(en) Britain, Anarchists Federation Scotland: Stitched up: The Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation

D?j? vu: the poll tax campaign which the Trotskyist Militant tendency also tried to lead.
The first Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax conference took place on 27th April in Glasgow, its 
aim to unite local groups across the country into one campaign with greater strength and 
resources. I?m surprised it hasn?t received more coverage and criticism. I suspect 
that?s because people are holding their tongues and focusing on organising locally and in 
other campaigns. However, I would argue that we need to discuss what?s happening 
nationally so that we can be more effective in challenging the Bedroom Tax, and any 
government cuts, but also to ensure that a campaign like this is controlled by working 
class people themselves.---- Here?s what I?ve written previously: ----

The old authoritarian Left, after having lost much of its credibility, recognises the 
importance of the anti-Bedroom Tax campaign and has been trying as usual to put itself in 
a position of leadership in order to control it and regain political influence and power. 
Tommy Sheridan, out of prison for perjury, is back in the media spotlight as the face of 
the anti-Bedroom Tax campaign and, after everything he?s done, still manages to muster 
enthusiastic support from his fan club. He briefly got himself elected secretary of the 
interim committee of the West of Scotland Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation, before being forced 
to resign because of his divisive role. But don?t count him out just yet.

Well, that was a bit of an understatement. What in fact happened at the Glasgow 
conference was that the West of Scotland federation effectively became a national 
federation. Tommy Sheridan was elected the chairperson and, coincidentally, members of 
the Socialist Party Scotland (CWI) and SWP gained positions as secretary and deputy 
chairperson respectively. These, just to remind you, were the same parties that backed 
each other up previously in manipulating things in the West of Scotland federation and in 
putting forward Dave Sherry, one of those high-ranking SWP members who covered up a rape 
in the party, as speaker on the last march against the Bedroom Tax in Glasgow, 30th March. 
Sherry gave another speech at the conference. There were over 200 people there on the 
day, although it?s unclear how many of those were voting delegates. In any case, out of 
all those present only one person actually voted against the officers during the election 
or seemed to have an alternative proposal. Furthermore, amendments to the pre-written 
founding statement were not allowed. And to cap it all, speeches were given arguing for 
the necessity of a workers? party and that we should look, funnily enough, to the example 
of the Militant tendency?s influence in Liverpool council in the 1980s as to how local 
government should be run.*

This is all bad news. It is incredibly cynical to use a grassroots campaign meeting, 
presumably meant to attract people from different groups or none, as an opportunity for 
your own party political broadcast. That Sheridan has taken such a central position within 
this new organisation shows, as though any more proof were needed, the extent to which 
he?s willing to go to trample over any independent attempts at organising and promote 
himself. As a politician, he is so toxic and divisive that his latest ego trip is his way 
of saying a big fuck you to the rest of the Left, and leads him to actively compete with 
any other organisation he can?t control. As for the structure of the federation, the 
steering committee is meant to consist of 60 elected members from across Scotland. That?s 
sounds democratic, right? The problem is that the national federation?s officer positions 
appear to be permanent rather than rotated, there is no mention of recallability for the 
members from local groups, and it seems likely that the parties will between them be able 
to engineer things in enough local groups to marginalise any differences in the steering 
committee ? after all, this is what?s happened so far. And, just to be clear, a real 
federation doesn?t ?steer? things from the centre but co-ordinates what groups have 
already decided and told their spokespersons. It all starts to look like a small group of 
party activists deciding things among themselves and then passing on these instructions to 
the ?foot soldiers? - without whom there wouldn?t be a ?federation? in the first place. 
That?s not a federal structure, it?s a party structure.

But this is an important point. It?s not just party hacks who were at this conference or 
who will be involved in the ?federation?. Most of the people will be those who are 
genuinely concerned by the Bedroom Tax or are directly affected themselves. And I am 
certainly not criticising them. The number of people attending the first conference was 
certainly impressive.

It is argued by some that anarchists only denounce things and retreat into ?pure?, 
small-scale initiatives with little influence or give up entirely. I would dispute this, 
but were it ever to be true it would be a mistake. We need to be where people are. What 
we share even with the parties mentioned above is the aim to defeat the Bedroom Tax: to 
pressure local authorities, housing associations and government, and to physically prevent 
evictions if necessary. In campaigns like this it would naive to think that we can avoid 
working with other political groups we often disagree with.

However, It would equally naive to suggest that divisions aren?t ever meaningful and can 
simply disappear. There is a line. Pro-feminism isn?t an add-on or a separate issue, it 
has to be advocated by us in everything we do. We need to oppose sexism wherever we 
encounter it or we are hypocrites. And we should always argue for directly democratic 
structures. This isn?t some sort of luxury; it increases the participation and popular 
base of organisations, making them stronger and more radical, and ensures that a struggle 
like this has a positive long-term effect on class solidarity and empowerment.

This all leads to the question: can and should anarchists and anyone with a commitment to 
genuine grassroots organising be involved in the Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation?

My mind isn?t made up on this, but I think there are a few options:

1. If it becomes clear that this federation is a lost cause, and just another in a 
long-line of front groups then we could ignore it and concentrate on making the local 
community groups we?re already involved in as successful, as influential and participative 
as possible. At the same time we should continue to be actively a part of regional 
federations like that of Edinburgh & Lothians, which has taken a much more positive 
direction since it?s much more diverse, hasn?t yet been captured by party socialists, and 
recognises the need for directly democratic decision-making. We shouldn?t take that for 
granted, but make sure that we build on this beginning.

2. Let?s get one thing straight: anarchists love federations (the clue?s in our name). We 
want to federate everything, and build a collective power from below, rather than have 
weaker isolated groups. So, we definitely support the idea of an actual national 
federation. Despite all its problems, if this federation is the only cross-Scotland 
organisation in town and continues to attract local groups and working class people (which 
is what it was designed to do) then perhaps we need to be involved. But that would 
require us actively arguing for important changes in the structure, processes and current 
officers. Sheridan needs to be ousted, and Sherry refused a platform altogether. That 
all sounds like an uphill struggle. On the other hand, Trotskyists and their ilk will 
always try to dictate and manipulate. They?re the ones who call the A to B marches on 
Saturdays, who set up the ?national federations? and open ?coalitions?, choose the 
speakers and speak to the media. We can either complain about this or challenge it with a 
co-ordinated response.

3. However, it may be that we can be involved in national organising and avoid much of the 
authoritarian Left. The No2BedroomTax campaign seems to have originally been part of the 
West of Scotland federation but is now independent of it. It seeks to support and link 
anti-Bedroom Tax groups throughout Scotland, and also seems to have a commitment to 
grassroots democracy and skepticism of politicians very unlike the Scottish Anti-Bedroom 
Tax Federation. I?m sure they?re not interested in sectarian battles between left groups, 
but want to extend the campaign and have an impact. So, as far as I can see, this is a 
much more positive initiative. They?ve called a Day of Protest against the tax for the 
18th May in Glasgow.

I?m much more inclined towards a mix of options 1 and 3. But I know from my own 
experience that the Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation is trying to involve groups from 
across the country in their own organisation, and that many don?t see or aren?t aware of 
it being dominated by the Sheridan crowd. At the moment, that?s really unfortunate. The 
key points are to fight the tax without sacrificing or undermining other fundamental 
principles, not to surrender control of the campaign to the authoritarians, to be where 
working class people are, and to take our arguments to them.