20.12.2007

What next for Campaign for a Marxist Party?

Following the election of a new committee of which he is a member, Hillel Ticktin gives his thoughts on the tasks of the Campaign for a Marxist Party

The CMP is not a party. It is a call for a party. What then is the difference? The previous committee was aware of the distinction in principle, but never spelled it out, and consequently confused the two entities by discussing such matters as participating in a general election, trade union committees, etc.

We cannot get involved in direct political action of that kind precisely because we are not a party. We can support individuals in their actions or support certain campaigns like Hands Off the People of Iran, but only with the understanding that this furthers the cause of the call to a party. We have to evaluate whether the left has adopted the correct approach to the white and blue collar working class both in its economic and political struggles.

• In my view, we need to extract the basic principles on which we stand for a future party: ie, anti-Stalinist Marxism; internal democracy for the party; maximum democracy, such as is possible in a transitional period; development of Marxist theory, with different viewpoints; critique of the existing groups' theory and practice (reformist, nationalist, undemocratic, opportunist, non-Marxist, etc, etc).

We should set up a small group of people to produce pamphlets for discussion and which, when agreed, can then be used to recruit people. If we can produce a series of pamphlets or articles which help to clarify and evaluate the reasons for the failure of the left and so by implication the alternatives, we will give the process of forming a party a boost. While we aim to attract different views, that is only true within a certain spectrum and we need to show the nature of that spectrum.

• What are the basic methods by which the CMP will approach people? Will it approach the committees of groups? Will it only speak to individuals? It can, of course, do both. How will it do so? There are a number of possibilities.
• Does the CMP have internal discipline of any kind? Given that a call for a party necessarily implies uniting disparate Marxist views, we cannot discipline anyone for their viewpoint unless they are blatantly anti-Marxist. However, we have to be able to call on people to help with developing the CMP. This can only be a discipline which is internalised by the individuals.

We can censure individuals for uncomradely behaviour, however. In this respect a code of conduct is implicit and it requires more than a set of rules, because it is possible for individuals to use very polite language while being threatening in tone. In fact, such behaviour is normal in everyday institutional life in the UK and we have to get away from it. We have to be able to have a genuine discussion where people are not so wedded to their initial viewpoints that they feel their identity is at stake.

• Can groups affiliate in their entirety as groups? The way the existing groups have operated is a combination of individuals and groups acting as disciplined entities. This has applied to all the existing groups, whether they have internal discipline or not. To a degree we needed to obfuscate this question in the initial period, but it is clear that we now need to decide the issue.

I think we need to accept groups affiliating, but they have to agree to dissolve into a new party at some future date, and then possibly maintain a faction within the party. If they affiliate they need to relax their discipline to some extent within the transitional period in the CMP. We cannot legislate on this, but if there is goodwill on all sides then it will be a relatively painless process. However, to achieve that desirable state it might require constitutional arrangements such that a sufficiently sized group has membership of the committee.

Issues for the committee

• Where will it meet? I suggest London. How many times per annum? Every two months to begin with. In between we can have internet meetings.
• Who will perform the functions required - secretary, membership secretary, treasurer? I suggest that the treasurer and membership secretary be the same person. We also need a web person and chair. While we can rotate the person who chairs the actual meeting, we do need a chairperson who will consult with members and the secretary on a provisional agenda, and then importantly on the execution and administration of decisions.
• We need a journal which will express the thinking of the CMP, the choices that it faces, its political direction, etc. The journal up to now appeared to be a random collection of views. While it had its own justification, it was neither cutting edge nor popular in what it did print. It was not a theoretical journal. Like everything else last year, one might say that it lost its way - except that it never knew where it was going.

On the other hand, I am not certain that we need a printed journal for the immediate future. We could simply have views expressed on the net, with occasional pamphlets and articles in the Weekly Worker, if the latter is agreeable.

There is an argument that a journal expresses the identity of the entity. Perhaps something that appears twice a year might be possible, if we can find someone to do it. If we cannot, we could make do as above.

• We ought to encourage the formation of branches.