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The
USSR and Problems of the Transitional Epoch
The
Soviet Union emerged from the October Revolution as a workers' state.
State ownership of the means of production, a necessary prerequisite to
socialist development, opened up the possibility of rapid growth of the
productive forces. But the apparatus of the workers' state underwent a
complete degeneration at the same time: it was transformed from a weapon
of the working class into a weapon of bureaucratic violence against the
working class and more and more a weapon for the sabotage of the country's
economy.
The
bureaucratization of a backward and isolated workers' state and the transformation
of the bureaucracy into an all-powerful privileged caste constitute the
most convincing refutation-not only theoretically, but this time, practically-of
the theory of socialism in one country.
The USSR thus embodies terrific contradictions. But it still remains a
degenerated workers' state. Such is the social diagnosis. The political
prognosis has an alternative character: either the bureaucracy, becoming
ever more the organ of the world bourgeoisie in the workers' state, will
overthrow the new forms of property and plunge the country back to capitalism;
or the working class will crush the bureaucracy and open the way to socialism.
To the sections of the Fourth International, the Moscow Trials came not
as a surprise and not as a result of the personal madness of the Kremlin
dictator, but as the legitimate offspring of the Thermidor. They grew
out of the unbearable conflicts within the Soviet bureaucracy itself,
which in turn mirror the contradictions between the bureaucracy and the
people, as well as the deepening antagonisms among the "people"
themselves. The bloody "fantastic" nature of the trials gives
the measure of the intensity of the contradictions and by the same token
predicts the approach of the denouement.
The public utterances of former foreign representatives of the Kremlin,
who refused to return to Moscow, irrefutably confirm in their own way
that all shades of political thought are to be found among the bureaucracy:
from genuine Bolshevism (Ignace Reiss) to complete fascism (F. Butenko).
The revolutionary elements within the bureaucracy, only a small minority,
reflect, passively it is true, the socialist interests of the proletariat.
The fascist, counterrevolutionary elements, growing uninterruptedly, express
with even greater consistency the interests of world imperialism. These
candidates for the role of compradors consider, not without reason, that
the new ruling layer can insure their positions of privilege only through
rejection of nationalization, collectivization and monopoly of foreign
trade in the name of the assimilation of "Western civilization.''
i.e., capitalism. Between these two poles, there are intermediate, diffused
Menshevik-S.R.-liberal tendencies which gravitate toward bourgeois democracy.
Within the very ranks of that so-called "classless" society,
there unquestionably exist groupings exactly similar to those in the bureaucracy,
only less sharply expressed and in inverse proportions: conscious capitalist
tendencies distinguish mainly the prosperous part of the collective farms
(kolkhozi) and are characteristic of only a small minority of the population.
But this layer provides itself with a wide base for petty bourgeois tendencies
of accumulating personal wealth at the expense of general poverty, and
are consciously encouraged by the bureaucracy.
Atop this system of mounting antagonisms, trespassing ever more on the
social equilibrium, the Thermidorian oligarchy, today reduced mainly to
Stalin's Bonapartist clique, hangs on by terroristic methods. The latest
judicial frame-ups were aimed as a blow against the left. This is true
also of the mopping up of the leaders of the Right Opposition, because
the Right group of the old Bolshevik Party, seen from the view point of
the bureaucracy's interests and tendencies, represented a left danger.
The fact that the Bonapartist clique, likewise in fear of its own right
allies of the type of Butenko, is forced in the interests of self-preservation
to execute the generation of Old Bolsheviks almost to a man, offers indisputable
testimony of the vitality of revolutionary traditions among the masses
as well as of their growing discontent.
Petty bourgeois democrats of the West, having but yesterday assayed the
Moscow Trials as unalloyed gold, today repeat insistently that there is
"neither Trotskyism nor Trotskyists within the USSR." They fail
to explain, however, why all the purges are conducted under the banner
of a struggle with precisely this danger. If we are to examine "Trotskyism"
as a finished program, and, even more to the point, as an organization,
then unquestionably "Trotskyism" is extremely weak in the USSR.
