UPDATED! SWP "not safe for women"/Caroline Leneghan Update

SWP "Not safe for women"

Despite the efforts of the Socialist Workers Party to keep their conference venue secret, a number of journalists managed to turn up to Hammersmith Town Hall yesterday. In today's issue of The Times reported on the background to the now widely known "Comrade delta" case. They also raised the issue of a "second senior member had also been accused of rape by a woman who claimed she feared expulsion if she contacted police".

Amy Leather a member of the Professors "lynch mob" faction threatened to "call security if reporters remained on private property". Actually "comrade" Leather the Town Hall is public property as I can confirm as a local Council Tax payer. The arrogance of the woman! The Times also reports that members were "ordered not to speak to the press when they left, scurrying silently past with their eyes to the ground". The walk of shame no doubt.

Resignations from the SWP have already started. The most public of which at the time of writing was from Andy Lawson, a former PCS Rep and party loyalist whose defection to the "opposition" came as a complete surprise. To his credit he writes the following:

Resigning from the SWP - My email to the Central Committee:

I am writing to notify you of my resignation from the Socialist Workers Party.

I am making this decision as I cannot in all conscience remain a party member following the travesty that passed for a Special Conference today. Quite aside from the gerrymandering of speaking times, aggregates and delegations, the decisions taken today are not ones that I am in any willing to accept. The effect of these decisions will be to further isolate the SWP from the rest of the Labour movement - already a number of trade unionists and academics are boycotting the party, and this Will only increase now the party has failed this most basic of tests.

The SWP is not a safe place for women. The revelations that appeared in Saturday's Guardian indicate that repeatedly where women have come forward to report rapes by senior party members, their experience has been one of being horrifically mistreated. The statement from Charlie Kimber and Pat Stack is utterly inadequate as a response. I don't care how unpleasant Nick Cohen is (hint - it's very), here we have a woman reporting how she was raped by a party organiser, and what happened to her when she reported it to the party's Disputes Committee. And the official response of the party is to claim she's not being truthful about it. This is unacceptable. This woman, like others, was failed miserably by the SWP when she sought redress from its official structures. I do not believe that any woman can now have confidence in bringing a similar complaint before the Disputes Committee, and abusive men will know they can get away with these acts. Having appeared as a witness at the DC hearing of the Facebook Four, I can confirm that the Kangaroo Court analogy is more than apt. How can I stay in such an organisation? Who would I ever want to recruit to it?

This has not been an easy decision. I joined the SWP in 2002. In that time I have been a Paper Organiser, Branch Secretary, District Organiser and a Fraction Convenor, as well as serving as a shop steward in 3 different unions and a Branch Secretary in the PCS. I value much of what I have learned from other SWP members in that time - even in recent years where I have had significant differences with the party's perspectives, my relationships and discussions with comrades have remained fraternal. However, since December there has been a marked shift in this. I have been personally abused at every branch meeting I have attended in that time, as have other oppositional comrades. Vicious rumours have been spread about me by long-standing party members in an attempt to personally discredit me. I have been physically threatened. All of this because I stood in solidarity, first with the victims of rape and sexual harassment (who party members have happily lied about), and secondly with four comrades who were expelled on a trumped-up charge shortly before conference for their attempts to stop the CC from damaging the SWP in this way. This is not the behaviour of a revolutionary party, it is the behaviour of a cult. I have no intention of remaining in a cult.

Andy Lawson, Hackney East
(a creeping feminist)

The other members of the SWP who do not want to be part of what will only now be seen as a cult should join him, Now, no excuses will be accepted.

SWP Update: Richard Seymour & China Mieville quit SWP along with dozens of other members:

http://internationalsocialismuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/fao-central-committee-of-socialist.html

Caroline Leneghan Update:

On Friday the news broke about allegations against Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary of the RMT. Caroline is asking for support and has published the following on her blog

Steve Hedley is threatening legal action against me for my statement and anyone that reposted it (he won’t). He did his best to bully and intimidate me into silence and to take away my voice. But I found strength and self-belief and see his tactics for what they are; a continuation of bullying and abuse and I’m not scared anymore. I hope that others will stand with me against this bully, and thanks again for everyone’s support. x

Charlie Pottins makes some good points in his response:

I hope the RMT does something about this and soon, because otherwise I can see the press and employers, and some people in the trade union movement too, leaping at the chance to not only negate any good work Steve Hedley did but to drag down the union and demoralise members. Instead of threats of legal action against you the trade union ought to fully investigate and act upon the charge.

