Internal Affairs

Internal Affairs provides an insight into how RA functions as an organisation, giving information on such topics as recruitment and national meetings.

RA National Meeting 2000

Vol 4, Issue 7, June/July '00

Leninism And Lifestylism

Vol 4, Issue 5, Feb/March '00

Facing Up To A New Challenge

Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

Red Action Website

Vol 4, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '99

Passionate Debate

Vol 4, Issue 2, Aug/Sept '99

At The Coal Face

Vol 4, Issue 1, June/July '99

National Meeting

Vol 3, Issue 6, Apr/May '99

Staying Focussed

Vol 3, Issue 5, Feb/Mar '99

Join Red Action
Vol 3, Issue 4, Dec '98/Jan '99

Off Their Knees

Vol 3, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '98

Minimum Standards

Vol 3, Issue 2, Aug/Sept '98

Too Good To Go Down

Vol 3, Issue 1, June/July '98

RA National Meeting 2000

Some of the newcomers to this year’s Red Action National Meeting confessed that the weekend had been a whole new experience for them. Yes, they’d been to party conferences before, but nothing quite compared to this. Back-room manoeuvrings and stitch-ups made way for genuine, passionate, debate. There was little in the way of speeches from those in leadership positions, instead they were expected to argue their positions from the floor like everyone else. The open discussion of differences replaced stage-managed shows of unity. And heated as these discussions became they were carried on into the evening in a spirit of comradeship that eschews the culture of character assassination or the fear of vilification that pervades the internal life of most left parties. This is the Red Action way.

The other thing that most impressed those I had spoken with was the air of reality that dominated proceedings. That doesn’t mean to say that what was being discussed had no theoretical anchorage, far from it. It simply meant that everything debated was done so within the framework of practical application. Certainly in my experience this has the advantage of giving the debate a real edge, when most on the left debate in the abstract.

This year the three issues debated which provoked the most contro­versy was that of drugs and the status of anti-social elements within the working class, the left’s perspective on asylum seekers and on what RA’s orientation should be to the newly formed London Socialist Alliance. Other areas covered included our work within Anti-Fascist Action, our political and electoral involvement in community-based working class initiatives, the Internet, fundraising and Ireland.

Certainly a number of members felt that due to certain key factors the LSA had to be discussed in at least a serious fashion. It was argued that the LSA represents an unprecedented realignment of much of the left in Britain (including the biggest sect - the SWP and the Socialist Party, formerly the ‘big guns’ of Militant), a formation that stands left of Labour, prepared to oppose them at the ballot box, while operating in a largely democratic fashion by giving equal status to even the smallest of organisations.

To say there was considerable unease amongst the membership with any suggestion of a ‘turn to the LSA’, would be an understatement. However, it was also recognised that RA members had nothing to fear from any political engagement with the left. Their jaded theory and practice would hold few revelations for our personnel. Instead, as we have not been the first to recognise, the relative ‘opening-up’ of the SWP means that for the first time their cocooned, passive and largely apolitical membership will be exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking. At the moment confusion reigns amongst the rank and file, characteristically their latest U-turn was completed, in true SWP style, without either consultation or even a New Labour-type focus group, let alone an actual vote (perish the thought). Subsequently it is taking them time to readjust to the idea of getting into bed with those formerly deemed the foe, with those whom only weeks ago the leadership were denying ‘Roswell-style’ actually existed.

Certainly the consensus amongst our membership was that while most harboured serious doubts about the sincerity and ability of those involved in the project to actually engage with the working class (that the left were merely intent on applying a bit of elbow grease, polishing-up the fittings and rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic) we should nonetheless take the opportunity to pitch RA’s politics, to what is for us, a relatively new audience.

Steve Potts

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 7, June/July '00

Leninism & Lifestylism

FLICKING THROUGH the pages of the London Evening Standard after the ‘riots’ at Euston station late last year, I noticed the appearance of at least one member of the Revolutionary Communist Group who was familiar to me from early work around the launch of the IWCA, (but more about that later). The Met Police remember had ‘lost control’ during this pre-planned event, when a few hundred ‘anarchists’ had ‘gone on the rampage’ setting a police vehicle alight.

