About Us

Oxford Community Socialists originally came together in 2024 in support of the candidacy of Jabu Nala-Hartley in the Oxford local elections and the subsequent general election.

We campaigned for Jabu because of her politics. She is a black South African who has lived and been politically active in Oxford for many years, eventually becoming, until her resignation from the party, one of Oxford Labour Party's co-chairs.

She was one of ten Oxford councillors who resigned from the Labour Party in response to Keir Starmer's appalling stance on the Israeli genocide in Gaza and his refusal to call for a ceasefire. She announced that she would stand for re-election in the 2024 local election and a group of socialists from a variety of traditions and organisations in Oxford came together to work for her re-election in Barton and Sandhills ward.

Following the calling of the 2024 general election, we supported Jabu's challenge to sitting MP, and Labour Party chair, Anneliese Dodds.

We believe that working-class interests can be furthered by left-wing challenges in elections, joining and supporting solidarity campaigns, and building community initiatives. We have stayed together in order to build a principled opposition to Labour in the Oxford area, including for the 2025 Oxfordshire county council elections.

One in 16 of us is destitute. 40% of children in the communities of Blackbird Leys and Barton live in poverty. Meanwhile, the rich are getting richer, widening an already enormous wealth gap. As a result we get poorer. We need a government that takes wealth from where it is and spends it where it is needed - such as schools, hospitals, services, jobs and salaries.