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The politics of the crisis in Respect – audio and video

Here is the video of Alan Thornett speaking at last night’s Socialist Resistance forum on Respect. He describes how all the meaningful decisions inside Respect were taken by the SWP, explains our attitude to George Galloway, gives a detailed account of the negotiations leading up to the split, including the SWP’s intention, declared at an…

Liam
1–2 minutes

Here is the video of Alan Thornett speaking at last night’s Socialist Resistance forum on Respect. He describes how all the meaningful decisions inside Respect were taken by the SWP, explains our attitude to George Galloway, gives a detailed account of the negotiations leading up to the split, including the SWP’s intention, declared at an early stage to “go nuclear”.

Feel free to contradict any of the views expressed but try to do it politically.

You may find some parts of the video technically inept. You would be wrong. The shaky camera at the start is there to add to the sense of confusion and drama. The gap in the middle is allegorical and has nothing to do with the batteries running out. The reason the video stops abruptly is symbolic and not because the recorder’s memory was full.

You can download the MP3 of his summary here.

Follow the link and click “download”.

4 responses to “The politics of the crisis in Respect – audio and video”

  1. Halshall Avatar
    Halshall

    Pity it got cut off just at the end.
    The present split is very distressing not least because it does revive a theory that has long been discredited ( at least since May 68)
    ie:- that revolution was back on the agenda, after the long dark night of stalinism, and the 50/60s cold war consensus of social democracy, provided that you worked to build the united fronts with left reformist minded workers in struggle (and post Seattle all the other campaigns against the neo-liberal agenda).
    Now after the failure of Respect to begin to build a mass united workers / left-oriented party, based around some ideas of ‘power from below’ it gives credence to the old dis-illusioned renegade idea that
    ‘Leninsm’ and Oct 1917 was a fluke, that arose in unique circumstances never to be repeated, and then failed’.
    Can we take such it that such a view is misguided and that there is a way ahead ?

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  2. The Despair Squid Avatar
    The Despair Squid

    Satire is dead:
    “Respect conference full to overflowing – 15/11/2007
    There are now so many delegates and observers registered for the Respect conference that we have had to turn over 70 people away.”
    (http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=1642)

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  3. P.B Avatar
    P.B

    One main lesson which is unlikely to be learnt by the so called revolutionary socialist parties in imperialist countries like Britain is that could cant be part of a broad left party and act as party within a party.

    If you think that the prospect of revolution is a possiblity within imperialist countries then you really are living a deluded romanticised existence.

    The ongoing situation in Venezuela is an inspiration for socialists and we can and must learn a great deal from in terms of the deepenning and expanding of DEMOCRACYy.It needs to be recognised that Venezuela is not an imperialist country in contrast to Britiain.

    Socialist Resistance’s development of eco socialist ideas and the development of a left realignment around such ideas on a global level is vitally important.GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE and the global ecological crisis is such that any idea or vision of socialism will be determined by global climate change and in this sense we have limited options and limited time to influence and bring about a sustainable democratic transformation of global captiatlism. So the whole of the Left needs to start to wake up to this fact.

    The fact that an immiment imperialist attack on Iran looms and indicates the complete lunacy and bankrupcy of capitalism as it goes for broke to maintain it’s totally unsustainable existence. A substantially more emboldened and unified imperialist attack on Iran will open the gates of hell and the potential for a possible third world war in more senses than one.

    Such an attack could also bring the much threatened imperialist onslaught on Syria, Cuba, Venezuela,Bolivia and Ecuador or elsewhere where the empire feels it is challenged and does not have complete control. Full spectrum is what they say and is what they aspire to.
    It is incumbent on the left to learn the lessons from our mistakes and miscalculations of the past few yearsand repair the weaknesses of the ANTI WAR MOVEMENT,so that we will be stronger, better organised and coordianted and much more effective as a movement both locally, nationally and internationally.

    The struggle continues.

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  4. Mick Hall Avatar
    Mick Hall

    I was really disappointed that the video finished as I thought Alan was making some very sensible points, especially at the end when he stressed the importance of broad left party’s in this period, but the lessons from the past have not been learnt.

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