Speaking as someone who has been a member of some formidable AFA stewards groups who have been barely able to step outside their own front doors, before being placed in sealed trains and trans­ported across the breadth of London, filmed, summarily arrested and detained for hours on end, without being provided with so much as an explanation, let alone charge; this becomes somewhat perplexing (Fascists have also been similarly dealt with. In just twenty minutes 400 of them were scooped and placed on police coaches while on the Edgware Road in 1993).

That is of course, unless the timing of this ‘outrage’, so readily condemned by all the usual sources, just so happened to coincide with the new anti-terrorist legislation being passed through the House of Commons at the time. The new legislation, marketed by Millbank as being necessary to deal with dangerous animal rights and Islamic groups, is draconian enough, Human Rights campaigners acknowledge, to have led to the jailing of anti-Apartheid supporters based in London during the ANC’s armed struggle.

This is not to say that I, let alone Red Action, condemn the actions of people that night or consider them to be consciously operating to any kind of ‘state agenda’. I’m all for people letting off a bit of steam at the expense of Plod now and then. But equally this does not mean that the state is not able at times to deliberately manipulate the situation.

Red Action was, to our knowledge, the only publication, which pointed out the ‘strange’ fact that as the 1990 Poll Tax Riot in Trafalgar Square was reaching its climax and the police appeared to be ‘losing control’, hundreds of their colleagues sat calmly sipping coffee in Whitehall, literally yards away. While the event supplied a number of RA members with a fresh collection of entertaining anecdotes and Class War its backlog of photos for the next decade; the Anti-Poll Tax Movement was effectively criminalised in the subsequent hoo-haa, leading to vastly depleted numbers on later demonstrations as the participants were reduced down to the ‘politicos’.

Which brings me back to the aforementioned ‘former comrade’. The spectacle of “Marxist-Leninist’s” who deserted a fledgling IWCA for the ranks of the ‘tree people’, tailing the Anarcho-Green movement, probably says far more about the RCG and the present state of revolutionary struggle in this country, than it does about their new­found, fatigue-clad friends. The December/January edition of the RCGs’ Fight Racism Fight Imperialism! reassures us that this adven­turism will continue, they’ll be “out there on the streets” involved in “mass direct action”, presumably swapping their Leninism for Lifestylism!

The excitement in Seattle will only encourage them further. It appears that this coalition of the middle class left, students, Greens, ‘eco-warriors’ and pacifists, is now being touted around as the ‘great white hope’ for the world’s ‘oppressed’. And the working class No mention of them I’m afraid, but plenty of exotic types telling any reporter who would listen that “this is just like ’68 all over again”. Exactly. Mmm. Sobers you up a bit doesn’t it. Later suckers...

Steve Potts

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 5, Feb/March '00

Facing Up To A New Challenge

As we face into the new millennium it is probably a good time to reflect on the dramatic changes that have taken hold of Red Action over the last couple of years. The most significant of these are the modest but extremely encouraging forays into developing a new form of working class politics. This has meant the membership has had to adapt to the challenges that this new arena of struggle has thrown up. Beforehand things were a lot more ‘straightforward’...

Red Action and AFA members developed a camaraderie born out of adversity, of confronting an enemy who were more often than not superior in numbers. Facing at times the daily threat of serious physical injury or even jail as multiple court appearances piled up meant that reliability was essential. Failing to show-up at a mobilisa­tion might mean leaving your colleagues under-strength and poten­tially vulnerable in any street confrontation. The thought of having to look them in the eye at a later date was usually motivation enough to ensure few ‘cried-off’. This commitment ensured that even through the most testing times, morale remained high.

Today that commitment is called for once again. OK, so the battle­ground may have changed and the expertise required, i.e. being ‘first through the door’, may have altered, but that is all. The raison d’etre for Red Action remains the same as it ever was. Stripped to the bare bones that can be summarised as ‘making struggle in pursuit of the advancement of working class self-emancipation’.

