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Transcribed from tape recording. Source: Fourth International, Vol.12 No.3, May-June 1951, pp.72-76. Transcription/Mark-up: Einde O’Callaghan. The subject of our discussion today, the foreign policy of the United States, is now recognized on every side as the burning question of the day. It monopolizes the attention of the statesmen, the generals and the diplomats. It is a sign of the times that the specialists in the art of propaganda, true and false – mostly false – concentrate on this subject nowadays, each from his own point of view and special interest. Through this poisonous fog of slanted propaganda the truth has a hard time making its way. The people of America, as distinguished from their rulers and misleaders, in their great majority have been traditionally peace-loving, nationally exclusive and self-sufficient, even isolationist, in their sentiments. But they have long since been convinced by the course of events that foreign policy is their greatest concern today and the source of their greatest fears. For they know in their bones, no matter what the statesmen and the propagandists say, that US foreign policy is driving not toward peace but toward war. And I believe that of all the elements and age-brackets in the population of the country, those who are most acutely sensitive to this relationship of foreign policy and war are the youth; that is, those who will have to do the fighting and the dying in the ultimate execution of our foreign policy as it is directed today. For the young people foreign policy is no academic disquisition, but a question of life and death. Therefore, I am glad of the opportunity you have given me to speak to an audience of young university people on this subject today. First of all, I wish to express my appreciation of the spirit of fair play and free speech which has been manifested on so many sides, especially in the student body, and I assume also in the administrative staff, which has made my discussion with you possible. I believe in free speech. I have fought for it a long time, for others as well as for myself. Free speech is a necessary instrumentality for the dissemination of full information and the clarification of ideas which can lead to correct decisions. In the early days of the pioneer socialist movement in this country and the IWW, with which I was affiliated, we put up many battles, not without hazards and penalties for some of us, for the right of free speech. I first came into collision, and eventually to an irrevocable break, with the Communist Party over this question – over the attempt.to suppress the rights of a minority faction to which I belonged to present their views and defend them in fair debate. For forty years 1 have been mixed up one way or another in the fight for free speech, either as a defendant under prosecution defending my own rights, or as an active participant in organizations and committees defending the rights of others. I know all about free speech. I speak here today on the subject of foreign policy from the viewpoint of Marxist socialism, the socialism of the class struggle. 1 have lived to see the United States take part in two world wars. As a socialist I opposed them both, and I am opposed now to the American intervention in Korea and the program of spreading it into a Third World War. As a socialist I know that capitalist wars are waged not for high moral principles as the lying propagandists say, but for profits and plunder, for territories, for markets and fields of investment. I cannot conceive of a more disgraceful act of self-repudiation for a socialist than to support a capitalist war. The great debate, so-called, which is proceeding with feverish intensity today in the halls of Congress and in the press, on radio and television, in forums, on platforms and in pulpits, does not in my opinion touch the real problem of war and peace. The differences of Truman and MacArthur, the two protagonists in the debate as it is presently unfolding, are only tactical and strategic, not fundamental. They differ on where to begin, and when to begin, to drop the atom bomb and start the Third World War. But both policies, the policies of Truman and the policies of MacArthur, are imperialistic. They both aim at war and hope to solve the economic problems of the United States by means of war. Hoover is rather on the side-lines, a third party in the discussion whose influence is declining. The Hoover policy is imperialistic also, but in too limited a way to serve the economic requirements of American capitalism. His conception of a western hemisphere fortress is too small for the present-day world. The New York Times, in my opinion, correctly disposed of the Hoover thesis from the point of view of big finance, with the editorial observation that his program would signify “economic strangulation” for the United States – as a capitalist nation, that is. In the last analysis, the same thing holds true for the programs of Truman and MacArthur and ultimately condemns them both to bankruptcy. The dilemma of United States capitalism arises from the fact that it has come to the apex of its riches and its power, as the heir of bankrupt Europe, in a world that has no room for expanding capitalism, as it still had half a century ago. It is not only the western hemisphere that is too small. Europe and Asia are also too small. In fact, the whole world is too small to meet the demands and needs of American capitalism with its ever-accumulating surpluses of capital and manufactured goods, which cannot be absorbed at home on a capitalist basis. The Soviet Union, one-sixth of the world’s surface, is closed off to the capitalist world as a market and field of profitable investment. Eastern Europe in the recent period has been closed off. And now China, the great object of the war in the Pacific, the prize for which the war against Japan was waged, has not only been wrested from the control of Japanese imperialism. In the process of war and revolution China has torn itself out of the orbit of capitalist exploitation. And the colonial revolutions have just begun. The world open to capitalist exploitation is narrowing down, while the demands of American imperialism for markets and fields of investment grow ever more rapacious and insatiable. That is the dilemma of a bankrupt social system which “foreign policy” cannot conjure out of existence. The bankruptcy of capitalism is registered in terms of human poverty and misery for which it is the primary cause. As we here today discuss the question of American foreign policy and the dilemma of American imperialism, just let one simple fact have the floor. There are two billion people in the world which capitalism has ruled so long, and more than one-half of these people never get enough to eat all their lives. This is an established fact, undisputed by anybody. It is a matter of common knowledge. These hungry people don’t want propaganda. It is the biggest illusion and delusion to imagine that hungry people who number more than a billion are just waiting for somebody to give them the low-down in learned professorial essays. They know what they want. They want bread, and land, and national independence. Capitalism cannot supply them, and has not supplied them. That is the nub of the problem of the world today. Neither Truman nor MacArthur can bomb it out of existence, although that is what their “foreign policy”stupidly aims to accomplish. The terrible contradictions of American capitalism forbid and exclude a humane and peaceful foreign policy. The narrowing fields for capitalist exploitation on the one hand, and the constantly growing surpluses of capital and goods produced in the United States – this is the economic circumstance determining the imperialist foreign policy of the United States. It is not a matter of bad will or ignorance on the part of one statesman or another, although God knows there is plenty of that. It is an ineluctable contradiction of an economic nature. That is what determines the imperialist foreign policy of the United States and drives it to militarization and to war. These facts are well-known to the decisive ruling circles of this country, those circles who represent the great accumulations of capital for whom the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune speak most authoritatively. They know these facts and that is why they will not listen to any talk of isolationism; or of limitation to the western hemisphere; or of making peace with China and Russia. Not at all. Such proposals do not fit into their policy in any way whatever, except as propaganda to deceive the people. To be sure, they all blandly deny any imperialist aims. They all talk for peace. But talk is cheap. That is the first lesson in politics 1 would recommend to you young men and women, if by any chance you are studying political science in some class or other. Talk is cheap, but facts speak louder. All this talk of peace and denial of imperialist aims is just routine propaganda, belied by deeds everywhere. The “theoretical justification” for this phony “non-imperialist” and “peace” propaganda of the masters of America has been undertaken by some people, including your professor of philosophy, Sidney Hook, who call themselves “democratic socialists.” They correspond in my opinion – you will forgive me if I unintentionally offend your religious sensibilities – they correspond to the missionaries who were sent out to soften up the native peoples in the colonies for subjugation and exploitation by the great powers in the past. I have here a few quotations as samples of this theoretical missionary work, this shoddy attempt to prove on a theoretical basis, the non-imperialist and peace-loving character of the most rapacious imperialist power that ever existed in the world. Here is a quotation from a published document entitled To Our Friends In Europe and Asia: “The development of American capitalism has not led to imperialism; it does not fulfill Lenin’s theory of imperialism as the inevitable last stage of capitalism.” Another quotation from the same document, a denial, “that American capitalism depends on imperialist expansion for its very life.” And a third quotation: “The US had a great internal free trade market and such enormous, natural resources that today she is an exporter of raw materials as well as of manufactured goods. The economic facts of life in America were and are very different from the facts in Europe which led Lenin to formulate his theory of imperialism.” The signers of this document – among them Lewis Corey, James T. Farrell, Sidney Hook, Upton Sinclair and Norman Thomas – attempt to convince the people of Europe and Asia that the economic laws determining the imperialist character of the old Europe, about which Lenin wrote, do not apply to its successor to the domination of the world, the beneficent United States of America. The best I can say for this “theoretical” exercise is that it must have been written on the assumption that nobody will read it who ever read Lenin. While it is true that there were certain differences between the line of development of American capitalism into imperialism and a similar development in Europe, the differences all accentuate the imperialist drive of the United States. It is true that American capitalism had, and still has, a great internal market. It had a whole continent to exploit in contra-distinction to the hemmed-in countries of Europe. The development and exploitation of this vast territory provided an expanding internal market for a long time. It also opened up a. widening field for the continuous investment and re-investment not only of the profits of American capitalism itself, but also of billions and billions of dollars imported from Europe in the development of this country. That was the case up to the time of the First World War. Then the situation and the relationship of Europe and America began to change fundamentally. America, which was a debtor nation at the beginning of the First World War has become the richest capitalist nation in the world, and the creditor of the whole world. Meanwhile, the internal market, great as it was and still is, proved in the crisis of the 30’s that it could no longer absorb the products of American industry on a capitalist basis. A slight decline in exports was sufficient to plunge American economy into the most devastating crisis the world ever saw, a crisis which lasted ten years and even then was only temporarily and artificially overcome by war expenditures. Our theoretical justifiers say that America exports raw materials in contra-distinction to some of the older European countries analyzed by Lenin, and therefore cannot be imperialist by Lenin’s law. That argument wouldn’t even convince Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Did you read Dewey’s speech in answer to Hoover? Dewey’s speech lists, one after another, the strategic raw materials which America needs from foreign sources for its industries and for its armament, including uranium. He points out the various spots around the world where they are located and cannot be had and incorporated into the American industrial process without the Sources being controlled by the United States or its allies. America exports wheat and cotton, but a great number of strategic raw materials, absolutely necessary for its industry and its war machine, have to be imported at any cost, even at the cost of war. And so great is the power of America over this supply of raw materials, it caused an explosion in the British cabinet just the other day. One of the main reasons for the resignation of Bevan from the cabinet of the Labor Government was that America is cornering the raw material supplies of the world, stimulating inflation in Europe and endangering British economy. Lenin said the epoch of capitalist imperialism, as distinguished from the epoch of free competition, is characterized mainly by the export of capital. The development of home industry reaches the point where it can no longer absorb the accumulations of profits piled up by the capitalist investors. In addition to the export of manufactured goods they have to find foreign fields where this surplus capital can be invested at a high rate of profit under conditions of political security for the investment. How does that apply to America? Why, I think it applies a hundred times more than it ever did to England, France and Germany, which were the great imperialist powers before the First World War. All you have to do is look at the figures of the accumulation of capital and the rate and volume of its exportation by America since the beginning of the First World War. These figures do not lie and cannot be lied away. To bring forward the “non-imperialist” argument at the present time, when the bulk of the surplus capital of the entire world is held here in the United States; to say that this country, which has the virtual monopoly of world capital, is not confronted by the imperialistic problem of investing outside its own borders – that is to make a mockery of facts as well as of theory. Our theoretical missionaries mention the gifts dispensed by the American Santa Claus, the loans and the donations for military purposes to foreign governments, including Chiang Kai-shek, Syngman Rhee, Franco and all the other representatives of “freedom and democracy.” What is all this largesse designed for? It is represented in the document I have quoted here as a sign of the beneficence and peace-loving character of the American capitalist government. Cutting out the buncombe and getting down to brass tacks, permit me to give you another interpretation. These loans and donations are primarily designed to prop up the shaky capitalist structures and create the political conditions for profitable investments. Not even the free-spending United States capitalists want to pour out billions of dollars in investments for the development of backward foreign countries without guarantees that their investments will be secured and pay off. What is necessary for the security of their investments? “Stable political conditions.” And these stable political conditions, as they are understood in Washington and Wall Street, require puppet governments which can suppress revolutions and colonial uprisings and guarantee at all costs that the profits of the investors will be secured regardless of the interests of the exploited people. There is a second reason why they dole out money so freely. The Marshall Plan, etc. came at a convenient time, when America was threatened With an economic crisis which was due to the overproduction of goods that the domestic market could not absorb. The huge expenditures, creating an artificial market, alleviated and postponed the crisis. Benevolence here was happily married to expediency. We Marxists interpret the foreign policy of the United States government from economic facts. The capitalists who own the government need foreign markets for their surplus goods. They need secure political conditions for profitable investment in foreign lands. Their demands are insatiable and cannot be restrained. Loans and investments in Russia, Eastern Europe, and now China, are considered unsafe. The policy is not to “contain” the Soviet Union in Russia and Eastern Europe. No, that is only a temporizing tactic. The ultimate aim and imperious necessity is to overthrow the governments in these countries; to open them up as markets and fields of investment under secure political conditions. This is the real goal of American foreign policy, which spells in the final analysis the drive to dominate the entire world. They select their allies to serve that end; “benevolence” and “democracy” have nothing to do with it. Just ask yourselves a question, friends. How does it happen that the United States government, implementing its foreign policy, which the priests of spurious theory tell us is so peaceful and so beneficent and concerned so purely with the welfare of the human race – which includes, we presume, the half billion people who never get enough to eat – how does it happen that everywhere American foreign policy, backed up by American military force, supports the capitalists, the landlords, the usurers, the kings and the fascist gangs against the people? In China they support Chiang Kai-shek whose regime was so corrupt and reactionary that the people rose up en masse to drive him out. America takes sides against the people everywhere: In Spain with its fascist butcher, Franco; in Greece with its monarcho-fascist regime; in Korea with its Syngman Rhee; in Indo-China where the people are struggling for independence against French imperialism and have to fight against the overwhelming might of American financial help and military supplies; in Malaya and the Philippines; in Portugal, Turkey and South America. All over the world, wherever the hungry people are rising in a struggle for land, and bread, and national independence, they confront the United States of America with its money and its bombs. The people everywhere know these facts because they bring down upon them death and destruction all the time. And because they know these facts, they are not apt to be taken in by the theory of Professor Hook, elucidated in an article in the New York Times Magazine, that the real need of America is a “propaganda offensive.” When people know the facts, it is pretty hard to deceive them by words, especially when they feel the facts on their bodies and bones, in blows and bloody attacks. The more practical artificers of American foreign policy, as distinguished from their professorial advisors, know that it is a waste of money to try to convince these half-billion people throughout the world by propaganda that America is their friend. The hard-headed statesmen gave an ironic answer to Sidney Hook and his propaganda theory the other day in Congress when they voted to cut the appropriations for the “Voice of America” by 90%. It was a big surprise to many people. But these realistic politicians in Washington have more faith in their guns and their bombs to make the people of the world love them, than in propaganda which belies all facts. Now a question we should ask ourselves is this: Can our life purpose be committed to the fate of this American imperialist power? Disregarding all moral considerations and all concern for the human race except ourselves and our families, our little circle, can we say, well, America is bound to dominate the world anyway and we might as well go along and serve it and save ourselves? I would say, even from that narrow and morally impermissible standpoint the question does not have an easy and facile answer. Is the United States of America as it is now constituted on a capitalist basis all-powerful? Can she lick the world with guns and atom bombs and impose her will by force everywhere, as some ignorant braggarts and narrow-minded militarists like to say? Can she enslave and exploit the whole world and make good conditions for us, the favored few, within her borders? In my opinion, an objective examination of the real facts of the world situation can only raise the gravest doubts of the capacity of American capitalism to carry out even a small part of the global designs implied in its foreign policy. Capitalism is an outworn social system. The First World War was the sign of its bankruptcy as a world order. Prior to that, for half a century capitalism had grown and expanded. It had maintained an uneasy peace in the world, except for numerous local wars and colonial expeditions, by which the great powers divided up the world. But things have changed since then. Just consider for a moment how much they have changed, in thirty-seven years since the first shots were fired in 1914. Two world wars, devouring the lives of tens of millions of people, and wounding nobody knows how many more, and destroying so much of the material culture of the world. Two destructive world wars and a terrible world-wide depression with its unmeasured toll of misery and death. And now the mad armaments race toward another world war, the end of which no one can see or prophesy. These are the achievements of capitalism in the last third of a century. This system, I say, is bankrupt. This system is in the twilight period of its decline and its decay. The peoples of the world are rising up against it, and especially against its chief representative, the United States of America. The rest of the capitalist world would fall of its own weight without American money and American arms. There isn’t a country in Europe where a capitalist government could stand up for many months without American power and support. That applies to all of them from Greece to Franco’s Spain, to Italy, to France and all the others, except possibly England, and England too would soon follow the others. The peoples of the Orient, who have thrown off the shackles of the old colonialism, show no disposition to wear new ones. They are not asking to be taken into America’s sphere of influence and exploitation. On the contrary, they are fighting against it with all of their strength and passion. The victims of Stalinism in Russia and Eastern Europe badly need a political revolution; but they don’t want any “liberation” by the arms and bombs of the United States, and the consequent restoration of the capitalists and landlords, and the splitting up of their countries into colonies for American exploitation. The workers of Europe, and particularly the workers of Germany, have made it perfectly clear in this last year that they don’t intend to fight the battles of United States imperialism in another war. An expression of that attitude has come like a lightning flash from England this week. The resignation of Bevan from the cabinet throws the Labor government into a crisis and raises the question of the Atlantic Pact, and all the other war plans of the United States. This is a direct expression of the unwillingness of the people of England to be tied, as Bevan said, to the chariot of America. A dispatch from Paris in the Times this morning says that the sentiments of Bevan are echoed in socialist and labor circles all over Europe. And finally, the workers of the United States haven’t said their last word yet by a long shot. The foreign policy of American capitalism is united with its domestic policy. The war program carries with it the program of militarizing and regimenting the country, already under way; of stamping out liberties, which is in the design; and of driving down the living standards of the workers, which is in progress with the wage freeze on the one side and skyrocketing inflation on the other. All this in my opinion will meet resistance in the United States. The crisis in the Labor Mobilization Board may already be a sign of the coming storm. So I wouldn’t advise young people to bet their heads on the victory of American imperialism. There is an alternative. In my opinion this alternative is to recognize the social reality of our time, to see capitalism as a world system in its death agony, completely reactionary, and beyond salvation by any means. The alternative to support of this doomed social system is to ally oneself with the future; with the socialist and labor movement, and with the great colonial revolutions in process and still growing. The alternative is to work for a union of the world’s workers and the colonial peoples, to put an end to imperialism and open the way for the socialist society of the free and equal. That is the way to secure peace and progress and a good life for all. Friends, I recommend this alternative program to you. It is better. For it offers you something worth fighting for, with the prospect of victory at the end, a victory for all humanity in which you and your generation will share. Back to the James P. Cannon Internet Archive Back to the Marxists Internet Archive Last updated on: 17.6.2006

