cesare and I proposed something similar earlier in this thread.
It could be called the Association of Revolutionary Socialist Employees
SWP expulsions and squabbles
- Thread starter Nigel Irritable
- Start date
cesare and I proposed something similar earlier in this thread.
It could be called the Association of Revolutionary Socialist Employees
comrade spurski
Well-Known Member
i have never understood how any socialist aspires to a career in a left political party...i thought the point of being in a socialist party was to be able to fight injustice, fight for rights, better pay etc and to fight for a better world...not to get a poxy front row seat at a meeting 
used to do my head in watching people sucking up and chatting shit to get "known" ... people used to be desperate to be asked to do a marxism meeting cos it was seen as some sort or an achievement...i thought it just meant you could talk clearly to an audience.
also struck me as weird how some people were desperate to go to annual conference , like it was going to change the world and it was vital that they were there so they could spread the politics back in a branch...
in 23 as a member I went to 2 conferences and never did a meeting at marxism ...was often told that i needed to push myself ... when i quit from being an organiser in the swp after 7 months I was told that I'd regret it as I'd never be asked again ... worst job i ever did...spent most of my time (long hours) with just swp members, i don't mean that as harshly as it sounds but i hated the constant internal discussions; the "this is the best time to be a socialist" speech given to organisers who were then expected to regurgitate it out to members and i hated talking with fulltimers who knew all about what needed to happen in work when they had never had a real job so had no idea how easy or hard it was to organise in work cos they drew all their experiences only from those who said what they wanted to hear
bizarrely quite a few members couldn't get their heads around how I just went back to being a council worker
I did lots of work (by no means on my own) in my union to counter racism against asylum seekers and to counter the BNP ... I was a publicity officer and wrote several bulletins to members which helped our branch do some great anti racist work. I worked with the socialist party branch sec, green party members, labour party members and non aligned union members. Cos I did this in the name of the union branch and not as a SWP/Socialist Alliance/ Respect etc. i was told i was being a syndicalist. Same thing happened with an anti war meeting which we refused to insist had an swp member speaking...we were slated by the leadership (a certain hannah dee was involved in that)... we pulled a meeting together of over 150 people (bigger than any other local anti war meeting at the time) and they belittled it...then it and all the other protests against the war we organised as a union got mentioned in the Stop the war book as an example of the good things the unions did.
I always tried to work with others even if they couldn't stand the swp and never understood why people said i was unusual for an swp member but to be honest i do wonder how I stayed a member for so long (other than i rarely went anywhere near other members!)
I have written a couple of rambling contributions on this thread...think its the equivalent of going to a priest and confessing.
used to do my head in watching people sucking up and chatting shit to get "known" ... people used to be desperate to be asked to do a marxism meeting cos it was seen as some sort or an achievement...i thought it just meant you could talk clearly to an audience.
also struck me as weird how some people were desperate to go to annual conference , like it was going to change the world and it was vital that they were there so they could spread the politics back in a branch...
in 23 as a member I went to 2 conferences and never did a meeting at marxism ...was often told that i needed to push myself ... when i quit from being an organiser in the swp after 7 months I was told that I'd regret it as I'd never be asked again ... worst job i ever did...spent most of my time (long hours) with just swp members, i don't mean that as harshly as it sounds but i hated the constant internal discussions; the "this is the best time to be a socialist" speech given to organisers who were then expected to regurgitate it out to members and i hated talking with fulltimers who knew all about what needed to happen in work when they had never had a real job so had no idea how easy or hard it was to organise in work cos they drew all their experiences only from those who said what they wanted to hear
bizarrely quite a few members couldn't get their heads around how I just went back to being a council worker
I did lots of work (by no means on my own) in my union to counter racism against asylum seekers and to counter the BNP ... I was a publicity officer and wrote several bulletins to members which helped our branch do some great anti racist work. I worked with the socialist party branch sec, green party members, labour party members and non aligned union members. Cos I did this in the name of the union branch and not as a SWP/Socialist Alliance/ Respect etc. i was told i was being a syndicalist. Same thing happened with an anti war meeting which we refused to insist had an swp member speaking...we were slated by the leadership (a certain hannah dee was involved in that)... we pulled a meeting together of over 150 people (bigger than any other local anti war meeting at the time) and they belittled it...then it and all the other protests against the war we organised as a union got mentioned in the Stop the war book as an example of the good things the unions did.
I always tried to work with others even if they couldn't stand the swp and never understood why people said i was unusual for an swp member but to be honest i do wonder how I stayed a member for so long (other than i rarely went anywhere near other members!)
