Name Martin Smith | Role Protester | |
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Martin James Smith (born October 1963) is a British political activist. He is a former National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a position he held from 2004 until January 2011. He left the SWP in 2013.
Smith joined the SWP in the 1980s and rose to become a member of the Central Committee. He was involved in disrupting talks at Acas in May 2010 between British Airways and the Unite trade union which he defended on Channel 4 News. He has also been involved at a senior level in Unite Against Fascism. In September 2010, he was convicted of an assault on a police officer during the protest in October 2009 against British National Party leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order.
Smith is a former Director of Sherborne Publications Limited, the company that publishes the Socialist Worker, and of Love Music Hate Racism. At the National Conference in January 2011, he left the post of National Secretary in favour of Charlie Kimber, who remains in this position.
Smith is currently a PhD student at Liverpool Hope University, supervised by Michael Lavalette and Stephen Kelly.