Socialist Studies (1989)

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Socialist Studies is the name of a quarterly Marxist zine and of the group which publishes it. The group was founded in 1991 by sixteen expelled members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) who claim that their expulsions were the result of an anti-socialist conspiracy. Though small and obscure, the group has remained an active and vocal critic of the SPGB since its inception, and has gained occasional notoriety for its attempts to pass itself off as the genuine SPGB.

Contents 1 The publication 2 The group 2.1 History and activity 2.2 Organisational structure 2.2.1 Criticism 2.3 Differences with the Socialist Party of Great Britain 2.3.1 Political franchise 2.3.2 Cooperation with capitalist law 2.3.3 Party name 2.3.4 Reformism 2.3.5 Abolition of the state 2.4 Relations with the Socialist Party of Great Britain 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] The publication

Socialist Studies
Cover of Socialist Studies № 1
Type	Quarterly zine
Format	A5
Owner	Socialist Studies
Publisher	Socialist Studies
Editor	Richard Lloyd
Founded	1989
Political allegiance	socialist
Language	English
Price	GBP 1.00
Headquarters	London
Circulation	< 100
Website: socialiststudies.org.uk

Socialist Studies was first published in 1989 by the Camden and North West London branches of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, though since issue № 3 (1991) it has been published by an independent organisation (see History and activity below).

The early issues consisted primarily of material reprinted from the works of Karl Marx and the Socialist Standard, though the paper now consists of original material. The format has remained the same for the past fifteen years: three to twelve A4 sheets of single-column word-processed text, photocopied and folded to produce an A5 booklet. The publication is text-only, with no graphics or photographs; none of the articles have a byline, and until № 35 (Spring 2000), none of the issues were dated. It is sold in small numbers by mail order and at Socialist Studies propaganda meetings.

[edit] The group

[edit] History and activity

The history of the group now known as Socialist Studies dates to 1991, when the Camden and North West London branches were expelled from the Socialist Party of Great Britain after a party-wide referendum found them to be engaged in persistent undemocratic behaviour.^[1][2] A number of factors led up to the expulsions (see Differences with the Socialist Party of Great Britain below), but the action the branches were ultimately charged with was failing to abide by a 1988 party resolution regarding the use of the party's name for publicity purposes.

Some of these ex-members, comprising sixteen individuals, refused to recognise the expulsions and attempted to continue operating as the Socialist Party of Great Britain, which they claimed to have "reconstituted".^[3][4] As the original Socialist Party of Great Britain had never been dissolved, and indeed continued to operate following the expulsions, this was generally seen as fraudulent. Their attempts to pass themselves off as the SPGB were consistently blocked by the police, courts, government, and other organisations. For example:

• In the early 1990s the group attempted to open accounts in the name of the SPGB at various banks and building societies, but in each case the account was frozen and/or cancelled for alleged or actual fraudulent use.^[5][6]
• In 1994 the group sued Britannia Building Society for having frozen an account it had opened in the name of the SPGB. The court refused to recognise the group as the Socialist Party of Great Britain and instead joined the original Socialist Party of Great Britain to the suit as intervenors.^[6]
• In 2000 the group gained control of an Internet domain name registered to the SPGB. The domain name registry, Nominet, determined this to be domain hijacking and returned control of it to the SPGB. A subsequent hijacking was attempted in 2006 but was discovered and prevented by Nominet.^[7]
• In 2003 the group opened a post office box in the name of the SPGB; the Royal Mail and London Metropolitan Police subsequently shut it down on suspicion of identity fraud.^[7][8]
• The Electoral Commission does not permit Socialist Studies to register under the name "Socialist Party of Great Britain", as it recognises the original Socialist Party of Great Britain as the only party permitted to register under that name.^[9][10]

Because of these problems, and to differentiate itself from the original SPGB, the group has variously referred to itself in its publicity material as the Reconstituted Socialist Party of Great Britain, the New Socialist Party of Great Britain, and Socialist Studies. Third parties refer to them as the Socialist Studies group.^[11][12][13]

The group's activity consists primarily of publishing Socialist Studies and various pamphlets, and holding occasional propaganda meetings. They claim they are eager to debate with anyone^[14] but in practice they have turned down offers to debate with rival political groups such as the International Communist Current.^[15] Socialist Studies is not registered under any name with the Electoral Commission and has never contested local, national, or EU elections.

[edit] Organisational structure

As of 2006, Socialist Studies claims to have 24 members, almost all of which are in the UK.^[16] Officially they are divided into separate Camden/Bloomsbury and North West London branches, though the two branches operate jointly for all practical purposes. A joint branch business meeting is held one evening per month from September to July.

