(Chair, Tower Hamlets Respect) offers a personal view I sometimes feel as though Respect was made for me -providing answers to questions I have been asking myself since I started thinking about politics.
Part of the reason lies in my own political story. I am a child of the Communist Party. Both my parents were CP members, so were other male members of my family and their close friends. They were part of a tradition of selftaught working class radicals who got their political education on the shop-floor and at Party meetings.
Aged 15 I got involved with a Trotskyite organisation, the Militant Tendency. I never had any serious political disagreements with Militant, but I was never entirely comfortable with its organisational culture which, with hindsight, I see as being doctrinaire and exclusive.
It also demanded a level of commitment from its members that meant many did not stay for long.
For a time I drifted away from active politics, though I have always been an active union member. I became involved in local, single issue
particularly on housing, but my Marxist upbringing told me this wasn't enough. Eventually I became enthusiastic member of the Socialist Alliance, then came the Stop the War movement.
Marching with millions, instead of hundreds, rekindled the belief that great social movements, not politicians or journalists, create history.
And the anti-war demonstrations were different. There were lots of banners from diverse campaign groups - more women, young people, children and non-white faces. Inevitably the question arose of how to harness this massive political force.
Something was afoot within the Socialist Alliance. New alliances were being proposed that grew out of the Stop the War Coalition.
We didn't exactly know the shape of them, but it was clear from the outset that if we entered into the new relationships, we would not be in total control and as a result, we could not preserve our identity as a uniquely socialist organisation.
When the name 'Respect" was first mentioned, I thought someone was taking the piss! I didn't like it and I didn't think it would work. One year on, I think it was a masterstroke.
The acronym (Respect for the Environment, Socialism, Peace, Equality, Community and Trade Unions') is unambiguous, but the name also resonates in everyday use.
It means something that 'Socialist Alliance' never did. Similarly, we say John Lister, Respect National Council (personal capacity) WHILE the previous bad blood and political differences between Respect MP George Galloway and the Scottish Socialist Party had been known for some time, it came as a shock to many activists on both sides of the border when Galloway was quoted extensively in a Sunday Mail article openly attacking the SSP and its leadership.
Of course the SSP had stood against Galloway in the last Westminster elections, and Galloway is noted for his opposition to a number of key elements of the SSP's political programme - most notably to any form of greater independence Tor
Nevertheless Galloway's comments in early December, apparently given in a telephone interview from Beirut, in the aftermath of the resignation of MSP Tommy Sheridan as SSP convenor, came to many as an unpleasant surprise.
Pronouncing himself a fan of Sheridan, Respect for Pensioners or
for it instantly conveys an idea and a political message.
There are some who question whether Respect is a 'workers party'. I find this a strange objection, but it illustrates a type of thinking that is a relic from the past.
New members of Respect don't have to justify themselves or take political tests. It's enough to be angry about the current state of political affairs and want to do something about it.
In fact, Respect is far more genuinely working class than any lett organisation I've known. There are some who question whether Respect is a 'workers' party. In fact, Respect is far more genuinely working class than any left organisation I've known.
Some people don't see this because many Respect members aren't white. Critics jump to the conclusion that we're a "Muslim' party, not realising that if you are a British Muslim, you are almost certainly a member of the British working class too.
This leads me to the allegation that Respect panders to Muslims.
Many on the left, including
Galloway denounced other members of the SSP leadership as Trotskyite apparatchiks, castigated their acceptance of Tommy's resignation; and suggested that he might seek to link up with Sheridan in a new electoral project, standing against the SSP in Scotland. So extreme were Galloway's reported statements that some leading Respect supporters were first inclined to check whether he actually said and stood by them. Many in Respect, among them Socialist Resistance supporters, who have worked closely with comrades in the SSP, see it as a sister socialist organisation, and a model for future developments in England. SSP leaders were understandably angry both at the content of what had been reported, but also at the tone in which Galloway appeared to adopt, and wrote to clarify whether this reflected the policies of Respect or whether it was simply the views of Galloway as an individual. The initial reply, sent by Respect's National Secretary John Rees without consulting members of the National me, are atheists and sometimes overlook the crucial influence of Christians and Jews in shaping our movement.
The position is very clear: we have respect for Muslims and for people of all faiths and none.
At Respect meetings, we quite often have a break for prayers - one of my proudest moments was seeing a group of our supporters using
posters as prayer mats.
While some are praying, others have a fag. After the meeting, some of us go to the pub and sometimes 'the Muslims' come too! Isn't this what respect - and socialism -is supposed to look like?
The role of the organised church is a different matter and something I want to discuss within Respect, but we first.
There are lots of other issues - abortion, capital punishment, animal rights about which I can't assume what other Respect members
intervention in Scotland. Never discussed tested.
think. I hope to find out, but in the meantime I want to work with them to fight against bloody wars, the erosion of civil liberties, privatisation of public services, racism and attacks on workers' rights. So, I think Respect is the right response to changes in the international situation, the composition of the working class and the need for a new language to express them. Respect is also right because the war in Iraq is wrong and has established beyond doubt that the Labour Party is wrong too. The war has made us question the nature of our political organisations and leaders. For many members, myself included, the conclusion that the Labour Party is damaged beyond repair is a painful one, but I believe this is the only conclusion we can draw from what has happened in the last seven years. Council, failed to offer an adequate answer to the questions that had been raised by the SSP, and served only to trigger a further round of correspondence.
But when the Respect National Officers next met on December 15 it was clear that nobody endorsed Galloway's remarks, least of all his suggestion of an electoral
No such enterprise has ever been dis- expression. cussed by Respect: indeed far from debating political work north of the border, Respect's leading committees have been discussing a short-list of constituencies in England where electoral resources will be concentrated, leaving many areas unconAnd Respect had drawn strength from the support given by SSP speakers who had appeared on platforms helping to build the organisation in England.
It was pointed out that Galloway's disparaging reference to some SSP members as 'Trotskyite apparatchiks' might just as easily be seen as an insult to some members of the Respect National Council,
Respect is not even a year old yet and has no formal party structure, constitution or manifesto - and maybe a good thing too! The coalition wants to be different and has to be because it's a direct response to the widespread and growing disillusionment with the political establishUCIE If Respect merely replicates the rigid hierarchy and sterile debate of other parties it will not last. It, could be that Respect is a prototype for something else and now is not the time to get hung-up on names and structures. But the toothpaste is out of the tube. The millions of people in this country and others who have demonstrated against war, globalisation, environmental destruction and racism will not get fooled again. In Britain, many are considering what to do with their vote at the next general election and concluding that they cannot vote New Labour. On the left, we either accept and concede to a two party state, or we build an alternative. Respect can be that alterincluding Rees himself.
But while calling on John Rees to write a further short reply to the SSP making clear the collective view that that Galloway's comments represented only his individual opinions, the Respect officers also noted that the organisation is not a party, let alone a democratic centralist party organised around a single "line" of policy: it remains a coalition within which different currents retain the right of free
As such, it would be no more appropriate for the National Council publicly to censure Galloway for views which most found inappropriate than for it to debate and pass opinions on potentially controversial editorial articles in Socialist Worker or Socialist Resistance, which also support the Respect project while retaining political independence.
The officers also agreed that the SSP suggestion of a meeting to clarify matters should be accepted in the context of seeking to coordinate more effectively between the two organisations in preparation for the likely General Election for the Westminster parliament in May.