Chris Bambery
Encyclopedia
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
of the British Socialist Workers Party until April 2011 when he resigned from the party. He is a leading member of the newly formed International Socialist Group (Scotland)
International Socialist Group (Scotland)
The International Socialist Group is a revolutionary socialist organisation based in Scotland which formed in April 2011. The group produces a monthly magazine, the International Socialist, and operates a website with articles and features on current events and socialist theory...
.
Originally from Edinburgh he began his political career as a member of the International Marxist Group
International Marxist Group
The International Marxist Group was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It and its youth organisation had had around 1,000 members and supporters in the late 1970s...
in 1972. After leaving Edinburgh University, where he had been Vice President of the Students Representative Council, he became a full time organiser for the IMG in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 1978-79 but left that organisation in May 1979 joining the Socialist Workers Party seven months later. In late 1981 he became the SWP's Glasgow organiser.
In the 1983 he moved to North London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as an organiser for the SWP and was elected a member of its Central Committee in 1987 becoming its National Organiser shortly afterwards, a position which he held to 2004 when he replaced the long serving Chris Harman
Chris Harman
Chris Harman was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party...
as editor of Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
. Since 2010 he has been an organiser for the Right to Work campaign. The right to work campaign, in conjunction with the Socialist Workers Party, were criticised for storming negotiations between Unite and British Airways over striking cabin crew. Both sides involved in the talks condemned the intervention, which resulted in negotiations in the dispute breaking down. Chris was not, however, present at this incident, and the action was led by SWP national secretary Martin Smith.
It has been alleged that he has attempted to get other demonstrators arrested because he does not agree with their slogans. Freedom newspaper have stated that they have had access to several signed witness statements from people present on the October 3rd. 2010 'Right To Work' march in Birmingham, that identify stewards collaborating with police against anarchists. Freedom newspaper states that one statement read "Chris Bambery gathered other stewards with the intention of not allowing anarchists to join the march and form a block." It goes on to state that people were directly told by Chris Bambery to "put that banner away or I'll get you all nicked" before Bambery walked over to the police to complain.
It has however also been suggested that Chris Bambery was only trying to get the Anarchists to move back down the order of the demonstration. This was due to the fact that a group of disability rights activists in wheel chairs had been invited to lead the march. However the anarchist contingent refused to accept this and demanded that they be allowed to march at the front contrary to the wishes of the disability rights activists and the Right to Work Campaign.
Chris Bambery has been criticised by anti-fascists for an article in International Socialism autumn 1993. In this article he wrote about physical opposition to the Nazis by members of the KPD in Germany in the 1930s. In his opinion this reduced the struggle to a minority of hardmen grouped around the KPD. He claimed that these individuals glorified a laddish lifestyle, there was bullying amongst Red Front Brigade (RFB)
Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund was a paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany created on 18 July 1924 during the Weimar Republic. Its first leader was Ernst Thälmann...
fighters and that they were happy to join the Brownshirts for beers and some were even happy to go over to the Nazis. This was seen as an attack on anti-fascists who support the use of violence. (At the time the article was written, the groups Anti-Fascist Action
Anti-Fascist Action
Anti-Fascist Action was a militant anti-fascist organization founded by members of Red Action and other left-wing groups in the United Kingdom in 1985....
and Red Action
Red Action
Red Action is a small British leftist political group formed in 1981. It became known for violently confronting racist and fascist opponents on the streets, and for supporting Anti-Fascist Action...
were perceived to be the target of these attacks). It was also seen as a twisting of facts. In particular, the incident alleging RFB fighters joining SA members for beers mentioned by Bambery was in fact an ambush on the SA by RFB fighters, and ended in one of the Brownshirts being stabbed.
He led the International Socialist Tendency
International Socialist Tendency
The International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
at the Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 2001 with Alex Callinicos
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos is a Trotskyist political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London...
.
Bambery made public his resignation letter to SWP national organiser Charlie Kimber on April 11 2011.
Chris Bambery is now a member of the International Socialist Group (Scotland)
International Socialist Group (Scotland)
The International Socialist Group is a revolutionary socialist organisation based in Scotland which formed in April 2011. The group produces a monthly magazine, the International Socialist, and operates a website with articles and features on current events and socialist theory...
.