[edit] Criticism

In common with its companion group, the World Socialist Party of India, Socialist Studies has been criticised, both from within and by third parties, for not being run openly and democratically. Critics observe that the group has no formal constitution or rulebook; does not hold internal elections, polls, or referenda; holds secret meetings which are closed to the public and not even announced to its own membership; and summarily expels dissident members.^[17][18] One Socialist Studies member summed up the organisational problems as follows:

[Socialist Studies] is not democratically organised. There is no committee that is representative of the will of the general membership. It is true that there is a Joint Branch Meeting, but this meeting is composed of members who are not elected… the [Executive] Committee is meant to be elected annually by all Party members. This has not been done… Indeed, I have never been asked to vote on anything in the two years I have been a member.^[18]

The group's current General Secretary, Richard Lloyd, was elected in 2004 unanimously by a poll of just eight of the group's then 30 members; no nominations had been solicited from the membership at large.^[18][19]

[edit] Differences with the Socialist Party of Great Britain

Socialist Studies adopted the object and principles of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and thus claims to hold that party's general ideology and stance on most social, economic, and political issues. However, there are several ideological and practical differences between Socialist Studies and the Socialist Party of Great Britain, most of which arise from the former's narrower interpretation of the object and principles and its views on how strictly these interpretations must be adhered to. For the matters discussed in this section, Socialist Studies generally adopts the position that anyone who does not hold their interpretation cannot be regarded as a true socialist. On the other hand, the Socialist Party of Great Britain holds that at least some of the following issues are ones upon which genuine socialists may disagree with each other; disagreement with the majority position does not automatically disqualify one from being a socialist or from membership in the Party.^[20] Socialist Studies's less accommodating stance has been labelled "doctrinaire", a characterisation which they categorically reject.^[21]

[edit] Political franchise

The principal ideological disagreement Socialist Studies has with the Socialist Party of Great Britain is its attitude towards attempts by workers living under political dictatorships to establish elementary democratic and trade union rights, especially in Eastern Europe in the 1980s and early 1990s.^[22][23][24]

The stance of the SPGB since 1939 is summarised by the following 1990 party conference resolution:

This Conference re-affirms the stand taken in the September [actually October] 1939 Socialist Standard and repeated in the September 1989 Socialist Standard, that the Socialist Party of Great Britain wholeheartedly supports the efforts of workers everywhere to secure democratic rights against the powers of suppression. Whilst we avoid any association with parties or political groups seeking to administer capitalism, we emphasise that freedom of movement and expression, the freedom to organise in trade unions, to organise politically, and to participate in elections, are of great importance to all workers and are vital to the success of the socialist movement.^[25]

Socialist Studies, on the other hand, regards the struggle by workers living under a dictatorship to establish some measure of political democracy as a reformist struggle which socialists should oppose. They believe that the difference between democratic capitalist governments and dictatorial capitalist governments is of no significance to workers, that political democracy is not essential for the propagation of socialist ideas, and that workers in dictatorships should not directly confront the forces of suppression. Instead, Socialist Studies believes that they must be "hostile to such movements for democracy and to call on workers to form instead a socialist political party based on [their] principles".^[25][26]

The SPGB does not consider Socialist Studies's position to be incompatible with socialism, but rather simply a different (albeit illogical) interpretation of its principles:

Indifference to moves by workers to try to establish a minimum of political democracy has, once again, been a minority position within the SPGB though not a matter for expulsion. If [a companion party] were to adopt this position, we could live with it and would not consider it a matter for its exclusion from the World Socialist Movement (though we would reserve the right to criticise it as illogical).^[20]

[edit] Cooperation with capitalist law

Despite calling for the establishment of socialist political parties, Socialist Studies believes that such parties should not engage in political action which requires use of or active cooperation with what they call "capitalist law" or "bourgeois legislation". This arises from their interpretation of Clause 8 of their Declaration of Principles. That clause states that "Socialist Studies… enters the field of political action";^[27] the group interprets this as specifically excluding "legal or moral action" and as "overrid[ing] any other consideration".^[28] In light of this, they accuse the Socialist Party of Great Britain of being capitalist collaborators for having registered with the Electoral Commission, which is a legal requirement to contest elections in the UK.^[28]

Socialist Studies's attitude towards capitalist law is apparently a recent ideological development, as members of the group had previously registered as candidates for parliamentary and council elections when they were members of the SPGB.^[29][30] Also, the group as a whole has occasionally appealed to the state's legal institutions, such as their 1994 lawsuit against the Britannia Building Society^[6] and their use of the police to guard their private meetings.^[17] In 1993 the group publically accused the Socialist Party of Great Britain of "criminal libel"^[31] and has repeatedly indicated that it is prepared to sue if necessary.^[5][32]

[edit] Party name

The Socialist Party of Great Britain had been using the short form of its name, "The Socialist Party", for publicity purposes as far back as 1910.^[33] In 1988, the party passed a resolution at its annual conference indicating when to use the full-form and short-form names: the full-form name was to be retained as the official name for use on legal documents and publication credits, and the short form was to be used for most other purposes, including election ballots and propaganda.^[34] (This is analogous to how the Conservative and Unionist Party publicises itself as "The Conservative Party".) The resolution was made partly to codify an existing practice, and partly to avoid what some members considered the nationalistic connotation of "Great Britain".

