Well this is an interesting development. So the split has finally emerged.

Having been at the Iraq enquiry and listened to Lindsey give a passionate speech outside which lumped the Labour Party in all the right places, it isn't difficult to see the politics behind her being pushed out. There has been a long emerging thread of conflict within the SWP over the STW and the tactics used to fell the Government over its war policy. The STW have always had a vein running through it which has acted to quiten criticism of the Government and that vein now looks sensitive and exposed.

In late 2005 through 2006/7 and up unitil January 2008, the STW had a clear line of sight on the Government over SOCPA but when activists challenged the STW leadership about this breach of civil liberties they went along with the Government line that it was neccessary to fight terrorism. They did nothing on the subject but support the Labour Government forcing activists to take matters into their own hands. Soon enough the STW were forced to climb-down but only through the rigid activism by those who saw the liberty breach and acted on it. From that moment on hard at-it activists became suspicious of the STW and its motives. Lindsey took the brunt of it as she was the public face of the STW.

From then on the STW began experiencing problems with core activists who were puzzled that the STW seemed progressively unable to act on its anti-war instincts. There were a number of occasions when the opportunity to strike at the Government appeared and were missed. On too many occasions the STW seemed to be blind to what was going on and this appeared as inaction and procrastination.

The core activists became more and more disenchanted and fatal faultlines emerged as deeply held suspicion about what was going on inside STW became entrenched. These were the most competent activists that were available to the STW and their loss was fatal.

Ever since, the numbers the STW were able to move onto the streets diminished and have all but dissapeared.

Throughout, many have identified and cited the SWP as the cause of this policy of organised inaction at sensitive times for the Labour Party. The charge has been that the SWP have acted within the STW to render it inactive on the streets and that this policy has come indirectly from Downing Street. There have been a number of occasions when the Government could have been firmly held to account over the things it has done and at these times the STW have failed to act.

As the financial crisis took hold of Government war policy and shook it violently, small groups of activists appeared in the City of London to hold protests over the bailing out of British banks. The banner slogans were 'no bail out'. There were just a few of them and as the Government moved to announce its bail-out plan would result with a policy of nationalisation the protests stopped abruptly. They were not repeated. Many in the media couldn't understand why people were not out on the streets regularly. The SWP organised and staffed these protests.

Now Lindsey German appears to have been pushed out not because she she is inneffective, but because she is too effective. She continues to choose a sharp blade to use for her criticism of Brown and the Government and this is unnacceptable to Downing Street. The SWP have stepped in and played roll-over right on cue.

As the last and final assault in Afghanistan gets underway and the US and UK Governments make a last-ditch effort to 'stage' a win for socially idle domestic populations in the UK and US, the SWP are acting to rid its ranks of its most effective members. The leadership of the SWP is not concerned with its effectiveness on the streets at this point, more concerned with its relationship with the Labour Party as it prepares to go into opposition. Lindsey is no longer useful to it and that 'wisdom' emanates directly from Downing Street.

I name the SWP as war collaborators.