June 22, 2007

BNP's fake union Solidarity already up against the ropes

Potter, Lee and Walker

Coup d'etat or power-struggle at Solidarity?
Update: According to one of our contributors (check Comments); 'There does seem to be some disruption going on regarding the union. Two members of the Executive appear to have taken upon themselves the right to 'suspend' the general secretary at an inquorate 'meeting' on the ever of a massive recruiting drive. Against all the rules of natural justice, they brought in an investigator who was also to become 'acting general secretary'. In other words, he had a vested interest in taking the job from the incumbent general secretary, Mr Harrington. From the correspondence I have seen, it looks like this investigator had already prejudged the issue and Mr Harrington had to go! Not so much an investigation as a coup d'etat. They just weren't very good about it. The EGM will sort this matter out on behalf of the rank-and-file members.'

A report that has appeared on the BNP website reveals that the fake union set up by the party is already in trouble and seems likely to go the same way as all the other ventures the BNP has ever been involved in, like Nick Griffin's washout of a money-spinner Affordable Cars and the Albion Life insurance scam.

The source of the problem is that, according to the BNP, 'an unconstitutional attempt has been made to remove General Secretary Pat Harrington from his position'. Harrington has something of a fine union pedigree - he was expelled from the RMT. He was also one of the National Front's 'political soldiers' in the late 1980s alongside Nick Griffin. Other BNP activists involved in the project include Jay Lee, who was recently booted out of Aslef, and John Walker, the BNP's national treasurer, who has had his own troubles with the T&G. Clive Potter, the possible President of Solidarity is a long-time BNP activist from Leicester, who was expelled from Unison for improper conduct. Potter is still listed as President on Solidarity's homepage though it was our understanding that he had been ousted months ago. More info on this point would be appreciated.

The BNP produces its usual kneejerk response to problems in the ranks, blaming any difficulties on somebody else, usually 'reds'. In this case, the party goes into overdrive, claiming that 'Solidarity has been the subject of a far-left sabotage bid, involving several individuals working as a team' and that the bid to boot the useless Harrington out of office 'and to replace him with an unknown individual from Merseyside whose involvement in the BNP has extended to just a few weeks...the local organiser and activists concluded from his behaviour that he could well be a Marxist agent provocateur'.

However, the real problem is made apparent in the next section of the article - and regular readers of this blog will recognise it straight away as a problem that seems to exist wherever the BNP sticks its corporate nose in.

'...Tim Hawke [Solidarity Vice-President] continues to refuse to sign first year accounts so that these can be submitted to the Certification Officer in time. This is despite the fact that the accounts were prepared by an accountant and have been independently and professionally audited by a Barrister and Kenny Smith (head of BNP admin).'

Yes indeed. The BNP - or rather one of its many subsidiaries, is in financial trouble (again). There is really only one reason for not signing accounts off and that is that you do not believe that they are a true statement of the financial affairs of the stated organisation. Clearly, Tim Hawke has doubts about either their accuracy or possibly their legality, and it wouldn't be the first time that a treasurer or someone connected with the financial side of a BNP venture has balked at leaving themselves open to litigation by signing off on a load of rubbish - at least a couple of treasurers have been booted out after doing the same thing.

One of the 'purposes' listed for the formation of Solidarity was to avoid what the BNP interpreted as union corruption. Its statement on formation clearly says; 'We want independent unions that are fully accountable to its members whose finances are transparent...' by which one assumes it to mean the organisation's finances are transparent and not the member's finances, although that's certainly open to doubt.

To get around the problem of awkward people inconveniently refusing to sign dodgy accounts, the BNP proposes to call an Emergency General Meeting to completely subvert the democracy it claims to uphold and increase the size of the Executive from the current three, presumably Harrington, Potter and Hawke, to seven, the additional four being one from Third Way (Harrington's current political affiliation) and a vote-winning three from the BNP. This would ensure that, no matter what dubious transactions take place and no matter what goes on that the members are kept unaware of, all decisions will be made by the patently corrupt BNP and the very co-operative Pat Harrington, Nick Griffin's buddy from the old days.

