They have become an anachronism, a joke.
The way they handled these allegations of rape against a senior member of the party is disgraceful. As I understand it, this same individual has been accused more than once. I also thought I had read that he actually sat on the panel that was convened to examine this case!
The alleged victims have been poorly served by the SWPs refusal to recognise the police and judiciary,and may very well have aided a serial rapist to evade proper justice.
Everything I hear points to their irrelevance, and they are suffering an exodus of members; in short, they are imploding. Their political vision is rooted firmly in the labour intensive heavily industrialised past, as is their language, and they seem incapable of recognising the changes in the economic, industrial and cultural climate, much less adapting to it.
They should certainly sort out their attitude towards women. Several women members have claimed that the SWP is a dangerous environment for women, and based upon their handling of these rape allegations, you can see why.
As with anyone, a political party is capable of multi-tasking. They can operate a policy of standing up to the EDL as well as reforming their attitudes towards women.
I think the SWP of Citizen Smith and Dave Spart are long gone....