Syndicalism and Leninism ... Page~ 6

NUMBER 19 NOVEMBER·DECEMBER 1970 15 CENTS Conflicts Sharpen • Labor The· deepening political polarization of American their real wages in 1973 are no lower than in 1967! It society, triggered chiefly by the Viet Nam war and its was this sellout contract that 20 thousand workers (or economic effects, has begun to make itself felt within the 11 quarter of the strikers), including the major Schen­ labor movement. After a prolonged period of relative ectady local, voted to reject. The settlement was so bad quiescence in the v,rake of the McCarthy witchhunt, that even as conservative a business union as the which beheaded the labor movement by purging from its Machinists felt compelled to keep their GE plants out ranks the most active militants as well as all known despite scant hope of victory. radicals, a period of heightened struggle has begun. As After defending the GE settlement, Parry went 011 is often the case, the most evident signs of this renewed to defend union leaderships against charges of antag­ upsurge are manifestations of fi'iction and fragmenta­ onism to the rank and file. What was involved was not a tion at the top. The split within the union bureaucracy, defense of the principle of leadership against anarcho­ reflecting the deep split in the ruling class itself over the libertarian gripes, but a positive and specific endorse­ Viet Nam war, is entirely limited to bureancratic jockey­ ment of a substantial section of the existing trade union ing for position, but such a schism provides opportuni­ bureancl'Clcies. Singled out for praise were Jerry Wurf ties for radicals within the labor movement. (AFSCME). Leonard Woodcock (UAW) and Harry Inevitably, those within the union movement who fear Bridges (lLWU). Parry's only attempt to provide po­ the burgeoning mood of dissent among the ranks will litical justification for this disgusting display was the get "out of hand" are moving quickly to keep it within inane argument that union leaders organize c1ass­ "respectable" bounds. The Communist Party, despite its struggle actions such as strikes. Any moderately militant exposure as arch-betrayer of militant struggles during rank and file worker knows that these bureaucrats dis­ World War II and the organizational beating it took turb their comfortable coexistence with anti-strike poli­ during the witchhunt, still has a trade union residue and ticians only when fot'ced to do so by their memberships. is in the best position to take immediate advantage of Moreover, the "liberal" union machines are by no means any increased room to maneuver within the labor move­ necessarily the most aggressive even in purely "business ment. The CP now prepares itself to play the same role ullion" terms. By his own logic, Parry should prefer the it has played in the anti-war movement: to tie the mili­ reactionary head of New York's Central Labor Council, tant upsurge to liberalism. Harry Van Arsdale, who called a number of strikes when organizing New York's taxi drivers, to the CP's . CP "Rank and File" Conference darling Bridges, who hasn't called a strike in 35 years! In June 1970 the CP organized a trade union con­ The conference reaffirmed the policy which the CP ference of some 800 delegates. The conference had a pursued throughout the history of the CIO: to act as thoroughly respectable air, featuring many union offi­ the loyal "left" supporters for "progressive" union bu­ cials and mayor-elect Gibson of Newark. It was remark­ reaucrats and liberal bourgeois politicians. It ii'l pre­ ably low-key, little more than a passive adaptation to the cisely this policy of seeking to build workers' confIdence widely felt need for a left labor grouping to counter the in their "progressive" enemies that facilitated the developing Meany-Nixon combine. A major aspect was purges of the labor movement when the political climate defense of "progressive" union bureaucrats against at­ turned reactionary. The CP tried to protect itself by tacks by both radical groups and rank and file militants. adopting a fawning attitude to the CIO leadership, In particular need of such defense were the "liberal" first Lewis and then Murray. To this end, they carefully Jennings leadership of the IUE and the old-time Stalin­ avoided supporting any internal opposition in the coal ist Matles-Fitzgerald leadership of the UE. Thus Will miners' or steelworkers' unions, just as today the CP Parry, Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of West­ defends the sellout GE settlement and refuses to con­ 'ern Pulp and Paper Workers, devoted much of his demn the repression of Black caucuses in the UA W so keynote speech to an empassioned defense of the GE as not to antagonize the Jennings and Woodcock leader­ strike settlement. ships. Let's look at the settlement. UE President Fitzgerald Such opportunist tactics simply do not work. When stated that the GE workers had lost 30c an hour during the Cold War pressure got to Murray he announced, the previous contract due to inflation. The strike settle­ "there is no room for Communism in the CIO," to which ment called for a 53c an hour increase over 40 months the CP could only piteously reply, "Where is the Philip (longer than the standard 3 years). To top this off, the Murray Ice knew?" The CP's disastrous policy of ca­ cost-of-living escalator had a 21c an hour cap. Even pitulation thus prepared the way not ouly for its own with moderate inflation, the GE workers will be lucky if (Continued Next Page) 2- SPARTACIST .. . LABOR' leading advocates of anti-working-class wag'e-price controls. Some, such as destruction but for the purge of all mil­ Victor Gotbaum, head of New York's itants and radicals from the labor State, County and Municipal Employ­ SPARTACJST movement. ees' union, are seeking to strengthen An Organ of The CP trade union conference clear­ their image as "progressive," "demo­ Revolutionary Marxism ly indicated the CP's continued refusal cratic" union leaders and garner mid­ EDITORS: David Cunningham; to break with the two capitalist parties. dle-class liberal support to fortify their Managing, Elizabeth Gordon; Against the demand for a political position within the labor movement. West Coast, Mark King; party of labor, the conference repeated Throughout the history of American Southern, Leon Day; the ancient Gompers axiom of reward­ labor, bureaucrats such as Hillman and New England, George Foster. ing one's friends and punishing one's Reuther have sought to draw attention BUSINESS MANAGER: Elaine West. enemies. The Democratic Party "friend away from their rotten record in fight­ of labor" myth, eagerly perpetuated by ing for their own members by project­ Subscription: $1 for ten issues. Bundle rates for 10 or more copies. Main address: the CP, is a fraud. All bourgeois poli­ ing a liberal humanitarian posture. Box 1377, G.P.O., New York, N.Y. 10001. ticians, whatever verbal concessions Thus David Livingston's Distributive Telephone: WA ~·2426. Western address: they make to secure union endorse­ Workers' union has recently shifted its Box 852, B!!rkeley, Calif. 94701. Tele· ments and union members' votes, op­ attention away from the difficult job of phone: 626·{j505. Southern address: Box pose the expansion of labor's power. organizing the mass of poorly-paid 8165, U.T. Sta., Austin, Texas 78712. Tele· The true sentiments of that classic workers in light manufacturing, retail phone: 478·3565. New England address: "friends of labor," F-ranklin Roosevelt, and wholesale in favor of organizing Box 188, M.I.T. Sta., Cambridge, Mass. were revealed during the decisive Little campus employees on the basis of a 02139. Telephone: 891·6678. Steel strikes in 1937, when he said "a liberal anti-war, social do-goodism Published by the Central Committee of curse on both your houses"-this after stance. the Spartaeist League. Opinions ex· Republic Steel had murdered 13 picket­ pressed in signed articles 'do not neces· In good part, the development of sarily represent an editorial viewpoint. ing workers! Similarly, for all their anti-war activism among sections of the .... 98 talk, not a single major liberal poli­ union bureaucracy is an attempt to tician-not one-condemned Nixon's use undercut opposition within their own Number 19 Nov.-Dec. 1970 of troops to break last year's postal unions, especially unions like Living­ wildcat. ston's Distributive Workers' union and Representatives of the Spartacist Leon Davis' Hospital Workers' union more obvious. Anti-war union activists League at the conference opposed the which contain many Black and Spanish­ should launch agitational campaigns to disastrous policy of allying with the speaking workers, many of whom are have their union call a one-day strike liberal wing of the bourgeoisie and sharply critical of the Viet Nam war. in conjunction with the next national their "labor lieutenants." Along with One of the most important aims of protest. The inevitable opposition from other militants, they put forward an the anti-war bureaucrats, welcomed by even the most "progressive" bureau­ oppositional proposal (see SPART ACIST the anti-war movement's established crats to mobilizing the real power of #17-18). Appropriately, the left oppo­ leadership, is to bring anti-war radicals the working class against the war will sition at the conference was handled in back to the liberal wing' of the Demo­ expose them and convince many work­ much the same manner that the CP's cratic Party by implying that liberal ers that all sections of the existing friends in labor officialdom handle their politicians represent the oppressed labor bureaucracy must be thrown out. own internal opposition: gross sup­ workers. The N ew York Times praised The Legal Trap pression. the Gotbaum-Livingston "labor-student" anti-war rally for the same reasons it Because of the overtly dictatorial Te­ The Wu Hits The Bureaucracy praised the Eugene McCarthy cam­ gimes in many unions, some honest mil­ The CP "Rank and File" conference paign: in the hopes of bringing the itants as well as some self-proclaimed took place in the shadow of the split student "crazies" back to the "main­ radicals have turned to the govern­ in the union bureaucracy over the Viet stream" of bourgeois lesser-evil poli­ ment and its complex of labor laws, Nam war. The split represents not so tics. The rally, itself a perfunctory such as Taft-Hartley and Landrum­ much a movement by the liberal bu­ affair, was a deliberate attempt to Griffin, in the hope these will give them reaucrats to the left as the movement squelch the nascent impulse following a handle to fight corrupt and undemo­ of the dominant Meany leadership to Cambodia-Kent State toward anti-war cratic bureaucrats. That liberals should the right along with the general po­ strikes. Its political thrust was, of look to the state to enforce union de­ litical climate, criticizing the national course, to build support for liberal mocracy is understandable; liberals re­ Democratic Party and flirting with the politicians, such as Paul O'Dwyer, then gard the state as class-neutral. But for Republicans. It is Wurf and Woodcock­ Democratic Party hopeful for senator. socialists, who recognize the state as the supposed left wing-who are pur­ an instrument of class oppression, to suing the same old conservative policy For Anti-War Strike Action advocate government intervention in of seeking to maintain labor's tradition­ While the activity of the anti-war determining the leadership of the un­ al alliance with the liberal wing of the wing of the union bureaucracy poses the ions, whatever the pretext, should be Democratic Party. danger of strengthening bourgeois con­ unthinkable. The appointees of the cap­ The past year has seen the emerg­ trol of the anti-war movement, it also italist