18.01.2007

Debating perspectives

The first aggregate of CPGB members of 2007 debated party tasks and prospects for the year ahead, the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign and party finances. Mary Godwin reports

The first aggregate of CPGB members of 2007 debated party tasks and prospects for the year ahead. In the afternoon comrades discussed our planned involvement in the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign, and party finances. Before that, the main discussion on perspectives was opened by comrade Mike Macnair.

He began by offering a tentative assessment of potential developments in the world situation, in which uncertainty is a keynote. Whereas it cannot be said that global capitalism is entering into a positive period of growth and development, neither can it be characterised as being in a state of crisis, such as marked the general collapse of confidence brought about by the undoubtedly serious consequences of the dot-com crash of 2002-03. In fact the Iraq war has provided at least a temporary Keynesian stimulus which has sucked capital into the markets, particularly in the United States. The effects of this shot in the arm may be of short duration and have their negative side, as indicated by interest rate policy in the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve. The situation is complex and unclear.

Clearly the Iraq war dominates the global political scene. Bush's decision to go for escalation raises the fairly strong likelihood that when this strategy founders it will lead to the risk of a military confrontation with Iran, one that will not involve a prolonged period of military build-up or intense United Nations diplomatic activity, such as preceded the attack of the Saddam regime. Few ground troops will be deployed. The focus will be on a large-scale bombing offensive, perhaps initiated by direct Israeli provocative military action. In the absence of an invasion, the anti-war movement may not be able to mobilise support on the same scale as we saw in 2003.

Another result of Washington's entanglement in Iraq is that US operations in other areas of strategic importance to its interests have effectively been put on hold for the time being. The implications for the US of greater political and economic integration in Europe have been neglected. Similarly, Bush has been unable to pay adequate attention to the situation in Latin America - for example, in relation to the problems raised for US imperialism by Chávez in Venezuela and their implications for the region as a whole. The failure to unseat Chávez means that leftwing movements in other Latin American states have been emboldened. But it is not clear that the region represents a strategic pole, said comrade Macnair.

British politics remain dominated by the protracted end of the Blair premiership, which continues to obsess the media. It seems that the Labour Party bureaucracy has succeeded in securing a coronation for Gordon Brown. By his explicit endorsement of Blair's pro-capitalism and pro-Americanism, Brown has seemingly secured the cooperation of the Blairites, who will not rock the chancellor's boat. A real fight for the leadership seems unlikely, which has obvious consequences for the prospects of any kind of resurgence on the left of the Labour Party.

Despite the Labour government's preoccupation with Iraq and the Blair-Brown handover, the situation in Scotland has come to the forefront with the approach of the May 3 elections to the Holyrood parliament. The possibility that the Scottish National Party may win a majority - perhaps with the support of the Scottish Socialist Party and Solidarity - and provoke a direct challenge to the union is very real. Everything is presently clouded by uncertainty: we could be experiencing the calm before the outbreak of a whole set of different storms.

CPGB objectives

Comrade Macnair turned to the objectives of the CPGB in the present situation. First, we are committed to the creation of a real Communist Party based on Marxist principles. We quite rightly polemicise vigorously against the halfway-house projects still put forward by self-identifying Marxists concerned to make any new party as attractive as possible to left social democrats and reformists in general. But we also work with them wherever we can. It is quite wrong to reject them as simply beyond the pale.

The impetus for partyism has undoubtedly been stalled by Iraq, which has in some ways made the current global political situation resemble the 1960s. The global 'war on terror' looks to some people like a new cold war in which second-campism seems the natural response from the left - many political strands eagerly pursue political accommodation with any forces perceived to oppose US imperialism. By contrast, the Alliance for Workers' Liberty is now on the very boundary of first-campism in relation to the US and its allies in the Iraq war. Genuine third campists constitute a small and scattered minority, comprising substantially the CPGB, and Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi comrades.

This 're-appearance' of the 1960s has also produced a political regression which sees many left groups revisiting their previous historical practice: not only splintering, but setting up a series of fake social democratic projects - the SSP, Solidarity, Campaign for a New Workers' Party, and attempts to breathe life into the corpse of the Socialist Alliance. On the whole this is a decidedly negative and regressive process, stated comrade Macnair

True, there are some small positive developments, like the Campaign for a Marxist Party and the Hands Off the People of Iran initiative, but it is important to be aware how small these things are at present. The CPGB's practical activity to broaden and deepen this incipient positive development lies in six areas of work: Iran and the HOPI project; Communist Students; the McDonnell campaign for the Labour Party leadership; Respect; the Campaign for a Marxist Party and finally intensive work on the redrafting of the CPGB's Draft programme.

In the view of the Provisional Central Committee, the McDonnell campaign and Respect offer very limited possibilities for left regroupment, continued the comrade. Respect is clearly little more than a front for the Socialist Workers Party, to be turned on or off as it suits the SWP leadership. The McDonnell campaign is inherently Labour-centric - the 'Marxist' forces involved think a Communist Party is either for the distant future or just unnecessary.

Of the four remaining areas of work, two pairs naturally form themselves. Iran and Communist Students on the one hand; the CMP and programme redrafting on the other.

So far as the first is concerned, everyone can and must try to build the Iran campaign in their own localities and this work can help forge a practical link with the work of our students on university campuses. Significant effort is needed wherever we have people. A successful outcome will strengthen our organisation as a force for working class independence.