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transcribe tape recording source fourth international mayjune transcriptionmarkup einde subject discussion today foreign policy united states recognize burning question day monopolize attention statesman general diplomat sign time specialist art propaganda true false false concentrate subject nowadays point view special interest poisonous fog slanted propaganda truth hard time make way people america distinguish ruler misleader great majority traditionally peacelove nationally exclusive selfsufficient isolationist sentiment long convince course event foreign policy great concern today source great fear know bone matter statesman propagandist foreign policy drive peace war believe element agebracket population country acutely sensitive relationship foreign policy war youth fighting dying ultimate execution foreign policy direct today young people foreign policy academic disquisition question life death glad opportunity give speak audience young university people subject today wish express appreciation spirit fair play free speech manifest side especially student body assume administrative staff discussion possible believe free speech fight long time free speech necessary instrumentality dissemination information clarification idea lead correct decision early day pioneer socialist movement country iww affiliate battle hazard penalty right free speech come collision eventually irrevocable break communist party question attemptto suppress right minority faction belong present view defend fair debate year mix way fight free speech defendant prosecution defend right active participant organization committee defend right know free speech speak today subject foreign policy viewpoint marxist socialism socialism class struggle live united states world war socialist oppose oppose american intervention korea program spread world war socialist know capitalist war wage high moral principle lie propagandist profit plunder territory market field investment conceive disgraceful act selfrepudiation socialist support capitalist war great debate socalle proceed feverish intensity today hall congress press radio television forum platform pulpit opinion touch real problem war peace difference truman macarthur protagonist debate presently unfold tactical strategic fundamental differ begin begin drop atom bomb start world war policy policy truman policy macarthur imperialistic aim war hope solve economic problem united states mean war hoover sideline party discussion influence decline hoover policy imperialistic limit way serve economic requirement american capitalism conception western hemisphere fortress small presentday world new york times opinion correctly dispose hoover thesis point view big finance editorial observation program signify economic strangulation united states capitalist nation analysis thing hold true program truman macarthur ultimately condemn bankruptcy dilemma united states capitalism arise fact come apex rich power heir bankrupt europe world room expand capitalism half century ago western hemisphere small europe asia small fact world small meet demand need american capitalism everaccumulate surplus capital manufacture good absorb home capitalist basis soviet union onesixth world surface close capitalist world market field profitable investment eastern europe recent period close china great object war pacific prize war japan wage wrest control japanese imperialism process war revolution china tear orbit capitalist exploitation colonial revolution begin world open capitalist exploitation narrow demand american imperialism market field investment grow rapacious insatiable dilemma bankrupt social system foreign policy conjure existence bankruptcy capitalism register term human poverty misery primary cause today discuss question american foreign policy dilemma american imperialism let simple fact floor billion people world capitalism rule long onehalf people eat life establish fact undisputed anybody matter common knowledge hungry people want propaganda big illusion delusion imagine hungry people number billion wait somebody lowdown learned professorial essay know want want bread land national independence capitalism supply supply nub problem world today truman macarthur bomb existence foreign aim accomplish terrible contradiction american capitalism forbid exclude humane peaceful foreign policy narrow field capitalist exploitation hand constantly grow surplus capital good produce united states economic circumstance determine imperialist foreign policy united states matter bad ignorance statesman god know plenty ineluctable contradiction economic nature determine imperialist foreign policy united states drive militarization war fact wellknown decisive rule circle country circle represent great accumulation capital new york times new york herald tribune speak authoritatively know fact listen talk isolationism limitation western hemisphere make peace china russia proposal fit policy way propaganda deceive people sure blandly deny imperialist aim talk peace talk cheap lesson politics recommend young man woman chance study political science class talk cheap fact speak louder talk peace denial imperialist aim routine propaganda belie deed theoretical justification phony nonimperialist peace propaganda master america undertake people include professor philosophy sidney hook democratic socialist correspond opinion forgive unintentionally offend religious sensibility correspond missionary send soften native people colony subjugation exploitation great power past quotation sample theoretical missionary work shoddy attempt prove theoretical basis nonimperialist peacelove character rapacious imperialist power exist world quotation publish document entitle friend europe asia development american capitalism lead imperialism fulfill lenin theory imperialism inevitable stage capitalism quotation document denial american capitalism depend imperialist expansion life quotation great internal free trade market enormous natural resource today exporter raw material manufacture good economic fact life america different fact europe lead lenin formulate theory imperialism signer document lewis corey james t farrell sidney hook upton sinclair norman thomas attempt convince people europe asia economic law determine imperialist character old europe lenin write apply successor domination world beneficent united states america good theoretical exercise write assumption read read lenin true certain difference line development american capitalism imperialism similar development europe difference accentuate imperialist drive united states true american capitalism great internal market continent exploit contradistinction hemmedin country europe development exploitation vast territory provide expand internal market long time open widen field continuous investment reinvestment profit american capitalism billion billion dollar import europe development country case time world war situation relationship europe america begin change fundamentally america debtor nation beginning world war rich capitalist nation world creditor world internal market great prove crisis long absorb product american industry capitalist basis slight decline export sufficient plunge american economy devastating crisis world see crisis last year temporarily artificially overcome war expenditure theoretical justifier america export raw material contradistinction old european country analyze lenin imperialist lenin law argument convince governor thomas e dewey read dewey speech answer hoover dewey speech list strategic raw material america need foreign source industry armament include uranium point spot world locate incorporate american industrial process source control united states ally america export wheat cotton great number strategic raw material absolutely necessary industry war machine import cost cost war great power america supply raw material cause explosion british cabinet day main reason resignation bevan cabinet labor government america corner raw material supply world stimulate inflation europe endanger british economy lenin say epoch capitalist imperialism distinguish epoch free competition characterize mainly export capital development home industry reach point long absorb accumulation profit pile capitalist investor addition export manufacture good find foreign field surplus capital invest high rate profit condition political security investment apply america think apply time england france germany great imperialist power world war look figure accumulation capital rate volume exportation america beginning world war figure lie lie away bring forward nonimperialist argument present time bulk surplus capital entire world hold united states country virtual monopoly world capital confront imperialistic problem invest outside border mockery fact theory theoretical missionary mention gift dispense american santa claus loan donation military purpose foreign government include chiang kaishek syngman rhee franco representative freedom democracy largesse design represent document quote sign beneficence peacelove character american capitalist government cut buncombe get brass tack permit interpretation loan donation primarily design prop shaky capitalist structure create political condition profitable investment freespende united states capitalist want pour billion dollar investment development backward foreign country guarantee investment secure pay necessary security investment stable political condition stable political condition understand washington wall street require puppet government suppress revolution colonial uprising guarantee cost profit investor secure regardless interest exploit people second reason dole money freely marshall plan etc come convenient time america threaten economic crisis overproduction good domestic market absorb huge expenditure create artificial market alleviate postpone crisis benevolence happily marry expediency marxist interpret foreign policy united states government economic fact capitalist government need foreign market surplus good need secure political condition profitable investment foreign land demand insatiable restrain loan investment russia eastern europe china consider unsafe policy contain soviet union russia eastern europe temporize tactic ultimate aim imperious necessity overthrow government country open market field investment secure political condition real goal american foreign policy spell final analysis drive dominate entire world select ally serve end benevolence democracy ask question friend happen united states government implement foreign policy priest spurious theory tell peaceful beneficent concerned purely welfare human race include presume half billion people eat happen american foreign policy back american military force support capitalist landlord usurer king fascist gang people china support chiang kaishek regime corrupt reactionary people rise en masse drive america take side people spain fascist butcher franco greece monarchofascist regime korea syngman rhee indochina people struggle independence french imperialism fight overwhelming american financial help military supply malaya philippine portugal turkey south america world hungry people rise struggle land bread national independence confront united states america money bomb people know fact bring death destruction time know fact apt take theory professor hook elucidate article new york times magazine real need america propaganda offensive people know fact pretty hard deceive word especially feel fact body bone blow bloody attack practical artificer american foreign policy distinguish professorial advisor know waste money try convince halfbillion people world propaganda america friend hardheade statesman give ironic answer sidney hook propaganda theory day congress vote cut appropriation voice america big surprise people realistic politician washington faith gun bomb people world love propaganda belie fact question ask life purpose commit fate american imperialist power disregard moral consideration concern human race family little circle america bind dominate world serve save narrow morally impermissible standpoint question easy facile answer united states america constitute capitalist basis allpowerful lick world gun atom bomb impose force ignorant braggart narrowminded militarist like enslave exploit world good condition favor border opinion objective examination real fact world situation raise grave doubt capacity american capitalism carry small global design imply foreign policy capitalism outworn social system world war sign bankruptcy world order prior half century capitalism grow expand maintain uneasy peace world numerous local war colonial expedition great power divide world thing change consider moment change thirtyseven year shot fire world war devour life ten million people wound know destroy material culture world destructive world war terrible worldwide depression unmeasured toll misery death mad armament race world war end prophesy achievement capitalism century system bankrupt system twilight period decline decay people world rise especially chief representative united states america rest capitalist world fall weight american money american arm country europe capitalist government stand month american power support apply greece franco spain italy france possibly england england soon follow people orient throw shackle old colonialism disposition wear new one ask take america sphere influence exploitation contrary fight strength passion victim stalinism russia eastern europe badly need political revolution want liberation arm bomb united states consequent restoration capitalist landlord splitting country colony american exploitation worker europe particularly worker germany perfectly clear year intend fight battle united states imperialism war expression attitude come like lightning flash england week resignation bevan cabinet throw labor government crisis raise question atlantic pact war plan united states direct expression unwillingness people england tie bevan say chariot america dispatch paris time morning say sentiment bevan echo socialist labor circle europe finally worker united states say word long shot foreign policy american capitalism unite domestic policy war program carry program militarize regiment country way stamp liberty design drive live standard worker progress wage freeze skyrocket inflation opinion meet resistance united states crisis labor mobilization board sign come storm advise young people bet head victory american imperialism alternative opinion alternative recognize social reality time capitalism world system death agony completely reactionary salvation mean alternative support doom social system ally oneself future socialist labor movement great colonial revolution process grow alternative work union world worker colonial people end imperialism open way socialist society free equal way secure peace progress good life friend recommend alternative program well offer worth fight prospect victory end victory humanity generation share james p cannon internet archive marxist internet archive update

LOREN GOLDNER'S "POSTMODERNITY Versus World History" Only-August 1993) is surely one of the most provocative theoretical pieces published in ATC, and the subjects it raises deserve continued discussion. I have only a single point to raise, although I consider it a serious one for Marxist theory and for our entire vision of socialism. In hoisting a banner against the alltoo-frequent reductivism of the multiculturalist perspective, Goldner insists properly that the 'West' was shaped by the "East' (one should perhaps say the "non-West") as much as the other way around, from historical era to era. He goes too far, or rather off in the wrong direction, when he argues that some cultures are, in the context of world history, at certain moments more dynamic, in fact superior to others," and the "West" the most dynamic and superior in the modern period. "Dynamic" here is merged in "superior," when it would be truer to say that conquest or domination requires only superior force. Sometimes it brings greater learning, but just as often in history—and increasingly in recent history—it brings a one-way catastrophe disguised as the advance of particular classes within societies that hardly knew of their existence previously, and gain little from their presence compared to the losses endured. History is littered by such examples as V. Gregorian offers for the victims od the Mongol invasions, including mass executions of indigenous populations, devastation of food supplies and dwellings. It could be little consolation to the descendants of the survivors that the conquerors imbibed some of the existing cut. ture.(1) And so we might say of many Amer. ican Indian populations, such as the cliff-dwellers of the west, who had achieved an admirable balance of scarce natural resources utterly unlike the increasingly destructive economies to follow. Indeed, it would be difficult to point to examples of Europeans in North America Ieamin much of anything worthwhile (beyond the use, and later abuse through heavy pesticide dosing, of a few specific crops) from their geographical predecessors. The "advance" of monocrop economies throughout much of Latin America, to take a single recent example, has created precious little wealth or learning for the mass of populations, but rathei the reverse. Knowledge of historical sub. sistence crops and forest goods is lost precious land cover is stripped and pesti. cides create notorious pockets of poison in which the hitherto timeless passage ol Migrating animals becomes impossible.(2) Goldner may wish to untangle "more dynamic" from "superior," and that would be a useful discussion. But as an elderly Marx had himself begun to doubt the "progressive" nature of imperialism and many Marxists have since regarded it as something more nearly approaching parasitism, so 1 think we have more and more reasons to be skeptical.(3) Judged from the viewpoint of human, let alone natural, history, a few centuries of industrialization and intensive agriculture are no more than the blink of an eye. Environmentalists tell us that three-quarters of the bird species in the world - are now in sharp decline, and New Englanders such as Goldner and I can easily see that more than three-quarters of our native songbirds have vanished in a few decades. Worse lies dead ahead unless this "superior" civilization is stopped in its tracks. If multiculturalism is indeed an inadequate perspective, total cultural relativism and "identity politics" no more than the inverse version of traditional Marxist (the mirror of Western) hubris, then by all means let us move onward, ever further from the received ideas of the socialist past—not backward toward them again. September-October 1993, ATC 46 Against the Current list of Articles | List of Trotskyist Journals and Publications

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loren goldner postmodernity versus world history onlyaugust surely provocative theoretical piece publish atc subject raise deserve continued discussion single point raise consider marxist theory entire vision socialism hoist banner alltoofrequent reductivism multiculturalist perspective goldner insist properly west shape east nonw way historical era era go far wrong direction argue culture context world history certain moment dynamic fact superior west dynamic superior modern period dynamic merge superior true conquest domination require superior force bring great learning history increasingly recent history bring oneway catastrophe disguise advance particular class society hardly know existence previously gain little presence compare loss endure history litter example v gregorian offer victim od mongol invasion include mass execution indigenous population devastation food supply dwelling little consolation descendant survivor conqueror imbibe exist cut amer ican indian population cliffdweller west achieve admirable balance scarce natural resource utterly unlike increasingly destructive economy follow difficult point example europeans north america ieamin worthwhile use later abuse heavy pesticide dosing specific crop geographical predecessor advance monocrop economy latin america single recent example create precious little wealth learn mass population rathei reverse knowledge historical sub sistence crop forest good lose precious land cover strip pesti cide create notorious pocket poison hitherto timeless passage ol migrating animal goldner wish untangle dynamic superior useful discussion elderly marx begin doubt progressive nature imperialism marxist regard nearly approach parasitism think reason judge viewpoint human let natural history century industrialization intensive agriculture blink eye environmentalist tell threequarter bird specie world sharp decline new englander goldner easily threequarter native songbird vanish decade bad lie dead ahead superior civilization stop track multiculturalism inadequate perspective total cultural relativism identity politic inverse version traditional marxist mirror western hubris mean let onward receive idea socialist past backward septemberoctober atc current list article list trotskyist journal publication