Under Item 14(a) of the present constitution of the fake union, 'The Executive Committee may suspend or dismiss any Solidarity officer in cases of misconduct. It has the power to remove any incompetent or insubordinate Branch or Regional Officer.'

It looks like Tim Hawke has had it then.

It also looks like the BNP is attempting to retain complete control over the union - which is certainly not the impression the party was trying to make when it first set the whole thing up - presumably because if it ever takes off (which it never will) it'll make pots of money, most of which will be siphoned off to the nearest handy pockets. These accounts, along with membership numbers, should make interesting reading - if they're ever allowed to appear and, of course, if they're accurate.

The BNP and the BNP's union - democracy and accountability in action. Well, not quite.

38 comments:

Unknown said...

A friend (who I asked to get the information) has an email from Tim Hawke in which Hawke claims that Solidarity has 100 members. As he thought he was answering a genuine inquiry, even that may be exaggerated.

7,000+ BNP members and only 100 (?) could be bothered to join the "British Workers' Union" - which shows what the average BNP member thought of it.

Anonymous said...

Mr Harrington sells a very nice cup of tea while pushing the trolley on the GNR train to Scotland.

My black mate always calls him "boy".

Anonymous said...

Just goes to show that Solidarity is a complete washout and hasn't become the money-spinner Nick Griffin had hoped it would be. I wish the personal/company bankruptcy rules were stricter.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of fucking liars you lot are. Solidarty is operating fine and has hundreds of memebers and the accounts are just taking time to get together thats all. You do anything to cause trouble.

Antifascist said...

Read the report, dumbo - it came straight off the BNP website.

Anonymous said...

"Solidarity has 100 members"
Wow, such a HUGE union! I bet the other ones are scared.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
What a bunch of fucking liars you lot are. Solidarty is operating fine and has hundreds of memebers and the accounts are just taking time to get together thats all. You do anything to cause trouble.

9:14 PM, June 20, 2007"

Is that the same delay GWR are suffering? Or, like the time the BNP accounts were 12 months late and it was blamed on the banks shutting their accounts down? Except the banks closed on the bank accounts 6 months before the BNP accounts were due. A splendid lie, every BNP member bought into that one.

The greedy loathsome Griffin really does think all BNP members are stupid but I think he's right. YOU ARE

Unknown said...

Whatever we may think of Hawke, there seems to be a modicum of honesty about him - an attribute not very well appreciated in the higher realms of the BNP.

As I understand it, Hawke doesn't actually belong to any far-Right organisation. What is his history?

An excellent article, Antifascist. I do love a good tale of BNP intrigue - shadowy groups attempting to take things over, doubts cast over named individuals. It's just like "Dallas" - except that "Dallas" didn't take itself seriously.

Antifascist said...

'The greedy loathsome Griffin really does think all BNP members are stupid but I think he's right. YOU ARE'

They are too!

Thanks for the comment, Denise. Always nice to be appreciated. :-)

'Whatever we may think of Hawke, there seems to be a modicum of honesty about him...'

Which is why he's not likely to be around for long. If he's got any integrity at all, you can see why Griffin would want him out ASAP.

I've no recollection of his name at all before Solidarity. God knows where he popped up from.

Anonymous said...

The BNP cant do anything right by you left wing idiots. Here it is trying to save the country and all you lot can do is make up lies and talk crap aboput it. You' ll all need a decent union one day when your job is taken by some Pole and then where will you be. The BNP won't back the likes of you up.

Anonymous said...

There is/was a Tim Hawke from Ireland (at least his on-line id said Ireland) who was on a few neo-Fascist Croatian websites a couple of years ago - ones in support of Ustache and Croatian Paganism. Might be the same Tim Hawke as the one from Merseyside. Then again, it might not.

Hard to tell, as he tended to join sites under the name Tim Hawke and then either not post or just make one or two.

All I could find on-line with a Google search was a Timothy Hawke who signed an on-line petition by Bombardier beers to have St George's Day made a public holiday. There he was listed as living in London.

Everyone else with that name seems to be American or Canadian.

Possibly it is not his real name anyway? Wouldn't be the first BNP member to use a false name, would it?

Anonymous said...

" Here it is trying to save the country and all you lot can do is make up lies and talk crap aboput it. "

Oh bollocks. What a load of rubbish.

