18.12.1997

A delegate’s view

Simon Harvey of the SLP

Nothing could have prepared me for the way the SLP’s second congress turned out. I was expecting a fairly dull gathering, a whimpering from the left and a drawn out series of boring speeches about how wonderful everything was, especially our infallible general secretary.

Given my experience at the first congress in May 1996, I had also thought the platform would drag out debate on non-contentious issues, leaving the thorny issues to fall off the agenda into the privacy of the incoming national executive committee. Again I was wrong. The entire agenda of business was completed - all 49 motions voted on, all sections of the 38-page NEC report discussed. But I suppose if you know you have 3,000 votes out of a total of 4,000 cast sewn up with one delegation, it is really not much of a gamble.

Instead, SLP congress ’97 was a weekend rollercoaster ride through the weird, funny, at times dull and at all times shifting landscape of what is developing into a very strange organisation.

If you had bet me 18 months ago that the second NEC would have included a leading figure of the Stalin Society, I would have given you pretty good odds. And odd is what it is. How Harpal Brar is going to sit in meetings alongside Trotskyists - Sikorskis, Pat and Carolyn, and fellow Fiscite Brian Heron - without attacking them as counterrevolutionaries, I do not know.

The homophobic Economic and Philosophic Science Review whose ranting rhetoric spat forth its venom towards the Scargill leadership only a year ago, is now the most loyal of toe-rags and an accepted part of SLP culture. Although Nell Myers admitted she had taken valium in order to prepare for Roy Bull’s broadside, she inanely said she “enjoyed him enormously”. Weird stuff.

The dust is still settling after the two day rodeo. At times, it seemed as if Scargill had blown it and that the whole thing would unravel in front of us. At every moment, Scargill was central. If there was any doubt before, this SLP is clearly Scargill’s Little Party now. His adept control over congress ranged from demagogic rants, to jocular anecdote and gentle, inclusive rhetoric.

The first morning started with some tension but in a fairly businesslike manner. Comrade Frank Cave gave a pedestrian presidential address, handing over to John Hendy to deliver the verbal-only report from the conference arrangements committee (the ‘photocopier broke down’). We were informed that 114 of 178 registered constituency SLPs were in attendance; one union region and one union branch had affiliated and membership is over 5,000, “fast approaching 6,000”.

All fairly run-of-the-mill stuff. In a similar off-handed manner, the Marxist Bulletin-sponsoredemergency motion from Islington North and Streatham CSLPs to hold a special congress to debate the constitution was deemed no emergency. Hendy took his seat.

Then no fewer than nine delegates took to the podium, all challenging the report and motions or amendments ruled out of order. The left had made a move.

Scargill responded. He “resents and rejects” any suggestion that the constitution had not been agreed by the party. “No tendencies, no alliances, no separate sections” would exist in ‘his’ party, he thundered, somewhat prescient of the abolition of the black section perhaps. As Scargill faced down the left, the motto ‘To thine own self be true’, atop the proscenium in Conway Hall seemed to mock him.

Comrade Terry Burns, the most insistent of those opposing the contemptuous manner in which Scargill had responded, challenged again. Frank Cave moved to a vote. The conference arrangements committee report was accepted by at least three to one on a show of voting cards. The left was thwarted.

This minor excitement over, it seemed as though comrade Hendy was settling down to business. But the fun and games had only just begun. I had thought that Harpal Brar’s constitutional amendment to abolish black sections would have no hope getting passed. Indeed, the NEC recommended it be opposed. Comrade Brar argued his position with passion and conviction: a fine speech. But, I thought, to no avail.

After a lunch break which saw Arthur Scargill address the black section fringe meeting, and Outrage activist Peter Tatchell address a packed meeting on homophobia in the workers’ movement, all hell broke loose.

The result of the votes for the 12 constitutional amendments, all recorded by card vote, were announced - amendment 9 on raising party dues: 3579 for; 173 against, carried by the necessary two-thirds majority. On they went, all going the way of the NEC recommendation.

Then came Harpal Brar’s amendment - 311 for, 648 against. A challenge from the floor: ‘What happened to my vote?’ It was then revealed, for the first time, that one delegation had 3,000 votes. No wonder they noticed it was missing. Furore. What was the point in turning up if one delegation decided everything? The ballot was taken again. The new result: 3,297 for, 506 against. Black sections abolished. Bang.

Congress floor erupted. Terry Burns took the front mike to express his disgust. The microphone was taken from his hands. The Cardiff delegation walked out, jeered by many other delegates, who also chanted ‘out, out, out’ at comrade Burns.

