SWP CASH THEIR CHEQUES This may not be news to any of you who are seriously into leftist politics – you anoraks. We only report it here because the Socialist Wanker pet vultures were hungry.
Members of the SWP stand accused of forging the signature
of Liz Davies, former chair of the Socialist Alliance, on SA cheques.
They are identified as the SA Membership Secretary, the
SA National Secretary, and the SA full-time office worker, of whom the
latter two are SWP full-timers. The National Secretary at the time we
can name as old SWP apparatchik, Rob Hoveman.
The cheques had been made out to themselves by name,
or to cash. The total sum of money involved was more than £3000,
belying the perpetrators' claim that it had been only petty amounts for
minor expenses.
When the forgeries came to light, it was claimed they
had been a matter of convenience. Liz Davies claims she had been on hand
to sign cheques, if necessary, and had seen the individuals almost daily
over the three month period when the forgeries were carried out.
The SWP reacted aggressively, accusing Davies of “witch-hunting”
and of being a “scab”. Most of the SA Executive
followed the SWP into making every effort to block the perpetrators being
taken to account.
Mike Marqusee, who resigned with Davies over the incident,
described “a sustained course of deception and financial
impropriety engaged in by experienced individuals occupying major positions
of trust and responsibility. It was an offence not only against the SA
officers, but the SA as a whole, all those who had paid dues to it and
all those who had offered it support.” Particularly those long-term
activists who had made contributions of money and time which they could
often ill-afford.
When the story first came to light, in autumn 2002, it
was thought publicising it might hurt the anti-war movement too much in
the run-up to the attack on Iraq. This is no longer a consideration.
The Socialist Wanker is keeping an eye on the story and
we mean to bring you more on it, as soon as we are at liberty to publish…
We refer you to Liz Davies' and Mike Marqusee's original
posting on Socialist Unity website here
M.H.
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