The Socialist Party (Militant) loses friends and the American Socialist Worker shuts up shop.

If there's one thing that can always be relied on to provide some amusing distractions during time of of political crisis (or ineptitude as most of ordinary folk see the parliamentary antics over Brexit) is the far-left.

Veteran Trot spotters will not have failed to notice the old Militant Tendency now calling itself the Socialist Party had a major split in it's main power base the PCS union losing a considerable number of veteran activists in their desire to protect the useless Chris Baugh, the troublesome priest Assistant General Secretary that Mark Serwotka wants rid of.

The Socialist Party is being sidelined by it's former allies who seem to want to move on to be part of the mainstream Corbynista movement and don't want to have their hands tied by whinging sectarians outside the Labour Party.

The Dear Leader of the SP in one Peter Taaffe who has of late also had problems controlling his co-thinkers in Ireland who also organise under the same name of their British Parents both sides of the border. The Irish section in Eire has seemingly discovered modern issues like women's rights and has been told off for not being working class enough by Comrade Taffe.



The Socialist Party in Eire is relatively far more important than it's British counterpart having some TD's (MP's) and councillors plus a wee bit more of a public profile. Taffe accused them of abandoning working class politics. Older readers will recall the homophobia and thuggery demonstrated by the old Militant Tendency at Labour Party Young Socialist camps before they had to behave themselves.



This dispute has spilled over into Militant's version of the Fourth International known grandly as the Committee for a Workers International (CWI).  Poor old Taaffe had an apoplectic fit when "his" International voted against him over Ireland 14 to 10. So irate did the poor chap and his supporters get they also managed to drive both his Portuguese and Spanish sections out of the CWI.



Careless comrades.

Ted Grant's supporters still deeply buried in the Labour Party with a few hundred members after their split with Taaffe can be heard sneering if you listen very quietly.

Still at least Taaffe still has a party. The former equivalent of the Socialist Workers Party in the USA, the International Socialists organisation who published their own Socialist Worker s have decided to dissolve themselves. The ISO who broke with the SWP over some obscure anti-capitalism issues years ago managed to have their own rape scandal.



Just as the British SWP mismanaged the Delta Affair which split the party asunder the ISO did the same. On March 17th they wrot:

...the SC (as well as several members of the National Committee (NC) and several socialist feminist allies) received a document from a former member (FM from here forward) on March 11, detailing the ways in which the 2013 SC had badly mishandled an allegation of rape in 2013. Moreover, the document explained that the respondent in the allegation had recently been elected to our SC at this year’s convention. FM was on the National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) that originally heard the case. FM’s account has been corroborated by other members of the NDC at that time who remain active members of the organization. We are grateful to FM for having taken the time to write this and reach out to us. FM also copied on the e-mail allies outside of the ISO whom we have worked in socialist-feminist and queer activism.

This led to the following decision.

MEMBERS AND recent ex-members of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) have decided to dissolve the organization and end publication of SocialistWorker.org...

The decisions came in the wake of a severe crisis in the ISO after information surfaced about a horribly mishandled sexual assault accusation in 2013.

Will political parties playground revolutionaries or not learn they cannot replace the police and law in such matters.