tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post1962302404018785076..comments2024-03-19T09:00:56.265+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: SWP: Life on the Revolutionary TreadmillPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-79421875616862785242013-01-10T19:29:34.076+00:002013-01-10T19:29:34.076+00:00Ridiculous and infantile ultra leftism from Shawn ...Ridiculous and infantile ultra leftism from Shawn there.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-84996295876965198042013-01-10T19:07:06.444+00:002013-01-10T19:07:06.444+00:00Mike argues " I think the SWP do have a strat...Mike argues " I think the SWP do have a strategy of sorts: it is to build the SWP in the hope that when a revolutionary crisis erupts they are in a position to lead it~".<br />Except when faced with the biggest social movement since the Miners strike, ie Stop the War, it broke the organisation, I know I was in it at the time. Then they witch hunted themselves our of Respect, The words, Not fit for purpose, never mind their 'October 1917' movement they were all saving themselves for. I bailed by the way<br /><br />Richard SAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-7473690622412766072013-01-08T15:22:49.697+00:002013-01-08T15:22:49.697+00:00Because the state does a much better job of dealin...Because the state does a much better job of dealing with rape as evidenced by conviction rates and their refusal to use it as a political tool to advance, say, racism. Redbedheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07599011452142177692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-18845959851987061612013-01-07T22:21:16.303+00:002013-01-07T22:21:16.303+00:00The problem is Chris is, despite the occasionally ...The problem is Chris is, despite the occasionally useful role the SWP and its members have played, on the whole I think its balance sheet in the labour movement and the far left has proven to be counter-productive. That is why I reserve the right to post pompous and sarcy blogs about them when the mood takes.<br /><br />Anyway, as you can see from the threads on Socialist Unity, the differences at stake aren't just about jolly old debates on secondary political issues. It's about how one of its leading members has been accused of rape, and that the SWP stupidly decided to try and investigate it themselves. I'm sure such situations have arisen in Labour before and will again in the future - but no one would be stupid enough to try and resolve the issue through its internal disputes procedures.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-52311700834995165682013-01-07T22:16:08.048+00:002013-01-07T22:16:08.048+00:00Bless Anonymous. Though, of course, if Blair and B...Bless Anonymous. Though, of course, if Blair and Brown were that bad, Housey and his comrades wouldn't be busying themselves defending the public services built up by Labour over 13 years from the LibDem-supported Tory government. Because if they were both completely awful, those services wouldn't exist.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-40812495424880981782013-01-07T20:56:53.400+00:002013-01-07T20:56:53.400+00:00@Anonymous - AVPS hasn't been in the SP for so...@Anonymous - AVPS hasn't been in the SP for some time, as might be obvious from his support for the economic record of the Blair / Brown government and his opposition to councillors voting against cuts etc.Houseynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-84358172885980004132013-01-07T20:12:32.227+00:002013-01-07T20:12:32.227+00:00I think the vitriol directed at the SWP is frankly...I think the vitriol directed at the SWP is frankly, disgusting.<br /><br />It is funny that people go on about politicians telling the truth, but when they do all hell breaks loose and that political parties should accept differences of opinion but when they do their opponents say they are split.<br /><br />This poisonous atmosphere contributes to the New Labour style top down control freakery politics, which tails the tabloid press. Totally unhealthy and an aid to reaction.<br /><br />You should rise above this sort of thing.<br />Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-49897884670986236542013-01-07T15:48:31.580+00:002013-01-07T15:48:31.580+00:00Is the socialist party aware that one of its most ...Is the socialist party aware that one of its most prominent bloggers thinks revolutionary socialism is a busted flush?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-4755998217391904232013-01-07T01:04:45.313+00:002013-01-07T01:04:45.313+00:00I think the SWP do have a strategy of sorts: it is...I think the SWP do have a strategy of sorts: it is to build the SWP in the hope that when a revolutionary crisis erupts they are in a position to lead it.<br /><br />It is not, in my view, a wise strategy - but it helps to explain why they are in their current crisis.<br /><br />The 'build the party/revolution is the only answer' strategy is meaningless abstract sloganising in the context of contemporary political conditions in the UK. It therefore has little or no traction among the mass of working people.<br /><br />Sustaining this strategy in a context where it plainly has little practical political relevance requires cultivating a party world-view that insulates members from reality and which guards against external influences which challenge it. <br /><br />In this context democracy and dissent is mistrusted and often demonised. <br /><br />The guardians of the official world-view (the national leadership who are 'steeled' in the party's ideological orthodoxies) regard themselves as the only legitimate leaders because they can fully articulate and defend the world-view against any and all opposition.<br /><br />The only acceptable form of 'party democracy' is that which reproduces a leadership which embodies the orthodoxy. Hence the Central Committee effectively decides all future Central Committees. Calls for forms of democracy that may challenge this continuity are demonised as 'distractions' from the class struggle etc.<br /><br />So it has been for most Trot sects over the decades. There are no lessons to be learned by the SWP because they are incapable of anything but a brittle and intolerant defence of their dogmatic and hyper-abstract form of politics.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-78544748584225653412013-01-06T19:59:05.193+00:002013-01-06T19:59:05.193+00:00No. Or if it is, not according to the templates be...No. Or if it is, not according to the templates beloved of Leninists and anarchists.