Theses on
Recent Major Developments in the World Situation (April 2014)
Escalation of
Inner-Imperialist Rivalry Marks the Opening of a New Phase of World Politics
Theses on
Recent Major Developments in the World Situation (April 2014)
Document
adopted by the International Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Communist
International Tendency, April 2014
The following
document gives an overview of the most important political developments in the
world during the last six months. It expands upon the analyses of the global
political situation which the Revolutionary Communist International
Tendency (RCIT) published in two documents, in March and September
2013, respectively. (1)
We draw our
readers’ attention to the fact that the resolution was adopted before the
recent escalation of the protests in the east of the Ukraine. The RCIT’s
analysis and conclusion of these events can be read in our latest resolution on
the Ukraine from 17 April. (2)
We also draw
our reader’s attention to the fact that these Theses on Recent Major
Developments in the World Situation contain an appendix of 2 graphs.
These graphs can not be viewed in the text version of the document for
technical reasons. They can however be viewed in the pdf version of this
document which is attached below.
I. A
New Phase of World Politics Began in the Spring of 2014
1. In
the spring of 2014, world politics entered a new phase. Its most important
feature is the exacerbation of the inter-imperialist
rivalry between and the US and EU on one hand and Russia (with the tacit
support of China) on the other hand centered on the crisis in the
Ukraine. While an armed confrontation between the two camps is unlikely in the
near future, it is obvious that a new Cold War has started on the centennial of
the start of World War I in 1914. This Cold War will prove to have been the
preamble to future wars – first between proxies and later between the Great
Powers themselves – if the international working class will not prevent this by
taking power via the socialist revolution.
2. Another
important characteristic of this new political phase is increased counter-revolutionary
mobilizations in important countries. Thus, we saw the overthrow in
the Ukraine by the reactionary Maidan movement which included an important
fascist wing. Similarly, there have been reactionary movements and riots in
Venezuela and Thailand which are attempting to bring down bourgeois-populist
governments which enjoy mass popular support among the lower classes.
3. In
addition, we must point to the retreat of the Arab Revolution. The
military dictatorship of General Sisi in Egypt has been able to consolidate its
power. In Syria, the rebel movement has witnessed a bourgeoisification of its
leadership. However, the fundamental process of the Arab Revolution has not
been terminated and neither of these reactionary developments is irreversible,
as is proven by the continuing just democratic struggle of the masses. In
addition, new mass struggles like a third Intifada in Palestine are looming.
4. It
is essential to understand the contradictory and uneven character of this new
political phase. While there have been several reactionary movements and
defeats for the working class, there are also new revolutionary
upheavals. Most prominent has been the Bosnian revolution, a spontaneous
and violent uprising of the Bosnian workers and youth. In addition, we see an
important shift to the left among important sectors of the working class and
youth in South Africa, resulting in splits from the ANC and the pro-ANC
leadership of the trade union federation COSATU. Equally important, the mass
protests against corruption and repression in key semi-colonial countries like
Brazil and Turkey are continuing. To this one must add the impressive upswing
of class struggle in Spain.
5. Finally
the publication of the new report on climate change has once again demonstrated
the devastating consequences of the climate crisis for whole mankind and in
particular for the poorer nations living in the global South. It is now clear
that the worsening of the climate situation is irreversible and the question is
only how bad it will become. This will have tremendous consequences in
accelerating the tempo “natural” disasters, catastrophic hunger, poverty and
migration. This, in turn, will also accelerate the upheavals and revolts of the
masses. It is not surprising that the US defense department, in its four-year
strategic review released in the spring of 2014, calls climate change a "threat
multiplier" along with poverty, political instability, and social
tensions worldwide.
6. The
developments of the new phase of world politics are marked by the continuing
crisis of leadership. Nowhere does the working class posses a strong, combative
revolutionary party armed with a revolutionary program and a steeled cadre. As a
result, the fighting masses are either led by reformist bureaucracies,
petty-bourgeois populists, or have no leadership at all. The
counter-revolutionary offensive in Ukraine has demonstrated the total absence
of any significant independent working class force. The reactionary
mobilizations in Venezuela and Thailand are assisted by the disillusionment of
various sectors of the masses against bourgeois-populist governments. The
Bosnian Revolution, as well as the mass movements in Brazil and Turkey, suffers
from the lack of any organized leadership. The mass protests in Egypt are led
by the bourgeois Muslim Brotherhood which is itself undergoing a process of
internal crisis and divisions. The rebel movement in Syria is dominated by
petty-bourgeois Islamists who – while correctly rejecting both the pro-Western
FSA leadership as well as the arch-reactionary ISIS – possess no independent
strategy. In Spain, given the absence of an authentic revolutionary party, the
rotten bureaucracies of the ex-Stalinist PCE and IU are gaining influence in
the mass movement.
7. This
new political phase clears the ground for the formation of authentic
revolutionary parties nationally and internationally. It tests all forces in
the workers’ movements and the so-called left in the fire of our historical
class struggle. It exposes all those would-be socialists who choose in these
historic times the camp of open counter-revolutionary forces or who, wrongly,
stand aside in struggles where the proletariat is obliged to support a
progressive camp. These events substantially sharpen the contradictions inside
the reformist and centrist camps and will help the vanguard workers and youth
to see through the “socialist” phrase-mongering of these forces. This will help
to expose the charlatanry of “Left Unity” as a reactionary illusion, and hence
will make it easier for honest revolutionaries to find their way to
Bolshevik-Communism.
8. The
key task for the workers’ vanguard remains the building of revolutionary
parties as well as the founding of a new World Party of Socialist Revolution.
As urgent as this task is, it cannot be achieved by a pure feat of will or
self-proclamation. The road to build combative revolutionary parties both
nationally and internationally passes through the formation of solid Bolshevik
pre-party organizations – composed mainly of militants from the working class –
which will unite internationally on the basis of a sound revolutionary program,
as well as common democratic-centralist discipline. Such authentic
revolutionary organizations must be built inside the class struggle – not
outside of it, in discussion clubs of the universities. From the outset, they
must orient themselves to grow and to train their members not by means of the
degenerated milieu of the petty-bourgeois left intelligentsia but the militant
– although often politically raw – workers and oppressed. Instead of
opportunistic adaption to the reformist and centrist left, they must combine
the highest flexibility in united front work with sharp political demarcation
and denunciation of all forces which cause political confusion among militant
workers and youth. It is within the mass struggles and movements that small
revolutionary organizations will find the forces with which to fuse in order to
be transformed from being fighting propaganda groups into revolutionary cadre
parties. This is the road of the Bolshevik-Communists.
9. This
new political phase also increases the responsibility for authentic
revolutionaries all over the world. For many working class militants, the world
situation becomes more and more confusing. The emergence of new imperialist
powers, the increasing rivalry between them, and the increasing appearance of
forces acting as their proxies; the amalgamation of legitimate struggles of the
workers and oppressed with conflicts between proxies; the leadership role of
non-revolutionary and non-proletarian forces of progressive mass movements –
all these complex and contradictory developments make it increasingly difficult
for socialist activists to find the correct orientation. Under these
conditions, it is the task of the RCIT to defend the revolutionary program, to
derive the correct tactics for the class struggle, and to assemble the best
revolutionaries under its banner.
