Tonight’s meeting of Southwalk Respect defeated an SWP resolution that
the conference should continue. Non-SWP people at the meeting seemed
very clear that the conference could not be legitimate.

The non-SWP candidates proposed to be delegates withdrew their
nominations and said they could not in conscience attend. A member of
the conference arrangements committee was unable to give clear
explanation of how she came to be on the CAC. One SWP member resigned.
At the end, the majority refused to vote on the list of delegates.

It was a difficult discussion. A number of people came from outside
the branch to meet an eye on things, including the SWP’s south London
organiser and one of the SWP comrades on the Student Respect
committee: they contributed to the discussion, and kept a fraternal
eye on the voting of their fellow-members.

One person who resigned from the SWP that night made a very angry speech denouncing the SWP for smashing up and splitting Respect, for seeking to stack the delegates in this meeting and revealed the initial proposal from the South London organiser that the SWP should seek all five delegate positions.

Much of what the SWP members heard was news to
them, and they are – of course — being presented with a loyalty
pledge. Some of them made comments along the lines of getting the
discussion out into the open, of pushing the leaders into the
sidelines, one even spoke of having the conference without the
leaders. So there’s a real wobble in the SWP which is not shown in the
solidity of their voting.