The RMT must not allow this issue to drag and fall into the same quagmire that the SWP has allowed itself to. Unlike the SWP, the RMT is a real organisation of working people and cannot be allowed to have this kind of cloud hanging over it.

Bo Crow should surely be aware that legal action would simply put the matter further into the public domain. He needs to sit down and talk to his deputy fast.

SWP Conference: Times up. Time to Quit!

News is beginning to emerge about the outcome of the Socialist Workers Party "special conference" that was held in Hammersmith today. No real surprise, but some points of interest that will no doubt be expanded upon both here and across the Internet in the days to come.

It seems that the Central Committee were able to hold the line with 400 to 140 votes on most issues. There were some undecided delegates at the conference who ended up with the opposition. A number of the more "inactive" members appointed at aggregates to support the Professor did not attend according to one twitter report.

The main problem for any "oppositionists in the SWP is that they are now being told "defend the line or go" according to one tweet from @izaacson who ends with "Have to accept votes at conference or go. so must go". How many will join her will not be clear for a few days, but with even the likes of Richard Seymour writing on Face book simply "Disgust, nausea, contempt, rage" suggests that there will be many.

Another activist quoted on The Red Needle blog wrote:

"If it's the case that socialist organisations get the leaderships they deserve, then I don't know what that says for the SWP and the majority of delegates to today's Special "Conference". 

"Another organisation retreating into the abyss of the sect, all the time dressing up their contemptible behaviour in the language of Proletarian Virtue. Well guess what? Working class people aren't interested in rape apologists, bureaucrats, petty bullies, middle class wanna-be's and tin-pot dictators. 

"Time to start again..."

Having now seen some further details of a case referred to in Nick Cohens article in the Guardian on Saturday, which it is said are shortly to be made public, there is no future for anyone with any sense of decency to remain in the SWP.

I'll end with a couple of excerpts from someone who attended the Conference of a special kind which has appeared on the Weekly Worker website:

Speakers, crass or not, repeatedly defended the view that the blog was the problem, that Richard and China are behind it and that nothing would be better than for them to be expelled. One of the most lauded interventions enjoined those who might be unhappy after today to leave. When some if us heckled a speaker for claiming that the blog was a Sino-seymorese conspiracy, we had to hear other delegates invite us to "join them outside", effectively as though they had already been expelled. The best by way of an example of such claims was given by Alex. Apparently it was only after the blog mentioned that the DC had ruled on 9 cases involving rape allegation that Nick Cohen decided to contact Pat for confirmation. It didn't seem to matter that Pat was able to deny this and that yesterday's piece was based on a new case, with no relation to blog material. The point was made that the worst thing about this crisis was, by far and away, the blog.

The problem is not the numbers, comrades, but the party's deeply entrenched culture of obedience to a (less and less) "charismatic" leadership. 

For those of you reading the temperature before deciding what to do next, it's cold, very cold. As we argued, between February and now, it was make or break. Personally, I think time's up, and it's break.

Quite. Save yourselves, the SWP is finished. Kaput. Over.

SWP Watch: waiting for Stalinicos

The world is holding it's collective breath as it awaits the outcome of the final struggle against revisionism and for the defence of Leninism at the Socialist Workers Party "special" conference this afternoon. I can almost hear the cheers & jeers of the comrades meeting just down the road in Hammersmith as they hammer in the last nails in the coffin of the SWP.

The outcome of the conference is frankly predetermined by the "fixers" of the Central Committee who have ensured that the supporters of Professor Callinicos and "he-that-is-too-important-to-the-class-struggle-to-do-any-wrong" that caused the internal crisis in the first place, have an overwhelming majority. What SWP watchers will be waiting for is the fallout.

