One of the touching things about the Respect discussion was the number of concerned wellwishers who were upset by the rumoured disappearance of Socialist Resistance as an organisation when we decided to end production of the monthly paper. “Liquidationist Pabloites do it again” and “SR dissolves into Respect” were among the more distraught comments. Don’t worry. We’re not going away. Here’s our statement on what we did, why we did it and what we plan to do.
The resources used to produce the monthly Socialist Resistance newspaper are being used to support the launch of the monthly paper announced at the Respect Renewal conference.Socialist Resistance agreed to make the offer at a joint meeting of its editorial board and steering committee in early November which was open to all our members. The proposal was agreed unanimously, and was accepted by the Respect Renewal conference . The first issue of Respect’s paper will be on sale in December.
Socialist Resistance’s support will be reflected through financial support, the use of our publishing systems, volunteer labour, and by the participation of SR’s editorial team in producing the new paper.
Our successful pamphlet on the crisis in Respect will be expanded, and published as part of a series of books intended for publication over the next months. We will also continue to hold major public events based on themes of interest to our readers such as our day schools on the Middle East, Ecosocialism and Latin America . Details of the next one will shortly be available.
Supporters of Socialist Resistance will continue to hold monthly political public meetings on a wide range of international and British topics.
A national meeting of our members in early 2008 will review our ongoing ecosocialism project and decide on a proposal to relaunch SR as a magazine. That will be the subject of further discussion over the coming months. Until Socialist Resistance is relaunched, our subscribers can choose whether to take the new paper instead, to extend their subscription period, or for a refund to be either paid to them or donated to Respect Renewal.
The new Respect paper is already set to have a much wider base of human and financial support than the monthly Socialist Resistance. The new paper will deepen our five-year struggle to build a broad and democratic ecosocialist party that can give a voice to those effectively disenfranchised by New Labour’s right-wing agenda.
Socialist Resistance has demonstrated the seriousness of its commitment to building Respect over a number of years. Our decision to make our paper available to Respect is further proof of this. We are equally committed to helping develop a strong, vibrant ecosocialist current inside Respect and the rest of the British Labour Movement and our continuing activity will remain dedicated to this aims.
Liam redux 
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