SWP

The SWP / IS tradition

Paul Foot

Paul Foot, who has died at the age of 66, was one of Britain's best known socialists. A member of what is now the SWP for 43 years, he became widely known for "muckraking" books about miscarriages of justice such as Who Killed Hanratty (1971), for his association with Private Eye, and for his columns in the Daily Mirror and the Guardian. In the film "Time Bandits" John Cleese plays a boyish upper class Robin Hood - Paul Foot in voice and manner. It cannot but have been a deliberate take-off of Foot and it is accurate to a T. Born in Palestine in 1937, where his father was serving, he was of...

Real and invented differences on political Islam 2: When Lindsey German replied to her critics

"The British are... doing all in their power to foster the Moslem Brotherhood, a clerical-fascist organisation in Egypt... [the Muslim Brotherhood] refused to participate on 21 February, 1946, "Evacuation Day" as this was a real anti-imperialist movement and not a communal one.. "Slogans of solidarity among Moslem, Christian and Jewish workers were shouted throughout the demonstrations, and the fascist leader Ahmed Hussein, who tried to worm his way into the demonstration, was howled down and not allowed to speak." Tony Cliff, writing in 1946 In the Guardian on 13 July 2004, under the headline...

The “IS tradition” and the birth of Respect - An open letter to an SWP leader

In the terminology of the Marxist movement, unprincipled cliques or groups have been characterised as political bandits. A classic example of such a group is the group known as “Lovestoneites”. This group, which took its name from the characterless adventurer who has been its leader, poisoned and corrupted the American Communist movement for many years by its unprincipled and unscrupulous factional struggles. The Lovestoneites were able and talented people, but they had no definite principles. They were wild-eyed radicals and ultraleftists when Zinoviev was at the head of the Comintern. With...

Debate and discussion: Red and Yellow and Green and Blue

In the 19 June issue of Socialist Worker there is an article bemoaning the failure of the Green Party to agree an electoral alliance with Respect. This is used as an excuse for the failure of a great electoral breakthrough. But people who think the Greens are any kind of radical alternative to Labour and worthy partners in left electoral alliances should take note of what has happened in Leeds. In the local elections Labour lost control of the council for the first time since 1980 - though they are the biggest party with 40 seats. Now the Lib Dems (second biggest party), the Tories and the...

Post: how the SWP backs job cuts

By a postal worker In common with their latest "turn" in other unions, leading SWP officials of the Communication Workers Union have been at the vanguard of promoting job-cutting deals with management. It started with SWP Postal Executive member Jane Loftus supporting the "Major Change" agreement. She justified voting for the deal (which allows local managers to set targets for cutting jobs and increasing workload) as being "for the sake of unity" with the majority of the Exec. The coverage of the deal in Socialist Worker at the time appeared to be contradictory, with one of their rank and...

Fringe meetings at 'Marxism 2004'

The following fringe meetings are taking place at the SWP summer school "Marxism 2004": Socialists, RESPECT and the elections Joint meeting between Workers' LIberty, the CPGB and the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform 5.15pm, Sunday 11 July The College Arms 18 Store Street (off Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street) Solidarity with Iraqi workers Meeting with Workers' Liberty and the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq 5.15pm, Wednesday 14 July The College Arms Revolutionaries and the Labour Party CPGB meeting: speakers include Maria Exall. 5.15pm, Monday 12 July The College Arms

An open letter to members of the SWP

Dear comrades, Over the last couple of months, you and some other socialists have put a big effort into the Respect election campaign. Has it been worth it? If Respect does get a reasonably big vote, that will not be because of the general leftish talk that it shares with the Greens. It will because of the chosen cutting edges of its campaign. Respect promotes George Galloway as its hero. All its ballot papers, everywhere, say: "Respect - the Unity Coalition (George Galloway)". Respect's own definition of success is getting Galloway into the Euro-parliament. For sure, it is Galloway's! George...

Dutch IS and Islamism

Two articles from the Dutch anarchist/anti-racist publication De Fabel van de illegaal. De Fabel van de illegaal 64, May/June 2004 Authors: Eric Krebbers and Roel Nagel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IS and AEL organize remembrance of religious fascist Yassin On March 27, 2004, the Internationale Socialisten (IS, colleagues of the British SWP) and the Arab-nationalist organization AEL together organized a remembrance manifestation for the Palestinian sheikh Ahmed Yassin on the Dam in Amsterdam. The founder and ideologue of the Muslim fundamentalist...

An open letter to SWP members

Dear comrades, Over the last couple of months, you and some other socialists have put a big effort into the Respect election campaign. Has it been worth it? If Respect does get a reasonably big vote, that will not be because of the general leftish talk that it shares with the Greens. It will because of the chosen cutting edges of its campaign. * Respect promotes George Galloway as its hero. All its ballot papers, everywhere, say: "Respect - the Unity Coalition (George Galloway)". Respect's own definition of success is getting Galloway into the Euro-parliament. For sure, it is Galloway's...

The Awkward Squad: New Labour and the Rank and File

a Socialist Worker pamphlet by Martin Smith This pamphlet is a propaganda exercise. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. However, it also claims to provide an analysis of the Labour Party, the trade union bureaucracy, the Broad Lefts and members of the "awkward squad." It does not do any of that very well, relying on crass comments such as "bright flashes of a new mood" and "the gaps between the explosions are becoming shorter". On, for example, why the trade unions did not challenge Blair on the war at Labour Party conference, no real answer is given. There is no attempt to relate...

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