10. What
is the character of this new political phase? We view it as being neither
(pre-) revolutionary nor counter-revolutionary but, rather as one with a
contradictory, intermediate character. While the phase that transpired from the
beginning of 2011 until the first half of 2013 overwhelmingly saw the masses on
the offensive (Arab Revolution, Greece, Occupy Movement, Marikana/South Africa,
Turkey, Brazil, etc.), the present phase has both counter-revolutionary and
revolutionary features, as we have outlined above. It is currently marked by
the qualitative deepening of the inter-imperialist rivalry, which on one hand
will provoke increasing chauvinism and social-chauvinism in the workers’
movement. On the other hand, this resulting world disorder will also accelerate
the search among many militants for a program and organization which advocate
anti-imperialism and proletarian internationalism. Let us not forget that we
are talking about different phases within one and the same historic
revolutionary period which opened in 2008 with the deep crisis of the
capitalist world economy. The fundamental dynamics of this period – the decline
of the productive forces, the aggravation of the social contradictions, the
inevitable provocation of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary upheavals as
well as wars – mark all phases within this period. Hence, in such a period
counter-revolutionary setbacks are inevitable given the devastating crisis of
working class leadership. But at the same time no lasting counter-revolutionary
stability is possible because of the repeated clash of social and political
contradictions. This period and its crisis-ridden character point repeatedly to
the only alternative which stands at its end: Socialism or Barbarism.
11. In
our last document on the world situation, we have already pointed out that
while the aggravation of contradictions inevitably provokes a sharpening of the
class struggle, the working class suffers from a crisis of leadership. This
crisis of leadership in turn influences the forms and tempo of the class
struggle. In particular, it can lead to increasing counter-revolutionary
movements – including fascism as its highest or, more correctly, its lowest
expression. The failure of the workers’ movement and left to provide any
revolutionary leadership for the heroic mass uprisings in 2011–13 has lead to a
certain retreat and to the increasing emergence of counter-revolutionary
movements. However, this is neither inevitable nor irreversible. New eruptions
of social and political contradictions are inevitable and will create new mass
struggles and insurrections – as we have just seen it in Bosnia, beginning in
the spring of 2014 – out of which new vanguard layers will emerge.
12. If
we prepare a balance sheet of the past three years, we can say that the world
has witnessed a massive intensification of the class struggle. We have seen the
Arab Revolution which shattered and brought down dictatorships in a number of
countries. We have seen the largest general strike in mankind’s history
(India). We have seen the largest mass mobilizations in key countries of the
South for several decades (Brazil, Turkey, South Africa as well as Greece). All
this confirms the RCIT’s assessment of the nature of the present historic
period as a “revolutionary.” It also confirms our analysis that the
centre of gravity of the world proletariat and its struggle for liberation has
moved to the South.
13. The
new political phase is the result of the fundamental dynamics and the process
of the historic period we are living in. As we noted in the RCIT’s world
situation document issued in September 2013 the new period began in 2008 with
an initial phase in which all classes where in a “state of shock.” This
was followed by a second phase which – starting in late 2010 / early 2011 – was
characterized by a “massive upswing of the class struggle.” In the class
struggle, developments of the last three years we have identified an initial
phase which we called an “innocent phase,” in which the masses, full of
illusions, either followed petty-bourgeois and bourgeois leaderships in
movements or elected them into office. Since then we have seen a process of
disillusionment and growing opposition to these elected bourgeois-democratic
governments or to the leadership of movements. At the same time, there has been
no revolutionary party in existence which could have provided an alternative
leadership and lead the struggle towards a higher stage. As a result, the
masses suffered several defeats, and counter-revolutionary movements have also
emerged. These developments contributed to the development of a new world
political phase. No less, we have stated in the past that the aggravation of
contradictions in the new historic period does not express itself only in the
numerous mass struggles around the world, but also in the increasing
imperialist aggressiveness and the rivalry between the imperialist powers. This
qualitative intensification of imperialist aggressiveness and rivalry has
contributed decisively to the change in the world situation.
II. Key
Features of the World Situation
14. The world
economy remains in a state of very weak, fragile, and highly
artificial recovery. US net business investment – that is investment after the
deduction of the depreciation of existing stock – is still nearly one-third
below the pre-crisis peak in the world largest economy. (3) It has
dropped lower (as a share of GDP) in each successive recovery since the 1980s.
Its present peak only reaches the trough levels witnessed during the two
previous recessions! (4) (See Figure 1) Similarly net investment in
Europe is at a historic low.(5) (See Figure 2) These figures reflect that
capitalists do not expect sufficiently high rates of profit and therefore
hesitate to increase their investment. The reason for this is, as Marx
elaborated in Volume III of Capital, the tendency of the rate of profit
to fall. While the weak recovery will continue for some time, it will sooner or
later turn into another, if not worse, worldwide Great Recession.
Heightening of
Inter-Imperialist Rivalry
15. The
new Cold War between US/EU and Russia is the single most important event in the
recent past, and marks the beginning of a new phase of world politics. This heightening
of inter-imperialist rivalry comes as no surprise. From the beginning
of the new historic period, we have consistently pointed out that, given the decline of the forces of production and the
general crisis of capitalism, an escalation in the rivalry between the
imperialist powers was inevitable. We already witnessed this tendency in the
war between Russia and US-allied Georgia in 2008; in the rising Sino-Japanese
tensions around the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the East China Sea; and in the
Russian-American disagreement over the civil war in Syria. This quantitative increase
of inter-imperialist rivalry reached a new qualitative level with
the international conflict which broke out in the spring 2014 around the crisis
in the Ukraine.
16. The
international crisis after the pro-Western coup d'état has not only illustrated
the well-established aggressive nature of Western imperialism. It has also
demonstrated that Russia, too, has become a Great Imperialist Power, so much so
that it was able to stand up against the West and annex the Crimea without
serious punishment. This crisis has opened a series of mutual saber-rattlings between the imperialist camps: NATO
plans to further expand to the East and to increase their military presence in
Eastern Europe; at the same time, Russia wants to expand its sphere of
influence of even to annex the eastern parts of the Ukraine and Transnistria. While a temporary diplomatic compromise on the
Ukraine cannot be excluded as a possibility, it is obvious that this crisis has
irreversibly brought out into the open the deep rivalry between the two
imperialist camps.
17. These new developments confirm the RCIT’s assessment
that, in the past few years, Russia has gained increasing strength as an
imperialist power, and China has also emerged as a new imperialist power. The
RCIT has invested considerable resources in elaborating and disseminating such
an analysis of Russian and Chinese imperialism, because it is the only key to
understand the present dynamics of world politics. As we have shown in another
document, ignoring the imperialist nature of Russia and China forces a number
of centrists to walk into the theoretical trap of Kautskyanism, according to
which the world incorrectly appears as one of increasing convergence
between the imperialist powers US, EU, and Japan, i.e., the
realization of Kautsky’s false utopia of “ultra-imperialism.” (6)
18. The
heightening of inter-imperialist rivalry will inevitably lead to
destabilization of international relations between the Great Powers. It will
multiply the political, diplomatic, and economic conflicts between the
imperialist states and will provoke an accelerated armaments race, militarism,
and chauvinism on all sides. While, in the short term, the Cold War may not
turn into a shooting war in Europe, open clashes between Japan and China are
quite possible in the next few years. If the international working class does
not succeed in overthrowing the ruling class in time, a Third World War is the
most likely outcome of the escalating inter-imperialist rivalry on the backdrop
of capitalism’s decline. This rivalry and militarism will most likely increase
qualitatively with outbreak of the next, and probably even deeper, Great
Recession some time in the next few years. This further deepening of
capitalism’s crisis will also increase the desire of the desperate ruling
classes to look for a military solution to their problems, i.e., by launching a
new war.
