We welcome the formation of a faction which recognises the widespread discontent within the party. We declare our intention to join immediately, and invite others to do so.
 

In recent weeks, the lack of leadership from the Central Committee (CC) over a very serious crisis concerning the handling of sexual harassment and rape allegations has been compounded by a hostile approach towards internal criticism. It is clear that these criticisms are not limited to a tiny minority, but come from broad spectrum of comrades across the country.
 

Regrettably, the CC’s attempt to provide a perspective thus far has been limited to blaming internal critics, the left beyond the party, and the right-wing media for the crisis. This is a political failure, insofar as it results from a shocking failure to apply our sexual politics, and has revealed a serious deficit in party democracy. But it is also an untenable strategy that risks doing irreversible damage to the party’s standing in the movement. And it damages our ability to work within united fronts and alongside others on the left.
 

The motion carried at the recent National Committee meeting unfortunately serves not to solve this crisis but to deepen it. The attempt to curtail democratic rights to call a special conference, and threaten disciplinary action against comrades opposed to the present CC strategy, must be opposed. We also oppose the ill-founded expulsions of four comrades over this issue before conference.

For all these reasons, we welcome the creation of a broad, united faction. And we support any project that aims to promote a genuinely democratic, tolerant culture in the party.

We pledge to work constructively inside the faction for its declared aims, and urge other comrades to join and work alongside us.

We also call for a special conference at which to address the issues raised by the faction. The purpose of the conference should be to identify and correct those aspects of our work that have led to the current situation, not only organisational structures but also failures in long-term analysis and perspective. We believe it must include in its remit the issues of party democracy and the structure and practices of the Disputes Committee. It must allow a full pre-conference period with internal bulletins to allow for the most thorough debate. The right to call such a conference is guaranteed by the constitution and we refuse to accept any arbitrary time constraints placed upon this.

Further to these points we would also like to suggest that our crisis points to severe internal deficiencies that urgently need to be remedied.

First and foremost, we must rectify the culture wherein female comrades could be so badly treated, and the term ‘feminism’ used as a term of abuse for those who object. We as a party have nothing to fear from a serious political and theoretical engagement with feminism as it exists today. We should therefore, in addition to examining the processes that led to our present crisis, work on developing and updating our traditional perspectives on women’s oppression, and women’s liberation.

Second, this crisis may be the most the severe we have experienced in recent years, but it certainly isn’t the first. In the last ten years alone the party has been hampered by the Respect split, the split with what is now Counterfire, and the later split with what is now the International Socialist Group. We believe these crises are the culmination of deep-seated problems in our long-term perspective, and our methods of organisation, problems which we have never fully addressed or resolved. We will work constructively alongside other comrades in the coming period to address these fundamental issues.

In our view, the combination of a large full-time apparatus, a Central Committee that frequently resorts to bureaucratic means in order to assert its authority, and the way in which the various party bodies are elected, serves to produce a mostly unchanging leadership which is able to hold the monopoly on the development of perspectives. This restricts the space in which to develop alternatives.

Third, there is an ungrounded fear of frank public debate in the party. The entrenched scepticism about the internet, though justifiably repudiating cyber-utopianism, is symptomatic of this phobia. Whereas the party once published internal bulletins in the Socialist Review, we now worry about comrades carrying on debates on social media. Worse, some comrades mistakenly think that such debate is the major cause of our crisis. Full and open debate is actually the way out of the crisis. We regard the diverse contributions from comrades to the International Socialism blog, for example, as a sign of health. It demonstrates a desire to develop alternative perspectives honestly and openly.

 In a way, the CC has been right: this argument is about the sort of party that we want to build. The party aspires to be part of a mass party that can lead the working class. Such leadership would be impossible on the basis of secrecy and paranoia, since this necessarily excludes the class from the party’s debates and decision-making.

As Tony Cliff wrote in 1960: 

 “Since the revolutionary party cannot have interests apart from the class, all the party’s issues of policy are those of the class, and they should therefore be thrashed out in the open, in its presence. The freedom of discussion which exists in the factory meeting, which aims at unity of action after decisions are taken, should apply to the revolutionary party. This means that all discussions on basic issues of policy should be discussed in the light of day: in the open press. Let the mass of the workers take part in the discussion, put pressure on the party, its apparatus and leadership.”

We are the Democratic Renewal Platform. Please join us.

internationalsocialisttendency[at]gmail[dot]com

Adam  Brixton 

Aidan  Sheffield North 

Alaina  Sussex & Brighton 

Alan  Edinburgh 

Alex  Oxford
Alice, Edinburgh

Amy  Oxford 

Andy  Leicester 

Andy  Hackney East 

Ben  Barnsley 

Caroline  Stoke-on-Trent 

China  Brent & Harrow 

Chris  Sussex & Brighton 

Ciara  Tower Hamlets 

Danny  Man Met SWSS / Rusholme 

Dave  Nottingham 

Dave  Brixton 

Emma  Norwich 

Esther  Euston 

Frances  Portsmouth 

Gareth  Camden 

Gary  Stoke-on-Trent 

Glenn  Newcastle 

Gonzalo  Euston 

Hannah  Brighton 

Jack  Leeds Central 

Jackson  Sheffield South 

Jamie   Euston 

Jamie   Manchester Rusholme 

Jamie  Tottenham 

Jennifer  Wandsworth & Merton 

Jennifer  Hackney East 

Jess  Sussex & Brighton 

John  Euston 

Jules   Liverpool 

Kaity   Portsmouth 

Katrina  Wigan 

Keith  Canterbury 

Kieran  Camden 

Kris  Wandsworth & Merton 

Lewis  Sussex & Brighton 

Linda  Edinburgh 

Luke  Edinburgh 

Martin  Sussex & Brighton 

Martin  Sheffield South 

Matt  Nottingham 

Matthew  Bristol North 

Naomi  Canterbury 

Nathan  Oxford 

Neil   Edinburgh 

Paul   Leicester 

Raymond  Edinburgh
Richard  Bristol East

Richard  Hornsey and Wood Green 

Rob  Sheffield South 

Sheldon  Barnsley
Steffan, Swansea

Thom  Sheffield South 

Tom  Manchester Rusholme 

Tom  Leicester 

Toni  Bristol South 

William  Canterbury

In addition, the platform is supported by and in turn supports our four comrades currently appealing against their expulsion:

Adam

Charlotte

Paris

Tim