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SWP expulsions and squabbles

My point is that who seriously wants to split hairs on this?
He admitted to a "serious sex attack"...he was convicted of it and given a 5 year sentence...so why would anyone feel the need to state "it clear isnt rape"?
You have no idea what he did....just what he admitted to doing.
I think rape has to involve the insertion of a penis or an object into someone...that is a legal definition....everything is classed as sexual assault (to differing degrees) by law.
Maybe he did commit rape but admitted to a lesser charge (that is hardly uncommon).
I find it bizarre that a socialist wants to twice state that this man is not a rapist...it is missing the point by a fucking country mile imo
 
comrade spurski said:
He was convicted of a serious sex attack...so tbh your insistence of him not being a rapist comes across as pedantic and nonsensical
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Yes, he was convicted of a very serious sexual assault and affray and whilst it isn't rape he absolutely terrorised both women. I don't trivialise that and I make the point that despite not being rape the attack was serious enough to get the kind of sentence another rapist got. However, given your response I see that my "insistence of him not being a rapist" might have lead you to think I regard the attack as not so serious so I have edited the original post to dial back the "insistence" whilst still being clear about what he did.

Hopefully, this will remove the distraction of having to consider the opinions of an SWP member on rape and allow my main concerns about the blog post to come through -

Was the assumption that his conviction was known about and covered up justified or is it a smear?

Why are three women (and two campaigns) targeted for their association with Kenny whilst London Black Revs, of which he was a member, and its leader are not held to account?

The LBR statements are going to have to wait, but feel free to read and comment on them if you have time.
 
Don't want to come across as an ego maniac, however as I post occasionally on here, I thought that it might be appropriate to put this online message of resignation from Socialist Party and some reasons why I've become involved with the International Socialist Network !


After About A Decade Involvement & Being A Member Of Socialist Party, I Have Decided To Part My Ways. The Politics And Organisational Structure I Find Stagnative & Restrictive Apart From The Many Political Differences I Have With This Political Tradition: I've Never Considered Myself A Trotskyist.
I Still Have Tremendous Respect For People I Have Met In The Socialist Party & Hope To Remain In An Amicable Relation Both On An Individual Level & With The Party Itself !
I Have Become Involved With International Socialist Network.
With This I Genuinely Feel That I Have Re-Connected With The Political Tradition That I Started Out With In My Early Teens,Along With That Idealism & Honesty: I Feel Now After Many Years In The Wilderness Back To The Path Of Revolutionary Socialism !
 
Normally just a lurker/reader Just out of curiousity as they appear to have ceased updating their website recently have the ISN decided to go their separate ways?
 
in something that no longer exists????

Well, it sorta still does.....everyone pretty much knows its being wound up, but a few still want to continue (mainly the Brum lot who joined having had nothing to do with the SWP). There are tendencies that want to continue as 'some kind of' anti-capitalist group, and others that want to dissolve into RS21. I still meet up with the Sheffield & Leeds lots, most of whom probly wont join RS21 for various reasons.
 
belboid said:
in something that no longer exists????

Well, it sorta still does.....everyone pretty much knows its being wound up, but a few still want to continue (mainly the Brum lot who joined having had nothing to do with the SWP). There are tendencies that want to continue as 'some kind of' anti-capitalist group, and others that want to dissolve into RS21. I still meet up with the Sheffield & Leeds lots, most of whom probly wont join RS21 for various reasons.
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Sorry to be nosey, but what sort of numbers are we talking about? Any chance they'll end up in Left Unity?
 
ISNers? Some already are - Simon Hardy, Tom Walker, a smattering of others. Most wont really touch it with a barge pole, either always thought it was shit or have had too many arguments after all the shit around Bianca Todd.

Oddly, we got an email only a day or two ago asking if we'd put up obits for a couple of SPGB members
 
LU going from strength to strength

1507880_10153144745382152_2293883582293536182_n.jpg
 
belboid said:
ISNers? Some already are - Simon Hardy, Tom Walker, a smattering of others. Most wont really touch it with a barge pole, either always thought it was shit or have had too many arguments after all the shit around Bianca Todd.

Oddly, we got an email only a day or two ago asking if we'd put up obits for a couple of SPGB members
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that's the same letter that was published in this week's Weekly Worker.
 
belboid said:
in something that no longer exists????

Well, it sorta still does.....everyone pretty much knows its being wound up, but a few still want to continue (mainly the Brum lot who joined having had nothing to do with the SWP). There are tendencies that want to continue as 'some kind of' anti-capitalist group, and others that want to dissolve into RS21. I still meet up with the Sheffield & Leeds lots, most of whom probly wont join RS21 for various reasons.
Click to expand...

