Independent Working Class Association
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Independent Working Class Association
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| Leader | None |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Ideology | Workerism |
| Political position | workerist-populism |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Blue |
| Slogan | Working-class rule for working-class areas |
| Website | |
| http://www.iwca.info/ | |
The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political and economic structures. It has been most successful in the Blackbird Leys and Wood Farm estates of Oxford East and had a councillor on Oxford City Council until 2012.
The IWCA was formed in 1995 by several organisations but primarily Red Action and AFA. Initial sponsors included Communist Action Group, Colin Roach Centre, Open Polemic, Partisan, Red Action, the Revolutionary Communist Group and Socialist Parent The founding groups argued that the likely election of a New Labour government would entrench the legacy of Thatcherism and further diminish the political influence of the working class. The IWCA describes its ideology as stemming from the trade union collectivism of the 1970s. It has received support from some anarchists, but it criticises the contemporary socialist movement, describing it as "hopelessly middle class – and obsessed with Identity Politics".
From 1998, the IWCA formed groups in Birmingham, Oxford, Glasgow, the London boroughs of Islington and Hackney, and a few other areas. In 2003, it launched as a national organisation.
The IWCA slogan is "working class rule in working class areas", and its policies are based on door to door surveying of people and asking them what are the problems where they live, then trying to work out ways of resolving them. In Birmingham and Oxford this meant working with local people on issues of anti-social behaviour, and in Hackney around, for example, school closures.
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