Recent and Current Activities
Since then, the SWP has affiliated with groups in various countries which comprise the International Socialist Tendency, and has been involved in a wide range of organisations, including the re-launch of the Anti Nazi League (which has evolved into Unite Against Fascism), and Globalise Resistance. They were instrumental in setting up the Stop the War Coalition an anti-war alliance formed first to opposed the invasion of Afghanistan and then the invasion of Iraq. They considered this anti-war movement to the major radicalising force in early 21st Century British politics and believe that it is a continuation of the anti-capitalist movement.
The international tendency has seens some ups and downs, in particular the split a few years ago with the US section, the International Socialist Organization, despite no serious political differences.
In 1999 the SWP joined in the Socialist Alliance but later argued that it never managed to engage in the radicalism of the anti-war movement and presided over its winding up in 2004. They transferred their energies to a new project RESPECT Unity Coalition believing its emergence from the anti-war movement gave it the opportunity to be a much larger movement and cease sectarianism.
In Scotland SWP members joined the Scottish Socialist Party as an officially recognised platform in 2001 known as the Socialist Worker Platform. However membership of the SSP does not seem to have increased the influence of the SWP and it has been claimed that the group has declined in numbers since joining. This claim being made by a former member of the SWP, Gregor Gall, in an article published in an attempt to change the course of the group written in 2004. Gall's figures were highly suspect and his motion did not even attract a single vote from the Scottish Platform of the SWP, Gall has since left the SWP and is now seen as a supporter of the leadership of the SSP. In 2006, SWP members in Scotland left the Scottish Socialist Party and joined the new organisation, Solidarity (Scotland).
Another major change for the SWP was the selling of its print shop in 2004 as the enterprise was no longer able to win an adequate degree of commercial work to supplement the groups own printing requirements, it had printed "Private Eye" "The Morning Star", etc. Built in the early 1970s the print shop had originally been established in 1968 when Socialist Worker first appeared. SWP publications are now printed by commercial printers with the result that their appearance has undergone a great improvement. However it should not be ignored that the print shop had helped to subsidise the SWP's own publications and it has been suggested that the sale of the print shop was the result of a crisis in the group's finances.
In the late 1990s, the membership was around 5,000 with 4,000 paying Dues monthly. The 2004 Party Conference reported a membership figure of 7,585 members, although other rival socialist groups estimate it to now be closer to 3,000. There is debate within the party as to the reason for failure to grow out of the radicalism of the anti-war movement, some claiming it is the lack of left/right perspectives, some the low industrial struggle, others claim the unconditional but critical support for "insurgents" isolates them.
Recently, there was a disagreement within the leadership of the SWP concerning the future of the party's involvement in broader fronts such as the Stop the War Coalition. As a result, its leading body, the Central Committee, proposed a slate that removed John Rees from the body over the objections of Rees and Lindsey German. This slate was approved by the party conference.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
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