British SWP disintegrating further....

by Rosa Cliff - swp Mon Mar 01, 2010 21:06

Before we get too smug about this we have to answer the very serious charge that th British SWP's CC ordered Lindsey not to speak at a STWC meeting. Thereby countermanding the democratic wishes of the united front grouping. This is regardless of your views of the Respect debacle. Remember, no reason was even offered for this order, which implies an absence of politics and debate. You can make the charge of "Factionalism" now and relate this to the debate at Conference. But, no such charge of factionalism was made in the e-mail from Martin Smith... there was no reason suggested at all! Was this for legalistic reasons?

Is this the sort of democracy that would or should be tolerated a workers councils, when Bourgeois parliaments are replaced? Should party members only be allowed to speak out on one side of the argument. Now that's hardly 'democratic'.

If they are allowed to get away with this without criticism from within the SWP, or if we daren't even allow our members to criticise, well then it's "Darkness at Noon", and it's already too late comrades.

Irish members don't have to cravenly follow the line of Smith... time will tell and a motion has yet to be passed or defeated. I'm sure I speak for many socialists from whatever organisation who refuse to be duped by these sort of Stalinist maneuverings from cowardly bureaucrats. Shameful.

by twelfty - SWP Mon Mar 01, 2010 15:09

It's not true to say that everyone in the SWP was wholeheartedly in favour of many of the things that happened as part of the Stop-the-War / Respect projects. I was at many SWP branch meetings and national meetings where misgivings were expressed about certain aspects e.g. the uncritical public attitude towards some reactionary Islamic organisations and the whole Rees-German theory of the 'united front of a special kind'. But we need to remember that Stop the War has magnified and given vent to the huge anti-war sentiment and without Respect we could have seen a much worse retreat into Islamic fundamentalism from Muslims and racists such as the BNP would have been able to exploit the war to deepen racial divisions much more than they have so far managed to do.
Rees and German did some excellent work - let's not forget - but in the end were given too much leeway.
Reality is always messy - the SWP has made an overdue course correction and has also belatedly recognised that despite the formal democracy in the party's constitution, all too often members at branch level felt uncomfortable about raising disagreements.
What SWP members do is to say - ok, I may not agree with all of this but let's give it a go and see what happens. Surely, the alternative is paralysis ?

by Observer Mon Mar 01, 2010 00:50

Andrew I am assuming you are a member of the SWP in Ireland. It is not true to say that this has nothing to do with the SWP in Ireland. The SWP in Ireland and Britain are two national sections of the same organisation. These issues concern every member of the SWP around the world. Your party in Ireland is run in the same bureaucratic way and is equally politically dishonest. What have the Irish leadership of the SWP ever said about Respect except to wholeheartedly endorse it when the SWP were still involved. Now that is has fallen asunder and the British SWP has split in the aftermath the Irish SWP are silent and it seems are telling their members this has nothing to do with us. That leading members of your international leave after 37 years of membership is something you should be asking questions about. Lyndsey German was a member of the SWP before your party in Ireland even existed. Does it not concern you at all why she has left and why Martin Smith dismissed her leaving with an insulting email and a refusal to politically answer her claims?

by Andrew Mon Mar 01, 2010 00:39

This has nothing to do with the SWP in Ireland of course.

Nothing.

by reject Mon Mar 01, 2010 00:15

Martin only wrote the other 'conciliatory' email after the original bank statement became common knowledge in the blogospere....

by Jimbob Sun Feb 28, 2010 16:49

"When someone resigns from the Party the organisation is required by law to inform the person it is their responsibility to cancel the direct debit. Following this another message was sent expressing regret at Lindsey's decision. Please get your facts right befrore you start writing utter crap."

This is simply not true. This is the line invented to explain away the obnoxious email from Martin Smith. IMO, what probably happened is that he told someone else about it in the leadership afterwards and they realised they should send something a bit more conciliatory and therefore had to explain the first one. But it simply has no basis in fact - very few if any of those who have previously left the SWP or other parties have received such an email.

by Ex SWP Sun Feb 28, 2010 15:32

When I left the swp I didn't receive such an email.

But even if it was true it doesn't exuse the manner in which it was sent. The fact is that Smith was pushing her to resign and got exactly what he wanted- the letter of regret was only an afterthought, to save face when other swp members found out about the correspondance.

by trotface - SWP Sun Feb 28, 2010 14:42

When someone resigns from the Party the organisation is required by law to inform the person it is their responsibility to cancel the direct debit. Following this another message was sent expressing regret at Lindsey's decision. Please get your facts right befrore you start writing utter crap.

