09.02.1995

Towards the Communist Party

From an interview published in The Call, paper of the British Socialist Party, with Albert Inkpen, the party’s general secretary, February 12 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. It is known that negotiations have for some time been proceeding in this direction between the BSP and other left wing organisations ... the SLP [Socialist Labour Party], the Workers Socialist Federation and the South Wales Socialist Society ... It was conveyed to us by the Third International that it was our duty as sincere communists to make every effort to bring about the uniformity of all bodies in this country that adhered to the communist plat-form...

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 ...

The Communist Party is coming and very soon. And the stronger we can make the BSP in the meantime, the greater strength we shall add to the Communist Party when it comes.