21.12.1995
The tasks facing communists: Where to begin?
At the October 1995 CPGB school two comrades from Australia were urged to organise with communists in Britain. Here they continue the debate
The formation of communist parties in virtually every country was a direct result of the impact of the Russian Revolution. Former sects and reformist organisations came together in processes of rapprochement that led to their organisational unity under the banner of the Communist International.
Rapprochement in Britain which formed the CPGB in 1920 was similar to the coming together of the IWW, the Victorian and Barrier Socialist Parties and others to form the Communist Party of Australia on October 30 1920.
The period in which communists are attempting to regroup today is markedly different. The collapse of the ‘socialist’ bloc and the ‘official’ communist movement has left our forces in utter disarray. The world-wide ideological and military offensive of the capitalist class has been quite successful at this point. The strength of the imperialist onslaught has forced upon us a period of reaction and liquidation.
The nature of this period makes the question of organisation the number one task for communists. For the working class to put working class power and socialist revolution on the agenda it needs its communist party. Our first duty is to organise as communists.
In Britain, communists have a tentative pro-party organisation in existence. The Provisional Central Committee of the CPGB and the organisations under its leadership are in a position to uphold the banner of communist unity. Australia, at this point, has no such leadership which could hold that banner.
This raises an immediate question for communists in Australia. Do we, in the depths of this period of liquidationism and (slightly tattered) bourgeois triumphalism, painstakingly begin the process of communist renewal here or do we join the fledgling, yet existing, process of reforging the communist party in Britain?
Communists are world politicians, we are internationalists. This is not an empty phrase, but is one of the cornerstones of our day to day practice: a practice informed by our world-historical understanding of reality. Our theory is a constant endeavour to come to a less one-sided, a more fully totalised understanding of the difficult, complex processes of history as it unfolds. Fundamentally our theory, our practice is subordinated to changing all existing conditions in a material way.
From this starting point, communists in Australia must analyse where is the best place to organise. Our fledging group here is beginning to build a picture of the realities of world capitalism and where Australia fits into this. The three major questions occupying us at present are:
- the party question
- what is socialism? what is communism?
- what is the class composition of capitalist society in Australia?
The development of our forces is and will be slow. Our outcome is uncertain, yet at the same time we have a small base, a small network of pro-party forces from the communist diaspora. It is certain that if we were to relocate to Britain to reforge a communist party there the network we are creating would collapse. Ground will be lost to those on the left proposing social-democratic alliances; it is vital that we organise now while the rest of the Australian left is sliding to the right.
To some extent, going to Britain is the easy way out. We would join with comrades who have developed a pro-party organisation and are entering a new stage of their development in reforging a communist party. Obviously we would like to see this reflected in Australia, but are under no illusions about the difficulty of the task.
Should we remain in Australia and assist in the development of a genuine communist party we would be in an excellent position to build on any upturn in working class revolutionary activity in the world. However, a ‘retreat’ to Britain would undoubtedly provide us with invaluable experience that could be used here at some later date.
We have deliberately left many aspects of this debate open and hope that the debate can be carried through your paper as this would be of great benefit to us all.
Anthony Gardiner and Marcus Larson