However, its indestructible force stems from the fact that it expresses
not only revolutionary tradition, but also today's actual opposition of
the Russian working class. The social hatred stored up by the workers
against the bureaucracy-this is precisely what from the viewpoint of the
Kremlin clique constitutes "Trotskyism." It fears with a deathly
and thoroughly well-grounded fear the bond between the deep but inarticulate
indignation of the workers and the organization of the Fourth International.
The extermination of the generation of Old Bolsheviks and of the revolutionary
representatives of the middle and young generations has acted to disrupt
the political equilibrium still more in favor of the right, bourgeois
wing of the bureaucracy and of its allies throughout the land. From them,
i.e., from the right, we can expect ever more determined attempts in the
next period to revise the socialist character of the USSR and bring it
closer in pattern to "Western civilization" in its fascist form.
From this perspective, impelling concreteness is imparted to the question
of the "defense of the USSR." If tomorrow the bourgeois-fascist
grouping, the "faction of Butenko," so to speak, should attempt
the conquest of power, the "faction of Reiss" inevitably would
align itself on the opposite side of the barricades. Although it would
find itself temporarily the ally of Stalin, it would nevertheless defend
not the Bonapartist clique but the social base of the USSR, i.e., the
property wrenched away from the capitalists and transformed into state
property. Should the "faction of Butenko" prove to be in alliance
with Hitler, then the "faction of Reiss" would defend the USSR
from military intervention, inside the country as well as on the world
arena. Any other course would be a betrayal.
Although it is thus impermissible to deny in advance the possibility,
in strictly defined instances, of a "united front" with the
Thermidorian section of the bureaucracy against open attack by capitalist
counterrevolution, the chief political task in the USSR still remains
the overthrow of this same Therrnidorian bureaucracy. Each day added to
its domination helps rot the foundations of the socialist elements of
economy and increases the chances for capitalist restoration. It is in
precisely this direction that the Comintern moves as the agent and accomplice
of the Stalinist clique in strangling the Spanish Revolution and demoralizing
the international proletariat.
As in fascist countries, the chief strength of the bureaucracy lies not
in itself but in the disillusionment of the masses, in their lack of a
new perspective. As in fascist countries, from which Stalin's political
apparatus does not differ, save in more unbridled savagery, only preparatory
propagandistic work is possible today in the USSR. As in fascist countries,
the impetus to the Soviet workers' revolutionary upsurge will probably
be given by events outside the country. The struggle against the Comintern
on the world arena is the most important part today of the struggle against
the Stalinist dictatorship. There are many signs that the Comintern's
downfall, because it does not have a direct base in the GPU, will precede
the downfall of the Bonapartist clique and the Thermidorian bureaucracy
as a whole.
A fresh upsurge of the revolution in the USSR will undoubtedly begin under
the banner of the struggle against social inequality and political oppression.
Down with the privileges of the bureaucracy! Down with Stakhanovism! Down
with the Soviet aristocracy and its ranks and orders! Greater equality
of wages for all forms of labor!
The struggle for the freedom of the trade unions and the factory committees,
for the right of assembly and freedom of the press, will unfold in the
struggle for the regeneration and development of Soviet democracy.
The bureaucracy replaced the soviets as class organs with the fiction
of universal electoral rights-in the style of Hitler-Goebbels. It is necessary
to return to the soviets not only their free democratic form but also
their class content. As once the bourgeoisie and kulaks were not permitted
to enter the soviets, so now it is necessary to drive the bureaucracy
and the new aristocracy out of the soviets. In the soviets there is room
only for representatives of the workers, rank-and-file collective farmers
peasants and Red Army men.
Democratization of the soviets is impossible without legalization of soviet
parties. The workers and peasants themselves by their own free vote will
indicate what parties they recognize as soviet parties.
A revision of planned economy from top to bottom in the interests of producers
and consumers! Factory committees should be returned the right to control
production. A democratically organized consumers' cooperative should control
the quality and price of products.
Reorganization of the collective farms in accordance with the will and
in the interests of the workers there engaged!
The reactionary international policy of the bureaucracy should be replaced
by the policy of proletarian internationalism. The complete diplomatic
correspondence of the Kremlin to be published. Down with secret diplomacy!
