Resolutions passed at Counterfire Conference 2024

Resolution 1: The balance of class forces and the general election

Conference notes:

1. That the Tories are clearly going to lose the election and are lurching from crisis to crisis. Their attempts to double down on vicious policies like the Rwanda policy, designed to appeal to the far-right, are not getting the traction for which they hoped.
2. That opinion polls show that while Labour is benefiting from the Tories’ disarray, there is little enthusiasm for their policy agenda.

Conference believes:

1. That the crisis of the political mainstream is rooted in the structural crisis of contemporary capitalism consisting of economic decline and growing inter-imperialist rivalry.
2. That the ruling-class crisis is also a reflection of recent popular mobilisations, over Covid, the strike wave against austerity and the mass movement of Palestinian solidarity.
3. That the growth of the Palestine solidarity movement has led to significant debate over the future direction of working-class politics; the demand for ‘no ceasefire, no vote’ has touched a political nerve.
4. That the general movement for Palestine emphasises the continuing relevance of our strategy of building united fronts, which continue to be a springboard for radical challenges to the status quo.
5. That the political situation also means a significant minority are open to revolutionary politics.
6. That a Starmer government will not alleviate any of the problems facing working-class communities: Labour austerity will create the potential conditions for the deepening of the strike wave of the last year. Disillusionment with an incoming Labour government, in an atmosphere of heightened racist scapegoating, also creates the conditions where far-right groups will try to gain a hearing.

Conference resolves:

1. To continue to build the broadest movement for the liberation of Palestine as part of our general anti-imperialist work rooted in the Stop the War coalition.
2. To have a strong focus on building Counterfire as a revolutionary pole in the movement that can help shape the political terrain.
3. To support left independent candidates and those who actively campaign for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in the general election. In some cases, this will mean supporting sitting Labour MPs; in most cases it will mean supporting left alternative candidates.
4. To support CF member Michael Lavalette standing in Preston as part of the broad-left independent candidate network.

Resolution 2: The way forward in Scotland

Conference notes:

1. That Scotland is entering a new political phase after the independence referendum of 2014 and its consequences.
2. That the lack of progress on independence, despite the manifold crises affecting the British state in recent years, has caused significant disillusionment in the SNP.
3. That the SNP is a neoliberal party, increasingly estranged from its narrow social-democratic pretensions. Under John Swinney and Kate Forbes, this will be more pronounced than in the past.
4. That the new leadership are enthusiastic supporters of Western imperialism. They will diverge from Humza Yousaf’s outspoken positions on Gaza and Palestine more generally. They are enthusiastic supporters of Nato. The Scottish Government has spent £65 million on military aid to Ukraine.
5. That the mass membership of the party is demobilised amid the derailment of any credible independence strategy. Membership has declined from approximately 120,000 to 70,000 since 2014/15.
6. That the SNP’s economic case for independence is based on sterling, which means that the Bank of England would retain control of monetary policy. This has ruinous effects on democracy, control of resources, the ability of the state to intervene and working-class living standards.

Conference believes:

1. That there is now a palpable crisis of the independence movement in Scotland, despite overall support for independence.
2. That the Scottish Greens offer no alternative. They celebrated the sale of Scottish wind power to BP and Shell, signed off on swinging spending cuts, and oversaw the largest PFI deal in Scottish history in relation to forestry.
3. That Scottish Labour are gaining ground in the polls, despite their opposition to Scottish self-determination. That said, Keir Starmer is deeply unpopular, and support for Labour is shallow, open to fluctuation and largely based on anti-Tory resentment and disillusionment with the SNP.
4. That while maintaining support for independence, we must recognise that a referendum on independence is firmly off the table in the near term.

Conference resolves:

1. To make a sharp turn towards building a mass, active class-based response to austerity and imperialist war, from which a new independence movement may arise in the future.
2. To strengthen existing Counterfire branches across Scotland and seek to build them where they do not yet exist, firmly embedding them in class-based initiatives and united-front organisations, above all the Stop the War Coalition.
3. To develop analysis on the fast-changing situation via discussion in our branches and national bodes, and articles for the Counterfire website.

Resolution 3: Building the Party: Revolutionaries, Movements and the United Front

Conference notes:

1. That under all circumstances revolutionaries remain a minority of the working class, even when they are a mass party, and so the united front is a permanent requirement of achieving unity in the class struggle. This is why Trotsky described the workers’ councils in the Russian revolution as the highest form of the united front.
2. That in non-revolutionary periods, struggles against the various manifestations of capitalist exploitation and oppression occur with greater or lesser intensity, but remain limited, partial, and sectional in character, but in certain circumstances the strategy of revolutionaries can become hegemonic (for example, VSC, ANL, STWC).
3. That involvement in united struggle radicalises those involved and creates the basis for revolutionary ideas to be adopted by a minority of those involved. This is why the primary goal of a united front is unity in action.
4. That this engagement of revolutionaries in struggle alongside reformist workers, whether within trade-union work or within broader campaigns such as those against fascism and racism, or against imperialist wars, is what we mean by the ‘united front’.
5. That the Palestine solidarity movement has demonstrated enormous strength in its global reach, its mass character, its resilience against pro-imperialist attacks from the right, and in the very broad spectrum of its supporters.
6. That while political parties have a broad political programme, united fronts like the Palestine movement derive their strength from limiting their demands to a single, or limited number of, issues. This allows forces that disagree on wider politics or in their theoretical analysis (say, pacifists, liberals, Muslims, reformists, Communists, Trotskyists etc etc) to unite in action over a specific issue. This is the classic formulation of the united front pioneered by the first three congresses of the Third International, Trotsky’s analysis of fascism, and our own experience in the ANL, Stop the War, and the Peoples’ Assembly.

