Obituary - I. B. Tabata most heated controversies.
For Thomas Mastnak, of Slovenia, rath- International Viewpointrecords with sadness er than speaking of the accession to power the death on October 15 of Isaac Bangani Tabaof civil society — which is in any case a ta, in Harare, Zimbabwe. Mr. Tabata was 80 contradiction in terms - it was better to years old. He went into exile from South Africa recognize that civil society had not been in 1963 and was president of the New Unity able to seize the occasion which had been Movement. He was the first person to be served offered to it to transform the exercise of with a five-year banning order. He was the power. author of several books, including "Education
All that had happened was that only cer- for Barbarism" and "The Awakening of Our Peotain of its representatives - self-proclaimed for the most part, as minister of state Jaroslav Sabata stressed with jus- Together with other outstanding political leadtice and without self-satisfaction - have ers of his time such as Dr. Goolam Gool, Jane been sucked in by the state apparatus. Gool and others, he pioneered as early as the
This "rank and fileism" on the part of a 1930s and 40s a historical materialist and class good number of the delegates, particularly analysis of South African society. He was a those from Slovenia, yielded some of the founder member of the Workers' Party of South best and worst aspects of the Assembly Africa (linked to the Fourth International). the The best, as in the very live questioning of All African Convention, the Cape African Teachthe presence of German SPD leader Oskar ers Association, the Society of Young Africa, Lafontaine at the inaugural session by and the African People's Democratic Union of some German delegates, but also the most wooly - for example Thomas Mastnak He was an outstanding organizer and a power"institution of civil society" from which defending a conception of the HCA as an ful orator capable of rallying all layers of the all representatives of political power (par- oppressed. He was particularly prominent in liamentary representatives and so on) would be completely excluded.
land and copresident of the HCA or the French sociologist Edgar Morin, attempted to link the question of the stateless nations in the East to similar cases in the West (Corsica, Euzkadi, and so on).
One of the public debates was devoted to the three questions of the North of Ireland, Kosovo and Transylva-
The question, certainly very central, of the notion of "civil society" did not stop other controversies from surging forward.
Some of these were attributable to inevitable cultural differences. For example, in the commission on "minority rights", after Peter Tatchell, an activist in
Southern Africa.
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Montreuil, France. Cheques should be made payable to PEC. Postal transfers
International Viewpoint #194 • November 12, 1990
AROUND THE WORLD SWITZERLAND Immigrant workers demonstration A BIG demonstration of immigrant workers - Yugoslav, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Turkish — took place in Berne on September 15, 1990, at the initiative of the Swiss construction trade union. About 30,000 people demonstrated for the suppression of the status of seasonal laborer and for the rights of immigrant workers. The status of seasonal laborer affects 120,000 workers in building, tourism, and the agricultural sector whose permission to stay in Switzerland is limited to nine months, with important restrictions; they can change neither their job nor their place of residence — that is, move from one canton to another - and they are not allowed to bring their families with them. Leaders of Spanish and Italian trade union confedcrations addressed the demonstrators and demanded the ending of what the Swiss trades unionists call "our Berlin Wall". *
TROTSKY Commemorations FIFTY years after his death, the legacy of Leon Trotsky is the subject of increasing ly keen debate, especially in the context of the global crisis of Stalinism.
A group of East German sympathizers of the Fourth International organized a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Trotsky's assassination on September 22 in East Berlin, which was attended by more than 200 people (see /V 192)
Meanwhile, in Paris, nearly 500 people attended a commemoration of Trotsky's legacy organized at the Sorbonne on October 13, at the initiative of Pierre Broué (director of the Leon Trotsky Institute). Two round table discussions took place, one on Trotsky's fight against Stalinism and the other on the relevance of Trotsky in the era of perestroika. Ernest Mandel, Maurice Nadeau (writer and editor), Vladimir Billik (Leningrad historian), Catherine Samary (economist),
Vladimir Ragovin (sociologist and CPSU militant from Moscow) and Didier Motchane (vice-president of the Modern Republic club of the French Socialist Party).
Finally, the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil organized an international symposium September 10-14 under the title "Past and Present of Socialism". Over 3,000 people participated. Among the foreign guests at the colloquium were Alexander Potchekoldin of the Moscow Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Valery Pisigin of the Moscow Bukharin Club, Miklos Kun of Budapest University, Pierre Broué, and Michael Lowy of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Guest of honour was Sieva Volkov, Trotsky's grandson. Numerous academics and leaders of the Brazilian left also participated. Debate centred on the thought of Trotsky, the history of the Trotskyist movement in Brazil, the links between Trotskyism and surrealism, the role of Trotskyist currents within the Brazilian Workers' Party, and Trotsky and perestroika. *
NEWS FROM THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL
Proletarios de todos los países...
Workers of all lands...
Travailleurs de tous les pays ...
Travailleurs de tous les pays....
Proletarios de todos los paises...
Youth summer camp FOR THE first time, more than 100 young people from Eastern Europe (Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Hungary) attended the 7th summer camp of European youth organizations in solidarity with the Fourth International, Which took place July 21-28 near Louvain, in Belgium. In total, 700 young people from throughout Europe attended the camp. As is now usual, the political discussions at the camp were organized through central forums and commissions on the main issues facing radicalizing youth today ecology, racism, antimilitarism, exploitation of the third world, international solidarity, the upheavals in Eastern Europe, and so on).
The debates were for the most part introduced by members of the European youth organizations in solidarity with the Fourth International, but representatives of the Mexican Revolutionary Workers' Party (PRT), Sinn Fein, the FMLN of El struggle of the Fourth International and English, French and Spanish. The film provides a good overview of the activities of the Fourth International and is an ideal introduction for those new to the organization. It is available for $40/ from PEC, 2 Rue Richard Lenoir, 93108
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Salvador and the Workers' Organization for Socialist Action (WOSA) of South Africa also introduced discussions on the struggles in their countries.
Beyond the political activity, a range of leisure activities (pop concerts, cinema, discos) allowed the various delegations to mix and communicate beyond national and linguistic barriers. The presence of youth from Eastern Europe added a new experience to this year's youth camp. It is hoped that they will return in even greater numbers next year.*
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Workers of all lands... SINCE July 1990 a video film has been available on the history and its sections. The film is available in 200F, or $60/300FF for institutions, to PEC, CCP No 2 322 42T Paris.