In Defence of Working Class Political Independence (British Perspectives resolution, WSL Second Annual Conference)

In defence of working class political independence The following document, drafted in November 1977 and endorsed by the majority of the WL Second Annual Conference of the Workers Socialist League in February 1978.

llow nual toi eml Is a cial Id indorsed by 1 British Perspi abruary 1978 ajorit s doc The Crisis Without even denting the capitalist and colonial countrie that bourgeois economists tho already run out of steam. A figures show a pull-back from key US economy. The dollar is wea markets; unemployment Without even denting the total of unemployed in the long 5490= oyed in the ited 'boom' in 1976 has the way it in the ions of others in Id are without a job. The latest economic news nakes no prospect of the problem of mass i solved by the capitalist system. The On omic Cooperation and Development F Paris at which its 'experts" produced the rate of growth of capitalist econor lagging far behind the predictions of a f mill wor it c.ear that there is inemployment being ganisation for Econ- eld a conference in figures to show that nies was everywhere ew months ago. And vest is mer The dollar is weak on the international money on in the the internat JS remains al stand monks ional money around the 7 Porcel H, rue tur de plate da trigones y trave rut significantly increased; and the steel industry, ravaged by both international market anarchy and domestic crisis is imposing a whole series of lay-offs and plant closures to tackle the problem of unused capacity. The steel bosses, backed by the AFL-CIO union chiefs are among those leading the clamour in the US for protective measures against imports. This gives a clear indication that problems in the US economy must mean problems ahead also for Europe and Japan. Indeed capitalism internationally is inflicting a new of mass unemployment on the working class. The EEC announced that the number of workers registered unemployer throughout the EEC has reached 6 milli Even this vast figure is underestimate. There are furt millions of jobless in ti est of capitalist Europe includ probably 2 million Spain and Portugal Count 228838 mey saw an equany peak prospect tor tne tuture, As the Financial Times said: "Failing any new expansionary measures, the OECD secretariat has painted a gloomy picture for 1978, involving lower growth of industrial production, a stagnation of investments, rising unemploy- ment and a sharp decline in world trade which could lead to much greater protectionism".

"Protectionism" is the polite word tor the trade war which is already raging between the major capitalist coun tries, desperately searching for a bigger share of the world's diminishing mass of profit. Although in general the fright- ened economic authorities of the capitalist world have stopped this trade war from taking the form of an increase in tariff and custom duties on trade, it is still there in the form of the increasing number of 'voluntary' restrictions on exports which the US in particular is trying to impose on a growing number of co tries Page 4

The textile industry in Latin America has already been stunted by these arm-twisting methods. And the British government, which has rejected the overt import controls demanded by Labour lefts" and Stalinists, has instead wrested 'voluntary' limitations from Hong Kong and Japan on such products as TVs and cars. Meanwhile the capitalist states are increasingly throwing around accusations against each other of 'dumping" (selling goods below the cost of praduction). Committees of the US Congress are at present invest- igating accusations of dumping and demands for protection based on that and on other grounds against goods which account for two thirds of the exports from the EEC to the US!. The chronic US payments deficit and the weakness of the dollar add to the pressure for increased protectionism.

This trade war has been highlighted by two recent events. The first was the announcement of the half-yearly financial figures for the British Steel Corporation. The loss for 6 months amounted to over £200 million. At the same time the Bethlehem Steel Compeny in the US, which is similar in scale of production to BSC, announced losses which were double this figure. But both British and US producers blamed the situation on cheap 'dumped' imports from Japan, and are threatening to step up protection against Japanese steel. The capitalists' answer to the crisis of this industry, which is simply reflecting the general crisis of the capitalist system, is to bargain with each other as to whether Japanese, American or British workers should be forced to shoulder the costs.

But as the trade war becomes more aggressive and sections of capitalists become more desperate we must remember that only a narrow dividing line separates trade war from physical war between capitalist states. The bour geoisie is not in complete control of the situation. The result is international instability with the ever-pr threat of war. The complicity of the ft' reformists in this inter- national bartering of jobs is indication of the complete bankrupcy of a nationalist approach to the crisis of capi- talism. The working class, as an international class must be offered an independent programme to defend both against its own' national bourgeoisie and against imperialism.

Attempts to enlist the working class in efforts to press for measures protecting their 'own' employers against "foreign' competition must weaken and confuse the working class as well as divicing it along national lines. It is no coincidence that the same 'left' reformists who have thrown in their lot with the class collaborationist Lib-Lab coalition in Britain are also the ones calling loudest for import controls.

At the same time reformists both 'left' and right as well as the Stalinists have rallied to support the bourgeoisie in every capitalist country in its efforts to stem the fall in the rate of profit in domestic industry—the amount of profit in relation to capital invested.

Almost every capitalist government is now imposing or drawing up packages of 'austerity' measures designed to slash workers' living standards, cut government spending o social services that represent a drain on surplus value, and force through a new round of rationalisation in industry.

Socialist Press has outlined such packages in Italy, France, Portugal and Spain, as well as the Social Contract in Britain *Te national bartering of jobs is an indication of the complete The these po Stalinist and un towards The key in every instance to the implementation of movement. key in licies is t leadershi lefeated Popular every instance he role played ps in checking workers' mo Front and coal implementation of mass reformist and tance of a powerful Hence the drive of rule designed Page 5 to bind the working class to the requirements of capitalism in decline. Reformist and Stalinist leaders see two alter- natives posed starkly before them: either they must colla.

borate to the full with the bourgeoisie and assist its efforts to extract additional surplus value from the working-class; or they must face the political consequences of a struggle against the bourgeoisie under conditions where the weakness of capitalism and the strength of the working class could immediately place the question of power on the agenda, jeopardising the whole balance of class forces upon which they rest as bureaucrats. In every instance these leaders have, predictably, each in their own way, rejected the second course and sought out ever closer working relations with their own' ruling class. This has brought a revival, under completely different objective conditions, f the treacherous strategy of the Popular Front' developed the 1930s. In Britain the form taken by this class col boration is the b-Lab coalitior conomic Cr The cris ployed, no p in double fig even while I certain indus of profit stil the capitalist In Britain, as " issue-the exploitation collision between the The crisis in Britain-with record numbers of unem- isis in Brita is in Britain -wit respect of an upt ures, generally ma sumper profit fig tries-particularly I lags behind the class. record n n, and in hes the w es have the publ nd of fig umbers of unem- flation continuing orld pattern. And been recorded in ic sector -the rate ure demanded by iter national i of worker classes has ly. is s for pro been cen around his key fit -that the main tred. The struggle speed-up and to shep-floor in a it is now being 1o1 sidoidma An increase the rate npose rationalisation and of exnloitation on the desperate carried th With three day down; pu and the la in many wastage" policies bid to step up the rate of prof rough on all fronts simultaneously.

the level of production still below that during the week of 1974, "surplus" factories have been shut blic spending on social services has been slashed; bour force in existing factories and enterprises has cases been cut back by sackings or by "natural coupled to speed-up of those remaining. Such reate unemployment and thus doubly assist the empoyers arive to step up the productivity of labour by also weakening the organised strength of the working class.

Additionally public spending cuts avoid the need to impose added tax burdens on the profits of private enterprise. On top of this battery of attacks, the enforcement of two years' of wage control has inflicted unprecedented wage cuts upon the working class. None of these policies could have been carried through without major pitched battles if the employers had not been able to count upon the absolute collusion of reformist political and trade union leaders, ably assisted by their allies in the Communist With the backing of these leaders, a massive pool of unemployment now gives employers and government added confidence in their drive for further speed-up and cuts in manning levels. They still rely however on the police role of the TUC leaders to avoid the prospect of a decisive con- frontation. The decision of the brand new car complex union officials and their price of labour-power reduced to one of the lon The loudl/-hailed e North Sea oil can only Ford in Wa errand b emp rest lev merge have motor company to build a les indicates that, thanks to boys at convenor level, the layers in Britain has been els in Europe. ice of regular supplies perficial effect on of

pattern of the crisis in Britain. By strengthening the balance of payments (cutting oil imports) the oil has helped to stem the fall of the pound in the foreign exchange markets. The balance of payments is in any case favourably distorted by the chronic low level of production which has minimised the level of imported raw materials. While a strengthened pound would of course be a limited asset to the government in that it cuts the imported aspect of inflation, the perils of large inflows of speculative "hot money" have been illus- trated in the recent forced floating of the pound. This reached the point where the pound's increased value threa- tened to make sluggish exports even harder to sell in a depressed world market. The oil revenue has of course enabled the government to make some cuts in taxation, and provides resources for additional hand-outs to employers facing difficulties. Cuts in income tax of course benefit largely management and director grades, while for shop-floor workers they are intended as a means to stall off substantial wage claims.

But the oil is not a permanent asset. It will run out.

And it is not cheap-it sells at world market prices. It does not give British capitalism any particular competitive advantage. And although the high profits on the oil itself will tend to raise the average rate of profit, the oil as such will do nothing to improve the profitability of industry as a whole. The long-term effect of North Sea oil on the rate of profit depends, as statement after statement from Callaghan and Tory leaders makes clear, upon the way the govern.

ment uses the revenue directly to assist the capitalists in carrying through rationalisation and investment in new plant designed to increase the rate of exploitatio of the working class. Lib-Lab Coalition and Wage Control From the very outset we have analyse deal as an undeclared coalition in which traitors, unable to sustain their policies purely alliance with the TUC bureaucracy, reached base of support outside the organised labour assist their anti-working class policies.

