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Independent Left joins SWP
 national |
anti-capitalism |
opinion/analysis
 Monday October 15, 2007 11:15 by Left Eye Lopez
The Campaign for an Independent Left seems to have reached the end of the road as its members join the Socialist Workers Party in setting up a Dublin Central branch of People Before Profit
The Campaign for an Independent Left was set up two years ago to build a new workers party. It brought together supporters of Dublin City Councillor Joan Collins (ex-Socialist Party), Tipperary TD Seamus Healy, the Irish Socialist Network and some others. At around the same time People Before Profit was launched, consisting mainly of the Socialist Workers Party and some other individuals.
Lots of people at the time questioned the point of having two similar initiatives, but there were clear differences. The CIL programme was more specific about standing for the interests of workers, while PBP preferred a more catch-all populist approach. Neither had a clear socialist programme, however. The issue of SWP domination of PBP also differentiated it from the CIL.
The CIL held some public meetings in Dublin and brought out two issues of a newsletter. It was weakened when the ISN left it at the end of last year. Seamus Healy’s defeat in the General Election effectively removed the Tipperary section - which apparently was never that involved to begin with. Collins didn’t do as well as expected in the Election.
The PBP never broadened beyond its initial base of the SWP plus a few others. Its Dun Laoghaire candidate Richard Boyd-Barrett did well in the Election, but its other candidates didn’t. A transfer pact operated between Collins and Brid Smith (PBP/SWP) in Dublin South but with little result. Both CIL and PBP lacked the credibility of the Socialist Party’s campaign based on years of hard work on the ground.
Since the Election leading CIL people have been meeting with leading SWP people and have agreed to cooperate in launching a Dublin Central branch of PBP. Both sides are building for a public launch meeting in early November in the Teacher’s Club.
So far Collins and her supporters don’t seem to be fully on board, but both the SWP and the rest of the CIL expect this to change. The local elections in 18 months, and another transfer pact with Smith, could be the opportunity for this. At the moment Collins and her supporters may be reluctant to abandon her City Council platform to an SWP led initiative.
SWP people are making no secret of how pleased with themselves they are. They are quoting this move as proof that PBP is not just an SWP front after all. (Or maybe they see it as the chance for it finally to become more than an SWP front?) The fact that the PBP name and programme has been accepted by all involved, rather than the initiative taking place under a separate name and programme - that PBP is essentially ‘swallowing’ the CIL - is more vindication for the SWP position as far as they concerned. Over the last week or so their attitude towards others on the left has been very smug in light of the CIL link up.
The CIL have obviously lowered their sights quite a bit. From pushing for a new independent workers party, they have joined an all-class populist grouping. From rejecting SWP hegemony, they are now prepared to go along with it.
Whether this initiative is successful remains to be seen. But the future doesn’t look bright. The conditions for building a mass party of working people just don’t exist at the moment. In the coming economic downturn, thousands of workers and young people will draw revolutionary conclusions and will be prepared to rally to radical class politics. In such circumstances a mass workers party will be very much on the cards. Trying to jump the gun before the conditions are ripe is a recipe for failure. It has certainly brought the CIL to failure. Some will say that coming under the SWP’s PBP banner is a failure in itself.
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Comments (15 of 15)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15I am not sure how to take this news, I have just read it.
This move warrants serious discussions by all on the left. If it's possible, could a spokesperson from both sides (CIL and SWP) make a contribution here and put us in the picture with all the facts?
As is pointed out above, if the conditions for a new appetite for creating a revolutionary mindset in people is imminent -and it seems more than likely to happen sooner than we expected- well isn't this the time that ALL the left got together and prepare for the inevitable.
It should no longer be the call of certain individuals in certain parties/groups to dictate the pace and the development and coming together of all the left parties/groupings and individuals.
Yes, we know there are differences, but if the revolutionary left is serious about their poliltics, well then shouldn't the differences be put aside for the moment at least? Isn't it in all our interests to at least call a conference with left unity being at the top of the agenda?
And by a conference I dont mean a two hour slagging match or digging up of old wounds about the shortcomings of certain people. I also don't mean a conference to highlight comparisons of achievments -or lack of- in the past. Although mistakes have been made by all sides, isn't it time to learn from these? The biggest mistake I think is us not making a serious effort to bring the left together once and for all.
Can you all put your differences aside and get together for one big conference?
If the efforts by all parties/groupings where put into this as much as they put into their own conferences, well the least it would do is guarentee a full attendance.
The prize for unity is huge...it will pull together all the genuine left in this country, something that hasn't been seen for a long time, which in turn will be in a position to recruit, teach and prepare workers for the battles ahead - AS ONE POWERFUL UNIT!
