Jim Percy Selected Writings 1980-87 2 Bu I L D I N G T H E Re V O L U T I O N a R Y Pa R T Y

Building the revolutionary party Jim Percy Selected writings 1980-87 2 BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONA R Y PA R TY © Resistance Books 2008 ISBN 978-1-876646-59-2 Published by Resistance Books, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale NSW 2008, Australia Printed by El Faro Printing, 79 King St, Newtown NSW 2042, Australia CONTENTS INT R ODU C TION by Dave Holmes ........................................................................................5 Turn to industry — 6 Break with US SWP — 6 Opposition to Labor’s Accord — 7 Rethinking our line on the ALP — 8 Break with Trotskyism — 9 Later developments — 10 Green Left Weekly — 11 FOU R FEATU R ES O F OU R REVOLUTIONA R Y PA R TY ...............................................13 An inclusive team —16 Independence — 20 Leninist organisation — 22 An ambitious party — 25 Cadre school — 30 FU R THE R STE P S IN PR OLETA R IANISING THE PA R TY ..............................................33 The end of the turn — 33 Organisational effects of the turn — 34 No absolute form of organisation — 37 Formal democracy in our political life — 39 Level of activity of our cadre — 42 Day-to-day organisation of our work — 45 Frequency of branch meetings — 47 Organising our supporters — 50 Party education — 53 Role of Direct Action — 54 What sort of party — 56 PR E P A R ING THE PA R TY TO MEET THE CR ISIS .........................................................58 Success of the turn — 59 New steps — 61 Boldness and initiative — 64 Polarisation — 66 Opening the party — 68 Democratic centralism — 70 A healthier party — 73 Flexible approach — 76 Renewing leadership — 80 Test of tendencies — 83 RE C ENT EX P E R IEN C ES IN PA R TY -BUILDING .............................................................87 Settling accounts with the turn to industry — 88 A new political situation — 89 An organisational correction — 91 An initial balance sheet — 93 Youth and renewal — 94 The long haul — 95 Organisational principles — 96 Party discussion — 97 Provisions for factional struggle — 98 The 1984 split — 99 The National Committee — 100 Renewal of the national leadership — 101 Local leadership — 102 A propaganda group — 103 TOWA R DS A NEW PA R TY ............................................................................................106 Alternation tactic — 107 Need for a political counter offensive — 108 Obstacles to struggle — 109 Two-party con game — 109 Economic debate — 110 Restructuring dream — 111 The new right — 113 The Rockdale factor — 114 In the unions — 115 Difficult climate — 115 Labor pays the price — 117 What sort of political alternative? — 118 The new social movements — 119 The party question — 120 Present opportunities — 122 An all-embracing project — 123 The Accord — 124 4 BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONA R Y PA R TY The potential exists — 125 ALP left — 126 Limits of the left — 127 Election tactics — 129 Organisational questions — 130 Rejecting sectarianism — 131 Can we succeed? — 133 WHAT POLITI C S F O R A NEW PA R TY ? ......................................................................135 1. THE pr OS P E C TS ........................................................................................................135 New elements — 136 Crisis of the left — 137 Historical perspective — 138 Marxism — 139 False ideas— 141 2. THE DIS C USSION ......................................................................................................142 New projects — 144 Greens and Reds — 146 The Communist Party — 149 The Socialist Workers Party — 150 The Fightback alliance — 151 3. THE pr OG R A M .........................................................................................................153 Ultraleftism — 153 Opportunism — 156 Reforms — 157 Interventionism — 158 Socialist answers — 161 A democratic program — 162 Who will be in a new party? — 163 BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONA R Y PA R TY : SO M E RE C ENT EX P E R IEN C ES .......166 1. THE OLD P A R TY AND THE NEW P A R TY ....................................................................166 The past two years — 166 Crisis of working class politics — 167 Organisational adjustments — 168 Our immediate needs — 168 Recomposing the left — 169 Continuity with our past — 171 2. THE CO mm UNIST PA R TY AND THE NEW P A R TY .....................................................173 Evolution of the CPA — 173 The 1986 rectification —174 Eurocommunism and the CPA — 175 3. THE NEW P A R TY AND THE NEW SO C IAL M OVE M ENTS .............................................177 Movement and party — 178 The problem of cooption — 178 New movements, old errors — 180 Leninism and sectarianism — 181 The party principle — 182 4. AUTONO M Y AND LENINIS M ....................................................................................184 In the trade unions — 184 Myths about Leninism — 186 The ALP style — 187 5. OU R R OLE IN THE NEW P A R TY .................................................................................189 SWP draft program — 190 Program for a new party — 190 Theoretical discussion — 191 6. SO M E I mm EDIATE TASKS O F THE SWP ..................................................................192 Some present problems — 193 Monthly branch meetings — 194 The role of Direct Action — 196 Some financial tasks —197 7. PR E P A R ING F O R THE F UTU R E ...................................................................................199 Pressures on the party — 199 Our political method — 200 Psychological bullets — 201 Dedication and commitment — 202 App ENDIX : JI M PE rc Y (1948-92) ..............................................................................205 NOTES ...............................................................................................................................210 INT R ODU C TION By Dave Holmes This is the second volume of writings and speeches by Jim Percy, one of the founders of the Democratic Socialist Perspective and its longtime central leader until his death in 1992.* These seven items — reports given by Jim to conferences and leadership gatherings of the DSP (or Socialist Workers Party as it was known in this period) — span the years 1980 to 1987. This was a period of considerable ferment in Australian and world politics. In 1978 and 1979 there occurred a number of anti-imperialist revolutions — in Afghanistan, Iran, Grenada and Nicaragua. At home, the March 1983 federal elections resulted in the ouster of the Fraser government and the beginning of more than a decade of ALP rule under Hawke and Keating. Labour’s general neoliberal orientation and the experience of the ALP-ACTU’s wage-restraining Accord produced significant disillusionment. Right through the 1980s the SWP remained a small cadre organisation of several hundred members. But it was extremely active and reacted with considerable dynamism to the political openings that presented themselves while holding fast to its basic Marxist-Leninist ideas. During the 1980s the DSP engaged in some significant rethinking on a number of key questions — on Trotskyism and the Fourth International, our international connections, the Labor Party and how to build a mass socialist party — without which we would not have been able to respond adequately to the challenges of the period. Dave Holmes is a member of the National Executive of the Democratic Socialist Perspective (formerly the Democratic Socialist Party and before that the Socialist Workers Party). The DSP is an independent Marxist organisation affiliated to the Socialist Alliance. * From the point of view of the period it covers, the present volume is actually the first. However, the initial collection published was The Democratic Socialist Party: Traditions, Lessons and Socialist Perspectives (New Course Publications: Chippendale, 1994). It contains four talks from 1990-92, a period marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and considerable questioning about the future of the socialist movement. 6 BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONA R Y PA R TY To enable the reader to place these reports in a more fruitful context, this introduction will briefly sketch some of the background. To make things clearer, the key issues are treated separately but it should be remembered that a lot of this overlaps. TU R N TO INDUST R Y In 1979 the SWP took the decision to attempt to implant the great bulk of its cadre in industrial jobs in order to link up with working-class militants in what it hoped would be a labour fight-back accompanying the late 1970s economic downturn. A large part of the SWP’s then membership were students or ex-students who had obtained white-collar jobs following university. The party’s base in the industrial working class was very weak. The “turn to industry” as it was known, was a wrenching experience for the party. Its success demonstrated a tremendous commitment on the part of the membership to reorient their lives; the SWP’s composition changed significantly; and the party gained valuable workplace and trade union experience and a big boost in its self-confidence. But the fundamental political premise of the turn was mistaken — the anticipated fightback was only a hope and it did not eventuate. The sharp all-out turn based on an incorrect schema needlessly lost a lot of members. Jim’s report to the January 1986 party conference (“Recent Experiences in Party Building”) makes a sober assessment of the whole experience. BR EAK WITH US SWP Through the 1970s we had a very close relationship with the US SWP. Founded by

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