From: wdrb-AT-siva.bris.ac.uk
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 17:26:10 GMT
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
CC: wdrb-AT-siva.bris.ac.uk
Subject: SWP anecdotally


Adam Rose asks:

" Anyway, am I correct to argue that the core of the Christian
 Right is middle class, traditional AND "new" ?"

Well...I once went to an SWP meeting in Bristol and 
ldn't join the party. In my exasperation I ended
up by saying that everybody in the room was middle class
(most seemed to be graduates and none had Bristol accents)
and that I didn't want to join a party that was
so dominated by middle class people. My comment
seemed to really upset the chap who I was talking to
who went on at great length that the only real
class division was between the working class
and the ruling class and the people in the SWP
were the 'advanced' elements of the working class.

My perception is that the main reason that the SWP
has survived better than Militant and the WRP
in the UK is that its membership, being more middle
class, hasn't been hit by the economic crisis as hard.

I was surprised (and pleased) to see Adam Rose
asking about the Christain Right and its class
composition. I think the organisations of the 
left can be discussed in the same manner.

Will Brown   Bristol   England


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