>>610708
From one of the most respected former members of the Socialist Alternative, John Passant:
>Part of the issue is the nature of the people recruited. We live in an incredibly apolitical world, where a small minority want to understand why everything is so stuffed. But many of that small minority have unformed political ideas, and part of the culture in the organisation doesn’t seem to be about Marxism but more about action. For example it seems to be a widely accepted view that street fighting is radical.
>It is a culture the leadership are now trying to address with strident pleas and exhortations against mindless militancy. But that fails to address or understand why many members think that jostling with the cops, bashing on a Vice-Chancellor’s windows or holing up political opponents is somehow radical per se.
>This failure to examine why our members sometimes indulge in mindless militancy is one of the things coming out of the National Conference over the weekend and on Monday that made me question why I am in the organisation.
>In fact the person who led the shoe throwing demo and the NUS debacle was elected to the National Executive. Evidently a few mea culpas, or should that be Hail Marys?, cures all sins.
>There may be a pattern here and it is beholden on revolutionaries not just to acknowledge these mistakes and to do so publicly (which my guess is won’t happen for all of these outrages) but to try and understand why they happen. Why do young comrades think throwing shoes at cops is radical?
>In fact I have seen younger comrades shout at other comrades, conference delegates taking minority positions. This is completely unacceptable but part of the culture that sees aggression as radical politics. Indeed a recent note from National Executive member Sandra Bloodworth praised aggressive women as if this is something worthy in itself. The idea that shouting at comrades is the way to convince people rather than reason, discussion and debate is anti-Marxist but its existence in the organisation is in part because this is an atmosphere the leadership or elements of it encourage and think acceptable in quashing difference and dissent.
>Workers would rightly be repulsed by this juvenile and aggressive approach.