Nationalism and the Proletarian Revolution page 15 m

Lenin and the birth of Bolshevism (part two> page 9

DISCUSSION: Marxism-Leninism and Parliamentarism page 5

Review-History of the Albanian Party of labour

Editorial

NUMBER FIFTEEN AUTUMN 1970 Price 2s comment·

At home

PREDICTABLY, after its electoral defeat, the La­ to be limited to trying to establish the best con­ bour Party is now preparing to 'move to the left'. ditions in which collective bargaining can take place. The leadership is in some difficulty due to the That it can never go beyond this function is assured absence of a 'left' leader of any .stature who has in many ways, for instance the division between the some semblance of mass support among the work­ industrial .and political wings of the movement, as ing class but a start has been rriade with the election it is so often put. Labour Party and trade union to the Shadow Cabinet of Michael Foot. conference decisions can be safely ignored by MPs because the Parliamentary Labour Party is autono­ The CPGB and some trotskyist factions are well mous and decides its own policies. aware of the strong anti:.Tory sentiments that exist among militant workers and are trying to take ad­ A study of the policies of b~th Labour and Tory vantage of it for the purpose of diverting this basi­ administrations· clearly shows that they differ only cally class feeling into the blind alley of 'pushing on the question of the best way of maintaining the Labour to the left', and if successful, will bring Capitalist system. The struggle between them is not some of these workers back under the influence of a reflection of the class struggle between Labour the Labour Party. and Capital but of internal differences within the capitalist class itself. 'The capitalist class never Under the guise of un1tmg all available forces rules as a whole', wrote Engels in his 'Campaign against the main enemy they are in practice for the German Constitution'. 'Even the big bour­ seeking to establish the leadership of one section of geoisie, as soon as it has defeated feudalism, splits the capitalist class over the workers but they can into a ruling and an opposition party which are only do this to the extent that they can sow confu­ usually represented by the bank on the one side'and sion on the question of the class character of the the manufacturer on the ·other. The oppositional, Labour Party. progressive fraction of the big and middle bour­ geoisie then has common interests with the petty They try to perpetuate the idea that because the bourgeoisie against the ruling faction and unites Labour Party was created by the trade unions, it with it in a cominon struggle'. A similar process must therefore be a working-class party. On the has also taken place in Britain .with the working surface this may appear to be obviously correct, but class being used as the pawn by one or 'other . sec­ the policies which it pursues are just as obviously tion working class if. one ac­ ' .. cepts that the interests of the class demand that it ·:The ~ dse .of the Labour Party corresponded with capture political power and abolish private property the re~ognition by some strata of the ruling class in the means of production. >r that the old. cimc;eptions of free enterprise were on ',, . tveir w~y ot)t. · How is this to be explained? British trade unions are totally adapted to func­ . Lord Sankey who headed the· Royal Commission tioning within. the framework of .capitalist .demo­ which advocated mitionalisation of coal ffi.ines was cracy and i:he whole reason for theh existence is, at no friend of the working class, and certainly no so­ best, to obtain for the workers a bigger share of the cialist. Nationalisation of electricity supply, railways, cake: This means that not only are they a part of steel, etc. did not.· nieet With outright opposition the organisational structUre· of capitalism but also from:-rhe capitalist class as a whole because it arose play an important role in mamtaining the influence from the needs of certain strata of that class which of_capitillist ide~logy over the workers. · h.ad been ·able-to mobilise the working-class move­ menr behind -such· a demand in the · belief that The function of any political- patty ·whose only piecemeal ~nationalisation would lead to socialism aim is to obtain a' bigget share: of the cake is bound by easy stages. ~ 1 THE MARXIST Contributions to the next issue of The Marxist, which will be published in December, should reach the editorial office (see address below) not later than 1st November 1970.

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mike Cooley Jim Kean Mike Faulkner Colin Penn Tom Hill Reg Wagland Frank Huscroft

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~--~~ ------The working class must, in pursuit of its own one class by the other. It also includes the accept­ interests, take advantage of the contradictions with­ ance of the proposition that destruction must come in the ruling class but this can only be achieved before reconstruction. Unless we consistently ad­ when it has its own independent policy and tactics, here to this standpoint we face the danger of being and not by tailing behind and accepting the leader­ misled into supporting one or other section of the ship of other classes as the CPGB and others would ruling class on the basis of it being 'the lesser of have us do. two evils'. This should not be confused with the The 1970 General Election showed a further drop correct tactic of giving support to a particular sec­ in the percentage of the electorate casting its vote tion of the capitalist class in specific instances in and undoubtedly indicates that disillusionment with order to sharpen the contradictions within that class the parliamentary parties is continuing to grow .. qur as a whole for the purpose of bringing about greater disorder. investigatiqns show that many workers who voted Labour did so on the basis of keeping the Tories J.\t the present time probably a majority of people out rather than in any positive conviction that there would consciously opt even for capitalist order in is any basic difference between the Parties, and it preference to disorder, and it is to the strengthen­ is to these workers that the so-called left is direct­ ing of these sentiments that Conservative, Labour, ing its attention. and revisionist alike direct their attention. Many What contributed to the Tory vote is more diffi­ class-conscious workers can recognise the qualitative cult for us to ascertain, but probably the image of difference between 'their' order and 'ours', but the the Tories as a party of law and order appealed to influence of reformist ideas is still strong and there some of the lower middle and professional classes is a reluctance to accept that the transition from who, to judge from letters to the newspapers are one to the other cannot be a smooth orderly affair, very disturbed at the 'anarchy' in the industrial but, on the contrary, will be a rough and disorderly field, but for Heath to make 'law and order' an affair. This feeling is still strong even amongst militants whose spontaneous reaction to events is election issue is one thing, to implement it is creating the disorder which they find difficult to another. accept as a conscious aim. The Tories, like Labour, are still placing their The capitalist class are trying to resolve this con­ hopes on the trade union leaders. In short, they are tradiction in people's minds by playing on this fear largely governed by the same objective conditions of anarchy in order to pressurise dissidents into as Barbara Castle, and the same basic strategy wiii sinking their class interests 'in the interests of all', continue. The trade unions will be encouraged to i.e. those of the capitalist class. The battle can only 'modernise' their structures under threat of legisla­ be joined if we take the bull by the horns and tion if this is not carried out voluntarily. This in­ boldly proclaim that we are fully aware that pursuit volves new procedure agreements between unions of working-class interests will create anarchy within and employers which seek to limit the independent the capitalist system, and that it is our class duty activities of the rank and file at shop floor level and to do so until the final collapse of that system. If replace with direct control by the trade union es­ we on our part can help people resolve this contra­ tablishment which will itself be 'freed' from effec­ diction in their n:iinds by getting them to accept this tive control by the membership. Once established, idea, the spontaneous movement will become trans­ these new agreements and procedures will be direc­ fonned into one with conscious direction. By taking ted against the militants, and legal sanctions will be part in the spontaneous struggles we will be able used to support the authority of the leadership over to lend them more consciousness and system so that the membership. The attempts of th.e CPGB and a unity is developed which will be directed towards similar 'lefts' to concentrate sole attention on anti­ the political aim of the conquest of power by the trade union legislation can well act as a smokescreen working class. · for the important preliminary preparations within the unions themselves. What of other 'classes which are liable to be , frightened by this 'anarchY:? Unity for what, and against what? The line of the CPGB is that we should trim our The kind of unity which Marxists strive for is sails so that we will not frighten them away from determined by our basic attitude towards the fun­ establishing unity wii:h the working class against damerital questiori'of the transfer of political power the monopolies. The practical effects of such a pol­ from capitalist to, the working class, namely, that it icy can be seen in the declining influence of the cannot be brouglit about by a process of peaceful CPGB. The militants turn away, some become dis­ evolution but only by the forcible subjugation of oriented~ the strtiggle declin~s and other classes

