'Respect' and George Galloway

Martin Thomas To "campaign for a workers' party" means three things: 1. Setting out and grouping people round basic working-class political objectives-independent working-class political representation, a workers' government, a working-class "Third Camp" in international politics. 2. Arguing for working-class socialist unity, in the form of a new Socialist Alliance-a new regroupment of the left which rejects the SWP's hijack of the present Alliance and continues what that Alliance started out to do. 3. Developing a consistent policy in the unions to mobilise them against the New Labour...

Things can only get wetter Greenpeace protesters dumped sacks of coal outside Downing Street on Monday morning to protest against the British government’s lack of action against climate change. Tony Blair has promised to make global warming and Africa Britain’s two priorities for chairing the G8 group of the world’s richest nations. However, Blair has also said that “the blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge”, supporting similar statements by George Bush. For “economy”, of course, read “the oil...

Text for use in draft motions or amendments to trade union branches on "Respect" coalition. We note the continued pro-business policy of the New Labour government, and its continued opposition to the demands and interests of the labour movement. We also note the launch of the "Respect" coalition for the forthcoming euro-elections. We believe that the following three elements are indispensable for any coalition of the left to be a positive contribution to resolving the current crisis of working-class political representation. 1. A working-class stance. It must advocate public ownership, workers...

Following an article in the Mail on Sunday, 11 May 2003, Socialist Worker (17 May) has claimed that George Galloway has been vindicated against the charges of taking money from the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.. The Mail on Sunday, which has employed Galloway as a columnist, says that documents adduced by the Christian Science Monitor were probably forgeries. The Christian Science Monitor's story about Galloway receiving money from the Iraqi government came after the Daily Telegraph published documents which it claimed to have found in Baghdad. Unlike the Telegraph, the Monitor did not...

What Solidarity has said recently about George Galloway is not new, and not a case of us "moving under pressure of the bourgeois press". We said more or less everything we now say about George Galloway nine years ago, in the editorial from Socialist Organiser reprinted in part here. We said it again in Solidarity two months ago, in an article which began by solidarising with George Galloway where he had called on British soldiers not to obey "illegal orders" and then went on to argue that Galloway had no place in the anti-war movement. The "George-Galloway-loves-Saddam-Hussein" affair gave the...

Filthy lucre No (frills) workers' rights RESPECT your cleaner Defending secularism? Filthy lucre The tabloid obsession with celebrity/family values/soccer took a turn for the worse recently when the News of the World claimed David Beckham had been having an affair with a former PA. The story behind the soccer (genius?) is sordid, but not in a way the tabloids would care about. Brand Beckham now has a logo - four wavy lines and a circle. It's all worth a quite a few million, as the logo adorns goods made by Adidas, whose boots grace Beckham's expensive feet. Adidas is not a business that cares...

Socialist Alliance members, from a number of local branches, met in London on 25 May. They decided to start the process of setting up a faction within the Socialist Alliance on the principle of independent working-class politics, as against ?pink-green? electoral blocs. A number of other Alliance activists had expressed interest in the idea, but were unable to attend on the Bank Holiday Sunday. What will now follow is a process of consultation, discussion, debate, argument and amendment on the draft platform worked out on 25 May, up to a further meeting to establish a properly organised...

From Socialist Organiser 586, 27 January 1994 The "George-Galloway-loves-Saddam-Hussein" affair gave the Tories a brief respite from their own scandals and sensational revelations last week. It brought no respite to socialists concerned at the continuing decay of the old left. It was the latest putrescent manifestation of that decay. The Tories needed the respite, and though in fact it was the BBC monitoring service which "broke" the story, we got tabloid front pages like those you see in the montage on page 4 [of the printed paper]. Beneath the abuse, they must have loved George Galloway!...

Following an article in the Mail on Sunday, 11 May 2003, the Stop The War Coalition and Socialist Worker have claimed that George Galloway has been vindicated on charges of getting money from the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein are discredited. The Mail on Sunday, which has employed Galloway as a columnist, concluded that documents adduced by the Christian Science Monitor were probably forgeries. The Christian Science Monitor's story about Galloway receiving money from the Iraqi government came after the Daily Telegraph published documents which it claimed to have found in Baghdad. Unlike...

"An injury to one is an injury to all" - and therefore socialists who opposed the recent Iraq war of the USA and UK should back George Galloway? It was put like that by Nick Wrack, the mover of a resolution committing the Socialist Alliance to support Galloway which the Alliance conference passed by a big majority on Saturday 10 May, against the opposition of supporters of Solidarity . The impulse to take such a stand is in itself healthy. So is the impulse not to "desert" Galloway. But serious politics is not just a matter of instinct. We, who have been at war with Galloway for a decade, who...