19. The
RCIT restates its Leninist position on conflicts between imperialist states: We
defend the program which is associated with the term revolutionary
defeatism. In both camps, revolutionaries must develop propaganda along the
lines “The main enemy is at home!” and “Turn the imperialist into a
civil war!” The international workers’ movement must oppose all forms of
sanctions issued by the imperialist states against their rivals. They must also
resolutely oppose NATO’s expansion towards the East as well as Russia’s threats
of invasion and its economic pressure against the Ukraine, which takes the form
of raising gas prices and aggressively calling in debts.
20. An
important issue in the next months and years will be the so-called Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and the EU. Its
declared goal is the liberalization of trade and investment between the two
largest Western imperialist blocs. The international workers’ movement in North
America and Europe must vehemently oppose the TTIP. We say this not because we
reject the economic internationalization between imperialist countries, but
because the TTIP is a major attack against the working class and popular masses.
The planned changes in business, labor, and consumer legislation will
enormously strengthen the power of the imperialist monopolies against the
state, the workers, and consumers.
Counterrevolution
in the Ukraine
21. From
the beginning of the political crisis in the Ukraine, the RCIT has closely
followed developments there and has expressed its views in a number of
statements (including joint resolutions with the Russian MAS). (7) Here,
we will only elaborate some observations and conclusions about this key theatre
of political events during the past few months. As we have pointed out from the
start, the political crisis of the Ukraine originated as a conflict between
different factions of oligarchs, whose respective orientations reflected the
ongoing rivalry between US/EU imperialism on the one hand and Russian
imperialism on the other for influence in the country. This is why the RCIT
supported neither side in this conflict, but instead called for independent,
working class mobilizations. Obviously the Yanukovych government represented
the interests of a group of oligarchs with a pro-Russian orientation. However,
at no time did the Maidan movement display a progressive, democratic nature.
Rather, the movement was founded, top-down by pro-Western parties, on the very
day that President Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with
the EU. While undoubtedly the movement contained some liberal,
middle class elements hoping for more democracy, as a whole it was dominated
from start to finish by an unstable coalition of two right-wing conservative
parties (Fatherland and UDAR), the fascist Svoboda party, and the Neo-Nazis of
the Pravy Sektor. These reactionary elements attacked progressive
and trade union forces as soon as the latter openly intervened with flags and
banners.
22. In
sum, the Maidan movement differed in a number of ways from a democratic mass
movement with a non-revolutionary leadership like those which have arisen in
other countries: (1) it came into being as a movement supporting a reactionary goal
(joining the imperialist EU) instead of, for example, one fighting for
democratic rights against a dictatorship; (2) from its emergence until its
accession to power, the movement was tightly controlled by a small group of
reactionary leaders (including fascists); and (3) the only time the masses
identifying with the movement refused to follow its leadership was when the Pravy
Sektor Nazis called for the cancellation of the compromise with the
Yanukovych government. For these reasons, the RCIT maintains that the dominant
character of the Maidan movement was not the desire
for democratic rights (while this certainly played an important role among some sectors
of the movement); rather we see this movement as having been a reactionary tool
which fought for a reactionary goal (joining the EU) and for the interests of a
pro-Western sector of the ruling class as well as those of Western imperialism.
23. For
these reasons, we consider as politically criminal the support exhibited for
the Maidan movement, as a kind of legitimate democratic struggle, by most of
the larger centrist organizations (e.g., the Mandelite Fourth International,
Peter Taffee’s CWI, the Cliffite SWP/IST, the ISO [USA], and the Morenoite
LIT-FT). Once again, we witness how the lack of coherent Marxist methodology
and analysis inevitably leads to centrist confusion and vacillations and
ultimately into the camp of counter-revolution.
24. The
overthrow itself was the result of the Pravy Sektor’s military
initiative following their rejection of the compromise which the other three
parties of the Maidan movement signed with the Yanukovych government. The rapid
growth of fascist forces should serve as an alarm for workers’ movements both
in the Ukraine and throughout Europe in general. For the first time since 1945,
fascists entered a European government. However, it would be inaccurate to
denounce the present government in Kiev as a “fascist government.” Rather, it
is a pro-Western coalition government composed of right-wing conservative
parties and fascists, the latter being a minority: Svoboda and Pravy
Sektor hold eight out of the twenty-seven governmental portfolios, and
account for four out of twenty-four regional governorships.
25. By
attempting to abolish Russian as an official language in the Ukraine, the new
right-wing government immediately demonstrated that it constitutes a threat for
the large portion of the Ukrainian population whose native language is Russian.
(According to recent polls, this includes about 43–46% of the country’s total population,
who actually are themajority of the population in the eastern and
southern regions of Ukraine.) In addition, following the coup, the Communist Party was
outlawed in several regions, and left-wing and trade union organizations were
attacked by the fascists. Under these conditions, the RCIT called for mass
mobilizations and the formation of armed self-defense units to fight back against
the fascist threat. We call for the right of self-determination for national
minorities, including the right of secession. We support the resistance of the
Russian-speaking population and the formation of self-defense movements in the
south and east of the Ukraine against the fascists and the new right-wing
government.
26. For
these reasons, we defend the right of the people of Crimea to secede from the
Ukraine and join Russia. While, given the
presence of Russian soldiers, the referendum which was
held was certainly not conducted under democratic conditions, there is no doubt
that it reflected the authentic desire of the Russian majority of the Crimea to
join Russia.
27. At
the same time, Marxists must defend the right of right of self-determination
for the national minority of the Crimean Tatars. The Tatars were formerly the
majority in Crimea, but suffered systematic oppression and expulsion by the
Tsarist Empire. For example, about 100,000 Tatars were expelled after the
Crimean War (1853–56). (8) At the same time, the Tsarist regime encouraged systematic settlement of
Russian colonialists in the Crimea. As a result, the Tatars became a minority
in Crimea in the later 19th century. In 1897, they constituted
34.1% of the Crimean population and, by 1921, only 25.9%. (9) In 1944, the Stalin regime
collectively deported the Crimean Tatars to Central Asia. Today, about 300,000
Tatars live in the Crimea. Following the recent Russian annexation of the
Crimea, the Tatars can once again expect new oppressive measures against them. According to theMoscow Times, Crimean
Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev wants the “Tatars to vacate part
of the land where they now live in exchange for new territory elsewhere in the
region”. (10) This is understandably perceived by the Tatars as a
threat for new expulsions, to which the official leaders of the Crimean Tatars
have responded with demands for full autonomy and a referendum on this issue.
Not surprisingly, these demands have already been rejected by the pro-Russian
Crimean government. The RCIT unconditionally supports the struggle for full and equal
national rights for the Crimean Tatars, without giving
the slightest political support to their bourgeois leadership.
28. The
Ukrainian working class will face continuous attacks by the new right-wing
government, which has already announced a 50% rise in the price of gasoline
effective as of 1 May, as dictated by the IMF. The government is also planning
to lay off many public sector workers. These economic attacks against the
workers will be exacerbated by Russia’s decision to raise the price of natural
gas exported to the Ukraine. All this demonstrates how vital it is that the
struggle against the looming fascist threat and for the
defense of the rights of theRussian-speaking population of the Ukraine must be
combined with mobilizations against these social attacks. Ukrainian socialists
must link this struggle with a call for an immediate break with the IMF, NATO,
and the EU, the nationalization of the country’s industry and financial sector
under workers’ control, and the overthrow of the present government. To fight
for the implementation of such a program, it is absolutely incumbent upon
Ukrainian workers to establish an independent, revolutionary
workers’ party.
