21.11.2002

Building Chris Bambery's 'new' SWP sect

Kenny McEwan of the Scottish Socialist Party attended the October 18-20 conference of the Socialist Workers Party in London. Though his report to the SSP membership - which we reprint in full - is somewhat dated, it does cast a very useful light on the SWP's internal life and regime.

The SWP claims to practice democratic centralism. In truth what we see is a classic example of bureaucratic centralism.

Real debate in the SWP is confined to the central committee. Conference exists to affirm the political victory of the dominant grouping, not to thrash out the arguments, let alone reconsider or change the line. Alex Callinicos writes in Socialist Worker of "democracy, debate and openness" being essential, but this is purely for external consumption, maybe simply for those abroad.

SWP membership is stunningly passive. This is evidenced by the appallingly low level of contributions to the Pre-conference bulletin and the role played by rank and file conference delegates. They exist to do the bidding of the leadership and to ritualistically confirm the line of the dominant central committee grouping. Speaker after speaker gets up to agree with the main rapporteur and their chosen message.

This is inevitable while permanent factions are outlawed and difference on the central committee remain a closed book to the membership. From the viewpoint of the central committee their mistrust of democracy is understandable. Quickly recruited and badly educated, the rank and file stands markedly to the right. Therefore democracy must be carefully managed and gutted of any real content. The fact that for the first time the SWP's national council has been fully elected is a shocking admission in itself. Why was the majority previously appointed? But the fact of the matter is that an alternative list system operates and that means the central committee retains full control.

The SWP is at the moment verging on hysteria. Once again there is a new mood. Parallels are being drawn with the late 1960s and that period of worldwide radicalisation. What this poses for the SWP is an escape from the doldrums and rapid growth. Instead of learning from the mistakes of the past and the recent positive examples of regroupment, the SWP is looking to build itself into a "mass revolutionary party"� through direct recruitment and a series of united front transmission belts of which the Socialist Alliance is one of many. The likelihood of hordes of leftwing youth and militant workers flocking into the SWP - and staying - is actually highly improbable. The SWP is still a confessional sect with a typically unappealing internal life. Recruit a few thousand it might. But it will also simultaneously lose a few thousand.

After the death of Tony Cliff the SWP central committee did play with the idea of building a real party by in the first place regrouping the revolutionary left. The concrete expression of that was the Socialist Alliance and it is true that the SWP membership in Scotland now exists as a platform in the Scottish Socialist Party. But the Socialist Alliance is to be left at an infantile stage of development. Neither a party nor a loose confederation, but an SWP "united front of a special type".

At present it would appear that the SWP's man of action, Chris Bambery, is the dominant figure on the central committee. The quadrumvirate of Bambery, Chris Harman, John Rees and Alex Callinicos is still intact, but the contradictions between what the comrades are doing in Scotland and what they are doing in the rest of Britain are becoming more and more pronounced. Certainly moves towards a left party in the European Union - a European Socialist Alliance - would throw the SWP as it now exists into crisis, as would the success of the SSP in constituting a part of a pro-independence majority in the Holyrood parliament in Edinburgh.

