Workers' Liberty

The split between the SWP and Galloway-sycophants in Respect has politically destabilised and reduced both sides. Destabilised in the sense that the SWP was presented with the problem of sticking to its perspective of building a populist alternative to New Labour whilst the Galloway faction lost its best organisers and activists.

The Left List's explanation of the results of Thursday's elections strongly suggests that the SWP is stubbornly refusing to learn the lessons or even face reality.

Over on Stroppyblog, Janine warns of a gloomy result in the London elections and picks apart how we got into this state; and looks at the Left List's response.

On 23 April, the Guardian published a letter from the three Tower Hamlets Respect councillors linked to the SWP, Oliur Rahman, Rania Khan and Lufta Begum, which denounces the “extremist” views of Islamist organisations like al-Muhajiroun, calls on the government to “stop” them and requests a meeting with Tower Hamlets police to discuss the issue.

For the first time in its history, the annual conference of the National Union of Teachers debated a motion submitted by LGBT teachers from their own conference.

Respect Renewal MP George Galloway has been far from sympathetic to the case of Mehdi Kazemi, instead choosing to spew homophobic bile and defend the Iranian regime. Showing his complete contempt for human rights and democracy, he has levelled the ridiculous accusation that people campaigning against the deportation of Mehdi Kazemi are “the pink contingent of imperialism” — even though the protests are against our own government.

AWL members, supporters and friends collected money for the campaign to free the jailed socialist students in Iran on the Stop The War demonstration in London on 15 March.

“Red” Ken Livingstone’s campaign for re-election is being supported with a high profile statement signed by... trade union militants? left activists? anti-cuts campaigners?

SWP: bad times

One of the four SWP-Respect councillors in Tower Hamlets has defected... to the Tories.

SWP-Respect issued a statement on 14 February: “We are sorry to hear that Cllr Ahmed Hussain has joined the Tories. We had discussions with him yesterday where he agreed that he was going to stay with Respect. We issued a statement saying that, in good faith, but clearly his assurances meant nothing.

On 1 February, a press release from Respect Renewal was posted on the blog of Respect Renewal member Andy Newman.

While the SWP lost dozens of its own members to Galloway’s populist, Stalinist split from Respect, Student Respect remained almost totally solid, with the vast majority of independents siding with SWSS. The positive consequence of this has been a left turn by Student Respect — in terms of a willingness to talk about women’s liberation and abortion rights, for instance — as well as a greater willingness to engage with other socialists like the AWL.

Let's look on the bright side first. As against George Galloway and his Respect-Renewal, who are now backing "Red Ken", SWP-Respect is reaffirming the need for a left challenge to Livingstone as London mayor.

On Thursday 27 September the London Transport Regional Council of the rail union RMT voted to call on the union to "draw up lists of candidates to stand in the London mayoral elections and GLA elections in 2008.

The "Respect Renewal" movement, George Galloway's bit of the now-split Respect coalition, has proposed a "Progressive List" to stand in the May 2008 Greater London Assembly elections and to back Ken Livingstone.

The split in Respect though ‘finalised’ in the sense that the SWP and George Galloway are unlikely to work together again has still not run its course.

According to an exchange reported on Shiraz Socialist, Respect Renewal is unlikely to mandate its MP George Galloway to vote for abortion rights.

Six articles by Sean Matgamna, one by Tony Cliff, one by Martin Thomas, one by Gerry Bates, and one by Lynne Moffat

The SWP has collapsed politically into its "Red-Green-Brown" alliance with clerical fascism - with the MAB, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and other reactionaries. Solidarity has commented on the SWP's ongoing political collapse at each stage.

• An open letter to Chris Harman of the SWP: Break with Galloway and the communalists

• How the "IS tradition" was shaped by the ILP
• The IS tradition and the birth of Respect - An open letter to a SWP leader
• The Sharia socialists
• Ms German replies to her critics
• Respect woos the Muslim vote
• Tony Cliff on the "Clerical-Fascist" Muslim Brotherhood
• The SWP and the"IS tradition"
• "Cover Your Heads", SWP Tells Protest Women
  
  

The International Socialist Organization of the USA has thrown its weight on George Galloway's side in the Respect split. The ISO is perhaps the most important group in the world, after the SWP-UK, with the same general politics as the SWP, but was expelled by the SWP from its international network in 2001.

Many people reading this article may ask themselves “why join the SWP in the first place?” Others still will ask “why go on to join the AWL?” These are legitimate questions. In fact, the answer to the question “why I left the SWP” revolves almost entirely around answering the other two.

George Galloway was addressing a Whitechapel Respect Renewal rally on Sunday 2 December. According to the East London Advertiser it was “Muslim-dominated”. In that case a socialist message to such an audience could have been anything from fighting low pay to issues about council housing or fighting racism. But according to the Advertiser, and perhaps predictably, Galloway chose to spread a little religious fervour and to highlight the sanctity of his new organisation:
“There’s one God, there’s one Respect”, he said.

Galloway and his fanclub having departed, I recently joined Respect, in order to see what was going on and make the arguments to as many people as possible for a turn towards independent working-class politics. I haven't had time to go to a branch meeting yet; my first foray was an attempt to attend the Student Respect conference on 2 December.

About an hour and a half into the "Respect Renewal" conference held by George Galloway and his allies on 17 September (at which point I left), there were about 200 people present. So the widely cited figure of 250 is probably about right.

The SWP-Respect conference at Westminster University on 17 November was essentially an SWP event — extra observers were turned away “for lack of space”.

As against George Galloway and his close friends, our sympathies in the split now taking place in Respect cannot but be with the SWP. We protested when the SWP trashed its alliance with other socialists, in 2003, rallying its members behind the demagogue Galloway... We can't be other than glad that the SWP is now breaking that alliance, so discreditable for the whole socialist left.

Gorgeous George by David Morley

Given his colossal ego, z-list celebrity status and continuing admiration of Stalinist politics, it is hard to imagine a better candidate for biography than George Galloway. However, those who deduce from David Morley’s chosen title, “Gorgeous George”, that the book is irreverent or cutting will be greatly disappointed.

The first act of the four SWP-allied councillors who have split away from the main Respect opposition group in Tower Hamlets was not to launch a high-profile campaign aimed on any of the many issues which affecting workers in the borough — for instance the threatened transfer of council housing to an ALMO. After the SWP’s noises about breaking from the “ineffectiveness” and “communalism” of Respect in Tower Hamlets, surely this would have been an appropriate course.
Instead it has been widely reported that the new group of Respect (Independent) councillors — Ahmed Hussain, Lutfa Begun, Oli Rahman and Rania Khan — have begun talks with the Liberal-Democrat councillors to form a new opposition coalition!

This is my contribution as to why we shouldnt consider joining Respect (in the form of a motion, its not in the royal 'we')

Respect was founded as a political grouping out of the Stop the War

17 November was a faintly farcical day for the labour and socialist movement in the UK. There were four different events of sections of the left that each seek to hegemonise, if not unify, the rest of the left.

Leaflet for Respect-Renewal conference, 17 November 2007. "The SWP are bureaucratic, mendacious, and politically untrustworthy. But they are socialists. You don't like the SWP? There are other socialist groups and coalitions. But to split away from all the socialist groups - in order to rally to Galloway?" To read the rest, download the attachment (below).