2 gravitate towards the enemy because it appears to battle between the two major classes. It must be be the strongest. shown that the main enemy of these classes is -the monopolists, and that defeat of the working class Our attitude must be that the working class will would bring about a worsening of their conditions. continue to 'create anarchy' because it is its way of refusing to be crushed by the forces of the big The actual relationship of classes can only be monopolists, that there can be no respite from this determined in the course of struggle, not by an situation until the monopolies are defeated, and abstract analysis, and this only on the basis of an that the interests of other non-monopoly classes intensified and more consciously directed struggle demand that they give support to the working class by the industrial working class. in this struggle or else they will be crushed in the South-East Asia IMPERIALIST POWERS have always attempted border dispute because any serious examination of to cloak aggressive designs and aggression against them would show that China has neither claimed other nations by attributing to those nations the nor occupied an inch of Indian territory, but has, very sins of which they themselves are guilty. Hitler on the contrary, had to repel Indian incursions into accused his numerous victims of 'menacing Ger­ Chinese territory. We are also told that 'Chinese many'; British imperialist adventures against Malaya, agents are weaving intrigues and plots in Bhutan Kenya, Cyprus, Egypt, etc. were ostensibly to pro­ and Sikkim' and that 'the small Himalayan state of tect 'free peoples' from 'terrorism'; Israel occupies Nepal has not been spared the attentions of China Arab lands and tries to subjugate Arab peoples in either. Here too the Maoists have been making mis­ the name of liberty; US imperialism in Indo-China chief'. Turning to Burma we are told that 'rebels, continues its long history of aggression under the egged on by the Maoists, continuously raid local pretence of defending Vietnamese and Cambodians institutions and military camps'. Concerning China's from 'aggression' by their own liberation forces. 'designs' on Laos we are treated to this gem: Over the years the pretence has worn a little thin, 'From time to time China threatens Laos. This re­ but the same tune continues to be played. minds Laotians of the golden seal with the legend One of the latest examples of such inverted truth "Submit or be destroyed" sent to their ancestors by may be found in a recently published article' entitled a Chinese emperor several centuries ago'. Asia and the Peking Empire Builders, which claims Which Laotians feel threatened is not made clear. that Mao is the heir of Genghis Khan and that he is But it is when our writer gets to Cambodia that we 'nurturing plans which would have made these are really in for a treat. If you thought that Sihan­ ancient conquerors green with envy'. What are his ouk's overthrow was probably engineered by the plans? Why, nothing less than the complete domina­ CIA, stand corrected. The villain was really China tion of South and South-East Asia. - 'China's interference was one of the factors that Rarely have the imperialists presented their precipitated the Right-wing coup' - we read. bankrupt arguments about 'Chinese expansionism' Just in case anyone may imagine that we are quite as clumsily as they are put in this article. Here quoting from an article in 'Readers' Digest' we are a few examples: should perhaps say that its author is one M Ukrain­ 'They are working to create an atmosphere of per­ tsov and that it is published in the June 9 issue of manent internal conflict in the area. They do not the Soviet magazine New Times. care a straw for the interests of the Asian peoples We are not surprised to find anti-Chinese propa­ and the fate of those whom they are exhorting to . ganda in the Soviet Press, but we are a little sur­ rise in a "people's war".' prised to see how remarkably crude the Russians The references to specific cases of alleged 'Chin­ are becoming in their anti-communism. We assume ese interference' a:re instructive: that the increasing difficulty they are experiencing 'China's frontier dispute with India in the Himal­ in concealing the reactionary character of their ayas is more than ten years old, and from time to policies is causing them to panic. time it flares up with fresh force, .'Peking bombards A few comments are needed on Mr Ukraintsov's India with ultimatUms and tries to interfere in her article. The sections quoted above reveal much internal affairs. It demagogically calls on Indians to more about Soviet policy than they do about China. launch civil war to establish "liberated areas". Ren:.. The theme is that China is 'causing trouble' in other min Ribao claims that "a great revolutionary storm" countries to suit her own expansionist ends. She is brewing in India.' stirs up 'internal conflict', calls for 'liberated areas" Needless to say no facts are presented about the in India, weaves 'intrigues and plots' and 'makes 3 m,ischief' . .Th.e . terminology is revealing; it displays ese .NLF, the Pathet Lao, the Cambodian liberation. ~ sompletely reactionary, philistine acceptance of forces and possibly the DRV and North Korea. In th.e · capitalist, semi-feudal and neo-colonial status­ saying that 'Peking is dooming these forces to de­ quo prevailing throughout much. of South East Asia. feat', Ukraintsov reveals exactly where Mbscow It reveals contempt for the very idea of liberation stands regarding South East Asia. The article makes ~d implies support for the most reactionary goy,ern­ ~ardly a mention of US imperialism's presence in rp.ents and forces against the liberation movements. that pari of the world and its recent escalation of The suggestion that armed struggle anywhere must agression into Cambodia. What are the facts? be part of a 'plot' hatched in P~king is a piece of The US imperialists are facing defeat in Vietnam. arrant nonsense no more worthy of attention .than They have spread the war in the hope of finding the lurid imaginings of the late John Foster Dulles. salvation on a wider battlefield, but in doing so have In a key passage near the end of the article we united the Indo-Chinese peoples against them. The read the following: peoples' Iiberat~on movement is developing rapidly 'By forcing their adventurist tactics on some de­ in Cambodia and Laos. The Koreans have obviously tachments of the Communist and national liberation become suspicious of Moscow's close amity with movement "in South East Asia and trying to use Japan and have subsequently drawn closer to China. them as an instrument to establish China's domina­ The people's war against US imperialism in South tion of Asian countries, Peking is dooming these East Asia is -expanding and the prospects of victory forces to defeat'. are good. That is how things stand. This contains the core of Moscow's concern over To the Russian revisionists this is a gloomy pic­ South East Asia, but to bring out clearly just what ture. They don't like people's war (note the way this is, the passage needs interpreting. they always put it in quote marks) which they re­ Needless to say China is not forcing anything on gard as 'adventurism', and they want it to stop. anyone. A reading of communiques which have ap­ They don't really care if US imperialism remains in peared in the Chinese press following discussions South East Asia - all they want is that it should and · agreements between China and many other negotiate its presence there respectably. The Rus­ states, parties and liberation movements, leaves ~o sian revisionists express their anxiety about South doubt that China's assistance to its friends is moti­ E::tst Asia being 'eaten up' bv China, just as do the vated by genuine sentiments of solidarity and by US imperialists. What they really mean of course is nothing else. To which detachments of the Com­ that they do not want to see South East Asia liber­ munist and liberation movements is Ukraintsov re­ ated; they do not want to see the revolution spread. ferring? As Moscow doesn't regard V'{hat it chooses That is the simple truth behind Ukraintsov's reac­ to call 'Maoist groups' as part of the communist tionary horror stories about Genghis Khan and the movement, he can only have in mind the Vietnam- 'yellow peril'.

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THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE was submitted to us before the General Election last June, in reply to the argument presented by Dick Jones in issue Number 13. Because of limited space we were unable to publish it in our last issue. Although the election is past we feel that the questions r;.ised in comrade Jones' original article need the fullest discussion and we have therefore decided to print Sean McConville's contribution even though it was written in the pre-election period and is to some extent dated. We hope to continue the discus­ sion in future issues of The Marxist and we will be happy to consider for publication articles and letters from our readers. · THE EDITORS

