Disrepute and democratic centralism according to the DSP

Greg Adler

“Henry II was a great Lawgiver,and it was he who laid down the great Legal Principle that everything is either legal or (preferably) illegal.” 1066 And All That

It’s appropriate to start with a quote from a farce as I take a brief forensic look at the process by which the DSP majority carried out its purge against the minority, although to call the process farcical would be to grant it great deal more dignity and authority than it deserves.

Before going to a closer look at this admixture of the draconian and the slapstick that makes up the DSP’s purge process a brief word or two on the politics of the charges brought against the minority faction.

In short, charges were laid by Alex (hammer of the iniquitous) Bainbridge that minority supporters had sought to run Venezuelan solidarity stalls without close DSP supervision. This in spite of the the fact that for the past several years the DSP/SA has made such work a mainstay of its activity.

Further, an experienced and dedicated supporter of the Palestinian struggle was told to remove herself from such work in the year of the 60th anniversary of Al Nakba.

Also, a highly eperienced trade unionist activist dared to arrange meetings with fellow unionists to discuss his experience of visiting Venezuela.

All these issues seem politically well in line with DSP politics and thoroughly reasonable and useful things for the minority faction to have engaged in.

There was also a sort of blanket charge of bringing the DSP into disrepute. This is a master work of farce — it is difficult to conceive of anything more likely to bring the DSP into disrepute than this purge and the way it has been carried out.

So to the process: an “investigating committee” comprised of Lisa M, Dave H and Susan P was set up to investigate the activites of the Leninist Party Faction. Various pieces of hearsay evidence — what people (unnamed in the purge report) claimed had been said to them by LPF members were taken on board by the committee. There is no suggestion that this evidence or the credibility of those giving it was tested by the intrepid investigators.

The trio must have been mightily impressed by the quality and credibility of two reports on LPF activities around Venezuelan solidarity issues . The reports were provided by Lisa M and Susan P — two thirds of the investigating committee.

This committee took multi-tasking to a new level, being judges, jury, prosecutors and key prosecution witnesses. Hmmm what verdict do you think they might have reached?

Kangaroo Court and Star Chamber are terms of ignominy for corrupted and biased psuedo-judicial processes, and now the term DSP Investigating Committee can take its rightful place alongside those.

In fact, given that the DSP majority had already taken an official decision that the minority was a hostile force two years before the trio set to work, the whole thing was a farce from beginning to end.

Alex (hammer of the iniquitous) B has more work to do. It is high time that he charged the trio with bringing the DSP into disrepute and holding it up to ridicule. For abundant precaution he should probably bring similar charges against Peter B.

Tags: DSP