Last week (06/01) The Solidarity Forum (SF) launched, presenting Cambridge with a new left-wing discussion society.

The Solidarity Forum aims to set itself apart from other left-wing societies, encouraging people of all political beliefs to discuss left-wing ideology primarily through a political blog and social events.

One of the founders of SF Alex Horan told Varsity she thinks Cambridge doesn’t “really have a space for people to publish, dissect, and analyse leftist thought” and so worked with her fellow founders to launch SF. She hopes that the SF will be able to “foster an environment in which people from across the spectrum can respectfully and intellectually debate”. Varsity spoke to one member of SF, who attributed the Solidarity Forum’s nonpartisan nature as a reason they joined.

As a left wing political society, the formation of Solidarity Forum has prompted discussion about how it will interact with the Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC). Some new members of the society were not enthused with the politics of CULC, and saw the society as an alternative to the club, as well as a place to voice their opposition.

One anti-CULC member of the Solidarity Forum spoke about their reasons for joining SF, declaring the “lack of true socialism” in CULC as “disheartening”.The leadership with the SF are against any anti-CULC association but accept that anti-CULC members are likely to join.

When Varsity spoke to CULC regarding the founding of the SF, they acknowledged that “there are students who want to engage in politics beyond the often constricting confines of British party politics.” but that they were “happy to see the advent of new left organisations on campus.”

Addressing accusations about toxicity within CULC, their Co-Chair said “CULC is a political space so it can get problematic but there is a really strong collective effort from all the team to be extremely inclusive”.

The SF was founded by 3 active members of CULC and spokespeople from both CULC and the SF stressed there is no hostility between the two societies, with both focussing on preventing infighting amongst the left.