While the fundamentals of the Labour leaders reac tionary bourgeois programme have not changed-wage controls, public spending cuts, unemployment and handouts to industry remain central-what has changed fundamentally is the class basis of the government. The bourgeois Liberal leaders have more control over the poli- cies and actions of the government and the whole Parlia- mentary Labour Party than the LP conference or the TUC This government owes its very existence to an undertaking jointly with the Liberals to enforce a third phase of wage controls and to refrain from the least hint of socialist poli- cies. For this reason it cannot be 'pressured' to change its line by organisations of the labour movement. To open the door for a fight for socialist policies, the Lib-Lab coalition must first be broken. The refusal of almost every other tendency in the labour movement to spell out this fact to workers is an indication of their political bankrupcy and opportunism. This is epitomised by the tame 'lefts' of the Tribune Group and the pet "Marxists' of the 'Militant' group, both of which oppose any fight to break the coali- tion. the Lib-Lab the Labour through their out to seek a movement to The bourgeoi struggles odds the economi determination s programme a to improve liv y must conten : crises. A poi this co to holt standa ith are u wol alition I the li rds is 1 both. king c to carry through a ne against workers' indoubted. But the ilass forces and the lass, bitterly resen- Page

TROTSKYISM TODAY, JULY 1978.

at the savage cuts in living standards inflicted over the 2 years is moving into struggle over wages It was this resistance that first brought the defensive pro-capitalist political alignment of the Lib-Lab deal in March 1977. The main purpose of that coalition was to impose a rigid stage three of wage control on the working class. Despite every effort by a servile union bureaucracy they have failed to do so formally, though the TUC is exer- ting its whole energy to forcing it in by the back door.

Union conference after union conference was forced during the summer to take a stand against a Phase 3, however vaguely worded and devious the motions brought by union leaders. Finally the TUC was forced to scramble for the 12 month rule as a means of isolating pay disputes in the coming year. Yet events since the beginning of the fire- men's strike show that the TUC has now turned from a defensive stand on that rule to full-blooded support for the 10% policy. Proposals from NUM, Boilermakers, GMWU and NUPE leaders go further, and suggest new bargaining structures that would shackle millions of workers to ful last centralised negotiations and clear the decks for publicly declared plans for permanent wage control Despite the fact that, in the private sector, Heal pay ultimatum has been changed and even ignored certain employers, wage control remains to be broken.

section of workers in the public sector has yet achievi settlement of over 10%-and every manoeuvre by 1 leaders-particularly the NUM and NUPE leadership-is 1 focussed on ensuring that the firemen are isolated and pay limit protected. This is why we should avoid any tendency Heal ey's by No id a UC 10W the to overst ress I consciousness or workers or ineir spontaneous thrown up in current and coming pay battles.

now from the experience of the miners' strikes 1 1974, and from the Leyland toolroom dispute 1977) that certain pay disputes even under a reformist leadership can have the power to shake and love governments, our responsibility remains the preparation of conscious leadership adequate to today's situation. We are not facing a repetition of the 1974 fight with the Tories. The breaking of the Lib-Lab coalition requires a more advanced political leadership, capable of fighting both government and the TUC bureaucracy. This is why we have put forward the call for more advanced organs of struggle, such as Councils of Action, to take this struggle forward. Liberal leader Steel has remained silent on the wide- spread breaches in the pay policy in the private sector. The prospect of annihilation of the Liberal Party in a polarised General Election, plus the spectacle of the Callaghan regime using troops to break the firemen's strike clearly holds Steel to Callaghan at this point, just as a dedication to resolving the problems of capitalism holds Callaghan to Steel. But should he TUC pulicemen lose their grip on the mass movement, and a massive wave of pay strikes break out, it is clear that Steel would come under immense bourgeois pressure to withdraw from the coalition. The Tories moved against Callaghan in March because they pre- ferred to see the Labour government defeated ostensibly in Parliament and themselves take the reigns of power than to see it defeated openly over its pay policy in which workers would learn tremendous political lessons. It is almost certain that such considerations would not be lost on the Liberal Party if industry were paralysed by escalating pay st s in the coming period.

The March ition, as we have analyse tu pontica leaderships While we k of 1972 ant this year, completely rike coa

the outcom ness of the w toolroo strik action outside bureaucracy. T leadership able dent program challenge the movem TI outsicie embrac - 5. Th king Took she teno class The st the form of mediate cont weakness lay direct that st action thi rength growing ol of the ie lack th and he toolma ithin • politica reflected nationa offic an al put weak - the ike un lej le ber LioI he ing

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als. ist al ites he wO rshij eking king las Cal of her unh Idn Callag gove dass is ission e deal witt noves ti › the ag camvh itary tir Market st e event o ion woul a co in, and should 1S 810 ion to ber in the programme very policy is a cor capitalist party. t by postal workers a employer and of the ting, the tightenine visaged present session of Parliament. Every policy is a concession evert f Pai for Icessi ven 1 re to Libe bulk rupt legali in's se un ikes sui Pai 28 subject to the agreement of the employer and of the Liberal ject ty. barne ne is 1 he ke Deral given promi iver te SI and i actions ti boyco arount ement

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EC being he incoming! to impleme ttitude to t wards calli to disman ialist Unit our pasition would be one of boycott. The incoming NC must prepare a concrete policy around which to implement this position, and a general statement of our attitude to the EEC. This should spell out our orientation towards calling I5it wel

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jener al nt 1U the EEC, and the need to fight for the Socialist United EC O08an States of Europe. The only salvation for the coalition is through the con- bureaucracy. The lesson from Grunwick, Desoutters and only alauid ns • The pp los WIt tha the hotel strikes is clear: so desperate are officials to stifle an that they are unable to win even the most simple demand el st iv a he r iction ! rials mple 9 he AI si he ha with from recent betrayals is that even workers with the most fron deve infl devastating industrial strength are still subject to

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ink al as lo. yat jec 150 the bureaucrats (BOC). This crisis of leadership is decisive in preserving the Yet the strength of working class resistance is also stri he the is ink as afe 55

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ry B al st 10X sun cog he hi itens ha sens still lo resentn bureaucracy With th in Councils of ction. to send strengt bring out other ands alongside t Within such cot conscious element 1 alternative pole betrayals of the ion gover councils s of dual asses. th co de fact that every serious dispute over pay now itit iggles. every xiste in thi threatens the very existence of the Lib Lab government * cont de se th the iS and ibs : OV Lab

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10% nent hop nOr ent defe no the 10% limit ew, tie WSL has pu The task of such hen pay disputes, sections of work ose already incils of would leat acal wage ct Coll rols anc Iter he of act power itor Counc fight t ers in strugg action the job be to fight to lership capable : 29 545 IC Ca Actii tch-h

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ish th alleng ting strug abryo betwi De Or in ureaucrats veloped n would an all-or and ConTron the course of rovi le the er can ra tation 26 S The conditions surrounding the firemen's dispute have offered the clearest case so far for this call to be taken up in Page each town and to t isolate th att irem te publ cash li cuts. 1 In nent. cou to organised ipts by public sector en by holding back th ic sector the policing nits ined This in thel public sector through spendi egoti inems unemployment. meals public army union mer ic strikebreak bureaucrats bers' claim 10% pay lii imposition in every i he threa ic every installment secto allmen ( o chal parab pub

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of hol cu on Witt: secto ished rs who kly have nev 'under wages. But now the two Issu or without wage increases protest have ted ge ins thousands « ind int Ork, : be

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thro cost Kers are peng forced put or ugh wastage, by cash limits s brought by inflation. And ›y firemen, power workers, Iworkers shows that public fight for of the poter brought the ur ational action Cal

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gerr art engin or worke Again it gale on his level o de cuts or cast isive 80,000 s, staff c union le arm Ir pa s. NI ire del ruggle andst er nined the awareness wag front that has io yea. havi for mass leaders to nst either since the sital sted anal the level of desperation: no national action against either beer nits has istra vice TiCI cuts fined 1 cal last and 1 Tor a ovembe eed-uf selves Hos closur while bluste lers 39 1

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S03: and unions we must see the way that the cuts issue and the wages issue are related, and the part that both policies have In confronting these betrayals in the public sector 1ES0 he pul c seI that sof idis bot it po and icies thi The capitalist class however finds itself caught in a entl nat t prol imponents employ üntary strat he ilt capil 'Gun alsi class Whil sticall• is litt ight main disru recognis sand and sanc lain disrupt the pr sgjed flow of components, transport etc. And it ductic Ispor uld f financial

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stoppage ind policy other policy that c ween tain

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sanctions. Hence an ambivalent attitude to the 10% policy SIl tion implementation npl mb ivale nbe yer: frontation with the TUC by paying in excess of the 10%.

Tory Party. setter po Whil Tr This ambiguity in the employers position finds its it! that t strent bre he 00 closed sho s little do: is gatheri it is st rate spr ory hig While there is little doubt that the extreme ric the Tory Party is gathering strength-Heseltine, Joseph. Thatcher-it is still necessarv for the ther Part Thatc ht wit Boys Tones case tl intat hin 1e kesm are unexpectedly forced into a premature confrontation • Thatcher-it is still necessary for the Tories to their 'moderate" spokesmen, Prior etc., in case they expectedly forced into a premature confrontation with the unions. pec unie ut inion-bust H organised substantial 1 the West ion str But nd bo g bu ess Pre has inc siness, w igh NAF backing s5 closer rea ith bac This unwi

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d oth the cks an rallyir lerlyir ant the Westminster Press closed shop dispute and other anti- substantial business backing and is the strategy underlying bli Jus iste uggles while eye turni r govern governm ng cont SU mc = 29 nd is shop ist position c ion bureau uld on ploye The Tals wer tray develope inder the ista wed willing ca with n0 of nder fai

TROTSKYISM TODAY,JULY 1978.

Jackson etc. retreating before the courts centred heavily on the fraudulent prospect of the government legislating the "right" for UPW members to strike. Such a position would be untenable under a Tory government-especially if that government was returned under conditions of mass struggle that had overturned a Labour-fronted coalition.