Otherwise, what we will have is a scattering of activists of all parties/groupings and individuals, overworked and lacking real leadership, picking up the odd new member here and there -as is the case now. But the big difference is there will be a lot more opportunities about for new people to get involved, but without the co-ordination, organisation and unification to achieve that to it's full potential.
It's long past time for the juvenile pettyness and cheap point scoring to stop. We are all facing towards the same goal, isn't it time we started to play as a team?
Good preparation is the food of victory!
"lacked the credibility of the Socialist Party’s campaign based on years of hard work on the ground."
Credibility didn't get JH elected though did it?
In the UK the wheels are fast coming off the wagon that is RESPECT. The SWP mothership is now going through a left turn. How long before we see the same in Ireland? How long does PBP have?
Who are we talking about here? If Joan Collins and co. haven't committed, you're only talking about three independent Trotskyists: Young, Meehan, Derwin. I doubt if Seamus Healy in Tipp is interested and the ISN ditched the Campaign for an Independent Left ages ago.
So, the 'gain' for the SWP is a phantom branch of PBPA with three members.
Am I wrong?
I doubt very much if any of the three you mentioned would touch an SWP front like the PBPA. They have all had their fingers burned by the SWP both in the recent past and over the decades. God knows how many fake TU campaigns were set up by the SWP not to mention that broad left alliance that the SWP set up and then cynically dropped around 2000.
Who if anyone other than the SWP is in the "PBPA" branch then? Based on the evidence so far it looks like yet another SWP phantom creation.
Stories like this appear cause a lot of heat but light when the main protagonists do not comment. The story is here and there will probably be a lot of guesswork comments until and unless someone from either the SWP or the CIL posts a comment.
This is not a case of feeding the trolls, the story is up and it looks as if its staying up so informed comments would really help.
Before we all get carried away, can someone calculate what percentage of the electorate is represented by this grand alliance and how many Dail seats it will translate into?
Less than 1% and None
Leftie mentioned some individuals, and Robert Ching said that they wouldn't touch PBP.
On the contrary - at least two of them are centrally involved in organising this latest move.
Left-Eye Lopez tells us that two of the three individuals I mentioned are involved in this venture. These three generally act together, so they are probably all involved. This, of course, just underlines what I said in the first place: this story is hyperbole.
Particularly after their split from Red Banner (now kept going by those who remained), the three lads were at a loose end. They had tried to tie themselves in with the Collins/Connolly crew but weren't seen as the movers and shakers they'd like to be. Joan Collins and Dermot Connolly don't NEED them.
If anybody bothered to follow the political meanderings of Young/Meehan/Derwin, it was obvious they would end up in the SWP front PBP, as they clearly have.
However, this story remains hyperbole because these three have nobody around them. They represent nothing beyond themselves. The acquisition of three talkative Trotskyists is hardly a major gain for PBP and the SWP.
Meanwhile, it is clear that CIL has finally faded from existence. Requiescat in pace.
Joan Collins has been persuaded to speak at the Teachers Club meeting. The SWP/PBP speaker will be Richard Boyd Barrett. The fact that the PBP speaker is not from Dublin Central, but is instead the best TD Dun Laoghaire never had (!) underlines that the SWP see this initiative as having more than just local implications, whatever the CIL people think about it. The SWP see Collins' involvement in the meeting as a sign that they have finally won over the CIL - which may prove to be over-optimistic as far as the Collins faction is concerned.
Soon after this metting at least one CIL person will be appointed to the National Committee of PBP. But to maintain the impression of the CIL still existing, he (or possibly they) will sit on the committee 'in a personal capacity'.
Another way around the situation is if the likes of Irish Republican Socialist Party, Eirigi and Irish Socialist Network
were to join the P.B.P along with the number of Independant Left mentioned they could out flank the Socialist Workers
so that the Socialist Workers in their new minority position will be put in the postion that they will have to have a
change of heart and start to operate in a maner of partnership and open democratic accountability or else they
will have to create a crises and then walk away as the have walked away from a lot of other campagains and
organisations.
It’s amazing that Joan Collins would pick a time like this to join PBP. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84810
With all the hassle with Respect in England showing the SWP at their worst it’s a poor reflection on someone I would have respect for http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84921
The other gobshites like Meehan and Conlan wouldn’t care once they are getting some attention but I would expect more from Collins and even Connolly. Even with all the history of the SWP trying to leech off campaigns like the IAWM, the bin tax, GR etc… some people are either too desperate or stupid to learn the lessons.
"but I would expect more from Collins and even Connolly."
Please!
Connolly is an opportunist who would still be in the Labour Party had she been nominated ahead of Michael D in the last GE. She is perfect for the SWP. A controlling harpy with a superiority complex to boot.
I can see why you thought of her, but I think the reference above was, in fact, to the bould Dermot Connolly, a man you'd expect to have more sense than to entangle himself with this latest SWP front.