After a number of years of labor and national liberation struggle setbacks, during which many of the most important leftwing groups simply disappeared, the creation of a new, Canadian-state wide revolutionary organization constitutes, in its own way, a remarkable event. The unification also constitutes a step forward beyond the fragmentation of the Fourth International's forces in North America during recent
OBITUARY
A top-notch journalist, Halstead provided on-
Fred Halstead (1927-1988)
the-scene reporting for the [SWP's paper] The
Militant of the movement to boycott segregat-
FRED HALSTEAD, a longtime leader of the ed buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956,
American Socialist Workers Party, died of liver and on other events in the civil rights movecancer at his home in Los Angeles on June 2.
ment. He was a central leader of the move-
He was 61 years old.
ment against the war in Vietnam during the
Born in Los Angeles in 1927,
Halstead joined the SWP in
1948. He was a member of the party's national committee for many years and its candidate for president of the United
States in 1968.
An active member of the International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union until his death,
Halstead participated in many labor strikes and organizing drives. He helped organize support for meat-packers who were on strike against Hormel & Co.
12 in Austin, Minnesota, in 1985-
International Viewpoint #144 • June 27, 1988 late 1960s and early 1970s. His book Out now: a participant's account of the American movement against the Vietnam war was published in 1978. In New York and Los Angeles, meetings are planned on June 18 and 19 respectively to honor Halstead's contributions to the worldwide struggle of working people. Speakers will include Jack Barnes, national secretary of the SWP, and SWP presidential candidate James Warren. * [From The Militant, June 17, 1988.]
Of course, there remains a long road ahead towards the construction of a credible alternative to social democracy and bourgeois nationalism, which still largely dominate the workers' movement in Quebec and Canada. The construction of a revolutionary organization is a difficult task, especially in the developed capitalist countries, and even more so in multinational states such as Canada. Yet we are convinced of having accomplished an important step in that direction.
The entire history of the left and the workers' movement shows the extent of the hardships in constructing an organization which is rooted in both Quebec and English-Canada. In truth, no-one has really succeeded to this day. It is nevertheless essential to unite the revolutionary forces of both nations in the struggle against the common enemy, the Canadian state.
This is important not only for the conduct of immediate struggles against the FreeTrade deal, for freedom of choice and free access to abortion, or against the privatization of Crown corporations, but even more so in the perspective of the struggle for the overthrow of the bourgeois Canadian state, for the dissolution of the imperialist confederation, for the national liberation of Quebec and the other oppressed nations.
From the moment of its foundation, Gauche Socialiste/Socialist Challenge can count on the contribution of militant comrades in the workers' movement of Quebec and Canada, in the women's, youth and gay movements, and in the solidarity committees with the peoples of Central America. It's still not enough with regards to the historical tasks which we have set ourselves. But it's already something significant when compared to the period of setbacks
We have turned a page; we must now write a new chapter in the construction of a revolutionary worker's party that will consciously lead to its conclusion the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism, for the national liberation of Quebec, for the liberation of women and oppressed minorities, for socialist democracy. *
François Moreau & Barry Weisleder CANADA Rally celebrates 50 years of Fl MORE THAN 130 people participated at the public meeting held in Montreal on May 21 by Gauche Socialiste and the Alliance for Socialist Action on the theme "Socialism, an international struggle", to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Fourth International.
Comrades from Gauche Socialiste and the ASA, Ginette Lewis and Jill Lawless, announced the unification of the two organizations, voted a few hours earlier at a joint congress (see above). Following this, Keith Mann spoke, a comrade from the
Fourth Internationalist Tendency, American organization linked to the Fourth International. He briefly presented the political situation in the US in the last year of the Reagan presidency, and particularly the contradictory meaning of the Jesse Jackson
We then heard Hector de la Cueva, a leader of the Mexican Revolutionary Workers' Party (PRT), the strongest section of the Fourth International. The PRT is presently campaigning in the presidential elections, with Rosario Ibarra as its candidate. She is known across the country as a defender of democratic rights against arbitrary rule and repression. The PRT is leading its campaign by linking up with workers' and peasants' struggles, to develop a class platform independent from the bourgeoise and its state....
