Letters

Scientific abuse

Mark Fischer - you are a scab, a parliamentary cretin, a lapdog of British imperialism while being, simultaneously if not paradoxically, a tool of Scottish nationalists. You are also, it goes without saying, a failed social democrat, a fascist bastard and a complete arsehole.

I am of course using the above terms in their strict scientific sense and not, as the uninformed might think, descending into abuse. While it may be true that only myself and a narrow circle of confidantes share what others might call a perverse abuse of language, ours is no more exclusive a club than those who bandy the term ‘national socialist’ without accepting that this term is universally agreed to be a synonym for ‘Nazi’.

My accusations, all carefully considered and easily justified, can therefore in no sense impede a continuation of constructive, comradely dialogue and fraternal debate.

I look forward to reading an in-depth defence of yourself against all the above extremely serious charges. The entire Scottish Socialist Alliance waits with baited breath.

Please note, I am not a national socialist, nor a national reformist, but a proud revolutionary Marxist and Leninist.

Tom Delargy
Paisley

Innately superior

‘National socialism’ (also known as socialist nationalism) is a term which has been around on the left for a century. Bernard Shaw clearly labelled himself a national socialist, but took pains to dissociate himself from Hitler’s racist pretences.

‘National socialism’ means socialism in one nation without insisting or expecting that all other nations become socialist at the same time. Our defeats in the 1920s showed that there will not be simultaneous planet-wide victories for socialism.

National socialism is an unavoidable tactic. It is harmful only when it becomes a principle which rejects international revolutionary cooperation. People who believe that they will get socialism first because they are innately superior are but a short step from concluding that lesser breeds do not deserve socialism anyway.

I don’t suppose Gordon Morgan (Weekly Worker September 4) is like that. I wish, though, that he had used his letter to enlighten rather than complain. Indignation is, after all, a symptom of weakness.

John Blakiston
Canada

Universal intercourse

Comrade Mike Davies seems unaware of the Marxist basics, judging by his intemperate remarks (Weekly Worker letters, September 4). The comrade sternly castigates my supposed “abstract internationalist mentality”, if not my “imperialist attitudes”. It is even implied that I want to “impose the English language” on the Welsh people. The comrade asks why I am so “frightened” of “national characteristics”.

Believe it or not, comrade Davies, I do not feel remotely “frightened” by the existence of the Welsh language and culture. However, under communism ‘Welshness’ - alongside ‘Scottish-ness’, ‘Irishness’, ‘Frenchness’, etc - will have disappeared. If a feeling of ‘Welshness’ or ‘Chineseness’ still exists, or indeed becomes stronger, then by definition we are not on the path to communism - quite the opposite. Under communism there are no classes, states or, horror or horrors, nationalities (as any sort of defining or meaningful feature of human cultural and social existence).

When comrade Davies mocks the idea of an internationalist culture, he is in reality mocking Marxism and scientific socialism. Such is his right.

Comrade Davies refuses to believe that communists actively look forward to the disappearance of national characteristics - perhaps he thinks it is a mere pious, utopian wish on our part. Well, comrade, both Marx and Engels certainly looked forward to the disappearance of national characteristics - even if some ‘communists’ do not.

As early as The German ideology, which you could label a ‘pre-Marxist’ work if you really wanted to, Marx and Engels were mocking and attacking “local communism”. In fact, their ‘support’ for the development of a world market was predicated on the notion that “each extension of intercourse would abolish local communism”; they also described such a world market as an “absolutely necessary practical premise” for the establishment of communism. Incidentally, they also talked about how “empirically, communism is only possible as the act of the dominant peoples ‘all at once’ and simultaneously” (see The German ideology: part one London 1970, p56).

In the Communist manifesto, which is generally accepted to be a Marxist document - sorry, Althusserians - we find the same outlook. Marx and Engels praise the bourgeoisie, and bourgeois productive forces, for having introduced a “cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country” (London 1983, p18), and enthuse about how universal intercourse ensures that “national one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible and from the numerous national and local literature, there arises a world literature” (ibid pp18-19) - unfortunately, they did not specify exactly which language this “world literature” would be written in.

The views expressed by comrade Davies are hardly new. As it says in the Communist Manifesto:

“The communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got ... The supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish still faster” (ibid p48).

Naturally, as (Leninist) communists we support the right of nations to self-determination - precisely in order to win democratic hegemony over ‘national movements’ and hence promote internationalism. In the Welsh context, we unconditionally support Wales’s right to self-determination - hence our call for a federal republic. It goes without saying that we unconditionally defend the democratic right of the Welsh people to speak the Welsh language - or not to do so, if that be their wish. We implacably oppose all manifestations of English chauvinism, and the monarchical unionist UK state as a whole.