Reactionary
Mobilizations in Venezuela and Thailand
29. The
semi-fascist mobilizations against the Maduro government in Venezuela represent
another attempt by sectors of the old elite and US imperialism to destabilize
the country in order to provoke a coup d’état. As the RCIT has claimed in its
public statements (including a joint statement made with the comrades of the
CSR in Venezuela) it was the task of the workers’ vanguard to mobilize –
alongside the Bolivarian mass organizations – for the defeat of these
provocations. (11) However, Marxists also have to note the
substantial shift to the right by the bourgeois-populist Maduro government by
its conclusion of a new “Pacto de Punto Fijo” with the capitalists’
federations (Fedecámaras, Consecomercio, Fedeindustria, and Fedenaga). In
addition, the Maduro government has increased the social attacks against the
working class. However, this shift to the right increases the potential for
divisions and splits in the Bolivarian movement. Hence, the coming period
offers excellent opportunities to finally break the near monopoly of the
bourgeois-populist PSUV over the working class movement and to build an
independent and revolutionary workers’ party.
30. Since
late 2013, the old reactionary elite in Thailand has been trying to overthrow
the current government of Yingluck Shinawatra by mobilizing demonstrations of
its middle class dominated “Yellow Shirts” of the right-wing “Democrat
Party.” (12) While these provocations have not been sufficiently
strong to bring down the government, they have created the pretext for the
constitutional court to declare the last elections invalid (in which the
right-wing opposition refused to stand because it feared another electoral
defeat). Worse, this constitutional court is currently attempting to unseat the
government. The political base of the current bourgeois-populist government –
the “Red Shirts” who are mostly workers and peasants – has now started
their own mobilizations against these threats putting up to 200,000
demonstrators on the streets. Socialists in Thailand should identify the
right-wing “Yellow Shirts” as the current main enemy. They should work
alongside the “Red Shirts” in order to break them away from their capitalist
leadership and to build a revolutionary workers’ party.
The Arab
Revolution – In Retreat, for Now
31. Since
our last report on the world situation, the military dictatorship of General
Sisi in Egpyt has succeeded in consolidating its power.
Following the coup d’état on 3 July 2013, it barbarously smashed the protest
camps of the Muslim Brotherhood, carried through a fraudulent referendum on a
new constitution, and is now about to elect General Sisi as the new president.
All those reformists and centrists who denied the reactionary nature of the
coup d’état and the defeat it signified for the working class, or who even
welcomed it as a “Second Revolution,” have been proven as completely bankrupt
and useless to meet the tasks of the workers’ vanguard. In spite of its massive
wave of terror, the regime has not been able to break the resistance. The
ongoing mass demonstrations against the dictatorship and the workers’ strikes
for economic demands show that the Egyptian Revolution has not been smashed. (13)
32. Furthermore,
the crisis of the bourgeois Muslim Brotherhood, in particular among its young
supporters, and the betrayal of the leadership of the independent trade unions
which supports the dictatorship, create a political vacuum for revolutionaries.
Provided that revolutionaries understand the nature of the current political process
and derive appropriate strategic and tactical conclusions from it, they can
utilize the search for a new orientation amongst the workers and youth vanguard
in order to build a revolutionary workers’ party.
33. The Syrian
Revolution has suffered a number of setbacks. The lack of a
revolutionary leadership has given reactionary forces like the pro-Western FSA
and the radical-Islamist ISIS substantial influence in the leadership of the
rebel movement. This has created enormous difficulties for the revolutionary
struggle. It has weakened the resistance and has given the Assad dictatorship
the opportunity to regain some territory. (14)
34. However,
contrary to the propaganda disseminated by Assad’s, the revolution is neither
dead nor is it completely controlled by reactionary forces. Many local popular
committees continue to exist and take local matters into their own hands. In
addition, a powerful alliance of petty-bourgeois rebel forces has been formed
in order to defeat the ultra-reactionary ISIS. Naturally, revolutionaries in
Syria and internationally must continue to support the Syrian Revolution. The
struggle of rebel forces against the ISIS-scum is justified and necessary. At
the same time, revolutionaries must work hard to advance the formation of an
independent workers’ party based on a revolutionary program to offer the masses
a political alternative to the Islamists and pro-Western forces.
35. We
also stand on the side of the Kurdish people who fought and fight heroically for
freedom. Defend the Kurdish people both against Assad and the reactionary
Islamists from ISIS! The Syrian Revolution was, is and will be also the
revolution of the Kurdish people for freedom. For a united socialist Kurdistan
of the workers and peasants!
36. Libya faces
an ongoing revolutionary process marked by a very weak government, a lack of
revolutionary leadership, and the dominance of petty-bourgeois Islamist forces.
In our previous world situation document, we pointed out that last year Libya
witnessed a number of strikes and wage increase struggles by public sector
workers. The government is deeply unpopular. In March 2014, Prime Minister Ali
Zeidan was voted out by parliament and fled the country to Europe. The
parliament itself fears new elections and has unilaterally prolonged its
existence, even though its term has already expired. Strikes and occupations of
ports and oil refineries are continuing and are mixed with the desire of the
population of the east for more autonomy and a share in the income of oil
exports. These struggles can easily turn into another civil war, seeing how
there are between 100,000–200,000 armed militia fighters (out of a total
population of only 6 million people). Socialists should emphasize the need for
action committees in places of work, neighborhoods and villages, as well as the
formation of workers’ and popular militias which are under the control of the
working people.
Flashpoint of
the Class Struggle
37. The Bosnian
Revolution has been the most important case of workers’ uprisings
in the last half year. (15) The uprising has involved a combination
of strikes, demonstrations, and a spontaneous violent insurrection in which
working class youth played a major role. It opened a revolutionary situation in
which the state apparatus and the ruling class were paralyzed and the workers
and poor could have taken the power. However, the lack of a revolutionary
leadership has meant that the ruling class, with the support of the imperialist
EU, could re-stabilize the situation to a certain degree. However, the uprising
of the masses has left a number of “plenum građanki i građana” (citizen
plenum) in all larger cities like Tuzla (the working class heart of Bosnia)
Sarajevo, Bihac, etc. These assemblies are not soviets, since they are not
based in the residential and working centers of the proletariat. They can
rather be compared with the Assamblea Populare which came to
life in Argentina in 2002. In these assemblies, the petty-bourgeois intelligentsia
has a disproportionally large influence and, hence, they play the role of
lobbyists in the existing bourgeois parliaments, rather than serving as the
organizing centre of the class struggle. While it is essential that
revolutionaries intervene in these assemblies, the decisive task is to build
the struggle in workplaces, to establish workers’ assemblies, as well as to
found a revolutionary workers’ party in order to break the masses away from
corrupted bourgeois parties like the SDA, SDP BiH, etc.
38. The
Bosnian Revolution is of historical importance for two reasons. It is so far
the peak of the struggle of the masses in the ex-Stalinist states in Eastern
and South-Eastern Europe have risen up against the political and social agenda
of restored capitalism. (16) Together with the unfinished democratic
revolution in Bulgaria, the mass movements in Slovakia against the huge
corruption of the government, the general strikes in Slovenia and Rumania, the
progressive mass movement in Croatia against the joining to the European Union
and the struggle of the Roma people for equality, the Bosnian Revolution shows
the way forward to the working masses of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This
indicates that the dark period in these countries, which started after 1991, is
coming to an end. This gloomy period was itself the result of three combined
factors: (1) the political atomization of the working class by
decades of Stalinist dictatorship; (2) the failed political revolution of
1989–91; and (3) the social atomization of the proletariat
through achieved by the capitalist restoration.
