SWP off campus

 Dear all,

This is an open letter to all those on the left who are planning on visiting, participating in or speaking at the Marxism 2014 conference from the 10th to the 14th of July this year. It comes from a collective of other left activists, students and workers – we hope that you'll understand that this is in no way an 'attack on the left' or a petty sectarian squabble. In fact, we would like to see a stronger, more inclusive movement in this country and internationally where all people are able to participate and work for real liberation. And it's because of this we are asking you to reconsider, and not attend Marxism 2014.

You might already know that the festival is hosted by the Socialist Workers Party (though not everyone does when they agree to take part or buy a ticket), and that the Marxism festival is their main event of the year where they hope to boost membership and sign up hundreds of new members. The event also bolsters their reputation as one of the largest and most important groups on the left in the UK through the number and range of speakers. However, this year the diversity of speakers is not what it used to be, due to a growing number of people on the left unwilling to work with the SWP, or withdrawing public support for them. They've also had to admit in their party notes that they're now trying to recruit people with “little or no knowledge or experience of left politics”. This is because of a crisis the party is unwilling to discuss. It's the the same crisis that leads us to ask you not to support Marxism 2014 or the SWP.

In 2013, a report was leaked showing that a senior member of the Socialist Worker's Party had been accused of the sexual harassment and rape of two younger members of the party. They chose to deal with the issue internally, through their 'disputes committee' in a victim blaming show trial run by long time friends and colleagues of the man accused. To give an idea of how bad this was, the women who had come forward with the allegations were questioned on their past relationships and even asked “if it was fair to say [they] liked a drink”. These kinds of questions do nothing but lay the blame for what happened to these women on their own actions. At the end of the process, the accused 'Comrade Delta' was essentially let off the hook – although he was suspended from his public position, he stayed in the party, close to those running the show. We only know anything of what happened because other party members were so shocked that they leaked transcripts onto the internet – the SWP has been keen to hide the whole affair. When people did start to talk about it, the SWP Central Committee (the 'ruling body' of the party) responded by threatening to kick out members who wouldn't shut up and accusing those who complained of allowing 'creeping feminism' into the organisation. As if that was something terrible. This was not an isolated incident and others have since spoken out about similar cases and treatment in the organisation.

Here's why:

The motivation behind SWP off campus and the 'creepingfeminism' hashtag is fairly simple, Whatever their faults and issues may have been in the past, the SWP's handling of rape allegations concerning a senior party member and two much younger party members at the beginning of last year was truly awful.

They chose to deal with the issue internally, through their 'disputes committee' in a victim blaming show trial run by long time friends and colleagues of the man accused. To give you an idea of how bad it was, the women who had come forward with the allegations were questioned on their past relationship and even asked “if it was fair to say [they] liked a drink”.

These kinds of questions do nothing but lay the blame for what happened to these women on their own actions. At the end of the process, the accused 'Comrade Delta' was essentially let off the hook – although he was suspended from his public position, he stayed in the party, close to those running the show.

We only know anything of what happened because other party members were so shocked that they leaked transcripts onto the internet – the SWP was keen to hide the whole affair. When people did start to talk about it, the SWP Central Committee (the 'ruling body' of the party) responded by threatening to kick out members who wouldn't shut up and accusing those who complained of allowing 'creeping feminism' into the organisation. As if that was something terrible. At this point, the SWP went into crisis mode, with factions forcing a 'special conference' that ended up reinforcing the original disputes committee decision. Comrade Delta was innocent, the issue was over. The message was clear – if you don't like it, leave the party. And a lot of people did – the SWP started haemorrhaging members. Almost all of their previously important Socialist Worker Student Societies folded in a few months.

But the SWP carried on turning up at universities and events, trying to recruit members without ever mentioning the rape crisis. When people questioned them or told them they weren't welcome, they started to become defensive and abusive – which has now become a standard tactic when they're challenged in public. Recently they called an activist 'a Nazi' for asking their paper sellers to leave an event they weren't invited to and telling them that their stance on rape is unacceptable within the left.

When posters and stalls for their flagship 'Marxism Festival' started turning up in huge numbers at universities where the party doesn't even have any members, we'd had enough. The drive to get the SWP off campus (which you could argue began with a dramatic stall trashing at the University of Sussex) took shape.The group is made up of people from various universities around the UK who are connected to radical and left politics. The SWP are keen to go on about the 'right wing press' attacking them, but that's certainly not the case here.

We've mostly come together online to organise and discuss, but those of us based near each other do get together to work face to face when possible. We all feel that it's unacceptable for the SWP to carry on as if nothing has happened, covering up allegations of sexual abuse, shouting down dissent and bullying people who question their presence or dare to tell them what they did was wrong. We think that people should know about the allegations and how the SWP handled them, since they're trying to make it all disappear.

Who we are

We are a group of people on the Left, who are trying to raise awareness about the SWP and their rape apology, and get the SWP off our University campuses, left campaigns and demos.

There is more detailed info on that here: http://www.jimjepps.net/?p=273

At the moment, the SWP are gearing up for Marxism 2014, which is happening in London, and is hosted by them.

We want to inform people who are going to Marxism exactly who is hosting it, and why we oppose them.

What we have done so far

- Stopped them being able to use ULU for the conference by pressuring the Sabbatical Officers, Michael Chessum and Dan Cooper to retract permission for the rooms.

- Managed to stop their after party from taking place by informing the acts of who the SWP are and about their rape apologism. All of the acts bar one pulled out.

- Put up our own #creepingfeminism posters detailing why we oppose Marxism 2014 and the SWP

- Taken down their posters when they are put up around the University of London

- Contacted people who are speaking at Marxism 2014 and asked them to pull out

What you can do