A main plank of Thatcher's election strategy is there- fore to avoid being tied to a particular line of policy on key issues-and to arrive at a position only when the circum stances become clear But if he call for import controls in the workers movement is one sice of the rise of nationalism, then the emergence of the Scottish nationalism has also worked to confuse and divide the working class. In the absence of any official labour movement programme to defend and create jobs and improve living standards, layers of workers in Scotland have been drawn towards the utopian and demagogic line put by bourgeois and petty bourgeois nationalists. The formerly quiescent Scottish nationalist forces have sprung to life at this point, stimulated by the scent of North Sea Oil revenues and quick profits. Only the utter bankruptcy of the established labour movement leadership-reformist and Stalinist -in Scotland has allowed these reactionaries the leeway to reach sections of workers.

And only the struggle for a revolutionary leadership can pose a serious challenge to this political current fed as it is on lies and confusion. While we recognise that Scotland is a nation and that as such it has the right to secede should a majority of its people so desire, we must stress at all points that nothing is to be gained by Scottish workers from such a secession, nor by the fake bourgeois "assemblies" and "elections" mooted under the Lib-Lab government's Devolution Bill. If Scottish workers genuinely want to see their independent interests represented, they shoukd fight through union branches, stewards' committees and workers' political organisations for local Councils of Action to lead and direct their struggles, not seek a new bourgeois parlia- ment. And we must continue to insist on united action by Scottish and English workers around a programme of transitional mandst defend jobs and ving standa ds break the 1 limit an estore social spenc ng Nationalism. The drive towards protectionism by the national bourgeoisies under conditions of slump and the falling rate of profit makes itself felt also in the nationalist positions taken up within certain layers of the petty bourgeoisie and within the labour and Stalinist bureaucracy.

Perhaps most embarrassingly caught in this situation is international Stalinism. The CPs are caught fast in the con- tradiction between their notional 'defence of the Soviet Union' and their practical alliance with their "own" capitalist class. The stresses and strains this has created has led to the emergence of open splits on policy between the so-called "Euro" Stalinists and Moscow-line CPs. Both sides are of course agreed on the necessity to combat the political independence of the working class and to preserve capitalism as part of peaceful coexistence. But the "Euro" Stalinists have gone much further along the road to permanent collaboration with the "own" national bourgeoisie, to the extent where their lingness to defend the USSR against imperialism in case war is now called into question. The tensions within international Stalinism have erupted in a split in the British CP-a split in which it is hard to detect any practical policy difference between the two sides. Neither CP offers the slightest way forward for workers against wage control or the Lib-Lab coalition. And both sections of the CP, along with the Tribunites, have joined hands with right wing bureaucrats, MPs and certain sections of employers in the call for import controls This alliance sums up the class collaboration t implicit in the demand to shore up one section of capi in competition with another section.

demands to 0% limit and National ront While nationa bureaucracy and s most pernicious for and fascist group emergence of the defenders of the government. It is t that create a climati While the Tori mont te Auntinan hat is talists Ism finds its re lection in the labt ections of petty bourgeois. it inds im in the emergence of outricht racial ngs such as the National front. T NF is the most devastating answer reactionary policies of the Callagt he cuts, unemployment and wage c + for racialist and fascist propuganda.

is feel able to allow the Lib-Lab govern- But while we have always struggled against the call for import controls, the WSI has always clearly also distinguished between this reactionary policy and the necessary fight for the blacking and boycott of all trade with dictatorial regimes such as the South African govern ment and the military juntas of Latin America, wherever the fighting organisations of the oppressed have called for such assistance in their struggles.

It is conspicuous that the strangest advocates of import controls have been the most silent on the fight for solidarity action in the wretched betrayal by the TUC of the week of action' against South Africa this summer.

The 'week of action', Itself a pathetically puny protest at the barbarity of the Vorster regime, was sabotaged by the refusal of the TUC protectionists to challenge Britist: bourgeois legality. And the link between their abandon- ment of international class obligations and class betrayal at home was clearly shown when Jackson's acceptance of the court ruling on the South African blacking led to acceptance of the ruling against blacking Grunwick mail.

and acceptance by these bureaucrats that postal workers ro not have the right to strike Page 8 reflects the feelings of sections of the bourgeoisie bourgeoisie. Its strategy is period by shattering the 'p leaders of the workers' mi by expressing in the m the middle class at the ment, as well as the bourgeoisie and lumper ment to continue its work for a further period, the NF the most desperate. anti- and increasingly bankrupt clearly to build its forces eaceful coexistence' betwer sement and the employer ost violent manner the frustrat power of the organised labour national chauvinism of 1 layers of workers. It r union petty n this in the and n of ove etty on ve his is the approach that un acts against the labour move miarant communities and its derlies the ment, its vit attemnt to NF s sent. mohi sOVO ttack: se the volatility of The str were confr ment mobil role of the 1 precisely its mobilisation demands, cr In this fle youth facing prolonged unemployment.

ategy would be still-born if the National inted at each point by a working class ised to drive it from the streets. The cr abour bureaucracy in the fight against ra refusal at any point to allow the indep of the working lass on wages or sating the frustratio •xploited by fascism sense our strugg ust start out from ish p nd dir owart these po Front iminal cism is endent basic In this sense our struggle must start out from this this ica

questions as we against fascism, ment by the cists. No confic or desire of the the actions of th Il as towa workers* abour me ence wha capitalist e fascists mass ence nent r mus te mi mobi of int it be f chine isation of , and the platform aced in ti to stop o workers enforce- for fas. e ability restrict b-Lab Every aspect of the propaganda and practical work of the Workers Socialist League since March 1977 has centred on the political necessity for a break in the Lib-Lab coali- tion and to assert the political independence of the working class. We have taken this line into our work in the unions, into day-to-day struggles against wage controls, against the cuts and into the wark of Socialist Prece sunnortere in tha bour Party. But the fact that the issues involved carried on at all leve We have in our p Callaghan government geoisie and its parties, of the labour moveme Liberal Party. We have La on be the working class remains con has meant that the fight has h Is in the labour movement ress exposed the way in which the is tied hand and foot to the bour- and the ways in which the wishes nt are subordinated to those of the fought at the same time to develop fused ad to CouncIs Of Acton-most tangiDiy in ine riremen's strike- as the organisational basis for the new, independent working class leadership. Socialist Press supporters inside the Labour Party have fought to raise resolutions and to focus discussion on the need to break the coalition, and the complicity of the 'lefts' in their tacit acceptance of the Lib- Lab deal But at the same time, whenever these 'lefts' have been faced in Parliament with the question of whether or not to vote in favour of the coalition and its policies we have spelled out the necessity for them to vote against it, and for them to launch struggles against it throughout the labour and trade union movement. And whenever, predictably.

these 'lefts' have trooped like sheep into the coalition lobbies we have drawn out the implications of their actions so as to ram home the point for those workers who might expect them to fight. We have pursued all of these avenues of work seriously, since we understand that workers will not spontaneously develop to a political understanding of their leaders or of their own accord jump over decades of parliamentary illu- sions. Our movement has always stressed that workers learn political lessons like this not solely from books, theoretical magazines or even from leaflets.

Workers learn in the course of practical struggles in which their established leaders are put to the test. We have aimed at proving to workers in practice that the lefts', in voting confidence in this bourgeois coalition, are commit- ting a class betrayal. And we have combined this agitation with propaganda for our programme and the need for a revolutionary leadership. However, it is necessary to further develop our demand for the breaking of the coalition the light of the present situation The government, fearing working class resistance, is moving increasingly to reliance on the repressive machinery of the state to control the labour movement-using troops against strikes, riot police against pickets, courts against unions, etc. But as it does so, the lefts' who prior to March would utter a protest here or there at government 'excesses' have with one or two exceptions fallen stony silent. Last year's Labour Party Conferénce confirmad the complete absence of any 'left' challenge to the coalition.

Of the parliamentary lefts", only Denis Skinner is on record as publicly declaring his willingness to vote against the Lib-Lab deal-and he has done nothing to follow up these words. We can expect this silence to be transformed into a blather of words under pressure of the mass move.

ment, with the lefts' moving to head off any prospect of working class independence (as with the firemen's strike).

but we must reckon with the positions actually adopted by the 'lefts' whose role complements that of the TUC.

Any leader that refuses to challenge the coalition government must now be sucked in to defence of the 10% pay limit. We must ensure that those demands we place upon the 'lefts' are directed towards drawing from them a clear statement of position on this in front of the working class. Indeed are not vet for all the bankruptcy of the Labour 'lefts", we at a stage where we can once any credibilo sitor.

native worker fought mation books action. is only To official and to form of government and political organisation to 5. Our programme, in so far as it is adopted and for by workers, obviously leads towards the for- of independent working class bodies open the committees, workers defence squads and councils of But we must recognise that the fight for such bodies at an embryonic stage. demand at this point that workers turn from their leaders left and right alike and build such bodies; assert that this is a "governmental slogan" could at Dest De termed adventure. The "more revolutior vain gesture technique of ry" bodies wh and at worst an u counterposing ich do not vet exist Itra-left sigher", , to the still available

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AND THE FIGHT TO END

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EN alysis : forn oalitic of ti atiol in in le events t of the March 1 VSL. 31. Dartmouth Par plus lon I 15 p rimo W5 |

actual trade unions and mass parties built struggle by the working class is a hall bourgeois "revolutionism" and a rejection o the Transitional Programme.

The WSt must fight to today's conditions and today standing of the need to overt the dictatorship of the prolet Programme spells out, this i existing reformist leaders "The central task of the Fourth International consists in freeing the proletariat from the old leadership, whose conservatism is in complete comtradiction to the catas- trophic eruptions of disintegrating capitalism and represents the chief obstacle to historical progress. The chief accusa- tion which the Fourth International advances against the traditional organisations of the proletariat is the fact that they do not wish to tear themselves away from the political semi-corpse of the bourgeoisie. Under these conditions the demand, systematically addressed to the old leadership.

