Dave Dudley, Leninist Vanguard (personal capacity)
Democracy denied.
Middle class reformists thwarted.
A shadowy council of scholars and elders holding forth.
Left activists in Britain pontificating that we shouldn’t judge others by our own standards of democracy.
I am, of course, referring to reports coming out following the SWP’s special conference convened to debate the question of members’ democracy within the increasingly irrelevant and electorally tainted sect.
There are reports of the silencing of dissent within the crumbling regime, most notably towards Richard ‘Lenin’ Seymour and China Miéville (interesting choice of cadre name, comrade!) who had the temerity to suggest that ordinary party members might be able to discuss the party’s programme and future direction in an open and critical manner. Let there be no mistake, the SWP is incapable of discussing tomorrow’s order with the milkman in an open and critical manner. In calling for “a party culture of increasingly open discussion”, Seymour and Miéville appear to be confused as to which party they signed up for all those years ago. You might as well call for the BNP to embrace metrosexuals really.
No to personal attacks on left bloggers!
No to SWP bureaucratic centralism (and by that token, Zionism)!