revolutionary strategy

david broder reviews revolutionary strategy, a new book by the cpgb’s mike macnair

There is much of value in any serious attempt to talk about the tasks of the left today, and what exactly the purpose of its existence is: Mike Macnair’s new book, which carries the subtitle “Marxism and the challenge of left unity” is certainly this. The left sects are crying out for some ideas and some definition for their project: what we have at the moment is a maelstrom of sectarian and internally undemocratic groups, with philistine hostility towards discussion and utter disdain for ideas other than those quoted from the holy texts of Lenin and Trotsky.

cob announces 45 day truce with bolivian government

la paz, august 13 – translated from the spanish from www.econoticiasbolivia.com

This Tuesday evening the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) announced a 45 day truce in its struggle to win a new welfare system for pensions, but warned that it would begin mobilisations again if the Evo Morales Government did not keep his end of the bargain.

the fundamental principles of communist production and distribution

Today we have added to the site The Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution, a book produced by the Dutch GIK (Group of International Communists) in 1930, putting forward a vision of communist society totally different from that of the many failed state-socialist experiments. Below we reproduce the foreword written in 1989 by Mike Baker, who translated this important work into English.

crosland’s new social-democratic reformism

The idea of Gordon Brown writing on the future of socialism will come as a surprise to many, but that is precisely what he invites us to discuss in his foreword to a new edition of Anthony Crosland’s The Future of British Socialism.

more new content in ‘ideas’

today we have added to the ‘ideas‘ section of the website…

the solidarity group’s pamphlet on the 1871 paris commune. this compares trotsky and tales’ insistence that the communards failed because of their lack of a party unfavourably to karl marx’s civil war in france, which makes no such argument; and furthermore celebrates this great display of working class insurgency from below.

we also feature an article by david broder on the organisation of education under capitalism and the alienation of students, and an essay by chris ford on the relevance of the theory of state capitalism in today’s globalised capitalist economy.

the website is now accessible at www.thecommune.co.uk as well as the wordpress address.

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.

new content in ‘ideas’

we have added more content to the ‘ideas‘ section of the commune.

first off is a piece on self-management in the struggle for socialism by michel raptis – also known as michel pablo and at one time a leading member of the trotskyist international secretariat of the fourth international – who in the late 1960s and early 1970s turned his focus towards workers’ self-management.

tamás krausz describes the struggle for workers’ self-management in action with his article on the workers’ councils in hungary in 1956, where workers mounted a revolution against the stalinist bureaucracy and tried to take power, only to be crushed by russian tanks.

then we reproduce kevin anderson’s essay on lenin’s engagement with hegelian philosophy during world war one, and his little-read hegel notebooks.

and in state capitalism or bureaucratic collectivism? chris ford introduces the debate in the united states workers’ party over the class character of the soviet union, and we republish speeches by raya dunayevskaya and max shachtman.

czechoslovakia ’68: what ‘socialism’? what ‘human face’?

The Prague Spring of 1968 and the subsequent Russian invasion naturally enough provoked comments and analyses from both left and right. That an event of great significance had taken place was not in question. But people differed in their views as to what exactly was important about what had happened.

czechoslovakia ’68: the workers’ councils

by petr cerny

before the invasion the workers were suspicious of the imposed workers’ councils. after the invasion they became symbolic of the advances made. the question of the councils also became mixed up with the defence of the leadership and its policies. at the same time, some workers began to realise that the councils could be changed from what officialdom wanted them to be into something more approaching organs of workers’ power. at this time there were 46 councils functioning. another 140 were in their preparatory stages. however, all of this was unfortunately clouded by the question of defending the dubcek leadership.

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.

czechoslovakia ’68: fidel castro against the revolution

forty years ago this week russian tanks rolled into prague after the workers of czechoslovakia rose up against stalinism and established their own workers’ councils as organs of self-goverment. the cuban bureaucracy condemned the uprising, and its caudillo fidel castro made two speeches on august 23rd and 24th attacking the “counter-revolutionary” movement in czechoslovakia and supporting the ussr’s invasion. to the embarrassment of the “mandelite” fourth international, which to this day venerates che guevara (who died in 1967), the cuban regime put itself firmly in the camp of russian imperialism and bureaucratic power.

new content on the commune

we have launched this website to spread the ideas of workers’ self-management and communism from below, as well as publicising our activities and forthcoming magazine.

the site is new but already features a set of theoretical and historical pieces (see ‘ideas‘), a draft where we stand statement (see ‘about us’) and will soon feature some news pieces.