'Respect' and George Galloway

Former Socialist Alliance activists give their views: Pete McLaren was the secretary of the Socialist Alliance before the heavy involvement of the SWP in 2001-3, and is now secretary of the continuing Socialist Alliance group: Respect was never going to succeed. In the original Socialist Alliance, back in 2002-3, when it was first mooted that the SWP was in discussion with people from the mosques, George Galloway and so on, we said that it was such an unlikely alliance that it would never succeed - too many divergent interests. Personally I agree with getting as broad an alliance as possible...

The Stop The War Coalition conference on 27 October featured Somaye Zadeh from the SWP-led group Campaign Iran telling us that “the lies about Iran” aren’t true. These “lies” include that the Iranian regime is undemocratic (Ahmedinejad was voted in with a large majority — never mind the widespread evidence of ballot-rigging or the fact that you can only stand at all if you’re a male Islamist!), that it persecutes gay people (despite “problems with homosexuals”, sex changes are allowed: how progressive) and that it’s oppressive to women (more women study at university than men, so who cares...

SWP-Respect has circulated the following message: "Three attackers kicked Councillor Oli Rahman to the ground, inflicting internal bruising and ripping his clothes, in an incident near his home in Tower Hamlets last night (Sunday 11 November). This is the second attack on Oli. In the first incident his front window was shattered in the middle of the night when attackers threw a brick through it. Oli's mother has also been threatened. Last night's attack follows threatening emails sent to both Oli Rahman and fellow Respect National Council member Mehdi Hassan. In a separate incident Mehdi...

According to the East London Advertiser , Councillor Oli Rahman – leader of the breakaway Respect councillors in Tower Hamlets – has confirmed that John Rees’ ‘gang of four’ have been in talks with the Liberal Democrats. There had been speculation of a possible fusion between the Respect-SWP and Lib-Dem groups to create an official opposition on the council, though Rahman claims that the talks were merely about “working together”. The question is how were they aiming to “work together”, for what purpose and on what political basis? For what purpose would John Rees and Oli Rahman – both members...

To download text as pdf, click on the "attachments" below. Second attachment is an updated version, 02/11/07. . Dear comrade Harman, I know you of old and hope, or would like to believe, that you still hold to the basic socialist ideas which you and I shared in the past. See also: Open Letter to an IS Leader, August 2004: From the "IS Tradition" to Respect ; and more on Respect . I wrote you a first open letter in June 2004 (Solidarity 3/54) urging you to register that the Respect turn was a betrayal of all that was good about the political tradition you used to hold to. The rift between your...

Reply to JR : The SWP is a hindrance to the left, and undemocratic? Sure. (That it's particularly well organised, I do question, but that's by the way). If those bad things were not true of the SWP, AWL might well be a faction within a joint organisation with the SWP, rather than a separate organisation. But how do we relate to would-be revolutionary organisations which have bad politics and method, but nonetheless - in the case of the SWP, because it's the biggest of the activist left groups - recruit good socialists? Analogies with the Israeli government, the Tory party, or the CDU/CSU are...

No, of course Galloway and the SWP aren't the same. I wouldn't object to an SWP member speaking at a left event (although I'd probably choose not to turn up, given that the chances of them debating someone from a different left tradition are approximately zero), whereas I would to Galloway, particularly on the grounds that he's not on the left. But that in itself is not enough reason to support the SWP. The Israeli government and Hizbollah aren't the same. One is bourgeois-democratic, the other clerical-fascist. That doesn't mean I supported the former in the lebanon war. The Tory party and...

Yes, the formal programme to which the SWP are committed is (while highly flawed) infinitely better than that of Galloway and friends. but it seems that a fair few good trade union activists who are siding with Galloway -- presumably not because of his programme, or simply because he's an MP or public figure. The only reason i can think of is disgust at the SWP's typical anti-democratic measures. As in the Socialist Alliance, which arguably led to this whole mess in the first place. shouldn't it be a case of "neither Galloway nor the SWP but principled socialism"?