Brian Heron looked ashen-faced. Comrade Jan Pollock was in an obvious state of shock. Imran Khan couldn’t believe it. Such an outrageous use of the block vote stunned congress. Many delegates drifted out bewildered. With the left sidelined, the divisions at the top opened up. Scargill took control. Seeing his alliance with Fisc on the brink of collapse, he mounted a determined rearguard action. What started out as a demagogic rant developed into an all-inclusive embrace of his party. “We need courage, determination and commitment on all sides to make this work.” he said. “I won’t be drawn to attack comrades from different backgrounds.” For the moment he had regained ground, congress applauding his appeal for party unity. Agenda business continued.

However, just after giving the NEC report on the economy, comrade Heron led a line-up of Fisc NEC candidates who announced the withdrawal of their nomination. For any who thought Fisc was a figment of the Weekly Worker’s imagination, there they were, lined up: Heron, Carolyn Sikorski, Pat Sikorski, Roshan Dadoo, Imran Khan, Jan Pollock, Rachael Newton, Trevor Wongsam.

Dazed, congress continued its business to the close of the day. Terry Dunn was running around, obviously trying to patch up some deal. But how could Fisc be given any face-saving grace to come back from an act based on ‘deep principle’?

Meanwhile, over 70 delegates and observers from the left, democrats and even some until now loyal elements assembled in the Bertrand Russell room to discuss this trampling of basic democracy. The mood was electric and positive. After months of the SLP left being completely fractured, here were all democratic, left and revolutionary strands in one room. The statement to members from the ‘57 delegates and observers’ agreed with the minimum of fuss. The coming together of the ‘57 varieties’ was mocked the following day, but it represented a truth. People who had been imbued with sectarianism were forced by the reality of the situation to unite.

The leadership seemed terminally split, Fisc’s 10-year strategy lay in ashes, Scargill left with a rump of Stalinites. The next morning, the ‘57 varieties’ handed out their statement. Debate started on the black sections straight away. Scargill tried to play it down, noting there had only been two meetings before congress of the section, one with four people in 1996, the other with six in August this year. Though he did not front it, Scargill clearly gave the nod for the ex-miners’ block to vote with Brar. There was bad blood from Friday’s NEC meeting: he had lost there, but he had 3,000 votes up his sleeve. Fisc did not.

Numbers were down on the Sunday. The black section Fiscites were not there. Many lefts and other delegates had not bothered coming back for a stage-managed show. But what was Fisc going to do?

At the last minute, Heron climbed the stage. In the wings he showed Scargill a statement and was taken backstage (to see the NEC results and make sure he had been elected?) Finally he took to the podium. With the greatest melodrama, Brian Heron read out a statement. After much discussion with his comrades in the black section ... He paused, head bowed, he nearly sobbed ... Time dragged, as seconds tripped ponderously slow ... He continued. The “president and secretary of the black section cannot take their positions on the NEC, but believe that other comrades should”. Fisc were back. Most of congress applauded (Bull and the EPSR remained quite still). I expect Fisc planned this to maximise their impact by leaving things until the last moment. Nevertheless they pulled a desperate situation off brilliantly. Heron underlined to Scargill and congress that Fisc remains an important and integral part of the SLP project. At the end of the day Scargill may not need them, but for the moment he is undoubtedly strengthened by their support.

As congress drew to a close - the shattered NUMist-Fisc alliance patched up, with the NUMist wing now even more dominant - the loyalists and the SLP right regained some optimism. Frank Cave spoke in a genuine spirit of unity, calling for the SLP to become the “party of all left-minded people”. Scargill wrapped up congress with a typically skilful speech. A real crowd-pleaser. He had me laughing and applauding, and unified the hall, right and left, through a standing ovation for an ailing Frank Cave. Comrade Cave is to have a serious operation next year, and all those assembled were genuinely moved. Scargill was doing what he does best.

A key irony was the earlier standing ovation orchestrated by the general secretary for one of the three Lancashire ex-miners sitting at the back of the hall. Scargill spoke of his bravery in the miner’s Great Strike, his refusal to give in. The main body of the hall stood and applauded the very man who was also a symbol of their own loss of democracy. Scargill had won … but at a huge cost.

As the dust settles, Scargill’s victory seems pyrrhic in the extreme. The next test for the SLP is in the forthcoming ‘Reclaim our rights - repeal the anti-trade union laws’ conference on March 28 next year. If this proves successful, the SLP will be boosted. Although the leadership alliance is fragmented, the SLP can still experience a sudden burst of real growth. The left must be united to meet the challenge of this opportunity.