report on student stop the war rally

by David Broder

There were two self-proclaimed “socialists” on the platform at the Student Stop the War rally in London today – Tony Benn and Lindsey German – and most of the one hundred people in the audience were from the Socialist Workers’ Party and other “socialist” groups. But working-class politics was not on the agenda. Not only did they fail to cite the workers’ movement as the agency to fight imperialism, there was almost no talk of solidarity with Marxists and trade unionists in conflict zones like the Middle East and the Caucasus.

‘ideas’: on marx and bakunin

today we added two new pieces to the ‘ideas‘ section of our website examining marx’s polemic with the anarchist bakunin.

‘bakunin’s expulsion from the first international‘ by paul b. smith and ‘marx and bakunin, then and now‘ by kevin michaels both look at the dispute in the international working men’s association, and focus on marx’s particular stress on working-class struggle rather than posing the debate as one of “centralism” versus “federalism”.

hal draper: anatomy of the micro-sect

reproduced with the kind permission of ernest haberkern: available to buy at amazon.com or socialisthistory.org.

There is a terminological problem. “Sect“ is often used as a cuss-word to mean a group one doesn’t like. “Movement” is often used to describe something that does not exist in organized form; as when “the American socialist movement“ is used as an abbreviation for scattered socialist elements that often do not “move” at all. We shall use these terms with more precise meanings.

may 1968 in france: could the working class have taken power?

this video was taken at the cpgb’s annual school, the communist university, which took place from august 9 – 16 2008 in south london. for more info, reports and comments visit www.cpgb.org.uk

revolutionary strategy: reply by mike macnair

on friday 29th david broder posted a review of revolutionary strategy, a new book by the cpgb’s mike macnair. this provoked more than seventy comments, and mike himself has written a response, which we reproduce here.

links added in ‘ideas’

today we have added three more links to the ‘ideas‘ page of the commune.

the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ in marx and engels, by hal draper, explains how marx and engels used the term ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ not to mean a specific form of government but rather to denote the class rule of the working class once it has overthrown the bourgeoisie. in this vein draper attacks the understanding of the term elaborated by plekhanov, who proclaimed “when we come to power, we will allow no freedom for anyone but ourselves”.

anton pannekoek’s world revolution and communist tactics, written for an organ of the comintern in 1920, effectively combats statist visions of working-class power and bureaucracy in the workers’ movement, and looks at the new organisational forms workers must use to re-shape society: “the formation by the workers of the soviets, their own organs of power and action, in itself signifies the disintegration and dissolution of the state. as a much more recent form of organisation and one created by the proletariat itself, the trade union will survive much longer, because it has its roots in a much more living tradition of personal experience, and once it has shaken off state-democratic illusions, will therefore claim a place in the conceptual world of the proletariat. but since the trade unions have emerged from the proletariat itself, as products of its own creative activity, it is in this field that we shall see the most new formations as continual attempts to adapt to new conditions; following the process of revolution, new forms of struggle and organisation will be built on the model of the soviets in a process of constant transformation and development”.

ubu saved from drowning: worker insurgency and statist containment in portugal and spain 1974-77, by loren goldner, is of particular interest in that focuses on the struggles of the portuguese working class rather than merely the history of the sects that aspired to lead it (much like mailer’s the impossible revolution). the fact that the portuguese revolution represented the end of an era of class struggle rather than the beginning of a new one, and that the onward march of state capitalism had also petered out by the end of the 1970s, by no means devalues the lessons of the portuguese revolutionary crisis, which saw mass working-class mobilisation, factory expropriations and efforts at workers’ self-management.

leaflet for uncaptive minds series on class struggle in the 1970s

click here for a pdf of the leaflet for the forthcoming uncaptive minds series on class struggle in the 1970s.

the first session, from 6:30pm on monday september 1st, will be on the upsurge 1968-74, with sheila cohen, author of ramparts of resistance and george shaw, a former vauxhall car worker and former member of solidarity.

communist discussion forums on class struggle in the ’70s

our communist discussion forum uncaptive minds begins with a series of discussions on class struggle in the 1970s, a decade which saw a wave of working-class militancy in britain and the rest of europe.

we will be debating the ideas developed by the workers’ movement of the era, its methods of organising, why it failed and the lessons for today. our guest speakers include participants in the battles of the time, car workers, leading trade union activists, revolutionaries and marxist intellectuals, and scholars who are studying the period.

provisional timetable (all dates are mondays, start time 6:30pm)

1st september: the upsurge 1968-74, with sheila cohen, author of ramparts of resistance and george shaw, a former car worker and former member of solidarity.

15th september: women in struggle. discussion of the 20,000-strong leeds clothing workers’ strike of 1970, reinventing the flying picket before miners and building workers picked up the idea. with liz leicester.

29th september: the debates on workers’ control. with david broder and ian macdonald.

13th october: insurrection at work. the industrial struggle in england and italy.

27th october: new methods of organising. a critical comparison of the unions with anton moctonian.

10th november: the ‘alternative economic strategy’ and its alternatives.

24th november: the great grunwick strike. film and discussion with pete firmin from brent trades council

8th december: where did it all go? with joe marino, general secretary of the bakers’ union

the venue is in central london. email uncaptiveminds@googlemail.com to register your interest and get more information.