IT’S HARD TO imagine that only a year ago the privatization of a public university would emerge as a major political issue in Bloomington, Indiana. That is not to say the topic took the community by surprise. As early as 1994, the Indiana University’s Board of Trustees formed various tasks forces to evaluate the university’s potential for privatization. In the following years the list of departments ballooned from the modest goal of privatizing printing services (since abandoned) to compromising 12 other services, most of which remain unnamed. This news is particularly frightening to the 5,400 (1) workers around Indiana who stand to lose not just their jobs, but a benefit package that included health care and significant reductions on tuition rates at the university. In response, workers at the university — including members of the CWA Local 4730 and AFSME Local 832 — Jobs with Justice members, and student activists organized protests with zest and circulated petitions opposing this initiative. Media were receptive too. The local radio stations, WFHB and WFIU, along with both the Indiana Daily Student and the Bloomington Herald Times tracked developments and offered sympathetic coverage of the workers. The opposition to Indiana University’s attempts to outsource the IU Motor Pool and Bookstore was well coordinated, and to those involved in the campaign, including myself, victory seemed within reach. However, to the bewilderment of its participants and in spite of a well-run campaign, activists made little impression on the Board of Trustees or then President Adam Herbert. Lacking opposition from either party, the issue would be approved without a vote, only requiring the president’s final authorization. The decision to outsource the bookstore was announced at a meeting of the Board of Trustees on May 5, 2007. Care was taken to provide activists and community members with ample time to talk, but the decision seemed to be already made and the board members read their announcement without pausing to deliberate on the comments of outsourcing opponents. The outsourcing of IU’s bookstore was not the harbinger of the university’s fall into the corporate world but a result of it. The campaign to stop outsourcing had failed to identify the origins of outsourcing at the university and its agents. The travesty was not the eventual privatization of the bookstore, but the slow dismantling of the public university that left IU’s students, staff and faculty as well as the citizens of Bloomington without a voice in university affairs. Instead of directing the campaign to the renewal of the public academic institution, we shouted at an institution that had long ago grown deaf to democracy. On January 27, 2007, over 200 protestors, including union members, students and community supporters, stood confined on a grassy median in the parking lot of Assembly Hall. The more eager demonstrators canvassed the parking lot, soliciting the many sports fans eager to enter the warm stadium. Among the demonstrators, an elderly woman, bundled up in woolen winter wear, held a sign that read “What would Herman Do?” Her sign refers to the beloved, late president of Indiana University, Herman B. Wells, who has the distinction of being the longest acting president of the institution, guiding it intermittently from 1939 to 1968. During his administration, Wells quadrupled the size of the campus, desegregated the university, and established the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction among other achievements. In his honor, various statues and busts pepper the grounds. While Wells passed away in 2000, he functions as the symbol of a wise patriarch — a hybrid of Dumbledore and FDR — who operated in the best interests of the university. For faculty, staff, and Bloomington residents, Wells has become a powerful figure to invoke as a moral authority. Protesters rallied behind his half-century-old speeches, instead of focusing on the current realities of the advisory committees that brought forth the privatization proposal, or the lack of state and federal funding that forces universities to rely on “marketplace solutions.” Understanding Wells’ iconic value, the local chapter of the Communications Workers of America, tapped into the legacy of Wells to legitimize their cause. The CWA’s executive board begins their official statement regarding outsourcing with a recollection of Wells’ first inaugural address in which he stated, “Never was the university’s responsibilities for the development of character of greater significance than at the present hour.” In fact, Wells’ advice could be about anything, but the CWA’s call to arms and invocation of Wells subsequently circulated among staff and faculty on campus. In an editorial in the Herald Times, highly respected Professor James Capshew began his October 2006 editorial on outsourcing by quoting Wells: “The effectiveness of Indiana University depends upon its people; particularly those who make the university’s work a career. Such persons render a public service of the highest order. It is appropriate, therefore, that special recognition be given to members of the staff as they give increasing proportions of their lifework to the noble and inspiring purposes of Indiana University.” Though Wells certainly wasn’t speaking directly to the issue of outsourcing in this passage, his support for university workers in general was helpful in couching the anti- outsourcing argument within IU’s traditional values. Unfortunately, understanding outsourcing through a narrative that reduces the issue to larger than life heroic figures such as the late Wells, versus agents with malevolent intentions such as Governor Mitch Daniels, effaces the gradual processes by which the university has been transformed from a public institution to a quasi-private corporation. The final decision to privatize, in the context of an academic environment where 45.7% (2) of universities have outsourced their bookstore, becomes less of a workers’ rights issue than one of a university system that has been brought to its knees. The use of Wells’ image by the current administration demonstrates that he can be equally appropriated by other forces. Wells had a reputation among students of Bloomington of being an extraordinary personable president, who always maintained public office hours without appointment. (3) Modeling himself after Wells, newly appointed President Michael McRobbie cultivated an image of compassion and communication in the months before his inauguration. His rhetoric seems to suggest that McRobbie is committed to continuing Wells’ style of administration. Yet what appears as a return to Wells’ open leadership is little more than a reaction to the negative responses to IU’s previous president Adam Herbert, who was infamous for his invisibility on campus (or for being off campus), and his push to spend more on athletics. In the fall of 2005, Herbert angered faculty by canceling the current search for a new IU Bloomington chancellor. After a mass meeting, Bloomington faculty called for the Trustees’ review of the president’s performance. But before the review could take place, Herbert announced his resignation as soon as a successor was identified. (4) Though Herbert’s relations with students and faculty were poor, McRobbie’s administration shows troubling signs of being inaccessible to these groups as well. Before his appointment, McRobbie stated in a press release that “students will be able to meet one-on-one with President Michael McRobbie during regularly scheduled ‘Open Office Hours’ at the university’s Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.” (5) Since trumpeting his availability, McRobbie has held office hours infrequently and sporadically. He held them for the first three weeks of the school year, sometimes announcing their times less than a day in advance, and has ceased since then. CWA President Peter Kaczmarczyk has run into similar troubles while trying to schedule a meeting between the local chapter of Jobs with Justice and McRobbie. Kaczmarczyk sent several requests for a meeting to McRobbie in September, but each time the university deferred him to Associate Vice President Dan Rives, who handles union affairs. President McRobbie’s invocation of Wells appears to be a cynical attempt to associate himself with a popular leader without formulating the humane and enlightened policies advocated by Wells. When a hero like Wells can be symbolically commandeered by the current administration, one wonders whether the campaign against outsourcing should also rely on this iconic figure to give moral weight to their concerns. Part of the difficulty of the campaign against outsourcing has been to determine both the source of the university’s drive to outsource departments and the decision-making chain. According to Kaczmarczyk, former President Herbert shrugged his shoulders and deferred blame for the initiative to outsource to the board of trustees; they, in turn, claim that the impetus originated with Herbert and Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. Though there is no consensus on where the orders are coming from, the program to outsource the IU Motor Pool and Bookstore moved forward. Public outcry at the final board meeting did little to sway the board from its decision to proceed with outsourcing, a decision that seems to have been predetermined. At this same blustery January 2007 protest, local demonstrators also carried signs reading “Ditch Mitch! [Referring to Governor Mitch Daniels].” Daniels, after resigning from the Bush administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, successfully ran for governor in Indiana. Local media and activists have placed the blame for outsourcing squarely on his shoulders. Since his election, Governor Daniels has stacked the university’s Board of Trustees with businessmen such as Thomas Reilly who seem bent on repeating Reagan’s economic mantra that “government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.” Dallas Murphy worked as a custodian at the university for 27 years and currently heads the local American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. When I spoke to him last year at the height of the campaign, a frustrated Murphy told me that these problems are a result of a change at the state level. Murphy said, “There has been a change of attitude, and the reason there has been a change is because it’s coming from the top, it’s coming from Mitch Daniels, his election has resulted in a complete change of attitude.” The perception that the election of Mitch Daniels triggered a dramatic change in the University’s attitude toward outsourcing departments is unfortunately ill founded. During an Indiana University Board of Trustees’ meeting in June of 1994 (nine years before Daniels would be elected Governor), Vice President Emeritus Ed Williams reported the findings of a “Competitiveness Task Force.” Williams and his task force had developed a system for evaluating the university and increasing efficiency. The board voted unanimously to continue research in the possibilities of outsourcing services and staff. Williams explained the motives of the task force this way: “The thrust behind this task force is to determine if the University is rendering quality service at the best price possible; therefore, [the committee has] designed a methodology to examine that issue. If areas exist which are not doing this, then the solution might be that someone else could provide the same or better service for a better price. In that case, there might be need to reassign or reduce staff.” The task force examined IU as a business with no particular attention given to its status as public institution with responsibilities to its workers or the Bloomington community. Vice President Terry Clapacs emphasizes that IU will have to adjust to a changing marketplace, adding that the external environment “compels management to consider alternate means of doing business, including mergers, consolidations, and outsourcing.” Clapacs’ “alternative means of doing business” is an explicit example of the corporate thinking that many universities have donned in the wake of funding cuts at the state level. The university’s drive to privatize is further complicated by the peculiar status of the corporation. The corporation has the legal status of personhood in the United States, and therefore the managers of the corporation act for the incorporeal force. The Canadian lawyer and writer Joel Bakan describes the formation of the corporation this way: “through a bizarre legal alchemy, courts had fully transformed the corporation into a ‘person,’ with its own identity, separate from the flesh-and blood people who were its owners and managers.” Bakan concludes that: “Corporations now govern society, perhaps more than governments themselves do; yet ironically, it is their very power, much of which they have gained through economic globalization, that makes them vulnerable. As true of any ruling institution, the corporation now attracts mistrust, fear, and demands for accountability from an increasingly anxious public.” (6) Since the corporation assumes the most easily assailed form, that of a single “person,” the discourse of heroes and villains is compelling for anti-outsourcing campaigns. During the IU campaign, every speech or forum organized around drumming up anti-outsourcing support focused on the dangers of the corporation (in this case, Barnes and Noble and Enterprise Rent-A-Car). The fervor of these attacks, in tandem with the magnitude of popular protest, made possible the sizeable demands that Barnes and Noble had to comply with in order to gain access to the university. However, activists generally spared IU from being portrayed in the same light as these corporations, constructing their beloved institution as a virgin structure besieged by private interests. This understanding prevented a sober evaluation of the university itself as a corporate entity, instead displacing the blame for the outsourcing initiative on to a few IU trustees and eventually Governor Daniels. Despite the problems with a campaign that focuses on curing the symptoms and not the disease, it’s clear, from the concessions made by the university, that the attempt to stop outsourcing at IU was not in vain. What the campaign to stop outsourcing at IU lacked was a way to critique the institution that was moving to privatize the various departments of the university in terms other than a narrative of good vs. evil and us vs. them. Ideally a progressive moment would work to break down these oppositions to expose the greater structures that lie beneath. The limitations of social activism today owe in part to an oversimplification of the structures that create the robber barons of the world, and, by extension, an inability to calculate their movements. That being said, there is still some merit in engaging in the binary narrative, as long as it is understood as being strategically simplistic. By acting as a counterforce and using symbolic icons such as Herman B. Wells, one can work to make very measurable success. But in order to effect a longstanding social change, we need to confront the underlying corporate structure of the university and its efforts to privatize and abdicate its public role. ATC 135, July–August 2008 Against the Current list of Articles | List of Trotskyist Journals and Publications

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hard imagine year ago privatization public university emerge major political issue bloomington indiana topic take community surprise early indiana university board trustee form task force evaluate university potential privatization following year list department balloon modest goal privatize printing service abandon compromise service remain unnamed news particularly frightening worker indiana stand lose job benefit package include health care significant reduction tuition rate university response worker university include member cwa local afsme local job justice member student activist organize protest zest circulate petition oppose initiative medium receptive local radio station wfhb wfiu indiana daily student bloomington herald times track development offer sympathetic coverage worker opposition indiana university attempt outsource iu motor pool bookstore coordinated involve campaign include victory reach bewilderment participant spite wellrun campaign activist little impression board trustee president adam herbert lack opposition party issue approve vote require president final authorization decision outsource bookstore announce meeting board trustee care take provide activist community member ample time talk decision board member read announcement pause deliberate comment outsourcing opponent outsourcing iu bookstore harbinger university fall corporate world result campaign stop outsourcing fail identify origin outsourcing university agent travesty eventual privatization bookstore slow dismantling public university leave iu student staff faculty citizen bloomington voice university affair instead direct campaign renewal public academic institution shout institution long ago grow deaf democracy january protestor include union member student community supporter stand confine grassy median parking lot assembly hall eager demonstrator canvass parking lot solicit sport fan eager enter warm stadium demonstrator elderly woman bundle woolen winter wear hold sign read herman sign refer beloved late president indiana university herman b well distinction long act president institution guide intermittently administration well quadruple size campus desegregate university establish kinsey institute research sex gender reproduction achievement honor statue bust pepper ground well pass away function symbol wise patriarch hybrid dumbledore fdr operate good interest university faculty staff bloomington residents wells powerful figure invoke moral authority protester rally halfcenturyold speech instead focus current reality advisory committee bring forth privatization proposal lack state federal funding force university rely marketplace solution understand well iconic value local chapter communication worker america tap legacy well legitimize cause cwa executive board begin official statement outsourcing recollection well inaugural address state university responsibility development character great significance present hour fact well advice cwa arm invocation wells subsequently circulate staff faculty campus editorial herald times highly respected professor james capshew begin october editorial outsourcing quote well effectiveness indiana university depend people particularly university work career person render public service high order appropriate special recognition give member staff increase proportion lifework noble inspiring purpose indiana university wells certainly speak directly issue outsourcing passage support university worker general helpful couch anti outsourcing argument iu traditional value unfortunately understand outsourcing narrative reduce issue large life heroic figure late well versus agent malevolent intention governor mitch daniels efface gradual process university transform public institution quasiprivate corporation final decision privatize context academic environment university outsource bookstore worker right issue university system bring knee use well image current administration demonstrate equally appropriate force well reputation student bloomington extraordinary personable president maintain public office hour appointment model wells newly appoint president michael mcrobbie cultivate image compassion communication month inauguration rhetoric suggest mcrobbie committed continue well style administration appear return well open leadership little reaction negative response iu previous president adam herbert infamous invisibility campus campus push spend athletic fall herbert anger faculty cancel current search new iu bloomington chancellor mass meeting bloomington faculty call trustee review president performance review place herbert announce resignation soon successor identify herbert relation student faculty poor mcrobbie administration show troubling sign inaccessible group appointment mcrobbie state press release student able meet oneonone president michael mcrobbie regularly schedule open office hour university bloomington indianapolis campus trumpet availability mcrobbie hold office hour infrequently sporadically hold week school year announce time day advance cease cwa president peter kaczmarczyk run similar trouble try schedule meeting local chapter job justice mcrobbie kaczmarczyk send request meeting mcrobbie september time university defer associate vice president dan rive handle union affairs president mcrobbie invocation well appear cynical attempt associate popular leader formulate humane enlightened policy advocate well hero like well symbolically commandeer current administration wonder campaign outsourcing rely iconic figure moral weight concern difficulty campaign outsourcing determine source university drive outsource department decisionmake chain accord kaczmarczyk president herbert shrug shoulder deferred blame initiative outsource board trustee turn claim impetus originate herbert indiana governor mitch daniels consensus order come program outsource iu motor pool bookstore move forward public outcry final board meeting little sway board decision proceed outsource decision predetermine blustery january protest local demonstrator carry sign read ditch mitch refer governor mitch daniels daniel resign bush administration director office management budget successfully run governor indiana local medium activist place blame outsourcing squarely shoulder election governor daniel stack university board trustee businessman thomas reilly bent repeat reagan economic mantra government economically private sector dallas murphy work custodian university year currently head local american federation state county municipal employee speak year height campaign frustrated murphy tell problem result change state level murphy say change attitude reason change come come mitch daniel election result complete change attitude perception election mitch daniels trigger dramatic change university attitude outsourcing department unfortunately ill found indiana university board trustee meeting june year daniel elect governor vice president emeritus ed williams report finding competitiveness task force williams task force develop system evaluate university increase efficiency board vote unanimously continue research possibility outsourcing service staff williams explain motive task force way thrust task force determine university render quality service good price possible committee design methodology examine issue area exist solution provide well service well price case need reassign reduce staff task force examine iu business particular attention give status public institution responsibility worker bloomington community vice president terry clapac emphasize iu adjust change marketplace add external environment compel management consider alternate mean business include merger consolidation outsourcing clapac alternative mean business explicit example corporate thinking university don wake funding cut state level university drive privatize complicate peculiar status corporation corporation legal status personhood united states manager corporation act incorporeal force canadian lawyer writer joel bakan describe formation corporation way bizarre legal alchemy court fully transform corporation person identity separate fleshand blood people owner manager bakan conclude corporation govern society government ironically power gain economic globalization make vulnerable true rule institution corporation attract mistrust fear demand accountability increasingly anxious public corporation assume easily assailed form single person discourse hero villain compelling antioutsource campaign iu campaign speech forum organize drum antioutsource support focus danger corporation case barne noble enterprise rentacar fervor attack tandem magnitude popular protest possible sizeable demand barne noble comply order gain access university activist generally spare iu portray light corporation construct beloved institution virgin structure besiege private interest understanding prevent sober evaluation university corporate entity instead displace blame outsourcing initiative iu trustee eventually governor daniel despite problem campaign focus cure symptom disease clear concession university attempt stop outsource iu vain campaign stop outsource iu lacked way critique institution move privatize department university term narrative good vs evil vs ideally progressive moment work break opposition expose great structure lie beneath limitation social activism today owe oversimplification structure create robber baron world extension inability calculate movement say merit engage binary narrative long understand strategically simplistic act counterforce symbolic icon herman b wells work measurable success order effect longstanding social change need confront underlying corporate structure university effort privatize abdicate public role atc july august current list article list trotskyist journal publication

Ravachol 1892 Source: Jean Maitron, Ravachol et les Anarchistes. Paris, Julliard, 1964; Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor; CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2006. On the morning of July 11, 1892 Ravachol was executed. The following telegram was sent announcing his death. Justice was done this morning at 4:05 without incident or demonstration of any kind. He was awakened at 3:40. The condemned man refused the intervention of a chaplain and declared that he had no revelations to make. At first pale and trembling he soon demonstrated an affected cynicism and exasperation at the foot of the scaffold at the moment preceding the execution. In a hoarse voice he sang a few blasphemous and revoltingly obscene lyrics. He didn’t pronounce the word anarchy, and as his head was put in place he gave out a last cry of “Long Live the Re...” Complete calm reigned in the city. Report to follow. The authorities assumed that the word cut short by the blade was “Republic,” but it is clear that the word was actually “Revolution.” Ravachol Archive

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ravachol source jean maitron ravachol et les anarchistes paris julliard translate marxistsorg mitch abidor copyleft creative commons attribute sharealike marxistsorg morning july ravachol execute follow telegram send announce death justice morning incident demonstration kind awaken condemn man refuse intervention chaplain declare revelation pale tremble soon demonstrate affected cynicism exasperation foot scaffold moment precede execution hoarse voice sing blasphemous revoltingly obscene lyric pronounce word anarchy head place give cry long live complete calm reign city report follow authority assume word cut short blade republic clear word actually revolution ravachol archive