The final speech was made by Livio Maitan from the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. The comrade didn't beat around the bush, and went head on with the question: Were we right in creating the Fourth International? Answering this question requires not only taking positions on the International, but also on the other currents in the workers' movement, most notably those dominant in 1938: the social-democratic and Stalinist communist
In the first case, their non-revolutionary and pro-capitalist character was already clear for the vanguard of the working class of the 1930s and is becoming more and more obvious nowadays, even working masses. But the Trotskyist criticism of the Stalinist communist parties met with great misunderstanding and hostility in the 1930s, even in the working class vanguard, which was under the influence of widespread propaganda of falsification
Nevertheless, as time passed, the true situation in the USSR became clearer and with it the real nature of Stalinism, nearly unanimously rejected today in the world workers' movement....The strategic judgement passed on Stalinism at the founding conference of the Fourth International has thus revealed itself to be fundamentally
But, nonetheless, one could ask: Was it worth all the trouble to spend so much energy for results that, after all, remain modest, even 50 years later? We can answer that question by another: What should have been done instead? Remain true to social-democratic or Stalinist parties, hoping in a miracle that never came? Wait for the spontaneous development of new revolutionary parties? Or get to work immediately, with the forces available?...
But the need for a new revolutionary International was established as early as 1938 and its construction remains an essential task to this day. Our internationalist meeting was thus concluded by Comrade Maitan's vibrant appeal to construct and reinforce the Four.h International. *
François Moreau
FINEWS USA Socialist Action rally THE NATIONAL Committee of Socialist Action recently voted to hold the Third National Convention of Socialist Action in San Francisco on August 4-7.
A speclal convention rally celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International will be held on Saturday, August 6.
The initial list of rally speakers Includes Esteban Volkov, Leon Trotsky's grandson; Jake Cooper, a leader of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strikes and bodyguard to Trotsky in Mexico; Livlo Maitan, a representative of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International; Pierre Broué, director of the Leon Trotsky Institute; and Aura Beteta, former Nicaraguan Consul in San Francisco.
Other speakers from Mexico, Britain, France, Ireland and elsewhere will be confirmed shortly. * BELGIUM Open letter to the PTB ON MAY 1, the Political Bureau of the Socialist Workers' Party (POS, Belgian section of the Fourth International) wrote a long letter to the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB), an ex-Maoist organization. The POS proposed united electoral slates between itself, the PTB and the Belgian Communist Party (PCB), and a discussion on revolution-
The open letter had a big impact, especially among important trade-union activists, but also in the ranks of the PTB itself. What follows is the last part of this letter, dealing mainly with the question of revolutionary unity.
In a letter from the Central Committee of the PTB addressed to the PCB, these three parties are classified in the following way: the PTB and the PCB are communist parties: the POS, on the other hand, is an "anticommunist" party! We do not think that this is a reflection of 13 reality. There are clearly two errors in the June 27, 1988 • #144 International Viewpoint
(indicate with which issue you wish to begin your sub).
Cheques to P. Rousset. Postal giros to CCP Paris 11 541 97T.
Send to NSR, 2 rue Richard-Lenoir, 93108, Montreuil, France.
FINEWS PTB's analysis:
• It is not true that the PCB is a revolutionary party that claims to prepare the socialist revolution. It says itself that its goal is "the application of a programme of reforms to advance towards a fundamental transformation [of capitalist society]".
• It is not true that POS was "the anticommunist party" that constantly used "an extreme-right terminology". The truth is that, in the present class struggles in Belgium, the POS defends a programme similar to that of the PTB. The truth is that all through the 1970s, the POS fought against the anti-communist and anti-USSR offensive of Belgium and international imperialism. The truth is that there are two revolutionary parties in Belgium, the PTB and the POS.
According to Marx and Lenin, the essential difference between revolutionaries and reformists is on the question of the state:
• Revolutionaries understand that the state apparatus is exclusively a machine for domination in the hands of the ruling class.
• Revolutionaries conclude from this that it is impossible to progressively reform this state apparatus, but that, on the contrary, it has to be dismantled.
