26.09.2007
Sober up or spiral down further into irrationality
The CMP's national committee clearly lacks legitimacy. Despite that, because of that, it decided to pre-empt our national conference and appoint a Bonapartist chair. A panic measure. John Bridge reports
Disappointingly, the Campaign for a Marxist Party's national committee was a rather depleted gathering. About half the committee members were unable to attend. Hillel Ticktin in my opinion being particularly missed. I myself was there as the substitute London representative (Nick Rogers is abroad in India - working). As a substitute, I am allowed a vote. Mike Macnair also attended. However, as a CPGB observer, he had no vote.
The meeting took place on Saturday September 22 and was due to start at 12 noon. After delaying for late arrivals we began. Very late. A bad habit in the British labour movement. The regular venue is also something of a problem. Bennett's Bar in Birmingham's city centre. Drinks are downed "¦ one after another. Brains thereby become clouded. Eventually befuddled. Another bad habit in the British labour movement.
Booze culture and voting
It is not that I am against a pint "¦ or three. But I am strongly of the view that consuming alcohol is completely out of order before/during committee meetings, conferences, etc - CMP national committee meetings included. The CPGB certainly does not permit booze before/during any of our meetings.
"Drunkenness is a flattering devil" (St Augustine). The bevvied up always imagine themselves unaffected. That they speak in a perfectly reasonable and perfectly sober fashion. My experience, is, however, that they usually come out with more and more crap.
Government bodies rightly warn against drinking and driving. Being intoxicated and in charge of a motor vehicle is a serious criminal offence. Alcohol impairs judgement, coordination and reactions. "It can make you a hazard to yourself, your passengers, other road users and pedestrians" (www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/law/yourrights/drinkdriving). On average some 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in drink-drive collisions. Nearly one in six of all deaths on the road involve drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit.
Such gruesome statistics expalin why there are proposals to lower the legal limit to roughly the equivalent of a half pint of full-strength beer or one 175-millilitre glass of standard wine. But the medical advice is unequivocal: "The only safe option is not to drink any alcohol if you plan to drive and never offer an alcoholic drink to anyone else who is driving" (www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/drinkdrive/drinkdrive01.htm). So never drink and drive.
Being in possession of these facts, should we have comrades voting on committees, at conferences, etc, if they are under the influence? Alcohol obviously blurs political judgement, comrades. Makes you a hazard to our movement. Drinking before/during meetings should therefore be considered a serious offence on the left. Not that I am proposing breathalysers, trials or prison sentences. Moral pressure is all that I am after. The message is: don't drink and vote. The CMP certainly needs to sober up. That or spiral further and further into irrationality.
A stunning example of the climate of irrationality reigning in the CMP is certainly the decision to elect a permanent national chair. A Bonapartist 'solution' to the all too evident divisions, impasse, directionlessness and lethargy that has beset the CMP virtually since its foundation. Put another way, this elevated post was created under conditions of failure. Failure to organise outside London and Glasgow. Failure to impact on the rest of the left. Failure to cohere internally.
Only two dissenting hands were raised against. My own and that of the national secretary, Matthew Jones. Mike Macnair spoke against too. But, of course, he had no vote to cast.
The new post has sweeping powers. The permanent chair is "responsible for chairing physical committee meetings". The comrade is also set to patrol the national committee's expanded e-list. "Insulting, abusive and uncomradely behaviour" is to be outlawed. The words 'idiot', 'twerp, and 'scab' have already been prohibited. Doubtless, the permanent chair will add thousands of other similarly wicked phrases and expressions to the blacklist. Offenders who dare transgress are to be booted off the national committee's e-list. The only language permitted to CMP members is official grey. An infantilisation of our political culture.
Comrades, I say keep on expressing yourselves in a robust, adult and, if you so choose, a colourful manner. Defy the censor. The occasional insult is a small price to pay for freedom. Even a sustained campaign of crazy invective is worth putting up with. I and my CPGB comrades certainly have been the target of frothing abuse and a uncontrolled string of calumnies on the CMP membership e-list. No garden exists without weeds. Better, far better, to suffer the occasional prick than have a thought policeman sitting in wilting judgement over us.
Do not worry about calling me a 'twerp' or some other 'uncomradely' word. It is necessary in politics to developed a thick skin. For my part, I accuse the CMP committee of collective twerpism. Let the permanent chair try to remove me, and others like me, from his e-list. But we shall go on using the language needed to tell it as it is.
CMP Bonapartism does not end there. Oh no. Our permanent chair is empowered to "implement decisions on urgent matters" - a formulation clearly intended to strip the national secretary of what remains of his authority and transfer it elsewhere.
John Pearson candidly admits that he "would have been more than happy to serve" as the permanent chair "¦ had anyone nominated him. Certainly he had himself in mind when he drafted the relevant motion. The post was made by him, for him. However, he failed to get anyone to put him forward. So, somewhat crestfallen, comrade Pearson proposed "¦ Phil Sharpe.
Madness. Why madness? Because comrade Sharpe is hardly a natural born leader. Madness, because he was so obviously intended to be a glove puppet. Madness, because his operative political positions were explicitly condemned by the last CMP national conference - July 2007.
