21.11.2002
Support firefighters, oppose war
T he Socialist Alliance executive committee effectively drew a line under the resignation of former chair Liz Davies at its November 16 meeting. A report into the matter, presented by myself, was passed unanimously as amended. It received support from Celia Foote of the Leeds Left Alliance, a political ally of comrade Davies, as well as gaining the endorsement of all 'independent' members of the executive. There will be a full verbal report of the matters surrounding comrade Davies's resignation at the national council meeting in London on December 14. With all executive members voicing their concerns and opinions on the report, we spent two and a half hours on this matter. The strangest contribution came from comrade Foote, who read out a statement, written in advance, which largely ignored the substantive matters around the events that triggered comrade Davies's resignation and instead concentrated on criticising the left groups that support the Socialist Alliance. Given that Celia is on the executive representing one of the left groups - the Alliance for Green Socialism - this represented a factional statement from herself, Mike Davies and other like-minded members of AGS. For her and the AGS it seems that some left groups are above criticism - namely their own. Most of the statement was spent attacking the Alliance for Workers' Liberty - and Martin Thomas in particular - with a sideswipe at the CPGB for concentrating only on the bureaucracy of the Socialist Alliance. This was odd, given that at the executive I distributed a personal statement reiterating the opinions I have made in the Weekly Worker, which essentially puts the political responsibility for the SA's becalmed state at the door of the Socialist Workers Party. It seems possible that comrade Liz Davies will find a factional home with the Alliance for Green Socialism. With Lesley Mahmood and Steve Godward sharing the chairing duties, the executive went on to hear reports on the Fire Brigades Union pay dispute, the political fund, Stop the War Coalition and on preparations for our March 15 annual conference. There was a fruitful discussion around the firefighters' dispute and comrade Godward, FBU activist and suspended divisional secretary of the union, gave a summary of the current situation, reporting a fighting mood on the picket lines. The executive was keen to urge SA members to give maximum support to the strike and called on FBU members to push the leadership from below in order to maintain democratic control of the dispute. Alan Thornett (International Socialist Group - Resistance) presented a motion to the executive that was passed unanimously with minor amendments. The resolution calls on all local alliances to: support the FBU picket lines; join or set up local support groups; distribute the SA leaflet on the strike; invite an FBU speaker to your branch; organise cash collections; organise workplace walkouts over safety cover; help organise mass pickets if troops cross picket lines; step up the fight on the political fund by moving a resolution in your union branch and distributing the SA pamphlet Whose money is it anyway? The executive also discussed agitating for the FBU to lobby the TUC to demand solidarity and urged the preparation of a leaflet by ex-servicemen in the union, explaining why crossing picket lines by the military is against the interests of the whole community. The other issue that took some time was a discussion around the Stop the War Coalition. John Rees (SWP) submitted a motion supporting the initiative of the European Social Forum to coordinate a European-wide response to any attack on Iraq. Further, the motion called on the SA to hold meetings, "making the links between privatisation, the firefighters' dispute and the imperialist attack on Iraq". I moved an amendment deleting the proposal that these meetings be themed 'Why we oppose globalisation and war'. I received the support of Martin Thomas of the AWL. Tess McMahon abstained. The motion was passed unanimously with an amendment from Mark Hoskisson (Workers Power), calling on SA members to organise anti-war activity in their unions and workplaces. The executive is urging all local Socialist Alliances to affiliate to the Stop the War Coalition in preparation for the December 7 national conference. Nick Wrack (unaffiliated) was elected as our delegate. Martin Thomas moved the following motion that attracted some strong debate: "The SA executive welcomes the growth of a large anti-war movement in this country and resolves to strive to mobilise the alliance to be an active and prominent force in building this movement. We give full support for the national demonstration called by the Stop the War Coalition for February 15. "While doing this, the alliance will of course continue to promote our own distinctive socialist politics, organising alliance meetings on the war with, where possible, the participation of Iraqi socialists. "We believe, however, that within the Stop the War Coalition, the SA should argue against future STW activities being co-sponsored with the Muslim Association of Britain." The first two paragraphs were passed unanimously. However, the final paragraph on the Muslim Association of Britain only received support from myself and Martin Thomas. Steve Godward and Tess McMahon abstained. My support for the motion has sparked some controversy among CPGB comrades, some of whom think I was in error. No doubt debate will ensue. I argued that the MAB was the political representation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain. The Muslim Brotherhood represents alien and hostile class interests to the working class. No one at the executive argued that the MAB was anything other than the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain. The Muslim Brotherhood is not some amorphous community movement, but is effectively a political party. Politically it is to the right of the Justice and Development party that has just taken power in Turkey. I argued that by relying on such reactionary forces to mobilise the muslim community we fall into an inverted islamophobia. We retreat from the politics of contesting reactionary political