WSWS rumor

[al-Ibadani]

The IBT (International Bolshevik Tendency) had this to say about the WSWS:


In recent weeks reports have surfaced that David North, leader of the ostensibly Trotskyist Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and its International Committee (IC), also (as David Green) acts as CEO of Grand River Printing and Imaging (GRPI—www.grpinc.com/grandriver-history.html), one of Michigan’s larger printing companies, which reported $25 million in business transactions last year. Like other readers of the SEP’s on-line daily, we have been waiting to see what the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) has to say about the flap over the GRPI. It seems that, for the time being at least, North et al have decided that discretion is the better part of valor, and are maintaining radio silence.


It's hilarious whether true or not

The full article is here (http://www.bolshevik.org/Leaflets/GRPI_puzzle.html)

[Sankara1983]

It's true, according to a discussion on a left-wing mailing list that I observed.

[peaccenicked]

The question is: so what?

[Labor Shall Rule]

This is old news. I was going to join the Socialist Equality Party until I heard about this a few months ago from a few fleeing members. It is true, I use to have another site for the advertising company that had his name, and even a photograph of himself, within it. I remember the first initial reaction of many members was "that could be his dad" or "that's his brother", and it started a series of cover-ups and allegations that would last for months on. It was never mentioned on the World Socialist Website, which is the party's site, and members were informed not to discuss it because it was 'garbage' that former members looked I reup to discredit the party. However, I think it would be an insult to intelligence to say such a thing - I knew many of these old members, and I know they wouldn't waste their breath to derail the opportunistic organization.

A former member, Joe Hagrave, whom I copy and paste a lot of my posts from due to their excellent content and tremendous elloquence, wrote this about North,


Here is a story you might find interesting:

I know of two men. One of them is the leader of a small Trotskyist political party in the United States. He is known as David North. The other is the CEO of Grand River Printing & Imaging, a company that earns 25 million dollars a year according to its website. They call him David W. Green.

For nearly 30 years, Mr. North ran his political party and Mr. Green ran his business. Mr. North gave speeches about the exploitation of the working class. Mr. Green exploited his workers, deriving surplus value from their unpaid labor. Mr. North thundered against the corporations that dominate American political life. Mr. Green sought those corporations out as clients, and probably did lunch with some of their executives. Mr. North would talk about the disgusting climate of corporate greed that pervaded the American cultural atmosphere. Mr. Green helped actualize that corporate greed by printing advertisements to help them push their products on consumers.

Of course Mr. Green was no black-hearted tycoon. No, surely Mr. North would have to exempt from his tirades against the corporations that dominate American politics and exploit the entire world certain capitalist leaders who stood out as genuine pillars of their community. Why, Mr. Green had gone to great lengths to make his workers as comfortable as possible. He invested in their training and education, he included them as part of his "larger vision". But surely Mr. North, who understood Marxism very well, would point out the absence of democratic control of the workplace, or the usual separation of the worker from the instrument of production that is the requisite of capitalist production. After all, his party published in statement after statement that the aim of socialism was to create a democratic economy. Yet none of the reports on Grand River suggested anything about "democracy" or "worker ownership" - Mr. Green may have been a nice man who saw the value in keeping his work horses happy, but he was also a businessman. So surely, should Mr. Green and Mr. North ever meet one another, they would disagree on a great many things.

Unless, of course, they were the same man.

Could it be a case of multipule personality disorder? Not exactly. You see, David Green, alias David North, is a fraud. He is the biggest fraud to hit the socialist movement since James Robertson of the Sparticist Leauge or "Chairman" Bob Avakian of the Revolutionary Communist Party. He owns a multi-million dollar corporation, and the upper echelons of his political cult and members of their family occupy key executive positions.

The rank and file members of the party are completely unaware of the existence of North/Green's corporate empire, which includes Grand River Printing, Merhing Books, and who knows what else. They assume that the party sustains itself through the donations that it begs for on its website and at its conferences, as well as the regular contributions that members are expected to "pledge" every month. I was exempt from this particular requirement only after I reminded one of its leaders of the considerable amounts of money I had invested in my own local branch. How nice of them. I can only imagine the giddy internal glee that North/Green must have felt every time some naive sucker wrote the SEP a check for a few thousand dollars. To North/Green, and the other party leaders, such donations were in fact chump change.

I can also only begin to imagine the difficult decisions that had to be made on a daily basis, such as, "how little can we put into this whole socialist thing to keep it viable while we live in the lap of luxury?", and, "should I use a 50 dollar bill or a 100 dollar bill to do this next line of cocaine?" All kidding aside, anyone who is serious about building a revolutionary movement, and who also happened to own a multi-million dollar company, would invest the maximum amount of profits into the former.