"Break with the bourgeoisie, take the power!" is an extremely important weapon for exposing the treacherous character of the parties and organisations of the Second, Third, and Amsterdam Internationals. The slogan "workers and farmers government" is thus acceptable to us only in the sense that it had in 1917 with the Bolsheviks, i.e. as an anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois slogan, but in no case in that 'democratic' sense which later the epigones gave it, transforming it from a bridge to the socialist revolution into the chief barrier upon its path" Of course in today's context the ar "break from the bourgeoisie, take the much more than simply calling on the terminate the Lib-Lab coalition and take own nam This would am t to asking a return t he situation be March thi in centur mark of f the meth petty od of raise scon hrow ariat. nvolv the working class from sciousness to the under- capitalism and establish And, as the Transitional es the exposure of the ti-ca; alist slogar ower must mear Labour leaders te the power in their i for no mo than s year. own name. This would amount to asking for no more than fore

KYISM TODAY, J

precise workers political we stres working Not masses t complexit of the political situation demands a system of slogans and tactics which can lead to an understanding of the need for a government y independent of the bourgeoisie. As communists s above all the need for the mobilisation of the class. one important question can rust their fate to the antics of he colved reformist wh parl ile iat the Latters e The struggle. no trade unton our WSL must pose for transitional the need, at and partial each st demand ive out 'Build propa se bes of th rough power of s, for those counci Janda i mear e wor which over for the 288080828 proletariat to control its betray. For the coming p Action' stands at the agitation, as we have sa immediately coordinati class, but o prepar ng proletariat will be abl bourgeoisie. The working class has of an unprecedentedly vic must be to break the unde eaders and dr iod the slogan entre of our not only as 1 the struggles e apparatus 11 assert it the ous clare ask of Tory di coal preventing t egime. The ition between Lal in on the reforn 'Pact Labour c mobili 1 urgecis ck of a • nd to p he re first turn step

JOUT

ists' vuld the and the pitiful e be assur strength instead mentary way for Liberals. The WL pours scr xcuses for their anti-socialist ed of power if it was wil of the working clas against the reformists prefer o cite majority, to manoeu ew th Thatche- if it was willing to mobilise the strength of the working class against the bourgeoise-but instead the reformists prefer to cite their lack of a parlia- mentary majority, to manoeuvre with Steel, and to pave the Ive "Keep out the Tories! Break the Lib-Lab coalition!" But such a fight is unthinkable under the leadership of Labour's coalitionist traitors. Whilst constantly exposing the 'left' specifically calls for the removal of Callaghan, Healey.

Keep such a coalit *alker specif 1385=- sri all cal JU LI ir the nstant he Tr oval Icals b-La lead ly bi if Act coali ship of posing group, llaghan 1 we say n! Bu abour' he left he WSI Healey

BOOKS

By Leon Trots

IN DEFENCE OF MARASM

REVOLUTION BETRAYED

€1.75 pits 25 p p&p.

ON THE TRADE UNIONS

\ THE

finder. Op ailable from WSL, 31, Dartm Park Hill. London NWS IHR Page

Rees, mobi lacke the f right Lond OutE ev Tribunite nus: dra mportan "Viake ti TISS Kick out: Call Wheneve lef is of the rig ing strikes or demands acti reak with the Li «di campaign agai yourselves mane the Parliamental every action als i are nothing but Mason lisation yS Is a ake te right wing. The gai 30u me exposin spectacle e beginning hue on the se and A cort Ethe of cabe moveme ie best mea their re of the f their way to a is someth s. Such sit id coalitior conjunctio ley leadersh trade union g or make nstrat ons th words. als! Break with the he Coalition and its d by the labour mc abour Party! We u those lines. But if faker coalitionists he to drive out these is of compromising usal to break with the fireme marching in strike. anting "Rees rall addressed by ing m which we indicate the the dem dem net nt weak the resistance of the ca ile the specific demands we particular class battles, the ent a socialist programme ion in the present situation.

our general explanation of this : he working class not to trust its hat a socialist programme cannot be parliamentary edict, and shows that he the working class to impose its rule sel smash the existing st apparat I in economy In no pitalists. place upon slogan Forc ums up # 75:9- he vary in implem orientat vill to tral sums up our general ib on ch aston the W leacers, expla implemented task posed is the bourgeois stitute a plann importance, in the light to end coalitionism, of the demand fight"'-in conjunction with the demand 38a. 1 Ticht "Kick out the Callaghan-Healey leadership" le evi apport caique ofe ar eclare st by pport 1. you del Teft: Work bleat ab gestures ers Socia ment sectarians means th leaders ar cadership need to e that we o while coalit must break sense does ocialist pr would have ough which. d organisatio for the task xpose all the intinia to coll ine fight to gramme fight force Labour Dimple mme › illusions as the On the contrary: is the best working class ca test out its idl develop a new. volutionary seizing power. It is because we igs of the mass reformist party •a labour unto in hastene it. night wing' supporters vement and ill critically you do not re at he same t me fighti ion candidates and the struggle to bring union b ing of the coalition. i is not sufficient to convince ourselves that t coalition must be broken, we must convince ing class. In doing so a correct tactical orientat ds the Labour Party remains important. We must that there is no barrier in principle to continu ng for remov ranche le adoption of of coalitionists ato this fight fo We car or cally * with it right •'left' credentials to ose their prostratior hem, and to demar other Coalitionist. We must avoid anv itically support the lefts' only insof le right wing. Whilst they do no n entials to the Lib-l ab coalition our B890 is only hey do coalitio ers who val a al as tore task is to illusions suld with ib- the ing lenc exp in the heir warki re us lenco to ht against the represent the I the lefts" an ncentrate on the coalition of fight we they press on 0741m1 name in elections. The question is a tactical one-to be 1058 0 40 tu give crucer electoral support to Labour candidates so long as the Labour Party continues to stand in its own working class to the whims and manoeuvres of the 'lefts' in s. We must open stand slightest the dem palition and for relines alser en Labour shines govern ment name in elections. dericer in the cont ni s a tactical on Parliament or in forcing the 'lefts' 1 issue. To those wi extend both critica further in the figh:. In this way we can‹ of seriously challenging Careful use of demands their complete lack of ake an 10 show t I support i E88 reformism. Trotsky spe workers party in allianı he discussed the Labour seemed likely that the L adopt an agreement 3 Guardia. Trotsky declar would get himself m bourgeois politicians *If you send me as this programme in the led out his attitue to voting for with a bourgeois grouping whe Party question in the USA. It then abour's Non-Partisan League would vith the bourgeois politician La ed that he were in the LNPI he andated to oppose sup: for he ind the on any istrate that t right wing e lefts' can spective hey are incapable eformist leaders. reveal to workers for the working

THOD DE WORES SER GOTEC IO UP

sue to call for a Labour government.

e the idea, in whatever form, that between Tory and Labour leven aci your representative, LNPL, in the Labou will Part fight for ien Party we cont 2008883 inere is Labour LE LIVEL maxes a decision to vote tor La resign with protest or protest and remain: "We possibilities for propaganda".

(Transitional Programme for Socialist Revolution, p. 123) other words, Trotsky centres t vote for bourgeois politicians.

no di Guardia, I either "I can't vote for get large new to gov ser banagnan, is sectarian intantitism which ves only assist the reformists, who would quite likely be ngthened by a per od of Thatcher in power The WSL ows the method of the Transitional Programme in fino concrete ways of expressing the need for a workers' ernment, given the political balance of forces in the king class as it is, not simply as we would like it to be.

"Of all the parties and organisations which base them es on the workers and peasants and speak in their name demand that they break politically from the bourgeoisie enter upon the road of struggle for the workers' and selv we and Tarmers government. Un this road we pro support against capitalist reaction. And at we indefatigably develop agitation around th demands which should in our opinion form of the "workers' and farmers' government" «Transitional Programme) sur we will help them to I the openly capitalist rage aker demand eter of ti interest Page 11 mise them full the same time, ose transitional the programme put it in office independently of the openly capitalist parties. At the same time we encourage workers to demand ina an Wh it ies. for While the workers support Labour we will help them to ile in At the off the warkers sur ice indeper same time ires on volution, positi tim it a 9P

STRI

VOIN

KES.

ISAT

ESSC

ed e Hotel and Natianal Action Co Price 30p plus 10 om WSL, 31, Dar London NW5 1 ict from the Cor ala St ondon Catering minittee tmouth HR. nmittee.

