CS denied affiliation to Stop the War.
In a breach of movement democracy nothing short of criminal, the bureaucrats who (mis)lead the Stop the War Coalition have, at the 11th hour before Conference, denied the affiliation of Communist Students (along with the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign). Said bureaucrats sent out two near-identical, curt e-mails to us and Hopi (text at the bottom).
They rather speak for themselves – it is all but stated explicitly that this is an act of political censorship, on the frankly hilarious grounds that we are “entirely hostile to the Coalition, its policies and its work”. This would be why we turn up at StW marches, advertise StW events, etc. Let’s have a look at the stated politics of the organisation, shall we?
1. The aim of the Coalition should be very simple: to stop the war currently declared by the United States and its allies against ‘terrorism’. We condemn the attacks on New York and we feel the greatest compassion for those who lost their life on 11th September 2001. But any war will simply add to the numbers of innocent dead, cause untold suffering, political and economic instability on a global scale, increase racism and result in attacks on civil liberties. The aims of the campaign would be best expressed in the name Stop the War Coalition.
2. Supporters of the Coalition, whether organisations or individuals, will of course be free to develop their own analyses and organise their own actions. But there will be many important occasions when united initiatives around broad stop the war slogans can mobilise the greatest numbers.
3. The Coalition shall elect a steering committee which reflects the breadth of those involved to carry forward the aims and objectives. Local groups should have regular, open and inclusive meetings.
4. We call on all peace activists and organisations, trade unionists, campaigners and labour movement organisations to join with us in building a mass movement that can stop the drive to war.
5. We are committed to opposing any racist backlash generated by this war. We will fight to stop the erosion of civil rights.
We are certainly in accordance with all of this. If the esteemed soft-Stalinist Andrew Murray can find an article published by CS or Hopi that is pro-war, anti-united action, anti-steering committees as such (we are certainly anti-this one!), anti-trade union or pro-racist backlash, then he is a resourceful man indeed. Perhaps there is a secret point 6 that says “we, as a matter of course, crawl up the backsides of any reactionary state that happens to find a temporary shared aim with us”?
Even if it did, I would not be surprised to find affiliated to Stop the War people who do not “condemn the attacks on New York and…feel the greatest compassion for those who lost their life on 11th September 2001.” They are in contravention of the most basic article of Stop The War – point 1 of section 1! But then, these lunatics – whoever they are – do not make a nuisance of themselves. We do.
And we certainly aren’t going to stop now.
—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Your application to affiliate to StWC
From: office@stopwar.org.uk
Date: Fri, October 12, 2007 11:45 am
To: jazztedford@yahoo.com
————————————————————————–
Dear Colleagues
The Officers of StWC have received your application to affiliate to the
Coalition and have decided to decline it.
A study of statements and articles issued by your organisation show that
you are entirely hostile to the Coalition, its policies and its work.
Nor is there any record of your supporting our activity and initiatives.
Under these circumstances, it is impossible to regard your application
as in any way supportive or sympathetic.
Your will therefore not be able to send a delegation to our annual
conference, nor will any resolutions or nominations for office you may
have submitted be valid.
We will refund any monies that may have been paid in respect of
affiliation as rapidly as possible. This decision will be reported to
the next meeting of the Steering Committee.
Yours
Andrew Murray
National Chair
StWC
While I might disagree with you on other grounds, I certainly think this is worrying. Did anyone notice how they made such a huge point of welcoming people to the stage from another organisation to with Iran (name evades me) at the rally last Monday?
Thanks for this Graham. I couldn’t make the demo last Monday so couldn’t say which groups they were, but it don’t suprise me at all. I recognise your face. Have I seen you on demos in Leeds?
Check this link to read an open letter to Andrew Murray (STWC Chair) from Yassamine Mather (Hopi): http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/692/Y%20open%20letter.htm
Flippin ‘eck, that Murray fellow got ‘is ice pick out quicker than you could say ‘Kronstadt’. didn’t ‘e?
But to be fair to the old boy, these oddballs in the weekly worker don’t arf get on your bleedin nerves. Weekly bleedin worker? More like a knitting afternoon down at the Tunbridge Wells Old Dolls’ Institute, what with their endless gossip about which smelly trot got one over another, down at the 4th international. So you can’t really hold it against dear old Andy, everyone loses patience once in while. Most of us only read the weedy wanker for the horoscopes and the letters from Peter Tatchell, but poor bleeding Muray Mint actually has to deal the people who sell it. So no wonder he went a bit do lally, and lashed out with a low blow. Must ‘av bloody hurt though. I mean, months and months of knackering factional work, all that effort spent persuading the naive to front the membership drive of the WW, I mean HOPI (which obviously has no connection with the weekly worker)
‘Everyone’s favourite uncle': are you capable of POLITICAL criticism of our group’s strategy, rather than just name-calling? What do you suggest is the answer to the pathetic weakness of the left?
Laurie Smith
duh, complete silence of course!
That was political criticism, ‘weekly worker’ style! What’s yer bleedin problem, coksukblog? It had everthing you lot wet yer knickers about: gossip, insults, wacky troty fun ‘n games, factionalism…
…just another normal sunday afternoon down at the bogus cpgb, really.
The answer to the problems of the “pathetic left” is more of the above, obviously.
you know, if you’re going to try to maul a paper, you should actually give some indication that you’ve read it. Otherwise, even your idiotic trolling attempts will fail on their own meagre terms.
Speaking of which – that’s strike two, dickhead. ;-)