Censorship and the StWC Steering Commitee

The following are two e-mails I recevied on the North Staffs StWC mailing list. Appologies if this has already been posted on Indymedia.

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REGARDING CENSORSHIP BY THE STEERING COMMITTEE

For the past 6 months the National-Stop-The-War Steering Committee have
systematically censored & sabotaged virtually all forms of Direct
Action. From the international significance of USAF Fairford, to the
Mass Sit-Down on the 15th Feb National Demo, to the Reclaim The Bases
Weekend on 5th & 6th April, the Steering Committee has used & abused the
national email list & website to squeeze out, downplay, or just plain
censor these, & many other actions.

The censorious agenda of the Steering Committee was most plainly exposed
during the lead up to the 22nd March Fairford National Demo. Stop The
War groups around the country were telephoned by someone claiming to be
from the National Steering Committee, who was spreading the message that
Fairford had been cancelled. Whether this individual was genuinely from
the Steering Committee is unclear, but the issue remains that the
Steering Committee refused to use resources at it's disposal to refute
this sabotage, as it clearly suited their censorious agenda to allow
Fairford to be damaged in this manner.

The Steering Committee have therefore made it absolutely clear that they
have no intention of representing the full spectrum of opinions which
make up the coalition, but only those opinions & actions they narrowly
approve of. This is the definition of a hijacking, & that is exactly
what has occurred. Furthermore, on the 20th June defendants who took
part in various forms of Direct Action at Fairford will be making the
first UK legal challenge to the legality of the war. It is expected that
this landmark event will also be censored by the Steering Committee, &
sidelined at conference.

The Steering Committee still has the opportunity to pull back from this
active censorship & sabotage of the movement. If it does not then the
calls to bypass the Steering Committee will continue to grow. This is
one of the first, & in the longer run, as more people become aware of
the extent of events, actions & landmark legal cases which have been
censored from view, trust in the National Steering Committee will
evaporate, & shift to those who diligently bring this information to the
movement in it's uncensored form.

In the interim, 'National' events called by the Steering Committee will
be referred to only as 'London' events in Bristol-Stop-The-War News, &
the 'National' website will be relegated to an ordinary link in our
links page, as it is not representative of the movement, & therefore
should not be advertised as such. If people have an issue with this they
should refer it back to the Steering Committee. In the interim,
'National' Demonstrations will continue to be called 'National
Demonstrations'.

Voice your concerns to the Steering Committee:
 office@stopwar.org.uk
07951 235 915 or 0207 053 2153/4/5/6

James Venables
(Bristol-Stop-The-War Communications)
--
James Venables
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Movement needs openness

Andrew Murray and Lindsay German, who effectively form the leadership
of the Stop the War Coalition, put the movement in a bad political
light this week when they acted as dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrats
determined to stifle openness, accountability and democracy.

The CPGB, as one of the affiliated organisations of the coalition,
had been informed that we could attend as observers at the April 28
steering committee meeting. We had been told this at the conference
in January and had double-checked with the office organiser, Gargy,
last week, who gave us the details. I therefore went along as our
representative.

I arrived just as the meeting of about 60 was beginning. There was a
debate around slogans taking place. I could not help but notice how
STWC chair Andrew Murray (a member of the Morning Star's Communist
Party of Britain) and national convenor Lindsay German (Socialist
Workers Party) stared in my direction from the top table and
whispered furtively.

Then Jane Challice, treasurer, was beckoned over by Lindsay German.
She in her turn came to where I was sitting at the back of the room.
She demand to know who I was and what I was doing there. I calmly
explained. She left, not looking too happy, and went back to speak to
comrades German and Murray. She then returned to tell me that they
did not allow observers and I must leave immediately. I refused and
said my presence was entirely legitimate and that it should be put to
the meeting.

Jane Challice then proceeded to announce that "there is somebody in
the meeting who should not be here and she says she is entitled to be
here as an observer but we do not allow observers". People appeared a
bit flabbergasted and turned to look at me, expecting perhaps to see
an MI5 spy or a member of the BNP in their midst. The man beside me
complained that meetings should not be held in secret.

Gargy then spoke and said she had told us we could attend and that
there were several other observers present whom she had invited. It
was clear from her response that there had never been any such
attempt at an exclusion before. Even though she held a position of
responsibility within the STWC, it seems she was unaware of any ban.
Two other comrades identified themselves as observers, shocked to
find themselves suddenly in the firing line of a witch-hunt.

