25.10.2000

CPGB members' aggregate

Period of growth

On October 22 the CPGB aggregate meeting in London was attended by members and supporters and, for part of the day, also by comrades from the Revolutionary Democratic Group.

There were three agenda items. First, a discussion of the role and future of the Republican Communist Network, introduced by comrade Steve Freeman of the RDG. Comrade Freeman began by describing republican communism as a distinct strand on the left, and said the aims of the RCN are to bring together such communists in Britain, and to act as a faction within the Scottish Socialist Party. He outlined three challenges the RCN currently faces: responding to the increasing nationalism within the SSP, defining the role of the RCN in terms of the Socialist Alliance, and moving towards majority rule in the decision-making process within the RCN.

Some CPGB comrades expressed the view that as the RCN is dominated by the politics of left Scottish nationalism it has no role in England or the Socialist Alliance. The RCN was seen as a diversion or an unnecessary complication. We should either dump it or split quickly.

But the majority accepted that the RCN has played a certain role in Scotland, countering the attempts to curb democratic rights within the SSP at last February's conference.

However, comrade Marcus Larsen said the main task of the RCN must be to cohere anti-reformist forces on the left in Scotland, and take a firm stance against nationalism even at the risk of alienating the nationalist wing within the RCN itself.

Comrade John Bridge agreed, adding that left nationalism is our main opponent in Scotland, and that the RCN has so far been characterised by its adoption of the nationalist agenda in Republican Communist, and passivity in face of the more pronounced hints of the SSP doing an anti-SWP deal with the SNP 'fundies' and disaffected Labourite reformists. If the RCN fails to fight effectively, it becomes part of the problem and not worth supporting - as the comrade put it. We do not want to paralyse healthy forces by leading them into a conciliationist unity with our own bloc of nationalists. Comrade Freeman argued that as support for proletarian internationalism is growing in the RCN it would be incorrect to walk out.

There was some specific discussion of Republican Communist, the RCN journal. Comrade Freeman said the RCN has no real leadership, only administrative officers. However, Republican Communist editorial board members act as the ideological leaders and spokespersons of the RCN. At present the editorial board is effectively dominated by left nationalism, which controls and directs the content of the paper. CPGB and RDG comrades agreed to fight for an expansion of the editorial board to make it more representative of the range of opinions within the RCN, above all the anti-nationalist majority.

The second item of the aggregate was a discussion of the Socialist Alliances. Comrade John Bridge gave a brief overview of the Party's assessment of prospects and how the SAs should evolve. During the debate which followed many comrades active in Socialist Alliances gave accounts of developments in their regions.

Comrade Bridge said that, despite the period of reaction, as bureaucratic socialism and social democracy have both been seen to fail, socialist politics has the chance to enter a new phase favourable to the creation of a socialist alternative to Labourism. Reality is drawing all serious leftwing forces to work in the Socialist Alliance project. The comrade reiterated his analysis of the three trends at the Coventry conference and outlined the errors of both the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Party perspectives.

The CPGB position is that the Socialist Alliance consists overwhelmingly of organisations of the revolutionary left, which should work towards ever closer unity in a single democratic centralist party. Comrade Bridge suggested the publication by the CPGB of a pamphlet providing a strategic perspective propagandising for the Partyist project and explaining how to go from where the Socialist Alliance movement is now towards what is required by the working class and - what is the same for us - history.

Comrade Anne Murphy described the situation in Hackney. The council is bankrupt, and CPGB comrades in Hackney Socialist Alliance have proposed that it should call on the councillors to resign rather than cut jobs and services. The SWP and SP find themselves to the right of so-called social democrats like Mike Marqusee. She also discussed our tactics vis-à -vis standing against Diane Abbott - we are against giving her a blank cheque, especially as our support in Hackney is growing dramatically. We should at the very least present her with a set of minimum demands. There were other reports from Greater Manchester, Notts, and Cambridgeshire, as well as various London boroughs.

In the final session national organiser Mark Fischer gave a report on Party growth. There has been a significant increase in applications to join the CPGB in recent months. Over the previous six weeks some 40 had enquired about membership. Comrade Fischer reported that the nature of the applicants has changed. In the past they were often isolated individuals who had previously belonged to other left groups. Now there is a surge of comrades new to organised politics and mostly aged between 14 and 25. Comrade Fischer spoke of the need to integrate these comrades. A speaking tour is planned.

Comrade Fischer's report provoked a useful discussion of possible reasons for this increase in younger comrades applying to join. Britain and the world is still in a period of reaction of a special type, in which capitalism seems ideologically triumphant and working class organisations are at a low ebb. However, as the Party predicted 10 years ago, this very capitalist triumphalism has generated its opposite, a groundswell rejection of injustice and wastefulness which found expression in the J-18, Seattle and Prague demonstrations.

This mood of opposition is starting to generate a renewed interest in communism. The success of the Socialist Alliance project is a contributing factor, as is the growth of new technology. Younger people especially take and exchange ideas and information using the internet. With this in mind, it was agreed to devote more resources to improving the CPGB website, and to organising our intervention in internet discussions.

There was a debate on whether younger comrades coming into the CPGB should be separately organised in a special section, similar to the Young Communist League of the past. Although some comrades put forward arguments in favour of such a move, the majority view was against ghettoising comrades in such separate organisations, at least at the current stage of development. We need to educate and integrate, encouraging everyone to take a full part in the CPGB as equals.

Summing up, comrade Mark Fischer said the wave of interest demonstrates that the words 'Communist Party of Great Britain' have a great resonance, and shows the correctness of our determination to rewin the name of our Party for the cause of proletarian socialism and human freedom.

Mary Godwin