Re: [Marxism] Galloway faction splits from Respect:

[Alan Bradley <alanb1000@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: Louis Proyect 
> Comrades should understand that Alan's group (or
> the group he cheers for--I can't remember honestly)
> had the same kind of controversies in Australia. 

Yes, I'm a DSP member.

Yes, we had the same kind of controversies. In fact,
our experiences are quite relevant to the debate over
Respect, and vice versa.

> Just as the SWP expected their newspaper to be 
> the organ of Respect, so did the DSP expect
> Greenleft Weekly to be the voice of the Socialist
> Alliance. 

A half-truth and a red herring.

GLW is the most widely read left paper in Australia,
by a good order of magnitude. As such, any SA
newspaper would inevitably drawn heavily upon its
resources and reader base.

The DSP made it available to the SA, with an eye to
eventually transferring its ownership and control to
the SA. The latter was vetoed by the smaller groups.
Nonetheless, an SA advisory board was formed and
functioned for some years as an intermediary between
GL and the SA. (It may even still exist. I don't
know.)

In short, the DSP was prepared to hand over one of its
primary political assets to the SA.

I don't think the SWP made the same offer with their
paper.

That's actually the primary difference between the SA
in Australia and Respect in the UK: the DSP was
prepared to dissolve into the SA, while the SWP wasn't
prepared to dissolve into Respect.

In fact, in Australia, the non-DSP groups left
*precisely because* the DSP was willing to dissolve.
Apparently they want us to be the kind of cartoon
Louis describes us as. I suppose it's in their
interests, in a sick and weird kind of way.

Alan B

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism