SWP expulsions and squabbles

[Karmickameleon]

Resignation letter from Viv Smith (one of the first to take up W's case). Very admirable and absolutely correct:

Dear Charlie,

It is with deep sadness that I am writing to resign from the SWP.

For three years a handful of us, growing to an impressive 400-500, have tried to resolve the appalling handling of the two disputes cases. In this time it became clear that the CC chose to cover up rather than address their and the DCs mistakes or confront Martin’s behaviour.

Despite countless opportunities to resolve the situation, the CC chose to allow sexist, uncomradely and undemocratic behaviour from CC members and Smith supporters, including condoning lies that the women were spurned lovers and/or politically motivated.

This process has lead to the degeneration of our politics on women’s oppression and has destroyed the small steps we took under the Democracy Commission to open up party democracy. One of the brightest generations of student revolutionaries has been squandered and with it our ability to rejuvenate the party.

I stayed in the party this year with the hope that if enough comrades were made aware of the situation, they would demand it be rectified. I stayed to win some kind of justice for the two women comrades so badly treated, and because I believed that the SWP was worth fighting for. I do not want to leave, but I cannot simply continue to remain in an organisation which is being destroyed by a leadership who, out of fear of tackling political and organisational weaknesses, are trampling our core principles and compounding mistakes at the cost of political clarity and direction.

Viv Smith

 

[butchersapron]

Ugh:

One of the brightest generations of student revolutionaries has been squandered and with it our ability to rejuvenate the party.

worthless now they're outside the SWP.

 

[butchersapron]

Quite surprised they're allowed to address him so informally as well.

 

[frogwoman]

Indeed, Comrade Bala would never stand for this

 

[Karmickameleon]

Ugh:



worthless now they're outside the SWP.

So says the Professor...

 

[butchersapron]

Btw: if some adults lie, what does that do to the logic of “we aren’t rape apologists unless we believe that women always tell the truth – and guess what, some women and children lie”?

In case a: the swp can only be rape apologists if they believe all claims of rape from women and children are true
In case b: surely they must recognise that some adult males lie.
Which then
c: totally negates the defence of them them not being rape apologists offered in a. That defence falls - and by its own logic.

I wonder who said these words anyway.

 

[bolshiebhoy]

Hypocrite. You know full well that Martin is in the wrong and that the CC have manoeuvred to appease his supporters. But because your fundamental conviction is that the SWP must continue in its current form, you think that it is preferable to take the hit and then soldier on. You've written him off as collateral damage.

Calm down fella. The are two different things here. Politically I think he and Renton have made a huge mistake. But they are both admirable people and generally conduct themselves with great dignity, more than most of us on this thread can muster. Ian's resignation letter is an exemplar of that. It is still possible to admire people who you think have got something wrong. Just as its very possible to dislike people you trust politically. That's just life.

 

[SpackleFrog]

yeah, all the oppo's left last year. They're all still in ISN tho (even if they might be anathema)

No. Some of them have told me very specifically they don't want to be involved in the ISN.

 

[belboid]

No. Some of them have told me very specifically they don't want to be involved in the ISN.

they are mostly still in it tho, at least a dozen or so are

 

[articul8]

Let's just remember how stinging Birchall's verdict is:

monstrously irresponsible and self-indulgent...obstinate and short-sighted, at worst grossly dishonest...self-selecting leadership...Good comrades have been treated shamefully, apparently with CC approval...the leadership has broken down all relations of trust..an arrogance that disqualifies them as a leadership...cowardice and dishonesty [..of Callinicos - compared to a dog] ...descent into irrelevance...

50 years in an organisation you think has been wrecked by a self-selecting leadership fronted by a dishonest coward, that has now descended into irrelevance. As indictments go it's a good 'un

 

[emanymton]

No you're correct and making the distinction is important.

Galloway was pretty much acting as a rape apologist with his "sexual etiquette" bollocks, most of the SWP loyalists are in outright denial as far as I can see. Which position is the more ethically and intellectually bankrupt is another matter.

Denial and apologism are by definition two different things and it doesn't help anyone to conflate the two.

I think this is spot on, I would also say that denial is the better (doesn't seem the right word to use here) and more understandable position. If, for example my dad was to be accused of rape then the 'he didn't do it' reaction would be more reasonable than 'yes he did it but there was nothing wrong with what he did'.

There is a possible issue with the DC and a few senior members of the party who presumably know the full details of the case. It could be that they don't believe what W describes as talking place was in fact rape. But we have no way to know.

Odd I thought I had quoted spinney's post. Oh well still kind of works

 

[Oisin123]

Politically I think he and Renton have made a huge mistake ... It is still possible to admire people who you think have got something wrong.

What was their mistake? What have they gotten wrong?

