Callinicos reveals SWP's crisis

Barry Kade | 01.04.2004 22:01

Here is some news that will be of interest to every activist in the land who has tried to build anti-capitalist resistance and therefore had problematical encounters with the SWP!

Alex Callinicos reveals how the largest socialist organisation in the UK may be on the edge of a serious crisis.

In the latest edition of ‘Socialist Worker’, the SWP’s leading theoretician and central committee member Alex Callinicos makes an interesting and revealing comment:

‘Of course, parliamentary elections aren't revolutionaries natural terrain. Activists can lead mass movements but find themselves cut down to size on polling day’

Of course he is not directly referring to the SWP and the ‘RESPECT’ coalition here. That would make the debate too open and honest. Rather he is talking about the recent relatively poor showing of the anti-capitalist alliance of the Lutte Ouvriere (LO) and the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR) in the French elections.

However, later in the article he hints at parallels with the UK, in the context of the internal crisis that now besets the French LCR:

‘There is a real danger that the Ligue will now implode into faction-fighting. …I can't avoid a feeling of "There but for the grace of god go us." In June Respect will face its own great test in the European and Greater London elections.’

In this one phrase he gives us a slight revelation of the massive tensions and conflicts that exist within the SWP central committee. Of course a revolutionary party with a culture of democracy and open debate amongst activists as equals could survive such a crisis….

Mmmmm….
WARNING: PLEASE STAND CLEAR
Britain’s largest left sect in crisis
Could turn very nasty.
Please inoculate and protect your social movement / trades union branch from any ensuing fallout!

Refs:
Alex Callinicos
‘Don't duck the politics’
Socialist worker Page 4, Sat 3 April 2004, no 1895.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1895/sw189506.htm

Barry Kade
Homepage: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1895/sw189506.htm

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

try reading the column as a whole

01.04.2004 22:54

the main gist of the article in question is not about left-wing splits. what it is about is lwft groups (the LCR and LO in this case) failing to engage politically with the issues that affect the voter on the street. in the case of the french election, this meant not taking up a position opposing chirac's disgraceful ban on the hijab, amongst other issues. the LCR chose to fight the election on the unemployment situation in france, and failed to get to grips with the fact that the socialist party, now out of power, were using similar rhetoric.

the lesson this means for respect is quite straightforward. just as a french general strike led by the LCR and LO didn't mean mass support for them at elections, so respect needs to rely on more than just being a coalition of anti-war activists in order to do well in june (in this case we can fully expect the lib dems to market themselves as an anti-war party, just as the french socialists marketed themselves as anti-reformism, even though the reality of their policies is somewhat different).

so the challenge to respect is set out, and this is where the broadness of the coalition is important. there are more issues out there than the war, and all of these must be taken on board.

and a crisis in the swp? hardly. you will not find activists in the party who do not back respect fully, but whilst also being aware of the potential pitfalls (we've been through some turgid socialist alliance campaigns, after all).

andy lawson

Try getting out once in a while

02.04.2004 08:49

The SWP, and all its brands and re-launches, have never gained even more than a tiny following in the working class since Thatcher. Most of these have joined full of hope, and left in disgust. The turnover rate is very high, and relies heavily on students.

"We've been through some turgid socialist alliance campaigns, after all." You what? The Socialist Alliance managed to get ONE local councillor elected in Preston, and that was by running as "Socialist Alliance Against the War", and getting lots of anti-war people (left and right) on board for a single-issue campaign.

And what a huge bloody fuss you made about finally getting one councillor elected. Now the "Alliance" is chucked to one side like so much excess baggage, cause you've decided to take the "winning strategy" nationwide. You're no more "socialist" than Blair. All you lot care about is power at any cost, which is why you've always been happy to ally with right-wingers from pro-Milosevic, anti-Milosevic, pro-Saddam, anti-Saddam, pro-Khomeini, anti-Khomeini, Labour, Communist Party of Britain, etc. Did you think we wouldn't remember all this a few years later? We see you for what you really are, and nobody but a few thousand students and trade-union loyalists will ever support you, nicking a few percent off the Labour or Lib Dem vote. Why should the working class support you? What have you ever done for us that we can't do for ourselves?

You're finished. Fuck off and leave us alone, we have work to do.

Ian

RMT branches support RESPECT

02.04.2004 10:18

The working class is already beginning to support RESPECT. Manchester Piccadilly and London Waterloo branches of the RMT have already declared UNANIMOUS support and given money to its election campaign. Other TU branches have given suport in Scotland where the SWP is part of the SSP. THAT is a real achievement.

And it WAS an incredible achievement for the Socialist Alliance to defeat Labour last year in Preston despite a having only a shoe string budget against Labour's millions. And this just down the road from the BNP stronghold in Burnley.

