Respect in crisis

[rob9443]

Indeed. The reality is that we have never been a happy band of brothers. The only serious Labour government we ever had, that of Attlee, was filled with mutual hatred at the top, with Bevin calling Morrison a scheming little bastard, and that was one of the nicer things he said about him. Clem often had to summon his ministers to the headmasters office for a wigging and stayed on as Labour leader longer than he should have just to stop Morrison succeeding him.

Why is this?  Partly because we believe we are virtuous so anybody who disagrees with us must have ulterior motives. We don't expect the Tories to deliver but any left government inevitably disappoints.

The great French and Russian revolutions ended with the reds killing each other off, whether it be Robespierre guillotining Danton or Stalin and an ice pick going head to head with Trotsky.

We also have a disturbing puritan streak, which when combined with authoritarianism produces toxic results. Let's face it Charles II was a more attractive prospect than Cromwell.

[nittynora]

I agree Gitfinger CAN WE PLEASE STOP PRESSING THE SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON. Too many inflexible people on the left and they seem to be mostly men and the overall result is SECTARIANISM.... and the story goes on.

Aother email this time from Respect(galloway) and they can't bloody spell...

Resepect Renewal Conference, 17 November‏
From: Respect Renewal (info@therespectparty.org)
Sent: 07 November 2007 11:24:20
 
 
 Dear Friend,

 

Please find attached a pdf file of the leaflet for the Respect Renewal Conference on Saturday 17 November.
(Too bloody large to attach)
 

Please forward this to as many people as possible. Print off the leaflet and distribute it widely.

 

We are putting together an excellent line-up of speakers and there will be plenty of time for debate.

 

The Conference is generating a lot of interest. Please ensure that you get your application off soon.

 

Make cheques payable to 'Respect Renewal Conference' and return the form to: Respect Renewal Conference, PO BOX 1109, London N4 2UU.

 

Regards,

 

Linda Smith, Respect National Chair

Salma Yaqoob, Respect National Vice-Chair



 
 

[Shoegazer]

Two different versions of Respect, plus the LRC, all holding conferences on the same day. This is not a strategy for socialist unity! On top of that, they're all being held in London. There are plenty of us living up in 'The North' who find it difficult, and tedious, having to travel down there on a regular basis. Oh for the good old days of the Chesterfield Conference, which was far more central for UK lefties, and a darn sight less sectarian to boot!

[nittynora]

And another one Respect(swp)....

Guest speakers at the Respect National Conference‏
From: Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:08 November 2007 14:27:23
Reply-to:office@respectcoalition.org

Respect is pleased to announce the following guest speakers will be joining the over 350 delegates and observers at the Respect Annual Conference on Saturday 17th November in the University of Westminster, Regent Street, London:

Craig Murray, former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan
Jane Loftus, President, Communication Workers Union (personal capacity)
Sami Ramadani, Iraqi Democrats Against the Occupation
Andrew Murray, Chair, Stop the War Coalition

The Respect National Conference will be attended by elected delegates from Respect branches around the country and it will be voting on the policy and programme of Respect for the coming year.

[Neruda]

Steve Platt, on his Red Pepper blog, asks is the left psychologically flawed and says the split in Respect is an example of this

'But I can’t help feeling that there’s a more emotional, or psychological, explanation underlying so much of this sort of thing. Is the left psychologically flawed? No more so than any other current in human thought and behaviour, in my opinion – but then that’s not saying much, is it?'

http://plattitude.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-left-psychologically-flawed.html

[123456789]

What is this "socialist unity" people talk of? It sounds like something which belongs to a rather simplistic vision of the political spectrum i.e. lefties versus conservatives. If leftist sectarianism is bad, then leftist unity would be infinitely worse! There is a tendency here to conflate mass mobilization of the workers (something which all the leftist "sects" would surely support) with the alleged need to somehow direct this mobilization through a party political organisation. Of course, if and when British workers start to mobilize en mass, they will turn to the trade unions, most of which (the big ones, anyway) are affliated to Labour. My view on this is as follows: an attempt by workers to reclaim Labour will either succeed or will destroy the Party completely, paving the way for the emergence of a new mass workers' party. But this should not intefere with the question of whether individuals to the "left of Labour" should unite or fragment! The best such comrades can do is support workers in their choice of party (whether a reclaimed Labour or a new mass party) and try to persuade them of the merits of going even further.

