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the crucial waged people would be useful, as would a pooled fare.
We can agree about the need for a paper of the Socialist Alliance. The questions are how to get it and how to maximise its political impact. The answer (an unfortunate fact of life) is that it would be a damp squib without the wholehearted support of the SWP and may even be counterproductive, viewed by potential independent supporters as 'yet another left paper'.
So, we should by all means fight for a would cut the Alliance off from people breaking with Labour.
When it comes to the political basis of the Alliance, we are closer to the SWP than to some of the other far left groups, who have a sectarian position.
This does not stop them doing good dayto-day work in the Alliance, as is certainly the case here in Sheffield, but that is another issue. If their programmatic positions to win through in the Alliance, it would be a disaster. to convince the SWP and their membership that their half-in-half-out position (especially outside of election times) is damaging to the interests of the working class and ultimately self-defeating as well.
Our position is based on a recognition that the SWP has actually made steps in that direction, both theoretically and in practice, through their greater openness to working with other groups and independent forces. We have to work out how to encourage them further on that course.
page 23 of the scan
Review / socialist resistance ce Winter 2002 23
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