Try of the New Zealand Socialist Action uring late 1980 travelling through aribbean and Central America. Here revolutionary upheavals for Marxists nent. The article is an abridged version e New Zealand Socialist Action (Vol 3, class opponent of Marxism:
but a movement... The Communists do not base themselves on this or that philosophy the present time.
and its consequences, from the of the concomitant uninhibited violent and more universal trade full-fledged crises of the world struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie.
ditions for the liberation of the proletariat."
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO beliefs learnt by heart by groups property of any group or brainy individual.
ainst capitalism, and the political lessons and the theoretical generalisations drawn from decades of experience in that struggle. Or as munist Manifesto:
Communists are in no way based on ideas or principles that have been invented, or discovered, by this or that would-be universal reformer.
terms, actual relations springing trom an existing class struggle, *from a historical movement going on under our very eyes."
& the brightest "Marxist" university lecturer very often understands o less about Marxism and the class & struggle than a young factory work• er newly won to socialism in the o course of union battles, and why up on the wrong side of class questions. position of sectarian opposition to olutionary government like that in ped inside that government are a capitalist or two.
Marxism is not enriched by professors, but by a team of revolutionary cadres rooted in the labour movement, and who seek to learn from it in the real struggle to move the working class forward. When we go back and read the Communist Manifesto today, it means that much more to us, because we can see it from the perspective of the working class in motion.
We can also see very rapidly why it is utter nonsense to depict the mass movement of the Polish worktific socialism themselves. Engels wrote in 1847, against a middle"Herr Heinzen imagines Communism is a certain doctrine which proceeds from a definite theoretical principle as its core and draws further conclusions from that. Herr Heinzen is very much mistaken.
Communism is not a doctrine but sciousness.
as their point of departure but on the whole course of previous his- of the working class. tory and specifically its actual results in the civilised countries at Communism has followed from large-scale industry establishment of the world market.
competition, from the ever more crises, which have already become market, from the creation of the proletariat and the concentration and the working class. of capital, from the ensuing class Communism, insofar as it is a theory, is the theoretical expression of the position of the proletariat in this struggle and the theoretical summation of the conThat is, Marxism is not a set of of devotees, nor is it the exclusive gels and Lenin.
Marxism is the historical movement of the workers agMarx and Engels put it in the Com"The theoretical conclusions of ly.
They merely express, in general This helps us to understand why such "Marxists" so frequently end fer them free advice For example, adopting a the Labour Party, or rejecting a revNicaragua on the grounds that trapcombat.
ing class for democratic rights as reactionary. Whatever religious or other reactionary illusions some Polish workers may hold on to, in reaction to the "Communism" of the Stalinist bureaucracy, the logic of the movement of the Polish working class can only be towards the strengthening of socialism and towards developing a Marxist conSOCIALIST REVOLUTION A socialist revolution is the highest expression of the movement Thus each new revolution deepens and enriches Marxism, providing new lessons on all aspects of the working. class struggle for power. And it strengthens the organisation of the world working class for the next round of struggle with the bourgeoisie. This is the first way in which the revolutions in Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada, and the deepening revolutionary struggle in El Salvador, have significance for Marxists But there is also a more profound significance for us about these revolutions, which I pointed to at the beginning of this article. At the interests." head of these revolutions stand con. scious Marxist leaderships, for the first time since the Russian revolution of 1917. These are leaderships who. in contrast to Stalinist selfseekers, subordinate themselves to the interests of the world working class, and consciously base themselves on the heritage of Marx, EnCity This fact means that these revolutions advance more surely and at less cost to the working masses. And it also means that through creatively applying the methods of Marxism, in responding to the initiatives of the masses, and in advancing these revolutions, these leaderships consciously enrich Marxism These things are crucial to grasp if we are to approach these revolutions and their leaderships correctWe must put aside any know-itall, bookish arrogance, and adopt the approach that Fidel took when he visited Nicaragua in July, 1980 for the first anniversary celebrations of the overthrow of Somoza. He told the Managua rally of 500,000 "There are many who were afraid and who still harbour fears about the Sandinista revolution. There are those who seek to teach the Sandinistas what to do. We will never seek to tell the Sandinistas what they should do, or give or ofWe are ready to give you all our support, all the solidarity of our people without conditions - without conditions and without advice. We did not come here to teach or to influence. We came humbly to learn and be influenced. We are sure that the Sandinista revolution will teach us a great deal and that the Sandinista revolution will have a great influence on us, just as we are certain that your example will influence the rest of Latin America in an extraordinary way."