Main Newspaper Index Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive Irish Marxist Review Editor: JOHN MOLYNEUX Deputy Editor: DAVE O’FARRELL Website Editor: MEMET ULUDAG Editorial Board: MARNIE HOLBOROW SINÉAD KENNEDY TINA McVEIGH PAUL O’BRIEN PEADAR O’GRADY Cover Design: DARYL SOUTHERN Editorial, by John Molyneux [ PDF ] Articles The Politics of Sinn Fein: Rhetoric and Reality, by Kieran Allen [ PDF ] Where We Are Now, by Michael Taft [ PDF ] The Struggle for LGBT rights in Ireland, interview with Ailbhe Smyth [ PDF ] Stop Making Sense: Alienation and Mental Health, by Peadar O’Grady [ PDF ] A Visit to the Museum – Notes on Culture and Barbarism, by John Molyneux [ PDF ] John Redmond: A Footnote in History, by Paul O’Brien [ PDF ] Book Reviews Contributors, by John Molyneux [ PDF ] All articles copyright © Irish Marxist Review unless otherwise stated. Top of page IMR Index | Main Newspaper Index Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive Last updated on 21 September 2020

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Labour Monthly Source : Labour Monthly December, 1939, No.12. Publisher : The Labour Publishing Company Ltd., London. Transcription/HTML : Salil Sen Public Domain : Marxists Internet Archive (2010). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit "Marxists Internet Archive" as your source. [The following account of the Bombay Strike of October 2 is reprinted from "The National Front" of October 8, 1939.] From the day the second imperialist world war began, we were all very concerned. Not to say that the machinations of Chamberlain and his gang had enmeshed us in their glib talk about "defence of democracy." What worried the Communists, leaders and rank and file, was how to effectively harness the opportunity and create confidence in the Indian National Congress that the working class would not fall behind in the fight against imperialism and for independence. It was increasingly evident that the top leadership in the Congress was hesitant and wavering. It was adopting dilatory tactics, and going in for negotiations with the Viceroy. The country was seething with discontent. The Defence of India Ordinance was demoralising quite a lot of political workers in the Congress fold through its ruthless provisions. "It is no more a question of going to jail as in the Civil Disobedience days; this time you face the gallows! Let us not be rash, let us move with circumspection" -- this was the advice freely given by responsible "leaders." The Communists were faced with the task of breaking the spell of the Ordinance, and creating confidence in the masses. We, in Bombay, determined to give the lead, and naturally our first task was to organise a one-day political strike with the dominant section of the local working class, the textile workers, shouldering the burden. We were faced with tremendous obstacles. The local nationalist newspapers were crowing the imperialist tune under the direct gaze of the Press Censor. They refused to give us even a few odd lines in a remote corner of their journals for the purpose of giving the call. Legal leaflets and handbills could not be issued, as the owners of printing presses refused to risk "confiscation" by publishing our manifesto or appeal. Even the Kranti, our Marathi-weekly, and the National Front had been forced to close down because no press was prepared to print "Communist" newspapers. The police made bando-bast to prevent processions by enforcing the requisite of a "pass" to be previously obtained from the local police station. Our most popular comrades on the textile front, the office bearers of the Girni Kamgar Union, were bound down by "bail-conditions." They were prohibited from addressing meetings, or otherwise taking part, directly or indirectly, in the furtherance of any strike. Thus, Comrades Dange, Mirajkar, Mrs. Dange, Patkar, Bhise and Bhogle were not available to us. The Congress Socialist Party was not ready to co-operate. The Trade Unions would have to be left out of count in order not to deprive the workers of their legal organisations in these days of economic hardship entailed by the War. Besides all this, the issue would be a straight political one, not permitting the use of economic grievances for rallying support. A clear anti-war call would be given, the Ordinance would be defied in action and not in mere words, and we were to be ready for the full consequences of the action. A meeting of all Communists unanimously decided for the strike to be called on October 2. The die was cast. Our campaign immediately started with barely three weeks in hand. With hurricane speed meetings of contacts were convened, areas divided up, and details chalked out. From the first day, the street-corner meetings were organised. All our speakers, good, bad and indifferent, were posted in different localities. Under the Red Flag gathered toiling men and women to listen to the clear analysis of the war, the repudiation of any and every compromise, the exposure of "neutrality," the reasons why the working class was forced to take the lead and point the way to the rest of the nation, a call to immediate action. From all corners came the demand for handbills and leaflets. With great difficulty the Manifesto was printed anyhow and circulated. The Congress Ministry had distributed 1,300,000 handbills, and the Bombay Provincial Trades Union Congress had printed 120,000 before the general strike on November 7. Only ten thousand copies of the Manifesto could be printed for the strike on October 2. Further handbills were not possible to get. Every day, after the mills closed, the working-class area hummed with activity. Cyclists with red flags went shouting by. In the night men with burning torches appeared at strategic corners and harangued the crowd. A new cadre, which had not touched the textile workers before, took street-corner and chawl meetings and gave convincing proof of the ramifications of Communists in the city. They argued and carried conviction, patiently explaining the difficulties that loomed large before the workers. In the morning as the workers went to their mills and factories, they were greeted by hand-written posters in their chawls, on the walls of buildings, on the stairs they mounted, at the gates they entered, even on the road on which they walked. Group meetings of "contacts," the gatherings of promising workers selected for their mettle in previous local strike struggles, were organised by the hundred. Everywhere the effort was to clearly understand the political implications of the strike. These contacts emerging from these "study circles" widened the net of organisation, and proved to be the pivot of the strike. They brought home the lesson that effective Trade Union work is indispensable for a party professing Marxism because that alone can supply the necessary links with the working masses and permit you to test and choose the right men. The patient work of our comrades for the last so many years in the Girni Karngai Union was yielding its result. Four days previous to the strike the first blow was received as com. Sawant was arrested with a bundle of anti-war posters and taken to the lock-up. The comrades resolved, "We shall be more careful. We cannot afford to lose comrades like this." The campaign was further intensified on the last days but no arrest of a similar kind could be effected by the police. The rally of workers at Delisle Road mustered only ten thousand men and a sprinkling of women workers. "This means that the strike to-morrow will be a flop" said an interested press reporter in the hearing of our comrades. "I beg your pardon," came the prompt reply, "what you do not see is the character of the gathering. We are working on a different basis this time. We are not relying on agitation and mass enthusiasm so much as on effective organisation. Here in this meeting there are representatives from every centre and area. The picked men, the contacts, are here. And we are confident about success to-morrow." But the press representative went away unconvinced. He had witnessed the rally that preceded the November 7 general strike. It had reached the colossal figure of nearly a lac. This rally could not impress him. Com. Joglekar presided at the rally. In his characteristic style, he brought the grimness of the occasion to bear on the workers since Parulekar, Joint Secretary of the All-India Trade Union Congress and a member of the Servants of India Society, spoke next. In burning words, he tore the veil that covers the propaganda by the Government. "Why should you offer your lives at the altar of this British Empire? This is a war between two dacoits. Let them fight between themselves, Why should we, the toilers, their victims, help them?" Comrade Ranadive made the best speech of the day. In quiet argumentative style, he posed one problem after another and demolished the bogey held up before the workers against the strike on October 2. "We are told we shall lose a week's wages by going on a day's strike. But who can deny that if we do not strike on this political issue, if we do not give the call for action so that national independence may be achieved, we shall lose not a week's wages but the wages of a whole life-time, the wages of freedom from slavery, the wages of happiness from misery, the wages of relief from stark exploitation that is our misfortune to-day, and harder chains to-morrow? … We are not stealing the initiative from anybody. Through the strike, we assure the Congress, the Indian nation, that the working class will be solidly behind every struggle for attaining freedom, whatever the cost, however big the sacrifice demanded … We give our assurance by deeds and not only by words To-day the British lion has fallen into a pit which he dug himself. He had meant it for Soviet Russia, the land where Workers and Peasants rule. It is not our good fortune to claim that we have pushed him into the pit. But it is certainly our good fortune that he is in it. We are not going to help him to come out. The lion is telling us: "Pull me out by my tail, dear lamb, and we shall be eternal friends." But we know full well that the lion will eat us up if he is once extricated. So all we are ready to do is to push him deeper down, to cover the pit, along with him, with dust and sand, and give this vicious exploiting Empire a decent burial ...." There was loud and long applause. "Victory to the Red Flag," "Down with Imperialist War," "Long Live Indian Independence," burst forth from every corner. The meeting transformed itself into a procession, headed by the women with torchlights. Till late in the night, these men and women marched through streets and by-lanes carrying the message for the next day. All night there was feverish activity. The finishing touches to the arrangements were completed by 2 a.m. And by 4 a.m. the pickets with Red Flags had already reached every mill-gate. Over and above these there were pickets posted at strategic corners and chawl-gates. Then with baited breath we waited. I turned to Comrade Bukhari and asked: "What is your estimate of success?" A mysterious jumble of lines gathered on his forehead and with the left eye half-closed, he haltingly said: "Success -- I am certain about. But numbers -- I fear it may not reach even 50 per cent. of November 7. You see, the odds are too great." I asked Comrade Vaidya the same question. He said: "The Bombay working class has never failed us. But I agree the odds are very great. No press, no handbills, no effective opposition to give momentum, no effective aid from others. They are trying to kill us by isolation, by putting us in cold storage .... Yes, yes, I believe we can draw easily about thirty thousand or so -- because the issue is a straight political general strike, and the terror of the Defence of India Act is so wide¬spread in the city." I asked a young worker lad: "What are the workers feeling? Will there be a strike?" He was visibly annoyed. "Have you doubts about it? Come to my chawl and speak to the workers themselves. The worker is quite confident about the strike. We have done it before, we shall do it again." And then the momentous day arrived. All our sober calculations were smashed up by the militant working class. The Bombay textile proletariat rose to the occasion and gave a bigger and a better demonstration than November 7. We had only one motor-lorry to give the call on the day of the strike. The loud-speaker was not available. Nor were Comrades Dange or Mirajkar available. Police arrangements were thorough. In front of every mill-gate, at every street-corner, the police with their lathis strutted about under the direct supervision of a sergeant or a sub-inspector. In three or four places, armed policemen with rifles were present in batches of twelve and more. Four loaded police vans continuously patrolled the labour areas, going round and round, stopping before each mill-gate, exchanging greetings and going ahead. But where were the workers? The slogan given was: "You need not stir out of your houses. Do not throng near mill-gates, or the police may take the excuse for a lathi-charge or more." And the order was being obeyed. The streets remained empty, especially in front of mill-gates. Picketing was hardly needed. At the Morarjee Mills I got mixed up with some Bhaya workers. One of them was saying: "Bhaiya, this time we must not be disgraced like last time. We are not going in at all -- nowhere near the gates. They blamed us as strike-breakers. Don't you remember the rebuke of Swamiji when he came here the other day?" And the others -- to a man -- concurred. In Madanpura, the Muslim workers seemed equally determined. "This is our strike, too. The Britisher is no friend of Islam. And we know the Red Flag stands equally for everybody." I asked: "What is the position in your area?" The prompt reply came: "More than fifty per cent. of Muslim workers have obeyed the Red Flag consciously." At Worli, a dozen women workers were arguing strenuously. I overheard: "Who is going to stop me? Come, I shall lead you in." "No, no, you are foolish -- what will you gain by going in?" "Are you going to lose wages for these good-for-nothings?" "Don't say that -- I am not coming. I am a follower of these Red Flaggers. Have you never heard Usha-tai speaking at a meeting?" In the end all went home. They said the children at home were better company than the inhuman machines. We almost ran into two volunteers with Red Flags being pursued by a dozen lathi-wielding policemen under the valiant lead of an Anglo-Indian Sergeant at Foras Road. The volunteers complained that they had been assaulted, the flag torn up and now they were being bodily hustled from the area. We asked the sergeant why he was behaving in this fashion. "I don't want anybody lurking about here. They tried to hold a meeting in the garden next door to the Mill. Supposing they throw stones from there. I shall not permit it." We had to sternly tell him that he was over-stepping the bounds of his duties, that he could not stop meetings like this in anticipation of stone-throwing. "I do not care. I am the master here." And he started strutting about the place, brandishing his "stick." A crowd had collected. We decided to report him to higher authori¬ties. We got our volunteers to resume their meeting as well as picket-posts with the flags. As we were moving away to the police station, the sergeant walked up. "Look here, mister, I did not mean any harm. The flag was accidentally torn. Honest truth. Let us treat the whole incident as closed." And when we told him that his explanation was unsatisfactory, he said: "But I am an Indian, I was born in India, I wish to live in India. We are all brothers." This was something new from an Anglo-Indian sergeant. But the police tried to keep a neutral attitude in most cases. They did not take sides as on November 7. At Worli the manager and higher staff of a mill came out and started using undue pressure on their men to get in, actually hustling some of them inside. The volunteer at the gate gave an extempore speech. In order to silence him a stone was pelted at him from inside the mill gate. It caught him in the back. The result was at once visible. Even the dozen or so who had weakened and were about to be dragged in walked away disgusted with the mill authorities. The manager made a piteous appeal, saying he was a "labour-wallah," but to no avail. In half an hour, the fifty who had previously gone in also came out and joined the strike. The mill completely closed down for the day by 9 a.m. At Kohinoor Mills men were brought into the mills from 3 a.m. Nearly one thousand five hundred -- nearly half the complement -- were in by 8 a.m. But by 11.30 a.m. the whole mill came out en masse and joined the strike. Nearly 40 mills remained completely closed from the beginning, not a single worker crossing the gate. Another 15 tried to work with depleted complements, but most of them had to give up the ghost by noon. In the north of Bombay, where the labour areas are situated, all the colleges and the most important schools also closed down. Nearly ten thousand students came on the streets. Three meetings of students took place, and fiery speeches against War and declaring solidarity with the workers were made. It is interesting to note in this connection that these students attended the evening Kamgar Maidan meeting and the workers greeted them with "Vidyarthi-Kamgaranchi Jai." At Girgaon, a group of hotel workers went from restaurant to restaurant with two demands: (1) one hotel-worker to join the group in propaganda; (2) the restaurant to shut down in sympathy with the strike. The Dharavi leather workers had joined the strike. So also a majority of the Ambarnath match factory workers. The seamen held a demonstration and meeting in sympathy. Sections of building workers laid down their tools. Comrade Taher was first arrested for "obstruction to traffic" and released. Once again he was arrested for "stone-throwing" and bailed out for Rs.10. Two volunteers were also arrested for "obstruction," and bailed out for varying amounts. But the whole day passed without a single affray or "incident." The workers behaved with great restraint and earned the unstinted unanimous compliment even from the hostile local press that the strike was absolutely peaceful and no force was used at any stage. By 9 a.m. the strike was practically complete. It totalled 89,000 workers when we approached the desk of Comrades Deshpande and Bhandarkar at the Kranti office for reports from the various centres The comrades had worked with iron discipline. The organisation functioned through the new contacts and had worked wonderfully The Phoenix Mills workers, men and women, on strike for the last six months, had done yeomen service. After the success of November 7 interested parties had maintained that the success of the general strike was due to the unholy alliance made by the Communists with Ambedkar. Ambedkar and his party have now declared for co-operation with Britain. And yet the call of the Communists had found a bigger response from workers than November 7, and in a sober and quieter mood. The strike had made a record in numbers and in the peaceful way in which it was accomplished. As we went along to the historic Kamgar Maidan, Comrade Ranadive remarked: "For the next strike, we need only one public rally, on meetings of contacts and one handbill, and the task would be accomplished." Nobody contradicted him, so well was everybody impressed by the cool, silent and yet effective strength displayed by the workers There was no fuss, no excitement, but with quiet, determined, grim faces they had forged a huge political weapon for themselves and evolved the technique of its use. We reached the Kamgar Maidan and a sea of heads greeted us The maidan was decked in huge Red Flags. Comrade Shahid, with his stentorian voice and wide, sweeping gestures, was casting a spell on the audience. Comrade Guran retailed in song, in a beautifully-worded Marathi povada, the history of the Russian worker before, during and after the Revolution. Every phrase was eagerly taken in, and as he stretched the pitch of the last words, thundering applause greeted him. Comrade Tambitkar sang, and the huge multitude, transformed into a militant mood, sang with him, rocking to the tune. Comrade Joglekar once again presided at the meeting and gave a stirring call to action. "We, the workers of Bombay, have proved to-day that we shall never be found wanting in the struggle for inde¬pendence .... English statesmen shall no more fix who is our friend..... This Hitler whom they called a friend yesterday is now the worst criminal on earth .... We have nothing to do with their quarrels. We stand for a free India and are determined to achieve our indepen¬dence." Comrade Ranadive moved the main resolution of the day. In a speech which went directly to the heart of the workers he explained how the war had come about, who was involved in it and why. He said: "If Gandhiji stands pledged to non-violence, it is not understandable why he wants India to support Britain which has resorted to violence We have had a peaceful exhibition of our strength to-day, and we pledge that till the last worker is alive, we shall fight for the cause so dear to the Indian nation." He gave the history of the workers' struggle in Bombay and India, and asked, "With what face can imperialists and foreign capitalists ask us to-day to help them? Have they for¬gotten their own misdeeds? And what is the guarantee that the shoot¬ings on workers, the Jallian-wallas, will not be repeated in the future? We are not likely to give milk to the serpent who has bitten us before and whose teeth have not been drawn by us .... If the Russian worker could effect a revolution during the last World War, the Indian worker can also rise to the same heights now." He ended up amidst cheers when he declared: "They say the war will last for three years. We have sworn to-day to resist imperialism and within the three years, we are sure of bringing it down to dust." The resolution was read out: "This meeting declares its solidarity with the international working class and the peoples of the world, who are being dragged into the most destructive war by the Imperialist Powers. The meeting regards the present war as a challenge to the international solidarity of the working-class, and declares that it is the common task of the workers and people of different countries to defeat this imperialist conspiracy against humanity, so that peace and goodwill is restored among the nations of the world. "This meeting condemns the Nazi aggression against Poland, and expresses its deep sympathy with the Polish people, who have been the victims of barbarous atrocities. "This meeting is further of opinion that the war between Nazi Germany and British Imperialism is born out of Imperialist rivalry and that British Imperialism is neither defending democracy nor the independence of nations. "This meeting, therefore, is of opinion that loyalty to Indian freedom demands resistance to war on the part of the Indian people. "This meeting strongly protests against the attempts of the Govern¬ment to exploit Indian resources and man-power and impose the war on India in spite of India's declared opposition to it. "This meeting strongly condemns the Viceregal Ordinances which virtually place the country under martial law regime and demands their immediate repeal. "This meeting is of opinion that the full resources of the country should be utilised at this critical stage for forcing the pace of Indian democracy. This meeting, therefore, requests the coming meeting of the All-India Congress Committee to give a bold lead to the country, by throwing overboard all compromise proposals and starting a nation-¬wide war-resistance movement. This meeting pledges itself to war resistance and declares that any other path at this critical juncture would be a crime against Indian freedom and independence." Comrade Bukhari in his simple and forceful Urdu, seconded the resolution. He explained the task of the working class in the present epoch, dilated on the foreign policy of Soviet Russia, and appealed to the Congress to launch a country-wide struggle from which we must emerge victorious. Comrade Parulekar was greeted by the workers as he advanced to the microphone. He said: "To-day your success has created a stir in the Assembly Chambers. Prime Minister Kher acknowledged to me that the strike has been a phenomenal success. I greet you on your strength and unity." Comrade Indulal Yagnik, Joint Secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, then rose to give fraternal greetings on behalf of the A.I.K.S. and the Forward Bloc. "I am returning from my tour of Gujerat and I bring you the admira¬tion and affection of the peasants. You know how to do things in a big way. We, the poor peasants, live in small isolated villages, but we too are copying your example. We have also started resistance against war." The resolution was adopted amidst loud slogans of "Down with Imperialist War," "Long Live Indian Freedom." The meeting adopted a resolution supporting the demand of workers for wage adjustment to prices. "This meeting is firmly of opinion that the rise in prices, permitted under Government authority, is extortionate and excessive. It has entailed severe hardship on poor and middle sections of the population. "This meeting therefore demands immediate legislation guaranteeing increase in wages with the rise in prices. This meeting further calls upon the workers of Bombay to organise a conference to create sanctions behind the above demand." The meeting then adopted a resolution demanding from the Congress Government a fair settlement to the Phoenix Mills Strike. Comrade Laljee Pendse explained in detail the need of building up the Girni Kamgar Union into a mass union and how a sound trade union can be the basis of a sound political party. Comrade Tambitkar made an impassioned appeal for the redress of the grievances of the Phoenix Mills workers, retailed their miseries and showed how firmly they had borne the brunt of a long strike to save the Bombay working class from retrenchment and unemployment. The Marathi version of the International was cheered to an echo and the meeting dispersed. We were all tired out after a strenuous day. But the Kranti office carried on discussions for another two hours, evaluating the gains, measuring the next advance, wondering what the morrow would bring us. Marxism and Anti-Imperialism in India | Subject Archive