" The BNP won't back the likes of you up. "

Good. If I ever felt I had to rely on the BNP I'd sooner kill myself.

Anonymous said...

Yet again we see the same behaviour from BNP members as we see from the 'suckers' that 'invest' and 're-invest' in fraudulent something for nothing investment schemes.

Rather than see themselves as others do, ie as suckers, they re-invest in the next investment scam. It is less painful to lose money than face up to the fact of one's own foolishness.

Only when BNP members have the moral courage to do this will they ever elect a decent leader.

And only when the working class have the moral courage to recognise that their union leaders have ripped them off.

Oh yes...let's not forget the dirty deal done by Joe Gormley and friends with Lord Robens in the 1960s....a deal to suppress mechanisation of the coal mines in order to keep keep up the number of miners employed.

So what is wrong with that?

Oh...you like digging coal by hand do you, when there is a machine to dig more quickly, and therefore increase the value of what each miner produced AND reduce the number of men actually working in such a dangerous occupation.

I see...you want to increase the number of men scrabbling away underground.

And what was the car that Arthur Scargill was 'awarded' by the miners's union in the 1970s? A british Leyland model no doubt? No, a Swedish Volvo. A Ford from Dagenham would not do.

And what of the present crop of Union leaders? All of them on the 'national average' as a salary?

Or perhaps they have demanded and got a salary equivalent to what men of their qualifications could earn in the private sector? Just like Nick Griffin.

It is not just the BNP leaders who are the shitbags.

Anonymous said...

You refer back to the 60s and 70s but they were forty and thirty years ago respectively.

"And what of the present crop of Union leaders? All of them on the 'national average' as a salary?"
I've no idea - I assume they get whatever the going rate is for the job. I'm a retired professional who wasn't in a union but I don't begrudge them a decent wage for looking after the interests of the thousands of workers in their union.

"Or perhaps they have demanded and got a salary equivalent to what men of their qualifications could earn in the private sector? Just like Nick Griffin."
And how much does he earn - as a fact? No-one seems to know and this figure doesn't appear in your party accounts. Bizarre. And regarding his qualifications - a 2:2 in Jurisprudence is worth nothing. Believe me, I know.

Anonymous said...

denise.garside@btinternet.com

Friend pete doherty m8

Anonymous said...

If the fash want to start doing that nonsesne (printing peoples details) I'll put up the private numbers of every leading Nazi in this country. (That includes home, mobile and work)

'cause I've got them all.

Unknown said...

denise.garside@btinternet.com

Friend pete doherty m8


You have me at a disadvantage. Explain please.

Anonymous said...

The accounts for the first year(the one in dispute) show an Expenditure of less than £650. This is on postage, printing, webhosting and PO Box rental.

I'm no accountant but there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for 'corruption'. Union finances are in any case highly regulated. Accounts have to be audited, submitted to the Certification Officer and made available to the membership. Not quite the same as the Trafalgar Club!

Antifascist said...

'The accounts for the first year(the one in dispute) show an Expenditure of less than £650. This is on postage, printing, webhosting and PO Box rental.'
Are these accounts available for anyone to look at? If so, where? And where are the wage costs? According to the site, 'average' wages were to be paid to the officers.

'Accounts have to be audited, submitted to the Certification Officer and made available to the membership.'
As far as we're aware, they haven't been yet but perhaps you can enlighten us.

'Not quite the same as the Trafalgar Club!'
Indeed. And that's something we'd really like to get our teeth into.

Anonymous said...

It seems that Griffin and Harrington have something to hide. Griffin, who loves to control everything, doesn't extend that control to Harrington, and rather bows to his every command. Exactly what does Harrington know about Griffin that has allowed Harrington to virtually take over this union whilst under investigation, with Griffin's full support. Interesting.

Anonymous said...

There does seem to be some disruption going on regarding the union. Two members of the Executive appear to have taken upon themselves the right to 'suspend' the general secretary at an inquorate 'meeting' on the ever of a massive recruiting drive. Against all the rules of natural justice, they brought in an investigator who was also to become 'acting general secretary'. In other words, he had a vested interest in taking the job from the incumbent general secretary, Mr Harrington. From the correspondence I have seen, it looks like this investigator had already prejudged the issue and Mr Harrington had to go! Not so much an investigation as a coup d'etat. They just weren't very good about it. The EGM will sort this matter out on behalf of the rank-and-file members.

