Though Cowards Flinch

That the Left often talks to itself is something of a given – and in the articles which follow, I’m going to be doing the same. To avoid accusations of navel gazing, therefore, I feel that I must offer something of a defence.

Various forms of socialist organisation have been discussed by the blogosphere over the past few weeks – and not by faces associated with piously lecturing their fellow Lefties (as I have occasionally been accused of).

Andy Newman mentioned the the rumour that the SWP had expelled some of their SWS activists for whatever reason, potentially raising the question of expulsions as a party-building tactic and over when they are justifiable.

Continuing on a theme of expulsions from socialist organisations, Dave Osler discussed the case of the American SWP back in the 1930′s, an incident in which Trotsky himself was persuaded to intervene, ultimately supporting the expulsion of a ‘petit-bourgeois’ element.

Liam MacUaid took a different angle, reposting an old article about the nature of activism, and the relationship which ‘activists’ have to the mass of people in whose name political actions are performed, raising questions over what sort of Party the Left should aim at.

Myself and Louise discussed organisational questions in light of the “Rage Against New Labour” protest in Brighton. The ‘Rage’ was essentially sparked by the failure of the Labour Party to hold the loyalty of its left flank and the grassroots votes that flank represents, in spirit at least.

Issues of socialist organisation are of course complicated by the continued existence of the Labour Party. Programmatically, Labour is not left-wing, but there remains the question of the its ties to the unions and to working class consciousness to consider.

In that vein, there was recently a call to reform the Socialist Alliance – a means, perhaps, to reorganise activists, secure the loyalties of increasingly disillusioned trades union branches and draw votes away from the BNP  by opposing the three capitalist parties.

Failing that, for the next election, the Socialist Party will continue to run with their No2EU platform, the Socialist Workers’ Party will have their own platform and so on – and these parties will, no doubt, even run against each other in elections.

Urgency is lent to this by the approaching general election now less than a year away. Sorting out issues of organisation, and the basis for inter-organisation co-operation, is vital not just for the election, but to cope with the aftermath and a Tory government.

All of this is by way of saying that the Left is not currently organised to meet a Tory government head-on, and that we need to get ready. This need is why no socialist should apologize if they seem like they are navel gazing by talking to others on the Left.

So, over the next few weeks (punctuated by a brief stop in Paris) expect a few pieces from me looking at aspects of socialist organisation – beginning with tonight’s review of democratic centralism.