39. Secondly,
the Bosnian Revolution is remarkable because of its multi-national and
anti-nationalist character. Naturally, the Bosniak workers are playing the
dominant role, but this is only logical because: (1) they are the strongest
national group; (2) they are the most urbanized, industrialized, and
proletarianized national group; and (3) they are much less influenced by
reactionary nationalism, precisely because it was they who stood at the centre
of the legitimate national liberation struggle in 1992-95 against the terror
bands of Karadzic, Mladić, and Milosevic.
1. 40. Various
developments in South Africa prove that, since the
heroic Marikana miners’ strike in summer 2012, the country has entered a new,
pre-revolutionary phase. In addition to a number of militant strikes, we are
seeing for the first time a split of significant sectors of the working class with
the popular-frontist ANC-SACP government. The most important event of this
historic development is NUMSA’s break with the popular frontist ANC-SACP
government. NUMSA calls for the formation of a united front against the
neoliberal attacks of the government, as well as for the formation of a
“Movement for Socialism” which many workers interpret as a call for a new mass
workers’ party. In addition, the petty-bourgeois left-populist Economic
Freedom Fighters, led by the former ANC Youth leader Julius Malema,
attracts a lot of support among black youth and militant workers. Finally,
there is also the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), which is
led by the right-centrist DSM/CWI, but which has received support from sectors
of the workers’ vanguard. (17)
41. The
above developments can only be characterized as historic. They indeed open the
road to the formation of a mass workers’ party. Unfortunately, the NUMSA
leadership remains trapped in a Stalinist schema of the “national-democratic
revolution,” and has announced its return to the old ANC program of the 1950s
(the “Freedom Charter”). In addition, the leadership of NUMSA vacillates around
the question of whether to build a new workers’ party now, and refuses to put
forth candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This is shameful, and
revolutionaries in South Africa should explain in their independent propaganda
to the workers’ vanguard that the NUMSA leadership is heading in the wrong
direction. Nevertheless, regardless of such criticism, South African
revolutionaries must make every effort to participate in the movement initiated
by NUMSA and fight shoulder by shoulder with the workers’ vanguard.
42. What
should be the position of Marxists vis-à-vis the 2014 South African general elections
to be held on May 7? Naturally, they cannot call upon workers to vote for the
popular-frontist ANC-SACP list, which has implemented a neoliberal policy for
the last two decades. Should they, perhaps, give critical support to Malema’s
Economic Freedom Fighters? While Marxists should definitely deploy the united
front tactic in relation to the EFF so as to reach its young militant
supporters, a critical vote for the EFF is not permissible,
since it is not a working class organization.
43. We
propose that revolutionaries in South Africa give critical electoral
support for the WASP. Why? Because it is the only working class party
standing for these elections. While it is small and will probably receive only
a small number of votes, it definitely represents more than simply the DSM/CWI,
as it has roots among the workers’ vanguard. A strong turnout for the WASP will
constitute an important call to the workers’ vanguard to found an independent
mass workers’ party to the left of the ANC and SACP. However, such electoral
support – lest it be seen as opportunistic – must be combined with sharp
criticism of the WASP program and leadership. WASP’s electoral manifesto does
not explain that socialism can only be achieved via a workers’ revolution. It
tirelessly repeats the old reformist slogans of “democratization of the
police” instead of openly calling for armed self-defense units of the
workers and poor to defend the working class against massacres similar to
Marikana. (18) All this reflects the rotten program of the DSM/CWI
which is based on the illusionary dogma of a peaceful transformation to
socialism, and their equally reformist notion that police officers are “workers
in uniform.” Worse, the DSM/CWI leadership has chosen Moses Mayekiso as
their “presidential candidate.” While Mayekiso had a militant past as a trade
union leader during the 1980s, subsequently he integrated himself in leading
positions of the ANC and the SACP and later became a corrupt capitalist
involved in shady deals. (For example, Mayekiso served as CEO of Sanco
Investment Holdings which in 1999 received R2.5 million for its
service in a huge arms deal with the Swedish corporation SAAB, something
Mayekiso himself has admitted.) (19) Mayekiso is a quintessential
example of a once leader of the workers who has transformed himself into a
traitorous servant of the bourgeoisie. By selecting Mayekiso as their
“presidential candidate,” the WASP/CWI leadership demonstrates its cynical
attitude to the cause of working class liberation. Socialists who are
campaigning for WASP must sharply denounce Mayekiso as well as the WASP
leadership which supports him, and should call for his immediate removal from
the list.
44. The
spontaneous mass uprisings in Brazil last year
constituted a key event of the international class struggle. These
demonstrations were the largest since the end of the military dictatorship in
1985. While, in general, the wave of mass mobilizations has declined, it has
repeatedly flared up and is likely to return to full strength when Brazil hosts
the world cup competition this summer. In addition, this movement has inspired
more militant workers’ strikes as well as mass protests during the negotiations
related to the privatization of the Libra pre-salt oilfields off the coast of
Brazil. The reaction of the PT government of Dilma Rousseff to these
developments has been a combination of vague promises and an increase in
repression, as has been demonstrated by the escalation of police violence
against demonstrators as well as the militarization of the favelas. (20)
45. Revolutionaries
continue to advocate the formation of action committees in workplaces and
neighborhoods as well as the organizing of self-defense units to repel the
repression of the state apparatus. They argue for the preparation of a general
strike to unite the resistance and to launch a counter-offensive against the
government. It is also urgent to conduct debates within the unions, about the
need to split with the PT, and to found an independent workers’ party based on
a revolutionary program.
46. Similarly,
in Turkey we have also witnessed a decline in the wave
of mass mobilizations which shook the Erdoğan regime last summer. (21) However,
they too have not entirely disappeared but have repeatedly flared up. This
became unmistakable during the huge mass demonstration at the funeral of the
15-year old youth, Berkin Elvan, in mid-March 2014. With two million people
demonstrating in fifty-three provinces throughout Turkey, this was the largest
mobilization since the military coup d’état in 1980. (22) Clearly,
since the summer of 2013, a new political phase has opened in Turkey.
47. This
has helped to cause a deep split inside the Turkish ruling class between the
Erdoğan regime on one hand and its former ally, the conservative Islamist Gülen
movement on the other. The remaining Kemalists in the state apparatus and the
CHP are trying to finesse this. While the Erdoğan regime tries to stabilize its
power by adopting steps characteristic of an authoritarian regime (e.g., police
repression against demonstrations, restrictions of Twitter and YouTube), there
is also the danger of a coup d’état by the old Kemalist elite, either via the
military or the constitutional court. Socialists must not support either of
these bourgeois camps. They should, however, use the increased space to advance
the class struggle, as well as the national liberation struggle of the Kurdish
people, and to build an independent workers’ party based on a revolutionary
program.
48. It
is in Spain that the most important events related to
the class struggle in Europe took place during the last six months. During this
period the country saw mass demonstrations against the conservative PP
government’s initiative to outlaw women’s right of abortion. This constitutes
the most important attack on women’s rights in Europe for decades. In late
March, the country witnessed the magnificent, two million strong "Marcha
de la Dignidad" (March of Dignity) against poverty and unemployment.
This was organized by 300 collectives and social platforms. However, the
reformist, ex-Stalinist PCE and Izquierda Unida (IU) exert an
inordinate bureaucratic influence on these mobilizations, as they control a
strong organizational national apparatus.
49. Revolutionaries
in Spain should fight within these movements to advance the formation of action
committees of the masses and organize the struggle against the hegemony of the
reformist bureaucracy. They should call for a national congress of delegates
from all local, regional, and national organizations and initiatives of the
working class and the youth. The central slogan should be a call for a general
strike as a tool to unify working class resistance and to orient it to the
workplaces. Most importantly, socialists should advocate the need to build a
revolutionary workers’ party.
