Fourth International holds 13th
World Congress
A N HONORARY presidium of the congress was chosen consisting of political prisoners from our movement and from the revolutionary and workers' movement as a whole, along with victims of bourgeois and bureaucratic repression.
The Congress opened with a report and discussion on the Gulf War, its background and foreseeable consequences. It was clear that all the sections and sympathizing organizations of the Fourth International have been working in their countries against the imperialist intervention and for the immediate withdrawal of the troops of the so-called "coalition" and allies from the Middle East. An appeal addressed to the entire international revolutionary left was adopted(see IV 201), urging it to make yet greater efforts to step up the struggle against this dirty imperialist war, through the broadest and most unitary mass mobilizations possible.
It also became clear that, while revolutionary currents do not have the same weight in this massive antiwar movement as they did in the movement against the Vietnam War, in this case important sections of the organized labour and trade union movements have actively mobilized in a number of European capitalist coun Republic, in the United States and in tries, in the ex-German Democratic Japan.
### Several resolutions discussed
The Congress heard reports and took discussions on a number of resolutions: on the world situation; on the situation in the
Soviet Union, Latin America and capitalist Europe; on the problems of women's liberation in Latin America and in the imperialist countries; on the state of the women's movement in these latter; on the feminization of the mass organizations and leadership bodies of the Fourth International; and on the construction and functioning of the leadership bodies of the
Fourth International. More than 160 comrades intervened in these debates.
They attempted to interpret and explain the main changes that have taken place in the world over the the past few years; the capitalist offensive and the throwing of the working class onto the defensive; the collapse of the Stalinist regimes in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; the problems of the Central American revolution; the beginning of a reorganization of the workers' movement in Brazil and
South Africa; and the reawakening of the political activity of the Soviet masses and
AROUND 200 delegates and observers, representing 80 organizations from 48 countries, attended the 13th World Congress of the Fourth International which took place in Italy between
February 7 and 17, 1991.
Representatives of organizations from another half dozen countries -mainly in the Middle East - were unable to attend because of the war, but sent written messages and explanations. the difficulties and contradictions that they meet in regaining their organizational and political autonomy. In line with the democratic traditions of our international movement, counterproposals and resolutions were put on a number of the agenda points, setting out the positions of comrades organized in minority tendencies. The resolutions put forward by the outgoing leadership were adopted by a large majority.
The Congress discussed draft theses on "Ecology and Socialist Revolution" (to be published in a forthcoming issue of International Marxist Review). This document will be more thoroughly discussed inside the International and will be put to the vote at the 14th World Congress.
The Congress also discussed a draft manifesto, a text which sets out to explain the causes of the crisis of credibility of socialism which has been rocking the workers and revolutionary movement for some years, a crisis that has been accentuated by the collapse of the so-called "socialist camp" in 1989-90.
### Manifesto meets new challenges
The aim of the manifesto is to offer insofar as is possible a coherent and overall response to the new challenges facing revolutionaries; challenges which will unavoidably affect their activity in the coming years. Voting on this text will take place after further discussion.
The Fourth International does not pretend to have a definitive or complete answer to the new and harrowing prob-
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL lems facing humanity. It will discuss these problems with anyone who is disposed to enter into such a discussion. But it remains for the moment the only international force which has set to work on a project for a coherent answer, thus providing a possible reference point for various currents throughout the world.
The Congress adopted a number of appeals:
• In support of Algerian women threatened by the rise of reactionary fundamentalism;
• In support of Moroccan political prisoners, forgotten for 17 years in the jails of King Hassan II;
• In defence of the Bolivian workers movement, threatened with disappearance after the massive sackings carried out at the behest of the International Monetary Fund;
• For the liberation of the leaders and activists of the "Beijing Spring" of 1989 who had just been handed severe sentences by the regime of Deng Xiaoping;
• For solidarity with the Haitian people.
The Congress sent its fraternal greetings to two Japanese comrades who had just been freed after spending ten years in prison for their part in the campaign in defence of the Sanruzuki peasants, during the building of the new Tokyo airport. It demanded the immediate liberation of comrades of the Mexican Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) and the Sri Lankan Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), who have been kidnapped and "disappeared"
by the repressive governments of these two countries.
Veteran Trotskyists present
The oldest participants in the Congress
- which greeted them warmly.comrade Morris Stein, who joined the
Russian Communist Party in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, and then became a founder member of the Trotskyist movement in the United States and of the Fourth International; and Charlie Van
Gelderen, originally from South Africa, the only participant at this Congress who had also been present at the founding Congress of the Fourth International in September 1938.
The Congress heard an appeal from Jose
Dirceu, the General Secretary of
Workers Party (PT) of Brazil, to consider the calling for next year of an international conference to discuss and reaffirm the actuality of socialism at the end of the
Twentieth Century. The Congress expressed its unanimous support for this initiative and decided to make an active 25 contribution to its success. March 18, 1991 • #202 International Viewpoint
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL/SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka: reviving the revolutionary tradition
International Viewpoint #202 • March 18, 1991
Among other organizations represented by observers at the Congress were the Popular Democratic Organization from the Dominican Republic; the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) of Paraguay; the Communist Movement (MC) from the Spanish state and the MK from Euskadi; Lutte Ouvrière (LO) from France; the