Red Action was never and has never been a single-issue organisation, although at times, with almost the entire responsibility for militant anti-fascism dumped squarely in our lap, it is understandable that we may have appeared as such. Sometimes it is necessary though, to remember why most of us entered into politics and joined RA in particular, in the first place. It was with the aim of not just preventing the disease of fascism but with working on a cure, which would ensure a steady and full recovery of class politics in this country.

We now need to refocus our attention and concentrate our energies. At the moment a relatively small number of members are busting a gut to make headway. Due to their efforts the first chinks of light are just beginning to appear, hinting at a possible breakthrough in the future. At the same time, less inspiring is the habit some members appear to have fallen into, of creating their own ‘ratios of commitment’, picking and choosing which and how many meetings, activities and events they attend, often with the result that their colleagues are being left shouldering the load.

Obviously this is something that will have to be addressed. While this new area of struggle may not open up our members to the same physical or legal dangers as before, it must be remembered nonethe­less, that we are now confronting an enemy far more experienced, bigger. better-resourced and more ruthless than the Far Right ever were.

If we are to be successful in the coming period, it will mean remaining as committed as ever, it will mean utilising expertise and attributes that might have been shelved in the past, it will mean those who had been forced to take a back seat in the past now coming to the fore in this new area of struggle. As I have been at great pains to make clear in the past, everybody has a role to play and new members who feel they have something to offer should push themselves forward instead of waiting in line to be asked, afterall this new arena is one where we are all still learning the game.

To my fellow RA members I say enjoy the festive season and return in the New Year determined to play your part and play it to the full.

Steve Potts

Reproduced from RA vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

Red Action Website

ANY OF YOU who tried to access our website using the address published in the August/September bulletin would not have got very far. So while apologising for this cock-up we are also pleased to announce that the site can now be located at the correct address below. Already, since going online a number of suggestions have been forwarded that will ensure that its presentation, structure and content can all be improved. We would also like to encourage our readers from both within and without the organisation to e mail us with constructive criticism and ideas for additional features you would like to see.

There is no doubt that the pace of new developments in information technology is formidable. While many technological developments can sometimes be a double-edged sword (when placed at the disposal of the State for instance) IT should be keenly embraced by any progressive movement because of the opportunities it offers. The Far-Right, as is often the case nowadays, were among the first on the political fringes to recognise the real potential that the internet offers. Largely ignored by the mainstream media and unable to venture out onto the streets to disseminate its propaganda, the internet provides the Far-Right with a cheap, censorship-free means of getting regularly updated information, news and views to thousands, and potentially millions, of ordinary people.

Internet use has soared in the last couple of years with everyone from schoolkids to pensioners being offered courses in its use. Its former status as that of 'trainspotters' hobby is already outdated. Within RA, even staunch members of the 'luddite faction' can now be observed surfing the net.

As the Left in Britain continues to contract, the number of left-wing bookshops, meetings, marches and demos, are set to become increasingly scarce and with them the opportunity to sell our publications and come into contact with potential recruits. The internet then, will take on an increasingly important role ensuring that potentially anybody, from Edinburgh to Essex, Berlin to Brisbane who wants access to the latest Red Action publications, news and views, will have it.

It will also mean that we can improve and speed-up internal communications as well. All regions should ensure that they have their own e mail facility and that they are linked into the rest of the organisation. Similarly anybody who has advice and expertise in the area of IT shouldn't be shy in coming forward.

Though constrained by our meagre resources, this November we will be undertaking our most ambitious promotional drive to date. In line with a decision taken at this year's National Meeting, thousands of stickers will be distributed, adverts will be taken out in selected publications and we will have a general RA recruitment leaflet available for the first time. This will seek to boost sales of the RA bulletin, raise awareness of the RA website and equip members for the first time with a general, easily accessible introduction to RA for new contacts, as well as enabling us to take full advantage of any forthcoming mobilisations and events.