Prior to the start of conference two announcements were made. The first concerned the poll result of Paul Foot, Socialist Alliance candidate for the London mayoral election. The conference was pleased to hear that he received 13% of the vote, beating the Greens and Lib Dems and only just being beaten by the Tories. This was an excellent result for the alliance. The second announcement was that the Socialist Workers Party's 100-member national council will now be elected in its entirety by the conference. Previously only 25% were elected this way. Chris Harman: War, recession and resistance Chris discussed the impact of the world economic downturn, covering the situation in many countries - ie, Russia, Argentina, Japan, etc - pointing out that Britain was not immune to this downturn. He then looked at the political implication of this crisis in terms of a rise in parties of the left and right. Allied to this is a rise in the anti-capitalist movement. One issue emerging from the new political and economic situation was the rise in US imperialist hegemony, which is encapsulated in the war against Iraq. The US see the way clear to achieve this due to the weakness of its rivals: ie, Japan and Russia. The situation, however, is not clear-cut, as other capitalist nations are weary of this happening. Also the situation in Britain with Blair's support for the war and Bush is not as solid as he would like and could blow up in his face. Leading the resistance to US hegemony and war is the anti-war movement, the rise of trade union militancy led by the left TU leaders and the upcoming firefighters' strike. This represents an upturn in the mood of the working class generally, and in the anti-capitalism movement worldwide. The events of September 28 should be viewed as a Genoa or Seattle for England and Wales. In summing up, central to the work of the SWP over the next period will be the firefighters' strike and the anti-war movement. This will be achieved by working in their united fronts and using the Marxist forums to spread the ideas of the SWP. A note of interest is that it was acknowledged that prior to this upswing many SWP branches were in the doldrums. Speakers from the floor reiterated Chris's points. Lindsay German: Our tasks in the Stop the War Coalition The SWP played a central role in setting up the STWC which was opposed by others: ie, Greens, CND, etc, which are now part of the coalition. Also the involvement of muslims is regarded as being fundamental to the anti-war movement. The anti-poll tax movement is viewed as a model of how to build a successful united front movement. However, there is a need to be wary of the STWC being pulled in a rightward direction. The momentum needs to be maintained, and events being arranged on October 31 should help this. Speakers talked about plans for the 31st and about the impact of the 28th on people. David Hayes: The rise of the left trade union leaders This represents an upturn in the mood of the working class. However, not all leaders are the same or have the same support within their unions. They face pressure from both sides: ie, the rank and file and NL. This pressure will determine the way in which they orientate in the future. In the meantime there is a need to build support and contacts within the TUs, using the new rank and file papers. There is also a need to build firefighters' support groups. Also there is a need to build broad lefts within TUs to support leaders and to ensure pressure on them also. Martin Smith: Organising the rank and file Key to rank and file work is the war and firefighters, combined with use of new rank and file papers. This should be linked to building broad lefts in unions. John Rees: Revolutionary party, broad party ­ where now for the Socialist Alliance? There is a general growth worldwide of radicalism and in left formations and the issue facing the SWP at the moment is, do we still need an SWP-type party or a broad-based type party like the SSP? The SSP has been successful in elections, which is why others are looking to us. However, there are other models which do as well in Europe. At present the SWP see no reason for the SA to change from its present set-up. This is due to the role of New Labour, which the SWP do not view as a wholly capitalist party. They point to the role of the unions within NL and do not see NL as being fundamentally different from the past: ie, it is still a reformist party. As this is the case there is no need to follow the SSP in creating a new party. The role of the SA is that of a UF of a special kind, which has done very well in elections, but they would not see as expanding to create a new party. Their aim is to pull those still in New Labour who are to the left towards the SWP. Speakers on the session included those from the SW platform of the SSP. Jill Hubbard, commented that the SSP now see NL as an openly capitalist party and as such do not wish to work with those still in NL. She cites the SSP attitude towards George Galloway as being a sectarian one and says that the SSP is turning its back on other groups and parties. A more detailed account of Jill's analysis can be found in her contribution to the SWP's pre-conference document United fronts: still relevant today. Julie Waterson in her contribution criticised reformists who turn their back on NL; she pointed to the 40% of the NL conference that voted for the anti-war movement. She also stated the revolt against Blair was huge. Keir McKechnie commented that the SW platform is playing a key role in anti-war work and sees UF work key to a good turnout to demos. Chris Bambery: After September 28 ­ building a new SWP September 28 represents an upturn in the left, out of which the SWP should be able to organise and create a new party of the left. The 28th was better than the anti-poll tax demo and lessons from that demo should be learned. For example, the organisers of that demo let the opportunity to build an opposition to the Labour Party slip through