parties do not act in the interest ence of a definite group of union bu­ creates an opportunity to turn the ,of abstract democracy. The major re­ reaucrats who have joined the folk movement in a genuine working-class sult of the Landrum~Griffin Act-the singers and liberal politicians on the direction. The Spartacist League has rank and file's so-called bill of rights­ speaking platforms of major anti-war continually maintained that the felt was the railroading of Jimmy Hoffa, a demonstrations. In one sense, this is a need for more powerful anti-war tac­ tough and troublesome business union­ simple reflection of these bureaucrats' tics should take the form, not of futile ist, to further the career of Bobby , ties to the liberal bOUrgeoisie. In part attacks by isolated radicals against the Kennedy. it represents a genuine desire to curb cops, but of working-class action. Now Even strong advocates of govern­ the war-generated inflation which is that a number of important unions, for mental policing of the unions, such as causing such dissension and militancy the bureaucrats' self-serving reasons, Burton Hall (Workers Defense League) within the union ranks. Thus many have taken verbal anti-war positions, and Herman Benson (Union Democracy anti-war bureaucrats are among the the need for such a strategy is even in Action) continually complain that NOVEMBER·DECEMBER 1970 -3

somehow the government always seems "broad" support thus undermine their steel contract (51c an hour raise over 3 to favor the bureaucracy against rank own potential strength. But even where years) is as bad as any McDonald ever and file oppositionists. The Labor De­ they do unseat the incumbents, they are negotiated; the GE settlement was a partment's benevolent indifference to but a diversion from the pressing task disaster. Nor can one argue that left Boyle's open intimidation of the Ya­ of radicalizing the labor movement. oppositions have flourished under these blonski forces (UMW) is well known; regimes. In fact the strongest challenge the Morrissey caucus in the NMU, The labor movement recently has wit­ to Abel, that of Narrick, was clearly which banks heavily on government in­ nessed a tendency toward "palace coup" from the right, although partly moti­ tervention, is continually the victim of oppositions: the long-time lieutenant vated by resentment over the 1967 con­ pro-Curran judgments. But even if ap­ of some tarnished union head-some­ tract. "Palace coup" oppositions are not pealing to the courts were successful in one who's negotiated all the rotten con­ bridges to strong rank and file move­ terms of immediate goals, such a policy tracts and policed the union on his ments; they are often all-too-effective allows goons like Boyle and Curran master's behalf-suddenly turns on the substitutes for them. (who work hand in glove with the leader and declares himself an honest bosses and government officials when and militant unionist. Examples Enter the Black Movement it's in their interest) to pose as inde­ abound: the McDonald/ Abel fight in the Steelworkers, Carey / Jennings in The various Black groups within the pendent-minded union patriots and de­ unions constitute an important poten­ ride their opponents for crying on the the IUE and Morgenstern/ Hill in the SSEU. tial locus for rank and file struggle. shoulders of outsiders in the liberal Some Black caucuses can be valuable establishment. In 1957 a rank and file steelworker components of a revolutionary workers Government intervention played a named Donald Rarick, a political con­ movement and can playa vanguard role major role in destroying the CP base in servative, ran a surprisingly strong in leading class struggles against the the labor movement. In the mid-fifties, campaign against the incumbent Mc­ bosses; others are essentially a diver­ the Seafarers International Union sued Donald, around the issues of opposing a sion from struggle; while still others for jurisdiction over the CP-led Marine dues increase and salary raises for un­ are positively dangerous to the organ­ Cooks and Stewards. Knowing that the ion officials. The Rarick challenge was ized working class, Black and white. beaten back, but it alarmed the bu­ membership of the MCS opposed such Chief among the latter are those a merger, the National Labor Relations reaucracy by showing McDonald's vul­ nerability. To avoid a real rank and groups with a Black Nationalist dual Board ordered that the voting unit be union perspective. While revolution­ all West Coast unlicensed sea person­ file revolt, the bureaucracy turned Mc­ Donald out to pasture afi4l pushed for­ aries have a responsibility to defend in­ nel; thus, the MCS was voted out of dividual militants in these groups existence by the membership of an­ ward I. W. Abel, the union's long-time Secretary-Treasurer. When McDonald against victimization by bureaucrats other union! Biased NLRB jUdgments and bosses, we equally must present were also important in the absorption appealed for outside supervision of the presidential election, the pro-Abel ex­ implacable political opposition to the by the UA W of the CP-led Farm Equip­ disastrous consequences of Black N a­ ment Workers. Recently, most cases of ecutive board rejected it, thus showing the supposed reformers' total lack of tionalist ideology. The ease with which government intervention into unions such groups can become simply anti- have stemmed from appeals against interest in union democracy. corruption or discrimination. But it Some radicals, notably the Interna­ should be clear that this same weapon tional Socialists and Workers League, will be used against any militant class­ admit there are no substantive differ­ What Is conscious opposition whiCh is successful ences between such bureaucrats but in unseating the sellouts. State inter­ still maintain that radicals should Revolutionary vention in union affairs is a powerful