So far the only "leak" from the conference hall where mobile phones (and other such devilish instruments) have been confiscated by the Profs goons to ensure the internal democracy of the SWP is respected (pass the sick bag now please) is the following from Socialist Unity:

I hear Calinicos is calling for the IDOP motions to be “treated with the contempt they deserve” and that calls from the podium for further expulsions are being met with applause. The Facebook Four are set to be expelled again at 2.30.

The SWP CC Faction has clearly gerrymandered today’s event – but they failed to win a majority among the whole membership. They got 512 supporters compared to the IDOP’s latest figure of 540 as of this morning, with people still joining.

There's a surprise. Not.

Meanwhile some poor soul wrote to Socialist Unity about what happened when he answered his front door:

Outside were a young man and an older woman, with literature. I was just about to go into my “Sorry, I’m not interested in religion” spiel, thinking they were Jehovah’s witnesses, then the man showed me a paper called The Militant.

I was completely baffled, thinking Militant had disappeared long ago. I asked what “faction” he was involved in, meaning which left group. He wouldn’t answer me even though I asked twice, so I asked what group published the paper. He said “Socialist Workers Party in the USA”

This answer baffled me even more. I made some remark about it being odd that this was the weekend the SWP UK was imploding.

Confused, our gallant correspondent came up with the following conspiracy theory:

later I had the thought that 1) The SWP brand has become so toxic that they dare not identify themselves on the doorstep (No SWP badges etc) and 2) that the CC sent out its drones to do a completely futile task to stop them meeting and conversing with the IDOOP faction in advance of the meltdown meeting today- I assume they must frequent the same pubs so unless they are kept busy they might have an actual…discussion thingy…and form some ideas of their own.

Actually The Militant is the newspaper of a totally unrelated Socialist Workers Party, one founded in the USA in 1938 and represented by members of the Communist League in the UK, which is a breakaway from the old British International Marxist Group/Socialist League. 

A quick check on the website of The Militant shows they are currently conducting an "international subscription drive" to sign up 1,950 new readers over five weeks. An odd number methinks, why not simply 2,000 or is that just "too normal" for the comrades of the far-left?

Meanwhile the hour is nearing for the news of the outcome of the SWP Conference in Hammersmith, centre of the worlds revolutionary proletariat. 

Get on line comrades. The worlds workers are holding their breath in anticipation.

Or more likely watching the Man United match blaring on the TV in front of me. 

Where's me tinny love?

Are the far-left facing a terminal crisis?

For the last two months or so the largest of the far left political parties has been embroiled in a serious crisis over the handling of a case of alleged rape by one of it's leading members. The shock and disgust shown by everybody outside of the SWP Central Committee and its' supporters has been expressed across the Internet and made headline news in the mainstream media.

Yesterday a set of new allegations broke. This time about the Assistant General Secretary of the RMT union which have been outlined previously. The RMT is not the only organisation that is going to be affected by these allegations. Apparently around 5 months ago Hedley joined the Socialist Party, the other main group on the far left. I did not realise this until yesterday and am still surprised as if the SP had recruited such a major figure in the trade unions it would have made some public announcement about this surely?

Whilst all this happened before the SWP's "Comrade delta" affair went global & the incidents referred to by the alleged victim happened before he joined and I find it difficult to believe that the comrades were not at least aware that something was amiss. Otherwise why not broadcast his recruitment which should have been a bit of a coup for them?

Of course the real problem facing the far left is that the Socialist Party, the SWP and the RMT are the three main groups behind the Trade Union & Socialist Coalition. Bob Crow complained about the lack of media coverage as does the latest issue of The Socialist newspaper. Given that the "Comrade delta" affair was "big news" (in far left terms), it was likely that the press coverage would have picked up the SWPs involvement in the TUSC and focused on that.

The other thought that now occurs is that any journalist worth his or her salt would have picked up on the allegations against Hedley sooner. These two stories now combined will seriously cause problems for all three organisations involved in this coalition. The SWP "rape crisis" is in the papers again this morning in the Guardian and discussion of its' implications continue relentlessly across the various blogs and chat rooms that are used by individuals on the left of politics.