Comrade Sharpe advocates a halfway house. Not a Marxist party. Despite, or more likely because of, that, he has been constantly, remorselessly championed by the Democratic Socialist Alliance (a faction that for the moment controls the CMP's national committee). In the recent past this right opportunist faction enthused over the Scottish Socialist Party and gushingly recommended the old Socialist Alliance's People before profit reformist programme. Sad. Awful. Laughable. In its benighted ranks comrade Sharpe counts as a theoretician. In the kingdom of the blind ... Other CMPers - the overwhelming majority, the Marxists - consider his views revisionist, eclectic and diversionary.
Comrade Sharpe, bumblingly, blushingly, bashfully declined the position. But he did so in favour of comrade Dave Spencer. Hardly much of an improvement. He too is a member of the DSA. And, given the disrespectful, rancorous and thoroughly disruptive way he chaired the last national conference, he is a liability. Not an asset. Yet he was elected the CMP's permanent chair. Sadly, only one vote against this time. Mine.
Frankly, neither comrade Sharpe nor comrade Spencer should be entrusted with key positions of responsibility in the CMP. Both constitute a hazard. That brings me to Marxist Voice - the 'bi-monthly' CMP journal put together by comrade Spencer.
Any serious publication needs a serious editorial strategy. A clear sense of direction and therefore plan of commissioning which serves the overall line of march. Hence, any editor should know why an obvious piece of nonsense is given space. The only legitimate answer being that they have lined up another writer and tasked them with shooting down the nonsense in illuminating flames.
A substantive body of theory is that way built up and opportunism is progressively taken on. Such a method is completely beyond the ken of comrade Spencer, however. He thinks if it is perfectly okay to publish almost anything and everything he gets sent. He works without rhyme or reason. So while he remains in charge Marxist Voice will have more and more of comrade Sharpe.
Another act of collective twerpism. The committee expressed the view that comrade Sharpe should be one of the speakers at the next national CMP school - on the contemporary working class - to be held in Glasgow. Obviously, once again I disagreed. Under pressure others retreated - somewhat. It should be up to Glasgow comrades whom to invite.
Comrade Pearson disputes the accuracy of my account. Using the membership e-list, he says that I got this one completely wrong. He boasts: "Comrade Bridge was in a minority of one - and was even contradicted, bravely, by CPGB comrade Mike Macnair" (posting, September 23).
His memory is perhaps impaired somewhat by the effects of Guinness. Either way, here, using the columns of this paper, I urge Glasgow comrades to ignore the CMP committee. As presently constituted it represents nothing. Except itself. Decide for yourselves whom you wish to speak. Somehow I think you will not choose comrade Sharpe.
It is true that comrade Macnair did not sufficiently protest against putting forward comrade Sharpe as a CMP platform speaker. He adopted an equivocal position. We spoke about all this after the CMP meeting. Over a refreshing cup of tea. I think comrade Macnair now fully accepts that it would be wrong for the CMP to be seen as promoting or giving credence to the ideas of comrade Sharpe in any way. Doing so simply brings discredit upon us all. It has to be said, however, that there is nothing 'brave' about CPGB comrades openly expressing disagreements with one another under such circumstances. It is healthy and perfectly normal.
Anyway, the new post of permanentchair was created in spite of my vociferous objections. Why should that be so concerning? After all I am but just one individual. Needless to say, I was speaking as the agreed representative of London. One of two functioning CMP groups nationally and about a third of the membership in total.
Many others in the CMP share my general outlook too. I am a leading member of the CPGB and thus operate under its discipline. I am chair of the Provisional Central Committee. Along with my comrade, Mike Macnair, I was therefore also speaking on behalf of the CPGB. That was made more than clear.
Leave aside all those non-CPGB members who are totally fed up with the muddle, bungle and narrow factionalism of our thoroughly discredited national committee. Members and supporters of the CPGB make up well over 50% of the CMP. At least by my reckoning. Hence the DSA-dominated committee in effect ignored, and arrogantly voted down, the wishes of the CMP membership majority.
Subvert
We have a national conference scheduled for November 24 in London. Not far off - at least in terms of CMP time. Hence the appointment of a permanent chair amounted to a coup. A crude bid to pre-empt, to subvert, our highest decision-making body. Certainly the spirit of democracy was grossly violated. A new and far-reaching constitutional change was introduced - against the wishes of the membership of the CMP.
I emphasised that previously officers have been directly elected. A method of organisation which in general the CPGB profoundly disagrees with. Far more democratic, far more flexible to have a constitutional arrangement whereby officers are appointed by, and accountable to, their peers. Easily elected. Easily replaceable. We are against both big and little dictators. Anyway, all CMP officers have been directly elected by the membership - until now.
The permanent chair supposedly represents the CMP as a whole! Except that a clear majority of the membership opposes him and his politics. I ought to stress that we have nothing against comrade Spencer personally as such. Nevertheless, since Birmingham and September 22, I have had the chance to read his latest e-list postings.
Here he talks darkly about boycotting our forthcoming national conference. Alone, that is more than sufficient to show why comrade Spencer is totally unfit to chair the November 24 conference. If he deigns to turn up. We need another, less embittered, chair. That is clear.
Comrade Spencer's position is classically anarcho-bureaucratic. It amounts to this: he, Dave Spencer, has lost faith in the current CMP membership. Therefore elect a new membership. On the other hand, we, the majority, hold to an altogether different approach. In the name of democracy and sanity elect a new, clear-sighted, sober and politically representative committee.