17.01.2002

His own man

Frank Cave, president of Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, died of cancer on January 7 after many years of ill health. After a lifetime of service to the trade union movement, most notably in the National Union of Mineworkers, where he occupied the post of general secretary, comrade Cave followed Scargill out of the Labour Party as one of the founder members of the SLP, formed in May 1996. At its 1st Congress Frank was unanimously elected vice-president. Scargill himself assumed the presidency, while the general secretary's job went to Patrick Sikorski, a leading light in the shadowy Fourth International Supporters Caucus (Fisc), at that time Scargill's main cheerleaders. However, within a year the three posts had been 'reshuffled' after comrade Sikorski decided to step down because of 'pressure of work'. Without bothering with new elections, Scargill 'demoted' him to the vice-presidency, taking over the general secretaryship himself. That left comrade Cave as SLP president, a post to which his temperament and quiet authority suited him well. At subsequent congresses comrade Cave's even-handed, if sometimes impatient, chairing earned him respect. At each of the three congresses there was controversy and crisis. December 1997 saw the emergence of the phantom North West, Cheshire and Cumbria Miners Association, whose 3,000 block votes were used to ensure the abolition of Fisc's treasured black section, against the wishes of the majority of members. The next year saw Roy Bull of the homophobic Economic and Philosophic Science Review depose Sikorski, while in 1999 the EPSR comrades themselves were swept away. While tempers frayed, anger was never directed at Frank, who always ensured that the views of comrades from every wing of the party, irrespective of Scargill's disapproval, were heard at congress. The abuse of democracy, the 'voidings' of the left, the out-and-out sectarianism, the daft spin - all bore the stamp of Scargill and a few close cronies, never of comrade Cave. In truth Frank was his own man. He had strongly held opinions on every subject. If he was guilty of anything, it was his failure to assert himself sufficiently to rein Scargill in. Unbridled Scargillism has resulted in the shell that the SLP is today. Simon Harvey