Glyn was chair of Respect in Tower Hamlets before the split and a lot of its successes were due to his work. He stood as a candidate for the Left List. He has asked me to post these reflections on recent events.
Following Meltdown Thursday, Neil Lawson (Compass) declared the New Labour project dead. That’s a nice thought, but I think it may be wishful thinking. What is far more certain is the demise of RESPECT. I know that some won’t mourn its passing and many more won’t notice it, but with bitter irony, I see May 1st as a very sad day for the British labour movement.
The election results were, in general, very bad for the left, but the performance of both RESPECT Renewal and the Left List make it clear that neither has a viable future in its current form. I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but I said at the time of the split that is was a suicide pact and for once, one of my political predictions has come true!
I also said that one of the reasons for the split was the blame culture that emerged so quickly when the organization hit some difficulties. Post May 1st, there is even less to be gained from pointing the finger and raking over the past. Those of us who know that the working class needs a new political organization need to take stock of what’s happened and think seriously about what to do next.
In doing so, I believe we must remember both the successes and failures of RESPECT. I still maintain that the strategy of coalition is the correct one. Small, independent organizations can play a vital part in this, but they cannot be an end in themselves. If the left allows itself to be defined by its differences, the only winners will be the political establishment and the forces of reaction.
At its best, RESPECT transcended these differences. Anyone who experienced the energy of the last couple of years knows we were tapping into something real. The campaigns we were part of brought together a wide range of people who were desperately seeking a political alternative. It’s true the exact nature of this voice wasn’t always clearly defined and in retrospect, we should have worked harder on that. But when RESPECT championed the cause of council housing or opposed cuts in public services, we made an instant connection with the lives and concerns of working class people, regardless of ethnicity or faith. The collapse of RESPECT has already left a big vacuum. For example, in Tower Hamlets we are seeing the relentless encroachment of the City of London, posing a direct threat to a long-established working class community. But last Thursday, the New Labour party that has paved the way for the property developers in Bethnal Green comfortably won a local ward by-election. This shouldn’t have happened and wouldn’t have if RESPECT (or something like it) had mounted a unified campaign of resistance.
It’s impossible to reflect on RESPECT without mentioning George Galloway. I don’t know what he’s going to do now, but I am very sorry that he’s failed to fulfill the hope and promise he brought to the East End. He could have been a contender! He had the talent to write his name in the folklore of the labour movement, but he chose a different path. But in the end, the real lesson is that we cannot have political charisma at the expense of political accountability. The movement needs leaders and totem figures, but the moment they become detached from the grassroots and the reality of working people’s lives, they are useless.
The SWP is now turning to the industrial front as the most fertile field for growing resistance to neo-liberalism. I’m not sure about that. Of course the trade unions are vital and I’m sure there will be growing militancy as the recession starts to bite. But just as the Labour Party cannot be reclaimed, I think we have to face up to the dead weight that has become our trade union leaders and the bureaucracies that support them. I don’t think even the best of them is capable of leading a sustained or coherent challenge to New Labour. The fundamental need for a political arm to go with the industrial one hasn’t changed. While I don’t think a traditional version of ‘The Party’ is the way forward, the labour movement still urgently needs a unifying political organization. It’s easier said than done, but we have to try.
So farewell then RESPECT! The phrase ‘Up like a firework, down like a stick’ was never more apposite. I’ll miss it, but remember it fondly, in the belief that we can do it better next time.
Liam redux 
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