All regions of RA will be expected to participate fully next month and ensure that their full quota of materials are distributed. At the same time though, we should not allow other ongoing projects to fall by the wayside, so this is a good opportunity for organisers to pull in and involve those around the fringes of RA.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 3, Oct/Nov'99

Passionate Debate

THIS YEAR 'S National Meeting (NM) was very satisfying for a number of reasons. The effort put into organising and promoting the NM amongst the membership clearly paid of, this being one of the best attended RA conferences in a number of years. Of particular significance was the welcome return of some long standing members alongside the newest recruits; plus a smattering of AFA 'vets ' from around the country who have joined RA in the last year. Just as pleasing was the fact that all regions outside of London and the South East were well represented.

The first day of the NM was given over to a full, open, comprehensive debate on how all areas of the organisation 's work is progressing and might be improved, from publications to the internet, from finance to the National Civil Rights Movement, from the state of the Left to the promotion of independent working class initiatives.

The real contentious issues however, emerged with a rash of emergency motions on the second day. The wisdom of allowing these motions onto the agenda, with members having no opportunity for prior viewing or discussion, has to be open to question. It certainly led to one of them being 'pared down ' and all being voted through on the proviso that they remain at an exploratory stage.

However, it did give the accompanying debates a rawness that was lacking when discussing areas where we have been active at length.

It was the debate on 'Developing a response to drug use in working class communities ' that evoked the most emotive and passionate reaction. Whilst the person responsible must be praised for attempting to open up discussion on what is becoming a crucial issue within our communities, he was left in absolutely no doubt as to the powerful reactions this issue provokes.

While I would not even attempt to represent the views of other members, who all argued their positions well, I think it 's fair to say that opinions ranged from those espousing respect for the rights of drug users - all the way through to those who favoured the tactics applied by the likes of 'Direct Action Against Drugs ' in the north of Ireland!
Of course what gives these kind of debates an edge within RA is the knowledge that they are rarely embarked upon as merely an academic exercise. Unlike most groups on the Left, RA members know that at some stage they might well be expected to implement any new policy.

As I outlined earlier, given the last-minute arrival of this and other motions, there was no way the debate was going to be successfully concluded before the clock ran out. It is important then that discussion of these issues are not allowed to come to an abrupt end, that they are not just simply shelved or 'parked until a future date ' as a Mr D. Trimble would say. Organisers must ensure that these debates continue within branch meetings and members can also avail of space in the internal bulletin.

This year 's National Meeting provides a good platform to build on in the coming year. As was highlighted, the on-going and accelerating collapse of the Left, could elevate the role of RA far beyond the actual relatively small membership and meagre resources currently at our disposal. But to do that will require all of us to play a role in ensuring that all areas of work discussed are followed up and pushed home for the maximum gains possible. As the National Organiser suggested in his opening address to the NM, "not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. Meaning that increasingly what happens in [this room], can shape what happens out there".
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 2, Aug/Sept '99

At The Coal Face

The son of the Home Secretary, the future son-in-law of the heir to the throne, the captain of the nations rugby union side; it seems that just about everybody's doing it and those who aren't are all talking about it. Drugs that is. The establishment and tabloid media have been falling over themselves in the stampede to condemn those high-profile figures accused of dealing, in their usual hypocritical fashion without any serious attempt to truly analyse the 'evil of drug use' within society. To do that, of course, would, as on so many other issues, require them to examine the root cause of the 'problem', opening up any number of cans of worms and is therefore something they are not prepared to even contemplate.

It is probably a timely coincidence then, that over the next two issues Red Action will be publishing a series of articles on the impact of drug use within working class communities. This is being undertaken with the aim of opening up debate on this important issue within the ranks of RA members and supporters. But it is not intended that this be merely an academic exercise. It will also form part of a discussion paper to be debated at this year's RA conference aimed at developing practical approaches to problems facing hard-pressed working class communities across Britain. Although we will only be embarking on the initial stages, it will signal, once again, RA's determination to break with custom and practice of the British Left.
Many on the Left, however, will tell you that this is either a distraction or quite simply just wrong. That the real battle remains 'the struggle for Left unity and the development of the revolutionary programme'. This reminds me of an occasion shortly before the last general election, when the SLP were canvassing a large council estate in Wythenshawe, just outside Manchester. According to the Weekly Worker, time and again canvassers were informed by local residents that their biggest concern was that of anti-social behaviour by local youths. The SLP response? Retire to a venue in central Manchester to tell a public meeting of fellow lefties, that the problem was down to the capitalist system and therefore, once it was replaced with socialism, the problem would be eradicated. This was reported favourably.

