Manchester Anti-Raids statement on the Socialist Worker’s Party
This was copied from a Manchester Anti-Raids statement, put out by the group after an immigration raid in Chorlton, lightly edited into a blog post.
On Friday 12th August 2022, Manchester Anti-Raids responded to a call-out for an immigration raid happening at the Olive and Thyme restaurant in Chorlton. That evening, the assembled group of 20-30 people were successfully able to prevent immigration officers from detaining anybody. This is a victory that is worth celebrating
However, we were concerned by the significant presence of a small number of activists from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and their front group, Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), who distributed placards and, by the end of the evening, set up a PA system, unfurled a banner, and transformed the raids-resistance action into an impromptu rally. SUTR is already claiming the action as a success accomplished by their group. Whilst a number of SUTR members were there on Friday alongside many others alerted through anti raids networks, the structure of a raids-resistance call-out is necessarily non-hierarchical, depending on a mass mobilisation and drawing in anybody willing and able to provide support. This action was not ‘led’ by anybody. We are very troubled that the SWP and SUTR are now using autonomous struggles for their own self-promotion.
Friday’s Action
The actions of SWP activists at Friday’s action were reckless and dangerous. As the immigration officers left the restaurant, activists from the SWP instructed the assembly to sit down around the van; but a simple glance at them would tell you that they had not detained anybody. They were, however, accompanied by a police officer, and more police officers were inside. Whilst immigration officers have very limited legal powers, a police presence makes it possible for the state to charge people with obstructing a police officer in the course of duty, or other criminal charges. By encouraging people to sit down and chant, the SWP unnecessarily put people in danger so that they would have a better photo opportunity. Fortunately, nobody was arrested that night, but that does not mean the police will not use Friday’s action in future prosecutions. This is especially worrying considering the SWP’s long record of coordinating with the police to ensure the smooth operation of their actions. Whilst this may allow the SWP to operate with minimal legal obstruction, it can be very dangerous for the ordinary people swept up in their work, such as the majority of the people assembled last night. Our members who were present found it very difficult to discourage people from talking to the police while certain SWP activists – in their self appointed leadership roles – actively pursued ‘liaisoning’ with them.
After the event the SWP continued to endanger people to future prosecution or immigration enforcement action by posting photos and videos of people protesting and being questioned by immigration enforcement officers on their social media. They have since ignored multiple requests for them to take these down.
Activists from the SWP treated the act of raids resistance like they treat their own rallies and protests, as a way of building support for their own party’s work on the relevant issues. As well as how dangerous this was in the instance, this is a grossly insulting way to engage in actions that they had no part in planning. Their strategy of bringing a PA system and assuming command centralised what would otherwise have been a decentralised action. This decentralisation is possible because of months of slow, patient organising by Manchester Anti-Raids, forging links with Manchester’s migrant proletariat and supporting networks of solidarity. Neither the SWP nor SUTR have shown an interest in our work before, nor have they acknowledged our presence since.
Who are the SWP?
The SWP is a Trotskyite political party, and one of the most well established groups on the British Left. Front groups are a classic tactic of many groups on the left, basically aiming to unite a variety of different groups in a common struggle. Stand Up to Racism was set up by the SWP to unite anti-racist struggle and draw them into ‘the workers struggle’ as led by the SWP. We take no issue with Trotskyism or front-tactics in themselves; our critique is not a sectarian one. Rather, our issue is with the specific group dynamics of the SWP. In 2010, the national secretary of the Party, Martin Smith, usually referred to as Comrade Delta, was accused of sexual abuse by a much younger fellow party member. After a long, drawn-out ‘investigation’, during which the woman accusing him was asked about her previous sexual activity and her drinking habits, Smith was moved to a lower, but still high ranking, position in the party. Other party members were given a choice; support Smith and his continued role, or leave. Seven hundred people resigned. Though Smith himself resigned the party later, his friends and supporters remain in key leadership positions.
You can read more about this in the articles Why I don’t buy Socialist Worker and Socialist Workers Party leadership under fire over rape kangaroo court
What does sexual violence have to do with resisting raids?
In principle, we refuse to treat sexual violence as a secondary issue in our organising. This is one of the primary forms that gendered oppression takes, and we will not allow people of marginalised genders to face violence and exclusion from our organising on the basis of this oppression. As the recent SpyCops trials demonstrate, gendered violence is also a key form by which the state infiltrates and disrupts our organising. We refuse to create the conditions for this disruption and influence to flourish.
Further, the hostile environment includes the heightened vulnerability of migrants to sexual violence within Britain. Migrants are even less safe reporting sexual violence to the authorities than citizens, and border violence serves to disrupt those community-led processes by which abusers can be held accountable. Our struggles against border imperialism must include struggle against sexual violence if they are to succeed.
Shouldn’t we all just unite in common struggle?
We do not take pleasure in issuing statements of this kind. Our aim is to organise a broad mass movement against border imperialism, and whilst we have our own internal politics as a group, we do not need everybody who wants to be involved in our work to share our exact positions. However, there are key red lines. There is no reason why our unity against borders cannot also be a unity against sexual violence; and unity is definitely no excuse for reckless and self-serving tactics in our struggle.