Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 13:35:48 +0100 (MET)
Subject: M-G: The ICL and Norden group!


Kate Kelsey send me two fat bulletins, one by the ICL and one by the Norden 
group on the fight. As I have seen quite a number of posts on Usenet about 
this fight, mostly stuff like "Sparts in outer space" and stuff like this I 
found it extremely interesting to read about this fight. Kate asked me to 
write and say what I think about this stuff. So I will try to give you what 
comes to mind.

That the events of the past years has affected just about everybody on the 
left makes it quite clear that even the International Communist League (ICL) 
would also be effected. Actually this just proves that something very 
important historically has happened and everybody is forced to twitch in one 
way or another!

I read Jim R.s comments on this stuff because Jim I trust usually makes a 
lot of sense, at least to me. What was interesting I thought about Jim,s 
remarks was not only the Norden group but also taking up the tendency to 
forget that the Stalinists are responsible for all of this shit. Because in 
a sense Norden and the party loyal tendency that Jim talks about are in a 
sense a mirror reflection of the tendency being washed over not only by 
great historic events in the world-But connected to how the Tendency worked 
in the preceding period and the human material involved.

My experience with this was here in Sweden with Eva when we alone had to 
defend the line on Poland. In fact the opposition accused us constantly of 
being on the side of the Stalinists (which we were!) in the Polish events. 
But being on the same side of the Stalinists does not mean that this 
Stalinist leadership is a deadly danger to workers and the line we tread in 
the Interests of the International Proletariat is very thin! But as living 
material and especially the youth and people who do not have working class 
backgrounds their appears to have been a tendency to think that being hard 
on ICL politics means connecting The slogan like "Hail the Red Army" a 
completely correct slogan on Afghanistan, to and unconcious defense of the 
stalinist bureaucracy. I think that this has to do with our smallness also 
and not having deep roots in the class Internationally. But also the 
historic composition of the left in general since the second world war. Sort 
of like Pavlov conditioning instead of living class struggle!  

My understanding of the polish events and why I could go out on the first of 
May with a leaflett where on one side we were calling for a general strike 
here in Sweden and on the other side defending the line on Poland was in 
fact a vital propaganda message to the working class who was beginning to 
mobilise against the then bougeois offensive on the Swedish "welfare state". 
So in a sense I sort of act with a split personality! On the one hand as a 
poor and working class guy and on the other as trying to be part of the 
Vanguard..Naturally connected to the task of trying to recruit a couple of 
people at the time. With all the feelings based on both living experience 
historically, a propaganda group which was very small and isolated, and 
things moving to the right (at least on the left) connected to trying to 
find a couple of people to recruit just makes for crisies, political 
deviations, and trouble. Especially when big things in the world are 
changing the very fundementals of political existence...

I think then some people see it in the sense of our present tasks of 
regroupment as something more of a chick tough arguement against the various 
fake trotskyists or whatever. And in fact in Germany it was far more then 
that at stake. As I understand it we were dealing with a population who has 
not been under the standard anti-Communist campaigns of Cold war propaganda. 
Nor a general left envionment as people in the ICL were normally experienced 
with in the left in the west. But a population that stood under a bizarr 
form of Stalinist politics which historically has its power base in the 
Proletariat. A Proletariat that was not raised on Donald Duck and McDonald's 
hamburgers Nor was this  a question of regroupment with some ex-Healites in 
Great Britain but and intervention with the possibility of becoming and 
influence in the East German Proletariat! So the fight does show on the one 
hand Norden trying to do some "get rich" quick schemes and on the other hand 
a loyal defense of the ICL line albeit leaning towards being soft on 
Stalinism in another way then Norden.s organisational opportunism. But both 
missed the point. Our program is the program to mobilise the Proletarian 
Vanguard for its Revolutionary role! Thus what we wanted was not get rich 
quick schemes like Norden, nor getting chummy with the Stalinists. It was a 
message to the East German Proletariat about countering the Stalinist 
bureaucracy and capitalist counter-revolution. A very thin line indeed!

