NEWS FROM
THE FOURTH
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WESTERN EUROPE Political Bureaux meet A MEETING of representatives from the Political Bureaux of the European sections and fraternal organizations of the Fourth International was held from March 25-27 in Paris following a meeting of the United
INTERNATIONAL
Secretariat. Representatives attended from
14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Britain,
Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Spanish state, Swe-
Fourth International statement on Polish organizations
THE FOLLOWING statement was adopted at the March 1988 meeting of the
United Secretariat of the Fourth International. FROM 1985, the publications of the Fourth International and its sections reported on the actions and statements of a Polish grouping of trade-union and political revolutionary action groups acting under the name of the "Workers' Opposition Alliance-Solidarnos" (POR-S).
In October/November 1986, International Viewpoint and Inprecor, the English and French language publications of the International, followed by Polish Inprekor in February 1987, reported on the creation of an "organizing committee" of the "Workers Party for the Self-Managed Republic" (RPRS) applying for the title of section of the Fourth International. The statement of the foundation of the RPRS published in its organ Zryw, was reproduced in our press. [See /V 107,
Since then, an investigation by our international organization, on the basis of information coming from Polish revolutionary activists who participated in the activities of the POR-S and the constitution of the RPRS, made it possible to establish the following facts: the group which presented itself as the major component of the POR-S and RPRS and playing, on this basis, a predominant role in these two organizations, turned out to have largely fabricated the reality of their group. The leaders of this group, emerging from the "Union of Workers' Councils-Polish Resistance Movement" (ZRP-PRO) which published the journal Wolny Robotnik in Upper Silesia, requested aid for trade union and political activity that was largely fictional. The group functioned with criteria which had nothing in common with those of a workers' political organization.
Our comrades in Poland, like ourselves, were victims of this dupery. As soon as they realized this, in early 1987, they withdrew from the POR-S and RPRS and broke off all their relations with the Upper Silesia group. The Fourth International also states that it no longer has any relations with the said group. It continues its efforts to help the emergence of a revolutionary Marxist organization in Poland, in the perspective of the anti-bureaucratic revolution.
We think it is our duty to warn the different tendencies of the Polish and international workers' movement, which could be the object of a new approach from the group in Upper Silesia. That is the purpose of this communiqué. * nternational VIEWPOINT den, Switzerland, Portugal and West Germany.
Three major reports were introduced by comrades from France, Belgium and the Spanish state. The reports and discussion that followed focused on the political situation, perspectives and party building strategy in each country. The final discussion, around the situation in Western Europe as a whole, represented an initial exchange on views in the framework of preparing an agenda point on Western Europe for the next meeting of the International Executive Committee, due to be held at the end of this year.
In its turn, the IEC and future European meetings will be preparing documentation for discussion at the next World Congress of the Fourth International.
In addition to the general discussions, three commissions were held at the meeting of European Political Bureaux. The commission around work in the car industry proposed to organize a Europe-wide car workers meeting in the autumn to bring together union activists to discuss a workers' response to the present employers' offensive.
On anti-racist work, the commission also decided to organize a wider meeting for activists later in the year. For the moment, the focus of this work is around the initiatives proposed by the recent Stockholm conference for European days of action on March 21 and April 23 (see IV 137 and 138).
Finally, comrades met to discuss the initiatives planned in Europe to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth International and the twentieth anniversary of May 1968 (see box). * Fourth International youth summer camp THE FIFTH summer camp for youth or-
AFTER THE CRASH
Our next issue will be a special on the economy, including articles from Ernest
Mandel on the world economic situation after last October's stock market crash, and Claude
Gabriel on the international raw materials crisis.
26
International Viewpoint #139 • April 18, 1988 ganizations in political solidarity with the Fourth International will be held this year from July 23-30 near Clermont-Ferrand in central France.
During the camp, visits will be organized to the local region, renowned for its beauty. As in past years, over 800 young people are expected to come to the camp, which offers an unrivalled opportunity for international political discussion.
Details of costs, travel arrangements and so on can be obtained from local /V sellers or by writing to "Summer Camp" at the IV address on page two. *
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FOURTH INTERNATIONAL NEWS 4
Subscribe to the
Notebooks for Study and Research Number 7/8: Plan, Market and Democracy — The Experience of the
So-Called Socialist
Countries by Catherine Samary GORBACHEV proposes to introduce market mechanisms in the Soviet economy. East German and Czechoslovak leaders react unenthusiastically. Many currents in Polish Solidarnosc advocate a combination of self-management and the market. From Nicaragua to China, debates emerge about the role of material incentives or the "mixed economy." In the Western left, Alec Nove argues that planning is necessarily bureaucratic.