LENIN'S ARTICLE, Left Wing Communism, is being worked out in conditions of reaction from, and nothing less than a detailed guide to revolutionary abhorrence of the opportunists and betrayers. Deep tactics in the European situation. Yet its title is revolutionary ,feelings of groups and organisations very often used by the revisionists as a kind of slogan often took the form of indiscriminate rejection of all or fetish ;.gainst Marxist-Leninists. It is also used to institutions and tactics seen to be connected with try to justify the 'left' labour-revisionist alliance the opportunists. As Lenin points out this is 'infan­ strategy of the Communist Party of Great Britain, tile', i.e. a feature of the movement at its early stage, by means of statements tom entirely from context. and incorrect in that it does not distinguish between It is as wdl to begin by making clear that this is the form and content of tactics. In form, there might not the dispute with Dick Jones (Marxist Number be similarities between the tactics employed by revo­ 13). His argument is that it is easier to expose La­ lutionaries on the one hand and opportunists on the bour when they are in power. People can learn from other, but in content and intention, there was all their own experience in such a situation, and this is the difference in the world. the most advantageous and efficient learning that can Groups of Marxist-Leninists in Britain and other take place. He opposes both Parliament and Social countries have recently had similar experiences. Re­ Democracy and supports the line of revolutionary acting from the betrayal of the modern revisionists, seizure of power and proletarian dictatorship. With they have dismissed a whole range of tactics, not this proviso as his posidon, we must none-the-less differentiating their content when applied in a revo­ state that we disagree with his specific tactical line, lutionary manner, from the formal similarity to the and the purpose of this article is to try to show the tactics of modern revisionists. sources of his error and to offer an alternative view However, vital differences in the concrete situation on the tactics for the next Parliamentary election, in iri Britain and the world must be analysed before the context of a broader consideration. the essence of Lenin's advice may be separated from To avoid the accusation of formalism it is neces­ the specific form that it took at the time. With re­ sary to consider the essence of Lenin's article, the gard to Britain, Lenin was writing at a time when end to which his tactical advice was directed. It is there had been no experience of a Labour Govern­ further necessary to consider the relationship be­ ment. The.re is a qualitative difference between this, tween the tactics advocated, and the concrete politi­ with its implications for the masses ;md the experi­ cal circumstances which gives meaning to those ence that advanced class elements had had of the tactics. Labour leaders opportunistic nature. Lenin was con­ Most generally the article had the intention of cerned to show that despite their exposure to such detailing those tactics necessary to bring about revo­ advanced elements, it was necessary, essential, for the lutionary overthrow of the bourgeois state. It is a Labotir Party to be exposed in action, as a govern­ handbook for revolution; particularly concerned with ment. pointing out 'the nature of the scientific Communist ' . . . I want with 'my vote to support Henderson outlook, in contrast to the various 'abstract' or 'pure' in the same way as a rope supports a hanging versions being put forward at the time. inan ... The impending establishment of a govern­ The collapse of the Second International and the ment of Hendersons will... prove that I am right, mass betrayal by socialist 'leaders' in various coun­ will hring the masses over to my side, and will tries with regard to' n.ational chauvinism and parlia.; hasten the political death of the Hendersons and tnentarianisni, had' produced a situation in' the inter­ · 'the Snowdons ... ' national movement very similar to that existing to­ (Left Wing Communism, English edition day. New parties, new principles and tactics were · · · Peking 1965, page 90.) 5 ' ... if Henderson and Snowdon gain the victory the basis for the very existence of parliament. And over Lloyd George and Churchill, the majority parliament is the anchor upon which the shifting will in a brief space become disappointed in their ship of state depends. Changes here, brought about leaders and will begin to support Communism, by crisis and precipitating further crisis, can have (or at all events will adopt an attitude of neutral­ only two outcomes - open fascism or revolutionary ity towards the Communists) ... ' change. Labour and its equivalent in other countries, (Left Wing Communism, page 85.) is one of the basic factors for the continuance of This last statement gives a clear indication as to bourgeois society. the particular political context in which Lenin was From this position it is correct to state that in writing. Not only was it a time when the masses had Britain now parliamentarianism and social democracy not had the experience of Labour as a government, are inextricably linked. Dick }ones accepts this po­ which would lead them to reject illusions about it, sition but he obscures the actual nature of the rela­ it was also a time of impending parliamentary and tionship by describing parliamentarianism and social political crisis. democracy as 'twins' and 'synonymous'. This implies 'In Great Britain ... conditions for a successful parity of importance of institutions. In some 'demo­ proletarian revolution are clearly maturing.' cratic' capitalist countries parliament exists without (Left Wing-Communism, page 86.) social democracy. In none do they exist without an So Lenin's advice was given at a time of impen­ equivalent. The label, i.e. 'Labour', 'Democrat', ding parliamentary crisis, when the main factor likely 'Nationalist' etc., is immaterial, as long as in accord­ to assist the bourgeoisie was the deceiving nature of ance with their specific historical background, the the Labour Party, which had not as yet been in people accept it .as it is presented, an indicator that power. The situation today is very different. There they are really free to choose. This is an important have been six Labour governments, and although distinction to make, because it means that the poli­ one may detect in embryo a parliamentary crisis, the tics and traditions of such parties are of subordinate crisis of capitalism has yet to be focussed on the importance. It also means that we should concentrate political level and at parliamentary institutions in our attention on a destruction of the formal aspect particular. of social democracy in Britain, that is to say, upon As for Lenin's hopes, the history of the working the illusion of freedom, upon its constitutional role. class movement in Britain has yet to be analysed in a Marxist way. For one reason or another working The Lesser Evil? class experience of social democracy was not crystal­ Here the situation differs considerably from the lised at that time, and political mass learning did not twenties and even thirties. At that time, change, not take place in the manner in which Lenin predicted. preservation of the bourgeois state, was a basic Lenin focussed on the Labour Party because of component in the appeal of Labour to the working its importance for the bourgeois constitution, for class. It was necessary at that point to concentrate parliamentarianism. Without Labour, the bourgeoisie political energy upon the exposure of the specific would have been faced with incredible difficulty in programmatic claims of Labour. The task has shifted maintaining the parliamentary form. (Of course now, and it is in some ways more simple. The myth fascism in one form or another would have been of real difference between the two parties is no lon­ introduced, but this was seen as a one-way ticket.) ger central in terms of programme. It is now possible We too must focus our attention on the main element to move to a direct attack on parliamentarianism, of the bourgeois state, and from that point analyse without having to expose the bogusness of the La­ its supports and weaknesses. bour claims to socialism. Monopoly capital depends on Labour today, not Dick Jones says: 'This vast section will demon­ only in the political sense (though it is getting sterling strate its faith in Parliament and the Labour Party, service there), but in a more profound and long no matter how cynically some may do it, by turning term sense, ideologically. Labour is the continuing out in their millions in the coming general election.' testament to the openness of the corridors of power. It is the nature of the faith, as indicated above, If it no longer conveys notions of fundamental that is the important question. The faith is not the change to the electorate, it does demonstrate that socialist intentions of the Labour Party. (How many power is not held in a few hands, and that by waving workers after these years of Labour 'socialism' have tweedledum at tweedledee the electorate have some any idea of what real socialism is?). But it is in the control over -their own fate. (In some trifling and freedom that parliament represents ..They choose the marginal areas this may-be true.) They can choose lesser of two evils, and sometimes the difference between the brand names - Tory or Labour. This between the two evils is so small in their minds that illusion of choice, reinforced by the legitimacy and they will choose because of the voice or face or some continuity that the bourgeois constitution bestows is irrelevant personal aspect of the party leader. It is 6 not faith in socialist claims and promises that we differences between those who support the revolu­ have to attack, therefor<:, but perception of the situa­ tionary path, and those who do not. The working tion as being a choice between two evils, according man or woman who supports a 'left' MP is as much to the rules of the game. The only way we can do out in the cold as one who supports a foaming at this is by offering an alternative - don't play the the mouth right wing tory, despite subjective moti­ game, don't be forced into a false and hypocritical vations and intent. 'choice'. I The view which has been put forward here of Two further points must be made in passing. The disillusionment with the socialistic promises of the description, 'Parliamentarianism and the Labour Labour Party can be taken a stage further. A section Party are synonymous' is used to imply that expo­ of the electorate have developed their disillusionment 1 sure of parliament must be by way of exposing La­ and have ceased to participate in the game of chara­ bour, and it has been indicated that a distinction des. From the 1950 election to the 1966 election, must be made between the exposure of Labour in a the percentage of those bothering to vote has de­ formal sense, which is necessary, and exposure of clined from 84 per cent to 75.8 per cent. This is claims to socialism which is not necessary. This without encouragement from any political party or statement has another aspect to it though. It implies group, and in the face of all the hysteria whipped that a campaign to persuade workers not to vote is up by the mass media. A bourgeois commentator motivated by a refusal to utilize parliament, to the Professor R. Rose, writing in the Times (March 11 maximum extent to which it can be used. This is 1970) says: not so. A campaign seeking abstention is directly 'Another indicator of dissatisfaction with the party concerned with parliament, and with basic exposure system is the decline in turnout at every general of the fraudulant nature of the bourgeois state. It election since 1950. Among twenty nations only h1s as its basis the conception that it is not the five have a higher proportion of voters staying superfluous 'exposure' of Labour that is needed, but away from the polls at general election time. A the mobilization and education of numbers of people, generation ago it was fashionable to argue that in a clear demonstration that the illusion of the low turnout was proof of popular satisfaction. 'sacred freedom to vote' no longer holds. It is based People did not vote because they had nothing to on the notion that it is no longer Labour, but the vote against. Fashions change in universities as parliamentary process that must be shown to have well as parliaments. Today such apathy is often lost the confidence of the working class. A refusal to considered a sign of disengagement from the become involved on the parliamentary issue would svstem.' take the form of ignoring the election altogether. If such people can come to make such an analysis is there any excuse for Marxist-Leninists to dawdle The Growing Abstention behind? Worse still, in the face of the failure of all The second point is that a relatively small section the propaganda orl!ans to stem a decline in the vote, of workers and other elements do still believe in who is going to volunteer for the position of a mod­ Labour as a path to socialism. They are rank and ern Canute? file members and political supporters. While in some Discussion on the question of voting or abstention ways these people are more advanced than the ab­ at the next election is in itself somewhat misleading stainer, in other ways they are more retarded. They unless an attempt is made to provide a broader. have an affinity to socialism, and recognise it as the context. A positive contribution of Dick }ones' article only alternative to the present situation. However, is that it shows the necessity for work to provide a they are still at the stage of belief in Labour's claims concrete programme of tactics on as broad a scale and socialistic promis'!s. In this regard they are as possible at national level. A possible negative more retarded than those who take a lesser-evils outcome of the article might be concentration of view, or those who take the view of a plague on all attention on the very narrow and restricted question your houses. They are to be found particularly in of electoral tactics. It is important to emphasise the unions, and recognising their position, different Lenin's statement: tactics must be applied in order to manifest to them ' . . . The action of the masses - a big strike, for the nature of the social democratic union leaders. instance - is more important than parliamentary In all though, the half-spoken view that a Labour activity at all times, and not only during a revo­ deceived man is better than a Liberal or Tory de­ lution or a revolutionary situation.' ceived man must be dragged into the open. Such a (Left Wing Communism, page 55.) view is and has been a serious impediment to mass The problem of the next election is a problem work. It is based on the notion that there is a left to leading immediately to mass work and mass organi­ right continuum, and that judgement can be made sation. It is easy enough to say what is needed in in degrees. This is fallacious, there are qualitative mass organisation, but that is not the point being 1 made here. The next election and our activities in now. It is not being suggested that million upon connection with it must be seen as an opportunity million of workers are within easy reach of our to begin to build a mass movement. It is not merely propaganda. With a clear commitment, and with a question of organisational discomfiture at the some initiative and imagination an impact far in lack of a line, but a question of utilizing any and excess of our size could be produced. We should be every opportunity we have of communicating our willing to accept tactical alliance with other organi­ distinctive and correct outlook, in tactical form, to sations in pursuit of campaign objectives. the greatest possible number of people. It is in this Two great tactical advantages which the 'Don't light that the line must be put forward- 'DON'T vote -organise!' .approach has over the vote to ex­ VOTE, ORGANISE!' pose line (the political case notwithstanding), may This is no plea for apathy or political somnolence. be also seen clearly when the specific nature of the It is a slogan whose implementation depends on the situation at this time is looked at. Firstly, we could transformation of opting-out abstention into opting­ not, organisationally, influence or contact more than in abstention. It requires a direct and vigorous cam­ a few thousand workers in a vote to expose cam­ paign, to the limit of our resources to give a specific paign. Yet they are the workers who are closest to political character to abstention; to encourage ab­ us, and politically most advanced. They know the stention, and to explain the full and correct political nature of social democracy. Are we going to ask them significance of abstention to those who now do so . . to recreate illusions long since shed, so that they may shed them again to demonstrate the efficiency Need to Organise of our formula? Secondly, the massive technical problem of putting forward the same policy - vote But this is only half of the slogan - the other Labour - at the formal level, as is put forward by half calls for organisation. The beginning of this the whole spectrum of political dross from the CPGB organisation will come from the campaign itself, but to the Trots, to substantially the s;1me audience it will have a positive, constructive and aggressive does not arise. The essence of this problem - how character, and should not be limited to mere reac­ to differentiate our own position - seems insoluble. tion to the election. As has been said above, the With an abstain/organise approach such differentia­ Labour Party is a critical feature of parliamentary tion is immediately apparent. We do not put forward 'democracy'. The call to organise would have the a retrogressive policy to advanced workers, and we strategic objective of doing as much damage, on as have the possibility, if we make good use of every wide and deep a scale as possible, to the Labour opportunity, of securing wide dissemination of our Party as an institution. It would seek maXimum views. destruction and discrediting. The task of smashing the Labour Party is complex, and not just a matter Harder Task For Labour "Lefts" of shouting slogans. A c11mpaign must have objec­ tives at various. levels, therefore. It must be combat­ What happens if our wildest aspirations are at­ ted at both national and local electoral levels. This tained, if substantial numbers do not vote, and if we must be in the slogan of abstention. Should con­ attract some of the responsibility for ll Labour de­ ditions permit in the future we should stand a few feat? Will we be dismissed as 'lefts' and 'infantile'? anti-parliament and llnti-council candidates. At the Unless it is posited that the working class position organisational level we must win over or neutralise is basically different under Tory and Labour govern­ rank . and file membership. The tactics here are as­ ments it seems hard to sustain this view. The styles sorted, but for example joining, disrupting and certainly vary, and we can be sure of more obvious bringing out branches etc. in particular circum­ class conflicts, and a more direct state-worker conflict. stances, might be considered. Again, slogans about The Labour Party would certainly be demoralised, the evil of social democracy are not enough. We and this would provide an environment in which to must appeal to the political consciousness of the attack and dismember it. The notion of it rallying rank and file, to their sense of class solidarity and around the 'left' MPs is plausible, but it will not be desire for socialism. A most important organisational Benn, Greenwood, Castle, Stonehouse and others of aspect of the Labour Party is in trade union links. the litany long recited by the CPGB. We can choke These must be severed, and at the same time, other these people with their public records, anytime. political links must be created. The political levy, Other true guardians of the soul of Labour will and the possibility of loeal autonomy in its spending, emerge, it is i:rue, but they will not have the same might be considered here, and tied up with the easy task as during the last Tory years. At no time notion of militant and political workers' associations. then was there an organisation in this country dedi­ The advocacy of such a campaign runs the risk of cated to the destruction of the Labour Party, as a being accused of wishful sloganising, unless it is party, ;1nd the construction of a mass workers' move­ linked to specific featUres of the situation· here and ment." . Continued on page 14 8 LENIN and the Birth of Bolshevism Part Two by Mike Faulkner

