Decisions were made ending the Alliance's participation in elections of any kind and committing it to support for the candidates of Respect - the Unity Coalition. The Alliance will not maintain itself as a distinct current within Respect. Few branches are still meeting and those too are likely to cease functioning in the near future.

The Socialist Workers Party (along with its water carriers the International Socialist Group) voted down all amendments to the decision to effectively close the alliance. Each vote divided very clearly along SWP/ISG versus everyone else lines. After the main vote was held, the oppositional elements withdrew from the conference to hold their own meeting. The rest of the conference then finished an hour and a half early.

In an entertaining twist, the SWP decided to postpone the decision to formally finish the alliance, so as to prevent the minority from using the name in elections. So ends one of the longest running vehicles for left unity of recent times, and not with a bang.

The Socialist Alliances had their origins in the birth and quick death of the Socialist Labour Party. Arthur Scargill had led what initially appeared to be a promising move towards a new party, but very soon he had made it clear that the SLP was to be neither broad nor democratic. Instead it was to be his personal property.

The Socialist Party, which Scargill had refused to allow to join the SLP, took an initiative to set up local alliances of socialists and other leftists. The idea was to provide a framework for left collaboration while hopefully playing a role in contributing towards the creation of new workers party. Gradually these local alliance formed a network with each other and with pre-existing local groups.

Growth was slow, but some good work was done around local campaign and in building trust amongst socialists of different stripes. In Scotland, the Scottish Socialist Party emerged from the Socialist Alliance. In England and Wales things progressed at a slower pace.

The SWP had refused to get involved in the Socialist Alliances for most of their existence and had refused to have anything to do with the SSP. Just before the first Greater London Assembly elections they executed one of their regular policy u-turns and decided to join all of them. The first decision they had an impact on was to push the Alliance into the sectarian folly of standing against the Campaign Against Tube Privatisation under the delusion that they could get Paul Foot elected to the London Assembly.

This was followed up by similar decisions, such as standing against a Unision shop stewards candidate in Hackney. Still, the SWP were finding the federal and democratic structure of the alliance something of a hindrance. They decided to change its constitution to a more centralised one, taking control of the body at every level.

In December 2001 they mobilised to push through their new constitution at the Socialist Alliance conference. From that moment the SA joined the list of SWP fronts and it was stumbling towards its eventual death. It only had value as a place where socialists could collaborate on an equal basis and as something which had potential to grow into a more important body. As an SWP front it had no value at all.

The Socialist Party left, soon to be followed by Red Action, Leeds Left Alliance and a slow but steady trickle of independent activists. For the moment the other left groups involved remained huddled around the SWP for shelter, but the writing was on the wall.

As per usual, prominent independents were wheeled out to provide a friendly face for an SWP front, in this case they included Liz Davies and Mike Marquesee. When they fell out with the SWP, they were swiftly cast aside and replaced by some more reliable independents.

The Alliance stumbled on, wheeled out or shut away as the whims of the SWP leadership dictated. Local branches shut or merged and then shut. Electoral results got worse and worse.

Meanwhile, the SWP began to get a bit worried. They had been vigourously arguing that the Socialist Alliance had established itself as the place through which left electoral opposition to Blair would flow. Even to people with their formidable ability to ignore reality, this attitude was getting a bit tenuous.

Instead of reassessing their own role in crushing the life out of the Socialist Alliance, they took the view that socialism and class politics were the problem. An even broader alliance was needed, leaving those scary issues to the side. The rump of British Stalinism, the CPB, and some Muslim religious figures were canvassed about an alliance of some kind which initially came to nought.

With George Galloway's expulsion from the Labour Party and his interest in a new formation, something did emerge however. The Respect Unity Coalition was born. The Stalinists still wouldn't play but a small number of people involved with Birmingham Central Mosque and a couple of Muslim pressure groups did sign up.

This was all too much for even the remaining other groups in the alliance. Out went Workers Power and finally it seems that the SWP/ISG have parted company with everyone else who was ever in the Socialist Alliance bar the gossip columnists of the Weekly Worker.

The destruction of the Labour Party as a vehicle for working class political representation leaves a gaping hole in British politics. Blair and company have turned Labour into another Tory party. Unfortunately, the Socialist Alliance will not now contribute to filling that hole.