• Revolutionaries are convinced that the transition from capitalism to socialism will necessitate the expropriation of the dominant bourgeoisie as a class.
• Revolutionaries count on the extra-parliamentary struggle of the masses for taking political power and understand, from that, the need for the dictatorship of policies between 1917 and 1924, and our opposition to Stalinism in the 1930s and
The POS considers the USSR, China and Eastern Europe as non-capitalist countries, "in transition towards socialism", but where a bureaucratic and privileged caste is in power. We therefore support workers and national minorities fighting for real socialist democracy, for example Solidarosc against General Jaruzelski
The POS considers the PTB to be a revolutionary party. During the years, our analysis of the PTB has changed.
When the POS held its third congress in 1976, the PTB (at the time still known as AmadaTpo) basically supported Chinese foreign policy and considered the USSR to be "social-fascist and social-imperialist" and as "the main enemy". The whole of the PTB's political line from 1973-1981 was saturated with the idea that the fundamental questions were the third world war and the imminent invasion of the Belgium by the Soviet army. That led the PTB to being politically close to the Belgian bourgeoisie, approving the military budget, demanding the construction of nuclear shelters, opposing Belgium leaving NATO, refusing to support the Nicaraguan revolution (because of Russian influence via the Cubans) and so
Notebooks for
At that time we thought and feared that the PTB would sink into a counterrevolutionary and anti-communist stance, as was to happen to many Marxist-Leninist parties in Western Europe. Thus, the resolution at our 1976 congress concluded: "Without a radical political turn in its strategy, its developing sectarianism and, in the last analysis, its degeneration will be
The PTB made a gradual strategic turn after 1981. Our eighth national congress in 1986 formally took account of this, noting that "the PTB has developed a considerable autonomy vis-a-vis China and is pragmatically moving towards a revolutionary programme for the class struggle in Belgium". And we envisaged a long-term perspective of a "unified, revolutionary workers' party", including the POS and the PTB, as well as other political currents.
The PTB's leadership chose to close its eyes to this development, to convergence in the class struggle and to the real Marxist programme that we defend.
For our part we want to say clearly that we continue to be open to unity and collaboration with the PTB and to be in favour of an objective and loyal debate between revolutionary communists, in spite of the violently sectarian attitude of the PTB towards
Study and Research the proletariat during a historical period of
In applying these four fundamental crite-
Published by the International
Institute for Research and Education ria, we note that firstly the POS is a revolutionary party, and secondly that the programmes of the POS and the PTB are
Plan, Market and Democracy: the Experience of identical on these essential points.
the So-called Socialist Countries
That does not mean that are no important political divergences between the PTB and
Catherine Samary the POS. The POS strongly insists on the united front and the perspective
A BALANCE sheet of three models: the USSR 's bureaucratically of a workers' government. That is, a govcentralized planning under Brezhnev; the use of the market by the ernment of the big socialist and Christian plan attempted in combination with self-management in Yugoslavia, workers' movements, without the parties of from 1950 to 1965, and without self-management in Hungary under
Kadar; and "market socialism" tried in Yugoslavia from 1965 to 1971.
The POS is firmly opposed to political parties manipulating the workers, and is
Samary concludes with a critical update of the Soviet 1920s debate therefore in favour of the largest possible between Bukharin and Preobrazhensky and an answer to Alec Nove workers' democracy in the unions and and Ota Sik. NSR no. 7/8, 64 pages, £3, $5.
strike committees. The winning back of the unions will not be done by the POS alone, but by a large current of the union left, including militants from the socialist and
NSR no. 9: The Foundation of the Fourth International
Christian left, from the PCB, the POS, the
PTB and the numerous independent and non-organized trade unionists.
40 pages, £2, $3.50, 20FF (air mail: add 20%).
The POS insists on the importance of democracy and social equality in building socialism. From this comes, for example, our
Daniel Bensaïd
New subscription rates:
hopes for the Sandinista revolution, our
5 issues of NSR: £10, $17, 100 FF (Air mail: add 20%)
support for the democratic measures happening under Gorbachev's glasnost, but also our opposition to perestroika with its anti-social and pro-capitalist measures.
