IN DEFENCE OF RALPH SCHOENMAN Several months ago. when some of us were still associated with the Black Dwarf, we published in its pages an article by some revolutionary militants exposing the ANC to which they had once belonged. The publication created a furore on the Editorial Board. It led to the resignation of Adrian Mitchell (who has since rejoined) and established the political basis of the split which led us to establish The Red Mole. At that stage some of us argued that Mitchell and his friends were capitulating to the pressure of the liberals and the C.P. The subsequent turn of the Dwarf has vindicated the position we adopted and the few doubts one might have had have been swept aside by the publication of the article "dictated by Russell" on Ralph Schoenman. The appalling liberalism in the Dwarf introduction (e.g. "isolated Russell from the Peace Movement" "Russell's political work was vilified because of his secretary" etc. etc.) comes to us as no surprise. A revolutionary critique (not well-written we agree of the ANC is not acceptable to the Dwarf Board, but a dying liberal philo sopher's critique of his secretary, a revolutionary militant, is a different matter (apart from everything else it's so well-written). The Red Mole 15th September 19/U Page 8 The new policy of the Dwarf as they themselves put it is to move away from "traditional revolutionary rhetoric". In the moving away process they try to outdo the bourgeois press in publishing scoops, etc. The political nature of the scoop is not as relevant as the "scoop" itself, and with Ralph Schoenman, of course, you can hit the jackpot.
As someone who has known Ralph Schoenman for a long time and since the British ruling class refuses to let him enter the country, it is necessary to set the record straight, if only in brief. Ralph is not likely to take this combined assault on his integrity by the bourgeois press and the Black Dwarf go unchallenged, and he is the best person to answer his liberal critics in detail.
Ralph Schoenman was and remains today a revolutionary militant dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism and bureaucracy. Like everyone else he has his weaknesses. On many issues I used to argue with him quite fiercely. but these disagreements remained political. They were not marred by subjectivism brought about by Ralph's personal traits: an excessive individualism and a refreshing bluntness. The lattér earned him lifelong enemies on the British left. But no one can take away from Ralph the fact that it was he who conceived of both the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and the War Crimes Tribunal. Russell accepted these ideas and lent them his enormous prestige, but they were first and foremost Ralph's ideas. Both Dr. Malcolm Caldwell and I would testify to this fact before any enquiry. Ralph also had an idea for a revolutionary newspaper much like the early Dwarf as long ago as 1966. He discussed it with me several times. Even the name had been decided (The Spokesman) but the Tribunal very correctly diverted his energy Ralph Schoenman's hatred of bureaucracy forced him to criticise in no uncertain language the regimes in the USSR and Eastern Europe, and this at a time when it had not become fashionable to do so on the revolutionary left. He was hated and despised by the Stalinists in London, in Moscow and in the Eastern European embassies throughout the world. He was even bold or tactless enough to question Chou En Lai about the Trotskyists imprisoned in China and demand their release.
All these things made Ralph extremely unpopular with a whole variety of people. Therefore we ask the question: Does the publishing of a personal statement by Russell (all this talk of "political testament" is crap designed to cater to the needs of the bourgeois press) on his relations with Schoenman help the revolutionary movement and further the cause of socialism? We say categorically: NO. It only helps the bourgeois mass media which loathed Schoenman's guts because he treated bourgeois journalists with the contempt they deserve (an amusing incident | witnessed at the first session of the Tribunal: Barrett of 24 Hours was film ing an interview and asked Schoenman an extremely insulting question to answer which in any way would have meant accepting the premise of the questioner. Without batting an eyelid Schoenman counter bes "When did you last fuck your wife.... The question was deleted and exit a furious Michael Barrett.)
It helps the Stalinists whose hatred of Ralph caused them to spread the rumour that he was an agent of the CIA and was "harming" Russell's cause. Black Dwarf will no doubt be quoted approvingly by Pravda and similar rags in the rest of Eastern Europe.
In printing this text the Dwarf has degenerated even more than we had anticipated when we established The Red Mole. For us this is the time to declare our solidarity with Ralph Schoenman.
Taria Ali