However, returning to the issue of Respect-style coalitions, I would say one thing: by their very nature, political coalitions are contaminated by disagreement. As I've said, it's a mistake to turn this issue of contamination into a discussion about how we can build a leftist alternative to Labour. What this mistake does is to take the focus off what the political coalition is intended to achieve and distracts us with considerations of what, in our wildest political fantasies, political coalitions might achieve. What is required here is the drawing of a strict line between our most deeply-held political convictions (including our political hopes, dreams and fantasies) and our coalition-making activities. When the former leaks into the latter, the result is disasterous. The mistake people make is that they forget that coalitions (unlike mergers) are temporary! The coalition which works best is one which takes its own contingency and mutual inconvenience into account. This raises a further mistake: there is no reason to expect that a coalition will be comfortable, but for some weird reason the participants in many of the most recent coalitions have been unprepared for the discomfort and the inconvenience.

So what about today's political situation? Perhaps we need to consider the most radical, unexpected coalition of all - between those on the left and those on the right. We are being ruled by a liberal elite - and has no one noticed that this is a complaint voiced by both the left and the right? One of the most curious political images of 2007 appeared in Peter Hitchin's documentary on David Cameron's watering down of the Tories, "Toff At The Top", when a depressed Hitchin met an equally depressed George Monbiot. Together, the two of them lamented (from their differing political perspectives) the emergence of consensus politics. Yet imagine what would happen if the UKIP-aligned right started working with the left in order to extinguish their mutual enemy: the liberals. Isn't THIS the coalition which would most effectively disrupt the ruling ideology? The very fact that such a coalition feels so unpalatable to both sides indicates that it really IS the drastic course of action which might really change things.

[rob9443]

I think that's a very promising approach yes. If you look at articles on the American libertarian site www.antiwar.com some of the American right are considering allying with the left against what they regard as a corrupt War Party. The Democrats and Republicans are both equally debased as far as they are concerned. The key slogan is restoring the old American republic rather than allowing it to mutate into an Empire. Some conservatives are vehemently opposed to imperialism on the grounds that War is the health of the state: it enables government to attack civil liberties and brand dissenters as unpatriotic. Not to mention raising taxes, which naturally they are allergic to.

I reckon the left could win over some of these people by arguing that corporate capitalism is not the same as a genuine free market, and that the alliance between big business and big government represents a perverted form of socialism at the taxpayers expense.

Of course these libertarians are passionately opposed to a welfare state and hostile to immigration but that shouldnt' prevent leftists cooperating with them to end the imperialist aggression against the Third World and defend civil liberties at home. A left right alliance against the corrupt centre in the name of true patriotism is the way to end this so called War on Terror.

I also think it's high time the left supported Britain's farmers who are being slaughtered by the supermarkets. As it is they vote Tory because they regard Labour as a hostile urban/metropolitan elite. These guys may be culturally conservative but they are being needlessly alienated by, for example, the ban on fox hunting. Not only is this a total failure in terms of fox welfare (they're simply being killed in more efficient ways) but it helps to hand over the countryside to the same Tory party that is in bed with Tesco and agribusiness. The left should see small farmers as part of the working class. Instead we treat them with contempt.

[123456789]

Of course, the main thing the left and the conservative-right have in common is a mutual enemy i.e. the politically-correct, neo-liberal class who currently run this country. But I also agree that this current situation means that many on the conservative-right can be persuaded by leftist arguments. Indeed, sticking with the topic of this thread, I'm always hearing callers to Galloway's radio show saying that they used to be Tories, but now actually agree with his views. We also need public commentators, journalists and intellectuals (such as Claire Fox) whose views can disrupt and problematize the simplistic left-right division. Indeed, the interesting point to note is that the centre-ground requires this simplistic view of the left-right political spectrum in order to position themselves as occupying "the centre"... Imagine what might happen if - jointly - the left and right were to set about dismantling this spectrum. It would completely change the ideological coordinates of our current predicament.

[nittynora]

And another... and I am glad food and refreshments will be avaliable...

Respect Renewal Conference - more speakers announced!‏
From: Respect Renewal (info@therespectparty.org)
Sent:11 November 2007 15:25:56



 
Dear Friend,

We writing to invite you to the Respect Renewal Conference, which is taking place on;

Saturday 17th November 2007, from 11am-5pm,

Venue: Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M (nearest tube and BR - Liverpool Street).

