29.04.1999

Fisc and Bull out - London splinters

Simon Harvey of the SLP

Brian Heron and Carolyn Sikorski, leaders of the Fourth International Supporters Caucus, along with Royston Bull, former SLP vice-president and editor of the Economic and Philosophic Science Review,have been effectively expelled from the Socialist Labour Party.

At last week’s meeting of the SLP’s London regional committee comrade Heron announced that both he and his partner, comrade Sikorski, had been informed that their membership had ‘lapsed’ after they failed to renew their subscriptions. Apparently their cheque had been returned with the excuse that it had been received too late. In a move of the utmost cynicism general secretary Arthur Scargill has graciously conceded that they may reapply for membership.

Along with Terry Dunn and Helen Drummond, comrades Heron and Sikorski had headed the Appeal faction, set up last October to launch their ‘Appeal for a special conference’. Despite containing only the mildest of criticisms of Scargill’s bureaucratic rule, the ‘Appeal’ was viewed by the Great Leader as an outrageous act of disloyalty. He banned its circulation and decided that Fisc had to go.

At the November 1998 special congress Scargill saw to it that the Fiscites were all but eliminated from the NEC. Comrade Heron was voted out and fellow Fiscite Patrick Sikorski, the sitting vice-president, was defeated by comrade Bull. This in turn led to the Fiscites withdrawing cooperation in their London stronghold, where they announced that they would not back the SLP campaign in June’s EU elections unless Scargill removed Bull from his democratically elected position. Apparently they had just ‘discovered’ the homophobic contents of the EPSR.

Scargill decided to move swiftly against both factions, bringing disciplinary action against the Appeal Four for refusing to withdraw their appeal, and against Bull for having the audacity to “comment on the affairs of the SLP” in the pages of his cut-and-paste journal. Unfortunately for the general secretary, however, he ran into a little difficulty when the validity of the party’s complaints procedure was challenged by comrade Imran Khan, acting as the Appeal Four’s lawyer, and moves to expel all the ‘defendants’ had to be aborted.

Comrade Bull was verbally informed immediately after his hearing on February 12 that the complaints committee had decided in favour of expulsion - subject only to NEC endorsement - but no written notification was ever sent to him, as the complaints procedure stipulates. On April 2, having previously been informed that he was expelled, he received a letter from Scargill with the news that his membership had lapsed after 13 weeks’ non-payment of dues.

Comrades Heron and Carolyn Sikorski were caught in the same trap, after withholding their 1999 payments until the last minute. Having given Scargill his chance, they now self-righteously complain that they had in fact just beaten the 13-week deadline. Comrade Drummond has also been ‘lapsed’, while Terry Dunn remains a member, his subscriptions kept up to date.

The two Fiscites led a pathetic walkout from the April 22 London committee meeting, followed by a handful of others, including John Mulrenan, the acting London chair, who announced his resignation from the party.

Earlier comrade Heron had given a long, emotional speech to the open committee meeting, attended by just under 20 London members. Now that Scargill had turned against Fisc, he said, the SLP had “reached the point where it has been transformed into a minor sect”. Not, however, as useless a sect as the components of the “Socialist Alliance swamp”, he added. Yes, Scargill was a “guru”, but he preferred “guru Arthur” to all the other left gurus.

It is difficult to find words to describe Heron’s dismal view of what a working class party ought to look like and how it ought to be built. For example, while bemoaning the “de facto expulsion” of such valuable ex-sycophants as himself and Carolyn, he actually maintained his flagrant support for previous voidings and ‘lapsings’ directed against the left, relishing his own part in “chucking out the CPGB”, as he preferred to describe the anti-communist witch-hunt.

Trembling with emotion, comrade Heron went on to recall his hopes at the time of the SLP’s formation in similar terms to those of countless others who have since walked away in despair and demoralisation.

In a stunning condemnation of her own politics, comrade Sikorski emphasised how it could have been all so different - if only king Arthur had booted out comrade Bull. The turning point for Fisc seems to have been Scargill’s manipulation of the January executive agenda, which ensured that the European elections were moved up ahead of the disciplinary reports, thus suppressing news of comrade Bull’s offer to resign the vice-presidency until after the NEC had considered what to do about London. In view of Fisc’s refusal to contest the elections, the executive agreed that a list of candidates should be imposed. If only she had known that Bull was out, said comrade Sikorski, she would have announced to the NEC that London was crawling back into the fold.

As it was, Heron and Sikorski were reduced to proposing to the London regional committee that “This committee does not support this imposed slate”. NEC member Harpal Brar, one of the slate’s candidates, put forward a counter-proposal: “Failure to support this slate is incompatible with party membership.” The committee members present voted four to one in favour of Fisc (for: Heron, Sikorski, Mulrenan and acting secretary Heather Downs; against: Ranjeet Brar, Harpal’s son).