14 From his come soo-spars for Lenies.
International Viewpoint #144 • June 27, 1988
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
Forthcoming (July 1988):
ISRAELI STATE
Committees Against the Occupation
(Hala Ha-Kibush) in the Israeli state,
Rémy Mandelzweig, spoke at the May
68 anniversary fête organized by the
Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire
(LCR, French section of the Fourth
International) on May 29.
On June 1, he was interviewed by journalists from Rouge, the paper of the LCR, and International Viewpoint.
W
HAT ARE the Committees
Against the Occupation and what have they done?
The Committees exist in
Haifa and Tel Aviv. There are also activists in some Arab villages in Galilee and the
Triangle' who work with us. The Committees were launched in Tel Aviv at the initiative of the comrades of the Revolutionary
Communist League (RCL, Israeli state section of the Fourth International and the activists of Ibn al-Balad (Children of the
Land), a Palestinian nationalist movement in Israel. In Haifa, Ibn al-Balad played a considerable role.
The Committees include quite a number of unorganized people. There are many ex-
Matzpen members, but there are also a lot of new faces. They are organized around a single issue. We demand an immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all the Israeli repressive forces from the occupied territories. We declare our opposition to occupation in all its forms everywhere. That means first of all that, unlike some other movements, we do not make withdrawal conditional on the Palestinians recognizing something or other.
We think that if anyone really wants to live in peace with the Palestinians, the first thing they have to do is demand the withdrawal of the repressive forces. It is impossible to live together while the Palestinians are under the boot of the Israeli army. We also say that the repression of the Palestinian people is not only the occupation, it is not only in the occupied territories. There is a considerable Arab population within the pre-1967 borders of Israel and they suf-
For example, when Palestinians from a village in Galilee or the Triangle are suspected by the police of raising a Palestinian flag during the night or during a demonstration, of expressing their national feeling, they are immediately arrested without any sort of trial. They are beaten up, if not
They end up in prison for six months and sometimes even longer. Here also we demand the right to national expression for every Palestinian, regardless of where they are - that is, also within the formal borders of Israel. • What sort of actions have the Committees undertaken in support of Palestinians living in Israel?
There are more and more expressions of racism in the street. The whole of Israeli society is pervaded by racism, both at the institutional level and also in the streets. There are attacks on Arabs. To give an example, recently in Haifa two young Arabs from the town of Um al-Fahum came to Haifa to do some shopping. They were subjected to an identity check. There is always an identity check when someone looks like
This time it wasn't the police. It was the store guards. They were very aggressive and made racist remarks. The youths were taken into an office. The guards noticed that one of the young Arabs had a shirt with the name of our committee, Hala HaKibush. Immedintely he was beaten up, clubbed. The police were called. His shirt was taken away. So, we organized a picket of the store wearing shirts with the Committees' name. • What have the Committees done concretely to support the Palestinian population in the occupied territories?
We were the first to launch a campaign to send food and medicine to the occupied territories. That was in January. At that time, there was the blockade of the refugee camps in Gaza. There was little talk about this in the press. We decided to break the wall of silence about this policy, which was really a systematic policy of starving out the refugee camps.
Even in normal circumstances, the people in these camps live on the verge of hunger. They live on poverty wages in real shantytowns, which I think are just like the shantytowns that exist throughout the Third World, as in Cairo or Calcutta. Obviously, when the breadwinners don't come out to work because there is a general strike order or because the army closes the camp, people are immediately left without resources. The biggest problem of the struggle is how to cope with this economic
So, we decided to launch the idea of a 1. The Triangle is a concentration of Palestinian settlements in the central region of the Israeli state. Most of the Palestinian towns and villages are in Galilee, the hilly norther area of the Israeli state. 2. Matzpen ("Compass"), the Hebrew paper of the Israeli section of the Fourth International, which is often referred to by the name of its publication. Matzpen was
15
also formerly the name of the publication of a broader far-left grouping from which the section came. June 27, 1988 • #144 International Viewpoint
----- pull-quotes on this page -----