In fact what I think was at stake in East Germany can be compared to the 
strategical orientation of the American SL on recruiting black cadre! In 
East Germany it was not black cadre-but proletarian cadre which we would 
have wanted to recruit by patiently explaning our line and Trotskyist 
history about Stalinism. Naturally this is linked to the real battles and 
*real* defense of East Germany at the time, despite the Stalinist 
bureaucracy! But our orientation should have been towards the proletarian 
vanguard.. I think Norden was dead wrong on this "anti-facist" stuff in that 
it was not really orientated to the line that the ICL had worked out. As I 
understand it it was raising the perspective of "Soviets" in East Germany" 
against the Stalinist bureaucracy and the attempts by the capitalists to 
re-intergrate East Germany into the capitalist sphere through a 
counter-revolution. I had the same line by the way in the Soviet Union. 
Soviets to combat not only the counter-revolution on the way but a political 
revolution against the Stalinists either in power or now out of power! 
Naturally today we could make tactical military alliances with the 
Stalinists without giving up the guns!

The ICL missed the boat not only because of Norden! But because of a 
bureaucratization of line in the party! Or at least a stiff line connected 
to earlier historical experience not having to do with the real living 
situation.  Thus the line as I see it was correct! But the human material 
that was going to implement the line was unprepared both because of its 
personal individual backgrounds and naturally the abrupt change in the 
situation. This also has its causes in smallness, and lack of working class 
cadre. 

I think that basically it has to too with our isolation historically and a 
lack of recruiting worker communist cadre. We have most been working in the 
left envionments in the west where it was basically made up of the human 
material coming from universities and intellectual backgrounds. A constant 
campaign of coorect political discussions orientated against other left 
groups in the west was bureaucratically transformed  on a level that is and 
what was wrong in intervening in events in East Germany. This was wrong. But 
it is wrong for me in the sense of some of the gut feelings i get coming 
>from a poor and working class background which brings me back to events in 
Sweden.  

So for me going to that first of May demonstration with that leaflett was 
partially a "workerist" deviation in that I wanted to tell my working-class 
friends why the events in Sweden and Poland were connected. In fact Social 
democracy and stalinism have always fucked things up for the working class 
and why only the working class and under the leadership of the vanguard 
party Internationally could solve these problems. While at the same time it 
was and interventionist tool against our leftwing political opponents here 
it was also a mobilisation of the class for struggle against the bougeois 
regime here in sweden at the time.

But in Germany I think a "workerist" deviation in this sense was called for!

Now I would like to take up something that Seymour wrote which confuses me 
very much. In the article "Pabloism of the second mobilization" on page 143 
of the bulletin he wrote the following;

"I believe you do not accept that, beginning in the late 1970s, there has 
occurred a historic retrogression in the political conciousness of the 
working class and left Internationally. This development both conditioned 
the counterrevolution in the Soviet block and has been reinforced by it."

I find this statement highly confusing, completely one sided and 
undialectical! Whew that was a lot. But that is how I feel about it! So I 
will try to explain what I mean and perhaps we can clear up some of the 
confusion at least on my part..

In the first place I do not think that one can just bluntly state that the 
working class and its political conciousness was thrown back. Conciousness 
in the class in the first place is living experience connected to 
ideological leadership both bad and good. For Communists the point is 
changing that conciousness and forging it into a vanguard party to lead a 
revolution Internationally. So I get the feeling that Seymour with his 
statement is saying, this big lump of shit has historically regressed, thus....

I just don.t buy this Seymour! In fact the Working class has been beheaded 
of any "revolutionary leadership" for a long time and these days are 
beheaded of both Stalinist and Social Democratic leadership. This is 
naturally connected to the situations in different countries and different 
regions and depends on a number of other thing also. But and this is a big 
but!!! The working class despite this is trying to mobilise against the 
present counter-revolutionary attack in many different ways. So stop blaming 
the working class for the present situation and in fact the working class 
just by its position in society is revolutionary! Which means that they have 
the muscle to counter but are lacking leadership.