What I mean to say is, I could accept the fact that North/Green exploits the labor-power of his workers if the surplus value created by their unpaid labor was being used to build a movement that would one day end all exploitation. The ends, as I generally believe, justify the means if the ends themselves are justified. But this is obviously not taking place. The SEP has full branches in three cities - LA, NY, and Detroit. With the profit margins we can assume a 25 million a year company is capable of, there should be a fully-staffed branch in every major city in the United States. There should be an SEP radio station, a public access program on television, etc., etc., etc. Those profits, in sum, should be used to promote the movement, to expose not tens of thousands but millions of people to socialism.

What could possibly account for a failure to do these things? There is only one inescapable conclusion - that North/Green and his cronies enjoy the good life more than they do the revolutionary life. And they enjoy that life at the expense of the wage-laborers they employ. To dance around these uncomfortable realities they invent all sorts of paternalistic schemes where they provide top quality education and training for their workers - while, of course, "keeping wages competitive". To read the website of Grand River Publishing & Imaging is to be sickened. Every line is infused with phony corporate enthusiasm and politeness, in order to impress the equally phony corporate clients looking to get their ads published and printed. Contrast that to what you normally read on the WSWS. How can these people sleep at night? They might respond like the fictional Renier Wolfcastle: "On top of piles of money with lots of beautiful ladies".

It seems that every other week brings some new revelation about this political cult that I could have only wished I had known earlier. I tell you these things so that you can avoid my mistakes.

[Labor Shall Rule]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13, 2007 01:33 am
The question is: so what?
So what? David North was National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party for over ten years ever since it's creation. They never had renewed elections for his position for over a decade, even after several party members had a desire for his replacement. It shows that many parties today are based more on centralism rather than on democracy, and that any "Chairman", "National Secretary", or "General Secretary" could very well be a class enemy. To me, that's fucking scary.

[peaccenicked]

Definitely weird. Still WSWS is not your average leftist paper, it is usually better, more in contact with reality. Probably that says more about average leftists. Who are full of same old, same old, dumbed down dogmas. Honestly I could write most of their editorials in my sleep.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Yeah, old news, but it definitely discredits the group in a serious way. It's like that old rootbeer comercial where the CEO says to his assistant, "I'm sticking it to the man." The assistant looks puzzled and says, "Sir, you are the man."

SEP has done a load of other things too, like support the state in legal cases against members of other organizations, try to sue unions in capitalist courts, and they even sold info on communists to Saddam's government!

With comrades like those....

[Leo]

How can these people sleep at night? They might respond like the fictional Renier Wolfcastle: "On top of piles of money with lots of beautiful ladies".

:lol: Hilarious!

[Severian]

Originally posted by CompañeroDeLibertad+August 13, 2007 01:15 am--> (CompañeroDeLibertad @ August 13, 2007 01:15 am) SEP has done a load of other things too, like support the state in legal cases against members of other organizations, try to sue unions in capitalist courts, and they even sold info on communists to Saddam's government! [/b]
Right; from their actions they've long shown themselves an anti-labor organization.

A thread where I posted some information about the SEP, formerly known as the Workers' League (http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=60644&st=0&#entry1292235977)

If you read the Bolshevik Tendency (http://www.bolshevik.org/Leaflets/GRPI_puzzle.html) page in full, this is apparently the old party printshop, not North's personal business. He's CEO because he runs everything about the SEP, probably not because he owns it.


Bolshevik Tendency
It is notable that the change to on-line from paper publishing, and the transformation of the old party printing plant into a full-blown business enterprise seems to roughly coincide with the change of position on the unions.

I.e. the SEP once used this plant mostly to print their own literature; but since they don't print much literature anymore (they have the WSWS instead) - its become a money-making operation. It's not unusual for left organizations to have their own printshops, BTW, and probably a lot of them do or have done some commercial work on the side too. As long as you have the presses, y'know. And to get business customers you have to advertise as just another commercial printshop.

So probably this is not a thing about North personally, so much. But it probably a big chunk of how the WSWS and SEP are financed - and it's a pretty strange way to finance a supposedly socialist organization. As the BT points out, it's not likely to have a good effect on their politics.

Staffed by party members or someone else, I wonder? Do they see their work as a contribution to the SEP, and is that part of the basis of the printing company's business success?

The other significant thing here is the way SEP sympathizers or members have tried to justify it - really reflecting some deeply pro-capitalist attitudes.

For example (http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&groupID=100000185&page=1&EntryID=34206782&CategoryID=0&get=1&adTopicId=3&lastpagesent=0&Mytoken=18F52787-8898-4AD0-81E06EC5E4C57745100390610)

And what about the workers that depend on the company for their livelihood? If it is really a large company, then there will be many workers that depend on it. Are you going to provide resources for them? You have put their livelihoods in danger too.