IN this part of the article l have tried to draw from Lenin's writing, during the period 1902-1904 and 1919-1920, essential elements of his teaching on the party. I have considered the views of some of his cri­ tics and tried to relate the principles of Leninism to the party-building tasks confronting us today. ' LENIN chastised Rosa Luxemburg for ignoring the '3) Deviation from this program is opportunism.' concrete- facts of the Russian Party struggle, and for (Trotsky, Our Political Tasks, Connolly Books, indulging in gr_andiloquent declamation about op­ 1969.) portunism in the countries of bourgeois democracy, · while saying nothing about the concrete manifesta­ At frequent intervals in his diatribe Trotsky com­ tions of opportunism in Russia. He pointed out that ments acidly on Lenin's personal qualities and the his opponents in Russia ignored the Congress 'and quality of his Marxism- as he sees them: by so doing leave all their assertions devoid of all foundation of fact.' 'Dialectics has nothing to do with Comrade Lenin. He is firmly convinced that "opportunism leads Lenin v. Trotsky to the Martovist and Axelrodist organisational Typical of such opponents was Trotsky. He pub­ views not accidentally but by its very nature, and lish~d an attack on Lenin under the title of 'Our not in Russia alone, but throughout the world".' Political Titsks' which he dedicated to 'my dear tea­ (Ibid, p. 18;) . cher Paul Axelrod'. Unlike Rosa Luxemburg, Trot­ sky was not viewing the Russian events from afar; The section in double quotes is taken by Trotsky he had been a delegate at the Congress. If the fact­ from 'One Step Forward, Two Steps Back'. ual inaccuracies of the German socialists could be partly excused because of ignorance, this certainly 'This malignant arid mostly obnoxious suspicious­ wasn't the case with Trotsky, which is no doubt the ness of Lenin, the flat c.aricature of .the tragic jn­ reason why Lenin did not consider his criticisms tolerence of Jacobinism, is, it should be admitted, sufficiently worthy of respect to warrant a reply. the heritage as well as the degeneration of the old "Iskra" policy.' (Ib~, p. 25)3 E. H. Carr de~cribes 'Our Political Tasks' as 'bri).liantly vituperative. Vituperative it certainly is: Although in later years Trotsky was to admit that All the baseless Menshevik attacks are repeated. he had made mistakes, the character of his admis­ Much space is devoted to the charge of 'Jacobinism' sion can only lead one to conclude that he regarded · and it is asserted that Lenin and his supporters are his opposition to Lenin and the Bolsheviks between preparing to establi$h a 'dictatorship over the pro­ 1903 and 1917 as a matter of minor importance. He letariat', of the preparatory stages of which. it is wrote _in his autobiography: . said: 'I must here add that the errors I have committed ' 1) The preparation of the proletariat for the . . . always referred to questions that were not dictato~ship is an organisational task which fundamental. or strategic, but dealt with such consists of preparing the· proletariat for the derivative matters as organisation and policy.' receipt of an authoritative organisation to be (Trotsky; My Life; p. 161.) crowned by a diCtator. The relevance of Lenin's teaching on the PartY ' 2) The appearance of the dictator over the pro­ The· Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903 r~­ letariat should b~ ~onsciously p~epared in vealed . the.' politic~r gulf between Bols)leyism-· arid ,the_interests of. the di~t~tbrs~ip 9f fue ·pro]e:­ Merisbevism; the Bolshevik Third Con!dess of 1905 tanat. crysnil.ised the · differ~ces._'. The 1905; ~ongress .9. stressed the need to 'organise the proletariat for an Just as it is clear from his ·writings in 1902-19Q~ immediate struggle with the autocracy by means of that Lenin never intended his· formulas. to be ap­ armed struggle'. Throughout the revolution of 1905 plied in every detail to all situations, it is equally and all the vicissitudes of subsequent years, through clea,r that these and subsequent writings on questions the organisation;~! break with the Mensheviks in of political organisation contain much that is pro:­ 1912 and up to 1917, the lines of demarcation be­ foundly relevant today. He was not thinking only of tween Bolshevism and every variety of opportunism Tsarist Russia when he wrote: were becoming more pronounced. The application 'But it would be ManilO'Vism (smug complacency) of Marx's teaching on the dictatorship of the prole­ and Khvostism (following at the tail) to think that tariat to the conditions of struggle in Russia was an at any time under capitalism the entire class, important theoretical contribution of Lenin's dur­ would be able to rise to the level of conscious­ irrg those years. Recognition· of the: need to carry ness and activity of its vanguard, of it$ Social­ through a democratic· revolution ;~gainst the auto­ Democratic Party ... To forget the distinction cracy did not detract from the emphasis he placed · between the vanguard and the whole of the· on the leading role of the proletariat and the neces­ masses which gravitate towards it, to forget the sity to· consolidate its leading position after the constant duty of the v;~nguard to raise ever wider overthrow of the autocracy, in order to be able to strata to this most advanced level, means merely carry the revolution through to the establishment to deceive oneself, to shut one's eyes to the im­ of proletarian power for the construction of socialism. mensity of our tasks, and to narrow down those Central to· Lenin's perspective for the development tasks.' (Lenin, Collected Works, Russian edit~, of the struggle was his conception of the party. Vol. VI, pp. 205-06) To what extent can it be said that the organisa::. The Critics tiQnal model elaborated in 'What Is To Be Done?' and in 'One Step Forward, Two Steps Back' was Those who oppose Leninism (often in the name intended to be applicable at all stages of the struggle of Lenin) sometimes come close to arguing that in iri all countries? Lenin's scheme, centralism (whether democratic or . Lenin was not in .the habit of establishing rigid 'bureaucrlJtic') was intended only a~ a. temporary ex­ rules for application at all times regardless of con­ pedient. This line of argument doesn't fit the facts. ditions. Quite obviously much of what he said in It springs from a deeply felt resistance to the idea 1902 ;md 1903 about the type of· party needed, of an organised political vanguard as necessary to relates specifically to the conditions prevailing at the struggle for power. The Luxemburg view of the time. This is clear from his explicit references 'social-democracy' as 'the movement of the working to the· different conditions prevailing in other· .coun­ class itselr is counterposed to the theory of ;~n ad­ tries,· calling for different forms of organisation. vanced detachment of the class. In terms of organi­ Under conditions of secrecy the principle of electa­ sation an:d political action, a gulf separates the two bility could. not be operated; in conditions of bour­ concepts. · geois democracy it must operate. At a· later date, in Dealing with this question in his biographical the light of changed conditions, Lenin was to revise sketch of Rosa·Luxemburg, Tony Cliff misrepresents some ·of the views expressed in 'What Is To Be Done?' · · Lenin · by repeating the 'Jacobin' argument, and proceeds to erect and demolish an Aunt Sally, when · lt is necessary to separate those ·aspects of Lenin's he says: teaching on the Party, which referred to the needs 'A conscious, organised minority at the head of of a particular· time and a . definite set of circum­ an unore;anised mass of the people suits the stances, from the essential elements of that teaching. · bourgeois revolution, which is, after all, a revo­ Basic to everything Lenin wrote on the subject is lution in the interests of the minority. But the the idea ·of the party as a van,;uard detachment of separation of conscious minority from unconscious the proletariat. He· never regarded social-democracy ·majority; the separation of mental and manual simply as 'the movement 'of the working class itselr' labour, the existence of manae;er and foreman on and· 'it was precisely the reluctance or inability' of ·the ·one· hand and ·a mass of obedient labourers the non-Bolshevik adherents of social-democracy to ~ on the· other, mav be grafted on to 'socialism' onlv move beyond the confused thinking and stultified bv killing the very essence . of socialism, which is organisations ·of the ·second International· that led the collective control of the workers over their him to break decisively with them. Whatever may ·destinv.' (T. Cliff;'Ros-a Luxemburg) p. 49) have been. the differences ·betWeen .the Russian ·Men,. sheviks, the left of the SPD-' ;md the Gennan re­ Adh~rents oJ - th~ iu;xerobm;-.g -~iew ~~il t~ grasp visionists·, they had in common 'a. pronounced dis­ the fact that there is no contradiction betw~en the taste for . Lenin's political organisational prinCiples. ·'theory of the party as a vanguard detachment, and·' 10 the creative revol11:tionary will of the masses. Ot{' the centralism. In the present epoch of acute civil war contrary, every successful revolution h;ts shown that the Communist Party will be able to perform its the very qualities in the masses that "Rosa Luxem­ duties ·.only if ,it- is.- organised in the most central­ burg was so passionately concerned to release, cart ised manner, only if iron discipline, bordering on only- be· released and guided along a revolutionary military discipline prevails in it, and if its party path under the leadership of a. Marxist-Leninist centre is a powerful organ of authority, enjoying party. · wide powers and the general confidence of the members of the party.' Certain respected (and respectable) 'Marxist' . . scholars have the habit of listing numerous ex­ The Conditions' variously demanded that all par­ amples of statements by Lenin on this or that matter t.ies should periodically re-register t~eir members, over decades; detecting llpparently contradictory bring their parliamentary factions under control, elements in his pronouncements on the same sub­ 'wage a persistent struggle against the Amsterdam ject, and gleefully concluding that there is no·central "Illternational" of yellow trade unions', effect a thread, ho such thing as 'Leninism', which is simply 'complete and absolute rupture with reformism', and a dogma invented by Stalin. Needless to say, such combine legal with illegal work - 'everywhere scholars (who incidentally, always find much to ad­ create a duplicate illegal apparatus, which ;1t the mire in Trotsky) h11ve recently been writing pro­ decisive moment, could help the party to perform digiously in the bourgeois press in celebration of its duty to.the revolution' .. Statute 17 stressed: 'Need­ Lenin's centenary. Typical of such writing is a less to say, in all thefr work the Communist Inter­ recent article a·ppearing in 'New Society' entitled national arid its Executive Committee must take 'The Fate of Lenin's Isms', which claims that: into account the gre.at diversity of conditions under which the various parties have to fight and operate, . 'Localism, plur.alism and democratism can be and should adopt universally binding decisions only traceQ. in Lenin's model of party organisation on questions on which such decisions can be adop­ quite as much as the unqualified "centralism" of ted'. 