Political parties change…

One thing that has stuck with me from splintered sunrise (and by the way, anyone know how he is?) was a point made about parties of the left – that often the internal political culture can be quite at odds with the political programme, that in other words the former can alter/distort/shape the latter in unpredictable ways. I’m reminded of Ken MacLeod’s observation that having been through the Trotskyist left he found the CPGB in the early 1980s the most open political formation in his experience, despite obvious issues.

But another aspect of this – and a point made by a friend of mine – is the way in which parties change over time. It’s an easy jibe to say that SF in 2017 isn’t the same as SF in 1987, or indeed 1977, but there’s an element of truth to it. Though many of those involved remain the same, though the overall thrust toward separatism etc has been constant it is not difficult to envisage a member from 1977 waking up today getting quite a surprise. And this functions across shorter time periods. Another friend involved heavily in anti-drugs campaigns has often wondered how those involved in 2000 have accepted all that has taken place since.

And the same is true of other parties. The WP of 2017 is – to my eyes – quite distinctly different to that which I was a member of in the 1980s and early 1990s. It could hardly be otherwise given the movement of people involved at that time. Programmatically much, though not all, is the same but the party culture is different. Recognisable to me, absolutely, but different. There’s an accentuation of certain things, a diminution of others. Talking to comrades who either left or stayed there’s a commonality and a shared language – shared assumptions in part but that distinctiveness is very real (and what I’ve found particularly striking is how transferable that commonality is and that shared language in respect to other Republican formations – SF most obviously, but IRSP too).This is a function of many different elements. As is true of the Socialist Party when compared and contrasted with Militant. Of course it is as wrenching to be ejected from another formation as it is to undergo a split or two. Or, and this is slightly different, the SWP today and that of the late 1980s – I say different because PBP functions in relation to the SWP in an interesting way.

Naturally time itself brings change. Different contexts, challenges, personnel, inflect an organisation, any organisation. But there are oddities. One of the strangest things is to hear people who were not alive or not politically active to any great degree talking about the conflict (and in relation to say parties on the republican left – feuds) as if that were still ongoing. Given that I’m fifty one and had no direct experience of the latter it is curious to see the hold it has (this is not to dismiss the feelings of those who were directly involved or there at the time, but simply to point up how attachment functions).

But perhaps that’s a different discussion entirely.