Then again the left which you claim has regressed and which i find very 
confusing also. In fact ideology is living in that it is the human material 
that picks up on this stuff and carries it on everyday historically. The 
left some say has moved in this direction or that direction. But to regress 
I just don,t get it. What I see from my very little corner of the world more 
then regression is both chaos and confusion which is beginning to firmate 
into a lot of Neo-Stalinist and Menshevik politics of varying degree. A 
re-orientaion is taking place and new faces with old iodeas and old faces 
with old ideas claiming they are "new" are all over the place!

We have the Usec moving to the right. The Euro-Communists moving towards 
traditional Social Democracy--Social Democracy moving towards the camp of 
the bougeoisie for example. Naturally this is understood by the various 
things that these tendencies and leaderership say and do. But it should be 
seen in the context of how the working class is reacting to this stuff. In 
the East despite lots of attempts by capitalism the working class is at best 
accepting the situation fairly luke warm. In the Serbia the working class 
appears to be not joining the present counter-revolutionary Nationalist and 
Fascist mobilisation. Where as in Bulgaria things appear to be a bit 
different. I heard last night that the workers are even supporting this shit 
there. In France we are seeing mass mobilisations. In Korea also. In Sweden 
politics jumps to the right as the workers jump to the left in activity!
Germany we see the beginnings of movement. Turkey things are happening and 
also Greece! Not to mention the former Soviet Union where the miners without 
leadership are being forced to move.

Much of this stuff is connected to what Trotsky called the historical crisis 
of leadership. This was a fact at the hight of Stalin's power and certainly 
is just as actuall at its ebb. And things do not stand still which your 
statement gives me the impression of. Because in the wings both the 
bougeoisie and the fascists are actively working to solve the present 
situation in their interests. Just as the opportunists of varying degree are 
doing all kinds of hat tricks!

Nor is the Neo-Stalinists and Social Democratic trends, nor the various fake 
Trotskyist trends retrogressing. Perhaps chaos, but also there will be a 
re-orientation towards vying for the leadership of the Proletariat from 
these trends. But also the Trotskyists, naturally the question for 
Trotsktists is on What Program? And with which tactics? I think what i am 
trying to say is that this period opens in a sense the orientation of a 
Trotskyist organisation. In fact it is not the period of new leftism and the 
sixties any longer and polemsizing with just those groups moving to the 
left. Although this is still the basic strategic task of physically growing 
and recruiting cadre. But the situation as it is- is very unstable for the 
Proletariat. Events in the former Eastern block countries and the Soviet 
Union to Korea and into the Balkans not to mention even this little one time 
Social Democratic paradise. In the decisive struggles that will come in the 
next period. In these class battles the the Trotskyists can quickly find 
themselves in a position of leading mass struggles. I do not think that we 
can abstain from taking part in those struggles despite the orientation of 
splitting and regroupment. Sorry! But this period which now seems to be 
opening up appears to be a new period of wars and revolutions and even 
counter-revolutions!

So where you see the roadblocks-I want to see the opportunities. Another 
"workerist" deviation because i have nothing to fucking lose!

A new re-division of the spoils as the imperialist prepare a new bloodbath 
of some sort for the Proletariat. In fact this new nationalism in the east 
can quickly become fascism or do you think that the ICL can just stand 
around. I don,t. I think that enormous possibilites are oppening up. The 
Proletariat has not yet been physically defeated. Only ideologically 
confused and beheaded of any kind of leadership. But in order for things to 
*really* regress the working class must be defeated in a number of countries 
by a fascist takeover or a new imperialist blood bath. Now that would be 
*real*regression! 

I will stop their for now. More later when I have had time to read the 
documents. The article on the Balkans was just great! I should mention that 
the USec here is even being careful with this stuff.

 By the way this letter will be going into "Cockroach" my weekly newspaper 
on Internet and to some of the newsgroups and discussion lists..

Warm regards
Bob Malecki

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
Check Out My HomePage where you can,

Read the book! Ha Ha Ha McNamara,
Vietnam-My Bellybutton is my Crystalball!

Or Get The Latest Issue of,

COCKROACH, a zine for poor and working-class people

HTTP://WWW.ALGONET.SE/~MALECKI

If The links are not working you can write to me 
>from my home page and get the latest issue of COCKROACH!
--------------------------------------------------------








 





     --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---