Moreover, from the information that you provide, it seems like a good company. You write that "according to the reports, it has won awards for being one of the best places to work in Detroit." They say on their website that they provide education for their workers. This only speaks to the credit of the SEP, if they are involved in some way. It reinforces the point that humane working conditions can only be advanced through socialism, even if the party members are of course now constrained by the framework of the capitalist system. So why are you attacking them? If this is all true, moreover, it only indicates that the party leadership, including David North, are not living off their membership dues or exploiting the party, as you suggest, but are sustaining themselves through a business.

Wow, what a great thing it is to be a benevolent boss! Providing a livelihood for the poor workers, etc. Also great to choose bosses of the leaders of socialist organizations, so they won't need a salary. So much for self-liberation of the working class. Really, the excuses are a bigger scandal than the printing company.

[YKTMX]

Engels worked in a fucking mill.

I can see why this would make people uncomfortable but I doubt it's an excuse not to join the SEP.

Their cultism might be however.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Staffed by party members or someone else, I wonder?

Wonder no more.. on the bottom of the page with the IBT article, it says: "On the myspace [website] discussion of the issue, one neophyte supporter of the SEP summed up the explanation he had been given as follows ... the GRPI provides employment for a number of comrades"

[BOZG]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14, 2007 06:30 am
Right; from their actions they've long shown themselves an anti-labor organization.

I.e. the SEP once used this plant mostly to print their own literature; but since they don't print much literature anymore (they have the WSWS instead) - its become a money-making operation. It's not unusual for left organizations to have their own printshops, BTW, and probably a lot of them do or have done some commercial work on the side too. As long as you have the presses, y'know. And to get business customers you have to advertise as just another commercial printshop.

So probably this is not a thing about North personally, so much. But it probably a big chunk of how the WSWS and SEP are financed - and it's a pretty strange way to finance a supposedly socialist organization. As the BT points out, it's not likely to have a good effect on their politics.

Staffed by party members or someone else, I wonder? Do they see their work as a contribution to the SEP, and is that part of the basis of the printing company's business success?

The other significant thing here is the way SEP sympathizers or members have tried to justify it - really reflecting some deeply pro-capitalist attitudes.

Wow, what a great thing it is to be a benevolent boss! Providing a livelihood for the poor workers, etc. Also great to choose bosses of the leaders of socialist organizations, so they won't need a salary. So much for self-liberation of the working class. Really, the excuses are a bigger scandal than the printing company.
Says a member of an organisation who once used Wall Street lawyers to threaten the MIA?

[applejacks]

North is a CEO. Barnes is a rich old fart who just sold his multi-million dollar loft. Avakian has his multi-million dollar money-making cult.

Why is this shocking? Grow up people.

[BreadBros]

Haha, this is pretty poetic. The political leadership of the USSR and PRC transform into the new bourgeoisie. One supposed vanguard of the American masses follows suit and transforms into an openly capitalist enterprise. Neat.


So what? David North was National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party for over ten years ever since it's creation. They never had renewed elections for his position for over a decade, even after several party members had a desire for his replacement. It shows that many parties today are based more on centralism rather than on democracy, and that any "Chairman", "National Secretary", or "General Secretary" could very well be a class enemy. To me, that's fucking scary.

Well, this is a pretty bizarre/outstanding example but I would say the bit about internal democracy is par for the course. Most of the sects I've come into contact with don't seem very interested in internal dissent or debate, whether theoretical or bureaucratic.

[gilhyle]

The best case of this is still the founder and secret leader of the French Trotskyist group Lutte Ouvrier, who also happened to run a pharmaceutical company. There is apparently a book in French about it - never read it.

http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier...r.asp?ida=41993 (http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/lo/dossier.asp?ida=41993)

[Severian]

In my last post I think I kinda understated how much of a problem this is.

If a printshop is run primarily for party literature (as it probably once was), and not primarily for commercial purposes, there'd be nothing strange, as I said. But: even then the political leadership of the party should not be the same as the commercial rep for the printshop's commercial business, nor the same as whoever's in charge of organizing printshop production....it's a proposal made by at least one of the ex-SEP members discussing this on the 'net, BTW, that the SEP and GRPI leaders should be separated.

You just don't, or shouldn't want your political leadership to be the same people who have to be dealing with businesspeople all the time....as Green/North apparently is. The GRPI website talks about him speaking at a industry convention (on his enlightened, fatherly approach to labor relations!), etc.

In other words, if the SEP's going to own a printshop, someone has to be "CEO" of it. But it shouldn't be the chairperson or whatever of the SEP.

And then there's the question of whether the SEP membership really knows what's happening with this....