(1) Here’s a bit of political rock from the last time Britain stood on the cusp of a Tory government. The clip is dedicated to Janine, because I know she’s a TRB fan. The world we knew busted open wide/in the winter of ‘79. You said it, Mr Robinson.
Incidentally, I saw Danny Kustow - the featured guitarist - do a couple of numbers at an Eddie and the Hot Rods gig at the 100 Club earlier this year. It has to be said that the years haven’t been particularly kind to him; he’s got more grey hair and a bigger beer gut than I have. But he still knows what to do with a Les Paul and a Marshall stack, though.
(2) Twice now I’ve read online claims that in most towns outside the capital, the Socialist Party is now clearly the largest organisation on the far left, eclipsing its long-term rival, the SWP.
This - if true - strikes me as an encouraging development; of the two, the Socialist Party is incomparably more serious, and more working class by both social composition and political orientation.
But unfortunately I never get very far outside of North London, except for the odd visit to Stroppy in Brighton. So I’d be interested in reports from around the country. What’s the situation on the ground?
(3) Time to update the links. First off, a plug for PoliticsHome, which is now the first site I look at when I log on each morning. Whatever your outlook, it’s indispensable. Joining the blogroll are Bickerstaffe Record, The Social Republic, Coventry Green Party, Some Roses Are Red and It's All Culture..
Posted at 17:37, 28 September 2008
Comments (17)
It's an interesting remark about the SP/SWP - although I'm in two minds about whether this would be encouraging, if true.
Don't get me wrong - I don' mean it would be *dis*couraging - but both organisations have their own strengths and weaknesses and although SWP's weaknesses have been dominating the left for some time I don't think we should either discount their strengths nor ignor the down points of the SP.
Mind you I think that kind of organisation has had its day entirely so I'm not too bothered either way.
Thanks Dave
Thank you!
A controversial claim re: SP and SWP sizes and one that probably isn't true.
In the West Mids I know in Stoke, Cov and Shropshire the SP is way bigger than the SWP. In Birmingham we're not. Not sure about the rest of the region. In the East Mids I'd hazard a guess at the SWP being bigger in Derby and Notts, but as far as I know that's not the case in Leicester. In Manchester I think the SWP is larger.
But of course in those areas where the SWP have more members, I'd say it's quality, not quantity that counts ;)
I would say that the SWP has a wider national spread in England than the SP overall as it remains the bigger organisation. The SP tends to be more unevenly concentrated - some places that are strong but then vast swathes of the country where they are all but non-existent - or at least not active.
As for the idea that the SP is 'more working class' in 'political orientation' that is a quite controversial claim, as it is the SWP that has always put fighting for united action across unions to break Brown's pay freeze before sectionalism (eg the SP in the PCS).
Thanks, Dave
Do the Coventry Green Party do a podcast?
I need to hear them pronounce "recycling."
Good to see Snowball retaining his sense of humour. The SWP putting united action before the SPs sectionalism - your taking the piss. Speaking from experience most SWP members wouldn't know what a picket line looks like or know how to talk to worker on them.
Apart from some honourable exceptions, the SWP involvement in the National Shop Stewards Network is minimal compared with the SP. Partly because they haven't the numbers anymore and partly because they know they couldn't control it. Who are the real sectarians?
I wish I understood Scatch's comment.
Scratch is labouring under the mistaken idea that people in Coventry talk like people in Dudley.
Compulsory geographic re-orientation for him/her after the revolution.
Tara a bit.
(Yes pedants - I know that's Brummie. I'm subverting the form)
Ah. I can't say I'm a Coventry native (Coventrian, for the curious), but Jacquie Beltrao (Sky News Sports), Mo Mowlem and Marlon Devonish (100m relay in Athens) all grew up in Coventry. Where's the common accent?
Back to the TRB. Winter of 79 was followed a lot later on by Winter of 89. And this lyric, which i always loved for its coupling.
And that was the end of Egon Krenz
And Western experts on defence
And Noriega's brave defence
In the winter of '89
It is very difficult to tell the size of the Socialist Party and the SWP from the outside.
I suspect that it is difficult to tell from the inside sometimes too. Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of going through a branch membership list in the SWP, or who has even the slightest experience with their methods of counting will know that figures bandied around even in internal reports are generally much exaggerated.
Aside from outright dishonesty, it genuinely is difficult to tell how many members an organisation that is shrinking or growing has at any one time. Only a few people resign from an organisation in general. Most just drift away. They may even continue to pay subs for a while, even though they have no other contact with the organisation. If they've been around for a while, then people are understandably reluctant to just strike them off membership lists. Combine this with pressure from the national office and you get all kinds of counting problems.
Even from the outside however we can see a few things. As Mark Steel illustrated very well in his recent book, the SWP are clearly, visibly smaller than they once were. By contrast, the SP clearly has a whole lot more young people around it than it had, say seven years ago. We can see the direction of movement, but beyond that things are difficult to estimate.
I do think it's clear that even a reduced SWP is still bigger than the SP in London. I think that the same is true in Manchester and Birmingham, although the numbers involved in both groups are much smaller than in the capital. In Wales, the SP seem to be bigger as they do in Coventry and in a whole series of the smaller cities and towns.
My own guess is that the SWP is still a larger organisation overall, but that outside of London there wouldn't be a great deal in it. The trend is clearly towards convergence.
Doug: "the SWP involvement in the National Shop Stewards Network is minimal compared with the SP"
Doug - I look forward to you coming to NSSN South West meetings.
I have seen SWP members there, but I haven't seen you :o)
Cheers for the TRB clip, Dave. If you come across a decent one of 'Power In The Darkness', that would be even better.
I prefer the SP to the SWP too. For one, they haven't thrown their lot in with religious reactionaries. Neither group covered themselves in glory with the PCS pensions deal, though.
For your information Mr Newman I'm still waiting for Comrade Chapple to get in touch with me about the South West group after you asked him to last year. Responsibility rubs both ways - I haven't got the time or inclination to chase up people to do what they should without having to be chivvied.
More importantly we're now working on setting up a local NSSN group here in North Devon.
Have you seen that YouTube clip of a band called El Refugio doing Power in the Darkness. Funny to hear the words sung in English but in a heavy foreign accent, and the musicians do their best, but ... well, nice try, fellas.