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labour monthly source labour monthly december publisher labour publishing company ltd london transcriptionhtml salil sen public domain marxist internet archive freely copy distribute display perform work derivative commercial work credit marxist internet archive source follow account bombay strike october reprint national october day second imperialist world war begin concerned machination chamberlain gang enmesh glib talk defence democracy worry communist leader rank file effectively harness opportunity create confidence indian national congress work class fall fight imperialism independence increasingly evident leadership congress hesitant waver adopt dilatory tactic go negotiation viceroy country seethe discontent defence india ordinance demoralise lot political worker congress fold ruthless provision question go jail civil disobedience day time face gallow let rash let circumspection advice freely give responsible leader communist face task break spell ordinance create confidence masse bombay determine lead naturally task organise oneday political strike dominant section local work class textile worker shoulder burden face tremendous obstacle local nationalist newspaper crow imperialist tune direct gaze press censor refuse odd line remote corner journal purpose give legal leaflet handbill issue owner print press refuse risk confiscation publish manifesto appeal kranti marathiweekly national force close press prepared print communist newspaper police bandobast prevent procession enforce requisite pass previously obtain local police station popular comrade textile office bearer girni kamgar union bind bailcondition prohibit address meeting take directly indirectly furtherance strike comrade dange mirajkar mrs dange patkar bhise bhogle available congress socialist party ready cooperate trade union leave count order deprive worker legal organisation day economic hardship entail war issue straight political permit use economic grievance rally support clear antiwar give ordinance defy action mere word ready consequence action meeting communist unanimously decide strike call october die cast campaign immediately start barely week hand hurricane speed meeting contact convene area divide detail chalk day streetcorner meeting organise speaker good bad indifferent post different locality red flag gather toil man woman listen clear analysis war repudiation compromise exposure neutrality reason work class force lead point way rest nation immediate action corner come demand handbill leaflet great difficulty manifesto print circulate congress ministry distribute handbill bombay provincial trade union congress print general strike november thousand copy manifesto print strike october handbill possible day mill close workingclass area hum activity cyclist red flag went shout night man burning torch appear strategic corner harangue crowd new cadre touch textile worker take streetcorner chawl meeting give convincing proof ramification communist city argue carry conviction patiently explain difficulty loom large worker morning worker go mill factory greet handwritten poster chawl wall building stair mount gate enter road walk group meeting contact gathering promise worker select mettle previous local strike struggle organise effort clearly understand political implication strike contact emerge study circle widen net organisation prove pivot strike bring home lesson effective trade union work indispensable party profess marxism supply necessary link work masse permit test choose right man patient work comrade year girni karngai union yield result day previous strike blow receive com sawant arrest bundle antiwar poster take lockup comrade resolve shall careful afford lose comrade like campaign intensify day arrest similar kind effect police rally worker delisle road muster thousand man sprinkling woman worker mean strike tomorrow flop say interested press reporter hearing comrade beg pardon come prompt reply character gathering work different basis time rely agitation mass enthusiasm effective organisation meeting representative centre area pick man contact confident success tomorrow press representative go away unconvinced witness rally precede november general strike reach colossal figure nearly lac rally impress com joglekar preside rally characteristic style bring grimness occasion bear worker parulekar joint secretary allindia trade union congress member servant india society speak burn word tear veil cover propaganda government offer life altar british empire war dacoit let fight toiler victim help comrade ranadive good speech day quiet argumentative style pose problem demolish bogey hold worker strike october tell shall lose week wage go day strike deny strike political issue action national independence achieve shall lose week wage wage lifetime wage freedom slavery wage happiness misery wage relief stark exploitation misfortune today hard chain tomorrow steal initiative anybody strike assure congress indian nation work class solidly struggle attain freedom cost big sacrifice demand assurance deed word today british lion fall pit dig mean soviet russia land worker peasant rule good fortune claim push pit certainly good fortune go help come lion tell pull tail dear lamb shall eternal friend know lion eat extricate ready push deeply cover pit dust sand vicious exploit empire decent burial loud long applause victory red flag imperialist war long live indian independence burst forth corner meeting transform procession head woman torchlight till late night man woman march street bylane carry message day night feverish activity finish touch arrangement complete picket red flag reach millgate picket post strategic corner chawlgate bait breath wait turn comrade bukhari ask estimate success mysterious jumble line gather forehead left eye halfclose haltingly say success certain number fear reach cent november odd great ask comrade vaidya question say bombay work class fail agree odd great press handbill effective opposition momentum effective aid try kill isolation put cold storage yes yes believe draw easily thirty thousand issue straight political general strike terror defence india act city ask young worker lad worker feeling strike visibly annoyed doubt come chawl speak worker worker confident strike shall momentous day arrive sober calculation smash militant work class bombay textile proletariat rise occasion give big well demonstration november motorlorry day strike loudspeaker available comrade dange mirajkar available police arrangement thorough millgate streetcorner police lathis strut direct supervision sergeant subinspector place armed policeman rifle present batch loaded police van continuously patrol labour area go round round stop millgate exchange greeting go ahead worker slogan give need stir house throng near millgate police excuse lathicharge order obey street remain especially millgate picket hardly need morarjee mill get mix bhaya worker say bhaiya time disgrace like time go near gate blame strikebreaker not remember rebuke swamiji come day man concur madanpura muslim worker equally determined strike britisher friend islam know red flag stand equally everybody ask position area prompt reply come cent muslim worker obey red flag consciously worli dozen woman worker argue strenuously overheard go stop come shall lead foolish gain go go lose wage goodfornothing not come follower red flagger hear ushatai speak meeting end go home say child home well company inhuman machine run volunteer red flag pursue dozen lathiwielding policeman valiant lead angloindian sergeant foras road volunteer complain assault flag tear bodily hustle area ask sergeant behave fashion not want anybody lurk try hold meeting garden door mill supposing throw stone shall permit sternly tell overstep bound duty stop meeting like anticipation stonethrowe care master start strut place brandish stick crowd collect decide report high get volunteer resume meeting picketpost flag move away police station sergeant walk look mister mean harm flag accidentally tear honest truth let treat incident closed tell explanation unsatisfactory say indian bear india wish live india brother new angloindian sergeant police try neutral attitude case side november worli manager high staff mill come start undue pressure man actually hustle inside volunteer gate give extempore speech order silence stone pelt inside mill gate catch result visible dozen weaken drag walk away disgust mill authority manager piteous appeal say labourwallah avail half hour previously go come join strike mill completely close day kohinoor mill man bring mill nearly thousand nearly half complement mill come en masse join strike nearly mill remain completely closed beginning single worker cross gate try work deplete complement ghost noon north bombay labour area situate college important school close nearly thousand student come street meeting student take place fiery speech war declare solidarity worker interesting note connection student attend evening kamgar maidan meeting worker greet vidyarthikamgaranchi jai girgaon group hotel worker go restaurant restaurant demand hotelworker join group propaganda restaurant shut sympathy strike dharavi leather worker join strike majority ambarnath match factory worker seaman hold demonstration meeting sympathy section build worker lay tool comrade taher arrest obstruction traffic release arrest stonethrowe bail volunteer arrest obstruction bail vary amount day pass single affray incident worker behave great restraint earn unstinted unanimous compliment hostile local press strike absolutely peaceful force stage strike practically complete total worker approach desk comrade deshpande bhandarkar kranti office report centre comrade work iron discipline organisation function new contact work wonderfully phoenix mill worker man woman strike month yeoman service success november interested party maintain success general strike unholy alliance communist ambedkar ambedkar party declare cooperation britain communist find big response worker november sober quieter mood strike record number peaceful way accomplish go historic kamgar maidan comrade ranadive remark strike need public rally meeting contact handbill task accomplish contradict everybody impress cool silent effective strength display worker fuss excitement quiet determined grim face forge huge political weapon evolve technique use reach kamgar maidan sea head greet maidan deck huge red flag comrade shahid stentorian voice wide sweeping gesture cast spell audience comrade guran retail song beautifullyworded marathi povada history russian worker revolution phrase eagerly take stretch pitch word thunder applause greet comrade tambitkar sing huge multitude transform militant mood sing rock tune comrade joglekar preside meeting give stirring action worker bombay prove today shall find want struggle english statesman shall fix friend hitler call friend yesterday bad criminal earth quarrel stand free india determined achieve comrade ranadive move main resolution day speech go directly heart worker explain war come involve say gandhiji stand pledge nonviolence understandable want india support britain resort violence peaceful exhibition strength today pledge till worker alive shall fight cause dear indian nation give history worker struggle bombay india ask face imperialist foreign capitalist ask today help misdeed guarantee worker jallianwalla repeat future likely milk serpent bite tooth draw russian worker effect revolution world war indian worker rise height end amidst cheer declare war year swear today resist imperialism year sure bring dust resolution read meeting declare solidarity international working class people world drag destructive war imperialist power meeting regard present war challenge international solidarity workingclass declare common task worker people different country defeat imperialist conspiracy humanity peace goodwill restore nation world meeting condemn nazi aggression poland express deep sympathy polish people victim barbarous atrocity meeting opinion war nazi germany british imperialism bear imperialist rivalry british imperialism defend democracy independence nation meeting opinion loyalty indian freedom demand resistance war indian people meeting strongly protest attempt exploit indian resource manpower impose war india spite indias declare opposition meeting strongly condemn viceregal ordinance virtually place country martial law regime demand immediate repeal meeting opinion resource country utilise critical stage force pace indian democracy meeting request come meeting allindia congress committee bold lead country throw overboard compromise proposal start warresistance movement meeting pledge war resistance declare path critical juncture crime indian freedom independence comrade bukhari simple forceful urdu second resolution explain task work class present epoch dilate foreign policy soviet russia appeal congress launch countrywide struggle emerge victorious comrade parulekar greet worker advance microphone say today success create stir assembly chambers prime minister kher acknowledge strike phenomenal success greet strength unity comrade indulal yagnik joint secretary allindia kisan sabha rise fraternal greeting behalf aik forward bloc return tour gujerat bring affection peasant know thing big way poor peasant live small isolated village copy example start resistance war resolution adopt amidst loud slogan imperialist war long live indian freedom meeting adopt resolution support demand worker wage adjustment price meeting firmly opinion rise price permit government authority extortionate excessive entail severe hardship poor middle section population meeting demand immediate legislation guarantee increase wage rise price meeting call worker bombay organise conference create sanction demand meeting adopt resolution demand congress government fair settlement phoenix mill strike comrade laljee pendse explain detail need build girni kamgar union mass union sound trade union basis sound political party comrade tambitkar impassioned appeal redress grievance phoenix mill worker retail misery show firmly bear brunt long strike save bombay work class retrenchment unemployment marathi version international cheer echo meeting disperse tired strenuous day kranti office carry discussion hour evaluate gain measure advance wonder morrow bring marxism antiimperialism india subject archive

THE OFFICE OF the Movement for Gay and Lesbian Liberation, near downtown Santiago, is inviting. Although always busy, staff take time out to chat with whoever comes in. Meeting rooms, where mainly young people come to hang out, are in the back of the building. The atmosphere is supportive and comfortable. The violet walls are covered with information on upcoming workshops and events, AIDS prevention, art work and posters about being homosexual: “Be what you want to be, but be yourself,” says one. The Movement for Gay and Lesbian Liberation (MOVILH), founded after the end of Pinochet’s dictatorship, is the largest and most visible organization of gays and lesbians in Chile. Its growth and programs are impressive. “Today homosexuals know MOVILH exists and will stand up for them,” says Victor Hugo Robles, one of seven coordinators. “But we are also known outside of the gay and lesbian community. For example, the governmental commission on AIDS prevention asked us to make a brochure for homosexuals. We are known as a group that does valuable work.” Although MOVILH founders conceived their organization as one of both gays and lesbians, women didn’t start coming to MOVILH until almost two years later. “For women, it is very difficult to think of themselves as lesbians, the term hurts them a lot,” says Marlore Moran, a spokeswoman for MOVILH, and codirector of MOVILH’s radio program “Open Triangle,” aired on the feminist station Radio Tierra. “For example, since I am on the radio, many women call me, married women and even nuns. I also have gone through the experience of marrying and having a child thinking I could change.” Beginning in June 1993, lesbians shared their experiences at weekly meetings in the MOVILH office. “The attitude of MOVILH was liberating,” says Marlore Moran. “They provided the space for us to do what ever we wanted. We talked and organized until we were ready to work for both gay rights and lesbian rights, realizing that these rights should be equal. Then we started joining MOVILH.” Nevertheless, lesbians remain a small minority within MOVILH. Only two of the seven coordinators are women. Marlore’s response to this situation is to raise the consciousness of the women. “Women need to use the right they have to speak up. For example, I entered MOVILH in June and in August I was already a coordinator, but that’s because I decided I wanted to be.” MOVILH offers a variety of workshops, peer counseling, legal and psychological services, and AIDS testing in cooperation with a wide network of organizations. Fathers can work on accepting their gay sons in a special father-son workshop which has been very successful. About 280 members participate in events on a regular basis, and 2000 to 3000 people can be mobilized for a special event. Leaders’ backgrounds and experiences shape MOVILH’s style and tone. Marco Ruiz spent four years in exile in Argentina where he was exposed to a more open attitude towards homosexuality. “This experience led to personal growth, which in turn flowed into the movement when we got back to Chile,” he says. Many of MOVILH’s activists opposed military rule, although they did not organize as homosexuals. They were leaders of student organizations, political parties, unions and other groups. MOVILH retains this unmistakably political tone today. Leaders link the issue of being gay to the fundamental nature of society. “We assumed gay rights would come with democracy. Now we realize that democracy won’t really be achieved until we have organized, fought for and won the rights that we need, that are ours,” says Victor Hugo Robles. “We are a radically anti-system movement. For us, being homosexual means questioning the social order and the political system. We are not interested in, for example, joining the armed forces that tortured and killed people.” In April 1994, MOVILH brought together a coalition of youth organizations to resist the obligatory military service. This coalition supports several young MOVILH members who plan to refuse going to military service. Currently, Chile has no mechanism for conscientious objection and completion of military service is routinely required for employment. The political tone may be an explanation for the type of people MOVILH draws in: mainly young, lower middle class and poor people who identify with the type of social criticism made. Victor Hugo admitted that most likely some gays and lesbians don’t come to MOVILH because of the political philosophy underlying the organization. MOVILH also reaches out beyond the homosexual community. With the support of the Institute for Sexual Studies, an academic center, it rents the comfortable brick building. Together both organizations held a conference on “Sexuality and Homosexuality – For the Right to Be Different,” the first time in Chile that homosexuality was publicly discussed in a professional forum. MOVILH links the issues of gay rights and human rights by participating in commemorating human rights violations under military rule. In three years, the MOVILH section of Santiago’s annual human rights rally has grown from 12 to 350 participants. MOVILH is organizing a campaign to abolish the anti-sodomy law. The campaign will involve pointing out famous Chileans who were believed to have been gay or lesbian, among them former president Alessandri and other politicians. MOVILH will also run the first openly gay candidate in local elections. But the most important thing MOVILH achieved is to create a family for those who are often rejected by their own. ATC 53, November-December 1994 Against the Current list of Articles | List of Trotskyist Journals and Publications

