'Respect' and George Galloway

Ally with the socialists instead of Galloway! Turn to the left!

Leaflet for "official" (SWP) Respect conference, 17 November 2007 . "The SWP and those close to it have now broken with George Galloway... That is good. Or, at least, it will be good if the Respect remainder turns to the left..." Read the rest by downloading the attachment, below.

Respect/SWP in talks with Lib Dems

According to the East London Advertiser , Councillor Oli Rahman – leader of the breakaway Respect councillors in Tower Hamlets – has confirmed that John Rees’ ‘gang of four’ have been in talks with the Liberal Democrats. There had been speculation of a possible fusion between the Respect-SWP and Lib-Dem groups to create an official opposition on the council, though Rahman claims that the talks were merely about “working together”. The question is how were they aiming to “work together”, for what purpose and on what political basis? For what purpose would John Rees and Oli Rahman – both members...

As we were saying, 2004: Respect woos the 'Muslim vote'

Originally posted 22 May 2004 . The campaign for the 10 June 2004 Euro and local elections by the Respect coalition, set up by the Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) in January, is descending into a shameful scramble to grab the 'Muslim vote'. It is not an effort to win Muslim workers and youth over to socialist ideas while avoiding unnecessary offence to their religious beliefs. Rather the opposite: Respect is functioning as a means to convert the socialists who provide its active forces into advocates of Islamic communalism or Islamism. In London, Respect is circulating a leaflet boosting its...

An open letter to Chris Harman of the SWP

To download text as pdf, click on the "attachments" below. Second attachment is an updated version, 02/11/07. . Dear comrade Harman, I know you of old and hope, or would like to believe, that you still hold to the basic socialist ideas which you and I shared in the past. See also: Open Letter to an IS Leader, August 2004: From the "IS Tradition" to Respect ; and more on Respect . I wrote you a first open letter in June 2004 (Solidarity 3/54) urging you to register that the Respect turn was a betrayal of all that was good about the political tradition you used to hold to. The rift between your...

Should we encourage Respect members to duck the choice?

Reply to JR : The SWP is a hindrance to the left, and undemocratic? Sure. (That it's particularly well organised, I do question, but that's by the way). If those bad things were not true of the SWP, AWL might well be a faction within a joint organisation with the SWP, rather than a separate organisation. But how do we relate to would-be revolutionary organisations which have bad politics and method, but nonetheless - in the case of the SWP, because it's the biggest of the activist left groups - recruit good socialists? Analogies with the Israeli government, the Tory party, or the CDU/CSU are...

SWP a hindrance to the left

No, of course Galloway and the SWP aren't the same. I wouldn't object to an SWP member speaking at a left event (although I'd probably choose not to turn up, given that the chances of them debating someone from a different left tradition are approximately zero), whereas I would to Galloway, particularly on the grounds that he's not on the left. But that in itself is not enough reason to support the SWP. The Israeli government and Hizbollah aren't the same. One is bourgeois-democratic, the other clerical-fascist. That doesn't mean I supported the former in the lebanon war. The Tory party and...

Neither, nor

Yes, the formal programme to which the SWP are committed is (while highly flawed) infinitely better than that of Galloway and friends. but it seems that a fair few good trade union activists who are siding with Galloway -- presumably not because of his programme, or simply because he's an MP or public figure. The only reason i can think of is disgust at the SWP's typical anti-democratic measures. As in the Socialist Alliance, which arguably led to this whole mess in the first place. shouldn't it be a case of "neither Galloway nor the SWP but principled socialism"?

Which are the biggest fish frying here?

In reply to Chris Leary .... In our "open letter to Chris Harman" , we wrote: SWP members... they have few democratic mechanisms to challenge the Central Committee. But they are not helpless. They can talk to other members who are unhappy with the foul political and moral morass into which the SWP has been led. . They can organise with them, secretly if they need to (they probably would). They can read the criticisms of SWP policy produced over the years by other socialists. They can break through the barrier of misrepresentation, demonisation, and slander which the members of the SWP Central...

Yes or No — Support the SWP against Galloway?

We Should Not Take Sides — Dave L Support the SWP! - Martin Thomas Don't Back the SWP — Janine Booth Why We Should Back the SWP — Martin Thomas I'm With Janine on This One — Chris Leary Which are the biggest fish to fry here? - Martin Thomas Neither, nor - JR SWP a hindrance to the left - JR Should we tell Respect members to duck the choice? - Martin Thomas

Support the SWP? No!

I don’t think there is a point in ‘taking sides’ in this faction fight. The SWP are reaping the whirlwind that they have sown. It appears to be a rearguard action against the opportunist, anti-secular and tailist politics that they encouraged in Respect. Finally they have heard the sound of Cliff turning in his grave!! But they deal with it in just the same bureaucratic anti-democratic way that they used yesterday against those of us who raised these very questions. I remember well the SWP using the same tactics to stop me being a delegate to conference and move my resolution on secularism...

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