support all nominally left oppositions means for the ruling class to determine even when their programs fall qualita­ Leadership? the leadership and policies of the labor tively short. They argue that such op­ (second edition) movement. Any increase in state con­ positions are part of an inevitably" rad­ trol over the unions, regardless of the icalizing process; or, after Abel, us. four articles from Labour Review ostensible reason, must be opposed. plus This is simply a comforting myth. The "The Class, the Party and forces of bureaucratism and inertia in "Good Guyism" the Leade'rship" the trade unions are strong, particular­ by Due to the weakness of the organized ly after an exhausting faction fight. The leaderships which rode in on the 50 cents left within the unions and their ex­ order from: SPARTACIST, b·eme bureaucratization, many opposi­ CIO revolt against the AFL-Murray, Bridges, Curran, Quill-remained in Box 1377, G.P.O., tional challenges are of a purely per­ New York, N.Y.10001 sonal character. Oppositionists emerge power for decades. What such argu­ who have no serious policy differences ments really show is that their pro­ ponents prefer opportunist adaptation with the incumbents, even of a "busi­ labor is demonstrated by Joe Carnegie's ness union" sort, but merely present to limited bureaucratic revolts against unpopular regimes to the prospect of "Fight Back" group in the New York themselves as honest and democratic in transit union. Frustrated by his failure contrast to the corrupt and dictatorial building truly class-conscious opposi­ tions among the rank and file. to build an effective opposition to the "ins." Good examples are the Yablon­ Quill-Guinan TWU machine, Carnegie ski campaign in the UMW and the By now, those who once argued that sued to have the TWU decertified-=-be­ Morrissey caucus in the NMU. the Abel and Jennings revolts were part cause it refused to sign a no-strike Overthrowing an entrenched bureauc­ of a movement to the left have been prov­ pledge! racy requires the full commitment of en wrong. Abel has been in power for the rank and file. Workers are not go­ six years; Jennings for five. Politically The best-known of the Black union ing to risk their jobs and often even nothing has changed: Abel is a down­ caucuses is the League of Revolution­ their physical safety just to see the the-line Meany supporter, and Jennings, ary Black Workers (formerly the Re­ same policies carried out, only with a privately touted as a liberal, hasn't volutionary Union Movement, or friendlier face! Even sincere union­ even taken a public position on the war. DRUM) among Detroit auto workers. ists who restrict their platform to Even as business unions the Steelwork­ While much of the impetus for the "good guyism" in hopes of enlisting ers and IUE haven't improved. The 1967 (Continued Next Page) ,4- SPARTACIST

elimination of a brokpn-up work day, exclusively Irish Catholic and believed .. . LABOR the Dlack leadership of the CTW led they were fighting a "WASP" bour­ group was the leg'itimate grievances of two hig'hly successful wildrats, carrying g'eoisie; yet even the WL wouldn't dare Black workers, leading to successful the majority of white bus drivers along declare the Mollies reactionary. Groups wildcats around these issues, DRUM with tlH'm. lly providing genuine class such as the UnitE'd German Trades and soon revealed the dangers of Black N a­ leadership, the CTW was able to get United Hebrew Trades WE're the fore­ tionalism as a guide to labor militancy: white workers to support its demands runners of thE' rigar makers, brewers alorig with many good demands. DRUM for mOl'e Black representation in union and garment unions. agitated for more Black foremen and posts and prohibiting the (largely The best of the Black caucuses suffer corporate administrative personnel, white) retirees from voting' on issues from a contradiction between the re­ thereby proclaiming greater kinship conCl'rning only active dl'ivers. Yolutionary thrust of their program and with the Dlack petty-bourgeoisie than The attempt of some politically con­ l'egTessive exclusionist organizational with white fellow auto workers, The sdons Black caucuses to stri~e for concepts whirh prevent that program DRUM forces abundoned any possibility radkal lea:lership of the class as a from beinG' carried out. It is the respon­ . of leading a struggle against the Reu­ whole is represented by the Bluck Pan­ sibility of l'.Iarxists to seek to overcome ther-Woodcock machine when the v thel' runcus in the Fremont, Cal. G1\1 these contradictions, not turn our called fol' Black wo)'ker8 to stop paying' plant. It" progTam ineludes oppo"ition backs on thousands of militant Black union dues and channel this mont'V in­ to the Viet Nam wal·. defianc'e of anti­ workers by a convenient "reactionary" stead into the "Black community.'; labor laws and ";10 for 40." A caucns label. spokesman notes the runcns is formally Careerism ys. Class Struggle open to white an(1 Chicano wor];:e1'S but It is not separate Black org'anizations Some Black caucuses can best be de­ that ~o('ial pn·s:-m'E' (on both sides) whirh 'are primarily responsible for un­ scribed as carecrist, acting' as pressure militat(',; ag'ainst a g'enuinely integTate,1 dermining' class unity, but rather ra­ groups to get more Blaeks-usual\y the eau(,us. But the Panther ealleu,; has yet cism or apathy toward racial injw'ltice cancus leaders-into union posts. They to overeome its sPlf-limiting conc'ept' of on the part of conservatized white workers. Rather than demanding-as generally collaborate with their respec­ a loe:11izpcl, larg'('ly BIac'k 1JI'eSR1I1'e tive union hu]"(·ancracies. [Ium)l. If the \\'oodcoe];: bureaurracy is the WL "Blark Caucuses Are Reaction­ A good example is the Black Caucus in to be overthrown-a precondition for ary" po;;ition implies-that Black work­ the Social Spl'virp Employpt·s