12.09.1996

First impressions of our paper

SL Kenning looks at the latest developments in the Socialist Labour Party

Without a publication Socialist Labour has no profile, no voice and no chance ... so thanks go to the Socialist Workers Party’s printshop for getting Socialist News out on time for TUC week.

Patrick Sikorski, part-time SLP general secretary, and other members of the Fourth International Supporters Caucus did not want the paper. Futile attempts at selling Socialist Outlook are recalled with horror. But their objections were crushed under the presidential steamroller. Nevertheless Socialist News is only a tactical setback for our dark forces. Feet firmly planted on the parliamentary road to ‘national socialism’, Fisc and its allies have to prevent genuine debate and discussion: crucially, the SLP must be hermetically sealed off from revolutionary theory. Unfortunately, in terms of content Socialist News does nothing to upset Fisc’s strategic agenda.

Effectively, the first edition is a collection of left reformist, trade unionist, feminist and campaignist statements. Each one reads like a leaflet. Begin with an attack on New Labour. End with a call to join Socialist Labour. That is the repetitive formula. Taken as a whole the eight pages are very amateurish. There appears to be no guiding hand, no overall conception - except a determination to keep contributions short and uncontroversial. The only articles that rise above banal generalities and homeopathic propagandism come from Victoria Brittain and Dave Osler - both professional journalists.

Even their efforts are pretty poor. Comrade Brittain’s piece on Angola is a postage stamp version of her reports for The Guardian. Three thousand words squeezed into three hundred. What of comrade Osler’s interview with SLP member and funnyman Lee Hurst? It is the sort of stuff he can churn out on autopilot - “Lee Hurst gives those who enjoy both Groucho Marx and Karl Marx the best of both worlds” - ie, neither original nor challenging.

Of course first editions are notoriously difficult. Writers often have no idea of who their audience is, let alone the style and pitch required. So Socialist News has to be given time to evolve. Evidently the role of rank and file SLPers will be crucial. If Socialist News is opened to all views within the SLP, if discordant opinions are encouraged, the membership will enthusiastically build its finances and circulation.

Obviously comrades Arthur Scargill and Nell Myers worked hard to put Socialist News together. But now we need a full-time editor and an elected and recallable editorial board.

Stalin Society joins the Sikorski witch hunt

Lila Patel and her partner Neil Salter are members of West London SLP. At the branch AGM on July 27 the former disgracefully attempted to initiate a witch hunt. We can let the minutes themselves introduce the story:

“A query was raised regarding the outstanding question of the membership of Stan Keable. The convenor had still not received a reply from the NEC to her letter (circulated with AGM agenda). A further question was raised by Lila Patel that Stan was a member of another party and was breaking the constitution. Chris Ford stated that he believed that Lila Patel was a member of another organisation and was being very hypocritical. Lila Patel stated she had been a member of the CPGB but was no longer. Stan stated he was not a member of any other party, he had paid his money, was been [sic] given a membership num-ber. The former convenor, Annette Wright, drew to the attention of the branch that this was not the issue. The issue in dispute was regarding Stan’s surname. The branch accepted the explanation that Stan was recognised as a member of the branch. The secretary stated he would send a reminder to the NEC regarding the outstanding question.”

So who and what is this Lila Patel? Here are the facts as I know them. Having been in the Labour Party, she joined the CPGB. After a brief membership she walked out in 1992 without putting forward any political criticisms. Then she joined the Revolutionary Communist Group. In turn she quickly left that organisation. Sadly, in her wake she scattered fantastic stories about the RCG’s involvement with MI5 agents.

Are the West London AGM minutes right when they accuse this witch hunter of hypocrisy? The answer would appear to be yes. I have been sent material relating to North London SLP’s AGM in June. A certain Lila Patel unsuccessfully stood as press and publicity officer - without moving house, one month later she turns up in West London. She was nominated by Nigel [sic] Salter. There was no seconder.

In her election address comrade Patel recommends herself because she edits and produces something called Socialist Newsletter and has done so since September 1995. Socialist Newsletter is “based on a common platform of opposition to the Labour Party and for socialism”. Though she boasted about working with the Indian Workers Association, what she did not reveal is far more interesting. Lila Patel is a member of the Stalin Society, a follower of the Stalinite Harpel Brar and supporter of his shadowy Communist Workers Association. Perhaps of even more interest for SLPers is her claim that she told our general secretary, Patrick Sikorski, all about her political affiliations and that he assured her that there was “no problem”.

Personally I find the ideology of comrades Patel and Salter revolting. Despite that I do not believe there should be calls for their expulsion from the SLP. Let the members judge them for what they are. We can also leave it to the membership to judge comrade Sikorski. This supposed opponent of Stalinism is the bigger hypocrite.

Opposition to witch hunt

The last meeting of the NEC agreed to invalidate or question the membership of nine comrades (by the way, three of them remain unknown to me - anyone with information on them please write to this column). One of the known comrades is John Bridge, secretary of Camden SLP branch. I have been sent the following resolution which was passed “unanimously”:

“We note with alarm that comrade John Bridge has had his membership terminated by the general secretary. John is a valuable and hard-working member of this branch, and he denies the accusation that his membership is in breach of the constitution.

“We note that several comrades in other branches have had their membership queried, also based on accusations which they deny. This creates an atmosphere of suspicion in the party which is counter-productive to our aims of building a successful mass working class party.

“It is an urgent necessity for the SLP to develop an appeals procedure so that these comrades have the opportunity to put their case, and that the matter can be discussed in a rational and impartial manner. We call on the NEC to establish such a procedure as soon as possible. No further action should be taken on disputed memberships until this has been established.

“That all members whose memberships have been made null and void shall have their memberships immediately reinstated pending:

1. The setting up of an appeals procedure as described and, further, pending:

2. Any action from the NEC regarding making any member’s membership null and void and the outcome of any appeal by the member being acted against.

“No member shall have his/her membership regarded as null and void until any appeal has been lost”.

No politics, please - we’re Fisc

Patrick Sikorski, Colin Meade, Roshan Dadoo, Bernard Gibbons and other Fiscites in North London have been left frothing by their first local branch Newsletter. It was not the routine fare of barbecue, demo and meeting announcements that so upset them. It was the decision by Gary Henson, press and publicity officer, to include in the mailout photocopies of some left debate on the SLP. Despite the Weekly Worker not being included, it was an interesting selection.

Stuart Goodman, North London education officer, had a letter printed in May’s Socialist Review. He criticised the SWP’s pro-Blair stance and urged it to support the SLP in election contests. Three SWPers had replies in the next issue. The Results and Prospects article,‘Why Arthur Scargill is wrong’,isbyBob Pitt, a pro-Labour Trotskyite who lives in Camden Town. The rejoinder, ‘Why Bob Pitt is wrong’, comes from comrades Ian Dudley (South London SLP) and Geoff Palmer (North London SLP).

The only thing which does not to my knowledge have a North London connection is taken from The Crying Wolf. Founder and editor Susil Gupta lambasts Arthur Scargill for his “outsized ego”. Nevertheless this egotistical ex-RCPer actually rates the SLP’s chances rather high. Experience of Labour in government will provide the SLP “with a steady stream of disillusioned and disgusted refugees”, reckons Gupta.

Comrade Patrick Sikorski fears the circulation of such supposedly dangerous material within the SLP. Comrade Arthur Scargill warns in Socialist Labour information that “members should not engage in sterile correspondence with organisations” that claim to be “on the left”. Despite that, our vice-president gave his personal imprimatur to the Dudley-Palmer article. At last we have a champion for openness and dialogue on the NEC. Bravo, comrade Frank Cave.