This is an interesting and insightful article. Some points about the BNP:

They have suffered from a leadership challenge recently - (ex) East Midlands Regional Organiser Sadie Graham was fired for this, and also because they believed she was the person who leaked the membership file. (I am not sure but I think she sued for wrongful dismissal and won)

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092567/Revealed–blonde-university-graduate-held-BNP-internet-leak.html - apols for daily heil link)

She makes some interesting observations, though:

“The problem is the leadership or lack of it, there is no party structure, no shadow cabinet, regional, national organisation and accountability are extremely poor…”

(http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/07/sadie-graham-launches-bitter-attack-on.html)
(http://enoughisenoughnick.blogspot.com/2008/01/cllr-sadie-graham-counters-dirty.html)

They have been sued by Unilever over the Marmite ™ debacle - I wonder whose dumb idea that was.

Then there is this:

http://yourbnp.com/category/countering-the-smears/
http://yourbnp.com/2010/05/27/the-desperation-of-arthur-kemp-hq-continues/#comments

I personally agree with William Law above (”Griffin’s own past is interesting in this regard-he’s moved across the spectrum of the far right leaving chaos -and no intellectual accounting of his odyssey from political soldier (hah!) to Euro MP-in his wake.(Like many a spook he went to Cambridge…)” and believe the BNP are just there to divide the working class up, they have no intention of trying to actually achieve any sort of political power or influence: “their councillors have performed as a bunch of drunken incompetents and the likes of Barnbrook would be an embarassment to any organisation” - quoting Law’s again! Griffin is the son of a Tory MP and privately educated, what he thinks he has in common with the working class i don’t know.

The things the BNP are doing right: Using Technology - Facebook pages, Youtube channels; focusing on issues that affect the working classes with high visabiliy (race/islam/immigration), having people like (until recently) Sadie Graham on board.

Can someone pass this on to that guy napier who keeps banging on about how great they are in his comments on another article I read on this site.

Sorry to go on a bit.

Zico

In particular to see how we “win the hearts and minds of the masses. Hard, honest, pro-working class work on the ground does this, as the IWCA already knows, but ideas can travel where local work and limited resources cannot.” Part 1 represented a full on demolition of the approach of the middle class left - what we need to address now is the development of pro working class politics and confident working class communities,

Although he doesn’t have much of a class approach/perspective, it makes some pretty good points

“At the last US presidential election, Democratic party members could have chosen as their candidate a 5ft 6in Methodist graduate of Wellesley College or a 6ft 1in member of the United Church of Christ from Columbia University. These differences may strike you as insignificant compared to the fact that one candidate was a black man and the other a white woman.

Yet race and gender surely were significant factors in the race for the White House. Clinton’s décolletage even became a campaign news story, when she was accused of showing too much of it. However, according to a study cited by Gary Younge in his absorbing and thoughtful discussion of identity, a 6in height difference on average means the taller person earns $166,000 more over 30 years, making a greater difference than gender. And since 1900, taller candidates have won presidential elections 19 out of 28 times. So why are gender and race politically important, but shortness is not? Why is height not a major marker of identity?”

“After all, it’s one thing to worry about the fact that the average CEO now makes in one day what the average worker makes in one year; it’s a completely different thing to worry about the fact that there aren’t enough women CEOs. And what the identity in identity politics requires is only that we worry about the second.”

They called it libertarian communism so would be pretty appropriate for part two I reckon.

Cheers,

Ally

Has the core group grown significantly? If not, that doesn’t bode well for the future of step 3 if local votes aren’t translating into high levels of self-activity and concrete support for the IWCA within the community/local workplaces over the course of a decade or more of graft.

I’d certainly agree there’s little point in orienting to the cobweb left - the various hangups and sectariana might well be an active hinderence - but for reproduction and expansion of the model active support has to come from somewhere. This is all a genuine question btw as I don’t know about the IWCA’s situation atm.