50. At
the elections to the European Parliament between 22 and
25 May 2014, socialists should deploy the tactic of critical electoral support
wherever the preconditions for such exist. Such a tactic is valid whenever
reformist or centrist parties of the workers’ movement stand in elections.
(This tactic is also valid for petty-bourgeois forces which lead liberation
struggles of oppressed or discriminated against nations.) As Lenin explained at
the Second Congress of the Comintern in 1920, this tactic involves a call to
vote for such reformist or centrist workers’ parties, while at the same time
warning about their treacherous leaderships, but also calls for the workers to
organize the struggle themselves while placing demands on their supposed
leaders in order to unmask them. There are a number of countries where
left-reformist parties are standing in elections and which represent the hopes
for the struggle against the relentless austerity offensive of the ruling
class. Hence the RCIT proposes to socialists in their respective countries to
give critical electoral support to the IU in Spain, SYRIZA in
Greece, the Linkspartei in Germany, or the Front de
Gauche in France. In addition, Socialists in the Basque Country should
consider critical electoral support for the left-wing nationalist Basque
Country Gather (EHB). In countries where the social democratic party
is the only force of the workers’ movement, critical electoral support for them
may possiblybe the correct tactic.
51. Against
the backdrop of the deepening economic and political crisis of capitalism, the national
question in Europe takes on greater significance. As in all other
democratic issues, Marxists have to differentiate between the aspirations of an
oppressed, discriminated against, or non-equal nation and those of oppressor or
privileged nation. Therefore the RCIT supports the legitimate struggles of the
former and vehemently opposes those of the latter. We support the right of national
self-determination for the discriminated nations. This means that we call for
equality in terms language rights, access to the state resources, etc. In those
cases where the majority of a non-equal nation wishes an independent state,
Marxists have to support this. Thus they call for an independent
workers’ republic for the given nation and combine this with the
slogan of United Socialist States of Europe. (23) Furthermore,
they have to launch vehement agitation against nationalism and
for the international unity of the working class. In other cases, Marxists will
support the call for autonomy and forms of self-government of the respective
territories. Such support for national and democratic rights has to be applied
to all non-equal nations, irrespective of whether they are situated within
imperialist or semi-colonial states, and regardless of whether they would,
after secession, find themselves within another imperialist or a semi-colonial
state (if the working class cannot take power in time). This is only logical
since all democratic demands against discrimination – like equal rights for
women, youth, lesbian and gays, etc – apply not only to the working class
members of these groups but also those of the middle class and the bourgeoisie.
52. Based
on this methodological approach, the RCIT supports the desire of the Basque and
the Catalan people to leave the oppressive Spanish state and to form their own
republics. We say: “For an independent Workers Republic of Catalonia and of
the Basque Country!” The harsh long-time suppression of the Basque
nationalists by the Spanish state and the recent decision of Madrid to ban the
planned referendum on independence in Catalonia demonstrate that the national
question in Spain has an explosive democratic character. The Spanish workers’
movement must mobilize against the reactionary Spanish state and at the same
time advocate the joint workers’ struggle against the austerity offensive of
the PP government. On the other hand, there are also reactionary separatist
movements like the Venetian one. This is reactionary campaign of a privileged
non-nation which must be resolutely opposed by the workers’ movement.
53. The
recently published IPCC Report on the Climate Change has
again confirmed the warning of Marxists and many progressive ecological
initiatives about the dramatic threats of climate change. While the entire
world will be affected by the consequences of climate crisis, it is the poor
countries of the South who will bear the main brunt of this catastrophe.
According to the report, rainfall patterns will change and cause flooding which
will threaten to wipe out homes, businesses, and energy supplies. Droughts will
lead to a shortage of safe drinking water. Storms will damage the infrastructure.
As a result, food production could fall by 2% per decade in the coming period.
In short, the climate crisis will substantially spread poverty and hunger. Once
again, this demonstrates that the decline of capitalism in the present historic
period poses mankind with the alternative: socialism or barbarism.
Of course, there is nothing inevitable about the climate crisis. According to
the IPCC scientists, a figure of $100 billion per year could help the poor
countries to deal with climate change. (Typically, this figure was deleted in
the final version of the report at the insistence of the US and other
imperialist governments.) The climate crisis will also further contribute to
the destabilization of the world capitalist system and provoke more civil wars.
It is not surprising that the strategists of the ruling class already prepare
themselves for more turmoil and armed conflicts. Such writes the Pentagon in
its latest issue of the Quadrennial Defense Review: “Climate
change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp increases in food costs.
The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition
while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance
institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will
aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation,
political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable
terrorist activity and other forms of violence.” (24)
III. Imperialism,
War and the Revolutionary Program
54. We
have pointed out that the new world political phase is marked by the
heightening of inter-imperialist rivalry and the emergence of a Cold War
between the US/EU and Russia (and China). This makes the understanding and
application of the Leninist program against imperialist militarism and wars
mandatory for the workers’ vanguard. The starting point for every Marxist must
be the famous dictum of the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who
summarized the essence of any military conflict by the famous words, often
repeated by Friedrich Engels and V.I. Lenin: “War is merely a continuation
of policy by other means.” (25) In Marxist terms this means that
the working class must fundamentally oppose its imperialist government equally
in times of peace as well as in times of war. It must use – regardless of
whether in peace or war – every weakness and crisis of its class enemy to
undermine and ultimately overthrow it. This is why Lenin and the Bolsheviks and
later Trotsky and the Fourth International made the principle “Turn the
imperialist war into a civil war!” a pillar of the revolutionary program.
55. To
win the workers’ vanguard, and later the entire proletariat, for such a
revolutionary anti-war program, Marxists must, even in times of peace,
consistently make the case for proletarian internationalism on all issues. They
must explain the need for the workers to break with every form of
political and ideological identification with the imperialist national state.
Trotsky explained this in his crucial document War and the Fourth
International: “A ‘socialist’ who preaches national defense is a
petty-bourgeois reactionary at the service of decaying capitalism. Not to bind
itself to the national state in time of war, to follow not the war map but the
map of the class struggle, is possible only for that party that has already
declared irreconcilable war on the national state in time of peace. Only by
realizing fully the objectively reactionary role of the imperialist state can
the proletarian vanguard become invulnerable to all types of social patriotism.
This means that a real break with the ideology and policy of “national defense”
is possible only from the standpoint of the international proletarian
revolution.” (26)
56. From
this follows the need for Marxists to mobilize the working class in the
imperialist countries not only against all forms of militarism and aggressive
foreign policy. They must also explain that the workers must unconditionally
support the struggles of the oppressed people against the imperialist states –
in particular those who are in conflict with their “own” ruling class. Trotsky
summarized this principle in his statement: “The struggle against war and
its social source, capitalism, presupposes direct, active, unequivocal support
to the oppressed colonial peoples in their struggles and wars against
imperialism. A "neutral" position is tantamount to support of
imperialism.” (27)
57. Another
expression of proletarian internationalism is the unconditional support of
Marxists for the complete liberation of national minorities, including the
migrants, living in their own and in all other imperialist countries. Thus
Bolshevik-Communists advocate the struggle for equal rights for migrants, who
are, in their vast majority, a nationally
oppressed layer of super-exploited labor, and national
minorities. As the RCIT
has elaborated repeatedly, this includes the struggle for equal wages, access
to jobs, equal language rights, etc. In addition,Bolshevik-Communists oppose
the reactionary control of immigration by the imperialist states. The
transformation of the imperialist states into armed fortresses to keep out poor
masses from the semi-colonial world is a prime example for the existing global
Apartheid regime which divides the world – and hence the world proletariat – in
exploiter and exploited nations. Marxists in the imperialist countries must
resolutely oppose their aristocratic ruling class and raise the slogan for “Open
Borders.” This slogan against imperialist border control will substantially
increase in importance given the rising tide of migrants from the South hoping
to enter the rich North due to the barbaric super-exploitation of the South and
the dramatic, worldwide climate change. During the present period of
globalization, in which migrants constitute an ever increasing proportion of
the working class in imperialist countries, the struggle for full equal rights
for migrants is one of the most important issues about which Marxists must
prepare the proletariat in the imperialist world in their campaign against
future imperialist aggression and wars. In addition, the fact that migrants
represent a substantial minority of the proletariat will create tremendous
difficulties for the imperialist ruling class in their future wars. This is
because, from the start, they have a sizeable minority which is much less, or
not at all, inclined to rally to the defense of the “national fatherland” – in
particular if, for example, the ruling class wages wars against oppressed
peoples with whom the migrants share either national or religious links. To
summarize, the proletarian internationalist struggle for equality of migrants
and open borders constitutes the most important political and
ideological preparation of the working class in the imperialist countries for
the coming waves of chauvinism against the backdrop of increasing
inter-imperialist rivalry.