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office movement gay lesbian liberation near downtown santiago invite busy staff time chat come meet room mainly young people come hang building atmosphere supportive comfortable violet wall cover information upcoming workshop event aid prevention art work poster homosexual want say movement gay lesbian liberation movilh found end pinochet dictatorship large visible organization gay lesbian chile growth program impressive today homosexual know movilh exist stand say victor hugo roble seven coordinator know outside gay lesbian community example governmental commission aids prevention ask brochure homosexual know group valuable work movilh founder conceive organization gay lesbian woman start come movilh year later woman difficult think lesbian term hurt lot say marlore moran spokeswoman movilh codirector movilh radio program open triangle air feminist station radio tierra example radio woman married woman nun go experience marry have child think change begin june lesbian share experience weekly meeting movilh office attitude movilh liberate say marlore moran provide space want talk organize ready work gay right lesbian right realize right equal start join movilh lesbian remain small minority movilh seven coordinator woman marlore response situation raise consciousness woman woman need use right speak example enter movilh june august coordinator decide want movilh offer variety workshop peer counsel legal psychological service aid testing cooperation wide network organization father work accept gay son special fatherson workshop successful member participate event regular basis people mobilize special event leader background experiences shape movilh style tone marco ruiz spend year exile argentina expose open attitude homosexuality experience lead personal growth turn flow movement get chile say movilh activist oppose military rule organize homosexual leader student organization political party union group movilh retain unmistakably political tone today leader link issue gay fundamental nature society assume gay right come democracy realize democracy will achieve organize fight win right need say victor hugo roble radically antisystem movement homosexual mean question social order political system interested example join armed force torture kill people april movilh bring coalition youth organization resist obligatory military service coalition support young movilh member plan refuse go military service currently chile mechanism conscientious objection completion military service routinely require employment political tone explanation type people movilh draw mainly young low middle class poor people identify type social criticism victor hugo admit likely gay lesbian come movilh political philosophy underlie organization movilh reach homosexual community support institute sexual study academic center rent comfortable brick building organization hold conference sexuality homosexuality right different time chile homosexuality publicly discuss professional forum movilh link issue gay right human right participate commemorate human right violation military rule year movilh section santiago annual human right rally grow participant movilh organize campaign abolish antisodomy law campaign involve point famous chilean believe gay lesbian president alessandri politician movilh run openly gay candidate local election important thing movilh achieve create family reject atc novemberdecember current list article list trotskyist journal publication

Amadeo Bordiga 1951 First Published: “Dittatura proletaria e partito di classe”, Battaglia Comunista nos 3, 4 and 5. 1951; Translation: Communist Program, No. 2, March 1976; Source: Antagonism's Bordiga archive; HTML Mark-up: Andy Blunden 2003. Every class struggle is a political struggle (Marx). A struggle which limits itself to obtaining a new distribution of economic gains is not yet a political struggle because it is not directed against the social structure of the production relations. The disruption of the relations of production peculiar to a particular social epoch and the overthrow of the rule of a certain social class is the result of a long and often fluctuating political struggle. The key to this struggle is the question of the state: the problem of "who has power?" (Lenin). The struggle of the modern proletariat manifests and extends itself as a political struggle with the formation and the action of the class party. The specific features of this party are to be found in the following thesis: the complete development of the industrial capitalist system and of bourgeois power which issued from the liberal and democratic revolutions, not only does not historically exclude but prepares and sharpens more and more the conflict of class interests and its development into civil war, into armed struggle. The communist party, as defined by this historical foresight and by this program, accomplishes the following tasks as long as the bourgeoisie maintains power: a) it elaborates and propagates the theory of social development, of the economic laws which characterise the present social system of production relations, of class conflicts which arise from it, of the state and of the revolution; b) it assures the unity and historical persistence of the proletarian organisation. Unity does not mean the material grouping of the working class and seeming working class strata which, due to the very fact of the dominance of the exploiting class, are tinder for the influence of discordant political leaderships and methods of action. It means instead the close international linking-up of the vanguard elements who are fully orientated on the integral revolutionary line. Persistence means the continuous claim of the unbroken dialectical line which binds together the positions of critique and struggle successively adopted by the movement during the course of changing conditions; c) it prepares well in advance for the class mobilisation and offensive by appropriately employing every possible means of propaganda, agitation and action, in all particular struggles triggered off by immediate interests. This action culminates in the organisation of the illegal and insurrectional apparatus for the conquest of power. When general conditions and the degree of organisational, political and tactical solidity of the class party reach a point where the general struggle for power is unleashed, the party which has led the revolutionary class to victory through the social war, leads it likewise in the fundamental task of breaking and demolishing all the military and administrative organs which compose the capitalist state. This demolition also strikes at the network of organs, whatever they may be, which pretend to represent the various opinions or interests through the intermediary of bodies of delegates. The bourgeois class state must be destroyed whether it presents itself as the mendacious interclassist expression of the majority of citizens or as the more or less open dictatorship wielded by a government apparatus which pretends to fulfil a national, racial or social-popular mission; if this does not take place, the revolution will be crushed. In the phase which follows the dismantling of the apparatus of capitalist domination, the task of the political party of the working class is as vital as ever because the class struggle — though dialectically inverted — continues. Communist theory in regard to the state and the revolution is characterised above all by the fact that it excludes all possibility of adapting the legislative and executive mechanism of the bourgeois state to the socialist transformation of the economy (the social-democratic position). But it equally excludes the possibility of achieving by means of a brief violent crisis a destruction of the state and a transformation of the traditional economic relationships which the state defended up to the last moment (the anarchist position). It also denies that the constitution of a new productive organisation can be left to the spontaneous and scattered activity of groups of producers shop by shop or trade by trade (the syndicalist position). Any social class whose power has been overthrown, even if it is by means of terror, survives for a long time within the texture of the social organism. Far from abandoning its hopes of revenge, it seeks to politically reorganise itself and to re-establish its domination either in a violent or disguised way. It has turned from a ruling class into a defeated and dominated one, but it has not instantly disappeared. The proletariat — which in its turn will disappear as a class alongside all other classes with the realisation of communism — organises itself as a ruling class (the Manifesto) in the first stage of the post-capitalist epoch. And after the destruction of the old state, the new proletarian state is the dictatorship of the proletariat. The precondition for going beyond the capitalist system is the overthrow of bourgeois power and the destruction of its state. The condition for bringing about the deep and radical social transformation which has to take place is a new proletarian state apparatus, capable of using force and coercion just as all other historical states. The presence of such an apparatus does not characterise communist society but instead it characterises the stage of its construction. Once this construction is secured, classes and class rule will no longer exist. But the essential organ of class rule is the state — and the state can be nothing else. Therefore communists do not advocate the proletarian state as a mystical creed, an absolute or an ideal but as a dialectical tool, a class weapon that will slowly wither away (Engels) through the very realisation of its functions; this will take place gradually, through a long process, as the social organisation is transformed from a system of coercion of men (as it has always been since the dawn of history) into a comprehensive, scientifically built network for the management of things and natural forces. After the victory of the proletariat, the role of the state in relationship to social classes and collective organisations exhibits many fundamental differences as compared with its role in the history of the regimes that spring from the bourgeois revolution. a) Revolutionary bourgeois ideology, prior to its struggle and final victory, presented its future post-feudal state not as a class state but as a peoples state based on the abolition of every inequality before the law, which it presented to be sufficient to assure freedom and equality for all members of society. Proletarian theory openly asserts that its future state will be a class state, i.e. a tool wielded by one class as long as classes exist. The other classes will be excluded from the state and outlawed in fact as well as in principle. The working class having achieved power "will share it with no one" (Lenin). b) After the bourgeois political victory and in keeping with a tenacious ideological campaign, constitutional charters or declarations of principles were solemnly proclaimed in the different countries as a basis and foundation of the state. They were considered as being immutable in time, a definitive expression of the at last discovered immanent rules of social life. From then on, the entire interplay of political forces was supposed to take place within the insuperable framework of these statutes. During the struggle against the existing regime, the proletarian state is not presented as a stable and fixed realisation of a set of rules governing the social relationships inferred from an idealistic research into the nature of man and society. During its lifetime the working class state will continually evolve up to the point that it finally withers away: the nature of social organisation, of human association, will radically change according to the development of technology and the forces of production, and man's nature will be equally subject to deep alterations always moving away more and more from the beast of burden and slave which he was. Anything such as a codified and permanent constitution to be proclaimed after the workers revolution is nonsense, it has no place in the communist program. Technically, it will be convenient to adopt written rules which however will in no way be intangible and will retain an "instrumental" and temporary character, putting aside the facetiousnesses about social ethics and natural law. c) Having conquered and even crushed the feudal apparatus of power, the victorious capitalist class did not hesitate to use the force of the state to repress the attempts of counterrevolution and restoration. However the most resolute terroristic measures were justified as being directed not against the class enemies of capitalism but against the betrayers of the people, of the nation, of the country, and of civil society, all these hollow concepts being identified with the state itself and, as a matter of fact, with the government and the party in power. The victorious proletariat, by using its state in order to "crush the unavoidable and desperate resistance of the bourgeoisie" (Lenin) will strike at the old rulers and their last supporters every time they oppose, in a logical defence of their class interests, the measures intended to uproot economic privilege. These social elements will keep an estranged and passive position vis-à-vis the apparatus of power: whenever they try to free themselves from the passivity imposed upon them, material force will subdue them. They will share no "social contract", they will have no "legal or patriotic duty". As veritable social prisoners of war (as in fact were the former aristocrats and clergymen for the Jacobean bourgeoisie) they will have nothing to betray because they will not be requested to take any ridiculous oath of allegiance. d) The historical glitter of the popular assemblies and democratic gatherings hardly disguised the fact that, at its birth, the bourgeois state formed armed bodies and a police force for the internal and external struggle against the old regime and quickly substituted the guillotine for the gallows. This executive apparatus was charged with the task of administering legal force both on the great historical level and against isolated violations of the rules of appropriation and exchange characteristic of the economy founded on private property. It acted in a perfectly natural manner against the first proletarian movements which threatened, even if only instinctively, the bourgeois form of production. The imposing reality of the new social dualism was hidden by the game of the "legislative" apparatus which claimed to be able to bring about the participation of all citizens and all the opinions of the various parties in the state and in the management of the state with a perfect equilibrium and within an atmosphere of social peace. The proletarian state, as an open class dictatorship, will dispose of all distinctions between the executive and legislative levels of power, both of which will be united in the same organs. The distinction between the legislative and executive is, in effect, characteristic of a regime which conceals and protects the dictatorship of one class under an external cloak which is multi-class and multi-party. "The Commune was a working, not a parliamentary body" (Marx). e) The bourgeois state in its classical form — in coherence with an individualist ideology which the theoretical fiction universally extends to all citizens and which is the mental reflection of the reality of an economy founded on the monopoly of private property by one class — refused to allow any intermediate body other than elective constitutional assemblies to exist between the isolated individual subject and the legal state centre. Political clubs and parties that had been necessary during the instructional stage were tolerated by it by virtue of the demagogic assertion of free thought and on the condition that they exist as simple confessional groupings and electoral bureaux. In a later stage the reality of class repression forced the state to tolerate the association of economic interests, the labour unions, which it distrusted as a "state within the state". Finally, unions became a form of class solidarity adopted by the capitalists themselves for their own class interests and aims. Moreover, under the pretext of legally recognising the labour unions, the state undertook the task of absorbing and sterilising them, thus depriving them of any autonomy so as to prevent the revolutionary party from taking their leadership. Labour unions will still be present in the proletarian state in so far as there still remains employers or at least impersonal enterprises where the workers remain wage earners paid in money. Their function will be to protect the standard of living of the working class, their action being parallel on this point to that of the party and the state. Non-working class unions will be forbidden. Actually, on the question of distribution of income between the working class and the non-proletarian or semi-proletarian classes, the worker's situation could be threatened by considerations other than the superior needs of the general revolutionary struggle against international capitalism. But this possibility, which will long subsist, justifies the unions' secondary role in relation to the political communist party, the international revolutionary vanguard, which forms a unitary whole with the parties struggling in the still capitalist countries and as such leads the proletarian state. The proletarian state can only be "animated" by a single party and it would be senseless to require that this party organise in its ranks a statistical majority and be supported by such a majority in "popular elections" — that old bourgeois trap. One of the historical possibilities is the existence of political parties composed in appearance by proletarians, but in reality influenced by counterrevolutionary traditions or by foreign capitalisms. This contradiction, the most dangerous of all, cannot be resolved through the recognition of formal rights nor through the process of voting within the framework of an abstract "class democracy". This too will be a crisis to be liquidated in terms of relationships of force. There is no statistical contrivance which can ensure a satisfactory revolutionary solution; this will depend solely upon the degree of solidity and clarity reached by the revolutionary communist movement throughout the world. A century ago in the West, and fifty years ago in the Czarist Empire, Marxists rightly argued against the simple-minded democrats that the capitalists and proprietors are a minority, and therefore the only true government of the majority is the government of the working class. If the word democracy means power of the majority, the democrats should stand on our class side. But this word both in its literal sense ("power of the people") as well as in the dirty use that is more and more being made of it, means "power belonging not to one but to all classes". For this historical reason, just as we reject "bourgeois democracy" and "democracy in general" (as Lenin also did), we must politically and theoretically exclude, as a contradiction in terms, "class democracy" and "workers' democracy". The dictatorship advocated by marxism is necessary because it cannot be unanimously accepted and furthermore it will not have the naiveté to abdicate for lack of having a majority of votes, if such a thing were ascertainable. Precisely because it declares this it will not run the risk of being confused with a dictatorship of men or groups of men who take control of the government and substitute themselves for the working class. The revolution requires a dictatorship, because it would be ridiculous to subordinate the revolution to a 100% acceptance or a 51% majority. Wherever these figures are displayed, it means that the revolution has been betrayed. In conclusion the communist party will rule alone, and will never give up power without a physical struggle. This bold declaration of not yielding to the deception of figures and of not making use of them will aid the struggle against revolutionary degeneration. In the higher stage of communism — a stage which does not know commodity production, money nor nations and which will also witness the death of the state — labour unions will be deprived of their "reason to be". The party as an organisation for combat will be necessary as long as the remnants of capitalism survive in the world. Moreover, it may always have the task of being the depository and propagator of social doctrine, which gives a general vision of the development of relationships between human society and material nature. The marxist conception, that of substituting parliamentary assemblies with working bodies, does not lead us back into "economic democracy" either, i.e. into a system which would adapt the state organs to the workplaces, to the productive or commercial units, etc., while excluding from any representative function the remaining employers and the individuals still owning property. The elimination of the employer and the proprietor only defines half of socialism; the other half, the most significant one, consists of the elimination of capitalist economic anarchy (Marx). As the new socialist organisation emerges and develops with the party and the revolutionary state in the foreground, it will not limit itself to striking only the former employers and their flunkies but above all it will redistribute the social tasks and responsibilities of individuals in quite a new and original way. Therefore the network of enterprises and services such as they have been inherited from capitalism will not be taken as the basis of an apparatus of so-called "sovereignty", that is of the delegation of powers within the state and up to the level of its central bodies. It is precisely the presence of the single-class state and of the solidly and qualitatively unitary and homogeneous party which offers the maximum of favourable conditions for a reshaping of social machinery that be driven as little as possible by the pressures of the limited interests of small groups and as much as possible by general data and by their scientific study in the interests of the collective welfare. The changes in the productive mechanism will be enormous; let us only think of the program for reversing the relationships between town and country, on which Marx and Engels insisted so much and which is the exact antithesis to present trends in all countries. Therefore, the network modelled after the work place is an inadequate expression which repeats the old Proudhonist and Lassalian positions that Marxism long ago rejected and surpassed. The definition of the type of links between the organs of the class state and its base depends first of all upon the results of historical dialectics and cannot be deduced from "eternal principles", from "natural law", or from a sacred and inviolable constitutional charter. Any further details in this regard would be mere utopia. There is not a grain of utopianism in Marx, Engels stated. The very idea of the famous delegation of power by the isolated individual (elector) thanks to a platonic act emanating from his freedom of opinion must be left to the foggy realms of metaphysics; opinions in actuality are but a reflection of material conditions and social forms, and power consists of the intervention of physical force. The negative characterisation of the proletarian dictatorship is clearly defined: the bourgeois and semi-bourgeois will no longer have political rights, they will be prevented by force from gathering in groups of common interests or in associations for political agitation; they will never be allowed to vote, elect, or delegate others to any post or function whatsoever. But even the relationship between the worker — a recognised and active member of the class in power — and the state apparatus will no longer retain that fictitious and deceitful characteristic of a delegation of power, of a representation through the intermediary of a deputy, an election ticket, or by a party. Delegation means in effect the renunciation to the possibility of direct action. The pretended "sovereignty" of the democratic right is but an abdication, and in most cases it is an abdication in favour of a scoundrel. The working members of society will be grouped into local territorial organs according to their place of residence, and in certain cases according to the displacements imposed by their participation in a productive mechanism in full transformation. Thanks to their uninterrupted and continuous action, the participation of all active social elements in the mechanism of the state apparatus, and therefore in the management and exercise of class power, will be assured. To sketch these mechanisms is impossible before the class relationships from which they will spring have been concretely realised. The Paris Commune established as most important principles (see Marx, Engels, Lenin) that its members and officials would be subject to recall at any time, and that their salary would not exceed the wage of an average worker. Any separation between the producers on the periphery and the bureaucrats at the centre is thus eliminated by means of systematic rotations. Civil service will cease being a career and even a profession. No doubt, when put into practice, these controls will create tremendous difficulties, but it was long ago that Lenin expressed his contempt for all plans of revolutions to be carried out without difficulties! The inevitable conflicts will not be completely resolved by drawing up piles of rules and regulations: they will constitute a historical and political problem and will express a real relationship of forces. The Bolshevik revolution did not stop in front of the Constituent Assembly but dispersed it. The workers', peasants' and soldiers' councils had risen. This new type of state organs which burst forth in the blaze of the social war (and were already present in the revolution of 1905) extended from the village to the entire country through a network of territorial units; their formation did not answer to any of the prejudices about the "rights of man" or the "universal, free, direct and secret" suffrage! The communist party unleashes and wins the civil war, it occupies the key positions in a military and social sense, it multiplies its means of propaganda and agitation a thousand-fold through seizing buildings and public establishments. And without losing time and without procedural whims, it establishes the "armed bodies of workers" of which Lenin spoke, the red guard, the revolutionary police. At the meetings of the Soviets, it wins over a majority to the slogan: "All power to the Soviets!". Is this majority a merely legal, or a coldly and plainly numerical fact? Not at all! Should anyone — be he a spy or a well-intentioned but misled worker — vote for the Soviet to renounce or compromise the power conquered thanks to the blood of the proletarian fighters, he will be kicked out by his comrades' rifle butts. And no one will waste time with counting him in the "legal minority", that criminal hypocrisy which the revolution can do without and which the counterrevolution can only feed upon. Historical facts different from those of Russia in 1917 (i.e. the recent collapse of feudal despotism, a disastrous war, the role played by opportunist leaders) could create, while remaining on the same fundamental line, different practical forms of the basic network of the state. From the time the proletarian movement left utopianism behind, it has found its way and assured its success thanks not only to the real experience of the present mode of production and the structure of the present state, but also to the experience of the strategic mistakes of the proletarian revolution, both on the battlefield of the "hot" civil war where the Communards of 1871 gloriously fell and on the "cold" one which was lost between 1917 and 1926 — this last was the great battle of Russia between Lenin's International and world capitalism supported in the front lines by the miserable complicity of all the opportunists. Communists have no codified constitutions to propose. They have a world of lies and constitutions — crystallised in the law and in the force of the dominant class — to crush. They know that only a revolutionary and totalitarian apparatus of force and power, which excludes no means, will be able to prevent the infamous relics of a barbarous epoch from rising again — only it will be able to prevent the monster of social privilege, craving for revenge and servitude, from raising its head again and hurling for the thousandth time its deceitful cry of Freedom! Bordiga Archive

