09.04.1998

Letter of resignation

I am writing to inform you that reluctantly I have decided to leave the SLP and have decided to concentrate all my efforts in building the Socialist Alliance. The call for the formation of a new socialist party by Arthur Scargill was and is still correct. However, Arthur Scargill and the SLP are, sadly not, in my view capable of fulfilling that role.

In January following the debacle of our party ‘congress’ and the secret 3,000 ‘block vote’ I argued for remaining in the party and working to make the party more democratic and acceptable, especially if the party was able to draw in more members in the face of New Labour betrayals. Sadly, many socialists have left the party and the Stalinist regime and sectarianism of the party leadership seems to be gaining strength.

Locally [ie, in Lewisham and Greenwich] a number of active members have decided to leave and others were reluctantly persuaded to remain in the party. Some members have even considered rejoining the Labour Party! This is the real scale of the missed opportunity of the SLP.

In December MEPs Hugh Kerr and Ken Coates were expelled from the Labour Party and were not attracted to join the SLP. They have set up the Independent Network which has been contacted by hundreds leaving the labour party, but again not joining the SLP. In September a number of MEPs could also leave the Labour Party and it is unlikely they will be drawn into the SLP.

Those socialists in the party who had been arguing for more accountability and democracy decided to leave in January. Recently Terry Dunn, a member of the party’s conference arrangements committee has resigned from the NEC as a result of being kept in the dark at the ‘secret’ block vote. In a mirror image of the tactics of the Stalinist regime in the former Soviet Union, Terry’s name was removed from one of those elected to the NEC in the party paper and a photograph of Terry supporting a lobby of Harriet Harman’s surgery in Peckham was substituted with a photo that obscured Terry from view!

Those comrades who had been leading the calls for greater democracy in the party have decided to leave and work to build socialist alliances. The attendance and activity of our branch is rapidly falling off. We have not been successful in drawing into membership a single new member for over a year! It is clear that many members are demoralised and less than keen on a prolonged ‘dog fight’ with the party leadership. The recent cancellation of the party’s industrial school and London conference all point to the conclusion that it is time to continue the struggle elsewhere.

As a branch we raised a number of concerns regarding the conduct of the December conference and asked questions concerning the finances of the party. Recent events at the Morning Star have revealed that our general secretary was in secret talks with both the CPB and PPPS regarding an attempt to ‘buy’ the Star for £250,000 and close down the friendly society that owns the Star, yet at the party conference in December, Arthur Scargill argued against a call for the party to openly play a more active role in supporting the Star.

It is possible that the SLP will gain members in the coming period and establish itself as a significant influence in a number of industrial trade unions. That will only compound the perception of the SLP as an exclusively trade unionist type party. In my view it is also on the cards that the SLP and the CPB could be drawn into convergence, especially in the light of events concerning the Star. However I no longer believe the SLP is going to be the vehicle to develop into a significant socialist influence outside of the declining membership of the trade union movement and able to appeal to women, young people, those active in defending the environment and black people.

Recently a Socialist Alliance was formed in the borough and the majority of the active members of the branch have supported the idea of building an inclusive, broad and democratic alliance, aiming to work in cooperation with other socialists and trade unionist and local campaigners. A number of socialists have agreed to stand in the local elections in May, giving more people the opportunity to vote for socialist candidates and register a protest against New Labour.

A meeting of the National Alliance Network on March 21 in Coventry heard that over 20 SAs have been formed, networking with hundreds of socialists and campaigners and are growing from the ground up. The meeting further decided to consult on adopting a loose constitution, with the prospect of launching a broad based ‘party’ in September with an aim of standing candidates in the PR Euro election in 1999. The experience and lessons of the SLP are being taken to heart.

I hope that in the future we all might be able to belong to a broad inclusive socialist party that is able to rival the Labour Party and advance the interests of the working class.

Yours in comradeship,

Nick Long