This conference is open to members and non members of Respect alike.

Please find attached an invite to the conference.

We would also like to announce the following people who have confirmed in the past 48 hours that they will be addressing the conference.

Patricia DaSilva Armani – Jean Charles De Menezes Campaign
Andrew Murray - Chair of Stop The War Coalition
Derek Wall - Principal Male Speaker for the Green Party (personal capacity)
Anas Al-Tikriti.
If you would like to attend please could you make cheques payable to 'Respect Renewal Conference' and return the form to: Respect Renewal Conference, PO BOX 1109, London N4 2UU. The cost will be £10 waged and £5 for those who cannot afford the full cost. Payment will also be taken on the day of the conference.

If you have any queries please call Ghada on 07958 450 867 or email respectrenewal@gmail.com

Food and refreshments will be available.

Regards

George Galloway MP
Linda Smith - National Chair Respect
Councillor Salma Yaqoob - Vice Chair Respect


--

[Oscar]

And another one.... Respect/SWP split goes international?

"Open letter from Socialist Worker New Zealand to the British SWP membership"


A letter to all members of the SWP (Britain)

Dear comrades,

Your comrades in the International Socialist Tendency in Socialist Worker - New Zealand, have watched what appears to be the unfolding disengagement of the Socialist Workers Party (Britain) from RESPECT - the Unity Coalition with gradually mounting concern, anxiety and frustration.

SW-NZ's perspective since 2002 has been that building new broad forces to the left of the social liberal (formerly social democratic) parties is an essential step towards the rebirth of a serious anti-capitalist worker's movement. The work carried out by the SWP and its allies to build a broad coalition of the left which could compete with Blairite/Brownite New Labour on equal terms has been an inspiration to us, and, we believe, to all serious socialists throughout the world.

In the last two months, to our distress, all the good work that has been carried out in England and Wales seems on the verge of going down the tubes. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the specific organizational proposals put to the Respect National Council by George Galloway MP in August, an outright civil war has broken out between the SWP leadership and other forces in Respect. This, as far as we can see, could - and should - have been avoided.

It seems to us that your party's leadership has decided to draw "battle lines" between itself and the rest of Respect - a stance, we believe, guaranteed to destroy the trust and working relationships on which any broad political coalition stands. Of particular concern to us is the expulsion of three respected cadre from the SWP - Kevin Ovenden, Rob Hoveman and Nick Wrack - for refusing to cut working relationships with those seen as being opposed to the SWP. To draw hard lines against other forces within a united front (even of a "special type") and to expel members who refuse to accept those hard lines is behaviour you would usually see from a sectarian organization, not a party of serious socialists looking to build a new left alternative. It is perhaps in this context that Galloway's reported comments about "Leninists" should be understood, rather than as an attempt to exclude revolutionary politics from Respect.

What distresses us particularly is that the above mentioned comrades were expelled after submitting what seem to us to be thoughtful and critical contributions to your pre-conference Internal Bulletin. If these three comrades are not being victimized for raising a political alternative to the line of the Central Committee, it certainly gives the appearance of such victimization - or even, to use a word which has become common currency recently, witch-hunting.

The opening contribution of the SWP CC to the Internal Bulletin makes a couple of points which seem to us to be particularly problematic in this context. Firstly, the CC state that:

The critics of the SWP's position have organised themselves under the slogan "firm in principles, flexible in tactics". But separating principles and tactics in this way is completely un-Marxist. Tactics derive from principles. Indeed the only way that principles can become effective is if they are embodied in day-to-day tactics.

It seems to us an uncontroversial statement that tactics must be based on much more than principles - a lesson which Lenin himself explained clearly in his famous "Left-Wing" Communism. Revolutionary tactics must be based on the objective realities of the time - the level of class consciousness, the balance of forces in society at any given moment, the resources and cadre available to a revolutionary organization. To derive tactics from principles is not the method of scientific socialism, but of a dogmatic or even sectarian approach, that the party is "schoolteacher to the class".

As we see it, the disaster overtaking Respect has been exacerbated by the SWP deriving tactics from principles. The principle is that "the revolutionary party" embodies the correct programme, that it must work as a disciplined unit to win its position, and that there is nothing to learn from reformist or other forces. This feeds into a tactical approach that any threat to the organizational leadership of "the revolutionary party" must be fought using all means at the party's disposal, and those forces who oppose the strategy of the party must be eliminated if they do not accept defeat.

