The SWP is broken

Following the events at the recent conference of the Socialist Workers Party, one of their leading journalists has had enough and has quit the party claiming the SWP is "broken". Tom Walker has published a formal statement  in which he writes:-

The disputes committee hearing - and by extension the entire mess that followed - should simply never have happened. To be honest, it is nothing short of incredible that it was allowed to go ahead. What right does the party have to organise its very own ‘kangaroo court’ investigation and judgement over such serious allegations against a leading member? None whatsoever.

Of course, I am dead set against the capitalist police and courts, and the way they treat people. That doesn’t mean we can go off and set up our own. The SWP itself called for Julian Assange to face rape charges in Sweden, in a Socialist Worker article I am proud to have written.¹

I do not see why what is good enough for Assange is not good enough for the party’s leaders.

It is stated that the accuser did not want to go to the police, as is her absolute right if that was truly her decision. However, knowing the culture of the SWP, I doubt that was a decision she made entirely free from pressure.

Do not underestimate the pressure the SWP can bring to bear on members by telling them to do or not do things for the ultimate cause of the socialist society the party’s members are all fighting for. Against the prospect of the liberation of the whole of humanity, they will attempt to make even the most serious issue seem less important than the party’s survival. I do not think the CC are cynical cultists, by the way - I think they believe this themselves.

He continues:-

I believe that not dealing with the issue ultimately makes the party’s destruction inevitable. I am not its destroyer - it has already destroyed itself. Maybe it will be days, months or years, but it is now a permanent time bomb. I cannot imagine how it will hold on to any recruit who knows how to use Google. Sooner or later the whole thing will be used against the party in the unions. In the absence at the very least of the most grovelling public apology and a massive process of internal reform, I am afraid I think the SWP is broken for good.

Full Statement at: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/944/swp-why-i-am-resigning

I for one will shed no tears for the demise of this nasty little sect. 

This is not the first time the far left has had such revelations. The Workers Revolutionary Party imploded in the mid eighties when Gerry Healy, their  founder and leader was expelled for abusing comrades in the party:

Go to: http://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/vanessa-redgrave-and-the-red-sex-slaves-a-marxist-analysis-er/

They never learn.