02.08.2000

A strong, united Communist Party

Last weekend the CPGB marked the end of our annual Summer Offensive fundraising drive with a celebratory meal in central London. Almost exactly 80 years earlier - over the weekend of July 31-August 1 1920 - the Communist Unity Convention voted overwhelmingly to establish the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The founding of this Party was the highest organisational achievement of the working class in Britain. Right through the following decades, for 50 years and more, our class was immeasurably strengthened through the existence of a single fighting class formation.

It is true that neither at its foundation nor at any time afterwards did the CPGB have a consistent revolutionary leadership or programme. Like other communist parties it came to be dominated by the interests of the self-serving bureaucracy that gradually consolidated its grip over the Soviet Union. Thus the CPGB was dogged more and more by a twin opportunism - the opportunism of diplomatic prostitution to the USSR bureaucracy on the one hand, and the opportunism that continually arises from the national bourgeois environment on the other. Nevertheless for most of its existence - and particularly at the moment of its conception - the Party was feared and despised by the ruling class.

The event that, above all others, provided the impetus for our Party's birth was, needless to say, the October Revolution of 1917. As Albert Inkpin, general secretary of the British Socialist Party, wrote early in 1920, "Socialists in this country watching Russia's triumphant struggle against world capitalism have an idea which is ever uppermost in their minds. That idea is the desire for a strong, united communist party" (The Call February 12 1920).

All the main left groups - not only the BSP, publishers of The Call, but the Socialist Labour Party, the Workers Socialist Federation, and the South Wales Socialist Society - came together in discussions, encouraged by Lenin himself, with a view to disbanding their separate organisations and merging them in a single Party. Yet there were great difficulties. As comrade Inkpin explained, "So far as fundamentals and the general basis of unity - revolutionary mass action, soviets or similar organisations, working class dictatorship as the weapon for expropriating capital - are concerned, there was complete unanimity. The differences were on the relations of the Communist Party to the trade unions and the Labour Party" (ibid).

The WSF, under the leadership of Sylvia Pankhurst, was at first unable to join the new formation because of these differences. It even called a conference of its own, in June 1920, "for parties and groups who are opposed to parliamentarianism [it meant the tactic of standing for election to parliament] and Labour Party affiliation" (Workers' Dreadnought June 12 1920). Subsequently, instead of placing the interests of working class unity above tactical differences and agreeing to accept majority decisions, the WSF refused to participate in the Communist Unity Convention, our Party's 1st Congress, and set up the self-styled, falsely named 'Communist Party (British Section of the Third International)'.

On the insistence of the International, the newly formed CPGB was instructed that, "no stone must be left unturned ... to bring on to the right track other elements that are not so orthodox, but nonetheless are sincere revolutionaries and genuinely devoted to the cause of communism" (The Communist, weekly paper of the CPGB, November 25 1920). This persistence paid dividends and the WSF in the end was won to join at our 2nd Congress, in 1921.

As we know only too well, despite the founding of communist parties throughout the world, despite the revolutionary upsurge that followed the October Revolution, Russia was left isolated and its political degeneration was mirrored in the CPGB. The opportunist wing of our Party finally called it a day in 1991, leaving the small minority of Leninists to lay hold of its banner, as was their duty as Party members. We have taken the name, Communist Party of Great Britain, but we are under no illusions that we are the Party. The CPGB needs to be reforged - a fact which is recognised by the title of our leading body, the Provisional Central Committee. We, the present majority of CPGB members, are quite prepared to constitute ourselves as a minority in the yet to be reforged CPGB.

Undoubtedly it was the momentous events of 1917 and the prestige of Russia's leaders - Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, etc. - which ensured that a single, united Communist Party was achieved. Today, in 2000, there is no equivalent driving force, but the imperative of revolutionary unity remains. The coming together of the London Socialist Alliance and the intention to contest the forthcoming general election nationally under the Socialist Alliance umbrella shows, however, that at last there are moves towards unity.

Yet, apart from ourselves, none of the alliance components are proposing to take the logic of the SAs to its conclusion: if we are agreed on the need to pose a working class alternative, if we all claim to be revolutionary socialists, why then should we limit our cooperation to the ballot box and single-issue campaigns? Why not go for a higher, organisational unity in a democratic centralist Communist Party?

Eighty years ago they proved it could be done. Groups with their own disparate traditions were pulled together on the basis of unity in action and the acceptance of majority decisions. The result was much, much greater than the sum of the parts. Certainly the reality of the CPGB transcended all the weaknesses, all the failings, all the eccentricities of its individual leaders.

So it should be today. Unfortunately, however, a major stumbling block is the left's very misunderstanding of democratic centralism itself - not surprising after decades of the dominance of a counterfeit version. Under this bureaucratic impostor, minorities are not only obliged to carry out agreed actions, but are at all times prevented from publicly expressing their disagreements. No wonder each organisation is reluctant, to say the least, to enter into an arrangement whereby their views may never see the light of day again. No wonder each prefers to stick to the dead end of 'finally' winning the polemical battle and gaining hegemony for itself.

By contrast we adhere to the genuine article. The CPGB PCC calls for the left to come together in a single, democratic centralist Communist Party with full factional rights for all minorities, including access to the Party press and the right to publish dissenting views. 'Unity in action, freedom to criticise' must be the watchword. Minorities must have the right to become the majority. It is ludicrous to imagine that a body claiming to represent the advanced part of the working class should allow the public expression of only one view.

Of course the merging of the various left groups, even on this Leninist basis, would not in and of itself produce a mass formation. It would, however, open up the possibility of winning the allegiance of millions. It would, to coin a phrase, be 'viable' - at last providing the working class with a realistic alternative.

This theme was hammered home by Jack Conrad, the main speaker at our celebration last weekend. He pointed out that, because of our commitment to the Party idea, the CPGB could claim to follow in the footsteps of those who gathered in London in 1920. Every pound won during our 2000 Summer Offensive was a blow struck for Partyism. The cash raised would not only help finance the Socialist Alliance's electoral effort, but ensure the joint campaign be pushed in the necessary direction.

CPGB national organiser Mark Fischer announced that £14,324 had been collected by Saturday July 29. After all monies had been received from Party organisations and individuals, as well as last-minute donations from supporters and sympathisers, he expected the final total to easily exceed £17,000. This fell short of our £20,000 target, but it was, nevertheless, a considerable achievement.

As we go to press, the latest figure for cash received at centre is £16,727.