21.11.2002

Symbols

The ESF was the coming together of the traditional and organised left across Europe - which made some organisations like the Alliance for Workers' Liberty feel "uncomfortable". In a joint article Lucy Clement, Mike Rowley and Martin Thomas write: "Some of the iconography of the forum was a little uncomfortable. On the Rifondazione stall red headscarves with a hammer and sickle print were for sale. Posters, t-shirts, flags of Che Guevara were ubiquitous. But somehow that seemed more generous populism, an enthusiastic identification with struggle, than curdled chauvinism or - at least on the part of the young - any real partiality to Stalinism. People here were desperate to carry on the fight for workers, women and all the exploited against global capital - and to globalise our own movement. Many of them are not quite sure how to do it" (posted November 20). Yes, the hammer and sickle symbol might in the AWL's eyes only represent the dark years of Stalinism, but for millions of people across the globe it is a symbol of militancy and human liberation. A symbol that illustrates the need for unification. A symbol that we actively need to reclaim. In the words of a discussion paper of Rifondazione Comunista, we need to "rediscover the best traditions of the workers' movement" - and the Russian Revolution was one of our finest achievements. Fortunately, the organised workers' movement in Italy is not afraid to critically lay claim to our past - red flags with the hammer and sickle were omnipresent. * Glimpse of what is possible * Call of the European social movements * Which way for PRC? * Towards a European party * Bitter taste of SWP arrogance sours day