Just wondered whether there was a rump dragging on, I know the last internal bulletin was published in January and a cursory read suggested the contributors still believed it was continuing, and obviously now Nigel has joined...
 
Spanky Longhorn said:
Just wondered whether there was a rump dragging on, I know the last internal bulletin was published in January and a cursory read suggested the contributors still believed it was continuing, and obviously now Nigel has joined...
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I think they've just published a new bulletin. They formally still exist but are clearly in the process of de facto dissolving as less and less people bother to keep it going. Rs21, Workers Power and Socialist Resistance are the vultures, picking the odd morsel off the bones. RS21 for the SWP revivalists, Workers Power for the harder would-be sectarians, Socialist Resistance for the bewildered social democrats and dopey Left Unity enthusiasts. RS21 will get the biggest chunk despite making the least effort, but I suspect more people will simply drift off than join any of them.
 
Spanky Longhorn said:
Just wondered whether there was a rump dragging on, I know the last internal bulletin was published in January and a cursory read suggested the contributors still believed it was continuing, and obviously now Nigel has joined...
Click to expand...
well, I suspect there will be some kind of continuation.

The ISN wasn't really set up originally to be 'an organisation' - it was pretty much a holding ground for ex-SWPers who wanted to stay active and in contact, and hopefully create something with.....either other lefties generally or people who would come to leave the SWP over the following year. Only when what became RS21 actually did leave, and immediately showed precious little interest in the ISN, followed by the failure of Trotcon, did the ISN start to try to be an ongoing grouping - pushed in part by the newbies from the ACI.

That worked out well.

What we're left with is a deeply incoherent network of individuals and local groups, which wont carry on. It is the newbies - the ex-ACI and a group from Birmingham - who seem most keen on trying to form a continuing project without dissolving into a wider grouping. There are a few others who will sympathise/follow largely, imo/ime, because of issues with individual members of RS21, or because they see them simply as SWPlite.

There are various local groups, eg Portsmouth, where they have a group that is wider and independent is ISN, and they'll just continue. Some, such as Leeds, may have difficulty joining RS21 for purely local reasons (outstanding from the split) that will be difficult to get over easily. Some, like maybe Bristol, could join pretty much en masse.

WP may be hanging around, but other than the one person they have recruited, they have little chance of further inroads, most people think Brenner's gone barmy. Likewise SR, generally they're viewed as boring old farts, and they see us as nutters. I'm sure they'd like TW, but otherwise....
 
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belboid said:
WP may be hanging around, but other than the one person they have recruited, they have little chance of further inroads, most people think Brenner's gone barmy. Likewise SR, generally they're viewed as boring old farts, and they see us as nutters. I'm sure they'd like TW, but otherwise....
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The Birmingham people's last bulletin contribution was very Socialist Resistanceish and Birmingham is one of the few places where SR have a functioning branch. The only thing really standing between the Left Unity / broader / softer wing of the ISN and SR is a generation gap.
 
Nigel Irritable said:
The Birmingham people's last bulletin contribution was very Socialist Resistanceish and Birmingham is one of the few places where SR have a functioning branch. The only thing really standing between the Left Unity / broader / softer wing of the ISN and SR is a generation gap.
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That's probly true, I dont really know the Birmingham lot, tho I do see they're co-hosting a meeting with SR & Plan C next week. The age gap is one reason why they aren't keen on actually joining tho I believe, as there is a distinct whiff of 'ooh, young people!' about SR's overtures.

Meanwhile, there are already discussions going on about what to do with all the money!
 
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Nigel Irritable said:
The Birmingham people's last bulletin contribution was very Socialist Resistanceish and Birmingham is one of the few places where SR have a functioning branch. The only thing really standing between the Left Unity / broader / softer wing of the ISN and SR is a generation gap.
Click to expand...

I met an SR person in Brum once. He was showing his daughter round the Uni campus, and taking the chance to flog the paper as he did so.
 
belboid said:
That's probly true, I dont really know the Birmingham lot, tho I do see they're co-hosting a meeting with SR & Plan C next week. The age gap is one reason why they aren't keen on actually joining tho I believe, as there is a distinct whiff of 'ooh, young people!' about SR's overtures.

Meanwhile, there are already discussions going on about what to do with all the money!
Click to expand...

I suppose it doesn't really matter if they formally join up and provide Socialist Resistance with a "youth" (no free bus pass) wing. For the next while they will be wasting their time alongside each other in Left Unity anyway, telling rooms of a couple of dozen bald patches and greyhairs how exciting and vibrant this new turn to clapped out social democracy is.

Also "all the money"? The ISN always struck me as a "jar of pennies with a half eaten lollipop in it" kind of operation rather than one with real money.
 
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