09.07.1998

Plotters exposed

For inclusive democracy in Socialist Alliances

London Socialist Alliance held a general meeting on July 5. Two main motions were debated - the first put forward by the Communist Party of Great Britain, the second by an ‘amalgamated’ bloc of the Socialist Party in England and Wales, Socialist Outlook and the Socialist Democracy Group. (Thanks to this bloc other motions were not discussed - there was a vote at the start to cut the time available by over a half).

Our motion stood firmly for the continuation of the LSA’s inclusive democracy. The aim was to formalise the structures of LSA in the manner of the flexible, combative and inclusive democracy practised by the soviets - or workers’ councils - during and immediately after the Russian Revolution of 1917. John Reed, the celebrated US communist, rightly described the soviets as “the most perfect organs of working class representation”. There might be no revolutionary situation in Britain. Nevertheless the system of elected delegates and recallability can serve the Socialist Alliances admirably.

Speaking for the CPGB, Peter Manson explained that every affiliated organisation should have the right to send one instantly recallable delegate - that would include borough alliances, political organisations, trade unions and progressive campaigns (we are, as the comrade stated, open to negotiation on additional delegates in order to account for numbers and/or political weight).

Crucially the CPGB’s plan allows for the speedy and full reflection of growth, priorities and changed political complexion. Representation comes with affiliation, not a vote by the whole. There would be no fixed terms. Hence a new affiliate would not wait in purgatory before finding whether or not this or that majority permits it to take a seat on our committee. Cooption is no option, but something to be avoided at all cost. As a system for the Socialist Alliances it is prone to terrible abuse by a determined clique (a majority of one can be built into something totally unassailable using such a device).

Organisations, not individuals, must be central. For example, if a comrade was assigned to another task by their trade union, they can be substituted, without fuss or bother, by that organisation at a moment’s notice. In other words, no need for annual Socialist Alliance elections or the generosity of an existing majority.

The CPGB plan applies the same flexible practice to officers. Treasurers, editors, chairs, coordinators, trade union organisers, etc, should be elected when and where needed, not according to some snapshot popularity poll by an atomised membership. The mayoral or presidential system has no legitimate place in our tradition. It breeds arrogance. We do not need another labour dictator like Arthur Scargill. Officers should be strictly accountable to their peers. They should be elected and replaceable by those whom they work alongside. If a comrade drops out because of illness, disillusionment or family pressures, another can easily be elected. By the same measure those officers who fail or who become isolated from an emerging political majority can be replaced without humiliation or a full-blown general meeting.

Our plan roots the LSA in the actual politics of its base. What happens below is almost instantly reproduced at the top. If there is a shift to the right in our affiliated membership, that will see a shift to the right above. The same applies if there is a shift to the left. So the CPGB stands for the right of the minority to become a majority and the right of the majority to take the leading positions ... but not through exclusion.

Those supporting the ‘amalgamated’ motion were represented by comrade Nick Long of Lewisham SA and the SDG. In his opening he confidently announced that he was speaking on behalf of the majority. This ‘amalgamated’ bloc had no hidden agenda. Or so he claimed. They want a broad alliance built from the bottom, with an emphasis on local environmental issues, pay and other bread and butter matters. A woefully inadequate schema in the run-up to the nationally important London Assembly and mayoral, and European elections. Surely the LSA should be concentrating, centralising and upping the tempo of our small forces, not scattering them downwards in every direction. As to articles in the Weekly Worker to the effect that the ‘amalgamated’ bloc wants to witch hunt communists and practically drive out the CPGB from the Alliance, as happened in Manchester - they were, said comrade Long, the result of “paranoia”.

Such hypocrisy was easily exposed. Not only was comrade Long an anti-communist witch hunter during his brief stint in Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party. He remains one. Our comrades circulated an internal SDG document that has recently come into our hands. The effect was electric. The author is a certain Duncan Chapple. His language is highly pretentious and deliberately delphic. Nevertheless the target is crystal clear. In the name of “trust and mutual respect” and creating a “pluralistic” and “matrix-type organisation” the SDG has been busily plotting to purge the CPGB. Why?

It is not that this “contributor” - ie the CPGB - has hindered the work of the LSA. Nor have we attempted to dominate. As an organisation the CPGB has always been a minority and remains one. No positions have been seized by manoeuvre or underhand deals. Anne Murphy, LSA coodinator, is a member of the CPGB. However LSA chair Ian Driver is from the SDG. It is no secret that the administrative burden has been mainly carried by comrade Murphy. Surely that is why she was elected unopposed (twice) by the LSA ad-hoc committee to represent London on the Network of Socialist Alliances Liaison Group. In the borough alliances our comrades have also played an active and honourable role - the biggest slate of SA candidates for the May 7 council elections in London were fielded by the CPGB.

No, what is so damned offensive about the CPGB is that it exists as “the embryo of the future movement”. This “absolutist” notion, which certainly could be applied to Peter Taaffe’s ‘small mass party’, is “destructive”. How to deal with the “absolutist” CPGB? Comrade Chapple favours creating “the position” whereby the CPGB finds itself outside the “atmosphere of trust and transparency” the SDG piously wishes for. In plain English he is for an anti-communist witch hunt.

