So this weekend saw the sorry spectacle of two separate Respect conferences, each proclaiming to be the One True Respect, one held by the SWP and allies, one by George Galloway and pals.
According to Lenny the SWP-led Respect conference was a great succes and went much better than that of the other bunch, who are splitters and nogoodniks anyway.
While according to Andy, the Galloway-led Respect conference was a great succes and went much better than that of the other bunch, who are splitters and nogoodniks anyway.
I exaggerate, but not much. As with any divorce, both parties have done their best to get their view of events accepted as the truth, though as with most divorces the blame can be parcelled out to both. If you want to examine the whole sordid backstory, peruse the archives at Lenin’s Tomb and Socialist Unity.
It doesn’t really matter who shoved who and who said what. The root cause of the split is simpler than that: a disagreement about the direction Respect should develop in. Should Respect remain a largely electorial coalition, or should it develop into a genuine party? It’s a symptom of the immaturity of the English socialist left that this question could not be answered without an acrinomious split.
After all, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown managed to work together for over a decade despite loathing each other, to the detriment of the country. So why can’t the left do the same to repair the damage? It’s probably too late to undo the split in Respect, but I hope the two succesor organisations will at least be able to work alongside each other.