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 <?f the-ruling class. against the interests of the 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 CORRESPONDENCE AU correspondence should be addressed to Tom Hill, 11 Barratt Avenue, Wood Green, London N22. SUBSCRIPTIONS A remittance for 14 shillings will bring you six issues of The Marxist, post free. Single copies 2s 6d post paid. Overseas rates: Europe 25 shillings post paid; rest of the world 30 shillings post paid. FROM THE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE The financial problems of The Marxist are the common experience of all publications in any capitalist society which advocates revolutionary change in that society and seeks to build the necessary forces to carry out that task. An initial period of limited circulation makes it necessary to appeal for financial sup­ port to meet the gap between production/circulation cost and income from sales. If you share our view that this journal has served and can continue to serve the interests of the revolutionary forces in Britain and play a part in the development of a Marxism-Leoinist Party, please assist in the following ways: (a) Introduce new subscribers to the journal, (b) Send a donation to Tom Hill, 11 Barratt Avenue, Wood Green, London N.22. Cheques and Postal Orders should be made payable to The Oasis Publishing Company. Can you sell? H you can, will you help sell The Marxist? Up to fifteen copies at a time sent on sale-or-return terms. Contact Tom Hill. ~--~~ - - - ------ -------------- ------ 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.