12.11.1998

Fisc out to clip Arthur’s wings

Secret letter written by Socialist Labour Party vice-president Pat Sikorski

Renewing our sense of purpose

1. The SLP is an historic task. In the most difficult of circumstances, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and 20 years of retreat by the labour movement in Britain, Socialist Labour has already begun to organise the political resistance.

When we founded the SLP, our aim was no less than the creation of a new, mass, socialist party. Already we politically represent a small, but significant, part of the British people, a fact which is reflected in our election results. Our support in what remains of the trade union movement is greater than that of any left party since the 1920s. The reputation of AS, as one of the very few labour leaders who have refused to bend the knee in the last decades, has been central to our progress and remains central to our future.

The dedicated hard work of numerous comrades, up and down the country, working together, despite a massive range of different political experiences and backgrounds, is an illustration of the new spirit we have already begun to build in left politics in this country. The quality of the members we attract - the best fighters of their generation - is a powerful signal of our potential.

2. The SLP set up the main lines of its fundamental policies in a democratic manner and spirit not seen before in British politics. Despite the abuse of our openness by some left groups (which meant is was necessary to draw a firm line against ‘entry work’) our atmosphere of mutual support, respect for others’ opinions and democratic openness was a new phenomenon in British politics. It indicated the founders’ intentions to make a complete break with the traditions of all parts of the left up to now. Our overall objective was to replace ‘New Labour’ among the millions of those who were undermined and attacked by the ‘free market’ and its political supporters in Britain. At the same time we understood that virtually all organised left politics had failed to provide the key answers to the new problems. We were determined not to repeat others’ mistakes, which included the ways they organised.

That spirit has survived, despite some serious tests. However, the strength of our electoral and trade union support does not compensate for our weakness in party organisation and collective leadership. The latter threatens to cut across a positive atmosphere in the party and undermines goodwill among members and supporters. A culture of blame grows up in the party and begins to replace the much more effective approach of building on people’s strengths. Explaining problems by reference to comrades’ weaknesses and faults just recreates all the old demoralisation, factionalism and cynicism so familiar on the traditional left.

3. The fact is that there has been a serious loss of members, not just in constituencies or concentrated solely in one or two regions, but also in key trade unions. This is our most serious internal problem today, and it must be addressed.

4. This draining away of members is, in part, connected to our weaknesses in organisation and collective leadership. The circumstances which made the SLP essential have also made building our party very difficult at this time. Some of the weaknesses in our party have arisen through lack of resources. Others come from the continuing need for further creative discussion about our political programme, strategy and tactics. The wealth of ideas and experience in the party have not all yet been tapped. New experiences of the struggle will have to be incorporated. All this contributes to our difficulties.

However, that is not the whole story. Often our responses to this situation have been ill thought out. Some of our weaknesses in party organisation and collective leadership have been made worse by failing to plan properly. This is no reflection on the many magnificent efforts of individual comrades. Our difficulties are, primarily, collective problems, of bodies of the organisation. These problems can begin to be rectified relatively simply, but first it is essential that they are recognised and addressed, openly and honestly, otherwise they will just get worse and increase the damage to the party as a whole.

The prime responsibility to examine party problems falls on the NEC. It was given that responsibility by conference and it must take the lead. Three obvious, initial steps should be taken now by the leadership and/or recommended to conference.

• The party is both over-centralised and wrongly centralised. Our main public asset, AS, is forced to spend enormous amounts of time and energy on the nitty gritty of internal party work. AS should be freed to motivate and challenge the party with the next major steps forward which it has to take and to play the leading public role at which he excels and which both represents and builds the party in public life. A secretariat should be established, with full-time or voluntary support, to run the day-to-day organisation of the party, prepare conferences, NECs, etc. This would prevent virtual paralysis if our leading officers are drawn into the struggles, including legal battles, which their positions in the trade union movement inevitably throw up.
• National communication in the organisation is poor and intermittent at best. It is often completely organisational or administrative, which is not good enough for a political party. The newspaper cannot both fulfil the role of an internal communicator and reach out to new readers at the same time. It is a relatively simple matter to prepare edited versions of the political reports, which the NEC now takes, for publication to the regions and branches. This step would provide a political lead to the whole organisation and make the party a more interesting, lively and attractive place to be.
• Some of our most dedicated and self-sacrificing members say we made a mistake hiking up our subscription levels and they are now prohibitive for many potential recruits. We should get a qualified member to do an analysis on our finances and see whether a lower basic membership fee plus a sliding scale of voluntary contributions reflecting members’ financial situations would be more fitting to a party which aspires to be a mass membership party of the poor.

5. We all know how difficult it is to create something new, however much it is needed. When we remember that a new, mass socialist party has to both be something new and, at the same time, safeguard all the gains and lessons of generations of bitter struggle by working class people so far, then a measure of the enormity of our task becomes obvious.

It is tempting to compromise. We might imagine we could stop a little way along and our road towards a genuine mass party, at the point of the perfect far-left group of a few thousands which some always wanted, but never saw. Or we might be drawn into thinking we are building a type of Communist Party, one which is really democratic and does not base itself on the future success of New Labour’s left wing. The truth is all those organisations, both nationally and internationally, with a tiny handful of honourable exceptions, have already failed. They cannot be recreated in any form. They belong to the past. They are unattractive to people, compromised, past their sell-by date and dying. There is not the faintest possibility of repeating the history or even some souped up version based on our own preferred choices. We cannot escape the necessity of building something which, while it is based on the lessons of the past, is at the same time totally new.

The SLP came into being because all parts of the existing left wing in Britain had failed to prevent what was the mass party of the working class movement, the Labour Party, accelerating its slide towards becoming yet another capitalist party, pure and simple. Our job is to lay the foundations of a new mass party of the working class. We cannot stop halfway. It is the single most important task in British politics for a century. Without it there will be no further social progress and everything the working class movement has gained is in jeopardy. Accordingly our responsibilities are great. But if we keep in front of us that we are driving towards a new mass party, which seeks to win majority support in society, nothing less, then many of our internal problems will fall into their proper place.

6. Let us face any problems honestly and squarely, without traditional left-type recriminations, or the search for ‘who to blame’. Instead the strengths of all our comrades should be nurtured and used to develop the party. Mutual respect and support among all comrades; goodwill and self-activity in overcoming difficulties: these are the internal values which are essential to our future success. We need to apply the same open and democratic spirit to our problems today as we used so successfully in the process by which our party’s fundamental policies were formed.

Reply to Sikorski on p7 (‘Discontent and despair’)