W1P 1L

al 23) on hen

a tactica! not say | candidates. We do n programme. traditionally to it in electi the policies bourgeoisie. We do so because the L stage in the development working class and its strugg has historical roots in the roots, the Labour Party, 'lef exposed in action to worke who begin to break from towards syndicalism but revolutionary party capable a tactical question whether or not to resign. And he does not say he would refuse to vote for the LNPL's own ib lestion would whether ratlico not vote to resign for the Ant

ENI

he does own ough any agreemen with its or vote Labor Nor do we co so simply because workers vote for this party. We extend critical support ons in order to expose its refusal to break from -and now even the political parties -of the abour Party represents a certain of the consciousness of the le for political independence. It trace unions. To break these t and right wings a ike, must be rs in struggle, In this way those reformism can be firected not owards the const ction of a of leading the worl ig class iting fo the Programme There s a direct relatio of the political crisis ar sitional programme, n the rarefied atmosphere s, the WSL is termed "worke hem we have never seen the c "educating" the class, but ciousness in the course ciousness is also transform bat spontancity and trade wider labour movement a In their eagerness to avo themselves scared to get ugg At most they throw twc hile sitting on the bank T hownuer has foi ing of the political crisis and fighting in practice for the ing tran sip fig Net tir ou les circl like ctly con! con: com the of rist entr as ition In tl on cr with oppo ictarian discussior This is because un question as abstra eveloping workers in which our own is way we actively insciousness within in our own ranks. rtunism, sectatan In their eagerness to avoid opportunism, sectarians find str or le. he in ie watel explorat stone ions within the mass our successes have te areas, we have develo in this way. For instance, the Social Contract, th analysed correctly the apparent quiescence o workers nded to ped our ight for its organisatior be confined programme an cipled po And, thot one or t I perspect 39= ive the period of Phase WSt was the only tr ocesses taking place the class struggle. ( indi ber Jur and mcy leath own le, o cor uggl But our demands ar veloped further in the The practical work qualitative step forward playing key roles in a importance. At the forefront of these struggles has, the fight to break the social contract and scale of wages, on which the WS has stal tent record in every union in which we This struggle drew added streng h recard in fighting for support to those se who took action against Phase 2 pay lim the Seamen and leading up to the major Heathrow and Port Talbot. And of cour land Toolroom leadership continuously struggle was not against the social contri vigorously campaigned for support for t because the toolmaker were objectivel: Phase II. The sig at course, t nd these P NSL to dia: struggles, tr And agains the impact the Labour compelled heavy blow under press deal itself. As TUC leaders: Phase Ill during the able continuously to 1 towards the necess when AUEW Preside nandate of the union he would vote for t ber in Sheffield who u fight against SA of corporate bargaining in Leyland, in holding back pay f incen porate es. ives schemes, bargaining in

•YISM TOI

oureaucrat eyland, in ic n hol ng back and pay id perspectivi light of these of the WSL over the pas number of

INLIS

vents. ational year dispı wit has taken a h comrades of national of course, been for the sliding alished a consis- have members. om the WSL's ans of workers -starting with frontations at while the Ley imed that their , Socialist Press strike precisely in conflict with 38838a9= cance scale c disput sut the ) the ner those th of the ri governm e establ ndeed | yur role in these t if i sources we were a es. It was far more 1 national political imp cessity for workers t at doubted their poli jht-wing led toolroon ent and creating the ishment of the L Lal la he tor GoN ack lisputes was not, ble to swing beh he ability of the lications of these o support them tical importance strike in fellins conditions thai 1 coalition was a is not collapsed ted the 1-Lal ib under pressure the strike could have defeated the Lib-Lab nced mem centi ards. ted to summer expose ity of the slie nt Scanion in s national con he 12-month was able to c this betrayal sa together the months, Socialist the double-talk al ling scale der desperation 1 ference and a rule it was a ame forward 1 by local shop basis Press id to land. sroke inou-

WSL

o thi stew perience, both in the Oxford!! ade unior struggle against rades council nule t4.

the working class was coming up against bureaucracy. We saw in practice the link for workers' democracy and the fight fo This strengthened our conviction thi epted the Social Contract, but had m by union officials We analysed that he material for the kand in the At each point understanding that different layers of as well as governm in its own way.

WSL I

worke he loc: nt ntervention is in struggle I and nation ach of whic as begun trom the lace sabotage from union reaucracy needs be fought the barrier of the between the fight r our programme, t workers had not t imposed upon the local and national union bu ent - each of which needs to acc the The has form demand i the estab ittee. We ittees onl has been area. By they can only reali consisten ed a soli n the con lishment reject the y after il accepted directing begin to stic dem: 49=- uggle Isis t for the shidinn scale orwages or renewed efferts arount this thswe must move now towards st one exemplary price commi concept of building price comm id for the sliding scale of wages cy of the workers in a particular towards action through which the sliding scale of wages is the a wagi second olso oxai CDLM Cor was developing. iference, we refer- he need for Coun rejection of the he TUC to force red to the events of France in 19 cils of Action. Our analysis of Social Contract was the inabil through a formal Phase 11l.

From this understand 68 and worker ity of at age re den as a p work. see th and in would vote at the GiU conterence, we "Regain and Defend Living Standar into the mass movement at Cow immediate response, passing throug bodies and section meetings. Worker to recoup what had been taken fro against inflation. ing, and ned 18÷0203 ticularly veloped • which This re number sponded hem and after the the slogan was taken ceived an of union to the call tefend inese policy. Witl areas ce 0o ey w ncrete 6 200 211 strengther i argumen ts fo = EF 8 Page 12 rat least where wi mmittees ould poi examole me committe : do not have would be in nt to the of what we e in the istence our cessary bas sh stronger ry commi ng for exemplary com pos ades suild tion. as

have outle the importance o the car occasions. Our base in that industry iains in the Oxford area. As a matter of prion ind ways of showing workers in other parts o that our policies are the answer to their probl vince them of the need to join our fight.

We should establish a national cars fraction consisting of all car worker comrades and representatives of all branches where car factories exist. This fraction must draw up an analysis of the problems facing the employers and the likely solutions they will try to impose. We need to have a detailed picture of the different plants, the struggles taking place and the political forces at work. This will enable us to intervene more sharply to defend the interests of the many rem to try dustry on however. ty we need f the coun ems and te experience of the movement as a whole. The WSL a key role in the fight to launch the EGA work.

confirmed that health workers are no exception to t that principled leadership can transform a situatior clear perspective can build a solic base of support.

With this in mind, SL members have been at tie fore ont of the fight to establish the Committee for ondon Area Stewards in the Health Service (CLASH), which is based on demands almost identical to those advocated by the WSL. CLASH is now at the centre of the struggle to stop the cuts in the London health service-and organised the wave of one-day strikes against the sacking of the Hounslow Hospital. The same method of approach has been applied in the fight against cutbacks in teaching staff in Oxfordshire, where our members fought for the adoption of a policy of all out strike action to stop the cuts, and met with consid- crable success in winning support for this policy-despite the sell out of the movement by the NUT bureaucracy in exchange for a few 'concessions' Our policy of fighting both for immediate local action and for national strike action by all public service unions to stop the cuts and demand a sliding scale of social service spending has been the tool to expose every "left' talking bureaucrat. And ou fight to connect the cuts at each point with the existence f the coalition government provides a means of exposing he hollow rhetoric of the teft MPs, who verbally oppose the cuts while supporting the govern- ment that is imposing them.

The cuts and their impact on the fight for free abortion on demand have also been taken up in our light on the question of women's rights. While every other left group separates off women's rights as a single issue, the WL has fought 1 lemonstrate That ou puery cole woman's played in, and he rule i and a workers in that industry.

The fraction will be regular national leaflets Conference should have on Rritich I onlond responsibl and by 1 produced e for tl he nex a subs prod

WSL

ntial uction Natio: pampli ( of let

MEE MEROE LU

Perhaps assorted obsi WSL's work hotel strikes, Darlinaton cl the most varied forms of str acles to working class struggle in support of unionisation at Desoutters and at Grunwi osed shon risnate In each of uggle against 1 have been in t struggles-in t ck, as well as t has been nec the national tions for otl strikers and regional and to expose th give support essary not simply to light for an awareness of importance of the disputes and their implica- ler sections of workers, but also to mobilise sunporters in successive lobbies of district.

national committees and officials in the fight role of the bureaucracy and to force them to to the strikes in the hotel strikes, Jack Jones" orsice was invaded by workers who sat in overnight to await his arrival in order to demand support. And at Desoufters the fight reached its peak when the Stalinist-led Nor London District Committee was lobbied repeatedly with demands for a district levy and blacking action.

At the same time our struggle in the Grunwick dispute to keep the issue of blacking to the forefront as the only way the strike could be won has meant that we have been the only movement that has consistently confronted the main political question posed by the strike. Jackson, Chapple and the other national bureaucrats have refused throughout to challenge the ruling of the courts on blacking or strike action, and in this way surrendered the right of th ir members to take action in support of Grumvick or ev n on their own demands.

They do so, of course, at for any pretext to dampen de this connection has been and WSI's work in support of the 99 are linked is a part of the equal opportun unemployment lities We have fought the Cowley fact ggle against the women are brak in developing end faci of stru and role nursery order to break t he lo those of the class as a whole. Equal fight against low pay and wage control, ty can only be achieved in the fight to and to establish adequate child care to bring into the ories, su the pri employe visions 1 in down. And we have pla campaigns around the be provided by local bond shackling women women that in labor ictice setwa yed a dema author to the in force of the in men leading nd for ities in home. a time when they are grasp swn militancy on wages. A sther consistent strand 1 Grunwick struggle In c producer in severa

A WSE

Committ fight for mobilise aimed at opposing Islington ur work among youtry we have in the last year I a campaign booklet on unemployment, and have I areas fought to establish Socialist Youth Leagues.

comrade has been elected on to the National ce of the NUSS, and from there has been able to our policies on the cuts and, most recently, to school youth against fascist propaganda campaigns schools. We have also been active as a movement police harassment of youth in particular the 18 and Lewisham 21 cases.

