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the only guarantee against de facto hierarchies on the one hand, and the effective rule of dissenting minorities crippling united action on the other.

Democratic centralism cannot be said to be 'undemocratic" so long as there is genuine scope for full debate within the movement before major policy decisions are taken, and so long as minorities have the right to form tendencies and factions to argue their positions.

Indeed the concern for democracy is. by no means peculiar to the authors of Beyond the Fragments.

Trotsky consistently emphasised the need for a party to be democratically organised.

Democratic control

The whole history of the Trotskyist Left Opposition the 1920s was an example of the fight for democratic control over the increasingly bureaucratised Bolshevik Party.

And Trotsky fought all his life against the bureaucratic, dogmatic methods of Stalinism. This tradition is carried forward today by the Trotskyist movement.

The WLM, with few vital decisions to be made, all the time in the world to make them, and an activity centred on ideas, can afford to hold the view that no decision should be taken without everyone agreeing.

But even then the lack of a formal organised democracy in the WLM can make it even less democratic and open to manipulation by individuals than Leninist parties with elected, accountable leaders.

Rowbotham does however put her finger on one weakness of some left groups, who exhibit an authoritarianism in their own education and propaganda work which they correctly condemn in state education.

There is a • reluctance to develop theoretical work into new areas, and a tendency to repeat, somewhat uncritically, the formulations of the classic Marxist writings.

And there is the danger in some cases that access to detailed information becomes restricted to the leadership of organisations-denying the membership the basis for full participation in debate and decision-making.

These are indeed dangers to be combatted in the Trotskyist movement. But Rowbotham and Co. actually go further, effectively attacking all Marxist theory, when they argue that for a group to claim to possess a revolutionary theory. is in itself the starting point of sectarian arrogance.

Wainwright develops this point in her introduction: replying to those who criticised ne lack ot practical proposals in the first edition of Beyond the Fragments she replies that "there are good reasons":

"First, our limited experiences do not give us the grounds for confidence to arrive at such general practical conclusions.

"Secondly we question the idea that you can really only step into the debate about political organisation when you have a general solution, a clear way Iorwara. inere woma -----11 never have been a women's movement at all if we had accepted this approach. "(p.4).

It is of course quite true that individuals do not have grounds-on the basis of their inevitably limited experiencefor believing that they can lay down "general practical conclusions".

But Trotskyist groups do not set out simply from the basis of the personal experiences of their members.

They draw upon the whole history and experience of the fight for revolutionary politicsthe practical tallures, successes and lessons-and upon the theoretical advances made from the time of Karl Marx onwards.

It is not necessary for each revolutionary to discover for him or herself-as if for the first time-the concept of the law of value, the programme of transitional demands, or the practical means of organising flying pickets. They are already the stock-in-trade of the revolutionary movement.

Certainly such concepts require development in the light of the latest social upheavalsbut they are present as a vital starting point for even the newest revolutionary.

The WLM-though held up as an example of the method advocated by the Beyond the Fragments authors-is in fact a clear example of why such a clear foundation of established programme and structure are essential.

Sabotage

The WLM's lack of direction restricts its effectiveness in practice: but worse, its lack of any overali strategy to link its limited activity to the struggle for socialism can even lead to counter-revolutionary results.

For examnle the radical feminists would, if they had * »я VISMALINAT MAID more influence, actually sabotage many labour movement struggles by encouraging divisions between male and female workers-precisely the divisions which the Labour bureaucrats and employers work so hard to create and deepen.

And while the activity of the WLM is focussed on short-term campaigns for reforms within the system, a revolutionary organisation sees the fight for specific reforms in the context of a strategic fight for social revolution. Without a "general" solution, the partial campaigns can be diversionarv and counterproductive. MAT VIVI Elementary This may seem as elementary as ABC-but not for Rowbotham and Co.

They fail to grasp the fact that even when Marxists assert the need for a scientific method of analysis, they are by no means claiming that every aspect of their analysis of the class struggle is necessarily correct.

The correctness of any analysis, like any in the physical sciences, is dependent upon the scope and correctness of the data available.