Obviously, the 'solution' to long term problems will only be possible with the conquest of political power. But as we work towards this goal we must also develop strategies that can provide, dare I say it, a 'thirdway' for communities stuck between a rock and a hard place; ie. forced to choose between the utopianism of the Left and the indifference of the State. While I am sure no one within RA is under the illusion that there are any simple answers to what are often extremely complex problems, sticking our heads in the sand is just not an option. We will need to debate these issues with a maturity and honesty that will only be possible if we are looking at what our own role might be developing and implementing alternative strategies on the ground.
The recent election results point to the still-growing alienation of the working class from the political establishment. To those even prepared to address, let alone fill, the vacuum, the reward will be substantial. If we are to ensure that it is to be filled by those from the Left spectrum rather than those from the ultra-Right, that work must begin now. And let's face it, for those of us at the coal face it is far from being abstract. While at a meeting of activists in the South West of England recently, I was struck by the stark admission that everybody in the room (whether family, friends or even themselves) had been affected at some point by drugs in a negative way. Motivation, if any were needed, to set our minds to the task.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 4, Issue 1, June/July '99

National Meeting

THE LAST year has been a crucial one for Red Action. At last year's RA National Meeting, our most ambitious strategy document to date was put to, and endorsed, by the membership. Steadily, we have seen probably the most under-resourced organisation on the left drive forward a number of genuinely radical projects. After breaking free of the 'foot draggers' from the left, independent working class politics is now in the process of being placed, albeit in embryonic form, onto the agenda in a number of working class communities. Militant anti-fascism has been repositioning itself to deal with both the BNP's change of strategy and the new challenges thrown up to it from the fall-out from the Lawrence inquiry. On a lower level the emergence of a new, bi-monthly Red Action has given our members, supporters and contacts a regular focus; resulting in a growth in membership. A number of RA regions have reorganised themselves recently and the next issue of RA will carry news of an RA web-site.

This year we need to build on these foundations, which will mean more than ever, 'every member of RA being conscious of the role of the organisation in the greater scheme of things, and being doubly conscious of their own role within the organisation'. While last years National Meeting was well attended there were still far too many members, particularly from outside the Southern region, who failed to materialise; and this must be improved upon this year. Unlike National Council meetings, RA National Meetings are for all RA members, not just Regional delegates. This is where the organisation's work for the previous year is reviewed and policy decided for the forthcoming year. All members have the opportunity to propose, debate and vote on policy. Ultimately, it is the guarantor of Red Action's democratic integrity. For RA members it should be one of the most important events of the year, as well as providing one of the few opportunities to meet other members from the length and breadth of Britain. So this year, every member and supporting member should try to attend. There's no reason, with three to four months notice, why you can't. If you work weekends, book leave now; if you're one of those lucky buggers booking a holiday, avoid 26-27 June; if you've got kids, sort out the in-laws; money doesn't enter into it, as there'll be a pooled-fares system. Put simply, if you take your politics, your organisation and yourself seriously... you'll be there.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 6, Apr/May '99

Staying Focussed

JUST BEFORE the seasonal holidays began I attended a public meeting organised by the local constituency Labour Party. Now and then I like to study the opposition at close quarters, it can often be quite revealing. This crowd were an interesting mixture of Tribune-reading, leftie sandal-wearers; a few old-style trade union blue collars; the obligatory couple of geeky looking SWPers from the local University and a group, sitting conspicuously apart from the rest, of expensively tailored New Labour suits. Not what you'd call a sight to inspire anyone... except for myself of course, who felt greatly encouraged by the lack of calibre amongst our foe. Clearly there for the taking you'd think. Well, yes, away from Millbank's well-oiled spinning machine, Labour are a different proposition and on this viewing totally unsuited to pressing the flesh with the great unwashed; if you know what I mean. If this showing is anything to go by, it shouldn't be too long before our hard work shows signs of paying off.

