SWP expulsions and squabbles

[sihhi]

The CC really did think that a weekly visit from an assigned member and a reading list of Lindsey German books would make him fit to return in two years.

Vanguard probation.

Anyone who isn't at least threatened with expulsion will feel deep shame about their involvement when this story comes out - which it will.

The base of the CC faction have been being misled for a long time.

 

[frogwoman]

if the allegations are true thats really shameless.

 

[SLK]

OK, Scirbbling S is SH.

 

[sihhi]

This has already gone up on SU bit thought I'd post here as well. This is the email sent out to SWP members following the Guardian story.

Can't say I find it a very strong defense.

“The person accused was removed from the party, and the members of the party heard a full report on the case at our annual conference.“
Wasn't he removed but then reinstated?

 

[Scribbling S]

The Kimber denial is a non-denial, but the loyal party members have convinced themselves it 'shoots holes' through the Guardian story. The main point is Kimber says "The person accused was removed from the party" , but carefully avoids the question "for how long".

 

[Scribbling S]

He wasn't reinstated ....yet - 2 yr suspension from 2011.

 

[emanymton]

This really is much worse then the Delta case, for one thing there was no suggestion of physical violence being used in that case but mainly as this guy was found guilty and only got a two year suspension.

 

[Scribbling S]

Yes that's me - happy not to be anonymous if it helps, but nicknames seem the style round here - solomon

 

[killer b]

I think claiming one rape case as 'worse' than another is unhelpful fwiw.

 

[sihhi]

Yes that's me - happy not to be anonymous if it helps, but nicknames seem the style round here - solomon

Out of interest, when was Delta "one of the SWP’s best union militants"?

 

[butchersapron]

Jim Jepps @Jim_Jepps
Impressed by friend of mine just getting back from SWP special conf. Lost 400 to 140 (-ish, according to him) but still holding his head up

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Third hand report on Twitter says the votes were roughly 400 to 140. Which would seem to indicate that the "undecided" handful of delegates went with the opposition, while a substantial number of the inactive people pushed through as pro-CC delegates at aggregates didn't actually show up to the conference.

(edited to add: beaten to it)

 

[sihhi]

Has this been posted yet:

http://theredneedle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/swp-crisis-opposition-smashed-at.html

Another activist wrote on facebook: "If it's the case that socialist organisations get the leaderships they deserve, then I don't know what that says for the SWP and the majority of delegates to today's Special "Conference".

"Another organisation retreating into the abyss of the sect, all the time dressing up their contemptable behaviour in the language of Proletarian Virtue. Well guess what? Working class people aren't interested in rape apologists, bureaucrats, petty bullies, middle class wanna-be's and tin-pot dictators.

 

[Fedayn]

OK, Scirbbling S is SH.

Which is meaningless except to those in the know. Pssst, taps nose, nudge nudge

 

[SpineyNorman]

Which is meaningless except to those in the know. Pssst, taps nose, nudge nudge

I don't feel it's fair to name him outright but SH himself gives a none too subtle hint in this post:

Yes that's me - happy not to be anonymous if it helps, but nicknames seem the style round here - solomon

 

[Fedayn]

I don't feel it's fair to name him outright but SH himself gives a none too subtle hint in this post:

I'm not expecting it but it's ironic that a thread dealing with secrecy and cover ups is being so secretive itself. And the post you quote is also meaningless expect, yet again, the trainspotters amongst you au fait with swp names/nicknames. Rather funny really....

 

[Sean Delaney]

Amazing ain't it? Only in a trotskyist/stalinoid party in 2013 would members be fearful of speaking their mind in public in case of repercussions. From the IDOOP circular:
"
We will each have to be incredibly disciplined after conference, in the face of provocations and likely expulsions. If significant numbers of us fail to hold our nerve or succumb to the pressures we will leave the revolutionary left weakened. We each have a responsibility not to make this mistake.
Party members will also need to look after each other and keep talking. This will be a tough time."

 

[SpineyNorman]

I'm not expecting it but it's ironic that a thread dealing with secrecy and cover ups is being so secretive itself. And the post you quote is also meaningless expect, yet again, the trainspotters amongst you au fait with swp names/nicknames. Rather funny really....

To be honest I'd never heard of him either, had to do a bit of google detective work. On a completely unrelated note, this article on the international socialism blog is quite interesting.

 

[Fedayn]

 

[redsquirrel]

This second claim is utterly appalling, if it is true then I don't see how anyone with any decency can defend/remain in the SWP.

 

[bolshiebhoy]

Third hand report on Twitter says the votes were roughly 400 to 140. Which would seem to indicate that the "undecided" handful of delegates went with the opposition, while a substantial number of the inactive people pushed through as pro-CC delegates at aggregates didn't actually show up to the conference.

Beware 3rd hand reports on twitter then! 483 for cc. 133 against 3 abstained.

 

[belboid]

Why you ask?

Cos I think it would be...how to put it...worthy of note, if my union branch chair - a branch which includes women's aid workers - has twice sat on rape hearings where the accused is someone she personally knows very well.

 

[SpackleFrog]

Beware 3rd hand reports on twitter then! 483 for cc. 133 against 3 abstained.

My first thought on reading this was "who the duck went to this conference and abstained?".

My second thought was whether or not my first thought made me a bad person.

 

[Scribbling S]

For clarity, I'm Solomon Hughes, a journalist, not especially someone to be "heard of" . Martin Smith joined the SWP, as I recall, when he was a really good union militant around the passport office. He probably had more direct experience of union work , I think , than many other members of the CC when he was on it. I am certainly not suggesting one rape is better or worse than the other - I am saying the "case", ie how the SWP responded seems more obviously worse in the second case - in that they don't deny there was a rape , but really were trying to bring the person they felt had assaulted a member back into a full time leadership role. minor ego moment over, ta.

 

[SpineyNorman]

Everybody has heard of me. Even those who haven't. There's a sense of awe when my name is mentioned - usually in guarded whispers - my reputation as a dangerous subversive provokes both fear and a sense of inadequacy in those who hear or utter it.

 

[bolshiebhoy]

Martin Smith joined the SWP, as I recall, when he was a really good union militant around the passport office. He probably had more direct experience of union work , I think , than many other members of the CC when he was on it.

And he was of course red baited by the Evening Standard for his role as a union militant. He was rightly proud of that when I knew him.

 

[SpineyNorman]

He's a bit of a tosser though, isn't he? Even if we disregard the allegations.

 

[ViolentPanda]

??

The "mutual reacharound" doesn't usually involve pens in hands.

 

[bolshiebhoy]

He's a bit of a tosser though, isn't he? Even if we disregard the allegations.

Not in my experience, thoroughly decent organiser who would never ask you to do something that he wasn't prepared to do himself. But I'm sure he's pissed off his fair share of opponents and wouldn't lose much sleep over that.

 

[SpineyNorman]

The "mutual reacharound" doesn't usually involve pens in hands.

Might be a cryptic one - the penis mightier than the sword.