Weekly Worker 523 Thursday March 25 2004

Build Respect, fight for principle

There are 63 days - just nine weeks - until the European parliament and Greater London Assembly elections on June 10. Communists are working for a maximum return for Respect. In Scotland we are similarly giving critical support to the left nationalist Scottish Socialist Party. In Wales we are supporting Respect and watching with interest the outcome of discussions between the unity coalition and John Marek’s new grouping, Forward Wales.

In London, we call for the biggest turnout in support of the all-London GLA list for the unity coalition. Respect, while a political step back from the Socialist Alliance and not founded on a socialist platform, is nonetheless an attempt to form a leftwing political movement out of the anti-war protests of last year. To that end we give it active, if critical, support. At its centre is the Socialist Workers Party, the largest ostensible Marxist group in Britain, in alliance with the best known anti-war MP, George Galloway. It is attracting the support of union branches and stands on an (albeit populist) platform against neoliberalism and war.

Respect was not of our making. It is far from the vehicle the working class needs to gain its self-liberation. If Respect is to be a positive contribution to the patient struggle for a reforged Communist Party, then it will need a political epiphany. As a century of critics have pointed out in response to the revisionism of Eduard Bernstein, the movement alone is not enough. The working class, through its own struggles, needs clear principles in order for it to learn politics of the highest order, enabling it to emerge as a universal ruling class and hence end class society.

The future of Respect is hardly certain. Its failure to voice these clear principles and, crucially, its attempt at populism at the expense of the aim of a working class party and a socialist society means the electorate will have trouble distinguishing between Respect and the Green Party. It has failed to make a convincing case as to why self-proclaimed socialists such as Peter Tatchell should choose it rather than the Greens (see Letters). George Galloway MP and John Rees, SWP central committee member and national secretary of Respect, have called on the anti-war movement to turn the elections into a referendum on Blair and on the war. The partially revived Tories are also calling for the June 10 election to be a referendum on the European constitution - the one Blair refuses to call. Unfortunately Respect has a policy on Europe as equally anti-euro (and therefore pro-pound) as the Tories.

George Galloway has mused about the possible outcomes of the Respect campaign. Unlike the SWP, he does not seem obliged to live in a Panglossian world where the only comments allowed in public are those of ‘official optimism’. In an interview with this paper he said: “Now, let’s assume Respect does really well and let’s assume it doesn’t provoke a coup inside the Labour Party and a fundamental change of direction away from Blairism. Then I think it will continue … If, on the other hand, we do well and Blair is deposed, if there is a complete change of direction in the Labour Party - and that can’t be ruled out - then it probably won’t go on to become a party. The objective conditions would be inimical to it. We could do badly - it could be just another flop. That will tell us something important about where we are, about the current state of consciousness in the country” (Weekly Worker December 4 2003).

At least the comrade has the honesty to consider the possible outcomes for Respect on its current basis.

He continued: “Of these three - if you force me to pick one - I think the first option is the most likely. We’ll do well, but it will not provoke the overthrow of Blairism and thus we will continue. Now, whether we continue as a coalition or whether we try to forge that coalition into a party, well that’s something for then. It would be premature to speculate about that now.”

The CPGB wants George Galloway elected to the European parliament. We want Lindsey German elected to the Greater London Assembly. Communists must build Respect. This would be a blow to Blair from the left on the basis of the anti-war movement. It would also force Respect to take partyist forms of organisation. Whichever of the three alternatives is the outcome, communists will be there to draw the lessons. If Respect is electorally successful on June 10, communists will argue for it to be founded as a political party of the working class. If it flops, we will point to the many failings inherent in its platform and call on Respect to transform itself into a body campaigning for the establishment of a workers’ party, perhaps linking up with the nascent Labour Representation Committee inside the Labour Party. Meanwhile we will fight to build Respect alongside our comrades in the SWP and the anti-war movement.

Yet we do not call for Respect to be built merely on its existing political basis. We seek to build Respect on our terms. For communism, for republicanism and for a workers’ party. Is this a new approach for the CPGB? Of course not. We joined the Socialist Labour Party enthusiastically, but not to build Scargill’s Little Party. We sought its transformation into the seeds of a Communist Party. Likewise, we did not sign up to the Network of Socialist Alliances in the 90s because we were enamoured with the red-green platitudes promoted by the grouping around John Nicholson, Pete McLaren and Dave Nellist. Neither did we endorse the ‘united front of a special kind’ trap for old Labourites in the Socialist Alliance, as envisaged by the SWP. All these perspectives have proved to be dead ends.

Communists have engaged with all these tentative developments towards left unity. Within them we have fought for what is needed: a Communist Party. At the end of the day, it is the working class that will form itself into a political party capable of fighting for self-liberation. However, electoral success for Respect, even as currently constituted, could help provide conditions for the founding of such a party. But unless that success is followed by the political victory of Marxists within Respect, then it would be likely to go the way of the Socialist Labour Party and the Socialist Alliance.
Conditional or critical

As will be seen in this issue of the Weekly Worker, there are some in our ranks who wish to make a vote for Respect candidates conditional on their acceptance of the principles of open borders, republicanism and a worker’s wage for those elected. The CPGB’s Provisional Central Committee rejects this approach. The PCC has unanimously endorsed the motion passed at our March aggregate: “Recognising the need for the anti-war, pro-working class opposition to Blair to take on partyist form, the CPGB will work to ensure the biggest possible vote for Respect on June 10.”

To do otherwise is to toy with this opportunity rather than grab it with both hands. Of course Respect is politically inadequate - of that there is no dispute. Yet for these conditions to be generally accepted by mainly SWP candidates it would take a political revolution within Respect. Therefore to adopt such a position is to deliberately seek a situation whereby electoral support for Respect can be withheld. This must be rejected.

In view of the opposition of a minority of comrades, most of whom were absent from the aggregate where the resolution was adopted, the PCC has called a further members’ meeting for April 24 to revisit this question, despite the previous clear vote in favour.

Our commitment to vote for Respect and build it in the interests of our struggle for a Communist Party does not mean we will mute our criticisms or end our partyist agitation within the unity coalition. Neither are our tactics unchangeable. In such a fluid situation, they must be kept under constant review.

We are making an impact in Respect. We are the only seriously constituted opposition and we should take full advantage of this situation. Our message has been gaining a hearing among anti-war activists and also within the SWP itself. Different SWP candidates are giving different responses to our questions. George Galloway has stated his own personal commitment to a republic. (Is this enough for the ‘conditionalists’ to support him?) John Rees has so far refused a straight answer to a simple question - will he accept only a worker’s wage if elected MEP for the West Midlands?

Communists must keep this pressure up - no one must be in any doubt as to our criticisms. Not for a moment must we take our eyes off the prize and our central strategic task of reforging a Communist Party worthy of the name. But we must work as partisans and with energy to build Respect. Distribute leaflets, intervene at public meetings, argue for support in union branches. Our positive engagement must be reflected in these pages.

Marcus Ström

Print this page