But nationally the Blair project, to transform capitalism, steams on largely unhindered at the moment. Ok, so we all had a chuckle when the oily Mandelson slipped on a banana skin and the freezer lorries stuffed full of the bodies of people's loved ones have caused New Labour a bit of embarrassment; but basically it's still 'steady as she goes'.
To listen to the 'revolutionary left' though, you'd have to believe otherwise. According to the December edition of the Socialist Review, monthly magazine of the Socialist Workers Party, 'the year is ending with the Labour Party in disarray', and we have already had the Revolutionary Communist Group declaring that 'the entire capitalist system teeters on the edge of an abyss'. Just enough time then to don the tin helmet and clamber behind the barricades. Perhaps in 1999 those who sniggered at Peter Taffe of the Socialist Party (formerly Militant) when he predicted the 'red 90s will all have to eat humble pie. But I don't think so.
The modus operandi of the left takes on a lot of similarities with the religious cult. By that I mean they are always predicting one big catastrophic event that will change everything and bring the powers that be to their knees. The day of reckoning is not far comrades, just sell a couple more papers and keep those noisy lobbies coming. No time to question where they are going, indeed no need. Involving themselves in any long term work is merely a distraction - talk of putting down roots in working class communities is to be sneered at. Of course, occasionally the establishment through its arrogance might present us with an opportunity that can be easily exploited, like the Poll Tax. Labour's desire to 'modernise' the constitution for instance, means their agenda may inadvertently benefit our own; e.g. proportional representation.

For Red Action members though, it is important we begin the new year as we ended the last; that is, focussed on the long-term strategy agreed at the 1998 RA conference. To ensure we do so I would suggest all members and particularly all organisers, regularly fish-out the conference documents and give them the once-over. It will be by continuing the hard graft into 1999 that will lay the foundations for a lasting independent working class opposition to Blair; not waiting for any false messiahs.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 5, Feb/Mar '99

Join Red Action

The AFA Cable Street anniversary events once again proved a success. Apart from the public events a day-long internal forum was held, where AFA members openly debated topics of their choosing. This aspect has become especially important nowadays as informal opportunities to meet with AFA members from around the country have drastically diminished since the fascists deserted the streets. While there were a number of members (still too many in my opinion) who didn't feel confident enough to contribute, the debate was conducted in the most part with a refreshing honesty and in a fraternal manner. For many it actually proved to be the highlight of the weekend.
While there has undoubtedly been problems within AFA over the past couple of years, the assertion by leading BNPer Tony Lecomber, that AFA is somehow on it's knees; appears to be based on little more than wishful thinking. If debate is the lifeblood of any progressive movement, then AFA, on the evidence of this session, is very much alive and... yes... kicking. Of course there is still a small rump, who, while candid in their criticisms of existing strategy in private, were far less forthcoming in public. No matter. Red Action will always defend the right to free and fair debate within the movement over that of the backroom whisper, quite simply because we have nothing to fear from it.
Sharing a pint with a RA colleague later that weekend he told me that this openess of debate would have been totally unheard of in his former organisation, Militant (which is probably one of the contributing factors as to why they now have 400 members when they previously had 200 paid organisers). Our commitment to open dialogue within the movement is obviously something we do well. But there are other aspects we are not so good at.

Dishing out deserved praise is certainly one of them. All of those who worked hard at this years events - and previous years - deserve praise. From those who did the background organisation, the stewarding, staffed the stalls, did the driving, produced or distributed the excellent publications; are all shining examples of what RA and AFA members, away from the hype, are really about.