How many Anarchists have been elected? They are so chicken-shit and irrelevant that they won't even stand. Too busy head-butting cashpoints.

Jess

Who's the headbanger?

02.04.2004 12:00

Crass characterisations do nothing more than piss more and more people off and aggravate existing disagreements between the traditional and emerging ‘left’.

The case made for Respect is quite clear – it presents some with an opportunity to do Blair more damage at the Euro elections in the hope that he’ll lose the party leadership. It is likely if this happens that the existing pact between the US and UK governments will be ruptured and that the current course of aggression will be halted. It will not, of course, mean an end to all wars and the long term project of global capital – this is the task of other efforts. The issue of whether or not to participate in elections cannot be a simple one in the current climate – there is the possibility, and it may be very thin, of unseating Blair. The ‘risks’ taken by the SWP and others are their concern.

However, if the aim of Respect is to reconstruct social democracy then it’s a wasted effort. All talk of a ceiling in our consciousness is an authoritarian construct created by those who seek to take power ‘for’ the movement. There are other ways of BEING and DOING and elements of the anarchist movement have been at the forefront of keeping this belief alive in thought and activity.

‘Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right…’ – whether it’s your head, hands or whatever’s closest.

Blossom

Gotta love the SWP drones.

02.04.2004 12:09

Most anarchists won't stand because they don't believe in vanguardism. The SWP paints such an ugly and biased picture of the anarchist movement. It's always nice to hear from more brainwashed SWP-ers.

I can't be bothered to explain properly (I've got lots of ATM's to smash). But the anarchist FAQ:

http://www.infoshop.org/faq/secH5.html
argues against vanguard parties like the SWP and its various front groups clearly enough.

Also interesting:

http://www.infoshop.org/texts/swp.html

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/append34.html

TheRemarkableRocket

most anrchists i know used to be members of the swp

02.04.2004 13:08

a lot of people like to slag off the swp. but in my experience the ones who slag it of the most are ex-swpers turned anarchist.

this is probably due to them having insight to the organisation/people of the swp.but what makes me laugh is ,most of these ex-swpers/anarchistic people gain their class anayalsis and political devolopement thanks to the swp and owe alot of their political devolopment to the party.

these people get dissullioned with the swp then join the anarchist and do fuck all, (apart from slagging of the swp of course and any of their iniatives).

you may not like and agree with the swp (personally i think there are some bullies and some members who need to learn some social skills and manners) but u got to give it to them, they do have a go, seem very dedicated and can produce some good joint work. i not sure whether RESPECT will be highly attractive to working people and think the respect coalition will be very happy with 5% of the vote(i hope they do).

we have enough enemies so lets get our act together and fight the real enemies.

red letter

no no no! fight each other to the death!

02.04.2004 15:46

The autonomist/horizontalist movement must devote all your effort and resources to attacking the SWP and disrupting RESPECT, nothing is more important!

Take a break from fighting big business, after all the SWP sell papers so they are worse than Bayer or Coca Cola! And leave the BNP alone, everyone knows the SWP are the true Nazis! And stop bugging Israel, that just helps Islam which is an SWP front!

voice of reason

Anarchists don't stand in elections

03.04.2004 16:45

Because they know the political process is nothing but a sham. Anarchists don't want to take power - they want to restore power to the people. We don't need any bullshit party to make decisions for us, be they left or right - people are perfectly capable of making decisions for themselves at community level without some centralised bunch of careerists doing it for them.

Voice Of Reason

Respect will never gain the support of the working class because...........

03.04.2004 16:52

They campaign on issues that are of little interest to the majority of working class people. They campaign mostly on the basis of being anti-war, and while the majority of working class people were against the war, they want a party that will represent them and campaign on issues relevent to them.

Another point in question is tuition fees - why do the SWP and Respect campaign so much on this issue? The majority of working class people don't give a shit about tuition fees - if you are lucky enough to get into a university you have got nothing to complain about. The majority of working class people will never come anywhere near to getting to university - why don't these parties focus on changing the awful education system that fails most working class people at the age of 14? Campaigning for better secondary school education is of greater concern to the majority of the working class than the minority who get the chance to go to university. RESPECT and SWP are so out of touch with the working class they claim to represent it's unbelieveable.

Voice Of Reason

My fool proof and fool funded scheme to get rich

19.10.2004 13:55

I propose that everytime an AAAnarchist detects a "crisisintheswp" they donate 0.0001 pence to my bank account which will make me an infinity gurgle pounds in a very short space of time.

Thank you all in advance for yor donations. (All three of you). (By the way have you all met...)

Poor dad