Death Agony of the Socialist Alliance continues

[Nigel Irritable <nigel_irritable@xxxxxxxxx>]

As of Monday Liz Davies, the leader of the English
Socialist Alliance, has resigned.

In her statement she accuses some SA executive members
and officers of failing to uphold "minimum standards
of probity and accountability". Davies was the only
recognisable labour movement figure left active in the
Socialist Alliance.

Sources close to Davies (sorry for the lapse into
newspaper-speak) indicate what most observers would
quickly have surmised: her complaints are about the
SWP, the organisation which completely controls the
Socialist Alliance. Interestingly the Socialist
Alliance is not willing to clarify her statement or
the circumstances which triggered her resignation even
to its own members, causing uproar amongst the few
remaining independent activists in the SA.

After Scargill created and swiftly throttled his
Socialist Labour Party, some on the left looked to
create new vehicles for left wing politics. The
Socialist Alliances were founded as local activist
groups by organisations including the Socialist Party,
the Leeds Left Alliance, the Preston Radical Alliance
and others. Gradually the local groups came to be
linked through a network. They were limited in their
impact, to say the least but some good work was done
in local areas and some trust was built between
activists from different organisations and traditions.

The Socialist Workers Party maintained its "splendid"
sectarian isolation from both the SLP and the SAs
until, scenting organisational gain, it executed one
of its regular u-turns and flooded into the Socialist
Alliances. Almost immediately its heavy handed antics
and crass behaviour caused serious friction as it
sought to take control. The Leeds Left Alliance
introduced a rule limiting the number of votes SWP
members could have at its meetings to stem its packing
tactics (a rule which the Socialist Party, rather
naively, opposed at the time).

By December last year the SWP had imposed a new
constitution on the alliances turning them from a
network of local activist alliances into a centralised
front group. The SA name is pushed out for elections
and carefully stored away while the SWP concentrates
on one of its other fronts. Most of the founding
affiliates left while local groups ceased to meet or
shrunk and were merged.

Is mise le meas
Brian Cahill

STATEMENT FROM LIZ DAVIES RESIGNING FROM THE SOCIALIST

ALLIANCE EXECUTIVE

As members of the Socialist Alliance executive are
aware, I have resigned as
national chair of the Socialist Alliance and from the
executive. I have done so
with deep sadness.

I feel strongly that minimum standards of
accountability and probity have not
been upheld by some leading officers and members of
the executive. Under
the circumstances, it is clear to me that I will not
be able to discharge
effectively my duties to the members.

The premise of the Socialist Alliance was that
individuals and groups from
differing political backgrounds and perspectives could
work together on a
common political project. It was always clear that
trust among the elements of
the Socialist Alliance, and in particular trust among
members of the executive
and national officers, was essential to this
endeavour. As a result of recent
events, I feel that trust no longer exists.

I remain committed to contributing towards the
development of a viable
socialist alternative to New Labour.

Liz Davies

October 21 2002

STATEMENT FROM THE SOCIALIST ALLIANCE NATIONAL
EXECUTIVE IN
RESPONSE TO LIZ DAVIES'S RESIGNATION

We very much regret Liz Davies's resignation from the
national executive. We
greatly appreciate the contribution she has made on
the national executive
and as chair and thank her for this. We welcome her
continued commitment to
building a socialist alternative to New Labour, and we
hope to continue to
work closely with her as a member of the Socialist
Alliance.

As a result of Liz raising her concerns, the Executive
has taken urgent
measures to deal with the important issues she has
raised. Those measures
will be monitored and finalised at the November
meeting of the Executive,
which will also initiate a period of open and
democratic discussion of the
politics and operation of the Alliance leading up to
the Alliance's Annual
General Meeting on 15 March 2003.

The Executive is looking forward to building on our
excellent result in the
recent Hackney mayoral election. Local Alliances are
already active in
building broad labour movement support committees for
the fire fighters, and
the Executive decided to throw the whole weight of the
Alliance nationally
behind this effort.

With New Labour taking an openly anti-union stance
against the fire fighters,
the need for socialists to unite in a campaigning
organisation like the
Alliance
has never been more urgent. The Alliance is also in
the forefront of the anti-
war movement in many areas, and will be working to
make sure that a clear
and distinctive socialist message is heard in this new
and growing movement.

Lesley Mahmood and Steve Godward (joint vice chairs),
Tess McMahon
(treasurer), Marcus Strom (nominating officer), Rob
Hoveman (secretary and
campaigns officer), Will McMahon (membership
secretary), Mark Hoskisson
(trade union officer), John Rees (press officer), Nick
Wrack (publications
officer), Mandy Baker, (youth officer), Weyman Bennett
(race officer), John
Fisher, Declan O'Neill, Alan Thornett and Martin
Thomas (executive
members)

October 23 2002

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