ABOUT THE PARTY OF ENGLAND
The English Radical Alliance is the party of England
The Party for ALL the people of England!
Formation & Leadership
The English Radical Alliance (ERA) is a pan-wing, distributist political party which was formed on July 25th 2009. Its prime aim is to counter the successive mismanagement of England by the major parties and offer a real alternative to the failures of capitalism and socialism, and the threat of extremism. ERA shares the same concerns as many ordinary people throughout England. People that have been let down by career politicians and parties of all political persuasions.
ERA is a 'grass roots' based political party. We believe the strength of our party and our cause rests in active members and active branches, and not in a 'glorious leader'. This is why we offer our Education and Training Programme to ALL members, so they can become full members of the party and playing an active role in our grass roots political movement.
Inspiration
We take our inspiration from radical elements from England’s past such as the Levelllers, the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and from internationally respected figures such as Mohandas Gandhi. Even our ‘linked ribbons’ party emblem is associated with England’s radical forefathers. The red ribbon, being worn by unpaid elements of Cromwell’s New Model Army. They wore the red ribbon as a symbol of solidarity. The sea green ribbon was worn by the Levellers, who rebelled against the continued oppression of the people following the English Civil War.
Guiding Principles
Our guiding principles are The Ten Aims for a New, Radical England, which bond ERA together and touch upon every aspect of life in England today. From these Ten Aims our policies have been developed. It is through these Aims we believe ERA can deliver a better English nation, where ordinary people can make a contribution and be valued, where we are free of systems and alliances which are unfair to the people of England, and where power can be decentralised giving people a real say in how their communities are run.
ERA offers a real alternative for the voters of England and is the only political party with the desire and vision to create a new, radical England. ERA is the only party committed to the struggle against the anti-English state and the restrictive forces of both socialism and capitalism.
Different to the Others
In recent years there has been an emergence of a number of English political parties, pressure groups and even growing recognition of England as a nation. However ERA is completely different to these. When you scratch the surface of these parties and some of the leading figures in the pressure groups, what you find is a true blue Tory rinse running through their political veins. Their vision of England exists in an almost colonial type attitude of tub thumping ‘England is best’ type nationalism. Their politics is the politics of yesterday and has no relation to 21st century England and the ordinary people of this country. Their politics would see England either with its own Parliament or possibly independent, but still inheriting the same problems we have today.
Likewise the major parties are no better, following a path of global capitalism which has brought economic ruin and misery to millions. Capitalist forces regard people as mere pawns on a chess board, there to guard the more powerful pieces, and if needs be, can simply be sacrificed if that is the game plan. Those that follow the socialist path (which is really State Capitalism), though very often well meaning in nature must have seen the damage a centralised state and dependence on political correctness can bring. The system is very top heavy, and rather than emancipating the working people, it can actually have the opposite effect.
Not Capitalism, Socialism or Extremism
The English Radical Alliance (ERA) stands outside capitalism, socialism, colonial minded nationalism and all forms of extremism.
ERA recognises the damage which has been caused by successive governments and how it is the ordinary people, time and time again, that have to pay the price for their social and economic blunders. What ERA offers is a remedy to the ills inflicted upon England and the people of England.
If we take a look at our economy, we can see the massive scale in which English companies and jobs in England have been sold to the highest bidder. Capitalism and socialism have both failed and the evidence is there for us all to see, which is why ERA shuns these two systems.
Rather than travel down the failed capitalist and socialist/state capitalist paths, ERA favours a third option, that of distributism. Through distributism, support and encouragement would be offered to small businesses, co-operatives and companies that have stake-holder schemes. Distributism would see the creation of local economies supporting each other, rather than working to the ‘dog eat dog’ rules and savagery of global capitalism.
At present global capitalism and big business not only dictates how our economy performs but also pulls the strings of government. The multi-national executives do not care about the plight of the ordinary people who are creating their wealth, just as long as the money they stash away in tax havens pays healthy dividends. ERA believes this trend needs reversing, and more people should be able to share the dividends of their companies and the country’s success, hence our support for co-operatives and stakeholder schemes.