Union. In­ I'ealizing the PanthNs' dE'lilands-an in­ ers mURt wait to strugg-le until all work­ itially, the Caucus opposed the n1Prger of tegTated opposition must he built ers are ready to "unite and fight," we the rebtivelv democ'ratir and militant throughout the union. Without such a rerognize that Black workers' action SS~;U with Victor Gotbaum's conserva­ perspective, allY ethnically-based ('aucus against the bO;;Res generates a strongly tive and bureaurratized Distriet Council risks degenNating into passive udapta­ felt impulse for the most nilitant white 37-until Gotl.aum pl'ivately assured tionism, in nneasy allianre with the \yorkers to ally with the Blacks against the common class enemy, thus providing caucus leaders that the Black Caucus union hureaurl'ar~·. would continue to rereive goodies under the objective basis for revolutionaries the new arrangement. Needless to sav, Ov('rl'ome Ethnie Exclusiveness to projert united strugg-Ies and discred­ the Black Caueus showed I~O pal'ticul::r True to its traditions of yellow jour­ it Blaek Nationalist;; who continue to conecrn over the n('w contract whirh per­ nalism, the 'Yorkers Lear','l1e's flu//etin pose ethnic E'xclusionism. Thus, where petuated the low-wage pattern for the ran an article headliJw,1 "Blaek Cau­ Black caucuses exist and command the largely Dlar];: titles, such as rase aide ('uses Are Reac·tionary," in toto. (This loyalty of the bulk of militant Black and homemaker, restricting its intl'rest did not prevent the WI" in its t.vpiral workers, we seek while working to build to the position of thl' ('olleg'e-educated opportunist adaptationism, from sup­ integTated caucuses to engag'e in prin­ "professionals," the Blurk caseworkers. ].orting' Stanley Hill, cHll

SPARTACIST Syndicalism and Leninism

One surprising effect of the French from general strike to taking power was process is supposed to take roughly this May-June 1968 events has been a re­ revolutionary political organization-a character: A wildcat strike creates a surgence of anarcho-syndicalism with­ vanguard party. But the New Left drew strong factory committee, which de­ in the U.S. left. In fact, the French the conclusion that spontaneous local­ clares its independence from the official events completely reaffirmed the funda­ ism is revolutionary and all centralized union and establishes e.g. the "liberated mental thesis of Lenin and Trotsky: parties counter-revolutionary. The glor­ area of the Metuchen GE plant." When that" the mass reformist (Stalinist or ification of spontaneity fit in with enough such "liberated industrial social-democratic) party of the work­ classic New Left biases toward "doing areas" exist they combine and the sys­ ing class can defiect even the strongest one's own thing," and variants of syndi­ tem is thus overthrown. spontaneous impulses toward revolution, calism became the form under which However, the existing relatively cen­ in the absence of a pre-existing revolu­ New Left radicals turned toward the tralized union structure is not a plot by tionary party with considerable author­ working class. bosses and union bureaucrats, but a ity in its own right. Precisely what was victory gained by long, bitter struggles. For a syndicalist, the revolutionary lacking to carry the French workers Most syndicalists look back to the thir­ ties as the heroic period of U.S. labor, but fail to realize that the main object Maoism, PL recognizes its mistakes of the labor struggles of the thirties .. . PL only by threatening to jump "left" was the consolidation of atomized fac­ tion of the workers' party demand mere­ past both Lenin and the working class, tory groups into strong national un­ ly sidesteps the need to convince work­ from opportunism to sterile sectarian­ ions. The principal goal of the great ers that revolutionary politics are qual­ ism. No amount of ultra-revolutionary 1936 GM strike was to establish a sin­ itatively different from capitalist poli­ rhetoric, no amount of gimmickry or gle union to bargain for the thirty-odd tics and the political cynicism they gen­ genuine hard work, will compensate G M plants. Before this, all bargaining erate among the masses. for PL's theoretical confusion. was done at the plant-wide level. Some In PL's pamphlet "The Great Flint The only way out of PL's present plants were organized, others not; some Sit-Down Strike Against General Mo­ bankruptcy is to come to terms with had localized unions, others had unions tors 1936-1937" Walter Linder correctly authentic modern Leninism-Trotsky­ with broader aspirations. It was easy notes that a major consideration pre­ ism. PL's present rejection of key as­ for G M to play one plant off against venting Roosevelt from intervening mil­ pects of Stalinist-Maoist revisionism another or to shift production if one itarily against the strikers was the does not substitute for consistent com­ plant was particularly troublesome. fear that "the final result might be­ munist program; it merely removes The auto workers instinctively recog­ come a strong case for an independent the greatest formal obstacle. PL will nized they would have to give up a de­ workers' .party to challenge the ruUng­ either discover the Leninist road in the gree of local autonomy to achieve any class parties on a higher level . ..." only tendency-authentic Trotskyism­ real bargaining power. (p. 121) Apparently the bosses did not consistently opposed to the revisionism Even now, it is the existence of 14 believe, as PL now insists, that such a PL rejects, or reject Lenin along with different unions as well as many non­ party is siIJIply a trap for the workers! the usurpers of his mantle and be lost union shops that has allowed GE to PL does not lead the workers to the forever in the wilderness of backward walk all over its workers for so many Democratic Party as the CP did in the sectarianism and political banditry. years. The