[Marxism] Re: No Democracy in SWP an Exageration

["Tom O'Lincoln" <suarsos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>the SWP in Britain is reckoned to have around 1200 real members with
around 100 full-time organisers of various kinds. This kind of ratio
indicates large-scale corruption (the CP had this too but in a different
way). These people are all beholden to the Central Committee for their jobs
so the vitality of party life must naturally be circumspect.<<

I've come across this type of argument before, and I don't feel it's true.
Full timer jobs in left groups are not such a great career that dissent is
going to be dramatically stifled by fear of the sack. Considerably more
important is political peer pressure and a sense of esprit de corps and
"cabinet solidarity" among the full timers.

Neither do I think being top-heavy with full-timers necessarily has
anything to do with corruption, let alone
"large-scale" corruption. The problem is much more that you create a
dominant layer of people whose material position is different to that of
the working class. Or in a little group, it's more meaningful to put it in
terms of unreality: full timers live in a hot house environment. Admittedly
their different position can sometimes be a plus, since they are less
subject to the conservatising pressures of the workplace. The point is that
having too many of them tips the balance in an unhealthy manner.

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