14.03.1996

Communist University ’96

Party notes

This summer the Communist Party is hosting, along with others, the week-long Communist University ’96. This initiative will include elements of past educationals that our organisation has run, most importantly our annual cadre schools. These have been milestones in our development and we believe that the lessons from them can greatly benefit the organisation of Communist University ’96.

First, on location. Although CU ’96 will be in Britain, we must ensure that the school takes place in a ‘secluded’ area, away from everyday concerns and work. We found that taking comrades out of the country is useful. Without mundane distractions, the learning experience is that much more intensive and productive.

Second, CU ’96 should involve a wide range of organisations, particularly from other countries. Comrades from Iran, Turkey, the United States, Ireland, India and Australia have enormously enriched our debates at past schools. They have invariably contributed in a partisan way, but still with a very critical spirit. Our schools have never been characterised by ‘diplomatic’ internationalism. Rather, comrades from other countries have given the benefit of their enormously rich and varied experience in very candid, even blunt, ways.

Thus schools in the past have seen some pretty intense arguments. Yet overwhelmingly the different organisations that participated came away with a sense of comradeship and unity. In this sense, the schools have been a modest anticipation of what the reforged Communist International of the future will be like.

Third, we must continue and develop the very important social aspects of the school. Comrades often comment that they do not simply learn via the formal sessions, but also in the myriad informal social/political gatherings that spontaneously come together throughout the week. Any communist collective is at the same time a social organism, a complex web of individual relations. A week’s school and the politicised social life that it generates does wonders to strengthen our organisational esprit de corps, morality and culture. Communist discipline and cohesion requires that we know our comrades, that we test them over years of work and discussion. Knowing them as individual comrades - with all their strengths and weaknesses - is indispensable to this process, and schools have proven invaluable for this.

The Communist University this year will take place in the first week of August. We are currently discussing with others ideas for its structure, the openings and invited speakers. We would welcome suggestions from comrades on any of these. As soon as a provisional timetable and format is decided, we will ensure that it appears in the columns of the Weekly Worker. Despite the fact that plans are vague at the moment, please indicate as soon as possible if you are interested in attending Communist University ’96 as places are limited and are likely to be oversubscribed.

National organiser