All political trials, staged by the Thermidorian bureaucracy, to be reviewed
in the light of complete publicity and controversial openness and integrity.
Only the victorious revolutionary uprising of the oppressed masses can
revive the Soviet regime and guarantee its further development toward
socialism. There is but one party capable of leading the Soviet masses
to insurrection-the party of the Fourth International!
Down with the bureaucratic gang of Cain-Stalin!
Long live Soviet democracy!
Long live the international socialist revolution!
Against
Opportunism and Unprincipled Revisionism
The politics of Leon Blum's party in France demonstrate anew that reformists
are incapable of learning anything from even the most tragic lessons of
history. French Social Democracy slavishly copies the politics of German
Social Democracy and goes to meet the same end. Within a few decades the
Second International intertwined itself with the bourgeois democratic
regime, became, in fact, a part of it, and is rotting away together with
it.
The Third International has taken to the road of reformism at a time when
the crisis of capitalism definitely placed the proletarian revolution
on the order of the day. The Comintern's policy in Spain and China today
- the policy of cringing before the "democratic" and "national"
bourgeoisie-demonstrates that the Comintern is likewise incapable of learning
anything further or of changing. The bureaucracy which became a reactionary
force in the USSR cannot play a revolutionary role on the world arena.
Anarcho-syndicalism in general has passed through the same kind of evolution.
In France the syndicalist bureaucracy of Leon Jouhaux has long since become
a bourgeois agency in the working class. In Spain, anarcho-syndicalism
shook off its ostensible revolutionism and became the fifth wheel in the
chariot of bourgeois democracy.
Intermediate centrist organizations centered about the London Bureau represent
merely "left" appendages of Social Democracy or of the Comintern.
They have displayed a complete inability to make head or tail of the political
situation and draw revolutionary conclusions from it. Their highest point
was the Spanish POUM, which under revolutionary conditions proved completely
incapable of following a revolutionary line.
The
tragic defeats suffered by the world proletariat over a long period of
years doomed the official organizations to yet greater conservatism and
simultaneously sent disillusioned petty bourgeois "revolutionists"
in pursuit of "new ways." As always during epochs of reaction
and decay, quacks and charlatans appear on all sides, desirous of revising
the whole course of revolutionary thought. Instead of learning from the
past, they "reject" it. Some discover the inconsistency of Marxism,
others announce the downfall of Bolshevism. There are those who put responsibility
upon revolutionary doctrine for the mistakes and crimes of those who betrayed
it; others who curse the medicine because it does not guarantee an instantaneous
and miraculous cure. The more daring promise to discover a panacea and,
in anticipation, recommend the halting of the class struggle. A good many
prophets of "new morals" are preparing to regenerate the labor
movement with the help of ethical homeopathy. The majority of these apostles
have succeeded in becoming themselves moral invalids before arriving on
the field of battle. Thus, under the aspect of "new ways," old
recipes, long since buried in the archives of pre-Marxian socialism, are
offered to the proletariat.
The Fourth International declares uncompromising war on the bureaucracies
of the Second, Third, Amsterdam and Anarcho-syndicalist Internationals,
as on their centrist satellites; on reformism without reforms; democracy
in alliance with the GPU; pacifism without peace; anarchism in the service
of the bourgeoisie; on "revolutionists" who live in deathly
fear of revolution. All of these organizations are not pledges for the
future, but decayed survivals of the past. The epoch of wars and revolutions
will raze them to the ground.
The Fourth International does not search after and does not invent panaceas.
It takes its stand completely on Marxism as the only revolutionary doctrine
that enables one to understand reality, unearth the cause behind the defeats
and consciously prepare for victory. The Fourth International continues
the tradition of Bolshevism which first showed the proletariat how to
conquer power. The Fourth International sweeps away the quacks, charlatans
and unsolicited teachers of morals. In a society based upon exploitation,
the highest moral is that of the social revolution. All methods are good
which raise the class consciousness of the workers, their trust in their
own forces, their readiness for self-sacrifice in the struggle. The impermissible
methods are those which implant fear and submissiveness in the oppressed
before their oppressors, which crush the spirit of protest and indignation
or substitute for the will of the masses-the will of the leaders; for
conviction-compulsion; for an analysis of reality-demagogy and frame-up.
