Why the Socialist Party has disaffiliated from International Socialist Alternative (ISA)
CW: Contains reference to an egregiously mishandled safeguarding case
The egregious mishandling of a safeguarding case in the [redacted]* section of ISA, and the subsequent decisions by slim majorities in international bodies of ISA that entangled those bodies in the mishandling, has destroyed ISA. This destruction has been perpetrated at a time when international revolutionary socialist organisation against genocidal, ecological catastrophe creating, and far-right breeding capitalism is so desperately needed.
This grotesque mishandling of a safeguarding case has been damaging to all survivors of abuse inside ISA, and has rendered ISA an organisation that cannot be deemed a safe place for comrades from marginalised genders and comrades who suffer multiple oppressions; and it has made the ISA Majority’s claims to be ‘socialist feminist’ not only hollow, but ridiculous. The sectarian and shockingly bureaucratic character of the ISA Majority has been laid bare.
The Socialist Party, Ireland, recognises the principled work of those comrades in Ireland and from over twenty different countries internationally, who established and built the Faction to Defend Safeguarding and Socialist Feminism and Internal Democracy. This includes the apology issued by the Faction to the survivor who was so appallingly wronged by ISA. All of our comrades internationally who challenged the abusive, bureaucratic political methods and the denigration of socialist feminism characterising the ISA Majority, deserve thanks and credit.
The Socialist Party, in fruitful political collaboration with many of our comrades internationally, drew deep political conclusions about the congenital weaknesses in the political tradition we hail from, vis a vis gender oppression. We drew these conclusions after socialist feminism was the key political issue in the CWI split of 2019, from which ISA emerged. The conclusions that we drew were informed by our rich experiences in the abortion struggle on this island that we both contributed to and learned from immensely, and from the impact and import of the feminist and LGBTQIA wave of the 2010s as a whole.
It is evident, despite many professions to the contrary, that a deep commitment to socialist feminism was by no means universal across ISA. This stemmed from a lack of political agreement about and acknowledgement of a deep deficiency in our tradition. The CWI tradition failed to truly integrate gender, racial and all forms of oppression that are a constitutive part of capitalism in general and that are threaded through capitalist worker exploitation specifically, into every aspect of our analysis, perspectives, and actions. The latter deficit refers both to the culture we build internally and in our outward facing campaigns, struggles and actions we wage. The lack of political agreement on the significance of this political deficit, and the struggle needed to truly overcome it, is evidenced by the mishandled case, the subsequent cover up, and the multiplicity of arguments made by those in the Majority that amounted to victim-blaming and trivialising of gender violence and sexual abuse.
*redacted in the interests of privacy of survivors
Resolution adopted at Socialist Party’s Special Conference:
The Socialist Party, Ireland:
- is committed to building an international working-class struggle against capitalism, and integral to this, is committed to the building of a revolutionary Marxist International;
- recognises that ISA (International Socialist Alternative) is not a vehicle for the building of such an organisation;
- disaffiliates forthwith from ISA;
- will continue to work with our comrades internationally who have taken a principled stance on safeguarding, socialist feminism, and internal democracy;
- will continue to commit financial and human resources to efforts to establish a revolutionary, Marxist International;
- actively commits resources to coordinate an approach internationally that can build the basis for the same that we will affiliate to, become a constituent part of, and assist in the funding of by paying a subscription to;
- therefore accepts the invitation from the Faction to Defend Safeguarding, Socialist Feminism and Internal Democracy to participate in the international meeting on 31 August and 1 September to discuss establishing a Project for a Marxist revolutionary International with participants from Ireland to report back from the same;
- Recognises that socialist feminism is part and parcel of Marxism;
- Recognises that to draw lessons from the challenges, hurdles and setbacks in building a revolutionary international over recent years and to point a real way forward will require a process of serious political review, discussion and analysis and seeks to take a patient approach to discuss with those comrades internationally who have taken a principled approach on safeguarding and socialist feminism over an extended period of time.