Anonymous said...

I think this is a straight-forward power struggle with Griffin and Harrington on one-side and Potter and Hawke on the other.

If they have 100 members and each pays £5 a month that is only a budget of £500 per month. Given the costs of running any organisation (let alone a Union) doesn't seem to leave much room for "corruption". Perhaps they argue over whether to take the bus or walk to meetings!

Antifascist said...

'Two members of the Executive appear to have taken upon themselves the right to 'suspend' the general secretary at an inquorate 'meeting' on the ever of a massive recruiting drive.'
If they suspect dodgy accounting, they're perfectly entitled to do this.

'Against all the rules of natural justice, they brought in an investigator who was also to become 'acting general secretary'. In other words, he had a vested interest in taking the job from the incumbent general secretary, Mr Harrington.'
Fair enough - it should have been someone separate from the issue itself.

'The EGM will sort this matter out on behalf of the rank-and-file members.'
No, the EGM will give up complete control of the union to the BNP, thus ensuring that it becomes a cash cow for the party if it ever gets a reasonable amount of members.

As far as we can gather, Solidarity is still uncertified as a union and is likely to remain so. Anyone who joins this fraudulent union deserves to be ripped off in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Chaos on legs!

Anonymous said...

"'The EGM will sort this matter out on behalf of the rank-and-file members.'
No, the EGM will give up complete control of the union to the BNP, thus ensuring that it becomes a cash cow for the party if it ever gets a reasonable amount of members."

That's absolutely right but it will never get that many members because it's never going to be a real union. Can you imagine the response of an employer if the BNP union came along and said it was demanding a 5% wage increase for all its members? I know what I'd say!

Anonymous said...

You don't think this Tim Hawke might just be someone who actually believes he's working for a real union, do you? Surely he's one of them lot. Just because he's in the right on this occasion, you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that he's one of the good guys.

Anonymous said...

I joined soluidarity recently and just got this email...

Dear Member

I regret to inform you that the prior-General Secretary / Treasurer Patrick Harrington on the 3rd of June 2007 was suspended pending an investigation, based on serious accusations of financial irregularities.

During the cause of this investigation Mr Harrington has consistently refused to cooperate with the investigation by withholding all account details.

The EC was forced to remove Mr Harrington’s access to the main unions account, however he had previously set-up an online Paypal account to which he refuses to relinquish the access codes, effectively providing himself with his own personal account at members expense – we intend on pursuing legal action into this.

In a last ditch attempt to prevent the investigation from coming to light, Mr Harrington contacted the Host Provider of the website (a past friend of his) and has replaced the website with his own. He is currently misleading members into the believe that he is the Leader of the union, however this is not the case and we ask members to be patient with us.

Yours truly,
Executive Committee of Solidarity

P.S. We shall resolve the website issue soon and please note that you will be kept informed of all details

Anonymous said...

Ha, this is all descending into chaos. Solidarity is more than up against the ropes - it looks like it's down for the count!

Anonymous said...

Harrington posted this response to the McLinden/Hake/Potter statement:-

Dear Member

A malicious email is being circulated which I understand you have been sent a copy of. First, let me apologise to you that personal information that you supplied to our Union is being misused in this way. I will be making every effort to ascertain who has supplied this information and whether they have committed offences under the Data Protection Act.

An unconstitutional attempt is unfortunately being made by two members of our Executive, Clive Potter and Tim Hawke, to remove me as General Secretary of our Union. A secret meeting was held in which they appointed a William McLinden both a 'Special Investigator' and 'Acting General Secretary'. Our Constitution is available on our Website. You will see that for Executive meeting to be quorate all three members must be present (strangely, I was not invited!). As I was not present any purported decisions are unconstitutional. Additionally our Constitution states that the General Secretary will remain in post so long as he satisfies the majority of members. Mr McLinden has been a member of our Union for little more than a few weeks. When he joined he provided a Liverpool Street address but a North Cheshire telephone number. His actions since joining have been factional and disruptive. Investigations regarding Mr McLinden are ongoing.

