Sectariana on a Saturday

The latest addition to the family of Trotskyist groups is Socialist View which at the moment is entirely based around Janice Godrich and her attempt (with the backing of Mark Serwotka ) to unseat the current Assistant General Secretary (see previous posts). Their Facebook page seems to have disappeared for now (I originally thought I'd been blocked) so currently there is no public face for this tiny groupscule. I did manage to save their logo though!

Anger seems to be running high amongst members of the Socialist Party over the decision of Janice Godrich to stand against Chris Baugh in 2019 but Janice has been blocking long term allies and no doubt friends from posting their their views.

Former PCS activist and Socialist Party grandee Terry Adams (now living in the south of France) writes:

This post was blocked when I tried to respond to Janice Godrich's FB post declaring her intention to stand for AGS.

I am entering the discussion on Janice Godrich decision to oppose Chris Baugh for AGS in 2019.

I am hugely disappointed with Janice's decision.

Having worked for the union for over thirty years and helped in building the left, I am well aquainted with many of the comrades who have posted on this issue. It needs to be made clear that Janice and Mark Serwotka are seeking to dump Chris Baugh as AGS - this is shameful. Chris has an incredible record in the union as a left activist and as a senior full-time officer. He has been supported on three previous occasions as the Left Unity AGS candidate. He has done nothing to warrant or justify this attack on him - leaving aside the divisive and potentially damaging effect on the pay campaign and pay ballot. In the interests of unity I hope, Janice, you will reconsider.

Retiree Dave Spagnol agrees:...

I feel the same as you, and I am really angry at being blocked by Janice, too.

Janice blocked me as soon as I went on Facebook. No love lost between us. She accused me of having a "mental illness because of my fascination with small groups".  Other left-wing PCS members highly criticised her for those remarks. There's a certain irony in her comments since she belonged to one and has now formed her own really tiny groupscule Socialist View.



Meanwhile the Independent Left (in a lengthy peice read only by true believers) had to get their pound of flesh :

When it was first announced, ahead of the union’s annual conference in May, President Janice Godrich’s decision to stand for Assistant General Secretary against incumbent Chris Baugh raised eyebrows. The Socialist Party, of which both were members but which backed Chris as AGS, was incandescent.

Others at Conference had a mildly entertaining source of gossip as the dividing lines were drawn up. Many of us wondered at the decision to put all this in the public domain right as the union was set to debate a national strike ballot over pay which would be our biggest test in recent years.

Thankfully, the spat never took off beyond a few Facebook rows and some tension at Conference. Not only would it have diverted from the pay ballot, but it would have widened the divide between the PCS leadership and members. Less than 10% vote in national elections, and there’s little reason to expect a dramatic shift from that in the AGS vote. If they don’t care who is AGS, why would the dispute over who is LU’s candidate to be AGS or the SP’s candidate to be LU’s candidate to be AGS bother them?

That's about it for now. When the election comes I'm sure more will come out!