That is why Social Democracy, prostituting Marxism, and Stalinism-the
antithesis of Bolshevism-are both mortal enemies of the proletarian revolution
and its morals.
To face reality squarely; not to seek the line of least resistance; to
call things by their right names; to speak the truth to the masses, no
matter how bitter it may be; not to fear obstacles; to be true in little
things as in big ones; to base one's program on the logic of the class
struggle; to be bold when the hour for action arrives-these are the rules
of the Fourth International. It has shown that it could swim against the
stream. The approaching historical wave will raise it on its crest.
Against
Sectarianism
Under
the influence of the betrayal by the historical organizations of the proletariat,
certain sectarian moods and groupings of various kinds arise or are regenerated
at the periphery of the Fourth International. At their base lies a refusal
to struggle for partial and transitional demands, i.e., for the elementary
interests and needs of the working masses, as they are today. Preparing
for the revolution means to the sectarians, convincing themselves of the
superiority of socialism. They propose turning their backs on the "old"
trade unions, i.e., to tens of millions of organized workers-as if the
masses could somehow live outside of the conditions of the actual class
struggle!
They remain indifferent to the inner struggle within reformist organizations
- as if one could win the masses without intervening in their daily strife!
They refuse to draw a distinction between the bourgeois democracy and
fascism - as if the masses could help but feel the difference on every
hand!
Sectarians are capable of differentiating between but two colors: red
and black. So as not to tempt themselves, they simplify reality. They
refuse to draw a distinction between the fighting camps in Spain for the
reason that both camps have a bourgeois character. For the same reason
they consider it necessary to preserve "neutrality" in the war
between Japan and China. They deny the principled difference between the
USSR and the imperialist countries, and because of the reactionary policies
of the Soviet bureaucracy they reject defense of the new forms of property,
created by the October Revolution, against the onslaughts of imperialism.
Incapable of finding access to the masses. they therefore zealously accuse
the masses of inability to raise themselves to revolutionary ideas.
These sterile politicians generally have no need of a bridge in the form
of transitional demands because they do not intend to cross over to the
other shore. They simply dawdle in one place, satisfying themselves with
a repetition of the selfsame meager abstractions. Political events are
for them an occasion for comment but not for action. Since sectarians
as in genera every kind of blunderer and miracle-man, are toppled by reality
at each step, they live in a state of perpetual exasperation, complaining
about the "regime" and the "methods" and ceaselessly
wallowing in small intrigues. In their own circles they customarily carry
on a regime of despotism. The political prostration of sectarianism serves
to complement, shadow-like, the prostration of opportunism, revealing
no revolutionary vistas. In practical politics, sectarians unite with
opportunists, particularly with centrists, every time in the struggle
against Marxism.
Most of the sectarian groups and cliques, nourished on accidental crumbs
from the table of the Fourth International lead an "independent"
organizational existence, with great pretensions but without the least
chance for success. Bolshevik-Leninists, without waste of time, calmly
leave these groups to their own fate. However, sectarian tendencies are
to be found also in our own ranks and display a ruinous influence on the
work of the individual sections. It is impossible to make any further
compromise with them even for a single day. A correct policy regarding
trade unions is a basic condition for adherence to the Fourth International.
He who does not seek and does not find the road to the masses is not a
fighter but a dead weight to the party. A program is formulated not for
the editorial board or for the leaders of discussion clubs, but for the
revolutionary action of millions. The cleansing of the ranks of the Fourth
International of sectarianism and incurable sectarians is a primary condition
for revolutionary success.
Open
the Road to the Woman Worker! Open the Road to the Youth!
The
defeat of the Spanish Revolution engineered by its "leaders,"
the shameful bankruptcy of the People's Front in France, and the exposure
of the Moscow juridical swindles-these three facts in their aggregate
deal an irreparable blow to the Comintern and, incidentally, grave wounds
to its allies: the Social Democrats and Anarcho-syndicalists. This does
not mean, of course, that the members of these organizations will immediately
turn to the Fourth International. The older generation, having suffered
terrible defeats, will leave the movement in significant numbers.
