Socialist Workers Party (UK)
[9] The group, initially of only eight members,[10] was formed around Tony Cliff's analysis of Russia as a bureaucratic state capitalist regime and were expelled from the Revolutionary Communist Party.In 1968, the group adopted Leninist democratic centralism as an organisational practice, returning to Cliff's original position after leaving aside brief flirtations with Luxemburgian critiques of party vanguardism.[20][15] This period saw the IS heavily involved in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (in support of the Viet Cong) and local variations of the student protests of 1968, where it was able to recruit from this pool of youngsters.In 1974, Labour returned to power and introduced the Social Contract which implemented a voluntary incomes policy, with the backing of many left wing union leaders such as Hugh Scanlon and Jack Jones.A key turning point came when on 13 August 1977 thousands of anti-fascists, later joined by large numbers of local black youths, attempted to stop the NF from marching through Lewisham.Following the perceived success of the 13 August mobilisation in Lewisham, the SWP launched the Anti Nazi League in the Autumn of 1977 with a series of celebrity-endorsed adverts published in the press.In response to Eric Clapton's public support for Enoch Powell, Rock Against Racism was set up in close collaboration with the ANL and a series of successful carnivals were organised.By 1982, the SWP was refocused completely to a propagandist approach, with geographical branches as the main unit of the party, a focus on Marxist theory and an abandonment of perspective of building a rank and file movement.A demonstration for justice for murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence near the BNP headquarters in Welling in 1993 turned into a violent confrontation with the police, leading to criticism from Ken Livingstone, then a Labour MP and a supporter of the rival Anti-Racist Alliance (ARA) in which Socialist Action played a major role.John Rees wrote in July 1997: "In the mid-term the 'sado-monetarist' strategy followed by the Labour government will clash increasingly sharply with a working class movement which has drawn hope and confidence from its electoral victory over the Tories".Lindsey German was elected as Convenor and John Rees and Chris Nineham were appointed as national officers, all leading SWP members at the time.[71] In England and Wales around January 2004 the SWP began an involvement in Respect – The Unity Coalition,[72] an electoral alliance with a single Member of Parliament, the ex-Labour MP George Galloway, and a small number of councillors.[75] The jazz musician Gilad Atzmon performed at SWP events for several years from 2004, and was promoted by the party as delivering "fearless tirades against Zionism".[76] Because Atzmon believed the text of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a hoax from the early 20th century, was a valid reflection of contemporary America, Oliver Kamm wrote in The Times in 2006 that the SWP were "allying with classic anti-Semitism".[89] In October 2009, the SWP's then National Secretary Martin Smith was charged with assaulting a police officer at the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) demonstration against BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time programme.[99] A Disputes Committee document was discussed at the party conference in January 2013 about allegations of sexual assault and rape made by a 19-year-old female member against former SWP National Secretary Martin Smith, known as Comrade Delta.[7] A transcript was leaked to the Socialist Unity website shortly after the January conference, and the party's perceived failure to adequately resolve the issue resulted in strong internal criticism.[105] Journalist Laurie Penny,[107] and Socialist Worker journalist Tom Walker,[108] noted that the allegations were investigated and dismissed by friends of the accused, Penny adding that the alleged victim and her friends were harassed by other party members;[107] while journalist John Palmer, a one-time International Socialists member, pointed to problems with the policy of democratic centralism as it had been adopted by Tony Cliff,[109] though Alex Callinicos defended the party's version of Leninism and referred to the Delta issue as "a difficult disciplinary case" in the February issue of the party's monthly Socialist Review magazine.[110] In an official statement via Charlie Kimber, the party's Central Committee, stated that the issue was an internal matter, insisting that "we strongly condemn" the release of the conference transcript and that "this case is closed".[110] The Guardian reported that a woman who complained about rape in the SWP claimed she was asked a number of offensive questions about her sexual past and drinking habits.[113] A report by Shiv Malik and Nick Cohen published by The Guardian the following March said that further allegations of rape have been made internally against another party member.[102] On 10 March, a special conference was held[102] in which Seymour and Miéville's faction was defeated, and the central committee insisted the report about the complaint against Delta "that no rape had occurred" be accepted.[114] Seymour, who later accused "the leadership" of "rigged debates and gerrymandered votes",[115] announced his resignation[116] while the newly established International Socialist Network gained more than 100 now former SWP members.The Disputes Committee statement included the following phrase: We hope to achieve, and will continue to work for, an environment where everyone can feel able to talk about these matters and then see appropriate action by the party.As of 2023[update] the central committee members were: Alex Callinicos, Amy Leather, Camilla R, Charlie Kimber, Héctor Puente Sierra, Jessica Walsh, Joseph Choonara, Julie Sherry, Lewis Nielsen, Mark Thomas, Michael Bradley, Nadia Sayed, Sophia Beach, Tomáš Tengely Evans and Weyman Bennett.Cliff argued that in fact the USSR and Eastern Europe used a form of capitalism which he referred to as 'bureaucratic state capitalist', and that later so did other countries ruled by what he termed Stalinist parties, such as China, Vietnam and Cuba.Cliff's approach to this idea was published in the 1948 article The Nature of Stalinist Russia[134] as it was further advanced on in his 2000 publication Trotskyism after Trotsky where he discussed the decline of the USSR.Other IS/SWP theoreticians such as Nigel Harris and Chris Harman would later extend and develop a distinct body of state capitalist analysis based on Cliff's initial work.He argued that where a revolutionary working class did not exist, the intelligentsia could, in certain limited circumstances, take the leadership of the nation and lead a successful revolution in the direction of a state capitalist solution.[139] In his May 1957 article "Perspectives of the Permanent War Economy",[140] Cliff offered the PAE to readers in a version derived from Sard's earlier essays but without reference to Keynes and using a Marxist theoretical framework.
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