islam. By presenting ourselves as being arm in arm with the right wing of the muslim community, we are sending the wrong message to the radicalising and secularising women and youth from this section of British society. There was no suggestion that future demonstrations of the Stop the War Coalition exclude the MAB. However, it is clear that stewarding of these events needs to be sharpened up. Given that the executive supported the section of the resolution that says the SA will continue to "promote our own distinctive socialist politics", I look forward to a shift in the drafting of SA leaflets on such demonstrations that emphasise our commitment to secularism, democracy and both freedom of religion and freedom from religious bigotry. I notice on the websites of the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain that the national demonstration for February 15 is not co-sponsored, but is an initiative of the STWC alone. Does this mean that the leadership of the STWC and their allies on the SA executive vote one way, but in fact act in the spirit of the defeated motion? With the office secretariat meeting weekly and Tess McMahon firmly back in charge of finances, the reports on the office and finance show that planning and management is much tighter. This is a welcome outcome from the recent events. Rob Hoveman, Will McMahon, Mandy Baker and myself were elected to the secretariat. I said that I accepted re-election to this functionary body with reluctance. The CPGB, as a minority on the executive, feels that the majority - particularly the SWP - is not pulling its political weight as it should: ie, acting as a majority. I am happy to sit on the secretariat in both a supervisory role and in order to facilitate the smooth running of the national office and the work of the national secretary and office worker. I caused Margaret Manning some upset by questioning the political basis of a proposed Socialist Alliance women-only meeting to be held in January next year in Manchester. I wanted to know if it was an official meeting convened by the joint women's officers, Margaret Manning and Lesley Mahmood. If so, I argued, the meeting should be open to all members of the Socialist Alliance interested in developing policy for women's emancipation. If it was not an official meeting, but was a women-only caucus, then it had no right being on the agenda of the executive. The SA constitution allows for all-women meetings of members, though these have no formal role within the SA structure. This position caused indignation from other members on behalf of comrade Manning. After the meeting comrade Thornett called me a sexist. John Rees also put his oar in, upsetting comrade Manning further. She felt that comrade Rees was being condescending on the matter, but would not take up the political points either I or John made. My basic position is that the politics of women's oppression is the business of all socialists. It should not be just 'left to the women', giving men an easy out from taking joint responsibility for overcoming the oppression of women. The constitution allows for all-women caucuses, but all-women committees set up to consider formal SA policy should not be part of our decision-making structures. It seems, however, that the meeting is going ahead on a women-only basis. Its status within the alliance is unclear. The final piece of controversy was around a motion from Bedfordshire Socialist Alliance calling on the executive to expel Danny Thompson and Jane Clarke from the Socialist Alliance for alleged continual intimidating and inappropriate behaviour. The BSA resolution also excludes the two comrades - supporters of the Democratic and Republican Platform, backed by the Revolutionary Democratic Group - from BSA meetings. The executive passed this straight onto the appeals committee, which is convened by Mike Marqusee. We also agreed that the BSA could not exclude bona fide SA members from meetings. However, the chair retains the right to exclude people on the basis of unruly or violent behaviour. The executive will send a member to attend all BSA meetings until the appeals committee reaches its conclusions. Under the SA constitution, only the appeals committee can expel members. Annual conference will be on March 15 2003 at the South Camden Community School in London. The deadline for resolutions will be January 24; for amendments, February 21. The venue holds 500 and attendance will thus be limited. The conference fee will be £15 waged, £6 unwaged. The executive heard a report on possible constitutional amendments from myself. The executive will consider proposing changes to the constitution at its January meeting. One such issue for debate will be around the method of electing the executive. Annual conference may vote for a new method. However, so that members can prepare with some certainty of what they are dealing with, we have decided to recommend that the next elections will be run on the existing method: ie, using the alternative vote system between competing slates. Nominations for individuals to be considered for inclusion on slates should be submitted, with 100 words of supporting text, by January 24, and provisional slates by February 21, though extra names may be added to those slates up to 2pm on the day of conference. The national council (executive plus one delegate from each local alliance) is on December 14. John Rees gave notice that he would report on discussions with Tony Benn and the Morning Star's Communist Party of Britain about a joint campaign for what is now the SA majority policy, for a 'no' vote in the euro referendum. National council will consider: the resignation of the chair; the firefighters' strike and related trade union matters; anti-war campaigning; elections in 2003 and 2004 (including the euro referendum); annual conference. Will McMahon reported that 1,800 members are registered at the national office, and he estimates that there are another 300 who have paid up locally but not had their details relayed to the office. For next year, he proposed that membership be administered nationally and that it be run not for the calendar year, but for a year from the date of paying a subscription. Marcus Ström
Worker