Grassroots

Further to the Alliance's demise, the Herald quotes from a letter sent to Alliance members by the outgoing leadership:

"We give notice that after the conference we will set up a new broad left activist organisation that will not run in the next election under its own banner, but will organise support for the Maori Party and Green Party and other progressive groups or individuals contesting electorate constituencies as appropriate."

I've argued for a while that the left needs its own think tank to provide intellectual ammunition to oppose the BRT, but I think that it also needs something like this: a grassroots organisation to encourage left-wing parties to stay left and maximise the chances of a left (rather than centrist) coalition government. It's good work, and I'm glad that the former Alliance leadership wants to do it. However, I also hope they'll avoid the usual left-wing problem of holding a grudge, and support any credible candidates the Alliance chooses to run.