Re: [Marxism] Respect split

[Einde O'Callaghan <einde@xxxxxx>]

Jscotlive@xxxxxxx schrieb:

<snip>
>  
> I'm sorry, but this is revisionism. The SWP at the time did not get  involved 
> in the anti-Poll Tax campaign because they did not  believe that struggle 
> emanating from local communities had the  potential to provide unified and 
> meaningful opposition to Thatcher. They had  turned to industrial work in the 
> wake 
> of the Miner's Strike and were focusing on  that. Militant Tendency, in 
> conjunction with independent activists, were the  main driving force behind 
> the 
> anti-Poll Tax campaign. SWPers may have been  involved in an individual 
> capacity, 
> but certainly not as an organised block.  They shed members over this.
>  
This simply isn't true. I operated within my local anti-Poll tax group 
as a member of the party. We discussed our intervention in the campaign 
regualrly in branch meetings and in regional caucus meetings and we 
mobilised our members and contacts for all the demos, local and national.

It is true that we were slow off the ground and by the time we got 
involved the Millies had already carved up the committee posts and 
dominated the leadership on a national level, but to allege that we 
weren't involved as a party is totally untrue.

I also seem to recall that - unlike some Militant members in the 
leadership of teh campaign - we unconditionally defended those involved 
in the riot in Trafalgar Square.

You shouldn't simply rely on the say-so of people with a sectarian axe 
to grind.

Einde O'Callaghan

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