11.01.1996

World politicians

THE article from comrades Larson and Gardiner (Weekly Worker 123) continues a very important debate. I cannot take up the question fully in this short article. I will however soon be returning to this issue of communist unity and internationalism in an introduction to a Turkish-language edition of the draft programme recently produced by comrade Jack Conrad.

The comrades express their misgivings about the idea many comrades put forward at our last cadre school in Bulgaria. ‘Come to Britain,’ they were urged. ‘Join the Communist Party of Great Britain and help the struggle in Australia by reforging the party in a country where a real start has already been made.’

The comrades were and remain reluctant. They point out that if they left, the embryonic structure of sympathisers they have painstakingly constructed in this difficult period would collapse. This would leave the field totally open to political forces they correctly see as poison the workers’ movement in that country. So although they see the power of the argument, they are unhappy about ‘deserting’ the struggle in Australia.

They exhibit an admirable tenacity, but much more is required of communists as “world politicians”, as the comrades correctly describe Marxists.

It is axiomatic for us as “world politicians” that the struggle for revolution in a particular country is an organic and subordinate part of the fight for the world revolution. This is the context in which we appraise our tasks, assess our forces and decide our course of action.

The comrades would of course agree that our movement has been destroyed, that we have suffered a cataclysmic defeat. In the aftermath of this, we face a frustrating period. Those around the world still claiming to be “communists” and able to command forces in society (for example, the social-democratised Communist Party of the Russian Federation) have no programme for the future. They are not Marxists. Those that do have such a programme, are insignificant in number and organisational weight.

Under these circumstances, it is the duty of genuine communists to seize the main link, to support and actively participate in reconstituting a genuine communist party - the first of a new generation of combat parties of the class. This is the highest expression of the world duties imposed on them as world politicians. We must subordinate ourselves to this, not to accidents of geography.

This ‘subordination’ in practice means a voluntary submission to a communist collective - that is, to an organisation. This is the first priority of communists - to organise themselves. This is not for the sake of comfort or convivial company; it is a fundamental prerequisite of being a communist.

Moving on, organisation implies concentration; we bring our comrades into a close, working proximity with each other in collectives which undertake Party tasks. I believe that in Australia you have already moved comrades around to facilitate this type of communist concentration. This is standard communist practice.

This is what the Leninists in the Communist Party have always done. We have shunted our comrades up and down the country in order to facilitate the key battle to reforge the Party. This has often involved leaving some unfinished ‘business’ in some city or town, perhaps having to accept that in practice an embryonic local organisation of supporters or sympathisers would unfortunately dissolve as we shifted the cadre who gave it coherence.

There is no doubt however, that without such an approach - essential given our embryonic, primitive level of organisation - we would not have built the organisation we have today. We would not have been able to reclaim the banner of the Party. We would not have been able to start the painstaking and tentative tasks of re-building the Party on a local basis. And - it must be said - we would not be actually talking to you today, comrades Larson and Gardiner.

The same essential principle applies to us as “world politicians”. Given the state of the movement in Australia, the cultural affinity of the two countries, the closeness of our politics and the scale of our task, I feel your place is here.

Mark Fischer