1902-4 (which only recurs in the siege-years of 1919-21)' . (P. Sedgwick, New Society, April 23, In his Theses Lenin calls for 'the violent over­ 1970) throw of the bourgeoisie, the confiscation of its property, the· destruction of the whole of the bour­ The term 'unqualified centralism' doesn't tell us geois state appar.atus from top to bottom', and warns m,uch, but .the general n;teaning is clear: apart from against: three or four extraordinary years Lenin is supposed to have. beep an advocate of 'pluralism' (a nice, 'The ·common idea prevailing among the <_>ld vague bourgeois term!) and 'democratism'. Enough parties and the old leaders of the Second Inter­ has been said about 1902-4, hut what about 1919-21?. national that the majority of the toilers and the exploited CJ!.n acq11:ire co~plete clarity of _So_cialist The Second Congress of the Communist consciousness and firm Socialist convictions and International . character under .the_ conditions o( capitalist sla­ very, under the. yoke of ~e bourgeoisie (which Reference may made to .the theses on the be assumes a1J. infinite variety ~f forms; . the ~ore 'Fundamental Tasks of the Communist International', subtle and also more fierce and more ruthless the July 1920; to Lenin's speech on conditions of affilia­ given C04Jltry is), i~ also the embellishment of tion to the C.I. and to the conditions themselves. It .capjtalism and bourgeois democracy, is also the cannot easily be argued that the conditions all com­ deception ·of the v.;o~kers. ·As a ~atter of fact munist parties were_ expected to. fulfil before they only after the. vanguard of the proletari_at~ sup­ could affiliate were. conceived as temporary .expe­ ported ,by. the wh.ol~ . of this, the . revolutionary dients because the USSR was under siege! From the . class, .or the majority of it, _overthrows the ex­ Theses and the Conditions, it is abundantly clear _ploiters, S\lppx:e~ses !Jlem, ~ancipates the ex­ that· Lenin and the Bolsheviks were concerned to ploited frpm ·their. state of slavery, improv~s their effect a decisive· break ·with th~ _organisations and . conditions. of life .immediately at the expense of org~nis~tl'onal . methods of the Secon? Internatio~al, .the ~xpropriated c.11pit~ists, only aftex: this, and and that they .s~w as the revisionism. It does not help much to discussion. ignore the history of the movement or to argue, for instance, that the CPGB has always been revisionist, Criticism and self-criticism which amounts to the same thing. There is need for much more than 'revolutionary' forms, slogans and Self-criticism is still more talked about than symbols. The content of policy, inner-party life and practised. But it is essential to the healthy function­ the relationship between party and class needs also ing of a proletarian party. Mao Tse-tung's 'Combat to be revolutionary, for these are matters which will Liberalism' should be read and re-read; it is uni­ determine whether an organisation will gain the re­ versally relevant. But criticism (not opportunist, but spect of the workers, whether it will grow and serious, proletarian-principled criticism) must also continuously extend its influence until it really be­ extend beyond matters concerning the inner life of comes a 'vanguard party'. Declarations of support the party. An open, enquiring approach to all politi­ for China and Chairman Mao do not in themselves cal questions, big and small, national and interna­ confirm the revolutionary quality of anything, for tional must be encouraged. Amongst some comrades such things may be merely formal, and devoid of there is still ;:m attitude of mind that has more in any real meaning in terms of living struggle. Whether common with Roman Catholic faith than with Marx­ or not a communist party has really learned from ism. Accordingly, it is felt that certain matters Marx, from Lenin and from Mao Tse-tung will in should not be discussed; that certain questions are the long run be determined by whether it is able to best left alone because there may not be a line on integrate with, command the respect of, and give them, or that whatever the line is, it must be right. revolutionary leadership to its own working class. In the past this led to an uncritical attitude to every­ thing the Soviet Union did- a point perhaps best illustrated by the fact that only a handful of people Changed World in the CPGB criticised Khrushchev revisionism The world has changed enormously since Lenin before the Communist Party of China did so. Marx­ died and only a dogmatist would argue that every­ ist-Leninists can accept nothing on faith; faith has thing he said applies just as much to Britain in nothing in common with Marxism. 1970 as it did to Russia in 1903 or 1920. But only a revisionist would argue that the essential charcter Legal and illegal work of a communist party as defined at the Second World It seems apparent that almost universally under the Congress of the C.I. is not as relevant today as it conditions of bourgeois democracy communist par­ was then. Nowhere in the world has there been a ties have seriously neglected Lenin's warning quoted successful proletarian revolution without the leader­ above concerning legal and illegal work. Needless ship of such a party. to say, hard facts on this are difficult to find, but all the indications are that insufficient attention has Regarding the tasks facing revolutionaries in Brit­ been paid to the question and grossly inadequate ain, one or two questions concerning party-building preparation has been made to meet the contingencies deserve the closest attention. of illegality. Most probably a leadership operating in a bourgeois democracy, really does not seriously Democratic Centralism expect that it may find itself one day _under con­ Marxist-Leninists cannot afford to treat lightly ditions of fascist dictatorship. Of course it is ridicu­ the related questions of centralised leadership and lous to argue that such a view is pessimistic and democracy. The majority of communist parties that we have to prevent the bourgeoisie imposing , throughout the world turned into bureaucratic­ fascism. This kind of naivety breeds the feeling that centralist machines devoid of all semblance of de­ 'it won't happen here', and leads to communist mocracy. Those comrades with experience in the parties operating exclusively on an open, legal level. CPGB will know at first hand the difficulties of a minority which mows itsdf to be in the right, faced It should never be forgotten that the Communist with a bureaucratic leadership enjoying majority · Party of Germany, with its mass working class sup­ support which invokes 'democratic centralism' in port, armed detachments, large parliamentary and defence of its betrayal of Marxism. Ways must be trade union representation, was all but decimated found to ensure from the beginning that the prin- in a matter of a few months in 1933. A more recent 13 and poignant example of what can' happen when a the present state of the movement. It offers a means communist party cherishes illusions about bourgeois of overcoming dogmatism whose manifestation often democracy is the fate of the Indonesian Party in takes the form of mechanical reference to Marxist 1965. texts in response to contemporary problems, or an It is not only a matter of defence. Preparation for introverted club mentality characteristic of those the ultimate class conflict (which will not take place who are saved despite the world. under conditions of bourgeois legality) demands This is not yet a revolutionary period, but events the building up of an alternative leadership and move fast, and crises mature overnight. It is worth organisation which will be capable of giving practical remembering what Mao said of mass work at a leadership to that struggle. It may be said with similarly volatile time: certainty that any party calling itself communist 'Every revolutionary party and every revolution­ which fails to take such steps is in fact a revisionist ary comrade will be put to the test, to be accepted party. or rejected as they decide. There are three alter­ More than ever we need to study the teachings natives. To march at their head and lead them? of Lenin. The · basic premises of Leninism are as To trail behind them gesticulating and criticising? valid today as ever they were, and wherever the Or to stand in their way and oppose them? Every struggle for liberation is waged, the example of Chinese is free to choose, but events will force you Lenin inspires men. In this centenary year, British to make the choice quickly'. Marxist-Leninists can best honour him by working (Report of an Investigation of the Peasant the harder to build a Party genuinely founded on Movement in Hunan.) Leninist principles. This was true of the mass movement in China's 3 Ten years later in the context of another polemic with Rosa countryside. It is also true of the increasing rejection Luxemburg on the national question, Lenin had occasion to of political charades by great numbers of the people make the following remarks about Trotsky: 'Trotsky has never yet held a firm opinion on any serious question relating to Marx­ in this country. ism: he always manages to "creep into the chinks" of this or that difference of opinion, and desert one side for the other.' (Lenin, Selected Workl, Vol. 4, p. 286). Correspondence Parliamentarism Discussion on Stalin Continued from page 8 from Hilda and Edward Upward WE WOULD very much like to see a discussion in If Labour win, as they may do, the coming peaks The Marxist on the role of Stalin. We do not think of crisis for British imperialism will produce further that modem revisionism can be understood unless and more serious attacks upon the working class. the period of Stalin's leadership is opened up for The corporate-state aspect of social democracy will discussion. Revisionism can hardly be said to date become more and more discernable, and the task of from 1956. We ourselves are ex-CPers who were exposing the bourgeois state will be facilitated in fighting the revisionist British leaders in the yellrS this way. Our record and our organisational work will give us the ear of wider sections still of working 1947-9. We left the CP but continued for some years people. after that to support Stalin and the Soviet Union. It was the apparent approval of the CPSU for the It is advocated that a mass campaign be initiated, revisionism of the Western Parties which made us with the help of whatever tactical alliances may be feel that further struggle for an anti-revisionist party made, and utilising every suitable avenue to secure in Britain at that time was useless. publicity on the slogan - 'Don't vote, organise!' Although certain corrections of the policy of Look­ This campaign to be seen as truly mass, with mass ing Ahead were made after the Declaration of the as opposed to restricted parliamentary objectives. Nine Parties, the publication of The British Road to The response in at least three areas that have been Socialism in Pravda in 1951 seemed to endorse its canvassed to some degree, Bristol, London tenants revisionism. If Mao today can boldly come out and Yeovil, should be immediate and productive. It against revisionism why did Stalin fail to do so in is held that the case for such a campaign is abun­ his life-time? dantly established on both the political and organisa­ We are very disturbed when we find writers in tional levels, and that it has reality and feasibility The Marxist classing Stalin with Marx, Lenin and overwhelmingly on its side. Mao. Surely it must be understood that serious dis­ In terms of the Marxist-Leninist movement, a cussion is urgently required on the whole period of particularly important benefit must be noted. It pre­ Stalin's leadership. sents a means of combating doctrinairism and isola­ We very much appreciate The Marxist and wish tioij which is a prominent and destructive aspect of . it every success. 14 Nationalism and the Proletarian Revolution by C K Maisels