In
addition, the Fourth International is certainly not striving to become
an asylum for revolutionary invalids, disillusioned bureaucrats and careerists.
On the contrary, against a possible influx into our party of petty bourgeois
elements, now reigning in the apparatus of the old organizations, strict
preventive measures are necessary: a prolonged probationary period for
those candidates who are not workers, especially former party bureaucrats:
prevention from holding any responsible post for the first three years,
etc. There is not and there will not be any place for careerism, the ulcer
of the old internationals, in the Fourth International. Only those who
wish to live for the movement, and not at the expense of the movement,
will find access to us. The revolutionary workers should feel themselves
to be the masters. The doors of our organization are wide open to them.
Of course, even among the workers who had at one time risen to the first
ranks, there are not a few tired and disillusioned ones. They will remain,
at least for the next period as bystanders. When a program or an organization
wears out the generation which carried it on its shoulders wears out with
it. The movement is revitalized by the youth who are free of responsibility
for the past. The Fourth International pays particular attention to the
young generation of the proletariat. All of its policies strive to inspire
the youth with belief in its own strength and in the future. Only the
fresh enthusiasm and aggressive spirit of the youth can guarantee the
preliminary successes in the struggle; only these successes can return
the best elements of the older generation to the road of revolution. Thus
it was thus it will be.
Opportunist organizations by their very nature concentrate their chief
attention on the top layers of the working class and therefore ignore
both the youth and the women workers. The decay of capitalism, however,
deals its heaviest blows to the woman as a wage earner and as a housewife.
The sections of the Fourth International should seek bases of support
among the most exploited layers of the working class; consequently, among
the women workers. Here they will find inexhaustible stores of devotion,
selflessness and readiness to sacrifice.
Down with the bureaucracy and careerism! Open the road to the youth! Turn
to the woman worker! These slogans are emblazoned on the banner of the
Fourth International. Under the banner of the Fourth International!
Under
the Banner of the Fourth International!
Skeptics
ask: But has the moment for the creation of the Fourth International yet
arrived? It is impossible, they say, to create an International "artificially";
it can arise only out of great events, etc., etc. All of these objections
merely show that skeptics are no good for the building of a new International.
They are good for scarcely anything at all.
The
Fourth International has already arisen out of great events: the greatest
defeats of the proletariat in history. The cause for these defeats is
to be found in the degeneration and perfidy of the old leadership. The
class struggle does not tolerate an interruption. The Third International,
following the Second, is dead for purposes of revolution. Long live the
Fourth International!
But has the time yet arrived to proclaim its creation? ... the skeptics
are not quieted down. The Fourth International, we answer, has no need
of being "proclaimed." It exists and it fights. It is weak?
Yes, its ranks are not numerous because it is still young. They are as
yet chiefly cadres. But these cadres are pledges for the future. Outside
these cadres there does not exist a single revolutionary current on this
planet really meriting the name. If our international be still weak in
numbers, it is strong in doctrine, program, tradition, in the incomparable
tempering of its cadres. Who does not perceive this today, let him in
the meantime stand aside. Tomorrow it will become more evident.
The Fourth International, already today, is deservedly hated by the Stalinists,
Social Democrats, bourgeois liberals and fascists. There is not and there
cannot be a place for it in any of the People's Fronts. It uncompromisingly
gives battle to all political groupings tied to the apron-strings of the
bourgeoisie. Its task-the abolition of capitalism's domination. Its aim-socialism.
Its method-the proletarian revolution.
Without inner democracy-no revolutionary education. Without discipline
- no revolutionary action. The inner structure of the Fourth International
is based on the principles of democratic centralism: full freedom in discussion,
complete unity in action.
The present crisis in human culture is the crisis in the proletarian leadership.
The advanced workers, united in the Fourth International, show their class
the way out of the crisis. They offer a program based on international
experience in the struggle of the proletariat and of all the oppressed
of the world for liberation. They offer a spotless banner. |