This is another reason why a structured, centralised revolutionary party and not simply a gathering of well-intentioned individuals is essential to offer a correct and consistent programme for struggle.

Rowbotham paints a caricature of:

"Trotskyism's emphasis on the 'analysis' of an unfolding objective crisis suggest[s] the professional revolutionary going in, extracting the salient bits of reality, and fashioning the programme accordingly."

But all this shows is Rowbotham's refusal to deal seriously with the question of just how revolutionaries are to understand and intervene in the real world. She reduces the discussion to an infantile level.

How indeed can one tell which are the "salient bits" of reality? Or, if the whole exercise of analysis is impossible, how do you decide how to respond to events? While deriding the method of Marxism, Rowbotham offers nothing in its place.

Ignorance

Of course there are, as Rowbotham says, times when:

"It is important to be able to say 'I don't know' and 'Nobody knows, we need to find out without being dismissed as stupid."

At the same time it is necessary to establish a scientific means of finding out, rather than simply glorifying a state of ignorance.

Equally, 1 Marxists must admit that they have no monopoly over theory: most left groups are for instance indebted in some respect to the WLM for their recognition of the reality of sexual oppression.

One concept which Rowbotham takes up from the WLM is the need to recognise that "the personal is political" • and that personal and cultural needs are no less important than political and workplace demands.

"Pyramid"

She claims that:

"Left organisations, particularly since the Bolsheviks, have assumed a kind of pyramid of levels of activity. Near the top are struggles for political power and conflict at the workplace. Community struggles follow, traditionally seen mainly as the housing question and tenants' movements. After them education, welfare and cultural issues may be considered with an optional cluster of sexual "quality of life' ". (p.110)

Here again Rowbotham's description of Trotskyist' activity is no more than a caricatture.

Dangers

She herself admits that there are dangers in the slogan "personal is political"-that it can become a justification for ignoring broader political issues.

But on the issue of priorities in political work, the distinction is between on the one hand a broad-based campaign for "liberation' and the search for reforms to transform personal relations within the existing system, or on the other hand a perspective for the revoluгюпагу overinrow orine capıra- adamantla list state.

The main reason why Trotskyists focus on political and workplace activities is because they are key areas of confrontation between the classes, and between workers and the state.

Majority "Oppressed workers" are not simply another oppressed "group", , like the homeless, gays or blacks: the working class as a class embraces the majority of women, gays, blacks, homeless and every other oppressed minority.

It is insofar as they can be aolntad ta tha mchilinatina of relatea to ine moomsalon ol the class as a whole that the demands and struggles of these minorities stand a hope of long term success in ending their oppression.

It is difficult to think of personal issues which are irrelavant to the struggle between Capital and Labour.

The demand for women to have the right to control their own fertility for instance immediately confronts the government policy of cuts in the NHS, the Tory 'desire to restrict abortion rights, and the ideological campaign designed to bolster the idea that 'a woman's place is in the home' Clearly there are degrees to which different issues directly confront the state. Some (for example the attempts to combat sexual assault and violence witnin ine nome) pose no inreat. -91t:. 11. - 1. 11..--e to it.

But as communists we cannot condone any oppression of vulnerable groups in society. Thus we oppose racism and sexism not simply because such prejudices can be utilised by the bosses and the state to divide the working class, but because of the suffering, degradation and subordination they bring about.

It would be hypocritcal to condemn such practices in society but condone racism or sexism by individual members.

Political commitment to equality for blacks, gays and women must therefore be reflected in the fight to estabnon-racist, non-sexist behaviour on a personal level within the party.

Similarly political work around ethnic minorities and women's issues must not be left to black and women members, but be taken up by the uhnle movement.

There are of course problems in the uneven development of revolutionary consciousness. A militant may grasp the nature of class conflict while harbouring reactionary nationalist or sexist views.

These will only be eliminated by an ongoing struggle to develop new members as revolutionaries-a struggle 'that requires the . structure of a disciplined movement to be carried through successfully.