Protecting Jobs in England
Unlike capitalism, ERA through its distributist principles would nurture and support the economy, and not sell out to those that merely seek to asset strip our industries and export our jobs abroad. To achieve this and protect the jobs of workers in England, there would have to be a degree of economic protectionism. It is simply not logical to allow businesses in England to suffer and jobs to be lost to satisfy the bank balance of a multi-national company based elsewhere. Very often products that are imported into England are manufactured by exploited workers in third world sweat shops. Such exploitation of people goes against everything we in ERA believe in, and we commend those fighting sweat shop labour wherever it exists.
In addition to protecting jobs in England through sensible economic protectionist measures, ERA would not allow England’s vital industries to be lost. Today we are still suffering the effects of the Thatcher era, where the heart was ripped out of our manufacturing base and communities torn apart. However Labour continued Maggie's masterplan with its own closure and privatisation agenda. The Corus steel plant on Teeside is a classic case of the betrayal of workers in England by a Labour Government. We witnessed Peter Mandelson, spending more time flying around in a private jet than listening to the fears of the Corus employees. Instead of having faith in the English workers, and providing a loan and support for a workers co-operative to be created, the plant was sold off and jobs lost. Kraft’s hostile purchase of Cadbury’s was another example of a multi-national company asset stripping one of our major employers and a national institution. Once again, a co-operative could have been offered to the workforce with loans to buy the company and the support needed to make it succeed. ERA is the only party that has faith in our workforce and would offer them the tools, support and incentive to put this country back on its feet.
In a similar sense we can see no point in the mass privatisation plans of the present Con-Dem coalition and the previous Labour and Tory regimes. Certain services have to remain in the public domain, and if anything ERA would look at ways at taking some of these services back into the public sector, but offering employers a greater say in how the business is managed.
Protecting our Culture
ERA also aims to protect our national culture. Nobody in their right mind wishes to discriminate against anyone because of their race, colour, sexuality or disability. Unfortunately there are extremists and colonial nationalist types that will do exactly that. ERA is not amongst these people and is firmly opposed to all forms of discrimination.
On the other end of the scale there are those that seek to appease almost every extreme minority whim and concern, even if it offends and discriminates against large sections of the public. We have all seen headlines of how nativity plays have had to be cancelled and crucifixes removed because it might offend people of particular faiths. Some people have even been told not to fly the flag of England because it might cause offence. In some cases these headlines may have been exaggerated, yet it cannot be denied that this sort of ‘discrimination’ does exist. All this does is feed extremism and acts as one of the main reasons for resentment and racial tensions in society.
ERA supports a real level playing field and opposes all forms of discrimination. In the workplace, this would mean the best candidate for the job is picked on merit and not because he or she is a requirement to make up a certain quota. In housing it means providing accommodation to those that deserve it and are most in need. In society this means promoting family values, respecting the traditions and culture of this country and abiding by the law of the land. To level what is an extremely uneven playing field in this manner, would help diffuse what has become in many areas, very volatile situations. This is something that would benefit all sections of the community and all the people of England.
Protecting England
ERA believes the people of England have a raw deal. In many ways Sotland, Wales and Northern Ireland won devolution, but England picked up the bill. We feel England needs to be free of alliances which are not in the interest of the people. This includes the E.U superstate and alliances which drag us into overseas military campaigns that do not really concern us.
In Touch with the People
Finally ERA is in touch with how the ordinary people of this country actually feel. We not only share their concerns, we want to address them. This is because we live in the real world and not the ivory towers of the major political players. We can relate to the concerns and fears of all sections of the community because we are part of the wider community. This is something the major parties and extremists of this world have divorced themselves from in order to promote their blinkered visions of England. People are not expendable pieces on a chess board or to be used as scapegoats or for monetary or political gain. The people are England, not the flag or the football team, but the people. What we need is to create a new society based on real social justice and fairness. This simply has not been happening - That is why we formed the English Radical Alliance.
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