According to the information we have, your party chose not to debate Galloway's proposals openly within Respect first, and tease out the politics behind them. Rather, the SWP leadership first moved to neutralize internal dissent, before coming out fighting in Respect with accusations of "witch-hunting". Instead of leading with the political arguments and winning leadership among the broad left forces in Respect, your leadership seems to have mobilized the party for a civil war waged primarily by organizational or administrative means. Inherent in this drive to defeat Galloway and his allies appears a "for us or against us" approach which seems to leave no room for any possible reconciliation - in effect, ensuring the death of Respect in its current form as a coalition of the broad left and a nascent transitional formation of working-class politics.

An attempt by the SWP to establish dominance by sheer force of numbers at the upcoming Respect conference would, it seems to us, result in a Pyrrhic victory at best. Such a course of action, even if successful, would simply drive out those forces who are opposed to your party's current line and leadership, and reconstitute Respect as a front for SWP electoral activities. We can not see this as encouraging class consciousness or political consciousness, among the SWP, Respect or broader left forces. On the contrary, it seems almost designed to harden the boundaries of organizational loyalty and the divisions between "the revolutionary party" and other forces - almost the definition of sectarianism. Again, if these stories are true, then Galloway's comments about "Russian dolls" would seem to us - as revolutionary Leninists ourselves - to be fair comment.

Another quotation from your Central Committee's IB contribution which struck us runs as follows:

Of all the claims made against the SWP's position the argument that Respect must be our "over-arching strategic priority" must be the most ill considered. Firstly, it ignores the fact that the building of a revolutionary party is the over-arching priority for any revolutionary Marxist. All other strategic decisions are subordinate to this goal.

Six years ago, the American International Socialist Organisation was criticized by the SWP (Britain) for a sectarian refusal to engage with the anti-capitalist movement. Alex Callinicos' own article on the split with the ISO-US includes the following statement:

In an extraordinary speech at the ISO's convention in December 2000, the group's National Organizer, Sharon Smith, attacked the idea that the ISO could, by systematically focusing on this minority, "leapfrog" over the rest of the left, and insisted that methods of party-building forged in the downturn were necessary irrespective of the changing objective conditions. "Branches are now and will always be the measure of the size of the organization," she said.

The ISO-US was criticized for failing to see to that the gains from a revolutionary organization engaging properly in a broad movement, for both the organization and the class struggle, could not be simply quantified by how many members the organization gained. A sect with many members is of far less consequence in the class struggle than a smaller group of revolutionaries playing an organic leadership role in promoting political consciousness among the working classes and oppressed layers. We feel that the SWP may repeat the ISO-US's mistakes - with the much greater consequences, this time, of the wreck of the biggest advance for the British left-of-Labour since the Second World War - if it lets Respect, as "only or primarily an electoral project" crumble at this point.

In contrast, Socialist Worker - New Zealand sees Respect - and other "broad left" formations, such as Die Linke in Germany, the Left Bloc in Portugal, the PSUV in Venezuela and RAM in New Zealand - as transitional formations, in the sense that Trotsky would have understood. In programme and organization, they must "meet the class half-way" - to provide a dialectical unity between revolutionary principle and reformist mass consciousness. If they have an electoral orientation, we must face the fact that this cannot be avoided at this historical point. Lenin said in "Left-Wing" Communism that parliamentary politics are not yet obsolete as far as the mass of the class are concerned - this is not less true in 2007 than it was in 1921. The question is not whether Respect should go in a "socialist" or "electoralist" direction, but in how Respect's electoral programme and strategy can embody a set of transitional demands which intersect with the existing electoralist consciousness of the working class.

The personality of George Galloway MP and the links with Muslim communities in London and Birmingham, seen in this light, are surely assets to be worked with, not embarrassments to be minimized. When Galloway came to New Zealand in July to support our campaign against Islamophobia, he electrified audiences with frankly some of the best political oratory that we have ever heard. No-one is claiming that he is a saint, or that he has not made some questionable political choices, but we refuse to believe that somehow over the space of a few months he has become a "communalist, electoralist" devil.

