A brief history of the IWCA in Oxford

Following lengthy discussions between a dozen national and local organisations, the IWCA was formed in October 1995. It was agreed that Labour had ditched the working class and become a party for the middle classes, that the existence of the ‘Labour Movement’ was a myth, and that the working class no longer had any genuine representation.

Accordingly, there was a need for a new independent working class organisation that would break cleanly with the past. This organisation would be community based with open membership and would strive for immediate gains in the interests of working class people.

In 1997, before the general election, IWCA activists leafleted council estates across the country. The leaflet, entitled ‘Done well under a Labour Council? You Wait until Labour’s in Government’ stressed the need for working class organisation in the face of a New Labour administration which threatened to be even worse than the Tories.

Taking back their communities: the three Oxford IWCA

councillors (left to right: Stuart Craft, Lee Cole and

Claire Kent) out campaigning in Wood Farm

Two years later a number of local elections and by-elections indicated that New Labour was starting to lose its ‘heartland’ vote. A branch of the IWCA was started up in Blackbird Leys by residents frustrated with conditions on the estate and fed up of the council and the local housing associations consistently failing to carry out their responsibilities.

The first issue of the Blackbird Leys IWCA newsletter, the Leys Independent, made it clear that it was up to people living on the estate to take matters into their own hands if they wanted to see anything done about their day-to-day problems.

In late 2000 and early 2001 the organisation conducted its first survey to determine residents’ concerns. Top of the list was crack-cocaine and heroin dealing so a high-profile campaign was initiated, attracting widespread attention from the local press, radio and TV. Significantly, the problem of hard drug dealing had been persistently ignored by Labour and the other political parties, despite this being the main issue on the estate.

After winning two new seats on the city council in June last year, the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) now represents three wards in Oxford: Blackbird Leys, Northfield Brook (Greater Leys) and Churchill—once Labour strongholds.

The IWCA’s success in tackling drug dealing, as well as our work on other issues such as antisocial behaviour, housing maintenance, rubbish clearance and parking, lead to the winning of our first council seat in May 2002. Two years later a seat was won in the neighbouring Blackbird Leys ward.

The IWCA branch in Churchill, which includes the working class estates of Wood Farm and Town Furze, had been up and running for just over a year when the IWCA candidate beat the Labour incumbent in the 2004 election. People in the ward had become increasingly disillusioned with the Labour councillors who appeared to be doing nothing about the most pressing local problems—antisocial behaviour, deterioration of the local environment and the severe lack of youth provision. We are now working to address these issues—through campaigns on the ground, at area committee meetings and in the council chamber.

Further information on the IWCA, nationally, including manifesto and FAQs please see www.iwca.info.

The IWCA national website also includes local councillor Stuart Craft’s diary.htm, which contains the latest information on council meetings and other Oxford and Blackbird Leys IWCA activity.