Monday 11 February 2013

Stir up Socialist Unity

Comrades

I know many of you pop into Socialist Unity for a read and to debate some of the day's issues. For my part I find the site overly panders the SWP almost to the exclusion of any other serious debate - in the last month alone 20 threads were launched with over 3000 postings about the SWP.

In the same period threads associated with social issues such as the welfare state were barely taken up.

Come on United Left. Let's get onto Socialist Unity and drive the debate in the direction it should be going, that is with Universal Credit, bedroom tax, ATOS abuse, etc leading the way!



While people's lives are being smashed to bits by this government's relentless destruction of our welfare state; while millions of people in the UK will soon find themselves struggling to access benefit, money needed to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. While all this is happening the readers of Socialist Unity devote their time to debating on countless threads the plight of a moribund political organisation, a party that has run out of both time relevance - the SWP.

Just look at the excessive introspection of the SWP occurring on SU over the past month. In that time around 20 separate threads have opened discussing the former glories and current goings-on in this small, and in my view now fairly insignificant, group; and has excited over 3,000 postings.

Of course the Left should discuss what interests it; that which stimulates debate and furthers our political aims, objectives and class struggle. However, I don't currently see this being achieved when nearly all other issues are ignored to allow this excessive pandering to a bunch of yesterday's revolutionaries - and pretty poor ones at that.

The bedroom tax, along with the wider range of benefits' cuts and caps, is a burning issue for us on the Left. Universal credit along with measures such as scrapping Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in favour of a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are about to visit misery and poverty upon working, disabled and unemployed people alike; yet, Socialists and Lefties on this site largely ignore these topics when they present themselves - this thread alone has been live for a day and only attracted 13 responses.

Julia Jones' story, horrific as it is, will be repeated a thousand fold across the country in the coming months. Even after all she has undergone, Julia is willing to give these politicians the benefit of the doubt in that she doesn't believe Cameron to be evil, but rather he misunderstands the consequences of his policies. For my part, he understands exactly what he is doing and the consequences; but is indifferent.

Comrades, we need more Julia's to come on Socialist Unity; and, we must engage in serious debate around these issues. This government and its plans to destroy all that we hold dear in our welfare state and NHS is what where must concentrate our energies. The SWP should be part of that struggle, not the main feature, a distraction. 

2 comments:

  1. The campaigns against the Bedroom Tax and the scrapping of DLA are campaigns with the potential to attract huge support across a wide political spectrum; but only if they are not hijacked by toytown revolutionaries to whom these campaigns are merely stepping stones to an "inevitable workers' uprising".

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