Dear comrades,

You may have been following, with some bemusement the crisis, that has
developed, suddenly and brutally, within Respect, and that has now led to
George Galloway and his allies to break away and launch their own ‘Respect
Renewal Conference’. This is a tragic development and we in the Socialist
Workers Party feel we owe the international left some explanation.

The attached document offers is an attempt to provide such an explanation.
It was endorsed overwhelmingly by a Party Council (national delegate meeting
of the SWP) that took place yesterday. But events have moved on since the
document was originally drafted. In particular, a series of attempts were
made in the past week by the Galloway faction to declare that the SWP had
left Respect and, when this failed, to prevent the National Conference of
Respect (scheduled for 17-18 November) from taking place. It was only after
the latter ploy was rejected by Respect branch meetings around the country
that the Galloway faction used to cover of darkness physically to seize the
Respect National Office and to call its own conference. The simple reason
why these outrageous tactics were used is that the Galloway faction believes
that it will be a minority at the properly constituted Respect conference.

Factional struggles are often complicated and confusing processes but we
insist that the division in Respect is a political one between left and
right. Since the end of August Galloway has been seeking to force the SWP,
the most powerful organized force on the radical left in Britain, into a
subordinate position within Respect. This reflected our resistance to his
attempt to transform Respect from a pluralistic and democratic coalition
into a top-down alliance of notables focused exclusively on winning Muslim
votes. It is true that Galloway has won the support of a handful of SWP
members and of some well-known figures on the left, such as the film
director Ken Loach, but this does not alter the dynamic of the struggle that
has developed in recent months. The reasons why these comrades have sided
with Galloway is diverse, but they are badly mistaken politically. The
dominant forces in the breakaway will be Galloway, Salma Yaqoob, and the
Muslim notables connected to them.

There is no doubt that the crisis in Respect is a major reverse for the
process of left realignment in Britain. Nevertheless, the SWP remains
strongly committed to this process, both in Britain and on an international
scale. We look forward to working with you in future.

In comradeship,

Alex Callinicos