SWP finally find some self-Respect?

According to the Socialist Unity blog, the crisis in Respect has taken a
dramatic new turn with the SWP expelling three leading members for
softness towards George Galloway.

“News has just broken that long term SWP members Kevin Ovenden and Rob
Hoveman have been expelled from the party, along with Nick Wrack. Nick
joined the SWP three years ago and was a former editor of the Militant
newspaper…

The expulsions followed an ultimatum to Nick that he should turn down the
position of Respect national organiser or resign from the SWP. A similar
ultimatum was given to Rob and Kev that they should stop working in George
Galloway’s office, or leave the SWP.

These three comrades have been internally critical of the SWP Central
Committee’s handling of Respect, but have been very disciplined by not
airing that criticism outside the ranks of the SWP. There still remain
critics of the CC’s position within the SWP, including some very well
known comrades, but the expulsions are obviously a shot over their bows as
well”.

Meanwhile, the East London Advertiser claims that the Respect council
group in Tower Hamlets, the jewel in its hijab, may split into two groups,
one led by Galloway ally Abjol Miah and the other by SWP-close Oliur
Rahman.

Reproduced here is a commentary on this course of events from Martin Thomas of Workers Liberty:

‘Whatever you think of the SWP CC, Hoveman, Ovenden, and Wrack are
despicable wretches if they break the discipline of what they presumably
consider to be a revolutionary party (albeit a mistaken one) just in order
to get or keep jobs in the entourage of George Galloway. That the SWP’s
escapade with Respect has bred such attitudes even in its leading circles
shows the extent of the degradation it has brought.

But, on the face of it, the expulsions look like insane “control-freakery”
by the SWP Central Committee. After all, if SWP have to accept a National
Organiser counterweighing Respect National Secretary (and SWP member) John
Rees, what better for them than to have an SWPer in the post? Even a
dissident SWPer can’t be a bad option for them, surely?

These expulsions must pretty much terminate the possibilities of the
Respect crisis ending in anything other than a split. Organisationally and
electorally, the split will damage SWP more than Galloway, and indeed
organisationally and electorally it may positively benefit Galloway. So
why expel?

The SWP Central Committee’s brains must be somewhat fried after thirty
years of operating a regime of “expel first, ask questions afterwards,
respond to all critics by denouncing them as vermin”.

But insane? I doubt it. The likeliest explanation is that the SWP CC is
convinced that a split with Galloway is inevitable anyway (the Tower
Hamlets report would fit in with that), reckons that it cannot avoid
losing some people to Galloway, and wants to cauterise in order to
minimise the losses.

The fundamental factor here, I suggest, is that the SWP Central Committee
knows perfectly well what Galloway is – has known all along – and has no
higher opinion of him than we do at Solidarity and Workers’ Liberty.

Nevertheless, they thought they could play clever. I remember a
conversation I had with David Glanz, leader of the ISO, Australian
offshoot of the SWP, around the time Respect was being formed. Everything
on the left being rather smaller-scale in Australia, you can actually have
a human (if maybe rather tense) conversation with leading ISOers there;
it’s not like in Britain, where SWPers whom I’ve known for years look
straight through me, as if I’m not there, when we meet by chance.

I put our assessment of Galloway to Glanz, no holds barred. Well, he said,
everything you say may be true, and I’m sure any hook-up with Galloway
can’t last long, but at the end of it the SWP can come away with more
members. And that is what matters.

The SWP Central Committee followed Glanz’s reasoning. That meant that they
had to say things about Galloway – great anti-imperialist, good socialist,
blah blah – which they knew to be untrue. Unfortunately, some SWP members,
even leading and experienced SWP members, took the blather for good coin.

What can the SWP CC do now? Tell those SWP members that the SWP CC was
lying, and knew all along that Galloway was the sort of person any
socialist should shun? Or just try to get through the split with as few
losses as possible by playing the SWP loyalty card?’