It is not enough for o approach dis issues, nor must we atter simply to impo our won external impressions and schemas us t npt putes as gle ise upon them Only through spectives, and rder to expose exities of such benefit of the -019 fighting alongside these layers of we their leadership can the richness a battles be understood and drawn o class as a whole. While many of the ho invalved have been defeate us with rich experience in t Moreover they have show: lance of hese unionisatio correct. In the health and education cuts have drawn on the political ¡OUR per kers in d nd compl for the our wite some gains have been made in this work we been restricted by the amount of resources devoted to is important that every branch discuss the question of istent work among youth and draw up local proposals velop it. The struggles provided a number and strengthened o phery of workers, hi able to launch the s Weaknesses und Page 13 While many of the hotel strikes in which we have been involved have been defeated, these struggles have provided us with rich experience in the fight against the bureaucracy.

hat stre = 8=05 s in which we have been struggles have provided against the bureaucracy. ir analysis of the impor- les has been absolutely ilar and ashion educat rin CUl LaTE ion in Onl gg| the aga soli

ISI

al have it. to de 5=3913 in which we have mportant recruits elationship with ig to lay the basis ly paper itedly r ema 10 an carvened have the movement increased peri- which we were

YISM TODAY. JUI

of the League in figh nesses must be tackle of development of ou of qualitative strengt consolidation of a standing, explaining, and Stalinist tur cr ting for our programme d as they arse. But the o r movement in the class s hening in almost every Trotskyist cacire capab exposing ad fighting acy at ever step These verall p truggle is one area. and the le under- formist of weak attern ci 9 D 1ocr; developr campaig fighting strike. Our prov our pl en steps oupin cy in. rent i for for s ids n he ions Labour Move the WSL. Thi the TGWU upport and the wa e constru through th ment has be swas especi al Secretary sion of the Gener exten stion of e Campaign for en an important ally clear in the election, and in Port Talbot pay venti a use proqramme workers than we wi ramme adopted by successful political central points on has for inter iced in CDL tactical among Id other the CDl battle ag which the the sliding books. tion to nce ag; for cot on confer ing the wider peris y reached. T a sharp, IMG-en is been c wages: isation: immigration cor linst racism; the incils of actio he labour movement. considerable political g n area-and the recruitment M work undertaken by tt a tactical orientation, sut towards the fight for id supplementary to it hat we mu t is clearly DLM as a members ation. Wittin on full figl the or to ib But Ie Umons- ay: open rights; of workers' ab coalit racersh despite n the Le sod defe 10) remained main or trade is the for this 1 e CO camp means O much se hav wil sufie f fui st

WSI

scale o national 10 nk sess pr act ences light shery o he prog sitter and bodies the signing work sharing the tight for trols and the call to break and the need

UTI

part have , this te to

NSE

tina Jre orien 3t bresent lanisa based on individual membership.

a periphery of workers. would inevitably result in rump "committees' in areas consisting simply of our members and ect peripher "committe the revisio Yet a OT is' in absence sult in memb Cussion w its value the WSE struggles last two provide convinc ramme. We sho id t through the CD ile r defend and expl our full CDLM campaigns means that play its role-both in mobilisi positions against the Pabloites, al conferences and meetings to spel WSL and attack our opponents.

While it would be wrang gramme as the preconditio CDIM or sling it gras for our perspectives on the main lasks in the unions.

ced spc nean of app ayers if work which -thanks sled record of those on wage Iling conferences ithin which he ark. of th Inc rly s. By arena party sching ers t iter contri the C WSt sessity political COLM re dominanc ition into i-during DLM car fich car for net LM ain 1inu inter ecog sing tha programme in each branch of ng solie forces TC the course ol the WS must a support our ne tact the ne also it th pro the di - 20 = 8g to DeS for Asara milita fer ppoI carel Page of proletarian internationalism, opposition mr: salist clu des an ex oppositi active ular th to import ment sport trols , arv a commitment to ntries 01 tic solidarity with far stic with imperial Souther taken u: Tre workers in other countries. In particular the question of the imperialist army in Ireland and the struggles of workers in relar against nions. NC cou in l rug: Sat ants lee 31 Southern Africa against racist regimes must be actively irkE aci ive taken up in the unions. mission •he CDI pl the CDLM as a part of our overall trade union work.

incoming fu HE NC will appoint a permanent com WS Wh •m Brita (detailea problem of our : made tender adopt attem! COl in Britain and in the work the

OCFET

wOr doe of the 301 (detailed in their own document) the all for the moven rational work. Ins efforts to establish ound our Intern enci ndir stubborn 198g 38 = 8 While the visit of the US comrades to our summer p 00 in attempts lo clar mai ficient inter ona' This pr ess elo: has enti thent been at Theses document lest outstanding problems and develop working relationships. ps While school wi revealing that have Simil Visit elcom f the step ifficu satisf K of ward, and. lif inc sumn way seth that have not yet been satisfactorily tackled Similarly the work of our movement on Ireland has ly runs The red a talist deter 10 traur move witl trast lai sas el ither fi The result is that our movement-though we sult princ kan ma hough have maintained a principled stand for the withdrawal of British imperialist troops and for the right of the Irish people to self-determination —has not developed the kind of ave ma ratish ple‹ drawal the Ir le kind consist noveme kish wo

WSL,

lan with our intervention in the British labour movement.

ople incret ith e our intervention in the British labour movement.

It is in spite of these weaknesses that the Turkish work, ring on the strengths and experiences of the WL, has

JAAD

ecord programme or interventi n spite of ti in the stree important tre he moortance ncoming idling the able to folk and interna and stabl hrough lion: must ust m ishmen WOr be t of ivek the W sped al cessar Int of 1 onst Tange al sul meel и po Onlv ndamı rmed. sents, comm ar ke all ne Lof an ir ice bet Il work interna i least in detai contact we seriously prepa gress in the fight A conscious turn linked to a decision moven needs to be car one ind I par nism Popi ween with tional ngs litica in t Igi his OL for the coming • reconstruct towards internatic that theoretical developed. To ass

TOUDS G

Cular O the year to the international. ›nal work must be work n the st this NC th and nation, do reseal the in tel of withi he ne fresh

THIC

analysis elements o routine crit working cla Follow a worki cretely Only indiv It is necessary for us to develop and deepen our analysis of a number of other countries, aiming at agreeing f programme for ques of Stalinism ss independence ing o role as revolutir sarty s how suc ty mus that wha we est # 00 rich wa of these countries beyond the 1S3 nd alls tor mary ta pa can nust be e bui ish il bili 89536 = ng of puntries if the idl lec abl mar uses will depend. Only in this way will we be seen as a forci d Onl .00

reckoned with y any elemer fighting for the ame objective In practical terms this must invol commissions of comrades to do the a work for a number of key areas. This i for Ireland, Turkey and S. Africa. The done for fat leasti Spain and Portu Soutn Asia (India Pakistan, Sri La rance and Italy. the USA, Greece, and te the ecessa s alrea same gal, nka the arpness of the political situation into the mover indicates the seriousness of the WL in its t incipled leadership in the working class.

But the weekly paper does not of itself solve the lem. It needs to be used aggressivicy and creatively as in the fight for a deeper intervention into the working It needs to be used by every branch as a means of refli our policies as fought for in workers' struggles locall nationally. It needs to reflect the life within the WS the battles and arguments we nave with our reader contacts. And of course the paper needs t growing organisation, The failure to ac we have aimed for per the past year h continuing financial problem for th resultant heavy burden on our ful central resources are stretched-often paint. A sales cirive with the weekly paper coupled to a turn to recruitment can help to tackle this problem of develop- ment. By breaking the sterile routine in many branches.

recruitment of fresh forces has an impact on the movement far more wide-reaching than simple numerical growth. The "ight to develop new members can highlight the weaknesses of method in branches enabli them to be fought out and can aw forward new rces into leadership in each area. While an important part of our work lies in waging a struggle against the various revisionist groups that inhabit the British left and such a struggle can bring important recruits to the movement, it is crucial to guard against any tendency to centre our work on this milieu or to place a higher priority on such work than on our own campaigns in the working class. The strength of our own movement to which the best of these forces will respond is our determi- nation to take the Transitional Programme and its method beyond discussion groups and out into the fight for revolu- tronary leadership in the working class. This must remain the main focus of our branch work, with education programmes developed in order to provide essential training for new members. The important success of our 1977 su marks a significant if belated development f ment, and the NC must ensure that education summer schools and weekend schools, is further steel the movement that has such a s fulfil in the fight for the reconstruction of the ationa igh And or a setting up of ry preparatory idy being done should also be Latin America, . BanglaDesh), workers states. Be young de suggested ener because of ti importance or because we have contacts or some record work on this before, or because they are places where should be able to make contacts. These commissions m be answerable to the NC's international subcommittee.

The development of a mare concrete programme for such countries will also assist another part of our work- interventions into the various "solidarity" movements, etc.

The politics of such movements (eg. Anti-Arpartheid, Zimbabwe Solidarity. CARI, Chile Solidarity etc.l is usually somewhere between the Tribune Group and the SWP-typically "Stalino-Pabloite". We are opposed to atlil.- ating to such movements as an organisation for that reason.

But it may be useful in some cases to intervene in such movements. That would mean fighting to direct the soli- carity struggle away from moral pressure and towards inde.

pendent action by the labour movement to implement demands for blacking of arms cargoes, export orders etc.

By intervening on a programme which relates demands for the countries concerned to demands for concrete soli- darity actions by the British labour movement we can also expect to attract serious members of the "solidarity" campaigns to Trotskyism, including those from the countries concerned. One tactic through which such inter carried out is by supporting the affiliation student unions etc. to the campaigns. This policy however, and should be judged case t In any event our intervention questions must in no way be depende solidarity movements. We should fight to demands on international cuestions into and Labour Party work

VENEIO

of TU is not •y case. interna upon ng col trade 10 ns can be branches a genera ional such crete nion evelopment movement: Press, and i Trotskyism These a of the me problems ir recruitment The ten workers to The the successful he emergence Today. re indications the increased political stren vement over the last period. However I quantitatively developing the WS throi of new forces remains a basic stumbling bloc dency to allow the (real) difficulties of winn a risciplined revolutionary movement year has seen two major acivances for the nchi the he we ances for akly Socia ine editior insa 36.B9*892*9 to one be work or tw: branches takes diterent tori One form is to descend to a programme of routine activis The other main form is a relapse into discussion gro politics. In both cases it is the failure to confront t central task posed to the movement the training of Trotskyist cadre capable of fighting in every sector of t workers movement-which lies at the root of the retreat.

