The second Congress of the SLP, widely trailed as make-or-break for the fledgling party, was deferred several times and eventually took place in the middle of the pantomime season, which turned out to be quite apt. Hopes the SLP could become more than “Arthur’s Party” were dashed and the party cannot now play the leading role in political regroupment to the left of Labour. The attendance of around 250 was half that of the first conference and by the end of the first session many of these had had enough and left the hall for good.
Party membership figures were given as 2,200. Due to the SLP’s pretend “big party” constitution only those members contained in a constituency party were eligible for a vote at congress; this left 1,200 members disenfranchised. The others had formed or been dragooned into 180 constituency SLPs of which 114 had sent delegates representing 600 members.
Motions to Congress were voted on by a show of hands and when some looked close, card votes were called for. Frank Cave, chairing, intoned the results of these card votes just before the lunch break and an audible gasp of disbelief echoed around the hall. For the motion — 384; against — 3,317! It quickly transpired that a single organisation held a card vote of 3,000 votes, over 75% of those available. This led one delegate to ask the holder of this card to step forward and save conference an awful lot of time by stating his voting intentions on the rest of the agenda.
In the afternoon the 75% card was used to support a motion dissolving the party’s black sections. This was too much for some and a string of candidates for the NEC declared that, if elected, they would not take up their seats. These included former General Secretary Pat Sikorski, Carolyn Sikorski, Brian Heron and Imran Khan. At this point the SLP was effectively dead in the water. Overnight negotiations led these people to climb aboard again, with the black sections decision apparently intact.
Half the active membership had been campaigning for an open and democratic SLP and a “Democratic Platform” slate for the NEC had considerable support. Some of its candidates would have been elected but for the fact that the 3,000 card vote came into play again. This block vote, held by the Lancs area NUM, was used not only in the trade union section but, incredibly, in the constituency section as well — a feat even Labour Party bureaucrats never aspired to.
The second day opened with less than 50 which swelled to 150 by the close, as many who had already decided to leave drifted in. The low numbers highlighted a nasty side to the SLP as a number of grim men ranted about the correctness of the regime in China and the old Soviet Union. Some even called for more expulsions from the depleted SLP. Arthur Scargill, facing a half-empty hall, shook his head at this, but he has saddled himself with these Stalinist throwbacks and shows no sign of ditching them.
As Labour moves even further to the right and disabled people throw red paint at the gates of Downing Street, the space for a new political formation becomes bigger and more obvious than ever. Most people who joined the SLP hoped that the party was a step towards a broad-based democratic regroupment. Hundreds of people have been re-activated and have been able to work together in a non-sectarian way.
Discussions between ex-SLP members, Labour left wingers, the SP (Militant), various green currents and others promise to continue this process. The Scottish Socialist Alliance has already blazed the trail of socialist regroupment and is to meet with the dissident Euro MPs. Arthur Scargill was right to call for a new mass party, although his SLP may prove to be only an episode in the fragmentation and reformation of British politics. Those of us leaving it are still determined to play a part in building a powerful movement to challenge Blair’s neo-liberal consensus.