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amadeo bordiga publish dittatura proletaria e partito di classe battaglia comunista nos translation communist program march source antagonism bordiga archive html markup andy blunden class struggle political struggle marx struggle limit obtain new distribution economic gain political struggle direct social structure production relation disruption relation production peculiar particular social epoch overthrow rule certain social class result long fluctuate political struggle key struggle question state problem power lenin struggle modern proletariat manifest extend political struggle formation action class party specific feature party find following thesis complete development industrial capitalist system bourgeois power issue liberal democratic revolution historically exclude prepare sharpen conflict class interest development civil war armed struggle communist party define historical foresight program accomplish follow task long bourgeoisie maintain power elaborate propagate theory social development economic law characterise present social system production relation class conflict arise state revolution b assure unity historical persistence proletarian organisation unity mean material grouping work class work class strata fact dominance exploit class tinder influence discordant political leadership method action mean instead close international linkingup vanguard element fully orientate integral revolutionary line persistence mean continuous claim unbroken dialectical line bind position critique struggle successively adopt movement course change condition c prepare advance class mobilisation offensive appropriately employ possible mean propaganda agitation action particular struggle trigger immediate interest action culminate organisation illegal insurrectional apparatus conquest power general condition degree organisational political tactical solidity class party reach point general struggle power unleash party lead revolutionary class victory social war lead likewise fundamental task break demolish military administrative organ compose capitalist state demolition strike network organ pretend represent opinion interest intermediary body delegate bourgeois class state destroy present mendacious interclassist expression majority citizen open dictatorship wield government apparatus pretend fulfil national racial socialpopular mission place revolution crush phase follow dismantling apparatus capitalist domination task political party work class vital class struggle dialectically invert continue communist theory regard state revolution characterise fact exclude possibility adapt legislative executive mechanism bourgeois state socialist transformation economy socialdemocratic position equally exclude possibility achieve mean brief violent crisis destruction state transformation traditional economic relationship state defend moment anarchist position deny constitution new productive organisation leave spontaneous scattered activity group producer shop shop trade trade syndicalist position social class power overthrow mean terror survive long time texture social organism far abandon hope revenge seek politically reorganise reestablish domination violent disguised way turn rule class defeat dominate instantly disappear proletariat turn disappear class alongside class realisation communism organise rule class manifesto stage postcapitalist epoch destruction old state new proletarian state dictatorship proletariat precondition go capitalist system overthrow bourgeois power destruction state condition bring deep radical social transformation place new proletarian state apparatus capable force coercion historical state presence apparatus characterise communist society instead characterise stage construction construction secure class class rule long exist essential organ class rule state state communist advocate proletarian state mystical creed absolute ideal dialectical tool class weapon slowly wither away engel realisation function place gradually long process social organisation transform system coercion man dawn history comprehensive scientifically build network management thing natural force victory proletariat role state relationship social class collective organisation exhibit fundamental difference compare role history regime spring bourgeois revolution revolutionary bourgeois ideology prior struggle final victory present future postfeudal state class state people state base abolition inequality law present sufficient assure freedom equality member society proletarian theory openly assert future state class state ie tool wield class long class exist class exclude state outlaw fact principle work class having achieve power share lenin b bourgeois political victory keep tenacious ideological campaign constitutional charter declaration principle solemnly proclaim different country basis foundation state consider immutable time definitive expression discover immanent rule social life entire interplay political force suppose place insuperable framework statute struggle exist regime proletarian state present stable fixed realisation set rule govern social relationship infer idealistic research nature man society lifetime work class state continually evolve point finally wither away nature social organisation human association radically change accord development technology force production man nature equally subject deep alteration move away beast burden slave codified permanent constitution proclaim worker revolution nonsense place communist program technically convenient adopt write rule way intangible retain instrumental temporary character put aside facetiousness social ethic natural law c having conquer crush feudal apparatus power victorious capitalist class hesitate use force state repress attempt counterrevolution restoration resolute terroristic measure justify direct class enemy capitalism betrayer people nation country civil society hollow concept identify state matter fact government party power victorious proletariat state order crush unavoidable desperate resistance bourgeoisie lenin strike old ruler supporter time oppose logical defence class interest measure intend uproot economic privilege social element estranged passive position visàvis apparatus power try free passivity impose material force subdue share social contract legal patriotic duty veritable social prisoner war fact aristocrat clergyman jacobean bourgeoisie betray request ridiculous oath allegiance d historical glitter popular assembly democratic gathering hardly disguise fact birth bourgeois state form armed body police force internal external struggle old regime quickly substitute guillotine gallow executive apparatus charge task administer legal force great historical level isolated violation rule appropriation exchange characteristic economy found private property act perfectly natural manner proletarian movement threaten instinctively bourgeois form production impose reality new social dualism hide game legislative apparatus claim able bring participation citizen opinion party state management state perfect equilibrium atmosphere social peace proletarian state open class dictatorship dispose distinction executive legislative level power unite organ distinction legislative executive effect characteristic regime conceal protect dictatorship class external cloak multiclass multiparty commune work parliamentary body marx e bourgeois state classical form coherence individualist ideology theoretical fiction universally extend citizen mental reflection reality economy found monopoly private property class refuse allow intermediate body elective constitutional assembly exist isolated individual subject legal state centre political club party necessary instructional stage tolerate virtue demagogic assertion free thought condition exist simple confessional grouping electoral bureaux later stage reality class repression force state tolerate association economic interest labour union distrust state state finally union form class solidarity adopt capitalist class interest aim pretext legally recognise labour union state undertake task absorb sterilise deprive autonomy prevent revolutionary party take leadership labour union present proletarian state far remain employer impersonal enterprise worker remain wage earner pay money function protect standard living working class action parallel point party state nonworking class union forbid actually question distribution income work class nonproletarian semiproletarian class worker situation threaten consideration superior need general revolutionary struggle international capitalism possibility long subsist justify union secondary role relation political communist party international revolutionary vanguard form unitary party struggle capitalist country lead proletarian state proletarian state animate single party senseless require party organise rank statistical majority support majority popular election old bourgeois trap historical possibility existence political party compose appearance proletarian reality influence counterrevolutionary tradition foreign capitalism contradiction dangerous resolve recognition formal right process vote framework abstract class democracy crisis liquidate term relationship force statistical contrivance ensure satisfactory revolutionary solution depend solely degree solidity clarity reach revolutionary communist movement world century ago west year ago czarist empire marxist rightly argue simpleminded democrat capitalist proprietor minority true government majority government work class word democracy mean power majority democrats stand class word literal sense power people dirty use mean power belong class historical reason reject bourgeois democracy democracy general lenin politically theoretically exclude contradiction term class democracy worker democracy dictatorship advocate marxism necessary unanimously accept furthermore naiveté abdicate lack have majority vote thing ascertainable precisely declare run risk confuse dictatorship man group man control government substitute work class revolution require dictatorship ridiculous subordinate revolution acceptance majority figure display mean revolution betray conclusion communist party rule power physical struggle bold declaration yield deception figure make use aid struggle revolutionary degeneration high stage communism stage know commodity production money nation witness death state labour union deprive reason party organisation combat necessary long remnant capitalism survive world task depository propagator social doctrine give general vision development relationship human society material nature marxist conception substitute parliamentary assembly work body lead economic democracy ie system adapt state organ workplace productive commercial unit etc exclude representative function remain employer individual own property elimination employer proprietor define half socialism half significant consist elimination capitalist economic anarchy marx new socialist organisation emerge develop party revolutionary state foreground limit strike employer flunky redistribute social task responsibility individual new original way network enterprise service inherit capitalism take basis apparatus socalled sovereignty delegation power state level central body precisely presence singleclass state solidly qualitatively unitary homogeneous party offer maximum favourable condition reshaping social machinery drive little possible pressure limited interest small group possible general datum scientific study interest collective welfare change productive mechanism enormous let think program reverse relationship town country marx engel insist exact antithesis present trend country network model work place inadequate expression repeat old proudhonist lassalian position marxism long ago reject surpass definition type link organ class state base depend result historical dialectic deduce eternal principle natural law sacred inviolable constitutional charter detail regard mere utopia grain utopianism marx engel state idea famous delegation power isolated individual elector thank platonic act emanate freedom opinion leave foggy realm metaphysics opinion actuality reflection material condition social form power consist intervention physical force negative characterisation proletarian dictatorship clearly define bourgeois semibourgeois long political right prevent force gather group common interest association political agitation allow vote elect delegate post function whatsoever relationship worker recognise active member class power state apparatus long retain fictitious deceitful characteristic delegation power representation intermediary deputy election ticket party delegation mean effect renunciation possibility direct action pretend sovereignty democratic right abdication case abdication favour scoundrel work member society group local territorial organ accord place residence certain case accord displacement impose participation productive mechanism transformation thank uninterrupted continuous action participation active social element mechanism state apparatus management exercise class power assure sketch mechanism impossible class relationship spring concretely realise paris commune establish important principle marx engel lenin member official subject recall time salary exceed wage average worker separation producer periphery bureaucrat centre eliminate mean systematic rotation civil service cease career profession doubt practice control create tremendous difficulty long ago lenin express contempt plan revolution carry difficulty inevitable conflict completely resolve draw pile rule regulation constitute historical political problem express real relationship force bolshevik revolution stop constituent assembly disperse worker peasant soldier council rise new type state organ burst forth blaze social war present revolution extend village entire country network territorial unit formation answer prejudice right man universal free direct secret suffrage communist party unleash win civil war occupy key position military social sense multiply mean propaganda agitation thousandfold seize building public establishment lose time procedural whim establish armed body worker lenin speak red guard revolutionary police meeting soviet win majority slogan power soviet majority merely legal coldly plainly numerical fact spy wellintentione mislead worker vote soviet renounce compromise power conquer thank blood proletarian fighter kick comrade rifle butts waste time count legal minority criminal hypocrisy revolution counterrevolution feed historical fact different russia ie recent collapse feudal despotism disastrous war role play opportunist leader create remain fundamental line different practical form basic network state time proletarian movement leave utopianism find way assure success thank real experience present mode production structure present state experience strategic mistake proletarian revolution battlefield hot civil war communard gloriously fall cold lose great battle russia lenins international world capitalism support line miserable complicity opportunist communist codify constitution propose world lie constitution crystallise law force dominant class crush know revolutionary totalitarian apparatus force power exclude means able prevent infamous relic barbarous epoch rise able prevent monster social privilege craving revenge servitude raise head hurl thousandth time deceitful cry freedom bordiga archive

IMR Index | Main Newspaper Index Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive From Irish Marxists Review, Vol. 2 No. 6, June 2013, p. iii. Copyright © Irish Marxist Review. The links have been slightly modified and checked (May 2020). A PDF of this article is available here. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the ETOL. Michael Taft is Research Officer with UNITE the Union and is author of Notes on the Front, a blog on political economy. He writes in his personal capacity. Kieran Allen is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at UCD and author of numerous books including The Politics of James Connolly, Ireland’s Economic Crash and Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism. John Molyneux is editor of Irish Marxist Review and author of a number of books including The Point is to Change It! An Introduction to Marxist Philosophy and The Case for Socialism in Ireland, with a blog John Molyneux Blogspot. Raymond Deane is a leading composer of classical music and a socialist political activist, particularly with the Irish-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He has a blog, The Deanery. Sean Moraghan is a folklore researcher, writer and local historian. He works with the Cork Folklore Project. Colm Stephens is a physicist and School Administrator in the School of Physics, Trinity College. When active in research he carried out his experimental work at particle accelerators designed not for nuclear research but to produce intense beams of photons for probing materials. One of his current interests is physics outreach to younger people including a simulation of proton-proton collisions that produce a Higgs boson using a half-dozen fresh eggs! Stewart Smyth lectures at Queen’s University Management School, Belfast. He writes on the neoliberalisation of public services, including housing and grass-roots tenants’ campaigns. Peadar O’Grady is a Consultant Child Psychiatrist with the HSE and actively engaged with Doctors for Choice Ireland. Top of page IMR Index | Main Newspaper Index Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive Last updated on 18 June 2020

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imr index main newspaper index encyclopedia trotskyism marxist internet archive irish marxist review vol june p iii copyright irish marxist review link slightly modify check pdf article available transcribe mark einde etol michael taft research officer unite union author note blog political economy write personal capacity kieran allen senior lecturer sociology ucd author numerous book include politic james connolly ireland economic crash marx alternative capitalism john molyneux editor irish marxist review author number book include point change introduction marxist philosophy case socialism ireland blog john molyneux blogspot raymond deane lead composer classical music socialist political activist particularly irishpalestine solidarity campaign blog deanery sean moraghan folklore researcher writer local historian work cork folklore project colm stephen physicist school administrator school physics trinity college active research carry experimental work particle accelerator design nuclear research produce intense beam photon probe material current interest physics outreach young people include simulation protonproton collision produce higgs boson halfdozen fresh egg stewart smyth lecture queen university management school belfast write neoliberalisation public service include housing grassroot tenant campaign peadar consultant child psychiatrist hse actively engage doctor choice ireland page imr index main newspaper index encyclopedia trotskyism marxist internet archive update june