I am supporting calls for an Emergency General Meeting on 14 July so that our members can decide themselves who has acted wrongly and who should lead our Union forward.

The principal political backers of our Union - Third Way and the British National Party - have published statements on their website backing me and calling for an EGM. So determined are they that the Union should be secured that they are mounting an email recruitment campaign this week which has already resulted in a surge of new memberships.

Reference is made in the email to allegations made against me. I have requested details of any allegations but these have yet to be provided. Our first year accounts were prepared by a professional firm of accountants. They were audited by a Barrister and Kenny Smith (head of BNP admin) as lay auditors. They were shown all bank statements and receipts. Once submitted to the Certification Officer these will be published on our website and circulated to members. The second year accounts are currently being prepared and will then go through the same process. As Union finances are subject to many legal checks there should be no room for such unfounded allegations.

I am acting in my role as Treasurer of the Union. I am concerned that the financial information of our members is kept confidential. As I bear legal responsibility (currently) under our Constitution I intend to ensure that everything is done properly. I have no intention of handing over control whilst remaining legally liable.

Anyone who uses PayPal will know how it works. All transaction details are automatically recorded. These will form part of our accounts. Membership payments come in, a PayPal fee is deducted and money transferred (once it reaches a reasonable level) to our main Union bank account.

I have suggested, however, that due to my heavy workload in other areas the Executive should be expanded to seven and that a specific post of Treasurer should be created. This would allow me to concentrate on writing and representing our members at grievances, disciplinaries and tribunals. I have pointed out that under the current constitution the responsibilities of the GS are onerous (particularly for a voluntary worker). I look forward to handing over my financial responsibilities to the new Treasurer!

I believe a deliberate attempt is being made to disrupt our Union on a large-scale. This is aimed at preventing a major recruitment campaign that was planned and sabotaging the submission of our first year accounts (a legal requirement). The wreckers have even threatened to call for our Union to be de-registered. I am determined that this will fail. I will take all necessary steps to safeguard our Union pending the decisions of our membership at the EGM. Our website has been secured and I will move to secure other vital areas in co-operation with the wide team of members who have rallied to defend our Union.

When the EGM is held the members alone will decide who has acted wrongly and who has been true. I urge you to continue your support.

If you receive any further malicious communications please copy them to me as I will be looking actively at how those responsible can best be called to account.

With best wishes


Patrick Harrington
General Secretary

Anonymous said...

As a Solidarity member, however, I must
tell you that it is Potter and Hawke who have called for a 'purge' of
non-BNP members. They have accused 3W of 'diluting the Nationalism' of
the Union. Ironically this has set them against their own leadership
who realise that the Union did nothing in its first year and that it
was only when others became involved that things started to move.
Griffin also realises that another 'BNP Front' would not appeal to a
wider audience and that it is necessary to involve 3W and others for
strategic reasons. Hawke is connected with Ipswich BNP. He comes from
Leiston in Suffolk. His relatively new membership of Labour is just a
ruse.There is no doubt that the Union has been damaged by the attempted
coup of Potter and Hawke but they have virtually no support amongst the
membership and both the BNP and Third Way back Pat Harrington.It is
virtually certain, therefore, that Potter and Hawke are on the way out.
Even if they are not active agents their incompetence alone means that
they should not hold high office. I find it incredible that they could
purport to appoint someone our General Secretary without any
consultation of the membership or anyone knowing who the hell he is. He
had only been a Union member for three weeks! When he joined he gave an
address in Liverpool (L6) and a phone number in North Cheshire! Any
fool should have spotted a bit of a problem there! Potter also knew
that McLinden had been told not to come back to meetings of the BNP in
North Cheshire because of his strange behaviour. They suspected him of
being an agent provocateur.

Anonymous said...

It seems that Pat Harrington has a lot of time on his hands - posting on here under 'anonymous' doesn't fool us Pat. Maybe it's time to sort out the union rather than post without even daring to put your name to it.

Anonymous said...

I think you will find that Harrington will come out on top in this power struggle. The bottom line is that the vast majority of the members will back him and Griffin against Tim Whoever and Bill Neverheardof. Additionally the two main political backers are... Nick and Pats parties!