58. Concerning
the issue of imperialist aggression and war, Marxists have to fight against
various opportunistic trends inside the workers’ movement. First, we have to
fight against pacifism which opposes imperialist wars with helpless appeals to
morality and the United Nations, and which renounces violence out of principle.
While there is a progressive aspect to such sentiments when they are advanced
by politically-raw workers who, in this way, attempt to express their hatred
for imperialist wars, when propagated by various petty-bourgeois, social
democratic, and Stalinist forces this ideology is utterly reactionary. In such
cases it is an ideology cynically used to disarm the workers and oppressed
peoples when, in fact, the latter can only achieve liberation
from the imperialist yoke by means of an armed class struggle.
59. Secondly,
Marxists must acutely fight against those reformist and centrist forces which,
in one way or another, opportunistically adapt to their own bourgeoisie. If
they already adapt to their own ruling class in times of peace, it is
guaranteed that they will completely capitulate when the pressure to do so
increases. The Japanese Communist Party’s support for its governments colonial
claims to various islands in the East China Sea, or the refusal of various
centrist groups like the CWI or the IMT to defend the semi-colonial nations who
have become victims of the aggression of their own imperialist bourgeoisie
(Malvinas war 1982, Afghanistan since 2001, Iraq 2003, Palestine, etc.), are
glaring examples of this. These forces openly adapt to social-patriotism. In
fact, they are social-imperialists. (28) Trotsky already emphasized that
Marxists have observed the concrete policy of such “socialist” groups: “At
the same time, it is necessary to follow attentively the inner struggle in the
reformist camp and attract in time the left socialist groupings developing
towards revolution to a struggle against war. The best criterion of the tendencies
of a given organization is its attitude in practice, in action, toward national
defence and toward colonies, especially in those cases in which the bourgeoisie
of a given country owns colonial slaves. Only a complete and real break with
official public opinion on the most burning question of the “defence of the
fatherland” signifies a turn, or at least the beginning of a turn from
bourgeois positions to proletarian positions. The approach to left
organizations of this type should be accompanied by friendly criticism of all
indecision in their policy and by a joint elaboration of all theoretical and
practical questions of war.” (29)
60. Finally
there are those reformist and centrist forces who oppose the foreign policy of
their own imperialist bourgeoisie by giving – directly or indirectly – support
to the rival imperialist power. This is often justified by claiming that these
powers are less imperialistic or not imperialistic at all, that they are more
democratic, etc. For example various Stalinists and centrists claim that China
is a kind of workers’ state or at least a non-imperialist capitalist country.
Others claim that Russia is not an imperialist but a semi-colonial or a
“pre-imperialist” state. All these serve as justifications for lending these
powers support against the US and EU. Conversely, there are also various
petty-bourgeois progressive forces in Russia and China who justify tactical
support for the US or the EU because these countries are less authoritarian.
All this is a complete betrayal of the principles of proletarian
internationalism. Such an opportunistic adaption to a rival imperialist power
has nothing to do with anti-imperialism. It is in fact just another form of
social-patriotism. Ignoring the imperialist
character of Russia and China forces one to walk not only into the theoretical
trap of Kautskyanism but also into the political trap of an inverted social-imperialism.(30)Marxists must follow
the principle as formulated by Trotsky: “The
struggle against war, properly understood and executed, presupposes the
uncompromising hostility of the proletariat and its organizations, always and
everywhere, toward its own and every other imperialist bourgeoisie.” (31)
61. The
sharpening of the inter-imperialist rivalry will increase conflicts and wars in
the semi-colonial world which are in fact proxy-wars between different Great
Powers. An actual example for this is the Maidan movement and the new
right-wing government in the Ukraine which acted as a proxy of US and EU imperialism.
Naturally, in such cases Marxists must not lend any support for such forces as
many centrists have done so in the Ukraine.
62. At the
same time, it would be an equal criminal mistake to subsume all struggles in
the semi-colonial world as imperialist proxy-wars. While it is unavoidable that
various imperialist powers will try to utilize national and democratic
struggles in the South to advance their own influence, this does not mean that
the struggle for democracy and national liberation ceases to exist as a
progressive factor in world politics. This would be a reactionary conclusion
which would condemn socialists to stand at the sidelines of the class struggle.
In fact it would be a capitulation to the bankrupt methods of “imperialist
economism” against which Lenin warned already a century ago. As we wrote in
another document, Marxists have to “concretely analyze if a given democratic
or national liberation struggle becomes fully subordinated to the imperialist
maneuvers and doesn’t possess any significant internal dynamic of a workers and
peasant liberation struggle. If this is the case, Marxists must change their
position and give up critical support for the national liberation struggle.”
(32) This was the method on which Lenin and the Bolsheviks based their policy:
“Britain and
France fought the Seven Years’ War for the possession of colonies. In other
words, they waged an imperialist war (which is possible on the basis of slavery
and primitive capitalism as well as on the basis of modern highly developed
capitalism). France suffered defeat and lost some of her colonies. Several
years later there began the national liberation war of the North American
States against Britain alone. France and Spain, then in possession of some
parts of the present United States, concluded a friendship treaty with the
States in rebellion against Britain. This they did out of hostility to Britain,
i.e., in their own imperialist interests. French troops fought the British on
the side of the American forces. What we have here is a national liberation war
in which imperialist rivalry is an auxiliary element, one that has no serious
importance. This is the very opposite to what we see in the war of 1914-16 (the
national element in the Austro-Serbian War is of no serious importance compared
with the all-determining element of imperialist rivalry). It would be absurd,
therefore, to apply the concept imperialism indiscriminately and conclude that
national wars are “impossible”. A national liberation war, waged, for example,
by an alliance of Persia, India and China against one or more of the
imperialist powers, is both possible and probable, for it would follow from the
national liberation movements in these countries. The transformation of such a
war into an imperialist war between the present-day imperialist powers would
depend upon very many concrete factors, the emergence of which it would be
ridiculous to guarantee.“ (33)
63. We
have to be prepared that the heightened inter-imperialist rivalry will also
increase the confusion and economist deviations in the left-reformist and
centrist camp. Against this, the RCIT repeats: The struggle against imperialism
and capitalism is impossible without the consistent support
for the liberation struggle of the oppressed people for democratic rights and
national liberation. Those, who fail in this task, fail to understand the
essence of Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution and mislead the workers’
vanguard.
