30.01.2025

Third-round progress

Preliminary stages have been completed, but it is important, at this point, to challenge those who only talk the talk. Jack Conrad reports

Negotiations between the CPGB, Talking About Socialism and the Prometheus editorial board have seen further positive steps. Our third Zoom meeting on Saturday January 25 was good-natured and constructive.

I represented the CPGB’s Provisional Central Committee, Nick Wrack and Ed Potts TAS. Cat Rylance spoke as a member of the Prometheus EB. It should be added that comrade Potts is also a member of the Prometheus EB. So, in a sense, he wore two hats.

No RS21 comrade from the Prometheus EB was available on this occasion - more than a pity. These meetings are important and are being keenly followed by many good comrades on the left. The struggle to overcome the closely connected dual curse of sectism and broad-frontism could, if we are successful, be taken to a higher stage with Forging Communist Unity.

In this context, I told comrades that our fusion process has been a definite factor in the recent upturn of applications to join the CPGB. That, in and of itself, is a positive development for all three organisations. Not that we operate an open-door policy … we want serious recruits.

Behind

At our last meeting the CPGB and TAS comrades confirmed that they were fully on board with FCU. The Prometheus EB is, however, markedly uneven. So we started our third round of talks with a report from comrade Rylance.

She referred us to the Prometheus EB statement giving what can only be described as a cautious welcome to FCU. Comrade Rylance described opinions on the EB as ranging from the enthusiastic to the sceptical.

There were too, perhaps, fears amongst the EB’s RS21 members that their work in the ranks of RS21 and progressing FCU would, at some stage, prove to be incompatible.

During the discussion that followed, I made the point that with us, in the CPGB, such a worry, while understandable, is entirely misplaced. We are committed to comrades continuing with their membership of existing left organisations. Comrades ought to maintain contacts, bonds … and their open political struggles.

In the case of RS21 the goal should be to win the entire organisation to fully embracing Forging Communist Unity. Of course, there could well be those on the right who are unwilling to countenance communist unity. Maybe, instead, they prefer broad-frontism and pursuing unity with the trade union bureaucracy. If that is the case, they will, probably, resort either to purging the left or splitting from the left. We shall see.

The suggestion had already been made that we ought to meet with all members of the Prometheus EB. That way hesitations, even hostility, can, if there is sincerity and good will, be overcome in pursuit of what is, after all, our common objective. In the ‘Politics of Prometheus’, the EB emphasises its commitment to the “necessity of the party”. The “party”, they say, “represents the single-most important institution of the socialist movement”.¹ Exactly. And now, comrades, it is time to turn those fine words into political practice. Those who only talk the talk will soon find themselves exposed.

We decided to put forward comrades Wrack and Conrad to meet the EB. The following email was sent on January 29:

Dear comrades,

As you know, comrades representing the CPGB, Prometheus and Talking About Socialism … from a Marxist point of view (TAS) met on Saturday January 25 2025 as part of the ongoing discussions now called ‘Forging Communist Unity’ to discuss how to progress the process towards a possible fusion of the groups involved.

It was reported that there is not unanimity among the Prometheus editorial board about how, if at all, Prometheus should engage with the discussions.

It is understandable that comrades may have reservations, hesitations and concerns about the process - how it will evolve and what will emerge from the process. The discussions are still only at a very early stage. We recognise that comrades will have questions and even criticisms of the other participating groups that generate caution.

In order to try to answer any questions and to try to assuage any concerns about any aspect of the FCU process, it was thought that we should propose to you that Jack Conrad of the CPGB and Nick Wrack of TAS meet you collectively to discuss any aspects of the process that comrades may want to raise. You will already have heard, at least in part, the views of Cat Rylance and Ed Potts, who would be involved as members of the Prometheus EB.

We encourage all comrades to voice their concerns, doubts and criticisms, whether in respect of the participating groups or of anything else and would welcome a frank exchange of views about what can be achieved.

To that end we propose an in-person meeting at a venue of your choosing (London or elsewhere) in the near future, at which the Prometheus EB comrades could ask any questions and raise any issues that they wish. If an in-person meeting, which we would prefer, is not possible, then a Zoom meeting could be an alternative.

We look forward to your response.

Why Marx?

Why Marx? and its proposed series of seminars, centred on communist unity, was raised too.

I explained that the CPGB’s PCC had issues with initial drafts. We certainly opposed any suggestion that Why Marx? should serve as the “public face” of FCU.

It should also be pointed out that the comrades taking the effective lead in Why Marx? are CPGB members. However, we have decided to treat it as a freelance project and not exercise direct control. Instead we have relied on persuasion.

This has, after much effort, born fruit. I could, therefore, assure comrades that the latest draft list of sessions is a considerable improvement. When possible, PCC members will, therefore, contribute to sessions as lead speakers.

The TAS comrades said that without the active support of the PCC they too had kept their distance from Why Marx? That position will now be reconsidered. Good.

I suggested that we should invite another member of the CPGB’s PCC to participate in our talks. This was agreed.

We shall now move on to the real business. That is the first of the six points proposed by TAS: “What should a partyist organisation’s fundamental principles and programmatic commitments be?”²

My fourth-round dispatch will follow in due course.

prometheusjournal.org/2021/12/19/the-politics-of-prometheus.↩︎
For all six points see ‘Second-round progress’ Weekly Worker January 16 2025: weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1521/second-round-progress.↩︎