growth of conglomerates thirties, but neither does it call for a Often PL seeks to dodge the issue of has faced a number of unions with political alternative to capitalist poli­ Trotskyism, sometimes invoking the greatly reduced leverage. tics. straw man of the ex-Trotskyist SWP, Since PL does not regard a workers' while adopting particular quasi-Trot­ Form and Content party as a significant step forward for skyist positions empirically and with­ The existence of strong working­ the workers, one logically can ask what out acknowledging their source or wider class institutions under capitalism­ they think of unions. The world's rot­ implications. (Canadian and European unions or parties-necessarily creates tenest Labor Party does not have a Maoists have accused PL of such the objective basis for privileged bu­ more treacherous and pro-capitalist "Trotskyism," not without reason.) reaucracy. A sure-fire cure for union leadership than the American trade This is a self-destructive method, en­ bureaucratism is not to have unions at union movement. But isn't union or­ suring vulgar empiricism and sporadic all! The corollary, of course, is that ganization, even with its inherent limit­ opportunism. It is the method of those the workers are then completely at the ations and potential for bureaucratism who say they are revolutionaries with­ mercy of the bosses. There is no me­ and co-option, still a gain for the work­ out acknowledging Marxism-at best a chanical solution to the problem of de­ ers? What condemns a workers' union confusion of the inexperienced radical, mocracy. The only answer is an aroused or party to the leadership of the "labor at worst the device of opportunists to and conscious working class which con­ lieutenants of capital" is precisely the make a left turn while keeping their trols its own organizations, whether weakness of the revolutionary forces class options open. these be hundred-man factory commit­ within it. And if communists dare not Trotskyism is not an antidote to be tees, unions of hundreds of thousands fight the union fakers for workers' lead­ taken in small doses by an organism or mass parties numbering in the mil­ ership, how are they ever to go up living on a steady diet of Menshevism. lions. against the entire bourgeois social or­ Rather it represents the continuation Another important aspect of the syn­ der, the capitalist state which hires of Bolshevik politics. PLers must un­ dicalist perspective is what form rank and fires the bogus leaders of the work­ derstand that PL's opportunism has and file opposition should take: union­ ing class? been the result not of Leninism, but of wide caucuses based on a comprehen­ "Trotskyism" as Secret Rem~y pseudo-Leninism, and that its refusal sive radical program, o:r; attempts to PL is indeed moving left from many to deal with Trotskyism is at the root undermine the centralized power of the of its previous positions. But, equating of its inability to effectively distinguish bureaucracy through factory-level or­ Leninism with their own Stalinist tra­ the genuine from the revisionist in ganizations? The goal of socialists in dition and the garbled Menshevism of communist politics.• unions is not occasional defiance of NOVEMHI-DEeEMIett 1970

the bureaucracy, but rather its over­ the national bourgeoisie commanded the ures, city-wide general strikes. After a throw to command the tremendous pow­ army, through Chiang Kai-shek. When few years of this, demobilized soldiers er of the organized working class for the bourgeoisie reached its compromise and other unemployed workers, civil revolutionary ends. Strong factory com­ with the imperialists, it suppressed the servants, small shopkeepers and farm­ mittees and wildcats can be potent CP and Chiang's army forced the ers were prepared to support Musso­ weapons in discrediting an incumbent strikers back to work at gunpoint. The lini's "law and order" movement. It has bureaucracy and strengthening internal Chinese revolutionaries learned the been noted that fascism develops in opposition. But such localized and epi­ hard way that control of the labor periods when the labor movement pre­ sodic organizations aJ;'e no substitute movement is insufficient for revolution. vents capitalism from operating for all-union program-based caucuses, (The Maoists draw the wrong conclu­ smoothly but is unable to overthrow it. which alone can pose an alternative sion-namely, that the labor movement Syndicalism, to the extent it is success­ leadaship to the bureau racy as a whole. is irrelevant as long as one has an ful, creates this very situation-a reV­ As Marxists, we do not take a fetish­ army!) Political and military as well olutionary situation without the strat­ istic attitude toward the existing juris­ as economic organization are necessary. egy necessary for assuming control of dictional union structure. A bureaucra­ And winning over the soldiers, who are the state-thus paving the way for the cy may be so entrenched that an op­ not subject to the discipline of the la­ triumph of reaction. position cannot gain the formal union bor movement, requires a political par­ The resurgence of radical syndical­ leadership regardless of how much sup­ ty. ism is a reaction against the economist port it has. In such a case, an opposi­ All general strikes create sharp po­ and class-collaborationist policies of tion may be forced to split from the litical polarization, in which all sec­ the trade union bureaucracy. But syn­ official union. The NMU and Amalga­ tions of society come down for or dicalism is only economism in reverse: mated Clothing Workers were created against the strike. Even major indus­ accepting the working class' lack of or­ when militant oppositions split from trial powers such as Japan, Italy and ganization, especially political organi­ the official unions. But such splits are France contain large peasant popula­ zation-and refusing to recognize the justified only if the opposition has tions which must be won over to the dialectical character of the bureaucra­ gained the unquestioned loyalty of an workers' cause if the strike is to be tized workers' institutions-the contra­ economically viable section of the work successful. The demand for workers' diction between class-struggle and rul­ force, leaving the official union an control of production is not sufficient; ing-class elements which can be re­ empty shell, not when they mean the enlisting the support of the peasantry solved only by principled intervention voluntary isolation of the most militant requires a program of e.g. reduced by revolutionaries to replace iron-fisted and conscious minority of workers, taxes and rents, changes in land ten­ control by capitalism's lackeys with leaving their fellows still under the ure, easy agricultural credit, etc.-de­ working-class leaders armed with a real sway of the sellouts. mands which can be put forward con­ program of class struggle.• Another facet of syndicalism· is the vincingly only by a revolutionary party belief that the main activity of revolu­ capable of establishing a socialist gov­ tionaries is to foment trouble in the ernment. .. . CHILE shops, the more trouble the better. Its General strikes and serious indus­ (Continued from Page 8) fallacy is demonstrated by recent events trial disruption create economic hard­ in Italy. The anarcho-Maoists have ship for the entire population. It is cer­ SWP; they are just more critical within made deep inroads among Fiat work­ tainly not true that all those not di­ the same framework. Healy's H' orkers ers, who have been systematically sab­ rectly involved in a general strike will Press of 12 Sept. concludes, "There otaging production. Fiat's giant Milan oppose it because of the hardships en­ must be a preparation for class action plant has been operating at 50 per cent tailed; but such hardships must not to defend Allende's .victory and his elec­ of its normal capacity. One way Fiat be open-ended. Unemployed workers, tion programs to meet this danger." has reacted is to purchase 30 per cent welfare recipients, peasants and small And the U.S. Workers-League states: of Citroen, the French auto firm, and shopkeepers will support a general "There is only one road and that is the they are quite capable of closing down strike if they believe it is a step toward revolutionary road of the October Re­ the Milan plant and shifting production creating a revolutionary government volution .... As a step in this under­ elsewhere, out of Italy altogether, if with a positive program to meet their standing the workers must hold Allende it is more profitable. Thus militancy needs. But if the strike appears interm­ to his promises ..." (Bulletin, 21 Sept.) for its own sake simply leads to unem­ inable, self-centered and purposeless, -invoking the October Revolution, they ployment. these intermediate layers and backward demand the masses should compel an sections of the working masses will turn essentially bourgeois government to General Strikes and Reaction to reaction. achieve socialism! A rational syndicalist might agree This is demonstrated by the rise of Not surprisingly, during the 1917 that atomized militancy can be self­ Italian fascism. Following World War February Revolution in Russia the va­ defeating. He would counterpose the cillating resident Bolsheviks, including syndicalist panacea of a general strike. Stalin, came up with the very formula While a general strike always raises MARXIST BULLETIN NO.9 the WL has rediscovered: to support the the question of embryonic dual power, provisional government "insofar as it it cannot overthrow capitalism in itself. Part I struggles against reaction or counter­ The capitalist state must be smashed Basic Documents of revolution." Lenin telegraphed his pro­ in its most concrete manifestation, the test from abroad: "Our tactic; absolute armed forces. If the army is not de­ The Spartacist League lack of confidence; no support to the feated or won over politically, it will Resolutions and Statements on In­ new government; suspect Kerensky es­ suppress the general strike. ternationalism, Principles, Black pecially; arming of the proletariat the One of the most important general Freedom. 35¢ sole guarantee; ... no rapproc;hement strikes in history occurred in the 1925- Box 1377, G.P.C., N.Y.C. 10001 with other parties." All we could add 27 Chinese Revolution. It was an ex­ today is to repeat Trotsky's fundament­ plicitly political strike, designed to ex­ al conclusion' about our epoch that the tract concessions from the imperialist I, the Italian working class, under time has never been more urgent for powers. The strike was characterized strong syndicalist influence, engaged in the building of the international party by a division of labor whereby the a tremendous but un-coordinated W;lve imbued with Leninist aims and Lenin's Communist Party ran the strike and of industrial militancy-factory seiz- determination .