Our International
Ours is the Fourth International. The fourth, "Trotskyist," because the other three disappeared - by political abdication, or organisational collapse. So far so good. But in fact the Fourth International has a much broader historical, theoretical and practical foundation.
Ours is a movement in direct continuity with the socialist left which existed before the first world war, and the democratic communist left which existed afterwards. If citing our historical references helps clarify who we are, we identify with Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky. The many others who have enriched our analysis and theoretical work include Tchernichevsky, Plekhanov, Hilferding, Otto Bauer, Gramsci, Lukacs, Pannekoek, Kollontai, Che Guevara, and our leading comrade Ernest Mandel, who passed away in 1995.
Naturally, one can only build organisations which can fight for socialist revolution by rooting oneself in each national context, and drawing on the best traditions of all the currents of the local workers movement.
It also means participating in, and learning from, the main revolutionary experiences of this century: Castrism, Maoism, Sandinismo, revolutionary populism, liberation theology, and others. Open, critical Marxism
The Fourth International is characterised by an open, critical approach to Marxist theory. As a result, we have absorbed and adapted to face the economic, social, political and cultural transformations which, over the last 20 years, have changed the face of the world.
We live in a world based on exploitation and oppression. inequality and social inius. tice. Less than ever can the "class struggle" be reduced to a simplistic confrontation between Labour and Capital inside the workplace. This is certainly where the working class, the only social force capable of overthrowing capitalism and leading all of society towards emancipation, establishes a balance of forces with capital. But, more than ever, the proletarian movement works in association with other social movements: feminist, ecological, "third-worldist" , anti-racist, multi-ethnic, cultural and scientific. Movements for equal rights, against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation or nation. Movements all of which confront the generalised comodification of life, which devalues things, people, ideas and values.
The Fourth International was born in the 1930s, at the darkest point of the 20th Century. Stalinism had taken power in the Soviet Union and in all the Communist 36 International Viewpoint
Parties abroad. Fascist or authoritarian regimes were in power in Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain and France. A militarist, warmongering wave was sweeping through the Socialist Parties. All this was leading towards a terrible world war. Determined resistance
The Fourth International recognised this situation, and resisted. We made many sacrifices, because we never did a deal with the rulers of the world: the despotic Soviet bureaucracy, or western capitalism, in either its fascist or democratic variants. We held tight to our double motto: democratic "the emancipation of the workers will be the work of the workers themselves," and internationalist, "socialism will be international, or it will not exist."
Today, the Fourth International is present in over 40 countries. Not from nostalgia, but because of militant, political convictions. Wherever there is exploitation and oppression, there is resistance and struggle. These permanent struggles take their full power whenever they carry the perspective of a socialist emancipation of humanity. They will have a chance to succeed if and when the most conscious and energetic militants group themselves in a revolutionary socialist party, which discusses, reflects, acts, and builds roots.
Stalinism has disappeared, and the social democrats have gone over to neo-liberalism. This leaves a large space on the left. To fill this space, and go forward, we need practical co-operation and frank debate between all the anti-capitalist currents, despite their Belgium SAP/POS: 29 rue Plantin, Brussels 1070. Tel: (32 2) 523 4023 Fax: 522 61 27 Britain Socialist Outlook: PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU
Tel: (44 181) 800 7460. Fax: 880 1846 e-mail: outlook@gn.apc.org
Denmark
SAP: Norre Alle 11 A, Copenhagen 2200 /
Tel/Fax: (45 3) 537 3217 e-mail: socinfo@inet.uni-c.dk France LCR: 2 rue Richard Lenoir, Montreuil, 93100 Tel : (33 1) 4009 8022, fax: 4009 1093 Germany
RSB: Verbindungskanal Linkes Ufer 20-24; 68159
Mannheim Tel/Fax : (49 621) 156 4046 e-mail: rsb-ma@link.ma.cl.sub.de
VSP: Dasselstr. 75-77, 50674 Cologne Tel: (49 221
23 1196 Fax: 923 1197 e-mail: soz@link-lev.dinoco.de Greece
OKDE: 34 Eresson St, Athens, 10681 Tel: (30 1) 3836609. E-mail kskordul@ccui.gr Italy Bandiera Rossa: via B. Viarchi, 3, Milan 20158 Tel/fax: (39 2) 3932 3665 differing historical origins, trajectories, and political cultures. Such co-operation is possible, and urgently necessary. In this non- sectarian, radical spirit of unity, the Fourth
International is preparing for the struggles to come. Join us! *
Luxembourg
RSP-PSR: Boite Postale 1182, L-1011- Luxembourg
Netherlands
SAP: St Jacobsstraat 10-20, Amsterdam, 1012 NC.
Tel: (31 20) 625 9272, Fax: 620 3774 e-mail: saprebel@dds.nl
Poland
Dalej!: PO Box 76 ; 03-912 Warsaw 33.
Portugal
R: Rua da Palma 268, Lisbon 1000, Tel: (35 11) &
43 fax: 888 27
Spanish state
IA: c/Embajadores 24, 1° Izq. 28012 Madrid.
tel: (34 1) 530 7538, fax: 527 965 e-mail viensur@nodo50.gn.apc.org
Sweden
: Box 60 87, 102 32 Stockholm. Tel: (46 8)31 08 winternationaten seisp/internationalen.
Turkey
Beyogi, Stalin Yeniyol, Turnacibasi sok 31/1, 80 050