I would be shocked to see Tim or Clive at our EGM but if I do I will be telling them in no uncertain terms what I think of their treachery.

Anonymous said...

"I think you will find that Harrington will come out on top in this power struggle. The bottom line is that the vast majority of the members will back him and Griffin against Tim Whoever and Bill Neverheardof. Additionally the two main political backers are... Nick and Pats parties!

I would be shocked to see Tim or Clive at our EGM but if I do I will be telling them in no uncertain terms what I think of their treachery."

BNP gullibility never fails to amaze me. Of course Harrington will come out on top. He and Griffin are set to cream any income that may come in. You don't really believe the BNP gives a sh*t about its members do you?

Griffin will retire at 55 on the pension plan his daddy set up with BNP members money. He'll write a book and you will all still be sitting in the same sh*t while he suns himself somewhere nice.

How many BNP members looking in have a spa in their back garden with champagne chilling in the snow?

Why isn't the cancelled 'SUMMER SCHOOL' due to rain being held in the barnes or extensions on Griffin's land paid for with BNP money? Why is he charging people twice to go to RWB? Why is he stealing branch funds? If he isn't proficient enough to run an organisation legally just dump him in the Thames and let the corrupt wanker drown.

At this rate the anti's will have to stand in line behind the nationalists who want to smash his filthy lying greedy little one eyed face in.

Anonymous said...

Does Nick Griffin have a full orchestra playing in the background and fit girls in this champagne guzzling spa? Almost makes the BNP sound attractive...

No wonder Walker wants to be 'Leader'!

Anonymous said...

"Mr Fister said...
Mr Harrington sells a very nice cup of tea while pushing the trolley on the GNR train to Scotland.

My black mate always calls him "boy". "

Reverse racism and contempt for a working class job. Good job Fister. Add homophobia and make a joke about the disabled too next time though!

Anonymous said...

Searchlight has an interesting article on all this in the latest issue. What was odd were the quotes from Third Way indicating it has an anti-racist position! I'm sure it is good tactics to highlight this in order to split them from the BNP but is it good policy? Beating-up on them for fielding ethnic minority candidates is a little weird!

Anonymous said...

If the Third Way/NLP (i believe the latter is their party political side) has ethnic minority members/candidates why on earth have i always been told Harrington was a fascist/racist by self-appointed anti-fascist campaigners? Searchlight tell us this now but they must of known it for some time but have chosen to cover it up? I sometimes think some socialists are as bad as the BNP in lying about opponents as it suits.

Anonymous said...

The BNP have posted the following:-
5th July 2007

News article filed by BNP news team










The independent nationalist trade union Solidarity is now making good progress. General Secretary Pat Harrington has in the last week successfully concluded two cases and taken on another. He acted as union rep for a member at a grievance hearing at the huge Honda plant at Swindon. Whereas our man’s previous union had failed to deal with the matter, Solidarity got the problem resolved. Advice to a member in London with a problem with unpaid statutory sick pay led to the victim of unfair treatment getting the pay that was his proper due. And more good local media coverage has been gained on account of Solidarity representing persecuted BNP teacher Mark Walker, whose case continues and is looking good.

Mark, who is acting as Election Agent for BNP candidate Andrew Spence in the forthcoming Sedgefield by-election, told the BNP website news team that “when I was first suspended on account on my political beliefs, I felt a bit lost and alone. But the support of Solidarity, and the advice on what to do to fight back, has been tremendously useful, both from a practical and morale point of view. And it only costs £5 a month instead of the £14 I used to have to pay to the worse-than-useless N.U.T, who turned their back on me when I needed them most!”

Clearly the need - and potential – for Solidarity is enormous, and we repeat our earlier calls for all nationalist sympathisers in employment to join straight away. The union now has a new official address: Solidarity Trade Union, PO Box 93, Spennymoor, DL16 9AN

It has emerged that a significant number of letters to the old Leicester PO Box were not getting answered. We do not know if this was an internal failure, or if left-wing postmen were interfering with deliveries there. Either way it is essential to stop using that address, particularly for sending money. Any letters or emails advertising or purporting to come from Leicester should be ignored, and any literature advertising that address must be destroyed.