The latest news that comes to us is that John Rees, a SWP CC member and the National Secretary of Respect, has publicly supported the four Respect councilors in Tower Hamlets who have resigned the Respect whip. If this is true, then the "civil war" in Respect has escalated to the point where the two factions are virtually functioning as separate parties - a "de facto" split much more harmful in practice than a clean divorce. This course of action is not only causing a serious haemorraging of cadre, but destroying the credibility which your party has built up as the most consistent and hard-working advocate of a new broad left in England and Wales. If the SWP appears to be attempting to permanently factionalise Respect, then it will be no wonder that other forces are trying to exclude them - not because of a "witch-hunt against socialists" (are you seriously claiming that Alan Thornett and Jerry Hicks are witch-hunting socialists?) but for reasons of simple self-preservation.

Socialist Worker - New Zealand comrades see this course of action from our IST comrades in the SWP as potentially suicidal. We see uncomfortable parallels with the self-destruction of the Alliance in New Zealand in 2001-2, where one faction deliberately escalated an inner-party conflict to the point where a peaceable resolution became impossible. Both sides of that struggle were permanently crippled in the aftermath. If you comrades are serious about trying to salvage the potential of Respect, I would urge your party to adopt the following measures:

· Lower the temperature of the internal struggle in Respect, by agreeing to a postponement of the Respect conference until at least after the SWP conference in January;

· recommit to building Respect as an active, campaigning organization in the unions and the movements, rather than a formation solely concerned with fighting elections, and to combining the SWP's work as an independent revolutionary organization with this goal;

· put up proposals for more comprehensive institutions of democratic debate and political education within Respect;

· retreat from the current course of factionalist brinkmanship in the current debate, and take whatever steps are necessary to repair the working relationship between yourselves and other leaders and tendencies within Respect; and

· retract the expulsions of Kevin Ovenden, Nick Wrack and Rob Hoveman, at least pending debate at your party conference.

If, on the other hand, Respect is finished as a united political force, it would surely be better for the two sides in this debate to approach the question of "divorce" amicably and calmly, rather than forcing the issue to a final conflict in the next few weeks and destroying the trust between the SWP and other forces on the left for perhaps a long time.

I would also encourage your party to, as a matter of urgency, write a report for the information of your fellow members of the International Socialist Tendency, giving your analysis of the crisis within Respect and your long-term strategy for building a broad-left political alternative in Britain.

In solidarity,

Daphne Lawless

Editor, UNITY magazine

Socialist Worker - New Zealand

[nittynora]

 Surprise Surprise this is getting nasty....
Respect (SWP)

Councillor Oli Rahman physically attacked‏
From: Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:13 November 2007 11:42:22
Reply-to:office@respectcoalition.org

 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 Hassan received the following email threatening both him and Oli Rahman.

-----Original message-----

Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:16:02 +0000
To: mehdi@respectcoalition.org
Subject: (no subject)
 
medi you and fucking oli are traitors you owe your careers to george, 
without george you will all be signing on soon and if i see the pair of you im

gonna kick the shit out of you both.
These incidents have all been reported to the police.
Oli Rahman said: 'I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. I will not be threatened. I'm confident that
the vast majority of Respect members will support me and condemn these disgusting, cowardly assaults.'

[nittynora]

and again ...
Tower Hamlets Respect back on the road‏
From: Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:13 November 2007 12:56:57
Reply-to:office@respectcoalition.org

 
A packed meeting of Tower Hamlets Respect addressed by Councillors Rania Khan, Oli Rahman and Mayoral candidate Lindsey German on Monday 12 November saw a rebirth of the party in the borough.
 
Unlike any Respect meeting in the area for months the meeting was properly organised. Chaired by Kumar Murshid, there was a lively debate about the way forward was held in a fraternal and organised manner.
 
Over 80 people attended the meeting at the eastern end of the borough despite emails which circulated ahead of the meeting falsely claiming it had been cancelled. The meeting is one of a series planned to rebuild Respect according to its original vision as a radical, left-wing project. Over half the meeting were Bengalis many of whom said how excluded they felt from the regime recently controlling Respect in the area.
 
There was great solidarity for Oli Rahman speaking for the first time since he was attacked near his home at the weekend.
 
The meeting cheered every speaker that talked about the this weekend's Respect Conference as the proper place to debate and discuss the way forward for Respect.

and again... bigging it up.. SWP past master/mistress at theis 300 does not sound like much to me... wasn't 300 mentioned in an earlier email??

Respect Conference - register now to avoid disappointment‏
From: Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:13 November 2007 13:01:38
Reply-to:office@respectcoalition.org

The Respect conference this Saturday is looking like it will be one of the best attended conferences the organisation has held. Virtually every branch in the country is sending delegates - indeed more branches are sending delegates than was the case for last year's conference.