So if Fidel - who has proved in practice that he is the most capable leader of the world working class since Lenin and Trotsky - takes this approach, then certainly so can we, a Marxist current that has yet to be decisively tested in class irrelevant.
Continued on page 6 Last month, Socialist Action supporters nationally met in London for odds with the objective needs of the their annual conference. Lasting a weekend, the conference was preceded by over two months of discussion on the major issues facing socialists in Britain and internationally.
All comrades had the opportunity to present and argue for their point of view in the pre-conference period, the coming year. This not only particularly around the two key issues facing Socialist Action: building a class-struggle left-wing in the labour movement and mobilising support for the unfolding revolutions Tory offensive in its tracks.
in Central America and the Caribbean Presenting the major report on perspectives in Britain, Pete Marais analysed the growing radicalisation in labour's ranks as the Thatcher offensive deepens . "Such an offensive", he argued, "is at the root of the growing attenipt by workers to turn their organisations - the trade unions and the Labour Party - into real tools to defend their class What was important about this radicalisation, Marais continued, was not just that it brought ever-wider layers into conflict with the sell-out bureaucrats dominating the labour movement - both those Labour MPs who recently split to form the SDP and those remaining forces organis.
ing around the ill-named "SolidarEqually key was the fact that the fight for socialist policies in the unions and Labour Party was becoming a focal point for all the oppressed and exploited who could see the possibility of linking their struggle with the socially decisive weight of the workers movement. Examples of this, he suggested, could be seen in the growing fight for women's and Black rights inside the Labour Party.
tion Jane Ansell speaking at Socialist Action Conference.
The tempo of radicalisation in the labour movement, Marais suggested, was creating an acid test for the Marxist left. Many of those tendencies who lacked roots in the unions i and Labour Party were increasingly being bypassed in action. Since the fight for a new class-struggle leadership was taking place inside the workers' organisations, those - such as the SWP and other assorted fringe groups - were becoming increasingly Not only would they become more irrelevant as the social crisis deepens.
he went on, but they would be forced into adopting positions ever more at labour movement. The example of the Beyond the Fragments current is a case in point.
It was for this reason, Marais concluded, that the key task of Socialist Action was to root itself ever more deeply in the labour movement in meant participating in the Labour Party but making a decisive turn towards the industrial unions which alone have the power to halt the The second major report, presented by Gary Erlisker, centred around the major struggles underway in Central America and the Caribbean. The struggles in Nicaragua, Grenada and El Salvador, Erlisker suggested. were in the forefront of the fight against imperialism internationally. There was the possibility, in the near future, that new workers states -inspired by Revolutionary Cuba -would come into being.
Such developments, Erlisker stressed, were an acid test for the British left which is not exactly known to: its "internationalism". What we were witnessing in these countries was not just a struggle against imp. crialism but the creation of a new revolutionary Marxist leadership inspired by the Castro team. which was a major break-through in solving the crisis of leadership that had bedevilled the world working class for decades.
It is not enough, Erlisker said. for socialists purely to get involved in solidarity actions with the heroic struggles in these countries - key though this was. Equally important. it was necessary for Marxists to see the major step forward in building an international leadership which all socialists should support and seek to link up with.
Only by recognising the revolutionary Marxist character of this new leadership - and approaching it in a non-sectarian way - he stressed, could one be sure that, in the strug gles ahead in Britain, Marxists would not develop a similarly sectarian attitude towards new class-struggle forces coming onto the scene. The hostile attitude of many left tenddo encies towards the leaders guiding ; the struggles in Nicaragua to Grenada indicated, Marais concluded, a dead-end approach that would not enable them to build a mass revolutionary party in Britain.
Both the major presentations were followed by a lively exchange of views. In addition to the two principal reports, sessions were also held on developments in the Labour Party. the need to integrate the struggle for women's and Black rights within the labour movement and the central importance of the struggle to get the troops out of Ireland.
Of particular value were the sessions devoted to questions from sympathisers of Socialist Action. A lively discussion took place around many of the questions asked of a panel of Socialist Action representatives.
On Saturday night, a social was held which was highly successful, managing to raise over £100 for the paper's fighting fund.
continued from page 5 Jamaica. In Grenada, when it bePROLETARIAN came clear to the New Jewel MovINTERNATIONALISM Socialist Action revolution, only its example. And they wanted to build the strong-
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