Solidarity: an update. Theft is theft, even when it's intellectual property theft.

The appalling story of the BNP's disastrous move into the trades union movement continues with the September bulletin from the original union started by the BNP (which we shall refer to as Solidarity 1) having a go at 'untrustworthy' Nick Griffin and the union's Certification Officer.

In response to a question referring to the extremely confusing double-union situation that asks what the future holds for Solidarity, Vice-President Tim Hawkes responds thus:

'Which one? As far as the EC [Executive Committee] of Solidarity is concerned, the idea of a union run and controlled by the BNP leadership (and Third Way sidekicks) is a joke. The Union must be focused on worker issues not political point scoring. It is clear that the support structure of Solidarity with regards to promotion and recruitment has been seriously harmed and our association with Nick Griffin – who publicly and privately declared to me that he view (sic) Solidarity as ‘independent’ – who I now consider to be highly untrustworthy, has harmed us considerably. Well, with regards to the BNP-Solidarity version, we understand that it is fundamentally just a political union and by its actions have rejected any true sense of independence and therefore it is unlikely to go anywhere other than as a smoke screen in loosely supporting working class concerns. However, I for one would not be prepared to willingly betray the British workers by allowing the BNP leadership to dictate the actions of Solidarity. It is one of the prime reasons that I have continued my work with the Union. The future of Solidarity is in question, and in truth I would personally consider a dead union to be better than a corrupt thieving union, after all there are plenty of TUC unions who fill that role. My greatest concern is that BNP-Solidarity will succeed due to the Certification Office unwillingness to do their job, and the EC’s lack of legal resources means that genuine non-political people will join up with the BNP version, not knowing that it simply funds a lifestyle for individuals of questionable moral integrity who have no concerns for the workers of this country and frequently don’t even work themselves. At this stage we should just wait to see if the Certification Office do anything, and apply pressure where we can.'

Hawke is being disingenuous. Solidarity 1 was started by and for the BNP and was, from its birth, run and controlled by the BNP leadership and its Third Way sidekicks. Though the party and the detestable Patrick Harrington (former General Secretary of Solidarity 1, currently General Secretary of Solidarity 2 and long-time pal of BNP leader Nick Griffin) attempted to deny the BNP front-group status of Solidarity (and continually edit Wikipedia entries to that effect) the actions taken by the party immediately following the suspension of Harrington from Solidarity 1 made it perfectly obvious that Griffin always intended to control the union completely and wasn't about to let that control pass into the hands of others who may not have his best interests at heart.

Hawke's ludicrous statement that 'we understand that [Solidarity 2] is fundamentally just a political union' displays either a convenient disregard of Solidarity's entire very short history or a truly incredible naivety that makes one wonder whether he should just give up politics now before he does himself a mischief, though he almost redeems himself with his criticism of the Certification Office, which seems to have ignored the turmoil completely, and his comment 'that genuine non-political people will join up with the BNP version, not knowing that it simply funds a lifestyle for individuals of questionable moral integrity', presumably a reference to Harrington and/or Griffin.

Solidarity 1 has, let's face it, had it. It's time for Hawke and co to bite the bullet and accept that Griffin and Harrington have, despite acting in a manner that almost everyone with a conscience would consider both immoral and illegal (the theft of the union funds, the website and the account details immediately following Harrington's suspension), outflanked the original union leadership and appear to be getting away with it. If it's any consolation, our estimate is that the union will collapse within a year or two anyway, through lack of interest. Nobody would want to be a part of an unrecognised union with no negotiating power and in any case, once Nick Griffin sees that it isn't a money-spinner, he'll lose interest and stop supporting it.

Hawke is right about one thing though and that is that the Certification Office should have jumped on this right from the start. Both versions of Solidarity should have been suspended until a proper investigation (including a police investigation) had taken place.

The story (thus far) can be followed via the links below:

BNP's fake union Solidarity already up against the ropes
BNP's Solidarity situation worsens - fake union under threat
Solidarity - an email update from the Vice-President Tim Hawke
BNP discards democracy completely to force takeover of 'independent' Solidarity
Solidarity disaster goes critical as criminal investigation is threatened
Where next for the BNP’s amoeba-like Solidarity union?
Solidarity update - BNP’s Nick Griffin heavily criticised for interference
Solidarity - police called in

One interesting though relatively trivial spin-off from all this is that Solidarity 2 has applied to have the logo (top) registered as a trade mark, with all the intellectual property rights that this would give them. However, as many of our correspondents have pointed out, the design of the Solidarity logo (and indeed, the name itself) is a blatant rip-off of the logo (above) of the real Solidarity union which itself owns the copyright on the original image. Objections to the fake union stealing the logo and name of the original and far more worthy Solidarity can be made via email to the Intellectual Property Office here: law.section@ipo.gov.uk

BNP's fake union Solidarity already up against the ropes

Thanks to Lancaster UAF

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.