20.03.1997

Bad old ways

Around the left

The unfolding crisis in Albania - like the recent disturbances in Serbia and Bulgaria - raises questions of fundamental importance to the revolutionary left. Primarily, it forces us to set out our approach to spontaneous mass revolts, and spontaneity in general. Do we stand aloof from such mass movements or do we enthusiastically support them? Can socialism emerge spontaneously? What is the nature of revolutionary organisation?

Reading the left press on Albania, therefore, is very instructive, as it provides an insight into left thinking in general. It is interesting to contrast current left writings with statements and articles from the 1989-1991 period, which saw the once mighty looking ‘socialist’ states go down the drain of history. Then, spontaneity was the name of the game, and all the spontaneous revolts and movements were lauded to the skies, being viewed as somehow part of the ‘anti-Stalinist revolution’.

Now, however, the left’s response is a lot more sober and level-headed - it does not appear to be quite so keen on spontaneity as it used to be. You could argue that, to some extent, the revolutionary left has learnt some lessons from the ‘revolutions’ of 1989-1991.

A good example is the Socialist Party. As we have mentioned often, Militant Tendency, as it was then known, got terribly excited by the ‘anti-Stalinist’ revolts - so much so that it proclaimed that the “red 90s” were now upon us. The organisation has calmed down somewhat now, firmly planted as it is in the not so “red 90s”.

In an editorial on Albania, The Socialist states: “The effects of 40 years of Stalinist dictatorship followed by six years of gangster capitalism under Berisha have left workers unsure about what to demand as an alternative” (March l4) - a reasonable enough analysis. The SP realises that the mass revolts in and of themselves are not the answer - ie, that consciousness is required.

The same could be said for Socialist Worker. As we know, the Socialist Workers Party was an enthusiastic cheerleader for counterrevolution and anti-communism (or, as they called it, ‘anti-Stalinism’) during 1989-1991. The SWPs ‘enthusiasm’ was so unalloyed that they even praised the “courage” of Boris Yeltsin. Yet in Socialist Worker we read: “There is a real danger the current revolt in Albania could share the weaknesses of the revolts which swept Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990 (March l5), and that the “tragedy for Albanian workers is the lack of a genuine socialist alternative on the ground” (March 8). This is, of course, very true.

But the bad old ways of thinking still live on. In the case of the SP, this is their incurable ‘official optimism’ and ‘inevitabilism’. Thus, even though Albanian workers have no alternative programme or vision, The Socialist still writes: “Eventually, Albania’s workers will conclude that capitalism can provide no stable solution for the mass of the population” (my emphasis, March 14). It also has to be said that SP’s ‘programme’ for the Albanian masses is hopeless and, if implemented, would lead to further impoverishment, based as it is on “nationalisation of the finance companies and freezing the assets of the investment companies”. Given that global capital and transnational companies can relocate to anywhere in the world almost within days, you end up ‘nationalising’ bugger all. In effect, the SP is advocating a sort of ‘left’ Hoxhaism - the idea that in the epoch of interlocked, interlinked, global capitalism a nation-state can nationalise its way to ‘socialism’.

For old-time, unreconstructed ‘official optimism’ your best bet is still Workers Power. Unlike The Socialist and Socialist Worker, it just cannot stop itself from painting the Albanian revolt as a ‘red uprising’ - of sorts. It believes that a “revolutionary workers’ and poor peasants’ government” is on the agenda in Albania (which it ludicrously insists on calling a “moribund workers’ state”) and nowhere does it even hint at the possibility that the revolt could take a reactionary form, preferring to take refuge instead in its usual abstract slogans and demands - ie, “For a Socialist Federation of the Balkans!” and “For a general strike in all state industries and services!” (March).

It is always a good idea to base your slogans and demands upon reality, not fantasy.

Don Preston