Of the four 'lessons learned' I think the one we most need to discuss is the third:
"Rainbow coalitions of middle-class intellectuals, radicals, Marxist Leninist socialists and members of the Muslim community are impossible to sustain."
Liam's account of the role of the SWP is sadly unsurprising. Another part of the story is the issue of building left-wing and socialist ideas among 'the Muslim community' . (Sometimes referred to as the 'Asian' or the 'South Asian' community.) What is problematic about a lot of this discourse is that it tends to see that 'community' as a sort of monolith. In reality it clearly is not immune to the effects of secularity and 'modernisation'. In that sense does Galloway not deserve at least some credit for calling out 'baradari' in Bradford in 2012? I've no time for the guy but credit where due?
From the inside it was apparent that the SWP had no real interest in building Respect as a pluralistic mass party. Its members always voted as a monolith and people you had never seen before would arrive to pack out key meetings and conferences.
For a long time the SWP worked to ensure that Galloway wasn’t subject to the sort of scrutiny that an elective representative should be subject to. It was a real pact with the devil and brought out the most anti-democratic thuggish tendencies in both of them.
Any new formation has to make that part of the experience an essential part of its learning. There were moments when that fusion of the radical left and the Asian community made feel that that a new left formation was within reach. However, none of the movements of the last twenty years seem to have thrown up a leadership which is willing to undertake the work of building a party and the fact that STWC is still controlled by the same handful of people who set it up reflects this stagnation.
Of the four 'lessons learned' I think the one we most need to discuss is the third:
"Rainbow coalitions of middle-class intellectuals, radicals, Marxist Leninist socialists and members of the Muslim community are impossible to sustain."
Liam's account of the role of the SWP is sadly unsurprising. Another part of the story is the issue of building left-wing and socialist ideas among 'the Muslim community' . (Sometimes referred to as the 'Asian' or the 'South Asian' community.) What is problematic about a lot of this discourse is that it tends to see that 'community' as a sort of monolith. In reality it clearly is not immune to the effects of secularity and 'modernisation'. In that sense does Galloway not deserve at least some credit for calling out 'baradari' in Bradford in 2012? I've no time for the guy but credit where due?
Thanks for your comment Bob. Will pass on to the author. Very pressed for time at the moment or would write more. Alan
From the inside it was apparent that the SWP had no real interest in building Respect as a pluralistic mass party. Its members always voted as a monolith and people you had never seen before would arrive to pack out key meetings and conferences.
For a long time the SWP worked to ensure that Galloway wasn’t subject to the sort of scrutiny that an elective representative should be subject to. It was a real pact with the devil and brought out the most anti-democratic thuggish tendencies in both of them.
Any new formation has to make that part of the experience an essential part of its learning. There were moments when that fusion of the radical left and the Asian community made feel that that a new left formation was within reach. However, none of the movements of the last twenty years seem to have thrown up a leadership which is willing to undertake the work of building a party and the fact that STWC is still controlled by the same handful of people who set it up reflects this stagnation.
Liam . Thanks for your insightful comments as an insider. Have you subscribed to TLL ? Lots more similiar articles in the pipeline.
The study of different leftish projects and parties to analyse what goes wrong is essential to see how to build afresh an actual lasting thing.