The recent temporary address for General Secretary Pat Harrington, Room 407, 12 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1DD is still fine, and should be used by Solidarity members who have not yet written in to support the call for an EGM on 14th July.

More than two thirds of the members have now written or emailed (solidaritygb@aol.com) backing the EGM, but the remaining members who have not yet signed up to this are encouraged to do so as well so, as to give as near 100% approval as is possible. New members are also entitled and encouraged to add their voices to this call. Please note that Solidarity’s Paypal system is working properly and is in safe hands.

Solidarity members have now been notified of the meeting point for the EGM, which will be held near Brentwood in Essex, starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday 14th July.

Forthcoming EGM

The EGM is needed to resolve several problems. Several weaknesses in the existing constitution have come to light – this is really no surprise in such a new and ambitious initiative, but obviously the sooner they are put right the better. In addition, it is essential to tidy up the aftermath of the wholly unconstitutional attempted replacement of the General Secretary by a man only involved a few weeks and already expelled from his local BNP branch on account of disruptive behaviour and strong suspicion of being a Marxist infiltrator.

Among the failed tricks, British National Party members have been told that Third Way people are trying to hijack Solidarity, and TW members have been tipped the wink by the same person that the BNP is planning to purge them! A very clear – and wholly dishonest - attempt has been made to set genuine nationalists at each other’s throats. There are of course policy and tactical differences between the two organisations, but these have no bearing at all on our willingness or ability to co-operate for the common good on this non-party political matter.

Finally, the EGM on 14th July will be asked to agree to the enlargement of the Executive from three to seven. Among those who will be putting themselves forward are Mark Walker’s brother Adam – also a BNP teacher and also persecuted for daring to hold Politically Incorrect views - and Simone Clarke, the brave BNP ballerina, who is also an experienced union rep.

This will bring fresh talent and breadth to the Solidarity leadership and allow it to get on with the job of building a union that will defend the rights of all nationalist workers. The strange and off-putting combination of Searchlight-style fantasy rhetoric (“True National Socialist values”), sickly sympathy for East European scab labour, and suggestions that the union should be “distanced from the BNP”, which has emerged from the old Leicester PO Box will be over for good.

Whether the recent problems were caused by a personal power grab, or a far-left wrecking operation is still unclear. Suffice it to say that, with hindsight, it would not really be surprising if the setting up of an independent nationalist trade union alarmed the far-left enough to provoke an attempt to take it over and strangle it at birth.

If that is what has been going on, it is now clear that the attempt has failed. Solidarity will emerge from these birth pangs stronger than before. A major recruitment campaign will be launched by the middle of this month, and advertising has now recommenced in BNP publications. A Solidarity information stall and workshop sessions will be run at the BNP Summer School and the Red, White and Blue.

In addition, a number of BNP members with experience which could help to build Solidarity and protect its members have been identified and will be receiving targeted recruitment appeals in the hope of getting them involved as well.

Orange Parade

In another welcome development, 10,000 special Solidarity leaflets will be handed out on the main12th July Parade in Belfast. Many other unions have over the years gained an ugly reputation for supporting Republican sectarianism, so post-Peace Process Northern Ireland is a promising place for non-sectarian Solidarity. This is particularly true in view of the Ulster Third Way’s long and very constructive attempts to encourage a more ‘family’ atmosphere and to reduce the old sectarian tensions of the Twelfth. The BNP isn’t the only organisation to have worked out that bouncy castles have more public appeal than boots!

There is no doubt at all that the far-left are petrified of the potential of Solidarity, both as a union in its own right and as a solid organisational base and union training school, from which BNP members and other nationalists and patriots can in due course set about rescuing other union branches from the clutches of the Marxist left. There are millions of decent, patriotically minded trade unionists in Britain, and they have been herded down a far-left blind alley by just a few thousand hard core extremists and greedy timeservers.

The power and influence of these people is immense but fragile. It is far weaker than the grip of the Labour party in vast swathes of local government. So we look forward to bringing you more good news about Solidarity in the near future, and hope you will join in the meantime.

To keep up with all the latest news from Solidarity, the independent nationalist trade union, log on to www.solidaritytradeunion.net