under one banner, yes there’s still much work it has to do to earn peoples trust and loyalty, but that’s an enormous amount of credibility it can stack up.

Transform learned the hard way that it’s not easy to establish viable local groups from scratch when you’re a small party without much of a national profile. The task became harder because one of our founding groups, Left Unity, ended up splitting, with some members opting to keep their old organisation going instead of committing themselves to Transform.  

The EC are now clear that we need to be more collaborative in our local activity. The recent EC statement said this – “We are urging branches and members to prioritise getting involved in community forums and action groups where they exist, and to work to build them where they do not yet.”

Working with our Allies

This has been a very important part of our work over the year. At Conference, National Organiser Anwarul Khan described how he’s been dedicating himself to this ever since being elected to the EC. Under his stewardship, Transform created its Left List of election candidates, and offered them training and support, all the while building up a network which remains in place to this day. Several of these Left List candidates attended our conference at Anwarul’s invitation. Anwarul is also a delegate to the regular Collective meetings, where Transform is a trusted partner. 

We are sowing the seeds of future collaboration and future growth. And just as importantly, we have a clear vision of what kind of organisation is required to achieve our common goals.

In summary

While the last 12 months hasn’t been the kind of journey that we hoped for, we don’t see it as failure. We’re stronger, smarter, more experienced and more united, and crucially we may soon get an opportunity to become a part of a much bigger project.