SWP

Material for an AWL day school, November/ December 2005, and other stuff on the political differences between AWL and SWP. Download all the stuff for the dayschool as pdf (570 Kb) , or read individual items below. "AWL vs SWP" day school, November/ December 2005 Discussion points for the day school 1. Transitional programme vs fake ultra-leftism Socialism after Stalinism , by Sean Matgamna, from How Solidarity Can Change The World The SWP and its "March on Parliament" , by Sean Matgamna, from Socialist Organiser 591, 03/03/94 2. Marxism vs "Apparatus Marxism" The Degradations of Apparatus...

Eric Hobsbawm somewhere discusses one of the oddest conundrums in labour historiography, one paralleled now in the historiography of IS/SWP: the 20th century reputation of the Fabian Society as far-sighted pioneers of independent labour representation - the gap between what was and what is afterwards widely accepted as having been. The facts flatly contradicted the Fabians' reputation. They opposed independent working-class politics for as long as they could, pursuing a policy of 'permeating' the Liberal Party with ideas about state and municipal enterprise. They 'come in' late to the movement...

Between fifteen and twenty thousand students marched through London on 23 February [1994] in protest at the Government's decision to cut student grants by one-third over the next three years. They were organised by the Student Activist Alliance, initiated by supporters of Socialist Organiser. That march may prove to have been the beginning of a deep and powerful mobilisation of students for a serious fight to force the Government to retreat. It was an important event. By contrast, the Socialist Workers' Party's [SWP's] much-advertised student "March on Parliament" on the same day - and, indeed...

Agenda: Short plenary introduction Small-group discussions one: Transitional programme vs fake ultra-leftism Small-group discussions two: Marxism vs Apparatus Marxism Small-group discussions three: Striving to be "the memory of the class" vs invention of tradition Discussion points: 1. Transitional programme vs fake ultra-leftism A. Consider the following slogans advanced by the SWP. i. "TUC must call a General Strike!" (1992) ii. "March on Parliament!" (1994) iii. "Troops Out Now!" (yesterday Ireland, today Iraq) iv. "One solution, revolution!" For each: What arguments can be given for them...

The two members of the SWP on the Executive of the civil service union PCS, Martin John and Sue Bond, voted to approve the Government-TUC pensions deal. Yet an article in Socialist Worker that same week, personally signed by SW editor Chris Bambery, and featured as the lead item on the SWP website, had already denounced the deal in the most strident terms as an “abject capitulation”. SWPers are saying that John and Bond just “made a mistake”. In fact they followed the SWP’s rule of the last few years — never to say or do anything, within their earshot, which might offend trade union leaders...

The fourth in a series of articles about the German socialist women's movement 1890-1914, by Janine Booth Laws against women’s organisation After Bismarck’s Anti-Socialist Law lapsed in 1890, laws remained which restricted women’s political activity. The 1851 Prussian Association Law banned women from membership of political organisations, and from organising politically. The application of the law varied between different states, but throughout Germany, women’s political activity was severely curtailed. In general, women were not allowed to attend any meeting at which public affairs were...

The third in the AWL's new series of political day schools is scheduled for 19 November (in London) and 3 December (in Sheffield). It will be about “AWL and SWP”. Every week, in trade union branches, in colleges, on demonstrations, even on the doorsteps, AWLers have to argue our differences with the SWP. In Iraq, should we support the new labour movement, or the Islamist “resistance”? In elections, should we back George Galloway’s “Respect”, or vote socialist and Labour? In the unions, should we focus on building rank-and-file organisation round issues like levelling up pay and conditions and...

“The last exploit of the Fenians in Clerkenwell was a very stupid thing. The London masses, who have shown great sympathy for Ireland, will be made wild by it and driven into the arms of the government party. One cannot expect the London proletariat to allow themselves to be blown up in honour of the Fenian emissaries. There is always a kind of fatality about such a secret, melodramatic sort of conspiracy.” — Karl Marx, writing to Frederick Engels, December 1867. “The stupid affair in Clerkenwell was obviously the work of a few specialised fanatics; it is the misfortune of all conspiracies...