31.10.1996

Pristine sectarianism

Last week saw a debate between the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and the Communist Party of Great Britain. The subject of the debate was ‘Socialists and the SLP’, and the meeting room in the Calthorpe Arms was packed with over 60 people, eager to discuss this very important topic.

Comrade Mark Fischer outlined the CPGB’s position. Even though he did not attempt to gloss over the negative aspects of the SLP - the dictatorial constitution, the anti-democratic rule in many SLP branches, the ‘programmatic’ failures, etc - he passionately emphasised the historic opportunity presented by the SLP.

The comrade also attacked what he called the “pristine sectarianism” of some left groups, who viewed the SLP with horror and want to wash their hands of it. He included the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty amongst this category.

Comrade Trudi Smith from AWL presented the opposing case. Far from the AWL being sectarian, she said, it was the SLP which was guilty of this sin - describing the formation of the SLP as “an exercise in sectarianism”. She also criticised the left in general for its supposed ‘pro-SLP’ sentiments, saying that this exposed the sectarianism of the left as a whole.

For comrade Trudi and the AWL, the Labour Party was and still is the “political wing of the working class”. If Blair gets his way and breaks the link between the unions and the Labour Party, the working class would have “no voice” in parliament for the first time since the beginning of the century. For the AWL, the role of the trade unions is the key strategic question. For comrade Trudi, the left should be “fighting tooth and nail” to preserve the union link.

Following on from this, comrade Trudi castigated the left for its “defeatism” and for “leaving the Labour Party in the hands of the bourgeoisie”. The AWL believes that Arthur Scargill should have stayed within the Labour Party, not “surrendered” to Blair. All attempts to oppose the Labour Party at the ballot box were, for comrade Trudi, exercises in “sectarianism”. She even hinted that the formation of the CPGB was a terrible “mistake”, as it played into the hands of the right. Strangely, she also implied that VI Lenin’s Leftwing communism was an attack on communists who stand in elections against Labour/social democratic parties and that JV Stalin was the architect of the early CPGB’s unfortunate ‘anti-Labour’ electoralism. (Are not the AWL comrades aware that Stalin actually wrote large chunks of the British road to socialism, with its reformist vision of ‘socialism’ emerging peacefully via lefter and lefter Labour governments?)

Comrade Trudi concluded by stating that the first priority was to defeat the Tories at the next general election, as “another Tory government would be a disaster for the working class”. Marxists should cross their fingers and hope for “future splits” (to the left, that is), which will see “masses” of workers forming a new party - not the handful who have joined the SLP. The comrade was very confident that that the SLP is a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ phenomenon.

AWL comrades in the audience derided the revolutionary left for being outside the Labour Party, some quoting Marx’s famous adage that communists have no interests separate from the working class and do not form parties separate to the working class. “The Leninists”, as the AWL comrades insisted on calling the CPGB and the Weekly Worker, were guilty of this cardinal sin. Many AWL speakers called upon SLP members to leave the SLP and join the Labour Party.

SLP members in the audience countered this charge. Comrade Dave Ossler, from North London SLP, made a valuable contribution. He had been in the Labour Party for 18 years - and for what? Understandably, comrade Ossler called these “wasted years”. He looked forward to the SLP becoming the “knuckle-duster” of the working class.

Comrade Anne Murphy from the CPGB appealed to the AWL comrades to take the SLP seriously. If revolutionaries do not get involved, and shape the SLP’s future, it will end up as a “Labour Party mark II”. This brought cries of sheer amazement from some AWL comrades, convinced as they are that the SLP is a “Stalinist sect” and can never be anything else. For the AWL comrades the SLP is a dangerous diversion away from the warm embrace of the Labour Party, not something than can potentially divert left-moving working class militants back into the folds of Labourism. If we on the left do not forge a communist ‘wing’ of the SLP this is a strong possibility.

Even though the AWL seems set in its ways, it should be congratulated for its readiness to openly debate with other leftwing groups. Comrade Fischer was warmly received and it is self-evident that the AWL has a large degree of respect for “the Leninist” organisation, despite the fact that a large gulf separates our organisations politically and ideologically.

Paul Greenaway