I have written a couple of rambling contributions on this thread...think its the equivalent of going to a priest and confessing.
i have never understood how any socialist aspires to a career in a left political party...i thought the point of being in a socialist party was to be able to fight injustice, fight for rights, better pay etc and to fight for a better world...not to get a poxy front row seat at a meeting
used to do my head in watching people sucking up and chatting shit to get "known" ... people used to be desperate to be asked to do a marxism meeting cos it was seen as some sort or an achievement...i thought it just meant you could talk clearly to an audience.
also struck me as weird how some people were desperate to go to annual conference , like it was going to change the world and it was vital that they were there so they could spread the politics back in a branch...
in 23 as a member I went to 2 conferences and never did a meeting at marxism ...was often told that i needed to push myself ... when i quit from being an organiser in the swp after 7 months I was told that I'd regret it as I'd never be asked again ... worst job i ever did...spent most of my time (long hours) with just swp members, i don't mean that as harshly as it sounds but i hated the constant internal discussions; the "this is the best time to be a socialist" speech given to organisers who were then expected to regurgitate it out to members and i hated talking with fulltimers who knew all about what needed to happen in work when they had never had a real job so had no idea how easy or hard it was to organise in work cos they drew all their experiences only from those who said what they wanted to hear
bizarrely quite a few members couldn't get their heads around how I just went back to being a council worker
I did lots of work (by no means on my own) in my union to counter racism against asylum seekers and to counter the BNP ... I was a publicity officer and wrote several bulletins to members which helped our branch do some great anti racist work. I worked with the socialist party branch sec, green party members, labour party members and non aligned union members. Cos I did this in the name of the union branch and not as a SWP/Socialist Alliance/ Respect etc. i was told i was being a syndicalist. Same thing happened with an anti war meeting which we refused to insist had an swp member speaking...we were slated by the leadership (a certain hannah dee was involved in that)... we pulled a meeting together of over 150 people (bigger than any other local anti war meeting at the time) and they belittled it...then it and all the other protests against the war we organised as a union got mentioned in the Stop the war book as an example of the good things the unions did.
I always tried to work with others even if they couldn't stand the swp and never understood why people said i was unusual for an swp member but to be honest i do wonder how I stayed a member for so long (other than i rarely went anywhere near other members!)
I have written a couple of rambling contributions on this thread...think its the equivalent of going to a priest and confessing.
During my brief involvement I got criticised for focussing on union/workplace stuff instead of the Iraq war. So this sort of mental shit sounds about right.
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
I could see that being amalgamated with the Federal Association of Revolutionary Theorists at some point.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
shurely 'the association of revolutionary socialist under-comrades'
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
Tried to come up with something that would have the acronym 'FOLLOWTHROUGH' to give it a punchline but got bored and gave up after about 5 minutes
discokermit
Well-Known Member
it really was. inter branch football, decent bands, shagging, dancing, humorous meetings, laughing at vegetarians foolish enough to get the veggie option (get the meat, swap your sausages, basic really), kids in the creche running riot and getting the police called to them, stamping your feet to 'october' in the cinema, or cheering through 'robocop'. and the chips from the on site chippy were quite nice.swp Easter camp sounds great. Like a less earnest ATP
bolshiebhoy
socialism leinster drink
You were disgusted by folks being closer to the speakers slips. Really? You do know that earned was earned in front of everyone, people who'd walked the walk got respect. The arse lickers got booed when the chair asked them to "finish please comrade". Be a little more subtle than this animal farm shit please disco.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
We now know who walked the walk. Who clapped and foot-stomped delta. And who joined as a result.
barney_pig
Po-cha-na-quar-hip
Charlie Kimber? alex callinicos? Martin smith? Walked the walk? What a sycophantic twat.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
from the sounds of it you were closer to the speakers' arses than their lips.
discokermit
Well-Known Member
yeh disgusted. when a disabled contact was told they had to sit upstairs for the final rally after sitting in one of the 'reserved' seats by some jumped up student in a tshirt.
earned? what the fuck did john rees ever earn? walk the walk? acedemics and poshos talking shit isn't walking the walk.
animal farm is shit. orwell is shit. never connect my name to them again.
arselickers got booed? did they fuck. they got promoted and you know it.
discokermit
Well-Known Member
during the poll tax was ambling about with his papers in front of him, squinting and having a go at rioting party members for not selling the paper. that's not walking the walk, that's a complete lack of awareness and instinct.
bolshiebhoy
socialism leinster drink
What the fuck is a posho disco, inverted snobbery as a guide to action, really? Waterson, Smith and Allen are the three people I took orders from on the street when the shit hit the fan. Their class was the last thing I considered.