The drive to establish Socialist Press as a weekly paper designed to assistan fighting these tendencies The kly paper forces branches to organise on a more warlike sing, it draws ou members into a much closer and more i stem pollical and organisational i the Page 15 was 118% 8X318 be backed up eve the recruiti reflected itsell movement, al ime workers. beyond brea in branches enabling them out and can draw forward new forces into leadership in mmer school or the move. , with further developed to trious task to I ourth Inter

The Poisoned Well This discuss document, as am Workers Socialist League, was drafted the Fourth International for the WSL the discussion prior to the USFI Xith l It examines the merger of the twc idarity with the US Socialist Workers secretariat headed by Ernest Mandel.

post war c sis within the Fourth Inter ended and endorsed as a response to the - as a non member o Norld Congress, now main political tende Party, and the majo And it examines the natior al the Second Annual itation from the U e USFI - to submi eduled for 1979. s within the USFI- current grouped ar tives for this chang Con nited mat ice of retaria as par - the ound e in 1 CUlT the he li Euror ght of 20 g

COLOUR S

he history of a active history. Lesse use in the future, of n a poisoned well" Jack Barnes, Inter XIV No. 5 p.11. Even while he mad * history, Socialist AT

E WAT

revolut ins fron herwise

ER T

Ionar i the each

ODA

y org Bast gener ist be orbed drink t Fac yinct gislat Al ers Wt abur ted ficis bot ion (whose lini the SWP itsel on f om interna the end of it voted by a large at has been the within the SWi ha etus n' by

IMT

ac indency and ti mainly follow is prevented ›nal affiliation convention ajority to d source of camp of t for froi to - 2 PE nat rea US Internal Dise Al the end of that convention a meeting of LTF aders voted by a large majority to dissolve the fac Mihat hac been the cource of this dramatic abe e this Worke nerally correct statement Party National Secretary SWP a new policy which the opposite direction- ristorical problems: away ar us today: and away from the reckoning woul bring to the ith n the United Secretariat of in particular ard e world ral 19' Page 16 ge Barnes was launching can only be designer away from a serious from the lessons they new problems tha leadership of each the Fourth Inter Trotskyist moveme Seven months unanimousiv

SWP

winın the 1 to lead ar study of1 holi te t such faction national nt in la tel pa auab the : ssed rat int Conve calli nt ng 90230889 ument amri the

IMT

ders ed the n 1969 the res sortant 2 inceed ssion on positiv ith World Congress' that document and re that the most t kled by est ser factior However escu hate an 51an1 the lisso: this he L inge leaders largely But · 10 tuesd hey the ch. of l ion. inter ope ir view political noe the tination lows at aised ar it dran

SFIZ

came which sals ti

: USF

Barn are 22538 niy jelf 'Self Criticism' issue Cr

within he methor al raised and every mel certainly a the SWP le It is 1: discussion consider vi today's IM view the w otsk yist movement: tables t historical problems the m find a response since these iss rof the USFI internationa he objective of the document s, but its importance remains.

this standpoint that we wish to develop the to draw out the points which we would in any serous reassessment of 1969. Indeed clearly regard it as impossible to attempt to ag positions adopted by the majority in 1969 of he ques ns o ovemen o be ues now affect illy. This was s authors or of he also did the MT suc should be produ ago, or in three have shaped the Criticism itself. raises the proble factional conside on ils errors for beating about manoeuvre? More seriously, Barnes fails to ask another question of mare lasting importance. What reason have we to believe that the IMT leaders will not repeat the blunders of 1969 or exactiy similar errors at any point in the future? The Self Criticism cataiogues and categorises the 'mistakes' that led It to adopt the guerrillaist line of 1969. But it fails to account for why those mistakes were made. Indeed the whole affair is alarmingly ascribed to a series of unfortunate quantative errors, and the dashing of subjective "hopes".

Nowhere is there even a hint that this series of apparentiy isolated errors bear any relationship to one another, or to anything else. And certainly there is no hint that there might have been any qualitative break from the Marxist method. The list of evasions on this is revealing: voids asking the enly decide now 12 Why did they ears' time? What decision? There it Barnes dodges that must haunt ions prompted t *long" time, c today not lated question: why hat a Self Criticism ot do so three years vents or experiences no clue in the Self because it e SWP leadership: if IMT to remain silent d their ritual breast so be a factional al "We exaggerated the degree of instability" lacked a complete and correct view".. "we did not uately combat the idea" "we overestimated" "we thoughr"... "our hopes were very much exaggerated".

"led to an evolution opposite to the one we hoped for" "our estimation was false" "whose importance we had "another error of analysis, already under estimated" this time in regard to the real state of our forces in Latin America"... "presupposed as solved a number of problems that had not been solved and were even far from solved" "errors of appreciation of reality' In our view this depressing list amounts a piecemeal almission that in 1969 the IMT adorehi... mom...

adeg solation Their document includes references back to the 3 0 83823 oan revolution some ten years beforehand In our view if secessary to turn to history-though the IMT does so in inadequate and largely involuntary way, and does not go enough back in time. We would see the false method bodied in the 1969 resolution on Latin America tracing rools back to the still unresolved political problems that met the basis of the split in the Fourth International in 1953. And we will have been grasped prevent any repeti through. In this liquidate the false method facing these 1 because a sim and the SWP reluctance to post war Trot MT. and cor any repetition of the hat o front ly when can as 1969 eri

1ESPD

Of the figh car espect we see the hasty moves by LTF (which was ostensibly set up of the IMT leadershipt as an atten ssues. We will show that in bur Har method of analysis is shared for varicus nclear reasons ha re-examine i own story and skyist mover ent as a whole

SWI

to fight ipt to as view th by the S that of ever A panter to at Jack Barnes • the IMT 'Sel self as this car conspit f Cri 1OE :HO! ticism found isly fai : He raise ibes the juest i his response he document publication Internationa - a progressive and even historical document, whose ests onressi serves and the nh nte I dor of inten the , whose Fourth The rest recommenda TInY

SUO:

318902339 Barnes sets agams is glowing it insignificant: th SWP leaders ome harsh descriptions of them ccurate polemical points raised fing doubts in the SWP as to the the 'new mass vanquard" and the whole hag and rescit the wrong resolutions on stin s he call le th to the extent of not knowing the state of their in Latin America, basing perspectives on 'hopes' # astounding contession of errors of apprecia- ity". These are not single errors. A method of involved, which the IMT document does not to confront. It is a method alien to Marxism: rethod not challenged by Barnes in his reply.

Unless this is recognised, and the alien method fought, then disoriented, own forces and now th tion of real analysis 15 even begin and it is an Unless this nst SI / nes stro erica ding But ance and tand offended IMT and som them, there are MT conception urges the IMT 1 usly (and conte 1. In exchange up of the LTF the most clemer the Self Criticisi ta ion that a el disastrously (and confessedly) wrong resolutions on Latin America. In exchange for this he offers to call for the the futi emi USec w He regar sit ically be i in the ifficient grip of leaders who will in the once a policy has proven itself nitigated disaster, simply t0

HIS

off But the most elementary questions are not asked. For its ver son o s later But he years hav inal consie 11 ir its lea to the is witt ary Ins fir the re not paragi ine ha SU: 19: acer ens B it to nen inKE bot asked. For aph says in 5 long been iF I has had sk the IMI i line they militants an totally hin the met ok! logise and to hod manifest policy. In our v latest in ed il tself,

ESOT

white instances in which the false discarding the embarassing accessdry. Iam es hansell sav the wreng fine for ten years" now long they have insisted knew was wror g. How many Latin America discredited policy, while facti USEt prevented the leariership Is the Trotskyist move worldwide debatine society give programme and perspect dary and deadly serious stri each countr?? What kind of we the class stil showe later ail that the sn • US Jerat ectir being ding wer i thi the In our view such attempts-which the Self Criticism is hark ew such atter which t he Sell Critic isn Ceylon lon ptoi rish wit providi ibers or class in Fourth simply proven source mether: fought means What kind of leadership places its factional interests before the class struggle? Barneswith good reason, as we will show later -tails to ask these elementarv nuestions miy w Page 17 debacle-to retrospectively patch auer is of the discase while the disease itself is lef carries with it grave dangers, and stands as one obstacie to a light to reconstruct a un nternational. Learning from history does not m ind belatedly throwing aside policies long sankrupt It means taking steps to analyse • these false policies; the class content of hat produces them; the unsolved problems aro ry revolve, and the reasons such policies were lequately at the time they first emerged. An mil instructed Fourth International

ECI

le: lership 1 the

ISM TODA

od We ave often be nation of decidin Criticism and in mpt to deal witt i agreed silence o invinced that now be s for rea of frotsky Trans practice-whic econstructio ocratic centr talism id th histoi

SWP

v by funda ly nation of deciding on history by voting Yet in th ilf Criticism and in the SWP reply we see instead a sast as a srinciples heory and sasis for tl nent a mu silence on the fundamenta question. We are time t ffirma que the iding lessons of method al s lo Progra sle

E SON OF PABLO

Since s erpreted, we thod within general term -its content an method that em Firstly se cannot be unde cevel 'ther i term commor hould begin or today's Trotskyist our understandin its material basis ged will he Ti must st that stood as Nor sould r Stal first : abuser nalysis got the 1 he proble i by outlin erm *Pabiois i liquidation s moveme view P EL! Disk Ixed i in 1:018 TeSS eith was nt. ablossn of ion ana ideas table

ITS OF

material origins of Stalin's "theory" of socialism in one far fro reflection of the material situation in the isolated backward 312501 process of consolidating an unstable base of support while such. mater country- reflection workers' sta rocess of c esting on th he populati nflicted or In the cl Rat gins cha then in see in's DOcu alism Dul ec ha the wh natenai which idating 15€ hr blo on ol oach irew its stre of leaderst the destructiv and mass It w tory e solar Calcide If s the ather s in 11 it whi lent rie Isol most on, an he wor of onsoldaung an unstate past or support wane e most conservative and nationalist elements of on and thriving on the international defeats