'Comrade Lenin draws the following conclusion; "Marx had no doubt as to the subordinate position of the national as compared to the labour question." Here·are only two lines but they are de­ cisive. And this is what some of our comrades who are more zealous than wise should drill into their heads'. (Stalin)1

MARXIST-LENINISTS see everything (right up thing Marxist-Leninists do is to fan such a move­ to the realisation of Communism) from the point of ment. This is only common-sense, since we are try­ view of class struggle. Therefore we must ask 'what in~ to dispose of national prejudices generally. Any­ class interest does nationalism serve, in what histori­ thmg else would be absurdly self-defeating. cal period and region?' Now, if we assume for the moment that the Scots To assist us in this class analysis let us examine in are still a 'nation' in the Marxist (objective) sense depth the fundamental tenet of Marxism-Leninism ('A nation is a historically evolved stable community on the national question. of language' [Gaelic, English, Lallans, Arcadian?] 'territory, economic life' [Union of Crowns 1603, Marxists proclaim the right of all nations to self­ Union of Parliament 1707] 'and psychological make­ determination. This is not an abstract bourgeois up manifested in a community of culture'.) (Stalin)4 legal or 'moral' thing we recognise but purely a would the movement for Scottish autonomy be ob­ method whereby the bourgeois nationalistic mystifi­ jectively progressive? Would it aid the class struggle cation can be readily disposed of, so that the most against capitalism-imperialism or divert the masses fundamental contradiction between capital and la­ from that struggle? This is the only possible criterion bour, be laid bare for all the masses to see and for Marxist-Leninists. grapple with: An answer to this must be based on investigation, not on subjective conceptions, and as historical ma­ 'The obligations of Social-Democrats (Commu­ terialists we have to examine the whole background nists) who defend the interests of the proletariat of nationalism historically to underst;md its present and the rights of a nation which consists of various role in the world and particularly in Britain. classes, are two different things. We find that nationalism in its modem form dates 'In fighting for the right of nations to self-deter­ from about the French Revolution of 1789. It is well mination the aim of Social-Democrats is to put an understood that this revolution was a bourgeois anti­ end to the policy of national oppression, to render it feudal revolution and the beginning of ll series of impossible and thereby to remove the grounds of such revolutions throughout Europe. It is also well hostility between nations, to take the edge off that known how nationalism was engendered in that hostility and to reduce it to a minimum. revolution, Frenchmen being encouraged to regard the new Republican state as their own, since all were 'This is what essentially distinguishes the policy citizens, in contra-distinction to the old Monarchist of the class-conscious proletariat from the policy of attitude of the state being of, and belonging to, the the bourgeoisie, which attempts to aggravate and fan King- 'L'etat c'est moi.' Now (1789) it was Lib­ the national struggle and to prolong and sharpen the erte, Egalite, Fratemite (initially Propriete) now one national movement. was proud to be French. Thus, 'Vive le Roi' became 'Vive la France, Vive la Republique' in the myth 'And this is why the class-conscious proletariat that all men being equal (constitutionally) all had a cannot rally under the "national flag'' of the bour­ community of interest in 'France, La Patrie' and of geoisie.' (Stalin, emphasis added)2 course in her economic development. This ideologi­ cal formulation (nationalism) was and is always ne­ This is why 'our program (for self-determination) cessary for the bourgeoisie in setting up capitalist refers only to cases where such a movement (for states. It is a key part of the bourgeois super­ secession) is actually in existence.' (Lenin).3 The last structure, pinning the economic base in position for IS the full development of q~pitalism. By this device, economic/political conditions within the three con­ although capitalists might own the means of produc­ tinents. tion and live in idle luxury, the proletariat sells its labour 14 hours daily for a subsistance wage- still Thus, in no way is this situation that prevailing all had an overriding interest in the preservation of in modem EuropefNorth America. 'their nation' and in the domin.ation of other nations. Nationalism, as we have seen, is always the tool of It is clear therefore that the concept of nationalism the bourgeoisie, historically (1789, 1848, etc.) and in at that time (18th Century) was part of the then the 20th Century also (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, progressive anti-feudal revolution, whereby the bour­ Falangist Spain, etc.) At present in the three conti­ geoisie became the ruling class, replacing the landed nents there can be a brief identity of interest be­ aristocracy. tween the national bourgeoisie and the working masses against feudalism/imperialism, and hence this That this device of nationalism is used by the nationalism for the moment can play a progressive rising bourgeoisie in its struggle to overthrow feud­ role. However, now that the progressive role in Eur­ alism and establish capitalism is further proved in ope of the bourgeoisie is long finished, so too is the studying subsequent bourgeois revolutions (e.g. progressive role of nationalism and only its reac­ Central Europe, 1848). tionary role remains. However, that this is a practice not only confined 'First, the advanced capitalist countries and the to the European bourgeoisie of the last few centuries, United States of America. In these countries, the can be seen in the contemporary anti-feudal/anti­ bourgeois, progressive national movements came to imperialist struggles as waged in Egypt and Algeria an end long ago.' (Lenin)1 (Arab Nationalism), China (Chinese Nationalism - while the revolution there was led by the bourgeoisie) Reaction is exactly the role of nationalism in Brit­ Indonesia, etc. ain today. Let us look at Scottish and Welsh nation­ alism. These two regions were among the first to 'Throughout the world, the period of the :final industrialise (18th Century), and hence develop a victory of capitalism over feudalism has been linked modem proletariat. 5 with national movements.' (Lenin) The proletariat is by far the biggest single class 'Therefore the tendency of every national move­ in Britain, and in every single region of it. Scotland ment (my emphasis) is towards the formation of and Wales have long been bastions of social demo­ national states (original emphasis) under which these cracy. It is well known that they traditionally pro­ requirements of modem capitalism are best satisfied.' vided the Labour Party with a permanent majority (Lenin)6 of their representation at Westminster, and indeed it was on a militant sounding platform of reformism Hence we :find in the liberation movement today, and 'socialism' th_at the Labour Party even added in Asia, Mriq~ and Latin America, since the struggle seats to its permanent majority in these regions at there is at this stage mostly against the local feudal the elections of 1964 and 1966. However, after only aristocracy supported by foreign imperialism, that about twenty-five months in power widespread dis­ the progressive forces can and do include the local illusion with the Labour Party set in and nowhere (national) bourgeoisie in a fight to rid the country of more so than in Scotland and Wales; for in no places feudal and imperialist domin.ation. While the working were the economic problems more pressing (due in class and the peasantry are involved in this struggle part to the centripetal effect of London's ten mil­ in order to clear the way for socialism, the local lions), in no places was there such strong traditional bourgeoisie are of course only taking part in order to loyalty to the Labour Party, and hence in no places gain scope for the development of their own capital­ were the electors' initial hopes higher. As this dis­ ism in the country concerned. However, when still at illusion became more widespread and more bitter it the anti-feudal/colonial stage, the struggle embraces was not confined to disenchantment with the Labour nearly all the classes pursuing .their different but Party itself but, more seriously, with the very con­ temporarily concurrent class interests, (proletariat, ~pts of reformism and social democracy. The bour­ peasantry, petit bourgeoisie, big bourgeoisie) with geoisie, . seeing that the social-democrats were not the exc;eption of the feudalists and comprador bour­ fulfilling their designed 'heading-off' function, but geoisie; the struggle thereby taking on a 'national' were in fact producing the opposite effect (being character, i.e. the struggle is one which is 'nation­ unable to produce the goods, owing to the present wide', it is a struggle of national liberation. We there­ crisis of world capitalism), had therefore to :find a fore see. that .the nationalism of this struggle is an satisfactory substitute before things got out of hand expedient developed as a result of the prevailing and the masses started to challenge the bourgeois- 16 democratic system itself. What so convenient as a It is the monopoly capitalist class of Western Eu­ replacement as that constant handmaiden of the ropefNorth America which oppresses alike all the bourgeoisie - nationalism. peoples of Western Europe/North America, and also super-oppresses the peoples of the other three conti­ From being tiny inconsequential entities with a nents. Hence to speak of 'English' Imperialism only few members, little funds and less organisation, the helps divide the proletariat in Britain; British US Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru became monopoly capitalists must be specifically identified suddenly the dominant parties in Scotland and Wales. as the imperialist oppressors. If the English prole­ How did this startling transformation come about? tariat derives significant material benefit from the Anyone .reading the bourgeois press from late 1966 exploitation of Scotland and Wales (as in fact sec­ onwards can cle;trly see how both the SNP and PC tions of the British proletariat does from British were manufactured for the job of providing the di­ Imperialism in the three continents) then how do we version trac;iitionally offered by the Labour Party. explain the low material standards in the North-East The encouragement of these parties was not con­ (Newcastle), North-West (Liverpool) and South­ fined to the press but was aided by the other mass West (Cornwall) of England?. The centripetal effect media. Both SNP and PC were tailor-made as mass of an unplanned economy will inevitably concentrate parties for the job at the necessary time and place. prosperity in the London area and precisely the It is claimed that the SNP and PC have working­ same, only on a smaller scale, is true of the Edin­ class support and indeed they do have some, for it burgh area. was to gain this very thing that they were after all created by the bourgeoisie. So also do the Labour, 'Uneven economic and political development is an Liberal and Conservative parties have some working­ absolute law of capitalism.' (Lenin)10 class support, but no Marxist would call any of them proletarian l_)arties, and neither can the SNP or PC Unfavourable economic development is no excuse be so called. In fact the chief strength of the SNP for chauvinism, no matter how socialistically dis­ and PC is the petit-bourgeoisie and small bourgeoi­ guised. sie, whence the great majority of their leaders is drawn. Hence to speak of Scottish or Welsh (or 'The interests of the working-class and its struggle Fng:lish, for that matter) nationalism as a progressive against capitalism demand complete solidarity and force, or of a Scottish or Welsh national-liberation the closest unity of the workers of all nations; they struggle, is to play the game of the bourgeoisie. demand that the nationalistic policy of the bour­ 'The imperialist epoch and the war of 1914-16 geoisie of every nationality be repelled.' (Lenin)11 have particularly brought to the forefront the task of fighting against chauvinism and nationalism in the Workers' Party of Scotland please note: Lenin advanced countries.' (Lenin)8 makes no exception here or anywhere for the Scot­ tish bourgeoisie. The ruling classes of Scotland and Wales have long· been •merged with that of England and the It is therefore obvious that liberation for Scottish working-class of Scotland, Wales and England has and Welsh workers can come about only by over­ long· been one homogenous working class. Nowhere throwing capit;ilism itself. If this is not done no in Britain has capitalism not triumphed over feudal­ amount of secession can ever succeed in bringing ism (although many vestiges inevitably remain) and freedom, only diversion. thus. nowhere in Britain can capitalism or its ideo­ logical adjunct, nationalism, play a progressive role. Having said this, how do we come to grips with the nationalist parties? It should be done by the ';In Western, Continental Europe, the epoch of methods already employed in dealing with the other bourgeois-democratic revolutions embraces a fairly diversionists, e.g. social democrats (LP, CPGB, etc.) definite period, approximately from 1789 to 1871. by:- This was precisely the period of national movements and the creation of national states. When this period (1) separating the leadership from the working-class drew to a close, Western Europe had been trans­ members who are genuinely progressive, but are mis­ formed into a settled system of bourgeois states led into supporting the nationalists - which, as a general rule, were national uniform states. Therefore, to seek the right of self-determina­ (2) discrediting the leadership by exposing them as tion in the programmes of present day Western agents of imperialism, since basically they aim · to European Socialists is to betray one's ignorance of ret3in the status quo (dictlltorship of the bour:­ the ABC of Marxism.' (Lenin)9 geoi~i~)- 1,7 (3) showing that imperialism is the enemy of all the opportunistically refuse to accept the fundamental world's peoples including Scots, Welsh, English, role of nationalism. Irish and Vietnamese, that the nationalist parties are th;!refore nothing but diversions, that liberty and The Trotskyites and Revisionists are now being economic social advance can only come about by the forced by events to abandon the LP if they wish to complete overthrow of the present system, i.e. capi­ retain any revolutionary image. Having sunk into talism, and its replacement by socialism; led by a social democracy via the Labour Party they now party of the working-class, a Marxist-Leninist Com­ have to do a complete about face, write off all their munist Party. previous work for the LP and attempt to fight against it. This because the progressive mask of the LP is Bourgeois Nationalism now tom off. We cannot tag along with, follow behind, or try to lead these nationalist movements or parties- we At present Scottish Nationalism and the SNP have must resolutely struggle against them while propa­ the appearance of a progressive movement to some gating scientific socialism. We must constantly honest people who have almost no political under­ hammer home that SNP and PC and their like are standing. Deceived by this, sincere people will work nothing but tools of the ruling class. The nationalists in and around the nationalist movement only to dis­ will not just go away if we ignore them; the bour­ cover, in some years' time, that they have been most geoisie in their crisis have increasingly a great need cruelly misled, have been wasting their time and for nationalism. We must do mass work and popu­ worse - have been propagating an at best diver­ larise Marxism-Leninism in order that the proletariat sionist movement which they will then have most shall not be side-tracked in the epoch of the decline fiercely to destroy. Comrades must not fall into this of imperialism and the transition to socialism. trap; they must not be deceived by the 'potentially progressive' facade of nationalism. They must unite As Stalin plainly pointed out in 'Deviations to­ to expose it now, as part of their struggle against all wards Nationalism' (1934): 'It should be observed bourgeois diversion. Instead of tragically wasting that the survivals of capitalism in the minds of men their time fostering nationalism (in whatever form), are much more tenacious in the sphere of the na­ they must arm the masses by creating a powerful, tional question than in any other sphere . . . The unified and correct Communist Party. deviation towards nationalism is the adaption of the internationalist policy of the working-class to the The other side of the SNP nationalism ticket is nationalist policy of the bourgeoisie.'12 inevitably the hoary old call for Federated Com­ munist Parties (in Britain). This fundamentally anti­ The Workers' Party of Scotland is in relation to Leninist position is adequately disposed of in the Nationalism and the SNP, just as Trotskyism (and 'National Question and the Struggle for Socialism Revisionism) was in relation to social democracy and in Britain.'13 Quoting in th.at document from 'Stand the Labour Party, until only recently when some of the GCM (M-L)' it is stated: objective reality affected even them. The Trotskyist 'Revolutionaries' believed (some still do) that the 'The struggles for liberation in Russia and China, Labour Party was the party of the proletariJlt and where the problems of nationality were more acute could be pushed to the left and revolution. A couple than is the case in Britain, were led successfully by of years of Labour government convinced even some one united party acting on behalf of all nationalities Trotskyists that the LP is nothing but a bourgeois within the then existing state structure. Representing diversionist party, and they are now leaving the LP as they did all nationalities these parties recognised like rats from a sinking ship. Any Marxist-Leninist the right of any nationality to independence. Like­ could have told them that the Labour Party never wise the struggle against the British capitalist state was, is not and never could be, a proletarian party; must be waged by a single party which recognises the that it cannot be transformed and therefore must be right of nations to secede.' ' ·. destroyed. Trotskyists and Revisionists believed that the LP and social-democracy was fundamentally It will further be observed that after the victory of progressive (but with wrong leadership) Jind could the revolution and the formation of the nationalities therefore be used. They did not understand (and still into autonomous republics there still remained one do not) its intrinsic diversionist role. united Communist Party in the USSR and likewise in People's China. The misguided comrades of the WPS believe that Scottish (also English, Welsh, Cornish and Irish) So here we have it, pointed by logic and proven Nationalism is a progressive force, and can there­ by history - one state machine - one Communist fore_ be used. They either do not understand, or :Party.

