In Defence of Trotskyism No. 9 £1 waged, 50p unwaged/low waged, €1.50 On the Continuity of Trotskyism Four Internationals since 1864: Founding of the 1st (Workingman’s) In- Second Congress of the 4th International ternational (IWA, 1864–1876) in London. Paris 1946: Pierre Favre (PCI, France), S. It held left-wing socialist, communist, Santen (Holland), Pierre Frank (PCI), anarchist and trade unions. Dissolved by Jock Haston (RCP), Colin de Silva Marx because of anarchist reaction to his (standing, LSSP, Grandizo Munis, who defence of the Paris Commune. bloced with Max Shachtman here. Sixth Congress of the 2nd (Socialist) Second Congress of the 3rd International International in Amsterdam in 1904: (Comintern) Moscow 1920: Karl Radek Includes Rosa Luxemburg , Karl Kaut- (third), Nikolai Bukharin (fifth), Maxim sky (Germany), Victor Adler (Austria), Gorky (ninth), Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin, Georgii Plekhanov (Russia), Edouard tenth, hands in pockets), Grigory Zinoviev Vaillant (France) and Sen Katayama (thirteenth, hands behind his back), Maria (Japan). Ulyanova (nineteen white blouse). Page 2 On the Continuity of Trotskyism Where We Stand ets/workers’ councils to sup- agenda of the petty-bourgeois press the inevitable counter- reformist leaders of the Labour 1. WE STAND WITH revolution of private capitalist party and trade unions KARL MARX: ‘The emancipa- profit against planned produc- 5. We oppose all immigra- tion of the working classes must tion for the satisfaction of so- tion controls. International be conquered by the working cialised human need. finance capital roams the planet classes themselves. The struggle 3. We recognise the necessity in search of profit and imperial- for the emancipation of the for revolutionaries to carry out ist governments disrupts the working class means not a serious ideological and political lives of workers and cause the struggle for class privileges and struggle as direct participants in collapse of whole nations with monopolies but for equal rights the trade unions (always) and in their direct intervention in the and duties and the abolition of the mass reformist social de- Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan all class rule’ (The International mocratic bourgeois workers’ and their proxy wars in Somalia Workingmen’s Association parties despite their pro- and the Democratic Republic of 1864, General Rules). capitalist leaderships when the Congo, etc. Workers have 2. The capitalist state con- conditions are favourable. Be- the right to sell their labour sists, in the last analysis, of cause we see the trade union internationally wherever they ruling-class laws within a judicial bureaucracy and their allies in get the best price. Only union system and detention centres the Labour party leadership as membership and pay rates can overseen by the armed bodies the most fundamental obstacle counter employers who seek to of police/army who are under to the struggle for power of the exploit immigrant workers as the direction and are controlled working class, outside of the cheap labour to undermine the in acts of defence of capitalist state forces and their direct gains of past struggles. property rights against the inter- agencies themselves, we must ests of the majority of civil fight and defeat and replace Subscribe to Socialist Fight society. The working class must them with a revolutionary lead- and In Defence of Trotskyism overthrow the capitalist state ership by mobilising the base and replace it with a workers’ against the pro-capitalist bu- Four Issues: UK: £12.00, EU: state based on democratic sovi- reaucratic misleaders to open £14.00 the way forward for the struggle Rest of the World: £18.00 Socialist Fight produces IDOT. for workers’ power. Please send donations to help It is a part of the Liaison Com- 4. We are fully in support of in their production mittee for the Fourth Interna- all mass mobilisations against Cheques and Standing Orders the onslaught of this reactionary to tional with the Liga Comunista, Con-Lib Dem coalition. How- Brazil and the Tendencia Mili- ever, whilst participating in this Socialist Fight Account No. 1 tante Bolchevique, Argentina. struggle we will oppose all poli- Unity Trust Bank, Sort Code Editor: Gerry Downing cies which subordinate the 08-60-01, Account. No. Assistant Editor: John Barry working class to the political 20227368. Introduction ity of Trotskyism: Reply to Revolutionary Commu- This pamphlet on the continuity of Trotsky- nist International Tendency (RCIT) Part 2. ism consists of two parts. The first part is an The following quote could have been written article from Socialist Fight No 8, November at anytime in the post war history of Trotsky- 2011 by Gerry Downing On the Continuity of ism. It neither guarantees the orthodoxy of Trotskyism: Programme vs. Struggle? No, Pro- the authors not the success of their endeav- gramme via Struggle! The second part is a devel- ours. It could describe