UEA: Letter to National Secretary

Dear Charlie,

We are writing to inform you and the Central Committee of an incident that has arisen as a direct result of the crisis raging in the party. We feel that it makes our position in our workplaces, and within trade unions at the University of East Anglia vulnerable. An article has appeared in ‘Concrete’, our Student Union newspaper, in relation to a recent meeting that Judith attended with the UEA Feminist Society. The article argues that Judith defended the ‘Rape controversy’ at the meeting she gave last week. While the article is fair in its criticism, we feel that:

1.       This development is at odds with the claim in Party Notes that ‘Socialist Worker editor Judith Orr spoke at a very successful Feminist Society meeting at the University of East Anglia last week and her talk on Marxism and Feminism was warmly received’.  

2.       This article will have knock on effects for those who are party members and staff or students at UEA, as Concrete is widely read on Campus.

3.       Numerous members of UEA Feminist Society have expressed to us their reservations about working with the Party again in the future.

Therefore we would like to ask of the CC why the specifics of the meeting were omitted from Party Notes when they directly affect comrades at UEA? Party Notes is supposed to be a guide for how comrades are to deal with political issues in the coming weeks however we were not informed of a subject that directly affects us. We would like an explanation as to why the CC failed to warn UEA comrades about an issue that we have to face in lectures and in the workplace, as it is impossible for us to respond to questions relating to this meeting if we are kept in the dark as to its details. 

Emma Rock, Norwich Branch (UEA Staff and Unison)

Jack Brindelli, UEA SWSS/Norwich Branch

Jacob Porter, UEA SWSS/Norwich Branch