Conference believes:

1. That within the united front, revolutionary socialists have two tasks: the first is to preserve the conditions of united action by resisting both ultra-left attempts to substitute a total socialist (or any other) programme for the limited agreement between forces co-operating over any given specific issue and to ensure that the united front remains focussed on effective action and does not become a talking shop or establishment lobbying organisation on the NGO model; the second task is to raise the links between the specific issue of the united front and a wider critique of capitalism and imperialism and so to recruit within the united front to a revolutionary socialist organisation.
2. That revolutionaries are able to succeed in that task only insofar as they introduce the clearest ideas about how to defeat the class enemy, and prove themselves in practice the most resolute, consistent, and courageous fighters on the workers’ side.
3. That movements rise, reach an apogee and subside, whether more ephemeral like ‘Enough is Enough’ or more substantial like ‘Black Lives Matter’ or indeed the present Palestine solidarity movement. What will advance, or obstruct, the interests of the working class is whether stable and expanded trade unions and social movements and a stronger revolutionary organisation is left behind.
4. That we need a political analysis which traces each issue to its origin and driving force, namely the workings of the capitalist mode of production. That is a task which only a Marxist analysis, and its revolutionary socialist exponents, are capable of undertaking.
5. That insisting on those links (or ‘joining up the dots’) is also the means by which people engaged in the movement can be led to see the system as a totality, and therewith the political imperative of its overthrow, as well as being the approach best calculated to sustain, empower, extend, and give direction to the solidarity movement itself.
6. That Counterfire should actively work to broaden and deepen the Palestine movement by welcoming everyone who wants to work for the liberation of Palestine irrespective of their wider politics, but at the same time we should state boldly our own anti-imperialist analysis and insist that the best means of dealing with the Zionists is to build the movement against their sponsors at home.

Conference resolves:

1. To adopt this approach over the coming period, particularly in light of the pending General Election, applying the internationalist principle that ‘the main enemy is at home’.
2. That this policy should be adopted by all members.
3. To encourage all members to become engaged with united-front work, the degree of which makes Counterfire distinct and the most effective of the radical-left parties, while of course maintaining our identity as members and revolutionary socialists.

Resolution 4: Building Counterfire

Conference notes:

1. That Counterfire and its members have played a central role in the mass movement for Palestine, and last year in the strike wave, both nationally and locally.
2. That since October, Counterfire has grown significantly with hundreds of new members and several new branches.
3. That since October, Counterfire has produced over 100,000 copies of our freesheet in ten editions that have been distributed widely at national demonstrations and across the country.

Conference believes:

1. That the genocide in Gaza, the ensuing political crisis combined with Tory attacks and Starmer’s rush to the right has resulted in millions of people being politicised, becoming active in the movement and becoming open to a Marxist analysis of the causes and solutions to the crisis.
2. That Counterfire’s popular freesheet, website articles, publications, public meetings across the country and Revolution! events have provided a Marxist analysis and strategic arguments for a wide layer of activists.
3. That building and strengthening Counterfire as a revolutionary pole in the movement is both imperative to building a sustainable and effective anti-imperialist movement and resistance to ruling-class attacks at home.

Conference resolves:

1. To continue engaging as much of our membership as possible in strengthening and deepening the Palestine movement and the Stop the War Coalition and in supporting strikes and other resistance to ruling-class attacks.
2. To continue the concerted campaign of mass recruitment to the organisation.
3. To hold regular public meetings and Revolution! events nationally and locally that are forums for discussion in the movement and provide the opportunities to recruit the best activists.
4. To organise regular Marxist theory and practical organising training events to integrate new
   members and strengthen the organisation’s political foundations and ability to intervene
   effectively.
5. To strengthen the organisation’s structures including helping to set up new branches, dedicated roles in branches such as membership secretary, convenor, paper organiser and treasurer.
6. To continue producing regular freesheets and expand our distribution through dedicated branch paper organisers and expanding our network of distributors.
7. To make fundraising much more central to the organisation, immediately launching a subs drive to persuade every member to pay a monthly sub and complete the crowdfunder in the next month.
8. To host local inter-branch meetings to develop, on a more structured basis, the sharing of information, experience, and tactics for growth and branch development.

An amendment relating to the student movement and Counterfire’s orientation towards it was remitted to the Steering Committee to re-word based on the consensus arrived at by Conference. The resolution will be updated here shortly.

