Towards an Tendency

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On Sunday October 13, the Workers Socialist League adopted the following resolution mapping out positive steps towards the formation of a principled international Trotskyist tendency, pledged to the struggle for the reconstruction of the Fourth International.

1) Events since the Workers Socialist League 1979 Summer School have confirmed that the utmost priority - must be attached to work designed to consolidate a new, principled, international Trotskyist tendency. Such a tendency is essential to develop and expand the nucleus of a reconstructed Fourth International capable of leading the world's working class and its potential allies to the revolutionary seizure of power and the world dictatorship of the proletariat.

2) It is clearly vital that such a tendency be based on principled programmatic agreement, both on major international issues, and on general perspectives and methods of work within the proletariat in the countries of member sections.

3) The WSL restates its commitment to the struggle for the organisational principles of democratic centralism both at a national and an international level. Only such a method of organisation allows all sections to participate in the internal life and struggles of other sections, with each section accepting mutual international discipline and control. But such an organisational form unthinkable without tirm programmatic agreement.

4) In order that the most rapid strides forward can be taken towards establishing such programmatic agreement, the WSL formally calls upon the comrades of the US SLDC, the Greek CIL, the Danish TAF, and those comrades in Turkey in agreement with the politics of the WSL, to jointly with us convene an international pre-conference in the winter 1979/ 80, the proposed agenda for which should include:

a) Discussion and adoption of our document The Trans¡tional Programme in Today's Class Struggle' b) Agreement on a common declaration of intent mapping out the framework and timescale within which further discussions will take place on national and international perspectives, and on conditions of membership of the tendency. The tendency itself will only be formed after a principled agreement has been reached both on conditions of membership and on the national perspectives of member organisations.

c) Formation of an international liaison committee to act as the organising centre for political discussions prior to the founding conference of the tendency, and to publish an international discussion bulletin and draw up the document stating conditions of membership of the tendency.

d) The issuing of an appeal to those forces internationally now engaged in the revolutionary struggle for socialism to participate in this process of constructing principled Tendency in opposition to all forms of opportunism and sectarianism.

5) The organisational details of this pre-conference, within the general format and the political line adopted by today's national aggregate, shall be in the hands of the WSL National Committee, in conjunction with the leaderships in the USA, Greece, Denmark and Turkey.

October 12, 1979 Trotsky