either an unprincipled opment from that and was part of the docu- lash-up or a principled fight for revolutionary mentation for the founding conference of the Trotskyism. But it does speak of struggle on Socialist Fight in March 2014; On the Continu- a programmatic basis similar to the one we are engaged upon now. Socialist Fight: PO Box 59188, London, NW2 9LJ, http://socialistfight.com/[email protected]. On the Continuity of Trotskyism Page 3 “The process of winning political hegemony for revolutionary Marxism in the upsurge will involve a range of tactics and organisational forms. But we must be clear on our goal: to build revolutionary Marxist, that is, mass Trotskyist parties in every country as sections of the Fourth International. One important aspect of the struggle to build the Fourth International is attempting to unify the world Trotskyist movement — the political forces that affirm the Transitional Program and identify with the Trotskyist tradition. If we achieved this, we could qualitatively increase our impact in the workers’ movement and clarify and resolve our differences in the framework of international democratic cen- tralism. Our International needs to promote a process of political clarification and organ- isational reunification of the world Trotskyist movement. To build the Fourth International as a real World Party of Socialist Revolution — this is the core of the problem we face. To take advantage of the contradictions in the present, undeniably difficult situation to the Goldman-Morrow-Heijenoort minority advance the struggle to build the Fourth In- in the American Socialist Workers Party. ternational — this is the decision we must Therefore when in 1946 Haston led a delega- make.”[1] tion of the RCP to a conference of some of We might mention this Wiki article on the the sections of the Fourth International in life of Jock Haston which shows the struggle Paris it is surprising that he moved that the for Trotskyism was waged by many: conference be considered as a Congress of “With the turn of the war against the Nazis the movement. This was in part motivated by the RCP was at pains to look for any signs of the opposition of the RCP to the demoralisa- the coming revolutionary upheavals that were tion of the German comrades of the Interna- expected in line with the perspectives of the tional Communists of Germany (IKD). Fourth International as outlined in the fa- More important, politically, were the amend- mous Transitional programme. The leading ments that Haston wrote, along with Bill theoretician of the RCP, Ted Grant, was Hunter, to the resolutions of the FI leader- therefore far seeing when he sought to tailor ship put forward at the meeting. In contrast the political demands of the movement to to the FI leadership the RCP amendments the actual movement rather than succumbing recognise that Stalinism had emerged from to a rosy view of events. This realistic view of the war strengthened and that an economic events was also prompted by the agreement crisis was unlikely in the near future. There- of the RCP leadership with the documents of fore it was argued political demands and ex- pectations had to recognise these changes Socialist Fight: PO Box 59188, London, NW2 9LJ, http://socialistfight.com/[email protected]. Page 4 On the Continuity of Trotskyism and not pose revolutionary tasks in the ab- loism were clear did a section of the F.I. pull sence of a revolutionary situation. The FI back. In our opinion, the “orthodox” move- majority around Ernest Mandel and Michel ment has still to face up to the new theoreti- Pablo, backed by the SWP in the United cal problems which rendered it susceptible to States, prevailed however. Pabloism in 1943-50 and gave rise to a The dispute with the leadership of the FI ragged, partial split in 1952-54.”[3] deepened with time and became centred on On one level there is a great deal of truth in three interlinked questions. Firstly there was this assertion, serious problems beset the the role of Stalinism in Eastern Europe Fourth International during the war, the US where the RCP took a different position to SWP was clearly falling victim to national the FI in particular when the latter began to isolation, but is very wrong to speak of “the support the split of Josip Broz Tito in Yugo- failure of Leon Trotsky’s perspective of the slavia from the USSR the RCP became very break-up of the Soviet bureaucracy and of critical. This criticism being expressed in new October revolutions in the aftermath of documents written by Haston. Secondly the war”. Trotsky’s perspectives were those there was the question of economic perspec- of revolutionary struggle. The Trotskyist tives and the growing tendency of the Labour fought those struggles heroically as outlined party government of Clement Attlee to take below. We cannot speak of the “failure of various industries into state ownership as was perspectives” in this manner as if was wrong also happening in Eastern Europe.