Socialist Studies interprets the 1988 resolution as having completely changed the party's name and proscribing the use of the full form.^[3][31][35] They see this resolution as conflicting with the party's Declaration of Principles, one clause of which mentions the party's full name explicitly. It is largely on this basis that they justified their continued operation as the Socialist Party of Great Britain: they claim that they were expelled from "The Socialist Party", not "The Socialist Party of Great Britain".^[21][28] They also claim that they are entitled to use the name because the original Socialist Party of Great Britain no longer exists:

The Socialist Party of Great Britain of 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN, is defunct and no longer exists as a political party. It does not produce political literature, hold propagana meetings or contest elections. It cannot exist merely as a name without a body… We are the only political organisation in this country bearing the title 'The Socialist Party of Great Britain'.^[5]

[edit] Reformism

The SPGB has a longstanding position that it is "opposed to a reform programme and to reformist organisations, but not opposed to reforms as such"^[22]—that is, the party does not campaign for reforms itself, since its sole object is the establishment of socialism, but is not opposed to reforms passed by the government when they are clearly in the interests of the working class. The Socialist Studies group disagrees with this position, explicitly stating that socialist MPs in parliament should vote against reform measures even when they are in the interests of the working class.^[36]

The SPGB considers Socialist Studies's position on how socialist MPs should vote to be "a legitimate position for a socialist to hold, even though it is not the one that, as a matter of historical fact, has been adopted by the SPGB", and "do[es] not regard it as a matter for serious dispute".^[20]

[edit] Abolition of the state

Socialist Studies accuses the SPGB of coming under the influence of anarchist ideas and not sufficiently emphasising the parliamentary aspect of the socialist revolution. Socialist Studies claims that the SPGB's position is that the state would be abolished immediately upon the overthrow of class society, whereas Socialist Studies's position is that the state would "gradually wither away" instead.^[37][38] Referring to the SPGB's 1984 Conference resolution (since rescinded^{[citation needed]}) that "Socialism will entail the immediate abolition of and not the gradual decline of the State", Socialist Studies writes,

If you are in favour of the immediate abolition of the State when Socialism is established then you are in favour of its immediate abolition here and now, which is of course the anarchist position… Unless Socialists use the power of the machinery of government to dispossess the capitalist class they will be unable to establish Socialism. We find it inconceivable that intelligent Socialists of a future generation would even consider such an act of monumental stupidity.^[39]

[edit] Relations with the Socialist Party of Great Britain

Much of the material published by Socialist Studies is highly critical, and often outright contemptuous, of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, which it refers to as the "Clapham-based Socialist Party" or the "Socialist Party of Clapham". The group variously claims that the SPGB is anarchist,^[3][21] reformist,^[21] capitalist,^[21][28] fascist,^[40] Stalinist,^[41] Trotskyist,^[41] undemocratic,^[21] and democracy fetishist.^[21] According to Socialist Studies, the Socialist Party of Great Britain colludes with the Electoral Commission to "prevent Socialists [from] carrying out political propaganda on the web", and does this because its own propaganda is not being read as widely as that of Socialist Studies.^[28] Socialist Studies also claims that the SPGB has a secret de facto leadership of "godfathers",^[41] at least one of whom is a secret agent for MI5,^[18] who conspire to suppress socialist ideas and to destroy Socialist Studies.^[28][35]

Socialist Studies has repeatedly called on the SPGB to respond to some of these accusations and to engage in debates on their ideological differences. However, as these calls were made at the time Socialist Studies was still claiming to be the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the SPGB refused to recognise their legitimacy.^[31] The only official published comment the SPGB has made on the Socialist Studies group has been in an article devoted to the history of breakaway groups in the centenary issue of the Socialist Standard, which described them as "a small group of rather disgruntled ex-members".^[12]

[edit] See also

• World Socialist Party of India
• Socialist Party of Great Britain

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Barberis, Peter; John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley (eds.) (1999). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations. Pinter, 164. 
• Boothroyd, David (2001). Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties. Politico's Publishing, 300. ISBN 1-902301-59-5. 
• Perrin, David A. (2000). The Socialist Party of Great Britain: Politics, Economics and Britain's Oldest Socialist Party. Wrexham: Bridge Books, 123. ISBN 1-872424-80-5. 

[edit] External links

• Socialist Studies