Selling our own organisation, is also something we apparently do badly. After recieving my best sales patter, a recent recruit to RA told me that, 'RA members are terrible at selling their own organisation aren't they?' This is probably true. Repulsed by the 'Jehovah Witness' style devotion to recruitment practiced with evangelical zeal by much of the left, it is in some ways almost inevitable. But at the same time we have allowed it go too far the other way. A recent example of this was of a long-time associate enquiring tentatively about RA membership; he had assumed that you had to wait for an 'approach'.
With all the component parts of our overall strategy just beginning to edge forwards, if only slightly, the first trickle of new recruits to RA for some time have begun to appear. As the British left continues its downward spiral, with little sign of a bottoming out, there will be an increasing number of activists who will be facing the choice of retirement or finding a new political vehicle. To the serious elements amongst them we say this... forget the sectarian bickerings of the past, bury the egos, whatever your political background: JOIN RED ACTION
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 4, Dec '98/Jan '99

Off Their Knees

After a couple of years absence I attended the West Belfast Festival this year and took the opportunity to show a couple of RA members, over for the first time, their way around. Despite the fact that Belfast could no longer be called an actual, it was still, by their own admission, quite an eye-opener for my two colleagues.

Chatting to one of them over a pint during the weekend, I told him he was a rare species indeed, a real trophy. After some strange looks, I explained that despite RA running regular trips for umpteen years that have included amongst their ranks, a grandson of a Black and Tan, an ex-serving member of the British Army, a Rangers FC-supporting Glasgow protestant and a member of West Ham FC's infamous ICF firm; he was one of the few ex-Trots who had been persuaded to make the journey.

And it's funny, thinking about it later, very few of the left have ever really understood the importance RA has always placed on our delegations to Belfast, with one outfit even accusing us of indulging in 'revolutionary tourism'. With their stereotypical images of RA members, I suspect that one half imagined that when we weren't drinking we were getting our photos taken with armed IRA patrols; while the other more jittery half, probably believed we were actually in the hills of Donegal undergoing arms training!

While the incredibly brave individual military acts of the IRA were undoubtedly an inspiration for RA members, they never really represented an aspiration. Our aspirations have always centred around the community itself, rather than the guerrilla army it spawned. The idea has always been to give our members and supporters the chance to observe, at close hand, what a revolutionary, politicised and organised working class community looks like. Where the word 'revolutionary' has a little more meaning than the wearing of PLO scarfs, Che Guevara berets or refusing to shave your legs or say the word 'cunt'.

The advantage of Belfast has always been what can only be described as the normality of the place, a place that can in many ways be easily related to. The conflict was not a thousand miles away in a far-off steamy jungle, but barely an hour from Heathrow; a part of the 'UK' in fact.
As at home, Belfast is a place where the young lads are all kitted out in the latest Arsenal and Man Utd tops and the girls the new Kappa or Adidas tracksuits. The differences with home are often a lot more subtle than simply the war between the British Army and the IRA, but nonetheless just as dramatic.

A chance meeting with an old lady on a street corner, struggling home with her shopping, has led to RA members being taken home for cups of tea and being told of how the woman's home was always open to those fleeing the security forces, and about her own sons and daughters who had either been killed on active service or imprisoned. Getting a ride in one of the community's Black taxis can mean you get involved in a discussion with the driver (usually an ex-prisoner), not on the merits of hanging & flogging and immigration, but of the peace process in South Africa.

While the war in Ireland may be over, the opportunity for RA members to benefit from immersing themselves, if only for a weekend, in a working class community that has climbed off of its knees, cannot be underestimated. Those who have not yet done so should avail themselves of the opportunity. You won't regret it.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '98

Minimum Standards

It was good to see a whole host of familiar faces and a number of new ones, at this years annual RA National Meeting. Some were absent because of justifiable reasons, including one of our organisers who was busy cementing links with fellow anti-fascists in Germany. However, a few members appeared to be missing for reasons that were less straightforward. One, a member of some years standing now, confessed to me later that he had felt the main policy document up for debate, 'Fast Forward or...', what can only be described as 'intimidating'. This is a great shame and also a bit silly, as he missed what was a crucial debate within the organisation

The session started with a quick look at the state of the British left and compared their efforts with the ambition of the BNP, who have on their immediate agenda the raising of £50,000 to fight next years Euro elections and the setting up of their own film unit. The BNP had also insisted that households in the wards where they stood during the recent local elections should be leafletted at least twice and all canvassed, with activists going out four evenings per week and weekends during the preceding month.

