13.12.2001

Why I resigned from the SWP

It is very difficult to formally break with an organisation that you have supported for getting on for nearly 25 years, from the first Marxism in North London Poly in 1977, and been a member of for nine. It's especially difficult when you believe that the SWP is the most dynamic and energetic organisation on the left with the best publications and a general political analysis of the world that cannot be faulted.

However, for me the survival of the Welsh Socialist Alliance project in Wales is essential for the left and essential for the attainment for that rational world that we all are struggling for. The constitutional proposal from the SWP for the WSA conference in January will lead to a divisive, acrimonious conference with splits and the probable disappearance of WSA activity from North and Mid-Wales. Given that the WSA is generally very weak, with a lower electoral base than the Socialist Labour Party, such an outcome could lead to the dissolution of the WSA.

As someone who has been central to building the WSA branch in Gwent, the only branch in Wales that stood an independent as a candidate in the general election, I feel it is my duty to try to protect these gains. As a result when the vote came at the national council on the location of the conference the only way to ensure that the widest possible range of views could be heard was by supporting moving the venue to mid-Wales and thus I was forced to resign in order to support this.

I hope that the SWP will accept the proposal from the overwhelming majority of the national council to place their proposal for consideration by a constitution commission over the next six months and we can have a conference that can be a springboard for significant growth over the next few months.

Richard Morse