Hackney Independent Socialists build their own vision

As Keir Starmer takes the Labour Party further and further right, a group of councillors in the London borough of Hackney finally left in May 2024. They became Hackney Independent Socialists. And almost two years later, they’re actively collaborating with the local Green Party to defeat Labour and the far right in May’s local elections.

The Canary spoke to Heather Mendick and Claudia Turbet-Delof from the Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (HISC) to find out more about their campaign alongside the Greens, which Mendick said:

should be a model for red-green collaboration all across the country

Excitement in Hackney as “people power” grows outside Labour

Hackney councillor Turbet-Delof said that seeing an increase in “anti-migrant rhetoric” from Starmer’s Labour meant she had “one foot out” of the party already. It felt like an “irreversible” shift. And then, Labour’s position on Israel’s genocide in Gaza “really clarified things”, as the party suspended her and others for backing ceasefire calls.

For Turbet-Delof, leaving Labour was about staying true to her principles. And HISC is unapologetic about where it stands. Mendick added that there’s a lot in common between HISC and the Greens, but the differences are still important:

The possibility of having a different agenda that’s explicitly socialist, and that comes from a small group that’s very locally based, I think is really powerful.

HISC is very much about “people power”, Mendick stressed, with huge turnouts among the membership for meetings. There’s a lot of interest and “nearly everyone is doing something”.

The fact that HISC councillors have scrutinised the council effectively and “brought things to light”, Turbet-Delof said, has helped to make “headline news”. And this in turn got residents’ attention and support, because:

they now finally feel that there is an alternative

“Making history” with a Green–Independent alliance

HISC members’ positive relationships with Greens on the council and in local campaigns have helped to foster organic collaboration. Turbet-Delof says they were “really keen to work together” in the local election campaign as a result:

it is something that benefits both, and it’s something that residents also like to hear, that it’s a collaboration.

And as Mendick insisted, this isn’t just about a “non-aggression pact”, but an “active collaboration” with “joint canvassing”. She explained that:

We have leaflets, posters, calling cards, all with two logos on…

We’re doing something new… and people are super enthusiastic. When you say to people, look, we’re making history in Hackney, here are two logos on the same piece of literature, people are like ‘wow’…

I don’t think anywhere in the country is doing what we’re doing.

At its heart, Mendick said, HISC wants to help:

to get the left working constructively together as far as that is possible

Turbet-Delof agreed, adding:

We have to stand and speak and respect one another.

Your Party has also reached out to HISC with an invitation to collaborate. HISC members will make a “collective decision” about that.

Green-HISC councillors will try to ‘shift the power relationship’

Turbet-Delof believes “a lot of councillors” in Hackney are currently “quite detached” from community work. And on some big local estates, she said, some people have told her:

no one has ever knocked on my door. It’s the first time I’ve seen a councillor.

Mendick added:

The question I ask on doorsteps is… what do you want to change in Hackney? …

We’ve learned from knocking on doors and talking to people, and our positions have changed in response to that.

And this is a key way HISC wants the council to change. As Mendick explained:

We want to shift that power relationship between residents and the council. And we’ve got a very explicit commitment that, if we are in power with the Greens, you can’t simply do a consultation and then just be like, ‘tick the box, then we’ll go on and do what we were planning to do anyway’. If you have an engagement process, whatever comes out of it, you have to commit to implementing it.

This is important, she stressed, because:

If you really want to build a movement, you have to start with that stuff. You have to make a difference in people’s lives. You have to show that the damp on their wall can get sorted, that their light can work again, that their lift can work again.

As HISC’s manifesto says, it is already:

collaborating with residents and campaign groups, by:

Holding regular People’s Forums where we can learn from residents about the issues that matter to them.

And both Turbet-Delof and Mendick asserted that this connection with the community will continue after the election.

HISC candidates in Hackney’s local election

Alongside all the Green candidates in Hackney, the HISC candidates in the joint campaign will be:

• Fliss Premru (standing for re-election in Clissold Ward).
• Claudia Turbet-Delof and Penny Wrout (both standing for re-election in Victoria Ward).
• Alana Heaney and Heather Mendick (standing for the first time in Homerton).
• Sarah Byrne (standing for the first time in London Fields).

You can see HISC’s campaign videos here and manifesto here. The nine areas of focus in the manifesto are:

1. Democracy and Workers’ Rights
2. Community Wealth Building
3. Human Rights and International Solidarity
4. A Cultural and Creative Hackney
5. Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing
6. Transport
7. Low-cost Safe Secure Housing for All
8. Migrants’ Rights and Anti-racism
9. Ageing and Living Well

Featured image via the Canary