01.03.2001

Haringey

No politics, please

The February 27 committee meeting of Haringey Socialist Alliance made some important decisions to push our election challenge forward. March 20 will see the official launch of the campaign in both constituencies: Tottenham, and Hornsey and Wood Green.

Predictably, the only controversial item at the meeting was a short debate on the Socialist Alliance policy conference on March 10. Pushed to the end of the agenda, Socialist Workers Party comrades were generally not keen on discussing it. Deborah McManamon even tried to convince her comrades not to attend the conference: "There is so much to be done. We have to give out election leaflets and get going with the campaign." This was in direct contradiction to her comrade, leading SWP member Simon Hester, who spoke of the conference as an "historic event": "It would be an historic event if we get many people out on Saturday to man more than one stall and have a proper car cavalcade," she said.

Tina Becker moved an amendment on the document's section, 'Our rights at work'. She argued for the removal of the last bullet point, which read: "For a minimum wage of £7 per hour (the European Union Decency Threshold) with no exemption" and for the replacement with the following: "For a minimum net wage for a maximum 35-hour week to be set at the level of what is required to physically and culturally reproduce a worker in today's Britain. In today's society that equates to approximately £300 a week, or £8.57 an hour. The Socialist Alliance will not advocate a minimum wage that is below subsistence levels."

The candidate for Tottenham, SWP member Weyman Bennett agreed that, "£7 an hour is not enough to survive on, but that's not the point." The point apparently is, in his opinion, that in a situation where union branches and regions are beginning to support the SA we have to be careful not to put forward things that are "too radical". Comrade Hester went further: "I wouldn't work for less than £10 an hour myself. But we've got to fit our demands to what people would fight for." He accused the CPGB comrades of "putting forward a wish list from the top of your head", and added: "You are just adding a little bit on top of the old demand and that doesn't make any sense."

Interestingly, the comrade did actually sum up his own organisation's approach to issues like the minimum wage. What does the TUC demand? Well, we'll add a bit on top and that will make us look really radical. Or, as in the case of the draft policy document, we just adopt the recommendation of the thoroughly bourgeois and anti-working class European Union.

Jim Gilbert from the CPGB argued that the starting point of socialists should not be any such recommendation, but the actual needs of the working class: "What does a normal working class person need to live a decent life? I would argue, a television, a car, a computer, etc." Adding all this up leads to a minimum of £300 a week, the comrade explained.

The motion was defeated with five votes for and 10 against, but because of the rules for conference it will be moved forward as a minority amendment. No other amendment was presented - an unfortunate illustration of the lack of any desire on the part of the SWP comrades to talk about politics: "There is so much to be done on the ground. I really don't want to get involved in talking about small details in our programme" - so said Simon Hester during the meeting.

Of course he's not alone in this opinion. Watch SWP comrades when you suggest organising a debate on specific subject, like for example the national question (as suggested by comrades from the AWL and the CPGB). The comrades rapidly lose interest: some yawn, others start chatting or go for a fag. It is not in the culture of the SWP to actually discuss politics. Positions are decided by the leaders who then hand down the line. Local SWP branches merely organise campaigns around the leadership-agreed slogans.

That is why the policy conference will be such an important and interesting event. It is going to be one of the few occasions where the SWP rank and file will actually hear opposing socialist arguments - a very good opportunity for CPGB comrades to make our principled voice heard.

Tina Becker