A serious discussion, Samary argues, must begin with a balance sheet of real experience. She analyzes the social and economic effects of the three main models put to the test so far: bureaucratically centralized planning, typified by the USSR under Brezhnev; the use of the market by the plan, tried in combination with self-management in Yugoslavia from 1950 to 1965, and, without self-management, in Hungary under Kadar; and "market socialism" introduced in Yugoslavia from 1965
These recent developments are then examined in the light of the seminal Soviet economic debate which pitted Bukharin against Preobrazhensky in the 1920s. Samary points out that long-term effects and social, ecological and cultural needs must be integrated in cost calculations. She con-
"associated producers" must be able to choose their priorities after a full and free discussion of existing economic experiences; unsuspected sources of productivity may then appear.
This is the first attempt to synthesize the lessons of the economic evolution of postcapitalist societies from a revolutionary Marxist standpoint. It deserves to be read and circulated widely. Also available:
N°1 - The Place of Marxism in History, by Ernest Mandel - 20FF, £2, $3.50.
N°2 - The Chinese Revolution - Part I:
The Second Chinese Revoution and the Shaping of the Maoist Outlook, by Pierre
N°3 - The Chinese Revolution - Part II: The Maoist Project Tested in the Struggle for Power, by Pierre Rousset - 25FF,
N°4 - Revolutionary Strategy Today, by Daniel Bensaid - 20FF, £2, $3.50
N°5 - Class Struggle and technological Change in Japan Since 1945, by Muto Ichyio - 48 pages. £2.50, $4.00, 25 FF.
N°6 - Populism in Latin America, essays by Adolfo Gilly, Helena Hirata, Carlos M. Vilas and the Argentine PRT, introduced by Michael Löwy, 40 pages, £2, $3.50,
A NUMBER of activities are planned to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth International, founded by
Leon Trotsky in 1938. We will be publishing a regular column to advertise these events, so make sure you send us details when speakers and so on
Denmark and Sweden: Copenhagen, May 14. The Socialist Workers
Party (SAP, Danish section of the Fourth International) and the Socialist
Party (SP, Swedish section of the FI)
are jointly organizing
Scandinavian celebration. Speakers include Ernest Mandel, Lea Tsemel,
Hugo Blanco and Göte Kilden (see page 20), plus speakers from Nicaragua and South Africa. An International Festival Against Racism will be held in the evening, featuring Tariq Ali
Delegations are expected from the
Danish left, from Norway and West
Germany among others.
rades organizing the event would like organizations who cannot actually attend to send greetings to the rally
These should be sent as soon as possible to: SAP, Nørre Alle 11 A, 2200
København N, Denmark. For more intelephone the SAP:
Denmark 01-39 79 48.
Luxemburg: the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) are planning a
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL NEWS Forthcoming:
The foundation of the Fourth International, by Daniel Bensaid Subscribe to NSR (9 issues): £18, $31, 180FF; air mail add 20%. Indicate with which issue subscription begins. Checks in sterling, US dollars or French francs to P. Rousset. Postal giros to CCP Paris 11 541 97 T. (Please indicate amount for NSR on combined payments). Mail to: CER/NSR, 2, rue Richard-Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France. meeting for June 18
Italy: the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) have two days of activities planned for September around the rehabilitations of the Moscow Trials defendants and building the Fourth International.
Canada: On May 20-23, Fl supporters from the Alliance for Socialist Action and the Quebec group Gauche Socialiste will be meeting in Montrea to lay the foundations for a Canadian organization of revolutionary socialists. On May 21, they plan to hold an event commemorating both the founding of the Fl and the anniver. sary of May 1968.
Mexico: the comrades of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) are planning a number of events this year. First, around July 26 to celebrate the anniversaries of the Cuban revolution and the foundation of the PRT. Second, when Gorbachev is due to visit Mexico in August, the PRT will use the event to publicly present the Moscow Trials campaign petition. Finally, the comrades are planning three days of activity on September 14-16 around the anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, which will include a rally to celebrate the anniversary of the Fourth
Britain: supporters of the journal Socialist Outlook are planning a rally in London at the end of November.
Anniversary of May 1968: A number of organizations in political solidarity with the Fourth International are also planning events around the anniversary of May 1968. These include a rally at the end of May organized by supporters of the Socialist Outlook journal in Britain, with Tariq Ali and a leading member of the Fl as featured speakers; a national weekend fête on the last weekend of May in Paris organized by the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR); and Canada on May 21 and in Mexico on 27 April 18, 1988 • #139 International Viewpoint