Rowbotham's complaint that the left groups characterise elements as "backward" or "advanced", , and her argument that this shows that we "need a much more delicate kind of socialist theory to guage different forms of consciousness" neglects the fact that socialists themselves recognise that such characterisations are at best temporary and superficial.

There are of course radicalised petty bourgeois; and there are many reactionary workers. Among both groups a struggle is necessary to raise consciousness to the level of revolutionary socialism.

Yet-for all its imprecisionthe broad character sation oi the forces involved is of value in directing the propaganda and agitation of revolutionaries in each case.

It is fair to say that Beyond the Fragments raises some valid questions about _left organisatons-thougn in many instances the faults they condemn are already well known and acknowledged by left groups anyway.

In addition, the alternative form of organisation put forward by Beyond the Fragments is as unworkable as it is idealist.

Perhaps the key to understanding the views of this book is to be found in Rowbotham's autobiographical history 'In the Left.

Lack of knowledge

From a petty bourgeois background, she dabbled in the New Left, Tony Clift's International Socialists, and Libertarian Marxism, finally rejecting membership of any left group.

Her confusion and ignorance of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky is equalled by her lack of knowledge of Trotskyist groups and lack of involvement in working class struggles.

Given this history, it is scarcely surprising that she, and her coauthors, who share the same kind of history, should be so muddle-headed when it comes to suggesting a new way forward.

Ot course the left in Britain needs to get "Beyond the Fragments" and build a mass movement to overthrow capitalism.

But the vital question is how to win workers to a mass revolutionary party on a principled programme. Fusions, whether nationally or internationally, can only be made in this context and on the basis of common programme, principles and organisational methods.

Because it is only the independent mobilisation of the working class, and not an amorphous, broadly-based, cross-class federation, that can wrest state power and ownership of the means of production from a disciplined and centralised capitalist class.

Only such a-revolution can establish a socialist planned economy and open up the way for the liberation of the oppre ssed.

One side effect of the Bologna bombing investigations in Italy has been the light thrown on fascist activity in France.

Links between the French police and fascists, tolerated for years, have forced the authorities into temporary suspensions.

The most celebrated is PaulLouis Durand, aged 25, a police inspector in Versailles who previously spent a year at the Police Headquarters in Paris.

He is a member of the central leadership of the FANE -the Federation of National and European Action, a small neo-Nazi group which has been accredited with several bomb and physical attacks over the last few months.

The remains of Bologna stat It was not for his opinions nor his political activities-both of which were well-known and tolerated by his superiors-that Inspector Durand was suspended. It was rather because of the inopportune and unfavourable publicity accorded to him by the Italian press since the bomb went off in Bologna station killing 80 and injuring dozens of others.

One suspect named by the Italian police was Marco Affatigato who has been living in Nice for the last two years. He is well known to the French police both because of his Italian past and because of his activities in the ranks of the extreme right in France.

Released

He was arrested several months ago in Monaco possessing several false identity papers but was released a few hours later.

When he was implicated in a DC 9 explosion while flying near Palermo on June 27 the French police reassured their Italian colleagues that he had not left Nice.

At one time active in the Parti des Forces Nouvelles (PFN) he changed his adherence to the FANE.

However he was still in favour enough to take part in a debate in a major Nice hotel last May organised by the PFN presidential candidate Pascal Gauchon.

The Nice police were well aware that their colleague PaulLouis Durand was in charge of the FANE's international contacts with special reference to Italy and was in contact with Affatigato.

His employers only appear to have become concerned when the Italian press revealed some of his recent comings and goings. These included meeting several leading neo-Nazis and a trip to the European fascist international "summer camp" Last year such a camp held in Spain brought together about 100 European "nationalists" from Belgium, West Germany, France, Spain and the NF from England, Durand's colleagues were amazed at his suspension since he had always operated so openly and even signed articles in the paper "Our Europe" • (Some thought it was 'useful have members in the right wing groups).

Durand is now denying everything except for admitting to an "ancient" allegiance to the FANE in 1975.

The FANE has gained a large amount of publicity and has now gained a head start on the other right wing groups.

