Below is an editorial that appears in this week’s issue of Socialist Worker. It is a very good example of how you can describe something without throwing very much light on the subject and it has the added bonus of opening a new front in the war of words against George Galloway. Though it does provide a bit of unintended comic relief by presenting the SWP as consistent defenders of socialist democracy and pluralism, concepts which have generally not been at the core of much of their practice.

What is entirely absent from the piece is any telling of the other side of the story. Galloway made a series of detailed organisational and political criticisms of the SWP’s method of running Respect. These are not hinted at. More significantly the overwhelming majority of non-SWP national council members have effectively agreed with this critique, a critique, as I have mentioned before, that is similar in many aspects to that made by Socialist Resistance. It’s notable that the editorial is not supported by any quotes endorsing the SWP’s commitment to democracy from anyone outside the organisation

No one who has read the reports of last week’s meetings in Tower Hamlets can deny that they were unpleasant. Is there any mention of the substantive issue that made them unpleasant, the fact that the SWP planned to send 30+ members as part of the Tower Hamlets delegation and that word had leaked out about the phony student delegates? Though there is at least some good news about the Tower Hamlets conference delegation. A panel of committee members is to draw up a single list of Respect conference delegates, and present it to the Respect meeting scheduled for Thursday 25 October,
with the full support of the Respect committee, for endorsement by that meeting. Given the approval of the Thursday 25 October meeting, that list is to be voted on by the Respect committee and duly nominated as the Tower Hamlets Respect delegation to conference. At last the scent of sensible compromise is in the air.

George Galloway is making a mistake in refusing to share platforms with SWP members. Along with other supporters of Socialist Resistance I want the SWP to remain in Respect. Their departure would be a big blow to the class struggle forces inside the organisation. However this editorial is a disappointing first public statement. It gives no clear description of the issues and has a confrontational hostile tone. This suggests that the organisation’s leadership is getting its members for a fierce fight to the finish which has a desired outcome of driving out those people who are critical of their methods. In this case that is the majority of the rest of Respect’s membership. This is barmy. It offers the choice of Respect as as 100% SWP side project to sit on the shelf alongside Globalise Resistance or the SWP retreating into a period of small group propaganda work having wrecked what credibility it has.

I had hoped that tempers would be cooling as these options became apparent. This is not the case. All the more reason to delay the conference until January or February and have a debate in the branches where both sides are given equal time to put their cases. That would be the way to defend socialism and democracy in Respect.

Defend socialism and democracy in Respect

Respect, the coalition which has won greater electoral success than any left alternative for decades, is facing a deep crisis. It is a political crisis about the direction of the left in Britain which requires an urgent response.

Socialist Worker has never been one of those papers obsessed with the manoeuvres of left groups. But the present division in Respect is so important it demands comment.

We also have to speak out because Socialist Worker has been approached by two major news programmes who say they are going to broadcast allegations against the SWP over this affair.

Respect began as a radical product of the anti-war movement. Its name stood for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environment, Community and Trade unionism. It was clearly a left project and achieved success as such.

Proud

We proudly situated Socialist Worker as the paper which carried the reports about Respect, organised supporters to push it forwards and celebrated its victories.

As part of this, Socialist Worker defended George Galloway against right wing attacks, even when it was unpopular. We researched and investigated to provide evidence of how material was forged against him over allegations of receiving oil gifts from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Socialist Worker supporters campaigned tirelessly to get Galloway elected in Bethnal Green & Bow in 2005.

When the vast bulk of the media tore into Galloway during his appearance in Celebrity Big Brother, Socialist Worker did not join in, and pointed to his record as an anti-war campaigner.

Now, in a concerted push which should appal those who want to see a radical alternative to Labour, Galloway has begun to attack the core of the left in Respect. He has decided that the political vision which has sustained the project no longer fits.

He denounces members of the SWP as unthinking “Leninists” who listen to nobody but their shadowy and unaccountable leadership – a classic right wing stereotype of revolutionaries. Inside Respect a campaign has been launched against the SWP in an attempt to drive us out.

Alternative

In Tower Hamlets in east London two extremely unpleasant meetings have laid bare the methods at the heart of the present disputes.

At a Respect members’ meeting there was an attempt to derail a constitutionally supplied list of delegates for the Respect annual conference.

At a subsequent Tower Hamlets Respect committee meeting – after an initially calm beginning by other speakers – Galloway launched an assault on the SWP.

Elsewhere Galloway has announced that he does not want to speak at Respect meetings where SWP members are present, even though they are active members of Respect.

Such tactics are not about honest debate inside a coalition.

The SWP is not going to be driven out of Respect. We played an important part in creating Respect and have done as much as anyone to make the project work. We are also going to continue to stand up for Respect as a coalition that defends all working class people and tries to meet the urgent need for a left alternative to Labour.

We urge everyone to support our position that we need to defend Respect as a project that has socialism as a central part, that will not make endless concessions in order to win votes, and that stands up for democracy.

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