The Socialist Workers party "special conference" is due tomorrow and though the outcome of their deliberations will certainly end in a victory for Professor Callinicos's followers, I find it hard to believe that there will not be further consequences for the SWP. How exactly can any self respecting human being remain in such a dark and self-centred cult?

The SWP "brand has now gone beyond toxic. Hopefully it will dissapear the same way the Workers Revolutionary Party did after the Gerry Healy revelations.

The RMTs fate is more important as it is a fine trade union with thousands of hard working members who pay their subs to protect their collective interests. They have thousands of women members who will be appalled that one of their main leaders is in the spotlight like this.

The RMT will not only need to ensure that deal with these (as yet unproven) allegations in a manner that will be seen as transparently fair, given the inherently unequal position of the complainant, but also they will have to reconsider their "alliances". Given that the SWP is part of the TUSC (of which the RMT is the main financial backer), members of their union may not be happy with the continued association. After all the TUSC intervention in Eastleigh was a disaster regardless of any other other considerations.

The Socialist Party will also have some hard thinking to do. They are quite secretive in normal circumstances, let alone when there is a crisis in play, so it is difficult to judge how they will react given they have maintained complete silence on the SWPs problems. Their new recruit Steve Hedley hasn't though. He participated in what became a very public spat on a blog over the delta affair. He wrote:

the closet Zionists are now attacking Martin Smith, any diversion to stop people condemning the Israeli states atrocities

This attribution of blame on "Zionists" has dangerously anti-Semitic overtones and he was taken to task by other Palestinian Solidarity activists such as Roland Rance for making this remark. Frankly it was an absurd statement from a man who we now know may have been throwing stones from inside a glass house himself at the time.

One should always be concerned about conspiracy theorists. I don't think for one minute that Mossad, MI5 or any state agency has had any need to create any internal crises in the far-left. They are quite capable of creating their own.

Given the hostility to Bob Crow and the RMT amongst most of the newspapers it is likely that this story will go further than just a short on-line piece in The Independent. Their union needs to break with the far-left and fast.

The SWP and the Socialist Party are the only far-left organisations with more than just a handful of members. The current circumstances could lead to their demise. I for one will not shed a tear to see the end of these hateful cults.

Domestic violence allegations against senior RMT official

A number of reports have appeared in which a woman RMT activist has made allegations against Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary of the RMT Union.

The Independent writes that:

Caroline Leneghan, a full time activist with the RMT, one of the UK’s most militant unions, claims she was beaten up by her then boyfriend and the current assistant general secretary Steve Hedley last year in an attack which allegedly left her with multiple facial bruisings. 

She claims she went to union bosses with the allegations in January expecting them to be investigated. But instead of being treated as a potential victim, she says RMT investigators blamed her for the attack – even suggesting her wounds were self-inflicted.

Caroline Leneghan has been very brave in speaking out in full on her own blog which contains photographs of the injuries she alleges were inflicted on her.

Go to: http://carolineleneghan.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/3/

Given the recent controversy that has broken out over the handling of rape allegations in the Socialist Workers Party it is vital that the RMT, one of the countries leading trade unions does not make the same kind of mistakes.

The Independent does report that:

An RMT spokesman said: “RMT takes all allegations of bullying, abuse, domestic violence and harassment seriously and a full investigation is currently underway,”

It must be made clear that Steve Hedley has not had any charges brought against him and he strenuously denies the allegations.

What is important is that the RMT must abide by its' own policy statement on domestic violence which was published today, on International Women's Day:

Go to: http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=171756&int1stParentNodeID=89732

The trade union movement has a duty to ensure that its' own house is in order if the unions are to begin tackling the very real issue of domestic violence.

Hell hath no fury like a comrade scorned

An astonishing e-mail was circulated around PCS reps in the DWP this afternoon with Jane Aitchison, Leeds Branch Secretary attacking the "defeatist response" of the Socialist Party led DWP Group Executive Committee's shabby handling of the lack of Facility Time for Conference delegates. For those of you not familiar with the inner workings of factional warfare in the PCS here's a little background.