As I pointed out in this column before (June/July), we have identified inadequacies that still exist within our own structures that have held us back. Once again these were confronted in the FF document in an uncompromising fashion... 'The self deprecatory, raggedy arsed, semi-detached presentation and approach to existing policy and structures needs to be brought to an abrupt end. Failure to attend activities, prepare for meetings, a proffering of feeble excuses, chronic unreliability, an avoidance of subs and other routine derelictions can have no place in Red Action'.

The document went on to identify though that: 'Unlike previous phases in our existence when the practical political application was often reduced to one or two issues, it is now increasingly symmetrical and all the stronger for it'. In other words each area of work will complement and dove-tail with the other, while at the same time fitting into the overall strategy.

The main thrust of the document outlined what the author of the piece felt was required to ensure that the various areas of work we are engaged in moved forward simultaneously. As well as a symmetrical approach to our work it is important that we also have a systematic approach. This means every member in RA will have one specific individual focus of responsibility, a field of speciality not instead, but in addition to the obligation to the wider project. While this might have seemed daunting to my aforementioned colleague, all we are talking about is ensuring that: 'everyone takes responsibility and plays their part to the very best of their ability', or putting it plainly, its about setting some minimum standards of commitment. What will be required for the coming period, is for RA to become an organisation of organisers.

Of course that doesn't mean that anyone 'not making the grade' will be cast into the wilderness; far from it. As the great Irish revolutionary Bobby Sands said 'Everyone has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small'. However, let's not kid ourselves, for us to move forward, it will be up to each member to make what amounts to a personal decision to take a step up.

Steve Potts

Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 2, Aug/Sept '98

Too Good To Go Down

Amongst the subjects for discussion at the last meeting of the RA National Council (NC) was the present condition of the left and the effect this may have on RA. In recent times we have seen the disappearance of the likes of Class War and the various factions that made up the remnants of the WRP. The Socialist Party (formerly Militant) look set to suffer an acrimonious split along national lines, with the Scottish section of the party about to declare U.D.I. and are also said to be down to 30-40 activists for the entire London area. A steady flow of resignations from Arthur Scargill's SLP have been the order of the day since the fanfare of publicity that heralded it, launch; while Arthur tries to buy-up the Morning Star which is tearing itself apart in a dispute between workers and management. Even the self-styled 'hard-headed ideologues' of the CPGB have seen its two Scottish organisers resign in apparent despondency. Surely it will not be too long either, before the SWPs continued electoral support for the viciously right-wing Blair government causes serious dissent within the ranks.
So where does this leave RA? Although, because of RAs long-standing rejection of conventional left ideology, RA has so-far suffered few resignations in what must be seen as a particularly harsh climate for those involved in revolutionary politics; it would be a grave mistake to think that we are somehow automatically immune from its effects. RA has no divine right to survive. To use football terminology, no one is necessarily 'too good to go down' in the present climate.

One aspect identified at the NC crucial to RA's long-term health is the tightening-up of our internal structures. There has certainly been a tendency in some areas to allow this area of work to drift. All organisers should ensure that Regional and Branch meetings are held on a regular basis and are well attended, that subs are paid on time, that the Red Action Bulletin is sold and the internal newsletters are distributed and contributed-to regularly.

It is essential that members who are often burrowing away on equally important but disparate projects do not become isolated from the rest of the organisation. Taking part in branch meetings gives all members an opportunity to gain an overview of the progress that RA is making in the various areas of its work throughout the regions, and to debate and shape short-term policy between annual conference; essential in ensuring internal democracy.
As we have previously identified, an explosion in growth for organisations such as RA is not on the cards for the foreseeable future. Instead we must apply ourselves to the various projects we have been painstakingly assembling over the past few years.

This has often been a frustrating period for some members who have not played a hands-on role in this process, however, now is the time for the talking to stop and the doing to begin. RA has equipped itself with a sound analysis, have been central in putting together a number of potentially ambitious and exciting projects and can look upon the coming period with some optimism. Success is not guaranteed though. These projects will need a solid core, and that core is RA. We must start by doing the basics and do them well.
Steve Potts
Reproduced from RA vol 3, Issue 1, June/July '98