Having made the suggestion that the reformist left should leaflet the SWP’s Marxism 2003 event and engage them in debate, I now feel obliged to pass on this bit of news.
Today the rival Trots of the Weekly Worker did turn up at the SWP’s event and did hand out leaflets.
Their leaflet, (here in PDF format) while full of the usual twaddle, does make the very good point that the SWP’s alliance with Islamist groups appears to be leading to a passive acceptance of homophobia and sexism.
So what happened to the leafleters? Well, I just got an email from one of them:
The initial attack was led by women members, with a tight ring of their male comrades around them. Both of us heard warnings from the men – as *we* were being attacked! – along the lines of “don’t you touch her!” So, the plan
was – women attack the two men, in the course of the struggle to defend themselves the men do something against a woman that then ‘justifies’ the blokes wading in.
Apparently no punches actually landed (the usual story in lefty ‘violence’) but the WW people say they had been warned five minutes before the ‘attack’ by a senior SWP figure that he could “take no responsibility for what my members do to you today”.
Nice people – perhaps the T-62 tank would be the better option after all.
Update: This is a classic. I emailed someone at the Weekly Worker to express my support for the right of his members to leaflet the SWP event without having to face intimidation.
This was his reply:
Sorry my warmongering friend. I prefer the SWP to you anyday, so the
question of your ‘support’ does not even arise.