• SPARTACIST NOVEMBER-DECEMBIR 1970 CHILEAN 'POPULAR FRONT The electoral victory of Dr. Salvador volutionary Marxists to irreconcilably claiming the heritage of Trotsky's Allende's Popular Front coalition in oppose the Popular Front in the elec­ have taken the Chile poses in sharpest form the issue tion and to place absolutely no confi­ same road, in disorientation or concili­ of revolution or counter-revolution. The dence in it in power. Any "critical sup- ation to Popul~r Frontism. At its April Chilean crisis is a fully classic expres­ . port" to the Allende coalition is class 1969 World Congress the ,United Sec­ sion of reformism's attempt to derail the treason, paving the way for a bloody retariat majority around Livio Maitan felt needs of the working people for defeat for the Chilean working people affirmed that the strategy for Latin their own government to rule society in when domestic reaction, abetted by in­ America was "rural guerrilla warfare" their own interests. The revolutionary ternational imperialism, is ready. The with a peasant base and a petty-bour­ duty of Marxists in Chile and interna­ U.S. imperialists have been able to tem­ geois (student) derived cadre, thus tionally should be utterly unambiguous. porize for the moment-and not im­ rendering themselves irrelevant in the Above all, the experience of the Rus­ mediately try to mobilize a counter-re­ face of urban-based upheavals in Latin sian Revolution and of Trotsky's cri­ volutionary coup on the usual Latin America. How about the United Secre­ tiques of the Spanish and French Pop­ Amel'ican model-because they have tariat minority, grouped around the ular Front governments of 1936 illum­ softened the anticipated nationalization American Socialist Workers Party? inate the objective of revolutionists in losses through massive profit-taking Their spokesman, Joe Hansen, stood on such a situation. over several years. apparent Trotskyist orthodoxy, seem­ ingly rediscovering the need to build Dr. Allende's candidacy, which gained Within reformist workers' parties revolutionary workers' parties as the a plurality on 4 Sept., was based on a there is a profound contradiction be­ key to the Latin American revolution, coalition of reformist-labor and Iiberal­ tween their pl'oletarian base and formal but this was just a fig leaf to cover the bourgeois parties, including the pro­ ideology and the class-collaborationist SWP's descent into legalistic reform­ Moscow Communist Party, Allende's aims and personal appetities of their ism. The first response of Hansen's In­ own somewhat more radical Socialist leaderships. This is why Marxists, tercontinental Press (14 Sept.) was ag'­ Party, the very right-wing; Social Dem­ when they are not themselves embodied nostic, concluding, "Undoubtedly Allen­ ocrats, the rump of the liberal Radical in a mass working-class party, give de's program is more radical, on paper, Party, fragments of the Christian Dem­ reformist parties such "critical support" than the program of the Popular Front ocrats, etc. To gain confirmation by the -against overt agents of capital­ of 1938. But it remains to be seen what Congress, Allende agreed to a series of as will tend to regrQup the proletarian his bourgeois allies, present and pros­ constitutional amendments at the in­ base around a revolutionary program. pective, will allow him to put into prac­ sistence of the dominant Christian But when these parties enter a coalition tice." Democrats. Most crucial among these government with the parties of capital­ were the prohibition of private militias ism, any such "critical support" would Behind the SWP's bland know-noth­ and the stipulation that no police or be a betrayal because the coalition has ing'ism was its operational position: military officers will be appointed who suppressed the c1as's contradiction in critical support: "It would be a crime were not trained in the established the bourgeoisie's favor. It is our job to whitewash the UP [Unidad Popu­ academies. then tc re-create the basis for struggle lar]. But failing to recognize the posi­ within such p~rties by demanding they tive elements in it, condemning it in With the maintenance of the founda­ break with the coalition. Thi~ break toto out of some sectarian dogmatism, tions of the capitalist order thus as­ must be the elementary precondition for sured, Congress elected Allende presi­ even the most critical support. dent on 24 October. He has now an­ The Left Views Chile :pounced the division of spoils in his What Is the 15-man cabinet: the CP gets economic Chile's most extreme known forma­ Permanent ministries, Allende's SP the key posts tion, the Movimiento Izquierdista Re­ of internal security and foreign affairs, volutionario, comprising Guevarists, Revolution? and a bourgeois Radical the ministry of semi-Trotskyists, etc., demonstrated by Leon Trotsky conciliation ism toward Allende as his national defense. This is reformism's 25 cents answer to the Chilean masses' years of campaign wore on and on 4 Sept. issued struggle and their desperate hopes that a call for the workers, students and order from: SPARTACIST, peasants to support his victory, thus Box 1377, G.P.O. Allende's election would open up for New York, N.Y. 10001 them a new way of life, but they will throwing their weight behind the pop­ not be held for long inside the Popu­ ular illusions. lar Front's bourgeois straight jacket. While the "revolutionary" Chinese It is the most elementary duty for re- Maoists have been very diplomatically would mean suicidal isolation." (lP, 5 noncommittal, for Gus Hall of the U.S. Oct.) Tn be sure, the SWP "knows CP, "the elections in Chile are a re­ better." But after all the Allende can­ SUBSCRIBE TO THE volutionary, democratic mandate of the didacy was enormously popular among people." He goes on, "Does this experi­ the Chilean masses, so these revisionists ence deny t.he theses of Debray [i.e. chose to feed the illusions which block SPARTAC)ST Guevara and Castro] and Mao? Yes it the path to socialist revolution and ex­ Box 1377. G.P.O. does." (Daily World, 17 Oct.) Not to pose the workers, in this situation of New York, N. Y. 10001 be outdone in enthusiasm, Castro's great social polarization, to the danger ten issues-$l Granma of 13 Sept. headlined Allende's of victorious reaction and right-wing three issues-free election as "The Victory of People's terror. Unity," thus willy-nilly sharing the Healy's Pabloism Name ______same bed with Gus Hall and once ag'ain The alleged anti-revisionists of Gerry exposing' as political charlatans those Address Healy's "I"ourth International" stand who preach confidence in the Cuban only quantitatively to the left of the leadership. City Tragically, most of those formations (Continued on Page 7)