Delegates are reafirming their intention to join an open discussion on the way forward, to vote on the motions before conference and to elect a new National Council for the year to come.

Over 300 delegates and observers are registered for the conference and the places for observers are nearly all taken up. So if you would like to come as an observer please e-mail your name and details and request for observer status to the Respect National Office at office@respectcoalition.org by noon on Wednesday, 14th November.

We have to give a full list of delegates and observers to the conference venue so please do make sure that all delegates and observers details are sent to the National Office.
 

[rob9443]

 With the exception of the CPB Marxist organisations in Britain are destructive of socialism. It gives me no pleasure to say this but it is a fact. Social democracy is the best that can be achieved in a country like Britain, which is bourgeois to the core and has been since at least the late nineteenth century. Fantasies of revolution need to be abandoned.

It is not impossible that technology will eventually advance to a point where corporate capitalism becomes redundant in the sense of holding back material progress. That situation has not yet arrived. Global capitalism needs to be reformed for the sake of Africans who can't afford AIDS drugs and for the sake of the environment. But basically global capitalism is progressive, as Marx himself recognised and will not cease to be so for several generations yet. Whole parts of the world, such as Africa and most Muslim countries, are not even bourgeois yet, never mind proletarian.

While I have great respect for Galloway himself if you want a party other than Labour/Lib Dem the Greens are it.

[rob9443]

With the exception of the CPB Marxist organisations in Britain are destructive of socialism. It gives me no pleasure to say this but it is a fact. Social democracy is the best that can be achieved in a country like Britain, which is bourgeois to the core and has been since at least the late nineteenth century. Fantasies of revolution need to be abandoned.

It is not impossible that technology will eventually advance to a point where corporate capitalism becomes redundant in the sense of holding back material progress. That situation has not yet arrived. Global capitalism needs to be reformed for the sake of Africans who can't afford AIDS drugs and for the sake of the environment. But basically global capitalism is still progressive, as Marx himself recognised and will not cease to be so for several generations yet. Whole parts of the world, such as Africa and most Muslim countries, are not even bourgeois yet, never mind proletarian.

While I have great respect for Galloway himself if you want a party other than Labour/Lib Dem the Greens are it.

[123456789]

Social democracy is the best that can be achieved in a country like Britain, which is bourgeois to the core and has been since at least the late nineteenth century. Fantasies of revolution need to be abandoned.

Sorry, this is sort of off-topic, but... Social democracy is a philosophically-bankrupt idea which would have gained no currency had it not been for Stalinist horror. In particular, it's worth noting that social democratic ideas are based on the writings of the younger Marx whom, without the older Marx, would (in philosophical terms) be nothing. I mean, why then not become Nietzscheans? Or Mill-inspired liberals? There is nothing particularly special or interesting about the younger Marx (except for the fact that the passage from the younger Marx to the older Marx is crucial - see Althusser's brilliant "For Marx").

That said, I do think that Marx's observation that Germans have philosophical minds, whilst the French have political minds and the British have economic minds can be helpfully brought up to the modern, global scale. Remember that Marx's point, as Althusser insists, was not a witty turn of phrase - he really meant that, in Britain, philosophy and politics were underdeveloped in comparison to British economics, and that this ideological field could be rotated to illustrate how German philosophy was over-developed in relation to German politics and economics and so on for France again... It seems to me that Europe and America is today's Germany (where philosophy is over-developed, but politics and economics are underdeveloped), China is today's Britain (given that China has growth patterns and worker and union repression that any US neo-con would be proud of), whilst Latin America is today's France (for obvious reasons, perhaps...)

So for THIS reason, I think revolution is unlikely in Europe and America. But this is no more a case for social democracy than the idea that it wasn't worth arguing for revolutionary ideas in Britain in the 1790s. Just because a task is more difficult does not mean that we should replace it by an easier task. Quite the opposite - we must redouble our efforts!

[karl123]

I think it's rather sad that a lot of radical left parties have arguements such as what is happening in Respect not really because of policy differences but because of what is essentially a personality clash. What makes it even sadder is that the disagreement is then blamed on some obscure definition of policy. 

One thing I have always found interesting is why the SWP never stand as a party in elections on their own but will join all these alliances and then want to take key positions in them all. This isn't meant as an attack on the SWP but am just wondering why. Is it some kind of philosophy? I'd love to know the answer.

