CWI and Malvinas War

[Philip Ferguson <plf13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andy wrote:
> > The expropriation of British capital is hardly a "reformist" demand or
> > parliamentary cretinism. But that's another argument.


Now, Andy this is you being rather ingenuous again.

I said Militant argued for the nationalisation of the top 200 companies
through a Labour Government enacting an Enabling Act.  It is the notion
that you can carry out the expropriation of British capital through a Labur
majority in parliament which is reformist nonsense.

So why not deal with the issue.  Explain how promoting the belief that a
left-Labour government can abolish British capitalism fits in with Rosa
Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

This is the kindof stuff we expect from people like Tony Benn, who to his
credit does not pretend to be a Marxist.  And who also to his credit called
for the withdrawal of the British forces in the South Atlantic.

This discussion started from an attack of mine on a pamphlet by Taafe about
Cuba, where I said I'd rather be in a trench with castro than the British
CWI leaders.  I might add, I'd rather be in a trench with Tony Benn or some
other honest left-reformist, than with people whose politics were actually
to *the right* of Benn on the Malvinas and Ireland and yet who both pretend
to be Marxists and have the gall to tell leftists in Argentina how they
should act.

Meanwhile, I am still waiting for you to explain how the Militant position
in Britain *in any way, shape or form* had *anything to do with* the
position taken by Luxemburg, Liebknecht and Lenin to their own imperialist
ruling classes.

Lou Paulsen put it beautifully when he said if Militant couldn't adopt a
revolutionary position over the Malvinas, thousand sof miles away, how on
earth would they have coped if something like the WTC took place in London.

Oh, and since we're on Militant and their awful positions on the Malvinas
and Ireland, something else I recall about them from when I was living in
Britain in the early 80s is the way they attacked the black community in
Brixton over the rebellion of 1981.  Militant joined in government and
police attacks on "looters".  This was at a time when the Tories were
trying to criminalise the black population of Brixton and other similar areas.

Happily, the Militant tendency today, ie SPEW (Socialist Party of England
and Wales), is finished as a political force and is only a pale shadow
of  the obstacle to revolutionary socialism that it used to be in the 80s.

Cheers,
Phil





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