16.09.1999
Final snub for Fisc
Simon Harvey of the SLP
Two former members of the Socialist Labour Party’s national executive committee, Carolyn Sikorski and Brian Heron, have had their application to rejoin the SLP refused.
This represents the final humiliation for the leaders of the Fourth International Supporters Caucus, the SLP faction of social democratic Trotskyites that had invested so much hope and sycophancy in Arthur Scargill as the future head of Britain’s ‘party of recomposition’. Fisc’s third leading figure, Patrick Sikorski, resigned from the party during the summer and, unlike his erstwhile comrades, says he has no intention of reapplying for membership.
Comrades Heron and Carolyn Sikorski were informed in April of this year that their membership had lapsed after 13 weeks’ non-payment of dues. As part of their ‘strike’ against the leadership in protest at the election of Royston Bull to the vice-presidency at the November 1998 special congress, the two had apparently decided to withhold their membership contributions until the last moment. None too bright. When they finally sent off their cheque just before the 13-week deadline, it was ‘lost in the post’. This allowed the general secretary to effectively expel his one-time courtiers after attempts to achieve the same result through the party’s complaints procedure were successfully challenged on legalistic grounds by the Fiscites and their attorney Imran Khan.
The SLP’s internal Information Bulletin (August) reported that the NEC, “upon consideration of events”, decided not to allow the two back in. Just which “events” had been under “consideration” is clear enough from a different Information Bulletin report regarding Socialist Labour’s “creditable performance” in the June 10 EU poll. This election result was achieved despite the fact that in London “for months the party had been paralysed by people holding regional office who not only refused to participate in European election campaigning, but attacked comrades for putting up a list of candidates (in accordance with SLP policy, congress and NEC decisions) in the capital”. Comrade Heron was the London president and comrade Sikorski a prominent regional committee member.
It is almost as if Scargill’s sponsorship of comrade Bull to replace Pat Sikorski as vice-president was a cleverly calculated move to flush the Fisc oppositionists out into the open. Both the Scargillites and Fiscites had been fully aware of the homophobic contents of Bull’s wondrously misnamed Economic and Philosophic Science Review, but had preferred to ignore them. After all the EPSR gang had been rather useful in fingering the left, which both leadership factions had been determined to drive out of the party. However, when a Stalinite-loyalist-EPSR alliance was voted in at their expense, that was too much for the Fiscites. They demanded that king Scargill overturn the democratic election and withdrew all cooperation in their London stronghold.
Killing two birds with one stone, Scargill initiated disciplinary action against both Fisc and Bull. Against Fisc for refusing to withdraw their ‘Appeal for a special conference’; and against Bull for refusing to close down his beloved EPSR. The action failed, but it was enough to ruin the dreams of both sets of courtiers. Fisc’s supporters and allies slunk off from the party ingloriously, while the EPSR were split. Bull’s followers thought that Scargill’s move against their leader meant that the SLP was finished, while a group around Dave Roberts - elected onto the NEC a year ago as part of the same anti-Fisc bloc - still believe that they can yet gain influence for their own peculiar brand of Stalinism.
Fisc and the EPSR are of course only the latest to abandon the SLP in despair. From its high point in 1996-7, when it had over 2,000 paid-up members, Scargill’s party is now reduced to a rump of a couple of hundred dazed souls. As a result a handful of ultra-Stalinites under the leadership of Harpal Brar and his Association of Communist Workers have seized their opportunity.
It was comrade Brar - effectively Scargill’s number two on the NEC - who came up with the list of 10 London candidates for the EU elections - half of them his close associates in the ACW or Stalin Society. The Brarites also control the national youth and women’s section - their respective journals, Spark and Women for Socialism, are edited by Harpal’s son, Ranjeet, and daughter, Joti - a truly family concern. Their father has no need for his own SLP publication: apart from those two house journals, he is editor of Lalkar - officially the bimonthly paper of the Indian Workers Association.
Sad picture
With just about all of the former London officers and committee no longer party members, the region has not been operating for a good six months. The only semi-active branch was Harpal Brar’s own - Ealing and Southall. However, “in accordance with the instructions of the general secretary”, a meeting “for the establishment of a London regional executive committee”, open to all members in the capital, was called by comrade Brar last week.