Set up in 1966 with the fusion of several groups of activists (the Charlemagne ion after the fascist bomb Circle, Western Action, and Friends of the True Europe) the FANE for a long time found itself pushed into the background by the rise of the New Order. It was only after its dissolution and the killing of Francois Duprat, leader of the Nationalist Revolutionary Groups (GNR) that the FANE, joined by the activists of the GNR, began to be more significant.

Its founder, Marc Fredrikson, is a 44-year old "pleasant" bank employee who has worked for ten years for the reconstruction of the "Black International" and who stood unsuccessfully in the elections in March 1978. • He will be tried in September for bein an "apologist for war crimes" and for racism. • While the PFN and the Front National have been officially preparing their presidential campaign, the destruction of monuments to the memory of those who died in the Resistance; antisemitic graffiti and atttacks in the rue des Rosiers have all been attributed to FANE.

Some members have been caught in the act, others have been apprehended with firearms or questioned about articles in their paper "Our Europe"

All have been released through "lack of proof"!

What happened in Bologna has greatly changed public opinion. The law to dissolve FANE only needs the signature of the minister. The fascists of course are well prepared for this eventuality. They have already registered two new associations, whose address is the same as the FANE® In an interview in "Liberation", Marc Fredrikson said that the type of "strategy" used in Bologna was not yet part of the war method of the FANE "as long as we are not outlawed"!

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obs torn up by In a week that has seen the announcement of thousands more redundancies affecting major areas of industry one of the more serious was the decision of Bowater to make 1,600 workers redundant at their Mersey Mill, Ellesmere Port.

A further 3,000 workers' jobs Merseyside-where unemployment is over 14%-will be affected by the decision to close this mill-Britain's largest away with it.

"The decision has nothing at all to do with labour relations which have been excellent and everything to do with the government's policy of making people expendable on the altar of monetarism"

However, the policy of the union to date has been to participate in a joint approach with the bosses to the Thatcher government for aid to the industry-an approach which has met with determined refusal on the part of the Tories. Keys immediately back peddled, arguing that not all official channels had yet been exhausted.

Workers in the paper industry will have to rely on their own independent strength and policies such as occupation of threatened mills and the opening of the books of the multinationals that own the paper industry if they are to defend their jobs.

This will mean taking up and acting on Keys' implicit recognition that the Tories must be As journalists at the Times put up their first ever picket line last weekend both the Times and the Observer were being threatened with closure.

The journalists voted 117 votes to 54 to strike after management refused to implement an arbitration award of 21%-repeating instead their 18% offer.

The journalists, who had claimed more than 30% were recommended for the 21% rise by Professor John Crossley of Leeds University. In his recommendation-which is not legally binding-Crossley said that pay related to the performance of the company and that all future pay awards should be linked to the cost of living to recognise the standard of 'excellence' of their journalists.

Last year the company, with threats of sackings forced the Times chapel to accept a disputes procedure which ended in arbitration.

SOCIALIST PRESS, Times NUJ FoC Jake Ecclestone vote on the 18% (which offer would certainly been have accepted)..

This position is unacceptable. Times joürnalists must picket the Sunday Times members and demand they join the strike.

While the Times management is jibbing at a few hundred pounds a year for journalists they are negotiating the next round of a technology agreement with the NGA and their wage claim, the Observer owners, Atlantic Richfield, have warned that the paper might be shut down anyway because of lack of profitability.

They are demonstrating that employers are never appeased by union weakness-they merely grow more arrogant in their demands.

The Times strike gives a chance to put the boot on the other foot. The chapels must fight not to allow any 'spare circulation' to be taken up by the other papers and to launch immediate solidarity action.

Closure of the Times or Observer must immediately be met with occupations to defeat the employers.

Provincial journalists in London are to be called out on one day strikes to win a claim for London weighting. The chapels have been operating sanctions since the employers offered £4 a week-only £2 of which would not be absorbed. Journalists at the Kilburn Times voted for an all-out strike to defend jobs after management demanded four redundancies.

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