Andrew Murray then spoke and said that it was not and never had been
the practice to have observers. He then muttered something about it
being particularly important, given there were "sensitive issues" to
be discussed.

I asked to have the decision put to the meeting. I urged the STWC not
to set a harmful and undemocratic precedent. I argued that the
coalition needed to be open and these meetings should not be held
behind the back of the movement. I also defended the presence of the
CPGB as an affiliated organisation that had worked hard to build the
demonstrations. Moreover we had been informed we could attend. I
believe that I had the sympathy of much of the meeting.

Comrade Murray said that he had made a ruling as chair but would put
it to a vote anyway. It seemed he was trying to make it appear that a
vote against his ruling would be a direct challenge to the chair. As
an adept bureaucrat he was clearly trying to undermine any support
for me.

The vote was approximately 15 for the exclusion of observers, with
five or six against. Murray announced that the vote had been carried
with "a few abstentions". But he had not asked for an indication of
abstentions and shamefully at least half the meeting had not taken
part in the vote. He then demanded that we leave. There were a number
who looked very hurt. This was a clear attack on the CPGB which had
hit others too. It certainly showed the logic of witch-hunts. Unless
stopped everyone suffers.

Nevertheless Murray, German and Challice got what they wanted. Due to
their narrow and self-serving sectarianism the movement will be
denied a report in the Weekly Worker of how the STWC is thinking.

That is a real loss. Our paper has after all won a deserved
reputation for unequalled reporting and analysis of the politics of
the left in Britain. This is particularly vital as the present time.
Iraq is under occupation and the US is making threatening noises
towards Syria and North Korea. There is also the whole issue of
George Galloway. Should we defending him against the Blairite purge?
(I think we should.) Should we allow The Daily Telegraph to smear the
whole anti-war movement by standing up for Galloway uncritically? (I
think we should not.)

Instead of the Weekly Worker the movement will have to rely on the
usual anodyne STWC press releases and clipped pronouncements made by
Andrew Murray and Lindsay German. Naturally in the inner sanctums -
certainly on the CPB's executive and the SWP's political committee -
something approaching the truth will be told. But that is considered
too dangerous, too intoxicating for mere rank and file activists and
those outside the charmed circle.

Should we expect anything else from comrade Murray? Not when we
consider his origins and political CV. Before the ultra-right Marxism
Today faction dissolved the `official' CPGB in 1991, Murray was a
loyal lieutenant of Fergus Nicholson - the éminence grise of
the `broad left' monthly Straight Left and leader of his own
carefully CPGB managed opposition faction. To get a flavour of how
Nicholson imagined himself in his inner thought-world all one need
know is his nom de plume - Harry Steel. Harry comes from the first
name of Harry Pollitt, CPGB general secretary from the late 1920s to
1956, when he became chair. Steel is taken from Stalin - the `man of
steel'.

Murray broke with Nicholson in the 1990s, organisationally but not
politically. And after being one of the main movers behind the short
lived publication Communist Liaison, he and his micro-faction threw
in their lot with the Rob Griffiths-John Haylett wing of the CPB. He
once wrote regularly in the Morning Star taking particular delight in
attacking the "Trotskyites of the Socialist Alliance". Now he works
full-time for the traindrivers union Aslef. To sum up, Murray is an
unreconstituted Stalinite.

All we need say about comrade German is that, though she and her
organisation are retrospectively anti-Stalin and for democracy in the
Soviet Union, when it comes to present-day Britain she and Murray
make a perfect couple. Different backgrounds, yes, but common
bureaucratic methods and instincts.

Clearly we must fight to overcome the closed culture being imposed
upon the STWC. There is nothing natural about it. After all in the
Socialist Alliance any member may attend the national council and
even the executive finds the presence of observers and substitutes
unproblematic.

Sadly comrade Murray shows disdain not for his bête noire, the Weekly
Worker, but for everyone in the STWC he professes to represent. He
and comrade German rightly criticised the Westminster parliament for
being undemocratic before the Iraq war. Now they behave in a manner
akin to those 19th century Tories who refused to allow the press to
report the proceedings of parliament. That leading socialists behave
in this way in the 21st century brings shame upon our entire movement.

It is not the British state they are afraid of, but honest criticism.
Talk of "sensitive issues" is just a foil - one thing you can
guarantee is that MI5 will have their plants at the very top of the
STWC. The exclusion of affiliates should be roundly condemned by all
democrats.

This is not about my rights or the rights of the CPGB. This is about
the rights of the anti-movement to hear the truth.

Anne Mc Shane