 

[SpineyNorman]

Let's just remember how stinging Birchall's verdict is:


50 years in an organisation you think has been wrecked by a self-selecting leadership fronted by a dishonest coward, that has now descended into irrelevance. As indictments go it's a good 'un

Could be talking about your party there - though admittedly the lp certainly aren't irrelevant (unfortunately)

 

[articul8]

That's the key difference - staying in the Labour party is in no sense an endorsement of its present leadership, policy, actions etc, or even - necessarily, or in an unqualified way - its historic role, function and core philosophy. It's just a recognition of its strategic unavoidability at the electoral level.

I don't underestimate the wrench for someone like Birchall. But for younger comrades it's no great loss to leave the SWP and join some other sect or regroupment project, because they are similarly irrelevant.

 

[butchersapron]

Why can't you recognise your own similar irrelevance within your party as these have within wider society? And draw the same conclusions that they had the bottle to.

 

[chilango]

staying in the Labour party is in no sense an endorsement of its present leadership, policy, actions etc, or even - necessarily, or in an unqualified way - its historic role, function and core philosophy.

There's "bending the stick" and there's articul8.


Fucking hell mate .

 

[Pickman's model]

That's the key difference - staying in the Labour party is in no sense an endorsement of its present leadership, policy, actions etc, or even - necessarily, or in an unqualified way - its historic role, function and core philosophy. It's just a recognition of its strategic unavoidability at the electoral level.

I don't underestimate the wrench for someone like Birchall. But for younger comrades it's no great loss to leave the SWP and join some other sect or regroupment project, because they are similarly irrelevant.

you don't like taking responsibility, do you. you're the sort of person who'd have stayed in the communist party after kruschev's famous secret speech ("nothing to do with me"), hungary '56 ("nothing to do with me") and the prague spring ("nothing to do with me"), not to mention the pact with hitler.

 

[J Ed]

That's the key difference - staying in the Labour party is in no sense an endorsement of its present leadership, policy, actions etc, or even - necessarily, or in an unqualified way - its historic role, function and core philosophy. It's just a recognition of its strategic unavoidability at the electoral level.

They pay their dues to people involved in multiple rape cover ups and you pay your dues (and I assume time, effort, and moral support) to people responsible for illegal wars which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, anti-trade union legislation, attacks on civil liberties, privatisation of public services, attacks on people on welfare...

 

[Pickman's model]

They pay their dues to people involved in multiple rape cover ups and you pay your dues (and I assume time, effort, and moral support) to people responsible for illegal wars which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, anti-trade union legislation, attacks on civil liberties, privatisation of public services, attacks on people on welfare...

but those are all, in articul8's view, socially acceptable

 

[articul8]

They pay their dues to people involved in multiple rape cover ups and you pay your dues (and I assume time, effort, and moral support) to people responsible for illegal wars which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, anti-trade union legislation, attacks on civil liberties, privatisation of public services, attacks on people on welfare...

I have not sanctioned, condoned or excused the behaviour of the Labour party leadership on any of those questions. I have sided with those inside (and outside) the party trying to fight this every step of the way.

 

[ddraig]

saw this somewhere else earlier
http://stavvers.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/an-anticipatory-obituary-for-the-swp/

An anticipatory obituary for the SWP
By stavvers
The SWP have appeared dead in the water for months, since the revelations of sexual violence and attempts at cover-up like an inept, less popular and worse-dressed Catholic Church. And yet, like cockroaches, they have survived.

The latest horror to come to light is a phrase uttered to applause at their conference:

We aren’t rape apologists unless we believe that women always tell the truth – and guess what, some women and children lie

At best, this statement can be interpreted as unabashed, unapologetic rape apologism. At worst, one wonders why they’re laying the groundwork for smearing children who have survived sexual violence as liars, and what else may emerge.

Following this statement, the SWP has once again haemorrhaged members, and some are once again celebrating the death of the party. I hope this is true, but sadly I suspect that we’ll be seeing this gang of misogynists shambling on, long outstaying their welcome. After all, they’ve survived this long.

 

[butchersapron]

At worst, one wonders why they’re laying the groundwork for smearing children who have survived sexual violence as liars, and what else may emerge.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[chilango]

I have not sanctioned, condoned or excused the behaviour of the Labour party leadership on any of those questions. I have sided with those inside (and outside) the party trying to fight this every step of the way.

Nope.

You're just a paid up member, and activist.



FFS Give it up.

Just 'fess up that you enjoy politics, fancy making something of a "career" out of it and the LP gives you this.

That's understandable.

...and is far more honest than all of this tying yourself up in knots of bullshit trying to somehow make your Labour Party membership (and activism) a legit form of radical leftism.

