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worker & community struggles and protests |
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Monday November 21, 2005 13:36
by cnwp
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Comments (12 of 12)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12The call is signed by Jim Barbour. A recent candidate of the SP in Ireland.
Now does Jim think that this is only relevant to England and Wales and of no relevance to Ireland or does the fact that Jim's name appears on this mean that he hopes to see a similar drive in Ireland?
In short why is his signature on this call? Very very confusing.
The FBU represents firefighters working in Britain & the North - as a member of the NEC of the FBU Jim Barbour backed the motion for the disaffiliation from the Labour Party, which is busy attacking firefighters and the working class in general. Why should you be confused that he would support a campaign for a new mass workers party in England & Wales?
It's one thing for Jim to campaign for the disaffiliation of the FBU from the Labour Party but quite another thing for him as an Irish candidate of the SP (where the LP isn't set up) to be a signature of a campaign for a new 'mass' workers party in England and Wales. Strikes me as being very hypocritical not to extend that call to Ireland where he was a candidate for the SP.
The FBU is a UK trade union. Most of its members are in Britain. Jim Barbour is on the executive that covers Britain and NI. It makes sense that Jim has a position on this vital question for the workers' movement in Britain.
Jim Barbour is a fighting Socialist who proved his worth as a Trade Union leader and as an Ant Fascist fighter. Whats wrong with Jim lending his support to a call for action in England and Wales? When have Irish Campaigns ever refused support from English or Welsh Trade Unionists?
(This doesnt necessarily mean that I support the new party or such a party in Ireland. Just defending Jim Barbour.)
PS Please dont use the term UK. Some of us more sensitive types find it offensive.
Is this a call for a new workers party or just a call for more people to join the Socilalist party?
And the new mass workers party is....
The same old millies!
Writing about the neo-liberal assault on Irish workers in the latest issue of "The Socialist", newspaper of the SP, the editor, Stephen Boyd writes:
"The Socialist Party believes we also need a new political force in this country - a mass working class party that will stand up and take on the right-wing establishment parties".
Up until now the SP has said that the conditions are not right for such a new party but have also rejected the idea of any practical steps being taken to start the process of moving towards such a party. Does the above quote indicate that, like their comrades in England, the SP now believe something should or can be done to start this process? This is a genuine question not an invitation to the usual suspects to continue their long-running "CWI good vs CWI evil" feud.
The above quote from S. Boyd is nothing more than a re-affirmation of the SP's position going back many years. In the General election of 1997 the SP was part of the Taxation Justice Alliance with others like Seamus Healy.
The key question for the SP has been and continues to be - what forces will make up this new group? what structures will it have? etc. At the moment we do not believe there are sufficient numbers of new activists with an outlook of the necessity to form such a party. The debacle of the Socialist Alliance in England and the ongoing 'communalist' outlook of Respect are prime examples of what happens when there are insufficient new forces to prevent any particular group dominating the new formation. This is in contrast to the initial advances made by the SSP (although elements within the ISM are making errors that are not helping advance the situation now). When the increase in class struggle, that will inevitably come to Ireland, occurs, then this situation will alter and when that happens the SP will be actively involved.
Why not a separate party for Wales? Do the CWI oppose Welsh Independence? Its only lately that Peter Taafe has allowed the "SP in Wales" have any sort of autonomy but they are still firmly under Londons thumb.
The Welsh are as entitled as any other Nation to decide their destiny. Those who insist that ultimate control must remain in London will be swept away by the tides of history.
I sometimes find myself wondering why so many anonymistas feel the need to phrase questions in such a confrontrational way. There is no big secret here, and you would get an answer just as easily by asking politely.
Socialist Party Wales is a region of the English and Welsh Socialist Party. It is that way because its members have chosen to stay part of the same organisation. From the time when the Scottish region became a seperate sister party onwards, Welsh SP members have strongly argued against making such a move in Wales.
If they change their minds on that, there would be no problem in them forming their own section of the Committee for a Workers International. CWI affiliates are not always organised along existing state boundaries. The existence of one Socialist Party covering all of Ireland is a case in point, as is the existence of seperate organisation, the International Socialists, in Scotland. As far as independence for Wales goes, the Socialist Party doesn't actively advocate it and support for the idea in Welsh society generally is currently very low. However we do recognise that Wales is a seperate nation and that it has a right to independence should its people choose it.
Thermos does ask his/her question politely and I think it's already been answered. The basic point is that the Socialist Party has been in favour of a new working class party in Ireland for a number of years and you will find statements to that effect in our publications on a reasonably regular basis. We do not however agree with some on the left here that the formation of a preliminary campaign or left alliance would get much of an echo right now. As I've said before, that's something it would be a pleasant surprise to be wrong about but I don't think we are.
"I sometimes find myself wondering why so many anonymistas feel the need to phrase questions in such a confrontrational way. "
The 60,000 word diatribe against all the other components of the Dublin Anti-Bin Tax campaign. The article on the alleged plagarization of a Stephen Boyd article. etc, etc.
People in glasshouses....................
"Socialist Party Wales is a region of the English and Welsh Socialist Party. It is that way because its members have chosen to stay part of the same organisation. From the time when the Scottish region became a seperate sister party onwards, Welsh SP members have strongly argued against making such a move in Wales."
And they didn't make any fuss whatsoever about Scotland?