Two dozen comrades from eight constituency SLPs were the sum total in attendance. Opening the meeting, comrade Brar reportedly admitted that the London organisation was now much smaller numerically (thanks to the anti-democratic wrecking activities of Fisc and Scargill himself, this sad picture is replicated throughout the country), but he believed it was “stronger politically”. Without naming them, he lambasted the Fiscites for their refusal to abide by decisions with which they disagreed. Since the December 1997 2nd Congress, when comrade Brar himself had successfully moved the abolition of the black sections, they had engaged in “sabotage” and “conscious disruption for two and a half years”, culminating in their ‘strike’ over the EU elections.
Ironically that was exactly the kind of language Fisc, along with Scargill and other witch-hunters, had used against SLP communists and democrats - when Heron, Sikorski and co were part of the leadership majority. Comrade Brar considered that they should have “learnt to be a minority”. That, he said, was part of party discipline - he himself often disagreed with Scargill, but was prepared to abide by majority decisions.
All very well, of course. But Brar has never publicly expressed any differences with the Great Leader. And he has always either kept quiet or, more likely, shouted his support when the general secretary has resorted to blatant anti-democratic measures of control: for example, Brar thought it was an excellent thing when Scargill pulled 3,000 block votes out of his back pocket to force through the black sections abolition against the wishes of a large majority of congress delegates. He backed moves by both Scargill and Fisc to void the membership of party opponents, who were denied the right to hear the evidence against them, state their case or appeal against their expulsion.
Last week’s meeting - around half were ultra-Stalinites and the rest were overwhelmingly eccentric Scargill fans - elected comrade Brar as London regional president and John (‘Oddball’) Hayball vice-president. Soft Trotskyite Steve Cowan - always a staunch loyalist behind whatever faction finds itself in the leadership - was elected secretary/treasurer. All three were unopposed. The new committee of nine - seven CSLP comrades, and one representative each from the (non-existent) London youth and women’s section - consists of five Brarites, three eccentrics and Bob Crow. Comrade Crow - RMT assistant general secretary - was not present and had not actually agreed to be nominated. It is highly unlikely he will be prepared to work alongside this motley crew of misfits.
One item on the agenda concerned “our activities in the coming period”. Comrade Hayball spoke of the possibility of contesting next year’s London mayoral and assembly elections, but apart from that nobody could think of anything much in the way of “activities”. Comrade Cowan suggested that regional membership meetings should be held monthly, but comrade Brar, clearly not overly impressed by the quality of the remaining party membership, thought that this was a little “ambitious”. Accordingly the next meeting was fixed for November 30.
Word of warning
Stung by my revelation of his secret Brussels speech to an international gathering of Stalinites a year ago (see Weekly Worker May 27), comrade Brar has decided to take the bull by the horns and publish his contribution to this year’s May Day forum organised by the Workers Party of Belgium. Mind you, his speech this time - ‘The military strategy of British imperialism’ - was far less interesting than in 1998. Then he ‘openly’ voiced criticisms of Scargill’s reformist shortcomings.
The September-October edition of Lalkar carries an article based on this year’s speech with the credit: “By Harpal Brar, national executive committee member of the SLP and its economics committee chair”. It seems that the WPB is now being presented as a fraternal organisation of the SLP. I wonder what fellow NEC members, such as Bob Crow, John Hendy and Joe Marino, will make of that - not least given that its general secretary, Ludo Martens, has published a string of appalling books excusing the crimes of JV Stalin.
I wonder too if Scargill actually reads the official youth journal of the SLP. The latest issue of Spark gives its whole-hearted backing to the June 18 ‘Carnival against capitalism’ riot in the City: “Spark supports the rights of people to express their legitimate protests and if the police get in the way we will press on by any means necessary” (No3, undated). Healthy revolutionary sentiments, but will comrades Scargill, Cave et al be impressed?
And how about the article on immigration? It declares: “Working people of this country must call for the abolition of all immigration laws.” Quite right. But this statement is diametrically opposed to SLP policy, as determined by the May 1996 1st Congress. I can clearly recall comrade Heron successfully speaking against just such a line on behalf of the leadership. It was just not sensible for a responsible party to let in all and sundry, he argued. Surely a socialist Britain would want to keep out white South Africans? Here was surely the lowest point in Heron’s political career
A word of warning to the Brar family: others before you - not least Fisc and the EPSR - have thought they could speak their minds, or even persuaded themselves that Arthur would go along with what they had to say. Scargill has proved time and again that Socialist Labour is ‘his’ party. You too will be ditched if you fall out of line.