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-5497521920251828912013-01-06T18:32:51.787+00:002013-01-06T18:32:51.787+00:00"it is the belief, the faith even, that ... r..."it is the belief, the faith even, that ... revolutionary socialist politics is suited to capitalism in the 21st century."<br /><br />---<br /><br />Well, isn't it?Louis Proyecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08876739966025806002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-88729469454473247262013-01-06T17:35:53.893+00:002013-01-06T17:35:53.893+00:00I think the strategy-less charge stands simply bec...I think the strategy-less charge stands simply because they lack a game plan over the short to medium, and medium to long-term. Building the party by selling the paper and collecting standing orders, while intervening as a movement's "best builders" is an <i>organisational</i> strategy for preservation, not a political one.<br /><br />Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-43955454210176419742013-01-06T17:31:22.825+00:002013-01-06T17:31:22.825+00:00Central committee majority slate elected by 334 to...Central committee majority slate elected by 334 to 201. More than a third dissenting. Very interesting times ahead!Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-43790436065445132892013-01-06T13:39:31.340+00:002013-01-06T13:39:31.340+00:00Thanks for the vote details. Sounds a pretty funda...Thanks for the vote details. Sounds a pretty fundamental difference of opinion there! <br /><br />For all the opportunism and organisational protectionism that the SWP can be accused of, it seems hard to really justify the 'radical liberal' / strategy-less charge. Working in unions, promoting miiltancy and working-class organisation has always been a prime focus for the party (regardless of the questionable sub-strategies that may have been applied in pursuit of this aim, most obviously the Respect shambles). <br /><br />Nevertheless it would be fair to say that the SWP, like many socialist individuals and groups, is in some level of denial about the transformed class composition of capitalism in the US and Europe, and the material and ideological disconnect of the contemporary working class from the left. <br /><br />For me, Bordieu's notion of 'habitas' has much to offer Marxists in reassessing the depth of our malaise, and how to respond to it. At the same time the defence of traditional approaches to class is very understandable as a counter to the risk of dismantling the whole conceptual foundations of socialist organisation. Which brings me to your point about superficial relation of ISJ pieces to other approaches, which is an interesting one. swappernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-34865249693033230442013-01-06T12:34:36.665+00:002013-01-06T12:34:36.665+00:00"But they have done more these last 20 years ..."But they have done more these last 20 years to burn out young activists"<br /><br />Or young activist gets a well paid job in the city exploiting the shit out of people!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-13179096243807980882013-01-06T12:25:24.850+00:002013-01-06T12:25:24.850+00:00Correction from last night - the CC vote's not...Correction from last night - the CC vote's not due to take place until today. Apparently, it was a vote on the dispute committee's report - 230 to 209 votes in favour of acceptance.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-10562242684898049812013-01-06T12:23:53.751+00:002013-01-06T12:23:53.751+00:00I do agree the left in Labour lack a strategic dir...I do agree the left in Labour lack a strategic direction. Well, I don't - I know why I am where I am, but will have to dig around in the archives for my old posts on that subject. <br /><br />I will grant that Socialist Review and International Socialism are interesting publications. The SWP makes a good show of engaging with the fashionable thinkers of the day. But fundamentally it is an encounter of the most superficial kind - the theory is never integrated into their practice. Compare again with the SP. It appears much less sophisticated and appealing to postgrad types because it tends not to fill Socialism Today with articles mooning over Badiou and Zizek, but the theory they generate themselves - whatever you think of it - does guide their practice. Whether that theory is modified in light of subsequent practice is a discussion for another post.<br /><br />As far left groups go, the SWP aren't the worst ever to have existed in this country. But they have done more these last 20 years to burn out young activists and wreck promising initiatives than any other organisation. They are basically well-meaning radical liberals who blunder about without a clue, and as such deserve all the negative coverage they attract.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-17309047604231904772013-01-06T02:52:49.710+00:002013-01-06T02:52:49.710+00:00I am no fan of the SWP as a whole, but they do som...I am no fan of the SWP as a whole, but they do some things quite well.<br /><br />For example, there is a need for a stream of publications that make the case against capitalism and for socialism. <br /><br />The SWP's publications, in particular their International Socialist Journal and some of their books, do this quite well. Few far left groups would invite non-members (such as Leo Panitch and David McNally) to contribute articles that are very critical of party positions.<br /><br />The left in the Labour Party, while arguably better placed to influence ordinary people, tends to be reactive and defensive in what it publishes and argues for e.g. Ed should do 'less of that' or 'more of this'. <br /><br />There is a need to push at the boundaries of policy rather than simply make abstract demands for 'socialism'. But there is also a need to make the case for socialism among those party/union members that are open to such ideas.<br /><br />There are socialists inside the Labour Party who do good work. But they lack strategy and a distinctive socialist voice. Being against Progress isn't enough.<br /><br />Dare I say they could learn something from the SWP?Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-24531068221732331732013-01-05T20:31:23.272+00:002013-01-05T20:31:23.272+00:00From this thread on Socialist Unity - a third of S...From <a href="http://www.socialistunity.com/statement-of-the-swps-democratic-opposition/#comment" rel="nofollow">this thread</a> on Socialist Unity - a third of SWP conference delegates vote against the new CC, after a CC minority statement and alternative slate for election was circulated. Major, major split looming unless the leadership tread carefully. So, maybe it's not business as usual after all.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.com