Butchers, pickman , barney have you ever even tried to make a difference to the point where others listened to your ideas and considered your lead worth following? course not, keyboard warriors all.
Butchers, pickman , barney have you ever even tried to make a difference to the point where others listened to your ideas and considered your lead worth following? course not, keyboard warriors all.
discokermit
Well-Known Member
nobility on the cc. two of 'em. how the fuck does that happen? is the revolution gonna be us doing the dirty work while lord acton points? fuck that.
barney_pig
Po-cha-na-quar-hip
Quite right too, what has class got to do with socialism?
What a twat
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
What does this mean? Your tradition tried to for 60 years and found no echo. So now you fight each other. The class, well they're elsewhere. If you find non answer, why is your response - be right a bit more shoutier?
Do you want some moralist stuff about not giving up not never, well you drive more people into giving up than you ever enthused. I was here when it started, was disgusted at the way you behaved, decided never to touch it. That's not opportunistic. I was right.
comrade spurski
Well-Known Member
You are the worst keyboard warrior on here bb...you never answer issues...I have raised loads but not once have you responded...instead you mouth off with abstract crap.
I was a union rep at 22, was a rep in a social work section that was on all out strike for 9 months in 1992. I have been on strike countless times. I have been on hundreds of demos, have collected thousands of pounds for different strikes and campaigns. I was involved in organising anti nazi events, campaigns and demos in se london since the late 80s, was heavily involved in the rolan adams, rohit duggal and stephen lawrence justice campaigns and was beaten unconscious on the welling anti nazi demo and ended up in hospital. We were sent razor blades on letters threatening to burn us out of our home when our daughters were babies.
That makes me no better or braver than anyone one else on here...it simply means I was in a situation where I had the time and confidence lots of great support and was in the physical place to get involved.
I am no longer that active due to my childcare responsibilities and health...that dont make me any less than anyone on here...just means I am not as able or confident as others any more.
You make it sound like these people (waterson smith and allen are heroes)... they risked no more than anyone else and in some ways a fuck load less...they had their fines and solicitors paid for and were never at risk of being sacked unlike tens of thousands of others in and out of the swp.
As for smith...what he did as a rep in the 80s is insignificant considering the reasons behind his resignation from the swp.
You are are as good as the last thing you do...everything I have done would be diminished if I was to scab on my union striking...the swp behaviour in relation to womens rights was the equivalent to scabbing yet you blindly refused to see anything wrong in the swp until your road to damascus conversion on the issue a couple of months back but here you are once again praising smith with all the honesty of a stalinist.
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Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
Marxism 2014 timetable is out. There's a bit of an improvement on last year's disaster in terms of booking speakers from outside their own ranks, but it's still a very long way from the kind of lineups they had pre-crisis.
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
See when the leadership in your party were pissing on your back I bet you complained to your fellow comrades and family that it was raining.
barney_pig
Po-cha-na-quar-hip
Separate charge for the main entertainment. Does robb Johnson know he has been booked by the rapists?
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
SWP stalls featuring prominently this week. Another one got "attacked" (ie stuff shoved off it) outside the Unison Health conference. While a second one featured prominently on Newsnight as evidence of a red takeover of the NUT.
(Unfortunately, I can exclusively reveal that there has not been a red takeover of the NUT)
(Unfortunately, I can exclusively reveal that there has not been a red takeover of the NUT)
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
it did look a rather shabby, knackered table, not like the old days. It was also a bit odd when the piece was ostensibly about the danger of Martin Powell-Davis winning the presidency, as the SWP still back Blower, dont they?
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
fuck me they all drink at the same trough- gove last year dismissed protesting teachers, parent and children as 'trots' on the basis of a few swappie placards.
dennisr
the acceptable face
Yep, the shysters
Er hem! Some of us go back to the proper old days, before the SWP became all professionalised
by all this modern megaphone shrieking paper pasting tables bristling with placards and pamphlets. Back then of course there used to be a class struggle, one that involved actual workers who toiled with their hands (as well as their brains).
All this paper selling with mod cons seems to have been a symptom of the decline of the movement, given its inverse proportionality to the reduced number of strike days being taken by the proletariat!
No doubt the prof can come up with a marxist explanation.
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That Newsnight package on 'militant infiltration' of the NUT was incredible, it was like the 80's revisited.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
Don't you know that the professional university educated white collar workers (as exemplified by the prof) are the new proletariat
Louis MacNeice
Autumn Journalist
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