Jane Aitchison used to be not only a member of the Socialist Party, but also DWP Group President. That is until she had the temerity to think for herself. A dispute erupted over the direction of the unions campaigning over a year ago which led to her quitting the SP and then being purged as Group President by the John McInally led Socialist Party Grandees, albeit after two attempts.

Jane has been replaced by the more loyalist Socialist Party puppet, Fran Heathcote.  The DWP Group is the largest section of PCS with over 74,000 members and is central to the Grandees control of the union as a whole.  The purge of Jane (and her partner Rob Williams who was a member of the PCS National Executive Committee) is a salutary lesson in how the Leninists operate within the unions. Always the party's interests are put before the members.

Although I supported her moderate opponent in the election, it'd be preferable to have someone in post that is capable of thinking for themselves rather than a party hack taking orders from the "Central Committee" of the Socialist Party who haven't been near a workplace in decades.

Now to Jane's e-mail

Fight managements refusal to grant facility time for conference delegates in DWP

Dear Steve and Fran,

I am writing on behalf of the Leeds DWP Branch in response to DWP BB/025/13 – your lengthy and comprehensive yet shockingly defeatist response to DWP management’s unreasonable refusal to allow facility time for delegates to attend PCS conference which you have not even discussed at a GEC. We are writing to ask that you do now discuss this at the next GEC. We cannot believe they will all want to take the approach you suggest.

It is disgraceful that management have refused to allow delegates facility time to go to represent members at conference and seem to be getting away with it. They have not done this in the majority of departments yet in DWP they are effectively enforcing a four day cut in annual leave on hundreds of DWP Reps and threatening the democratic structures of PCS.

The circular adds insult to injury by telling us that management are allowing the GEC and NEC facility time to attend and that in order to protect some alleged legal stake you are allowing them to divide and rule and accepting it. Please tell us what is being protected by GEC members using facility time for conference while delegates are not allowed to?

You were warned by our Region at the meeting the GEC called last June for regional secretaries and chairs that by allowing management to award the facility time allocation without top slicing time for conference you risked this very situation developing.

In the circular you state:

Any unreasonable refusal of annual leave or flexi leave to attend conference should be challenged immediately by branches through the normal grievance process. Please also inform the GEC of any refusal of annual leave or flexi leave immediately so that we can consider raising any general concerns centrally.

If branch delegates do not have sufficient leave to attend conference then branches should consider urgently holding new elections for delegates.

The best response to management is to make sure that every DWP branch is represented at conference.

The best response to management is to stand up to them collectively and fight every cut.

You are effectively allowing the democratic will of members over who should represent them to be subverted and potentially letting management choose who represents members at conference – and leaving reps to fight this alone.

On finding out from the GEC in November that 43 compulsory redundancy notices had been issued and yet you had not even called a GEC to discuss the matter. This branch had to write to the Group to demand that you call a GEC and ballot members to protect those 43. You did that, members responded magnificently and action got results.

Once again we have to ask you to stand up for DWP reps and members. We are asking you to:

1)      Write back to management in the strongest terms requesting further urgent talks on this matter. Suggest to management that if GEC and NEC members can use TUA then delegates could also. We ask you to continue seeking to change managements mind until the day of conference itself instead of giving up as you seem to have done.

2)      Insist that if any elected delegate does not have sufficient annual leave they be allowed to anticipate leave if necessary while facility time is being sought.

3)      Fight any refusal by management of an elected delegate’s right to attend conference centrally. The Group always have done before. Why are you leaving reps to fight alone now?

4)      Refuse to allow management to divide and rule. GEC members should stand in solidarity with reps by taking leave too until this matter is resolved.

DWP reps will never allow anything to stop us from representing members to the best of our ability. What we expect from you is that you back reps to the hilt.

Weakness invites aggression. If you do not stand up and fight this attack what will happen in the rest of the talks over DWP facility time?

Members facing the worst threat ever to their terms and conditions now watch their reps forced to meekly lose up to four days annual leave as you accept this situation. Keep fighting. Don’t cause members to worry about how you intend to fight the threat to all of our terms and conditions.

We urge you not to let management off so easily. Fight for DWP reps and members – they deserve it.

Together we can win

Jane Aitchison

Leeds PCS Branch Secretary

You have been told comrades!

