Letter to the Editors from the August 1996 issue of the Socialist Standard
Opportunistic exercises
Dear Editors,
I found Heather Ball's comments (Letters. June Socialist Standard) somewhat surprising.
A socialist who compromises socialist principles is a notion that makes me feel very uncomfortable.
The question of strikes and the SPGB has been discussed often enough in the party’s history. and there is general agreement on the position individual members should take.
The comment ". . . being a Socialist means being a part of the struggle but without illusions” seems to be misplaced; I would expect to see it in a Trotskyite paper.
Does Heather Ball regard the Newbury rallies or strikes as being action against capitalism? The last paragraph of her letter seems to imply that this is the case, when in fact they arc feeble, defensive measures against aspects of capitalism, and where the majority of people are supporters of capitalism.
The SPGB has always made a point of putting the socialist case at demonstrations, not taking part in them. We leave such opportunistic exercises to the SWP.
Graham C. Taylor,
Brabrand, Denmark
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