Re: [Marxism] The Australian argument and international readers

[Chris Latham <chris_emma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In relation to the "debate" that has broken
out on this list and the Green Left list
regarding the relationship between the DSP
and the Socialist Alliance in Australia, I
think that it is important to point out that
the debate is not within the framework of the
regroupment project - as neither Greg Adler,
who wrote the article in the Weekly Worker
nor Marcus Strom are currently members of the
Australian Socialist Alliance.  Greg was, up
until relatively recently a member of SA but
he resigned writing, in my opinion an
extremely sectarian and demoralised letter of
resignation. Greg had been a member of the SA
National Executive up until June of this year,
but this was only because he was a member of
the Morenoite Workers League (along with two
other people) which, under the then
undemocratic  formular for generating the SA
NE, as an affiliate automatically was
represented on the NE irrespective of the role
played by the organisation or its members in
building SA. Marcus, who was formly a member of
CPGB until he returned to Australia earlier this
year, is a member of the right-wing social
democratic formation the Australian Labor Party.
Both Greg and Muarcus have axes to grind and do
not support the SA as a regroupment project,
which is important in assessing their arguements,
irrespective of what you may think of such
projects in general or in the particular case of
the Australian SA.

Adler's article in the Weekly Worker, as has
already been pointed out by other list members,
is constructed by selectively quoting an internal
discussion that is currently occuring within the
Australian DSP regarding its relationship with SA
and how best to build the class struggle in the
present context. While other list members will
disagree with me, as is their right, I think the
present situation indicates the problem with having
a policy of always making public internal
discussions that an organisation is having, as it
will undermine the internal democracy of political
groups, as members will not be able to say what
they really think in order to avoid what they say
being used against either their own organisation
specifically, or groups they are intervening into.
This may seem contradictorary - as the problem
could be resolved by making all the discussion
public - as both Adler and Strom desire to occur -
so other arguements could be seen, and the true
contexts of statements be verified. However
irrespective of the context of comments or what
other arguements are put forward, the internal
discussion can still be used dihonestly to poison
the atmosphere for sectarian purposes. This is
because there is no way of accurately
demonstrating the real level of support for any
particular position, in this particular case,
until the DSP's congress - which is when a change,
if any, in the DSP's orientation to SA will be
made public, so any contribution to the internal
discussion, no matter how much support it may or
may not have within the organisation, can be used
against it by alleging that it is the true
position of the DSP. Such a situation would only
cause loyal members of the DSP to shut up and not
air any views or opinions that they feel could be
potentially used by hostile foces to organisation
as whole, which would be a violations of the
democratic rights of DSP members.

On Alan Bradley's assessment of SA, while he is
entitled to his view, I think it is overly
pessimistic, as there no evidence that I can see
from my position as the  convenor of the Perth
branch of SA (one of three branches in Western
Australia), and the only DSP member on the branch
exec, that "it will probably have to be shut down".
The branch is continuing to grow, and while there
are limitations and frustrations in the pace of its
development, we continue to draw in and involve new
members. I think that it is important to recognise
that Alan's view of SA constructed based on no
actual present lived experience of the life and
potential of SA, as at present he is a member of
the Greens and I'm not even sure if there is an SA
branch in his neck of the woods, which means he is
reliant on the cut and thrust of dicussion on email
lists such as this for his evidence of the
potential of SA, which I personally think is a poor
substitute for involvement on the ground.

In solidarity

Chris Latham

Alan Bradley wrote:
snip

The current brawl is, of course a rather unpleasant
affair, which is making the Australian left look like
a pack of total clowns. But that's no big deal. It's
really just a storm in a teacup.

If you think we are idiots, just think what will
happen when and if the US left makes an attempt at
such a project!

At least our example can act as a warning about what
is likely to happen...



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