[nittynora]

And again Respect Renewal = Respect (Galloway)


[Respect Renewal] Only a few days til the conference!‏
From:   Respect Renewal (info@therespectparty.org)
Sent:   14 November 2007 21:24:16

Dear Friend

There are only a few days to go until Saturday's Respect Renewal
conference in London.

We've got a great range of speakers lined up, including Andrew Murray
from the Stop the War Coalition, Iraqi exile Sami Ramadani, George
Galloway, Linda Smith, Hilary Wainwright (editor of Red Pepper
magazine), and Salma Yaqoob.

This will be a real chance to start rebuilding Respect, with speakers
from all around the country and all parts of the community discussing
and debating how to build Respect and broaden it into a progressive
coalition that represents the people under attack from New Labour,
and the people who are fighting back.

We want to reach out to people who are fighting privatisation,
racism, Islamophobia, discrimination because of gender, sexuality,
age and disability, people fighting cuts in health services and
education. We want to reach out to asylum seekers and those who
defend them. We want to reach out to those concerned about climate
change and the destruction of the environment. And we want to reach
out to those in the anti-war movement who still need a voice against
imperialism and for peace.

The conference is on Saturday 17 November, from 11am to 5pm.
Registration starts at 10am.

It costs �10 (or �5 of you're low/un-waged). You can pay on the door.

The recent Respect meeting in Manchester is a shining example of the
kind of dynamic, outward-looking, unified organisation we want
Respect to be. Have a look at these videos of the meeting:

Karen Reissman, sacked nurse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw62UJN9cqc

Salma Yaqoob, vice chair, Respect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpXaw2W5UsM

Michael Lavalette, Preston Respect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE-nTfE8DHE

George Galloway (1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2FKmzjkonE

George Galloway (2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2VnRYGr-mQ

The conference is at The Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate,
London EC2M 4QH - a few hundred yards from Liverpool Street station.
For a map, click here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=230+bishopsgate+london&sll=51.518678,-0.078642&sspn=0.009627,0.019655&ie=UTF8&ll=51.518691,-0.079501&spn=0.009627,0.019655&z=16&om=1

We hope to see you there!

[nittynora]

And again.......... Respect(swp)

Respect Conference full to overflowing‏
From:   Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:   15 November 2007 13:21:09
Reply-to:   office@respectcoalition.org

 

Respect conference full to overflowing

15/11/2007



There are now so many delegates and observers registered for the Respect conference that we have had to turn over 70 people away. So if you are a delegate or an observer please confirm with the National Office that you are properly registered for the conference.



If for some reason you are unable to come please also let us know so that people on the reserve list can be informed in good time.

New guest speakers Francois Duval of the LCR in France, Ihtisham Hibutallah of the British Muslim Intiative, Karen Reissmann victimised NHS nurse and Derek Wall of the Green Party will now be joining Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, Jane Loftus, President of the CWU (pc), and Sami Ramadani of Iraqi Democrats Against the Occupation to address the conference.
 
All enquiries to the Respect National Office on 07949 091 475.

[nittynora]

From Respect(swp)

Message from Karen Reissmann and Michael Lavalette‏
From:   Respect - the Unity Coalition (office@respectcoalition.org)
Sent:   16 November 2007 12:25:03
Reply-to:   office@respectcoalition.org

Dear comrade,

You may have recently received an e-mail from "Respect Renewal" which claimed "this is what Respect can look like" - it then directed you to clips from a Respect meeting in Manchester. Unfortunately those who sent the e-mail didn't make it clear that two of the people on the Manchester platform - Preston councillor Michael Lavalette and victimised trade unionist Karen Reissmann - are effectively banned from George Galloway's new organisation for being members of the SWP.

Both Michael and Karen want to let it be known that they will both be at the Respect annual conference this Saturday with other delegates from across the country. They urge all those committed to unity and establishing an active fighting alternative to New Labour to join them.
 
Michael said:
 
"Of course there are political differences and debates within Respect - but the place to sort them out is at national conference - this is how all labour movement and trade union organisations sort out their differences. I'm looking forward to Saturday and then to moving on with our real business of fighting to establish the alternative to Brown's Labour government."

[Fiona]

Any Respect left?
With the implosion of Respect, Hilary Wainwright asks can anything be learnt for the future or is it a moment simply of despair?

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/article689.html