COI

rvative iving Di class. uppo Nh the i has lector in cal nat

DOI

skyi also rical itial sta had didn Jective auld as burgeoisie th from the mi 51 30 source. of the 1511 I0S5 nal Tafter and bourgeois repression) and

CRE

iti ampa the from the mass organisations and daily 5 Und meti PIes from 1-53 ct isolation ‹ lisations ar of Nazi. 01105 tot Stre 17 at Trotskyist forces ass Pab ily

SUO:

5,01 unquestioningly adopted by the majority of the postwar 95 tod readership of the Fourth International. The danger of such a method emerging remains acute wherever for whatever reasons| Trotskyism becomes dependent for its existence telle Mal with sOs haar uch Last exper GenE than Fa exis intellectual forces with the Drs str rEsI than ever dependent upen analysis which finds it difficult act senett And ationalis levised i uals, as correspor ing ar while the me: concepts and trot that jeopardise the procramme may be first instance by petty bourgeois inteller InsT tuals, as they are taken up in the movement they find corresponding echoes in very different quarters. Workers seeking an opportunist retreat from the fight for principe seek in the Trot Stal 101 ItUl and shor isolation of Stalinist or abil Trotskyist forces can easily succumb to pressure from the st asily reformist bureaucracy. or to the superficial of scl This took place amane certam worker cades within the

DUJP

thr SP am hase only been thrown asicle by those elements that have already for one reason or another begun to stand alco rog data to day struggies of the working class Page From this weakness flows the objective possibility of an opportunist pull-back from the central political thrust of the PER ssa 1e DOCKEY I po Transitional Programme-the fight for the complete political independence of the working class thrcug the building of independent revolutionary parties based on an tep active confl» isolate respec strugg active programme of intervention into daily struggles conflict with existing mass leaderships. Only when an

KIRT

da isolated Trotskyist group begins to stand in a certain with respect aloof from the day-to-day political problems and Aur ky: up t day- class inel. al Even if objective factors such as the decimation of arces ava atl ve - Wor 05721 20 cto d Wal essen the th 11718=. -09 E the positions of oppertunism.

sky WOr ces / clas tion c working of that th sola cont weakness of that class is to be properly understood, and a correct estimation made of the overall balance of class leSs

ISS 1:

mad i dor if the movements, strengths and overties properly overal tha the way is cleared for the emergence of empirion and clear impress onist metheds of analysis.

the psy mpatienc growth of th the masses with the ersonal diplomacy. inations behind of fa of hers PpoI am superficial gradual "One of the psychological sources of opportunism 1s ty's an t of th scenes. nciation, of aday and finally the cor unism " Trotsk Svid holo th par d of lack of confidence, las

SOI

ik apu 15 idence, he le desire win al manoeuvre or licy of com silence, of to the ideas passage to New

ICE

ati in to binations behind the scenes, the policy spr the gs J01 icy of ushing up. and slogans sition the pe Trade Unio 1922, p.4) Impatie pisky uE On y: Marxism and the icalise*. New Park. nplet Mar Trotskyism contrasted with the scale of the tasks posed can spur on particularly middle class elements to a readiness to itor

COI

articul one-hi seri sle: andon ich te eat th rd ty adr dis tar witt out the

DUE

A8). morement from one direction to another with 15, wO will

CE E

great per mn petty bourneo sie well recrive full rein and can swing the an rap dity Ano hi fram the s delines tran pessim stic conclusions as to the th Another side of the same coin is shown by those who idle Imi show se Clas instead for bureaucratic or other non-proletarian forces that ly unsinnable working class. Either way the outcome is 10 direct even further away from the necessary traming of Pur

SSE

ISS,

woll say sol: still further from the mass movement. This in tum can only result in the leadership becoming still more depen dent upon surface impressions as the basis for analysis At the same time we must stress that the abandon- is the most commen approach of the Pabloites, It s equally ment ef the embodiet n the transitional demands does not necessar ly take place in an openly night wong direction thoush This Trans tonal Propramme tier and the method posabe if surface appearances seem to mdicate a heighten ing of the struggle-for the transitional demands to br discarded in the ourse of an impression she nitra left turn and a sectaran standprant -in which the situation is scenes pone bevond" that as sketched to Tankey in the havira

Transition Programme and which only maximum measures maximum demands or rmed struggle) have any relevance. And in either case the wrong conclusions draw strength by being separated from any thorough going and scientifically analysed work in the working class.

Neither the 'left' nor the right variants of Pabloism (which can of course be combined in a single movement or impres- sionist leader) offer any possibility of training serious forces in the working class or even of maintaining a principled political line in situations of rapid change. The impact of this method on the practice of those that succumb to it is in effect to liquidate the political independence and programme of the Trotskyist vanguard into the latest spon- taneously-emerging "revolutionary current" from the petty bourgeoisie or the bureaucracy. It attacks the principled foundations and th eatens the very organisational existence of Trotskyist forces, and abandons the central concept of the Transitional Programme that "the world political situation is chiefly characterised by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat" The forces that have espoused such a method of analvsis have there! acted tinuousty as iskyist move In all these as the ideologi pressures upon l not only were period, but al out process Eastern Eurc Stalinisn faced by con Tro a liquidationist current within ment, and remain so to this day.

respects Pabloism as a method can be cal reflection of material problems sost-war Trotskyism. We do not forget Trotskyist forces broken up in the hat the very contradictory and long di he post-war expansion o Stalinist and the aparent strengt confert this od contributer the ie ship. per nce: world combir moveme ship in Pabloisr 1 ca continuous figh towards interventio actual dailv struacl onl 1 ar is of fought by those ho ientate the Trotskyist the fight to give leader he working class with a serior theor fight mean theoretically ta ca ke per and honest y and in practice ace both interna " to probe 10. struggle the conte ionally an the roots to grasp both xt in which that d nationally. This of the complex process fight fo method, spontane change within wnic OtSKy programme. The method of Mar and has to be fought for ity and surface impressions.

Ists are torced to xism is a scientific in conflict with As soot mbined struggle slackens, it is inevitable urgeois ideology and bourgeois method o begin to appear wit tin the moverent.

Philosophically, Pabloism is a form of empiricism.

abrupt and complete lurches from one tack to another based on the anarent changes which take nlace on that ana as this orms of sis must surface not on the deeper these changes. As an empiri phenomena at random. In singly and a-historically: he viewed as a whole: but at 1 aspects of reality that need The refusal of Pabloites honestly and their continu going processes which produce cal method, Pabloism deals with general, a Pabloite views events splits up processes that must be he same time he lumps together to be distinguished as opposites.

to analyse their own history ous attempts to shape the facts to fit their pre-formulated theories are both clear symptoms indicating that here is a completely idealist method which founders as soon as it is brought into contact with material reality. The Pabloites exemplify all of the weaknesses of empiricism spelled out by Engels: "In the contemplation of indiv connection between them; in existence it forgets the begin th th dual thin he conte and gs it forgets mplation of end of that existence; of their repose, see the wood for the trees Scientific, Pathfinder, p.41).

Lenin, in dealing with departures from the dialectical method, also anticipated the methodological mutations of the Pabloites when he described the relationship of idealism to the development of the objective world itself: "Human knowledge is not for does not follow) a straight line, but a curve, which endlessly approximates a series of circles, a spiral. Any fragment, segment, section of this curve can be transformed (transformed one-sidedly) into an independent, complete, straight line, which then (if one does not see the wood for the trees) leads into the quagmire, into clerical obsc ntism (where it is anchored by the class interests of the ing classes)." (CW, Vol. 38, p.363.) It is in this respect-the latching on to one aspect of a contradictory whole-that Pabloism shows most clearly that it is the twin brother of that other perversion of Marxism which has beset the post-war Trotskyist movement, state it forgets their motion. It cannot ". (Engels, Socialism Utopian and ura rul able to grapple capitalist latches aspects of the b Europe, and chi Pabloite on the appearance of s Stalinist bureauc capitalism. Neither the state-capitalist nor the Pabloite is with living as a result ¡reaucracy ir istens it one-sider other hand seizes tatements by this or racy or even petty bo masand adorned. contr

LOSE II

adictior he reac Krem lly a • onto 1 I the Or the radiote is 1. While the state tionary, bourgeois lin and in Eastern 'ruling class", the the 'left' cosmetic that wing of the urgeois nationalists, unny apparens surger, and normy deluded hopes for the self-reform of the bureaucracy or for the spontaneous nergence of political revolution Marxist leadership As a result neither Pabloism nor capitalism offers any means of understanding Stal and in practice both find themselves unable to fight it.

In the course of examining the emergence of the Pabloite method within the Fl and the forms it takes today, we are not attempting in any way to divert attention from the fundamental political and theoretical problems for which Pabloism claimed (falsely) to have found the answer.

In particular, while we will show how Pablo devised a completely false schema to explain the post-war overturn of capitalism under Stalinist leadership in Yugoslavia, we will not in this document elaborate in full an alternative analysıs. course of is task le finht rem TO ains reco one to nstruct Or a state inism be undert the FI. B akel ut i seems achieved adherence with factio as to the Stalinism: unlikelv tha while the var to Trotskyism yal motives to processes invo The WSL, for arucies examin and will shortl Assimilation w further detai serious Droaress towards can be ious groupings today at the same time cling inadequate and superfic Ived in the post-war ev its part, has published professing avidly and ial notions olution of a series of

A. WER

ing the p y be put ith a crit est-war wish ng ica int development or the Theory of roduction Stalinis Structri e basis ew the poisonous method of Pab spread widely throughout the world Trotskyist mr In purging it we must ensure that we do not sei upon its individual advocates or the symptor produced. It is not enough to seek an organisatior with Pabloism, And in prescribing the antidote we i seek a reaffirmation above all in the practice of the pa adhering to a reconstructed Fl of the analytical method the political principl if the T nsitional Programme loism has lovement. ze merely ns it has ial break' nust