Left Continues To Re-write History.

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Monday May 24, 2010 13:23 by john throne - labor's militant voice. loughfinn at aol dot com

Peter Hadden's death.

The death of Peter Hadden, leading member of the Socialist Party has generated many speeches and obituaries. Here is my general response.

The obituaries for Peter Hadden speak of his struggle for socialism and working class unity. As somebody who was active in the Militant which later became the Socialist party I agree with this. The obituaries also criticize the role of the union leaders in their refusal to give leadership over the past decades. I also agree with this.

However there is another aspect of the struggle for socialism which is not mentioned in the obituaries and speeches. And this has been and is also very damaging to the struggle for socialism and to working class struggle. This is the left sectarianism of all the left wing groups and the unhealthy internal top down lives of these organizations. These false methods, along with other problems, have prevented the left wing forces from building a serious alternative to the organizations such as the trade unions and labor parties which support capitalism. The Militant, later the Socialist Party, and people like myself who was a founder of the MIlitant, and Peter Hadden, were just as guilty of this as anybody else. It would have been good to have some acknowledgement of this.

Not only that. But the obituaries for Peter Hadden and the speeches and writings of his Comrades done around his death show that the old wrong methods still continue. First they glorify him and compare him to Connolly and call him a "giant."

The obituaries and writings also use the Stalinist method of writing people out of history. People like myself who were active in Militant here in Ireland from the very beginning, people like Dermot Connolly, because we later had different views and were expelled, we have been written out of history. The left of which Peter Hadden was part will never develop a mass basis until it openly confronts its mistakes in this area, its undemocratic internal life and its left sectarian methods. It is unfortunate Peter Haddens death has been used to further strengthen these false methods rather than to openly confront and discuss them.

Sincerely, John Throne.

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