RE: [Marxism] 1983 open letter from SA to the SWP

["Mark Lause" <MLause@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I appreciated seeing this, Adam.  It has filled in some gaps.

As one of the I.T. purged in 1974, I both argued for and implemented the
"reintegration" policy, this in the fast of repeated assertions that I
would personally never be readmitted.  I'm sure I was one of the last
ones, if not the very last, allowed back in the SWP (in 1976, if I
remember rightly).

By then, the SWP's "turn to the working class" was on full swing at that
point.  Simply put, those of us damned and expelled as "workerists" a
few years earlier were horrified with the way the Barnes leadership
implemented this.  I think many of us saw the flaws, but expected that
it was an attempt simply to increase the sustainer bases.  However, the
meaning of the SWP's turn was framed by its failure to address problems
of the radicalization, its withering, and its own functioning.  This
context redefined this turn as a cure-all, a panacea that required a
more closed and cultish approach than I'd have expected.  There was very
little room in the ranks for anyone to question anything.

By 1978, I left with the hope of establishing some loose regroupment
formation(s) that might save some of the cadres I knew the SWP was going
to hemorrhage.  After some work with a local collective and in the ISO,
I decided that there was little one person could do on this.  Therefore,
I well recall this break.

I am at a loss, though, to understand why all of the Socialist Action
people did not participate in the formation of Solidarity, which I
viewed and view as the best option available on the Left.

Best,
Mark L.




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