DESPITE RECENT CNBC and MSNBC media hosts suggesting we may be at the ‘bottom’ of the housing market crisis, and Market Watch June 3rd commentary headlines like “Housing market may turn more quickly than you expect,” statistics continue to say otherwise, in sobering fashion. The first quarter of 2008 revealed another round of record drops in housing prices, and foreclosures seem unstoppable. The Fed has tried to alleviate the crisis by lowering rates, while battling oil and food price inflation and a weak dollar, and buying $30 billion of risky subprime assets from the now-defunct, but once top-of-the-subprime-game investment bank, Bear Stearns. That will only serve to prolong the problem under the guise of its solution. As we march toward the post-primary presidential election, campaign rhetoric will settle on how to “fix the economy” — without analyzing the cause of the housing credit crunch that weakened it. The one, albeit dim, light at the end of the tunnel, is that Congress is attempting to send some life-boat legislation to sinking homeowners and borrowers, despite a veto promise by President Bush who feels that helping homeowners is a bad use of taxpayer money, as compared to say, helping banks. But, the legislative ‘why’ of our housing fiasco remains largely uninspected. As politically advantageous as it might be to project otherwise, nothing happens by sheer chance when Washington legislation and banking deregulation collide. No matter how much blame is placed on abstractions like: “the economy” or “falling house prices” the roots of this crisis can be traced to Congressional decisions made and erased over the past four decades. The year 1968 will forever hold a mystique of pronounced public intensity laced with despair and hope. It was the year of the Civil Rights Act, the Beatles’ Grammy, title-topic of Tom Brokaw’s recent bestseller and highlighted on the History Channel’s epic, One Year Changed the World Forever. The number of soldiers on the ground in Vietnam peaked, as did antiwar protests. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot. What stability existed came from an economic place. Companies enjoying a period of expansion bestowed benefits on their staff, unemployment was at a 15-year low of 3.3%, wages were increasing, and fluctuations in interest rates resembled a coma patient’s heart-monitor. In that spirit of public advocacy, Senator Paul Douglas passed the 1968 Truth in Lending Act (TILA), requiring creditors to accurately and uniformly disclose terms to borrowers, protecting consumers from dishonest or abusive lending practices. This harmonious time changed rapidly as interest rates nearly tripled between the late 1970s and early 1980s. Bank prime loan rates leapt from 8% in January 1978 to a high of 21.5% in December 1980 and stayed there through 1981. Commercial banks got nervous. Their funding costs were rising well above what they could charge borrowers for their capital; something had to be done. Sighs of relief proliferated in the industry when the 1978 Supreme Court Marquette decision (Marquette National Bank vs. First of Omaha Corp.) released national banks from state-imposed usury rate restrictions, meaning they could re-locate lending operations to states where the interest rate sky was the limit. Citibank, among others, high-tailed operations to South Dakota. Other states, like Delaware and Utah, also deregulated rates to garner banks’ business with limited consumer protections. But federal focus was elsewhere: in fire-fighting, not long term planning mode. In 1979, the Carter administration was issuing gasoline price controls to thwart a second wave of spiking gas prices. The nation was careening towards a broader credit crunch. Congress had to react. The solution? Give the Fed more power, and take down some more banking system barriers. So Congress passed the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA.) It eliminated usury caps for first mortgage loans and put state chartered banks and federal savings associations (S&L’s) on the same footing as national banks, unleashing a race to the lending bottom. Meanwhile the banking industry was fending off various litigation proceedings for violations of the Truth in Lending Act that transpired as rates were rising. They lobbied and got a “simplification” of that act which had the effect of making murky loans appear more legally compliant, and opened doors for further violations. But that wasn’t enough deregulation; lenders wanted to create less traditional mortgages, to be competitive, flexible, and profitable. In 1982, Senator Fernand St. Germaine (D-RI) obliged, passing the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act (AMPTA). The act allowed lenders to construct complicated products, not just on first mortgages, but any mortgage. This immediately introduced another risk element to the market. When lenders were limited on rates and terms, so was their profit so they had to ensure borrowers could pay back their loans. Without limits, lender and borrower risk grew. With fewer constraints on their lending activity, commercial banks began consuming traditional Savings and Loan (S&L) territory, especially mortgages. S&L’s resorted to shady practices to stay in the game, but high rates, stripped-away business, and fraud pushed the industry to crisis in the late 1980s. The government stepped in to bail out the institutions that were left, but the damage was done, and the fractious, deregulated nature of lending grew. In the early 1990s wake of the S&L crisis, lower interest rates spurred a new class of finance companies who based their lending on refinancing and home improvement loans (a larger repeat of which occurred at the start of the new millennium). They set about enticing borrowers into multiple refinancing and home equity loans, which appeared on their books like newly originated mortgages, increasing their market share, and targeting the elderly, low-income families and minorities, with egregious abusive loan terms. Increasing public unrest about this matter forced the House Committee on Financial Services to pass The Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (HOEPA) to cap the most outrageous loans. It was not perfect, but was still the last piece of legislation in the 1990s (or since) to regulate appalling lending practice. But, there was an unintended consequence. Lenders didn’t want to be subject to HOEPA loan restrictions, so they began making loans just below HOEPA triggers. This shift from very high-interest to subprime loans (just below the triggers), marked the start of subprime lending. Concurrently in 1994, securitization of subprime loans began its dramatic ascent, with a volume of $11 billion in 1994, ultimately skyrocketing to $508 billion in 2005. In retaliation to HOEPA, the banking industry successfully lobbied for less restrictive acts including, in 1996, more Truth in Lending Act Amendments shepherded by Wall Street and Real Estate industry favorites, Senator Connie Mack (R-FL) and representative Bill McCollum (R-FL). No one in Congress paid attention to the possible ramifications of less accountable lenders. During the late 1990s and into the new millennium, dot com fever raged, the federal budget stood at a surplus, and the stock market raged. Merger mania engulfed Wall Street, ignited by the 1999 repeal of the 1933 Glass Steagal Act that had once kept commercial and investment banks from merging. Those newly larger supermarket banks, like Citigroup, had to find ways to stay at the top of their league tables (the Billboard charts for finance) in terms of originating deals, so they started merging corporations in record volumes, piling them on with cheap debt to finance these marriages. At first, this had the effect of making the new companies stock prices soar, and citizen market investments, on paper, created enticing illusions of wealth, which did not go unnoticed by the same lenders and banks. Home prices escalated. Home equity and second mortgage loans flourishing as homeowners were encouraged to tap into the equity of their rising home values to fund other aspects of their lives. At the same time, investment banks were securitizing, repacking and reselling loans, without caring about the standards of any one loan. They bought and sold in bulk. Nor were the investment banks legally responsible for whether any borrower at the bottom of their food chain couldn’t afford mortgage payments, or lost their home. Unregulated mortgage brokers took advantage of the deregulated environment to offer esoteric products, and banks were happy to keep collecting and trading the loans for profit. The end of Clinton’s last term was rife with failed attempts at regulation and deregulation intensified into Bush “ownership society” years. But it was initially camouflaged by the dramatic interest rate cuts of Alan Greenspan’s Fed. Between January 2001 and July 2003, the Fed cut rates 13 times, bringing them to their lowest levels since 1958, and making cheap debt even easier for banks to extend.* And as debt-laden corporations started going bankrupt (a.k.a. Enron), banks turned from corporate to home-based lending with that cheap money, trading the securities collateralized by these home related loans, with no regulations on that trading. Foreseeing the coming calamity that this new demand for loans could spur more abusive loans, including what became the subprime catastrophe, Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and Rep. LaFalce (D-NY) tried to push several versions of the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act through, including stronger HOEPA legislation. Each attempt died in committee. Sarbanes’ legislation would have brought HOEPA triggers down so they would cover more loans, and cut the origination fees that lenders could charge. That way profit would have had to come from payments instead of points and fees and oddities. But neither political party wanted to constrain the free markets. Nor did the finance community and their media mouthpieces. After that, the sector really took off; particularly the subprime affiliates of banks operating under the umbrella of a bank holding company. Consumers had the impression they were regulated like a bank since they shared the bank’s name. They considered their lenders to be requisitely safe. Unabated by regulation and feeding Wall Street appetite du jour, subprime loan volumes tripled from $500 billion 2001 to $1.5 billion in 2006, or from 5% of the overall mortgage market to 15%. Home equity loans ballooned simultaneously. By the spring of 2005, interest rates were rising and borrowers were nearing the end of their home equity faucets as equity was tapped out, home values starting leveling off, and the first wave of adjusting upward in mortgage loans was coming through But those adjustable rates ultimately kicked in. Borrowers payments suddenly increased by 25% to 30% just as housing values were faltering. If that weren’t bad enough, on that brink of crisis, commercial banks and credit card companies were lobbying hard to make it more difficult for consumers to declare bankruptcy (unlike corporations who often benefit from the process.) In a major coup to the industry, Senator Charles Grassley’s (R-IA) passed the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Prior to that act, if a borrower’s asset was valued at less than the amount owed on it, a borrower would only have to pay the current market value on that asset. That caveat for primary homes had been the only way to force all interested parties — borrowers, lenders and secondary securitization and trading institutions — to the table to negotiate reasonable solutions and terms for ailing borrowers before bankruptcy. Three years later, on April 11, 2008 Senator Durbin tried to pass an amendment to reinstate this consumer protection on one’s home. It failed on the floor. A month later, the House Relief Bill of Barney Frank (D-MA) passed, which would provide $300 billion in additional funding (or half an Iraq war) to struggling homeowners for new Federal Housing Administration loans. Separately, it would ask lenders to accept certain losses on original mortgage loans, enabling homeowners to refinance into an affordable mortgage to avoid foreclosure. Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd’s proposed fix was similar, where lenders could chose to take part in a voluntary program in which they would receive 85% of the current assessed value of the house, while the borrower would receive a refinanced loan equal to 90% of that new assessed value. The plan would be financed with a fee imposed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolios. Neither bill was perfect, though both attempted to help struggling borrowers. They didn’t eradicate the source of the subprime problem: the lack of enforceable regulation to deter lenders from extending non-transparent loans to those least able to afford their hidden time bombs. That would entail strengthening a very weakened Truth in Lending Act. They didn’t install legislation to ensure every Wall Street speculator along the subprime chain has legal accountability for their role in perpetuating the creation and trading of these loans. And, they both faced a presidential veto. The uphill battle to fix the housing crisis should minimally understand its legislative roots, and that serious regulation is needed. Yes, it’s imperative to help those in immediate foreclosure danger, to force (not ask nicely for volunteers) lenders to negotiate loan terms before foreclosure, to assign full responsibility for loan integrity and suitability to every single actor in the loan creation and trading chain. It is a must to tighten capital requirements, suitability and transparency standards through real enforcement, not merely oversight power. These remedies would help solve a problem that has festered for three decades, and ensure that reincarnations don’t keep occurring. ATC 135, July–August 2008 Against the Current list of Articles | List of Trotskyist Journals and Publications

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despite recent cnbc msnbc medium host suggest housing market crisis market watch june commentary headline like housing market turn quickly expect statistic continue sober fashion quarter reveal round record drop housing price foreclosure unstoppable fed try alleviate crisis lower rate battle oil food price inflation weak dollar buy billion risky subprime asset nowdefunct topofthesubprimegame investment bank bear stearns serve prolong problem guise solution march postprimary presidential election campaign rhetoric settle fix economy analyze cause housing credit crunch weaken albeit dim light end tunnel congress attempt send lifeboat legislation sink homeowner borrower despite veto promise president bush feel help homeowner bad use taxpayer money compare help bank legislative housing fiasco remain largely uninspected politically advantageous project happen sheer chance washington legislation banking deregulation collide matter blame place abstraction like economy fall house price root crisis trace congressional decision erase past decade year forever hold mystique pronounced public intensity lace despair hope year civil right act beatle grammy titletopic tom brokaw recent bestseller highlight history channel epic year change world forever number soldier ground vietnam peak antiwar protest bobby kennedy martin luther king shoot stability exist come economic place company enjoy period expansion bestow benefit staff unemployment low wage increase fluctuation interest rate resemble coma patient heartmonitor spirit public advocacy senator paul douglas pass truth lending act tila require creditor accurately uniformly disclose term borrower protect consumer dishonest abusive lending practice harmonious time change rapidly interest rate nearly triple late early bank prime loan rate leapt january high december stay commercial bank get nervous funding cost rise charge borrower capital sigh relief proliferate industry supreme court marquette decision marquette national bank vs omaha corp release national bank stateimposed usury rate restriction mean relocate lending operation state interest rate sky limit citibank hightail operation south dakota state like delaware utah deregulate rate garner bank business limited consumer protection federal focus firefighting long term planning mode carter administration issue gasoline price control thwart second wave spike gas price nation careen broad credit crunch congress react solution fed power banking system barrier congress pass depository institution deregulation monetary control act didmca eliminate usury cap mortgage loan state charter bank federal saving association sl footing national bank unleash race lending banking industry fend litigation proceeding violation truth lending act transpire rate rise lobby get simplification act effect make murky loan appear legally compliant open door violation deregulation lender want create traditional mortgage competitive flexible profitable senator fernand st germaine dri oblige pass alternative mortgage transaction parity act ampta act allow lender construct complicated product mortgage mortgage immediately introduce risk element market lender limit rate term profit ensure borrower pay loan limit lender borrower risk grow few constraint lending activity commercial bank begin consume traditional saving loan sl territory especially mortgage sl resort shady practice stay game high rate strippedaway business fraud push industry crisis late government step bail institution leave damage fractious deregulated nature lending grow early wake sl crisis low interest rate spur new class finance company base lending refinance home improvement loan large repeat occur start new millennium set entice borrower multiple refinancing home equity loan appear book like newly originate mortgage increase market share target elderly lowincome family minority egregious abusive loan term increase public unrest matter force house committee financial service pass home ownership equity protection act hoepa cap outrageous loan perfect piece legislation regulate appalling lending practice unintended consequence lender want subject hoepa loan restriction begin make loan hoepa trigger shift highinter subprime loan trigger mark start subprime lending concurrently securitization subprime loan begin dramatic ascent volume billion ultimately skyrocket billion retaliation hoepa banking industry successfully lobby restrictive act include truth lending act amendment shepherd wall street real estate industry favorite senator connie mack rfl representative bill mccollum rfl congress pay attention possible ramification accountable lender late new millennium dot com fever rage federal budget stand surplus stock market rage merger mania engulf wall street ignite repeal glass steagal act keep commercial investment bank merge newly large supermarket bank like citigroup find way stay league table billboard chart finance term originate deal start merge corporation record volume pile cheap debt finance marriage effect make new company stock price soar citizen market investment paper create entice illusion wealth unnoticed lender bank home price escalate home equity second mortgage loan flourish homeowner encourage tap equity rise home value fund aspect life time investment bank securitize repacke resell loan care standard loan buy sell bulk investment bank legally responsible borrower food chain afford mortgage payment lose home unregulated mortgage broker take advantage deregulated environment offer esoteric product bank happy collect trade loan profit end clinton term rife fail attempt regulation deregulation intensify bush ownership society year initially camouflage dramatic interest rate cut alan greenspan feed january july fed cut rate time bring low level make cheap debt easy bank extend debtladen corporation start go bankrupt aka enron bank turn corporate homebased lending cheap money trade security collateralize home relate loan regulation trading foresee come calamity new demand loan spur abusive loan include subprime catastrophe senator paul sarbanes dmd rep lafalce dny try push version predatory lending consumer protection act include strong hoepa legislation attempt die committee sarbane legislation bring hoepa trigger cover loan cut origination fee lender charge way profit come payment instead point fee oddity political party want constrain free market finance community medium mouthpiece sector take particularly subprime affiliate bank operate umbrella bank hold company consumer impression regulate like bank share bank consider lender requisitely safe unabated regulation feed wall street appetite du jour subprime loan volume triple billion billion overall mortgage market home equity loan balloon simultaneously spring interest rate rise borrower near end home equity faucet equity tap home value start level wave adjust upward mortgage loan come adjustable rate ultimately kick borrower payment suddenly increase housing value falter bad brink crisis commercial bank credit card company lobby hard difficult consumer declare bankruptcy unlike corporation benefit process major coup industry senator charles grassley ria pass bankruptcy abuse consumer protection act prior act borrower asset value owe borrower pay current market value asset caveat primary home way force interested party borrower lender secondary securitization trading institution table negotiate reasonable solution term ail borrower bankruptcy year later april senator durbin try pass amendment reinstate consumer protection home fail floor month later house relief bill barney frank dma pass provide billion additional funding half iraq war struggle homeowner new federal housing administration loan separately ask lender accept certain loss original mortgage loan enable homeowner refinance affordable mortgage avoid foreclosure senate banking chairman chris dodd propose fix similar lender choose voluntary program receive current assessed value house borrower receive refinance loan equal new assessed value plan finance fee impose fannie mae freddie mac portfolio bill perfect attempt help struggle borrower eradicate source subprime problem lack enforceable regulation deter lender extend nontransparent loan able afford hidden time bomb entail strengthen weaken truth lending act install legislation ensure wall street speculator subprime chain legal accountability role perpetuate creation trading loan face presidential veto uphill battle fix housing crisis minimally understand legislative root regulation need yes imperative help immediate foreclosure danger force ask nicely volunteer lender negotiate loan term foreclosure assign responsibility loan integrity suitability single actor loan creation trading chain tighten capital requirement suitability transparency standard real enforcement merely oversight power remedy help solve problem fester decade ensure reincarnation occur atc july august current list article list trotskyist journal 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Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of European Studies University of Bradford 1999 Dissident Communism: Trotskyism in Cuba (1932-65) Index Page Trotskyism and the Cuban Revolution Table of Contents

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submit degree doctor philosophy department european studies university bradford dissident communism trotskyism cuba index page trotskyism cuban revolution table content