On the question of the CMP and our Draft programme, a series of joint schools will thrash out disputed questions, as will a series of seminars jointly organised with the CMP, for which Jack Conrad's series of articles on programme provides a theoretical backdrop. These articles have already elicited interesting responses and more can be expected. The debate around programme, both internally and with other comrades, represents a valuable educational opportunity for all involved, attracting more forces and also deepening the unity and commitment of those already fully engaged. Current fragmentation and retreat can be replaced by growing unity, even if on a small scale to begin with.

These areas of work are serious and important tasks and our main weapon in relation to them all - a potent one - remains, of course, the Weekly Worker. They may not be grand designs, but they are practical and can be successful, even given our relatively small forces, comrade Macnair concluded.

As usual at aggregates a full debate followed the opening. Comrade Mark Fischer emphasised that, although we cannot predict what will happen in the world at large, we cannot afford to take a 'wait and see' approach to the British left. We must struggle to shape the outcome of developments. We are fighting for principled regroupment of Marxist forces, against the general trend of defeat and liquidation. Even if we fail, our struggles will shape future victories. As comrade Anne Mc Shane said, it is essential to deepen our political activity, rather than simply hoping to ride out the current period. The ideas our comrades develop and publish in the Weekly Worker have a real impact, despite the limiting effect of the general atmosphere of fear and passivity on the left.

Comrade Fischer said our job now is to reinforce the science of Marxism with the art of politics, to give the CPGB the organisational weight to match the strength of our theory, and build a party Marxists feel confident in joining. There has been a tendency towards passivity and amateurism in the organisation, he added, and this needs to be overcome. Comrade Tina Becker noted that the Communist Students organisation has set a good example in overcoming passivity and taking initiatives, with some success, and other areas of the party should seek to emulate this.

Comrades agreed that the CPGB should work to build the Campaign for a Marxist Party. It undoubtedly has many positive features: as comrade Phil Kent observed, no-one involved in it is advocating the kind of halfway house project described by comrade Macnair. Although it cannot claim to be a real organisational coming together of groups, as was the Socialist Alliance, it does provide a place for Marxists to debate. There is nowhere else at present. It is true, however, that some individuals involved retain their old rigid Trotskyist sectarianism, said comrade Kent. Comrade Becker warned of the danger of the CMP dividing into two separate centres - London, led by the CPGB; and Glasgow, led by the Critique group.

There was general agreement that it is important to get all comrades and all sections of the CPGB involved in the serious intellectual task of redrafting our Draft programme. The PCC was given the task of allocating subjects and sections of the programme to groups within the party.

Iran solidarity

After lunch comrade Mark Fischer spoke about the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign. He outlined the process of consultation with organisations of Iranian exiles in Britain, and other comrades in countries such as France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the US, which produced the founding statement published in the Weekly Worker (January 4). Comrade Fischer said he had some slight disagreements with the text of this statement, but accepts it as representing a principled position - against imperialism and against the theocracy.

He also reiterated why such a new campaign is needed. The Stop the War Coalition, led by the SWP, has not only failed to stop the war: it has also failed to make a mark on British politics distinct from pacifism. There is no space within the STWC for us to fight for principled politics against the pernicious second-campism of the SWP. The same applies to Action Iran (now part of the new, merged grouping, Campaign Iran), which has acted as apologist for the Iranian theocratic regime. HOPI will provide a distinct working class pole in the conflict between two sets of reactionaries - the imperialists, our main enemy; and the islamists, our secondary enemy.

Comrade Fischer outlined the aims and methods of the campaign. An important goal is to establish a viable alternative political centre to the rotten politics of the Stop the War Coalition and Campaign Iran. Obviously the main purpose is to oppose any attack on Iran by imperialism, but also, and crucially, to support working class resistance to the theocracy. Whenever any country is attacked there is a tendency to tone down criticism of the regime, and we need a conscious, principled effort to avoid such a drift. We are attempting to build links with groups of workers and protesters in Iran - such support always has the material effect of boosting morale of those struggling against autocracy.

CPGB comrades and others will work alongside Iranian comrades in Britain who are organised in various exile groups. We have always argued in discussion with such groups that their task as internationalists is to integrate with the British revolutionary movement. Many accept the criticism that they have failed to do so sufficiently, and HOPI will provide an excellent forum for this to take place. It will start slowly as a propaganda campaign, with Communist Students expected to play an important role. In Iran itself radicalised revolutionary students are leading protests against the regime. As comrade Becker said during the debate following comrade Fischer's opening, the CPGB can also help by printing and publishing literature for the campaign.

Comrade Fischer concluded by saying HOPI is a step towards the task of putting organisational muscle on the CPGB body politic, making it a viable alternative to the decaying left sects who are moving away from Marxism. As comrade Mc Shane emphasised, it is important not only to turn up at campaigns organised by other groups, but to help set up our own on a principled basis. A number of comrades made concrete suggestions regarding the sort of activities and demonstrations which should make an impact.

Finance

All this extra activity inevitably costs money, and the CPGB already spends every penny it gets in subscriptions, membership dues and donations. The aggregate ended with a short discussion on improving finance.

One suggestion is to sell the print machine and pay for the Weekly Worker and other CPGB literature to be printed commercially. A number of arguments were put against this. Having our own printing capacity enables the party to be flexible in adjusting quickly and easily to changed requirements - for example, in the event of a big demonstration or other political opportunity, and in printing articles after the usual deadline when necessary. More importantly, comrades feared that a commercial printer may in some circumstances insist on the paper being 'libel-read', with the danger that they may refuse to print it, or our authors may feel constrained in what they can say.

The PCC will make recommendations to a future aggregate on this and on means of increasing our regular income, irrespective of printing arrangements.