by Observer Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:21

Yes James this is typical SWP lets just explain a major political split as a dispute over a bad worker or leader! Bullshit.. This is a political split that has been developing since the collapse of Respect. It reflects the serious political mistakes made by the collective leadership of the SWP, not just Rees and German - Martin Smith and all of the rest fully supported what went on in Respect and the Stop the War Coalition. Unprincipled alliances with right wingers like the Liberal Democrats, and communalist Muslim organisations, and political opportunists who ended up in the New Labour and the Tories. None of you opposed these tactics, there wasn't one voice of opposition raised either in Britain or Ireland!
Now the leadership of the Irish SWP are doing the exact same thing with People Before Profit in which they want to do deals with right wingers, politicians who support coalition with the bosses parties and who vote for cuts in public services.
Personally abusing John Rees or Lyndsey German is a very poor response. Why don't you try to politically explain what has gone on, or is it that the SWP haven't had a real political debate and discussion around the issues in order to learn from the mistakes made with Respect. If they haven't that would not surprise me, the SWP have habit of just ditching ideas, strategies, programme and tactics without any discussion and they then just pretend it all never happened. This did this in Ireland in relation to the national question when they dropped support for the Provos armed struggle and calling for votes for Sinn Fein without ever giving an explanation of why.

by joe - iawm pers cap Fri Feb 26, 2010 10:48

Fair enough points James .But it would have been better to have heard them from someone in the Irish SWP which hasn’t as far as I am aware issued any statement at all about the split in Britain. (Although in fairness the toy- town Irish SWP has always taken its line from the dominant faction in the British group so perhaps they are just waiting for the dust to settle )

If the Irish SWP has in the past tended to follow the Lindsay /Rees faction’s trajectory, and if Lindsay is a petulant bully enthralled to “an arrogant prick “ then James might be able to get some idea of what we have to put up with over here in Ireland . Would there be any chance of you expelling your Irish section as an act of international solidarity James ?

by James White - yes Fri Feb 26, 2010 04:09

Yeah I know you aren't in the SWP - or even the same country.

But honestly people would respect you more if you got the basic fact straight.
(Although in fairness journalists never do on real papers so toy-town Indi-journos have a right to be wrong I suppose.)

"After the recent expulsion of Lindsey German..." says your headline. Listen:
Lindsey wasn't expelled! She stropped off in a huff.

She resigned from the CC after the SWP rank and file turned against her useless boyfriend because he made a consistent fuck up of everything he touched.

WE (our party) sacked him - she flounced off.

It is our right (politically that is) to ditch bad leaders, and hers to argue against it. But not hers to hold us to ransom.

It was petulant bullying behaviour and Martin Smith called her bluff. If she wants to behave like this then goodbye, we don't want you both (Rees truly was an arrogant prick who sullied the movement with his hubris). And also to the sad60 she took with them (not much after 37 years is it).

(and funny after writing all those books on feminism she can't see the man infront of her).

she wasn't expelled. from anything (although she was asked to abide by our conference decision and stop factionalising.)

by Political Transfer Mon Feb 22, 2010 13:34

It will be interesting to see what impact this split in the British SWP will have in Ireland. The political position and trajectory of the Irish leadership of the SWP is very similiar to that of those who have left the British SWP, such as John Rees and Lyndsey German. Could this result in the Irish SWP breaking its international links with the British SWP and instead realigning themselves with Rees and German?

by Darren C - L5I (pc) Sat Feb 20, 2010 20:07

The resignation from the Socialist Workers Party of 42 members of the Left Platform, including leading figures such as Lindsey German and John Rees, delivers an important opportunity for SWP and Left Platform members alike to reconsider critical elements of their political tradition.

If activists can re-examine the underlying political reasons for the crisis that has culminated in these resignations, then this can be an occasion for a radical recomposition of the far left in Britain, at a time when the strengthening of the revolutionary movement is a burning necessity as the ruling class lines up for a sustained offensive across the board.

If on the other hand the Left Platform sticks to its current statement of policy, refuses to commence a critical re-examination of the SWP’s fundamental politics, and fails to elaborate a new set of policies and a programme for the working class struggle today, then it will either collapse as its members drift into individual campaigning activity in the broader movement, or end up as part of a new combination with opportunist groups unable or unwilling to mount a coherent challenge to the reformist leaders of the Labour movement today.

Full article: http://www.workerspower.com/index.php?id=47,2279,0,0,1,0

by english anti-war - none Thu Feb 18, 2010 14:27

It is sad that martin smith had such great distain for Lindsay German despite years of loyalty to the swp. The only thing he said when she resigned was cancel your direct debit. It also shows there complete distain for those in the anti war movement that aren't fitting their life round the will of the swp 'central committee’. I just hope the Irish swp aren’t as bad?

by reject Tue Feb 16, 2010 18:37

Lindsey German: Why I resigned from the SWP
http://luna17activist.blogspot.com/2010/02/lindsey-germ....html

That 'disputed' Stop the War meeting: setting the record straight
http://luna17activist.blogspot.com/2010/02/that-dispute....html