08.02.1996

Unity around programme

Statement by the Revolutionary Democratic Group on current relations between the RDG (faction of the SWP) and the PCC(CPGB)

1. The RDG is a banned faction of the SWP. We believe that the SWP, with its theory of state capitalism, represented the most radical break from Stalinism and orthodox Trotskyism. Consequently the SWP has emerged from the break-up of the USSR as the largest of the Marxist organisations.

2. However the central committee of the SWP is the main ideological and practical barrier within the Marxist movement to building a new communist party. This is why we are engaged in a factional struggle with the SWP CC, which is in essence a struggle for a communist party.

3. The foundation of a new communist party must be a revolutionary programme. In so far as the programme is a correct application of the science of Marxism, so the party can have a solid basis for working class politics. The programme makes the connection between Marxist theory and practical revolutionary activity.

4. The SWP does not possess such a programme and cannot become the communist vanguard party. SWP theory and practice remain separated. The SWP CC has done nothing to address the gap of theory and practice which its lack of programme signifies. The SWP is programmatically bankrupt, despite agitation inside and outside the SWP. It has not addressed, let alone solved, the confusion over its own programme. It has no alternative programme to the Labour Party, and is therefore reduced to critically supporting Labour’s programme.

5. The rapprochement process initiated by the Provisional Central Committee (CPGB) has presented us with a new situation. The RDG has always sought fraternal relations and the maximum unity with other Marxists, even where we have sharp ideological differences. Consequently we responded positively to the PCC and sought to engage as constructively as possible.

6. During 1995 we worked with the PCC at Marxism 95 and have attended educational meetings, contributed to the Weekly Worker and attended its annual school. This relationship has been productive for both the PCC (CPGB) and the RDG. It has been characterised by fraternal and comradely relations on both sides.

7. The PCC and its supporters have recently adopted the demand for the Federal Republic of England, Scotland and Wales, which has been central to RDG politics. This can only serve to cement our alliance and lead to future joint work.

8. The PCC has invited the RDG to join its organisation with full faction rights - either fully; or partially, on the basis of “representative entry”. The RDG has no problem as such with being a minority faction. We have agreed in principle the nature of faction rights and have observed at first hand the open way in which debates are conducted.

9. Consequently the RDG does not reject this invitation, but considers that it is premature at the present time.

10. The RDG rejects the idea of representative entry. This idea has been used by Open Polemic so that part of OP has joined and part remained outside. Whilst this suits the needs and interests of OP and therefore works for them, it is rejected by the RDG as inappropriate.

11. Unlike OP, the RDG is a faction of another organisation. We have definite strategic, programmatic, tactical and organisational views. We aim to act in furtherance of those views on the basis of majority decisions. For us it is a question of “all in, or all out”.

12. For the RDG it is not simply a question of whether we should join the CPGB, but equally should we end our factional relationship with the SWP. Given the long history of the RDG and its struggle with the SWP CC, it is a very important decision. Any decision we take to abandon our factional relationship with the SWP has to be explained and justified to the SWP membership. Our factional struggle has been a principled one and cannot be abandoned without a full political explanation to the SWP rank and file.

13. The RDG considers that at present it is premature to cease to be a faction of the SWP. First the objective situation in the SWP over the last year indicates that opposition to the leadership has grown. It would be incorrect to cut ourselves off from that development by abandoning the faction, unless we could significantly step up the level of struggle against the CC. This has to be shown in practice.

14. Second the RDG has not yet explained our view of the PCC to our SWP comrades nor are we in a position to justify joining the CPGB in terms of our previously held positions. Given our emphasis on programme it has to be clear that the CPGB has a superior programme to the SWP. This may become possible. But at the moment it is not.

15. Without a programme there is no CPGB. We cannot become a faction of the CPGB because it does not exist. This is more than formal logic; it is politically important.

16. The old CPGB has ceased to exist. The new CPGB has not yet come into existence. We are in a transitional period between old and new. The old CPGB was based on the British road to socialism. The new CPGB will be born at the conference which endorses the new programme.

17. At this point the RDG could decide to become a faction of the new CPGB on the basis of the superiority of the new programme over that of the SWP. It is a programme question, not the relative size of the two organisations that is central.

18. The RDG did not join and would not even consider joining the old CPGB, which we considered an anti-revolutionary organisation with a reformist programme. It was a product of Stalinist degeneration and for years justified the crimes of the Soviet bureaucracy against the international working class.

19. A new CPGB is a different matter and we would consider joining that as a faction, provided it represented a genuine revolutionary break from the Stalinist past. So whilst the RDG could be a faction of a new CPGB, it cannot be a faction of a promise of a new CPGB, when the exact nature of that promise is not yet determined.

20. Whilst a new CPGB does not exist, we recognise the work carried out by the PCC (CPGB) whose aim is to relaunch the CPGB. We recognise that the PCC, formerly the “Leninist faction” of the old CPGB, has by its factional struggle the legitimate right to hold the title CPGB against the Democratic Left and the CPB. The PCC represents a legitimate connection between the CPGB, founded in 1920, and any new CPGB as yet to be relaunched.

21. We recognise that the PCC through its organ, the Weekly Worker, has grouped around itself a number of pro-CPGB comrades who work under the discipline of the PCC. We do not accept that these comrades constitute a new CPGB. This does not mean that the RDG will sit passively by until the new CPGB is launched before deciding whether to join. On the contrary we intend to work closely in alliance with the PCC for the launching of a new organisation. We welcome the proposals for programmatic discussion as representing the correct path towards a new communist party.

23. We believe that the best path towards the fusion of the RDG and the PCC into a single organisation is:

i. Continue to build our alliance with the PCC and encourage other organisations to join this alliance.

ii. To engage in joint work directed at the SWP.

iii. To develop a draft programme and rules and prepare for a founding conference of a reforged communist party.

24. Work on a new draft programme is vital for rapprochement. This could usefully be a two-stage process:

i. A period of programmatic debate and clarification.

ii. A programme commission should be set up with representatives from those organisations which want to participate in a founding conference.