RW & FSP Letter to DSP

31 October 2006

Dear comrades

Both Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party were given documentation by the Spartacist League outlining claims that at a union rally on August 29, one of their women comrades was abused and punched by a member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective. We have a copy of the letter to the SL, dated that same day, by Margarita Windisch for the DSP which acknowledges that a newspaper was torn from the SL comrade’s hands. Comrade Windisch described this as an “unfortunate incident” and apologises for the DSP member’s conduct. We have also seen the letter, dated September 8 to the SL, in which the DSP denies the physical assault, calling the SL’s public exposure of it as a “slander.” However, the written statement by a unionist who witnessed the punching convincingly refutes the DSP’s denial.

The DSP has to be held to account for its conduct,—both the actual attack and the way the organisation chose to respond. There are two very serious issues here: sexism and sectarian violence in the Left. The DSP has shown so far that it condones both, starting with its passing off the attack as an “unfortunate incident” and then throwing blame onto the SL for politically addressing the whole matter. This conduct is too familiar in the bourgeois world, from the Howard Government to James Hardie. It is not acceptable, and cannot be tolerated, in the socialist movement.

RW and FSP understand how the SL can be infuriating in their own sectarian and sexist conduct. FSP is often a target of their sniping and lies. This goes back to the 1960s, when their U.S. section attacked Clara Fraser, a founder of the FSP, when she waged a political fight against her ex-husband, Richard Fraser, who was expelled from the party because of his sexist betrayals. Their attacks on the FSP continue to this day. But we answer each and every attack politically.

We will defend the SL, or anyone within the socialist and other movements who unjustly comes under attack. In this case, a DSP member assaulted another socialist, and the DSP then shirked its accountability, both to its membership and the movement. What is the DSP doing to educate its members and create a culture of socialist, comradely conduct?

Both sexism and violence within the Left must be confronted. The brutalising of most of humanity in late capitalism is intense. This gives the socialist movement an historic responsibility to build a combative working class where we take on the brutal system, not physically assault each other! Far from “unfortunate,” the incident and the DSP’s response so far are outrageous and dangerous.

RW and FSP protest the DSP’s conduct and urge the party to seriously address both the assault and a party culture that allows and defends sexist, sectarian behaviour.

In socialist feminism