Comrade Heron generously proclaimed that he was still prepared to “organise the way forward” - if others were prepared to follow him. Condemning the “very different politics” of some of those present, he declined to engage further with the meeting as it was constituted: “This forum is not a basis to fight.” He was referring to the half dozen ultra-Stalinites around Harpal Brar, editor of Lalkar, the bi-monthly journal of the Indian Workers Association. He was sure that the Brarites would be elected onto the London committee at May’s AGM.

Despite the appeals of some to stay and fight, comrade Heron called on his dwindling band of miserable supporters to walk out. A comrade asked whether he now intended to organise a “new party” with his six supporters, to which he replied: “Certainly not. But we will not sleep either. And take that smile off your face.” (The comrade was not actually smiling.)

Brar makes his move

Harpal Brar is now set to consolidate his position as head of the remaining factional courtiers of king Arthur. As the SLP continues its cataclysmic decline, even the tiniest of grouplets are able to win positions of influence. In February the Brarite slate of Ella Rule, Amanda Rose and Iris Cremer took over the SLP women’s section after being given a clear run at the AGM by the former Fiscite incumbents, led by comrade Sikorski. In protest at Scargill’s gerrymandering of the voting entitlements Sikorski and co declared their intention of setting up a rival women’s grouping, calling their own women’s national conference on April 17. It was a dismal failure, with just six supporters showing their face.

After the London committee went on strike over Bull, Scargill turned to comrade Brar to come up with 10 names for the EU elections. Not surprisingly Harpal nominated himself, together with four close supporters: his daughter, Joti, along with comrades Rule and Rose and IWA disciple Hardev Dhillon.

With Arthur himself topping the list, the Socialist Alliance electoral bloc was thrown into disarray. First the SWP and Socialist Outlook, followed swiftly by the Independent Labour Network, the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and the Socialist Party in England and Wales, threw in the towel, despite the Stalinite composition of Scargill’s slate and the absence of any organisation.

The SLP’s Euro ‘campaign’ will consist almost entirely of a single election broadcast. In order to qualify, Scargill has prioritised the funding of SLP slates in sufficient regions. It seems that there will be little, if any, published propaganda, as Scargill’s ‘viable’ organisation cannot afford to print more than a token amount of material, let alone put in the person-hours necessary to prepare it for distribution by the Royal Mail. The last meeting of the NEC (March 20) did not even discuss the EU poll, and no elections sub-committee has been set up. The next meeting is not scheduled until June 6 - the Saturday before polling. Through stubborn, sectarian doggedness and nothing more than the aura of his name Scargill has contemptuously swatted away the rest of the left, apart from the CPGB. And comrade Brar can hardly believe his own good fortune.

Now Harpal seems set to complete his takeover of the London organisation. At last week’s committee meeting acting regional secretary Heather Downs was left in limbo after the Fisc walkout. Without access to the names and addresses of the few CSLP secretaries whose branches still remain in existence, she is unable to notify them of the May AGM of the London region. Comrade Brar announced that he would be calling the meeting, in view of the fact that the regional committee had “tried to sabotage the party” and could not be trusted with such confidential information as their comrades’ addresses.

When his right to do this - since he holds no elected position on the London committee - was challenged, comrade Brar called for a vote of all the members present. Ignoring the fact that only the two remaining committee members (Heather Downs and Ranjeet Brar) were actually entitled to a vote, the Lalkar editor asked the members to indicate their agreement. Six Brarite hands shot up, while the remaining comrades, stunned by his effrontery, had no answer. “Thanks, comrades,” gloated comrade Brar. “That’s all I need.”

Spark

At a recent demonstration in London against the Nato attacks on Serbia, Scargill was seen approaching one of comrade Brar’s supporters. The comrade was selling not only Socialist News, the SLP’s deadly dull occasional paper, but Lalkar.Ignoring the latter, the general secretary took a copy of his own publication in order to press it into the hands of Tony Benn, who was no doubt overwhelmed by its inspiring contents.

Not content with Lalkar’s status as a tolerated publication, despite the party’s constitutional ban on “separate and distinctive propaganda”, the Brarites are now touting their own officially sanctioned SLP journal. Spark is the organ of the SLP youth section, run by none other than comrade Ranjeet Brar. This ‘British Iskra’ bears more than a passing resemblance to the better known publication put out by Ranjeet’s dad. Same layout, same type fonts, same cartoonist, same ultra-Stalinite dross - even the style of the unsigned articles has that familiar ring to it.

Mind you, why should a journal aimed at young people be different from the grown-up version? Apart from the editorial, the articles - on ‘Capitalism in crisis’, ideology and Paul Robeson, as well as Iraq, Ireland, the Labour Party, etc - contain hardly a mention of youth. All are standard Lalkar fare - with an assurance of “Socialist Labour youth” backing for the Brarite line tagged on at the end.