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SWP changes structures
Jackie Milburn
The SWP central committee is instructing a change in the organisation's
structures. It argues in the weekly internal document, Party Notes that
"Over the coming weeks and months the SWP is going to throw itself into
building Respect, the ESF and the Industrial struggles. It is vital that
there is a strong and vibrant SWP that strengthens these united fronts
and at the same time becomes a home for the best activists. Any talk of
branch and district structures is only relevant if it takes place in the
context of relating to the movement. You can have the best structures in
the world but by themselves they mean absolutely nothing."
The following structures will now be used:
Socialist Worker District Forums: Once a month the SWP will hold a
district wide Socialist Worker Forum. This is pitched as a public
meeting with a good speaker, and aims to attract the activists from
Respect / StWC and trade union militants as well as SWP members who have
dropped out of activity. This meeting should be the public face of the
SWP and widely advertised with fly posting, phone rounds and adverts in
local papers.
Local Socialist Worker Forums: In the weeks between the Respect event
and the SWP District Forum there should be local Socialist Worker
Forums. These will include a political talk on a subject like the US
elections, Sudan or Lenin followed by a second half discussion on a
topical subject. For example this second slot could be turned into a
district / area meeting to discuss the SWP's intervention in a campaign.
District Committee: The Central Committee (CC) recognises that SWP
comrades work in many different campaigns without much support or
reference to the district organisation. This confirms the observation of
many outside the SWP that its leading members operate largely
autonomously. In order to combat this fragmentation the CC are
arguing that district committees be set up. This body should oversee the
work inside the "united fronts" and organise events like the SWP
district forums and industrial sales. However Party Notes also
says: "It should meet once a week. It should not be a talking shop - it
should last no more than 1 hour and should be in a business like
manner." It is hard to see how a district committee that has this
presumption against political discussion will be able to effectively act
as a democratic forum for deciding local priorities, or allowing
comrades to bring up their own experiences.
Undoubtedly one of the most controversial acts by the SWP in recent
years has been its undemocratic behaviour in Birmingham, firstly in the
Stop the War Coalition, and later in the Socialist Alliance. This led to
the resignations of long term SWP members Rumy Hassan and Sue
Blackwell. Both of these comrades complain that there was no forum
where they could express their disagreements. Hopefully the new local SW
Forums can play this role
and allow the SWP to become more open again to internal debate and
discussion. However for this to work requires a change of mind-set from
the full time organisers. They must stop seeing the party as a top down
transmission belt for the wisdom of the central committee, and start
allowing the experience of the members to be fed back more into the
decision
making.
It should also be observed that the new structures are only feasible in
large cities. It has been a complaint for many years by SWP members in
smaller towns that the organisation's perspectives are simply impossible
to apply. In reality comrades outside the large cities operate
independently from the Party structures. It will be a challenge for the
SWP to implement district discussions about interventions that include
these comrades from small towns, however this is an important task.
September 2004 |
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