18 After the defeat of British monopoly capital and The masses of Scotland and Wales do not see its replacement by the dictatorship of the proletariat, secession as their only way to liberation. They do since in Britain today there remains some subjective seek some drastic remedy for the economic social nationalism in Scotland and Wales, the right of those problems of Scotland and Wales (as do the regions places to secede, should the masses therein so desire, of England). will be upheld. However, socialism will not be ach­ ieved and the right to self-determination won if the This remedy can only be the direct transition to communist movement is fragmented into separate socialism via the proletarian revolution. There is no parties. intermediate stage in metropolitan imperialist cQUn- tries. · Here we need only conclude by quoting Stalin: The petit and small bourgeoisie in these areas, 'Experience has shown that the organisation of wanting a larger slice of the imperial cake, offer the proletariat of a given state according to nation­ nationalism and secession as the peoples' salvation. ality only leads to the destruction of the idea of class solidarity. The monopolists in the present time of crisis see this nationalism as the lesser of evils. We know 'All the proletarian members of all the nations in socialism is what the masses are searching for. We a given state must be organised in a single, indi­ must prove it to them so that they will fight for it visible proletarian collective body.'14 under guidance of a united, democratic-centralist, Communist Party. This is the duty incumbent upon the WPS, and from which they absolutely cannot excuse them­ Scientific socialism and nationalism in Scotland selves. If they attempt to do so, the proletariat will and Wales (also England and Ireland) are mutually sooner or later demand a reckoning and the chauv­ exclusive. One can only be propagated at the direct inists will be dealt with as enemies of the people. expense of the other. To say that both could or should be popularised is merely rationalised chauv­ 'Such nationalism is not so transparent, for it is inism, in complete opposition to Marxism-Leninism skilfully masked by socialist phrases, but it is all the - Mao Tse-tung Thought. 'Consistent Social­ more harmful to the proletariat for that reason. We Democrats (Communists) must work solidly and can always cope with open nationalism for it can indefatigably against the nationalist obfuscation, no easily be discerned. It is much more difficult to matter from what quarter it proceeds.' (Stalin)16 combat a nationalism which is masked and unrecog­ nisable beneath its mask. Protected by the armour of socialism, it is less vulnerable and more tenacious. Implanted among the workers, it poisons the atmos­ phere and spreads noxious ideas of mutual distrust and aloofness among the workers of the different nationalities.' (Stalin)15 References 1 Stalin, 'Marxism and the National and Colonial Question' (A Collection of Articles and Speeches) SUMMATION Lawrence & Wishart, London 1947, p 169. Nationalism is always a key part of bourgeois 2 Stalin, as above, p 19. 3 Lenin, 'The Right of Nations to Self-Determination', ideology. Nationalism is being fomented now in Selected Works Vol 1, Pan 2 - Foreign Languages Scotland and Wales in order to provide an alterna­ Publishing House, Moscow 1950, p 328. tive to centralised reformism. 4 Stalin, as 1, p 8. 5 Lenin, as 3, p 318. 6 Lenin, as 3, p 319. Marxist-Leninists must on no account help spread 7 Lenin, 'The National and Colonial Questions' (Three this new diversion but must resolutely expose and Articles) FLP, Peking 1967, p 11. attack it. 8 Lenin, as 7, p 13. 9 Lenin, as 3, p 329. 10 Lenin, 'The United States of Europe Slogan', as 3, Under some historical circumstances the bour­ p416. geoisie (and hence. its ideology) ~ play a progres­ 11 Lenin, as 3, p 350. sive role. The national bourgeoisie (and hence na­ 12 Stalin, as 1, p 267. tionalism) can still play a (temporarily) progressive 13 Statement of the Glasgow Communist Movement (Communist Federation of Britain, M-L), Sept, 1969. role in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin Americ~; but 14 Stalin, as 1, p 66. certainly not in Western EuropejNorth Amenca­ 15 Stalin, as 1, p 134. the heartlands of capitalism-imperialism. 16 Stalin, as 1, p 5. 19 A review by Colin Penn of A History of the Albanian Party of Labour Chapters one and two; published by the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania

ALL WHO HAVE STUDIED the policies of the World Congress of the Communist International in Albanian Party of Labour since the late 1950's must 1935 marked a new stage for the Albanian move­ have been struck by the number of occasions on ment. The Korea group considered that in Albania which statements by the Party have cast new light at that time the national question took precedence on political developments. The Albanian Party was over the social one. To engage in battle with no the first, in 1960, publicly to resist Khrushchev's forces beyond the working class would, they be­ attempts to bully the Chinese into accepting a re­ lieved, be adventurism. In spite of numerous diffi­ visionist standpoint, incurring the bitter enmity of culties and splits caused by Trotskyists the new line the Russian leader. Since then Albania, in an ex­ had much success. At the elections in June 1938 the ceptionally difficult geographical position and with democratic block got 86 per cent of the votes and its natural resources largely undeveloped, has never a number of measures were taken to improve con­ wavered in its assertion of opposition to revisionism, ditions for the poorest people. its adherence to Marxism-Leninism, and its deter­ mination to remain independent. When, in 1939, Mussolini attacked Albania, Zog fled the country and the big bourgeoisie threw in One therefore turns with high expectation, which their lot with the occupationists. The workers' is not disappointed, to these first two chapters from movement assumed a pronounced anti-fascist char­ the official History of the Party, up to the end of acter and common struggle gradually pushed diff­ the war in 1945. It covers a time when the Party erences into the background. had yet to earn the confidence of the people, when it led a desperate armed struggle for national inde­ The Trotskyists in the Korea group began to pendence against both Italian and German fascism, violate its decisions openly. They said that Albania a period when it 'learned by doing'. had no proletariat, no class struggle, and therefore Before World War II Albania was the most back­ no basis for a communist party. They also called ward agrarian country in Europe. Nearly 90 per the peasants. reactionaries who could never become cent of the population was engaged in agriculture reliable allies. and only 4.5 per cent of the national income was In 1941 the Communist Party of Albania was derived from industry. Illiterates made up over 80 formed - and in the same year Enver Hoxha was per cent of the people. sentenced to death, in his absence. The new Party Discontent was widespread among nearly all sec­ began to prepare the people, ideologically and mili­ tions and in 1924 there was a bourgeois-democratic tarily, for an armed uprising, refusing to wait for revolution. It lasted only six months, however, be­ the training of experien~d cadres with a firm fore it was overthrown by forces led by the -reac­ theoretical grounding, as some wished to do. They tionary Zog (who afterwards proclaimed himself did their utmost to link themselves with the masses king). helped by Yugoslav, Serbian and White Rus­ and to convince them politically.' Thefr. aim was to sian forces. unite the masses within the National-Liberation Front. It was in 1929 that the first Communist group had been set up, in the town of Korea, where Armed struggle by partisans began to spread and Enver Hoxha graduated in 1930. He was jailed for in certain liberated regions National-Liberation his part in a student protest and later went to Councils both exercised the functions of local gov­ France to continue his studies. He established con­ ernment and mobilised the people for struggle. The nections with the French Communist Party· and partisan detachments also helped the peasants in contributed to l'Humanite. Returning to Albania as th~ir work. · a Communist in 1936, he immediately threw himself Towards the end of 1942 the big landowners and into the struggle. reactionary bourgeoisie, alarmed at the progress of The -united front policy approved by the 7th the National-Liberation Front, formed .. ~eir own 20 organisation to oppose it. The Trotskyites helped down more than 15 Italian and German divisions them, telling the people that struggle against the and put out of action some 70,000 of them. The invaders would lead to the destruction of Albania as Albanian people achieved full national independence. a nation. At other times they put forward leftist slo­ The war had been an anti-fascist and democratic gans, such as: for a proletarian revolution, for the dic­ revolution, during which elements of socialist revo­ tatorship of the proletariat. These could only lead lution developed. The war against the invaders was to disunity. interwoven with the war against the main exploiting classes. The Communist Party throughout exercised the greatest forbearance in dealing with those who did Through the Communist Party the working class not agree. They aimed to work with all who op­ played the leading role. Though in the Party and in posed the aggressors, however unstable they might its leading organs the number of workers was small, be, and again and again sought to convince their this did not prevent the working class from leading. opponents - and did convince many of them - Almost the whole of the petty bourgeoisie joined in that they were taking the wrong road. the war and showed remarkable patriotism. The middle bourgeoisie vacillated. The intellectuals Communist underground work among soldiers, proved to be patriotic. The most active force in the gendarmes and policemen increased rapidly. Parti­ war was the youth, first being the city youth, wor­ san attacks on German and Italian troops multiplied. kers and students; then came the peasant youth, Vicious reprisals only increased hatred and stirred who formed the majority. revolutionary enthusiasm. Most middle and high school students took to the mountains. The Alban­ The Communist Party was the inspirer, organiser ian National-Liberation Army was set up in 1943, and leader of the National-Liberation War. The consisting at first of 10,000 men. It fought a People's History sums up thus: War with conscious discipline, love for the masses, 'While maintaining an upright attitude towards honesty, very high morale, and brilliant tactics. The all allies and making a correct assessment of the Party explained to the people that political power assistance and support from abroad, the Party would not be granted by anyone but must be taken never expected others to bring freedom to the by force. Albanian people. It resolutely carried into effect the principle of the primacy of self-reliance and After the capitulation of Italy the Anglo-Ameri­ taught the people to realise clearly that liberty is can Mediterranean Command began to exert pres­ not granted but is won by bloodshed, with many sure on the partisans not to launch attacks on the hardships and sacrifices.' reactionary forces, although these forces had aligned themselves openly with the Germans. The Com­ The History is written in a very clear and straight­ mand tried to get British and US officers accepted forward way, making it easily readable. None of as advisers; in London Churchill held talks with the difficulties the Party met, or its mistakes, are ex-King Zog on the possible formation of a govern­ shirked. One looks forward eagerly to the two ment in exile. volumes still to come, which will deal with the diffi­ culties of a different kind which were encountered Just as the Germans announced that the Party after the war, and the Party's firm struggle against and the partisans had been wiped out, the partisans revisionism. began a counter-offensive. Attack kept the morale of the army high and by May 1944 they numbered HISTORY OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF 35,000. Over 50,000 men were used by the Ger­ ALBANIA is obtainable from Banner Books Ltd., mans against them, but by the end of October all 90 Camden High Street, London NWl. Price Bs 3d the south of the country had been liberated, while only five cities in the north were still in German hands. The Anglo-American Command wanted to send paratroops and special units to 'assist' the Albanians, who declined the offer. British comman­ THE MANAGEMENT COMMITI'EE wel­ dos were landed in the town of Saranda, after the come comment, criticism and suggestions for Liberation Army had wiped out the German gar­ future articles. We also welcome letters and rison there, but the Liberation Command insisted that they should leave. communications for publication. Please write to Tom Hill, 11 Barratt Avenue, Wood By 24 November 1944 the whole country had Green, N22. been liberated. The Nazi troo}'s were pursued into Yugoslavia. During the war a million Albanians tied BOOKSHOPS WHERE YOU CAN WITHOUT COMMENT BUY THE MARXIST THE FOLLOWING is reprinted from the NO'Dem­ ber 13th 1967 edition of Life Magazine dealing Banner Books and Crafts with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolu­ 90 Camden High Street tion. LondonNWl 'Whenever 38-year-old Albert Mikhailovich Para­ Bookbane monov talks about his job as manager of the lvanovo 30b Holyhead Road Textile Combine, one of the largest mills in Europe, Bangor his voice reveals the new excitement he feels. Caernarvon "I can hire ;md fire," he says. "Nobody tells me how many workers I must have any more; that's my Collets decision. I can raise a foreman's wages and I can Charing Cross Road give out bonuses. And I can go directly to the con­ London WC2 sumer with my fabrics." All routine stuff for any W estem industrialist, but Dillons Bookshop for Paramonov these are freedoms scarcely a year 1 Malet Street old, granted him under the economic reforms now London WCl beginning to change not only Russian industry but also the old hard-line Marxist approach to economics. Economist Bookshop These partial reforms, emphasising the profit motive Clare Market and personal initiative at the manjlgerial level, have Portugal Street freed Paramonov and other consumer-industry bos­ London WC2 ses from a system of centralised planning that pre­ scribed minutely what they would make, how they New Era Books would make it and how they would sell it.' la The Paragon Bath

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