Yet none of this detracts from the fact that as communist we want to see the end of all nations and nationalities - including, I can reassure comrade Davies, the English nationality. Of course, whether the actual English language withers away, lives on, or even flourishes, is an open-ended question which history will decide. But, we do need a common/universal language - whether that be English/American, Esperanto or Chinese. This common/universal language must, and will, flow from the objective conditions and the real movements in society, not be imposed by force or violence.

In the 1844 manuscripts Marx talks about how “being of the species confirms itself in species-consciousness” (London 1964, p138). I note he did not mention national-consciousness.

Don Preston
South London

Dirty tricks?

The appearance of a leaflet advertising a ‘Forum for Europe to set up an anti-Nazi resistance’ throughout Europe has raised concern among militant anti-fascists

Searchlight is an open opponent of Anti-Fascist Action and people feel that the sole purpose of the ‘Forum for Europe’ is a wrecking operation to sabotage a genuine militant anti-fascist conference to be held in London less than two weeks later.

Militant anti-fascist suspicions were alerted by the tone of the leaflet, all implausibly at odds with the position of the ANL, whose name it has been put out in. Militants argue that this is not merely some sectarian manoeuvre to thwart a rival, but that the initiative is entirely bogus. The ANL has recently closed down its office and itself no longer has any operational capacity.

The ANL opposes not only AFA but also the very principle of “confronting the fascists ideologically and physically on the streets”. They regard its proponents as little better than the fascists themselves. Furthermore the ‘Forum for Europe’ leaflet argues that in Britain

“Nazi organisations wait in the wings to build on the despair and the demoralisation they believe the Labour government will lead to ... The ANL has organised this forum to bring together anti-Nazi resistance to learn lessons for the struggle that lies ahead for us in Britain.”

The SWP/ANL is a loyal supporter of the Labour Party. Does it now believe a party that it supported in the general election will cause a level of “despair and demoralisation” that could lead to a significant fascist renaissance?

The leaflet also claims that “thousands have taken to the streets in towns across France to challenge ideologically and physically the ideas of Le Pen”. The sole example they cite is a demonstration in Strasbourg in April 1997 which was entirely pacifistic in nature. It was even sponsored by the town’s mayor.

Out of mutual interest Searchlight and the ANL have recently joined forces conducting joint political stalls at events and so on. The ANL is now also the main distributor of the Searchlight magazine. Curious then that the ‘Reflex’ column in the July edition of Searchlight’s own magazine admits that the Strasbourg demonstration “did nothing to prevent” the substantial rise in electoral support for the FN in the region. Indeed the vote for the FN jumped considerably in the elections that followed shortly afterwards. Are we being asked to believe that the ANL initiative is genuine, when it is being launched on the back of an initiative that failed even in its own terms?

Obviously if a 50,000-strong demonstration made no impact on the FN organisationally or electorally, then perhaps the cross-class mindset behind such a strategy is itself inherently flawed. It is the obvious conclusion. But also one that neither the ANL nor Searchlight are willing to even address. Indeed it seems they are now attempting to prevent others addressing the question as well.

Searchlight’s extensive links with the security services, MI5 and the special branch are well documented. The ANL also likes to cultivate a relationship with the police on the ground whenever possible. Not unnaturally the police and security services reciprocate. All three - state, Searchlight, ANL - have a mutual interest in seeing militant anti-fascism isolated and outflanked. Through its contacts in the media the ANL has sought to airbrush AFA out of existence.

The far right on the continent is going unchecked (a) as a result of the political and social conditions harvested by nominally socialist administrations; and (b) the compound failure of a cross-class/state collaborationist strategy championed by supporters of the same administrations in response to that growth. That strategy, which has failed everywhere - most spectacularly in France - is what Searchlight/ANL, both in Europe and domestically, continue to proclaim as the key to victory.

Anti-fascism is an honourable tradition. But it is also the harshest of political arenas. It is now evident that adversaries a little closer to home are also set on a course of confrontation with militant anti-fascism.

Eamonn Kent
London AFA

Khrushchev’s fault

An SLP member asked Arthur what the Cubans made of capitalist restoration in the former USSR and eastern Europe. In his reply Scargill traced the problems of the USSR back to Khrushchev in 1956. He also condemned Brezhnev and those leaders “who were half dead when they took office”. Arthur however did not even mention the dreaded ‘S’ word, Stalin.

Terry Burns of Cardiff SLP commented that the problems in the former USSR were caused partly by the lack of democracy and the one-party state. Scargill disagreed and said he had no problem with a one-party state, “providing it’s my party”.

Comrades then retired to a nearby social club where food was provided and entertainment from Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Red Choir). The choir sang a song, ‘Vote yes for Wales’ - a little ironic, given that their hosts, Gwent SLP, are calling for a ‘no’ vote in the referendum.

Clive Evans
Cardiff