 

[treelover]

Dear Charlie,
I am writing tonight to resign from the Socialist Workers Party. I am a revolutionary socialist who has viewed all the events since 2010 with alarm. It is not just the defence of rape by the upper echelons of the party, but also the very fact that their is an upper echelon in the SWP. As a blue collar worker without a university education I have always struggled to be accepted in the intellectualised atmosphere of the party. I do not think that anyone who joins should have to smash through a political/intellectual glass ceiling, but we do. In so many ways the SWP mirrors the society we aim to bring down. There is class and privilege in the party, that much was obvious to me from early on, I fought to smash it down, but like any other structure the hierarchy clings to power, at a national or local level.
Time and again I approached the party to complain of poor comradeship, zero support and poor organisation in Bristol, at least four times I was fobbed off the rest ignored. Once at a meeting in my own home I and the Secretary of UAF in Bristol, were silenced in our criticism of comrades, as it was felt that important funds from the NUT would be held back. To our knowledge those funds never materialised. Our local campaigns were jeopardized for the sake of national money, to prop up National UAF. For all these years as a good comrade I kept my mouth shut, or had it shut for me.
I can be brutal with language, I recognise Boss-like behaviour when I see it and I see it in the Party. You are the bosses, people like me, who trail around doing what we are instructed, are the workers; who are then smashed for showing a flicker of initiative. Worst of all are the unelected, self appointed, middle managers who have a position due to their seniority, a woeful parody of the bosses and managers we are trying to remove. I have a simple rule; anything that we resist at work, we should resist in our own organisation.
This in turn brings me to the immediate events around Martin Smith. This whole series of events has been spread over three years, not one and we have long been aware of the allegations facing Martin Smith. Again as a trade union rep with experience of discipline and how workers are treated, abused and oppressed, it was stunning to see the same behaviour occurring in the SWP and from comrades who have also been long serving Trade Unionists. It goes with the territory to stand up for the oppressed, not to be the oppressor. I was shocked to hear how the Disputes Committee had harassed the woman comrade who had been abused, any half competent trade union official would have stopped a meeting like that and any half decent revolutionary would never conduct a meeting like that.
I was proud to vote against the CC at the January 2013 conference and have paid the price in Bristol ever since. I believe in a revolutionary socialist party, your SWP is not it. You have had successes, yet as the Tories move further to the right and Labour clings to their coat tails and the Lib Dems face wipe-out the SWP is dragged further and further into the resulting vacuum. We need to resist all temptation, on the one hand to oppress other humans and on the other, to be drawn into the movement in the way you are doing through Unite the Resistance, amongst other campaigns. As revolutionaries we should always be firmly rooted in our place on the left and never over stretch into the movement. There are limits.
I trust you can see that my reasons for resignation are not purely based on the exploits of Martin Smith. I feel too many concessions are made to movementism and there is a lack of understanding of how we operate in United Fronts. Too many comrades can talk the talk, yet when they walk the walk it is to the beat of the Labour Party drum.
I have stayed in the SWP hoping that I could be a part of changing our structures from within. The democracy commission was a carve up and so too have been all the conferences and structures since. A former comrade in Bristol always used to tell me “Jaz, there are talkers and do-ers”, Charlie, I must report the talkers have won. The party is taking on the appearance of a retirement home where old bigoted ideals will be savoured as you talk over what would have been if those “upstart students and no good women hadn’t come along and spoilt it all”.
I too hoped the latest conference would make a serious attempt to acknowledge and rectify the mistakes you and the CC made. I hoped you would have the guts to apologise sincerely to the women at the heart of your crisis and that we could all move forward in unity. That is not possible with a CC based on intransigence. That means I have to leave.
I will end by quoting a comrade from Bristol who has tonight also resigned; “I remain a Revolutionary Socialist committed to liberation from oppression, but can not work within this organisation. I offer my solidarity to all my comrades.”
Justin “Jaz” Thomas

I recognise Boss-like behaviour when I see it and I see it in the Party. You are the bosses, people like me, who trail around doing what we are instructed, are the workers; who are then smashed for showing a flicker of initiative. Worst of all are the unelected, self appointed, middle managers who have a position due to their seniority, a woeful parody of the bosses and managers we are trying to remove. I have a simple rule; anything that we resist at work, we should resist in our own organisation.

Very long but interesting and revealing resignation letter, imo, he gets it right on the button in terms of the SWP hierarchy.

 

[articul8]

Jonathan Neale has walked

 

[Balbi]

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Comes back to the infantilisation and grouping of 'women and children', which is a bit disturbing if you're actually meant to be for equality.

 

[treelover]

remember him from ESF days.

 

[Pickman's model]

I have not sanctioned, condoned or excused the behaviour of the Labour party leadership on any of those questions. I have sided with those inside (and outside) the party trying to fight this every step of the way.

and then objectively sided with the leadership on every one of those issues

 

[articul8]

Now who sounds like the Stalinist: "Ok you may have argued passionately against the Iraq war but objectively...!

 

[Pickman's model]

Now who sounds like the Stalinist: "Ok you may have argued passionately against the Iraq war but objectively...!

i only have your word for it that you argued against the iraq war, passionately or otherwise. when tens of thousands of people left the labour party aghast at blair's exploits, you decided you should stay in. yet has your presence contributed to a social hue to the party? you're wasting your life.