Resolution 5: Palestine, Ukraine and the weakening of Western imperialism

Conference notes:

1. That military support for Israel and for Ukraine are the two immediate priorities of current US foreign policy, illustrated by the US Congress voting $61 billion extra funding for Ukraine and $23 billion for Israel. As usual, Britain is slavishly following the US agenda.
2. That throughout Israel’s genocide, it has had the full support of the Western powers, in particular Britain and the US. The US and its allies need Israel to ensure its interests in the Middle East.
3. That the war in Ukraine has reached a new and critical stage as even the Ukrainian military now fear they cannot win.
4. That the Palestine movement has been powerful enough to generate a crisis in society around support for Israel and that Counterfire has been central to making that happen.

Conference believes:

1. That these wars are symptomatic both of an increasingly aggressive Western foreign policy and the weakening of US power. The US is challenged most seriously by a rapidly militarising China. The multipolar world, welcomed by some on the left, is a more dangerous one.
2. That Israel is prepared to defy the Biden administration because it recognises that after disastrous wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, the US cannot afford to alienate its main watchdog in the region.
3. That Israel has displayed horrific levels of military barbarity in Gaza, but the war is already a political defeat. Israel has become a pariah state. The process of ‘normalisation’ with regional governments is dead. The pro-Palestine movement has been immeasurably strengthened around the world.
4. That the war in Ukraine was generated more than anything by the eastward expansion of Nato. Massive military support from the US and Nato has transformed it into a proxy war against Russia. Despite this level of support, Ukraine is unable to defeat Russia.
5. That in both cases, the outcome has been bad for the Western powers. Although the carnage continues in Gaza, the pro-Palestine movement has played a vital part in winning popular support for Palestine and in creating a political crisis over the issue.

Conference resolves:

1. To continue to deepen and broaden the Palestine movement with the central aims of forcing a ceasefire and breaking our government’s political and military support for Israel.
2. To campaign in the labour movement and beyond against Western military support for Ukraine and for a ceasefire and negotiated solution.
3. To continue to oppose all foreign interventions and the growing militarism on display from all parts of the British state.
4. To make the link between the wars abroad and austerity at home by promoting slogans like welfare not warfare.
5. To build Stop the War on the broadest possible basis.
6. To continue to build Counterfire as the radical anti-imperialist strand within the movement.

Resolution 6: Spycops

Conference notes:

1. That police powers have been greatly increased through recent legislation such as the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021, the Police Crime and Sentencing Act 2021, and the Public Order Act 2023.
2. That the resumption of the Undercover Police Inquiry (UPI) on 1 July covering the period of police spying from 1983 – 1992 (tranche 2) is an opportunity to show that the Special Demonstrations Squad (SDS) actions were sexist, racist, criminal, and amoral.
3. That core principals of policing, such as consent, proportionality and public interest are clearly and obviously ignored in the Spycops scandal.
4. That non-police, non-state participants giving evidence in this tranche will clearly highlight this over the coming months, including but not exclusively, The Monitoring Group and Suresh Grover, the National Union of Mineworkers, Helen Steele, Anti-Poll Tax campaigns and Tommy Sheridan, the Blacklist Support Group as well as founding members of Counterfire.
5. That police officers such as John Dines, Bob Lambert and Andy Coles (former Tory councillor) will also have to discuss their deployments which overlap this time frame and that they had long-term sexual relationships with activists whilst undercover and have been accused of further unlawful behaviour.
6. That through the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) brought by Kate Wilson there is more known about the behaviour of the successor to the SDS, the National Public Order Investigation Unit (NPOIU), particularly of the conduct of Mark Kennedy, but also Lynne Watson and Marco Jacobs.
7. That Spycops were feeding information to and taking direction from The Economic League and The Consultancy Association and resultant Blacklists. That some Spycops took leadership positions in union branches and attended meetings. That a central part of their role was the disruption of workplace organisation.

Conference believes:

1. That through the lens of the Spycops scandal, it is easy to understand the police as a political force whose main concern is the social fabrication of a society conducive to capital accumulation.
2. That tranche 2 of the UPI represents a chance to highlight the essence of what the police force is in the UK and to undermine the law-and-order narrative that is constructed around it.
3. That the conduct of Spycops is criminal and prosecutable as such. SDS and NPOIU officers
   should face criminal prosecution for crime committed.
4. That the tranche 2 will show that large allocation of public funding and resources went into the upkeep and maintaining of information that denied access to basic human rights of activists.
5. That the UPI shows the fundamental racist and sexist nature of policing in the UK, also shown in the Macpherson Report (1999) and the Casey Report (2023), extends over the whole period of its investigation and into the contemporary setting.
6. That expanded powers given to the police legalise the worst criminality and behaviours of the Spycops and are aimed to disrupt legitimate debate and organisation that challenge the hegemony of the political and corporate classes in the UK.

Conference resolves:

1. To publicise the UPI and ensuing events linked to the Spycops scandal to highlight the criminality of the state and its police force.
2. To use the UPI to interrogate the new powers given by the recent slew of policing acts of parliament noted.
3. To underline that crime committed by SDS and NPOIU officers should be unequivocally and immediately punishable as such.