Others from the ‘amalgamated’ bloc spoke in support of this hidden agenda. David Lyons of the SDG denounced the CPGB and Anne Murphy for advocating a principled split in the Scottish Socialist Party. Ironic, given that effectively the SSP is a nationalist split from SPEW and the Socialist Alliances. Doubly ironic given that comrade Lyons himself initiated and took part in an unprincipled split from SPEW last year. Not surprisingly the comrade now displays a deep prejudice against those who seek to strengthen the Socialist Alliances through principle as opposed to expediency and realpolitik. Creating a third irony, comrade Lyons champions localism (he takes no part in any borough alliance or local campaigning work).

Dave Packer of Socialist Outlook also jabbered on about the virtues of localism, as did Toby Abse. This comrade is the ‘amalgamated’ bloc’s uncrowned alternative to Anne Murphy as LSA coordinator. Masterfully displaying his ‘non-partisan’ credentials, this member of the Independent Labour Network rounded on the CPGB in general and its rep on the LSA ad-hoc committee in particular. The concern for minorities expressed by the CPGB was “crap” (he did not elaborate). As for the CPGB’s rep, he did not attend the same local meetings and pickets as comrade Abse. A heinous crime deserving of the severest punishment.

Suffice to say, when it came to voting on the two motions there could be no doubt about what was at stake. Inclusive democracy or conspiracy, exclusion and an orientation to faddism and localist fragmentation. On motion one the votes for and against were exactly even: 18 on each side. So, although the motion fell, the ‘amalgamated’ bloc has conclusively been shown to be no majority. It is the intolerant, undemocratic, anti-communist right wing of the LSA. It is also the past, not the future. The ‘amalgamated’ bloc by its very nature is unprincipled and therefore unstable. Those supporting it are a motley crew, not only including SPEW, Socialist Outlook and the SDG, but the flotsam and jetsam of the burnt out left, along with members of the Green Party (so much for the pompous claim by the greens to be the epitome of democracy).

The fact that SPEW places itself at the core of this rotten bloc goes to prove just how deeply in crisis it is as a political entity. The comrades appear to be suffering from collective amnesia. They have forgotten that not so long ago Militant Tendency was on the receiving end of a sustained and brutal witch hunt. Neil Kinnock used democracy to undemocratically hound them out of Labour’s broad church. However, having just lost his largest region, comrade Taaffe dreads another Scotland. So his comrades in London are desperate to kill off the LSA. But without being seen to do the dirty deed. Amongst other factors, they have to take due account of Dave Nellist riding high in his Coventry power base. Significantly SPEW’s only successful candidate in the May 7 council election enthusiastically backs the Socialist Alliances. The comrades therefore operate by stealth and negatively. They steadfastly refuse positions of responsibility. They make only a token contribution. They oppose the circulation of controversial ideas. They pour scorn on theory and full discussion at meetings.

Obviously this reflects more than an organisation riven with pre-split fault lines. The socialism envisaged by SPEW would be bureaucratic and statist: ie, from above. Their socialism has nothing to do with proletarian self-liberation. It will according to their ‘revolutionary-reformist’ programme be handed down to a largely passive and ignorant working class by a beneficent parliamentary majority. Such non-socialism leads to its own dire methods and stultifying political culture.

When it came to voting on motion two, it was Hackney SA which formed the basis of a real majority in the LSA. A series of amendments were submitted. They had the full support of the CPGB and all but one of them were carried. The unsuccessful amendment fell on a tied vote. The amendments had the effect of spiking or undermining the localism, greenism and liquidationism of the ‘amalgamated’ bloc. The cynical stratagem originating from SPEW to limit the LSA to one meeting every two months was deleted. Relations with greens and other such non-socialist forces are to be based on “principle”. The LSA will democratically decide what campaigns to initiate or support.

The next few months will be crucial for the whole Socialist Alliance project. LSA is committed to another general meeting in the autumn. Moreover there is to be a National Network meeting on September 5 in Rugby. After the May democratic coup against democracy in Manchester SA - when the CPGB was to all intents and purposes excluded by the combined votes of SPEW, Socialist Outlook, the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty etc - democracy must remain the main question.

Most comrades involved in the National Network’s Liaison Group have no intention of operating on the basis of exclusion. Of that we are convinced. That said, the structure outlined by comrade Dave Church of Walsall Democratic Labour Party is not only ambiguous and cumbersome, but could produce the very same results that John Nicholson - National Network coordinator - engineered in Manchester.

There must be the most determined rejection of exclusion. There must be no more Manchesters. Inclusive democracy is no luxury for the Socialist Alliances, but a vital necessity. It needs therefore to be constitutionally enshrined in all Alliances from top to bottom.

The CPGB will submit its own constitutional proposals to Rugby. We will also present a minimum political platform which both provides for the unity of all genuine socialists and at the same time junks the pacifism, greenism and bureaucratic socialism evident in the draft formulations produced by some leading comrades. Win or lose, the CPGB will strive to build the Socialist Alliances into a mass force.

John Bridge

CPGB representative on London SA ad-hoc committee