their fingers. This should not happen now. Chris also rounded on any SWP member who did not attend the demo, going as far as to say that if they did not attend they should not be members. He was also very critical of the SWP of old, talking about dull meetings, poor relationships with others and very low expectations in general. This was contrasted with the new SWP, which was vibrant, attracting new members from various backgrounds: ie, Asian, black, etc. Central to this change was an upturn in the mood of the working class: ie, trade unions, new left leaders, anti-war movement, etc, allied to a new direction that the party has been taking. This new direction involves the SWP working with others in united fronts and the new Marxist forums. These seem to be mini-public meetings that will act as a conduit for people in the UF and others to come in to contact with SWP ideas. Chris said that no one else on the British left was providing the level of political discussion that the Marxist forums were. Alongside this was the sale of the paper and of the rank and file papers. These methods will allow the SWP to build a mass political party. There was no mention of the SA in this introduction. Speakers from the floor reiterated Chris's points, with many contributors talking about attracting new members and building new branches. Many were also critical of the old-style SWP. Alex Callinicos: The international realignment of the left There is across the globe a period of regroupment occurring amongst the left, which also affects the SWP. The current situation means that the old sharp divisions which separated the left in the past are not as acute, and therefore it is easier for groups to discuss and debate with one another. There is, therefore, a need to look at how the radical left is addressing the new situation and which model of regroupment the SWP should follow. At present there are three types of regroupment. The first type is represented by the PCR in Italy. This type is classified as a loose reformation of the large and powerful Communist Party in Italy. This, however, has problems inherent in it, causing huge swings in orientation. The next type is the new creations typified by the SSP in Scotland. This formation has been effective, but no more so than other left organisations in Europe. This type of organisation contains both revolutionary and reformists elements, which can face huge difficulties when confronted with an upturn in working class mood, as it will be pulled in different directions. The third type is to have a strong revolutionary party linked to united fronts; building a mass revolutionary party through UF activity; winning over people to the ideas of the revolutionary party. This is the method that the SWP should follow. Speakers from the floor again included Jill Hubbard, who reiterated the SW platform role in building many of the successful elements in the SSP. There was mention of the direction taken over the war and the election and the 'bread and butter' issues. I also contributed to this debate. I said that the SSP was strengthened by the introduction of the SW platform, and we welcomed the contributions made by their members. I also said, however, that the SSP did not regard itself as the only model of regrouping the left: it was up to each country to work out how it occurred. I then went on to talk about our 'bread and butter' issues and how important they had been in building our party when there was no impending war and the role we have played in the anti-war movement in Scotland. I finished by saying that only history would tell if our method was right or theirs. However, I hoped we were both right. Alex Callinicos in his summing-up acknowledged that bread and butter issues were important - otherwise they would not be bothering with the firefighters' strike. He also stated that it was perfectly in order for revolutionaries to work within reformist parties, as long as they understood their role. In the end, however, he reiterated the role of the SWP in building a new revolutionary party was not using the method of the SSP, but by building the SWP and the UFs. Chris Nineham: European Social Forum and beyond This is part of an ongoing process across the world and will be hugely important. Chris talked about the type of formations attending and their political make-up, and how each group would respond to discussion and debate. He said that the war should be pushed to the fore and that there would be a huge anti-war demo organised on the Saturday. After Florence the UF work involving Globalise Resistance should be stepped up. The rest of the day was taken up by sessions involving the SWP UF organisations. This included student work, fighting racism and fascism, and Marxist forums. Overview of the conference The SWP is undergoing a period of transformation: it is looking at how it can build a mass political party in the new post-Stalinist era of regroupment. It clearly no longer perceives the SSP as a model that it wishes to emulate and has initiated new theories and bodies that they regard as being central to building a model which has the SWP at its core. This includes building united fronts in many areas - ie, Globalise Resistance, Anti-Nazi League, etc - linked to a big involvement in the anti-war movement and the firefighters' dispute. Through Marxist forums and their paper sales they hope to bring people into contact with the ideas of the SWP, thus building a mass party. They also at this moment do not believe that New Labour are fundamentally different from any Labour government of the past, and will seek to build united fronts with the party. They hope to attract any remaining members into the SWP, particularly if a war is called which would result in a haemorrhaging of New Labour members. They view the Socialist Alliances in England and Wales as being a united front of a special kind and do not see them being transformed in to a fully-fledged party, but staying as an electoral pact.