The Socialist Party misuse of PCS

Socialist Worker came out early this week as the comrades prepare for their own internal "bun fight" this weekend, but the paper carried on as usual with its' distorted reports of events and one in particular caught my attention. As readers will be aware the PCS union has balloted for a strike. The turnout was far from satisfactory and the number of members voting for the dispute was actually only around 15%, a figure that has already attracted derision form the Government.

This doesn't stop Socialist Worker from claiming that:

A quarter of a million PCS members backed strikes by 61 percent in a recent ballot

Indeed this is the official view of the PCS union who also write:

A series of walkouts and protests by almost a quarter of a million civil and public servants will start with a strike on budget day on 20 March, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has announced today.

Not exactly the case as we saw on Monday. Just 38,000 members voted for action despite the huge effort that was put in to it. Indeed the PCS Grandees will have also been shocked by the high No vote of over 24,500. With nearly three quarters of the membership remaining unengaged with the union such proclamations by the Socialist Party PCS leadership are quite dangerous.

Already the media are calling it a strike about Pay & Pensions, which is true(ish). The real reason for the left pushing this dispute is the desire of the Socialist Party to (a) press for a General strike and (b) utilise the dispute to retain its' iron grip on the PCS union itself.

The Pensions issue is long over and pay, well as much as I'd like a decent pay rise (who wouldn't) the Government is sticking to the pay freeze and has seemingly led PCS into a dispute it will be unable to win. The left have claimed that strikes win victories as strike votes did prevent a small number of threats in a couple of Departments including the DWP.

Trouble it was easy for the Government to back down when the numbers involved were small because if they wanted to take on the union over issues where public sympathy would be less they knew Serwotka and his cronies were going to oblige.

This dispute starts at a time when trade union facilities for civil servants are being virtually wiped out by Francis Maude, something he got the go-ahead to do when Serwotka threatened a strike just before the Olympics on the basis of just 11% of UK Border Agency supporting it.

The left have not learnt their lesson and the Socialist Party's determination to place itself at the helm of any movement against austerity has made them arrogant in their misuse of the union that they control. Chief SP enforcer John McInally (PCS Vice President) has been ensuring that nothing distracts from the fight for the General Strike.

The left are hoping for other unions to join them. Their main hope was that the National Union of Teachers would join them. The last reported vote from their NEC showed the left were only 2 votes away from winning and they demanded a re-run at the NUT Executive Committee meeting last week. However the NUT has instructed its' members not to leak details of the meeting whilst their "negotiations" with the other main teaching union the NASUWT took place.

There remains no guarantee at all that these two unions will join the fight and may prefer its own continuing policy of "action short of industrial action". The left wing Solidarity  newspaper confirms this:

..the Executive chose to prioritise a continued focus on pursuing joint action with NASUWT, the other large teaching union, rather than striking now. There is no indication that the NUT, with or without NASUWT, will take action in time to fight Gove’s proposals properly.

PCS is very much on its' own. There are no other civil service unions involved in the forthcoming strike on Budget day. A time incidentally which will see news of the strike buried by budget news. But then fighting the capitalist system is not the only concern of the comrades of the Socialist Party. They also want to use members sacrifices to continue control of the PCS which gives them a toehold in the unions.

This is outlined quite clearly in a leaflet issued by their front organisation Left Unity/Democratic Alliance as they write:

The Democracy Alliance led NEC has and will continue to campaign tirelessly against the Government’s “Austerity” agenda

...a strong leadership with a proven track record is required, and only a Democracy Alliance NEC has that

There then follows a list of the comrades they want the members to vote for, which given they rely on a small turnout is quite achievable for them.

Unfortunately for the members such achievements will be made on their backs because the Socialist Party and its' fellow travellers (including the now thoroughly discredited Socialist Worker Party) live in a dream world of Marxist revolution. That's not the world members live in.

Patience and careful planning need to replace knee jerk Socialism. 

PCS members have been misled by the political parasites of the Socialist Party and the SWP for long enough.

The time ahead will be difficult, but there does remain hope even at this late hour for a change of union leadership, policy and direction.