Workers' Liberty 27, February 1996

“The occupiers of a country are never popular, either those who want to stay forever or those who are dying to get home.” Jane Flanner was writing about the American occupation of France in 1945, which, having helped free the country from Nazi terror, had a better chance of popularity than most. The occupation of Bosnia by 60,000 NATO troops, mostly US, French and British, has no such advantages. Probably for most people in Bosnia any peace that gives them and their community some secure territory is preferable to continuation of the atrocious four-year war, unleashed by Serbian imperialism...

The following text is “Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action” by V I Lenin, Volna ["Wave"] no. 22, May 20, 1906. It can be found in the Collected Works, Vol.10. p.442 . The editors have received the following communication signed by the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. “In view of the fact that several Party organisations have raised the question of the limits within which the decisions of Party congresses may be criticised, the Central Committee, bearing in mind that the interests of the Russian proletariat have always demanded the greatest possible unity in...

By Karl Kautsky I. Marx and the political problems of the trade unions I have no intention of solving the problem of which is the more important, the organisation of the proletariat into one independent class party without any definite programme or the formation of a special, though indeed smaller, working-class party, but having a definite socialist programme. I do not think there is any such problem at all. There is just as little sense in such a problem as there is in asking which is the more important - the final aim or the movement. The organisation of the proletariat into an independent...

To help traumatised ex-members of the IS-SWP get their political bearings and to establish before younger readers its real history, we continue our symposium on the IS/SWP tradition. Some of those who participate in this symposium have moved a long way from the politics they had in the IS/SWP, and from the politics of Workers’ Liberty now. Nonetheless, at the end of this discussion we - and the thinking left in general - will be better equipped to formulate the lessons of the IS-SWP experience. Martin Shaw was a member of IS from 1968-75. He is now a supporter of mainstream Labour. The...