Amendment on Trotskyism (English)

Submitted by martin on 7 November, 2003 - 7:10

3 and 4: replace by:

Those who today set out to struggle for the emancipation of the exploited and the oppressed do not start from zero as regards ideas which can guide their struggle.

The main axis of struggle is the class struggle, and above all the struggle, organic to capitalism, between the productive class, the class of wage-workers, and the capitalist class. The liberation of the working class will be the task of the workers themselves; and it is that the same working class that can, in emancipating itself, also emancipate all the oppressed.
The workers cannot win a clear and durable victory without a revolution, that is, without overthrowing the bureaucratic and military power of the capitalist state and constructing their own democratic workers' state, which will be a "semi-state" working towards the extinction of political authority of the state as a special organ of society.
In order to emancipate itself, the working class must first organise itself and equip itself with the means to win partial victory in its daily struggle with the capitalist class. It is by immersing themselves in that struggle, and by assisting the development of that basic mode of organisation of the working class constituted by trade unions (and sometimes also factory committees, strike coordinations, etc.), that those who fight for social emancipation can both learn from workers' struggles and bring to those struggles the lessons of past struggles, analyses and debates.
In order to do this work, the activists must organise themselves into a political party. This party is neither an elite seeking to command the working class, nor an organisational apparatus seeking to be the working-class counterpart to the capitalists' state, but a democratic and living organism which seeks to become the organised memory of the working class. Its necessary discipline and centralism will serve political clarity.
To build bridges between struggles for immediate goals and partial gains and the revolution, the organised political activities should develop a policy for a united front of workers' organisations and for transitional demands, which are based on the logic of the class struggle in order to develop that logic as far as possible in the direction of the solidarity, confidence and independent self-assertion of the working class.
The society that we want has nothing to do with Stalinist "socialism". Stalinist leaders, those in history and those who still remain in Cuba or North Korea, are not allies, even untrustworthy allies, in the struggle for emancipation, but additional enemies. A workers' revolution is necessary against Stalinism as against capitalism.
These basic ideas are still relevant today. We must however recognise that there is considerable disarray among the activists who broadly identify with this political tradition. They are organised in a whole archipelago of groups which often have very little contact between themselves, little collaboration even where they agree, and little dialogue on the questions that divide them.
To begin to remedy this situation, we have to discuss the development of the world and of the revolutionary movement.

8 and 9: replace by

The Communist Parties and the Communist International feel under the control of the Stalinist autocracy that had seized power in Russia. During the world crises of the 20s, 30s and 40s, those who continued to stand on the founding politics of the Communist International were reduced to tiny groups, persecuted and often jailed or murdered by fascists, Stalinists and bourgeois democrats alike.

19: replace by

Yet the revolutionary Marxist groups were beleaguered and isolated for decades. Many of their most experienced and competent activists were killed during or after World War 2. They suffered a catastrophic decline in political culture. Most of them adopted variants of the seemingly "successful" Stalinist party style of organising themselves. They were unable to deal with the big changes in the world.

22: replace by:

The two things are inextricably linked. There can not be political self-renewal and living political development in response to an always-changing world without free discussion. There can not be free discussion unless the organisation is free alike from dogma-worship, from indifference to what we must learn from the great revolutionary Marxists of other times like Lenin and Trotsky, from the distorting power of high priests and self-designated prophets and colleges of cardinals, and from the suppression of minority opinion practised in most of the would-be Marxist groups (with the consequence that sub-groups fight to make themselves dictator, or, if they lose, easily choose to split and found a new group).

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.