Martin James Smith (born October 1963) is a British political activist, and a former National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP); a position he held from 2004 until January 2011. He is reported to have left the SWP in 2013, following accusations of the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

of a much younger female member of the party. Smith joined the SWP in the 1980s and eventually become a member of the Central Committee. He was involved in disrupting talks at

Acas The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is a non-departmental public body of the Her Majesty's Government, Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and fa ...

in May 2010 between

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

and the Unite trade union, an action that he defended on ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

''. He has also been involved at a senior level in

Unite Against Fascism Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is a British anti-fascist group. Its joint secretaries are Weyman Bennett and Sabby Dhalu, formerly of the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR). Its chair is Steve Hart of Unite the Union and its assistant secre ...

and

Love Music Hate Racism Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) is a music-oriented antiracism campaign based in United Kingdom, Britain. The campaign aims to bring people together and promote unity through the power of music. LMHR was born in the tradition of the Rock Against R ...

. In September 2010, he was convicted of an assault on a police officer during the protest in October 2009 against

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

leader Nick Griffin's appearance on ''Question Time''. He was sentenced to a 12-month

community order Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. Smith is a former director of Sherborne Publications Limited,MR MARTIN JAMES SMITH
directorsintheuk.co.uk, 21 March 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014. the company that publishes the ''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since 1968, a ...

'', and of Love Music Hate Racism. At the National Conference in January 2011, he left the post of National Secretary of the SWP in favour of Charlie Kimber, who remains in this position. Smith has been named as "Comrade Delta", accused of sexual assault and rape of women who were members of the SWP. According to

Alex Callinicos Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...

and Dave Renton, disagreement within the party following this incident led to the resignation of 700 SWP members.

Selected publications

*''John Coltrane: Jazz, racism and resistance, the extended version''. Redwords, 2003. *''Frank Sinatra: When ole blue eyes was a red''. London: Bookmarks Publications, 2005. *''Why "British jobs for British workers" won't solve the crisis: Why we need jobs for all''. London: Bookmarks Publications, 2009.

References

External links

Dream Deferred
– Martin Smith's blog
Smith talking about "Perspectives for Trade Union Struggle Today"Smith at the Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party debate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Martin 1963 births Living people British people convicted of assault Socialist Workers Party (UK) members