IV. Crisis
of Working Class Leadership and the Building of the New International
64. As
we outlined above, the new political phase bears a highly contradictory
character because of its amalgamation of inter-imperialist rivalry, unfinished
revolutions, and counter-revolutionary events. Given the absence of an
authoritative revolutionary party, this will have enormously confusing effects
for the workers’ vanguard. This increases the responsibility of the authentic
revolutionary forces to provide the workers’ vanguard with a scientific
analysis of the world events as well as with clear programmatic answers and
perspectives. The RCIT dedicates all its resources to fulfilling this
responsibility.
65. The
highly contradictory nature of the new political phase will also accelerate the
outright bankruptcy of illusions in “the unity of the left” which have been so
fashionable in the last few years among left-reformists and centrists. We will
see more and more events where these groups will stand on opposite sides of the
barricades and, thus, prove how idiotic it was to propagate unity at all costs
– a unity devoid of a joint methodology and program. (See, for example, the
events in the Ukraine, Syria, and Egypt where left-reformists and centrists of
all sorts stood on different sides of the barricades.) Bolshevik-Communists
have to refine the lessons of the complete bankruptcy of “left unity” and
explain the need for socialists to break with such a liquidationist approach. While
most centrists pooh-poohed the Leninist conception of a vanguard party, it is
now clearer than ever that only a solid program and a disciplined organization
can provide the type of leadership the working class needs.
66. The
highly contradictory and confusing character of the new phase will also
polarize and politicize the workers’ movement. It forces all socialists to take
a stand and hence will intensify discussions and debates about perspectives and
programs. This will provide excellent opportunities for Bolshevik-Communists to
intervene in these debates and win the best elements for a revolutionary
perspective. At the same time, it will accelerate the decline of the old
centrist left. It has already proven incapable of finding an orientation in the
new historic period, and has been marked by crises, splits, and decline. This
is only natural when organizations with non-revolutionary programs,
orientations, and mentalities collide with the sharp contradictions of an
historic revolutionary period.
67. We
have repeatedly stated that the crisis of leadership of the working class
becomes more and more painfully noticeable in the present historic period. The
enormous aggravation of the contradictions, the stagnant state of the world
economy, the sharpening of the inter-imperialist rivalry, the climate crisis –
all these demonstrate over and again what we have been stressing for several
years. This period is marked by an
historic crisis of capitalism which poses the alternative “Socialism or Barbarism”
and is consequently marked by acute political clashes which will place the “Actuality
of the Revolution” on the agenda. As a result, increasing urgent has become
the need for the timely formation of revolutionary parties on a national level
and a World Party of Socialist Revolution, which will be the Fifth
Workers International. As we have written in another document, the
tempo of the class struggle accelerates much faster than the tempo of
accumulation of class struggle-orientated workers organizations. Hence,
class consciousness and class organizations lag far behind the struggle. (34)
It is likely that mankind will see historic events in the next few decades
which will decide its future, if it has a future at all.
68 Therefore
revolutionaries must emphasise that this is absolutely not the time for
Marxists to build discussion clubs and purely propaganda circles. No, even when
the authentic revolutionary forces are weak, they must build Bolshevik combat
organizations with an orientation to exemplary mass work and agitation, serious
theoretical work, clear propaganda and sharp polemics against the bankrupt
forces inside the movements of the working class and the oppressed. These
pre-party organizations must orientate themselves neither to the
petty-bourgeois intelligentsia nor the labor aristocracy, but first and foremost to the proletariat of
the South as well as the lower strata of the proletariat in the old imperialist
metropolises.Equally, we repeat that the forces for new revolutionary parties and the
new Workers’ International will not accumulate by the addition, the
“regroupment,” or the “left unity” of revolutionaries with left-reformist and
centrist forces. Of course there are and will be healthy forces among the socialist
left around the world. But only those sharing the orientation towards the new layers of the vastly expanding world
proletariat which is joining the class struggle will themselves
be able to contribute to the building of the new International. We call upon
all militant workers and youth to join the RCIT in its efforts to build a
revolutionary leadership which can lead the working class towards victory
before the ruling classes suck mankind down into the abyss of barbarism.
Footnotes
(1) See RCIT:
Aggravation of Contradictions, Deepening of Crisis of Leadership. Theses on
Recent Major Developments in the World Situation Adopted by the RCIT’s
International Executive Committee, 9.9.2013, in: Revolutionary Communism
No. 15, pp. 24-40, http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-situation-september2013/;
RCIT: The World Situation and the Tasks of the Bolshevik-Communists. Theses of
the International Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Communist
International Tendency, March 2013, in: Revolutionary Communism No. 8,
pp.33-42, www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-situation-march-2013
(4) Credit
Suisse: Global Equity Strategy. Four macro trends: Who benefits? Who gets hurt?
29 October 2013, p. 6
(5) Credit
Suisse: Global Equity Strategy. Four macro trends: Who benefits? Who gets hurt?
29 October 2013, p. 9
(8) Alan W.
Fisher: The Crimean Tatars, Stanford 1978,
p. 89
(9) Gwendolyn
Sasse: The Crimea Question: Identity, Transition, and Conflict, Harvard 2007,
p. 275
(16) The only
event which had a similar character was the Albanian popular insurrection in
spring 1997. However, this insurrection was less directed against the social
consequences of capitalism (closure of factories, privatization, etc.) and more
limited against the corrupt and authoritarian government of Sali Berisha.
(18) WASP: Only
Socialism means Freedom. 2014 Election Manifesto
(20) We refer
readers to the latest RCIT article on Brazil: CCR: From the June protests on
the streets towards the path of electoral illusions? 11.1.2014,http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/brazil-report/.
In footnote 10 of this article reader can find references to other statements
and articles of our assessment of the class struggle in Brazil in 2013.
(23) Therefore
we reject the approach of the Moreonite tradition which has repeatedly raised
the slogan for an independent state, not as a workers’ state but as
bourgeois-democratic state, i.e., one with a capitalist class character.
(24) US
Department of Defense: 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, p. 8
(26) Leon
Trotsky: War and the Fourth International (1934), in: Trotsky Writings 1933-34,
p. 305
(27) Leon
Trotsky: Resolution on the Antiwar Congress of the London Bureau (1936), in:
Documents of the Fourth International, New York 1973, p. 99
(28) On the
Marxist position in the struggle of the oppressed people against imperialism
see Michael Pröbsting: The Great Robbery of the South. Continuity and Changes
in the Super-Exploitation of the Semi-Colonial World by Monopoly Capital
Consequences for the Marxist Theory of Imperialism, 2013, Chapter 12 and 13, http://www.great-robbery-of-the-south.net/
(29) Leon Trotsky:
War and the Fourth International (1934), in: Trotsky Writings 1933-34,
p. 328
(31) Leon
Trotsky: Resolution on the Antiwar Congress of the London Bureau (1936), in:
Documents of the Fourth International, New York 1973, p. 99
(32) See
Michael Pröbsting: Liberation struggles and imperialist interference. The
failure of sectarian “anti-imperialism” in the West: Some general
considerations from the Marxist point of view and the example of the democratic
revolution in Libya in 2011, in: Revolutionary Communism, No. 5
(English-language Journal of the RCIT), p. 30,http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/liberation-struggle-and-imperialism
(33) V. I. Lenin:
The Junius Pamphlet (1916); in: CW 22, p. 310-11
(34) See RCIT:
The World Situation and the Tasks of the Bolshevik-Communists. Theses of the
International Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Communist International
Tendency, March 2013, in: Revolutionary Communism No. 8, p. 41, www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-situation-march-2013
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