Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 22:46:09 -0500 From: neil <74742.1651-AT-CompuServe.COM> Subject: M-TH: United fronts dear Bob and Rebecca, Opportunist "united fronts" did not begin with the Pabloite wings of Trotskyism. long before this , in the 20s the trotskyists -and stalinists were employing this 'tactic' with disastrous results for the workers cause , e.g, in Turkey, China, Germany, etc. For the stalinists in the US CP, in the 1930s it became the mantra for tying the workers it mislead into actual political alliance with the bourgeois state , cutting off the movements for workers moving to open socialist goals of getting rid of the capitalist system, preparing class collaboration and preparation for dragooning workers to the slaughter of WW2. The same scenario was played out in a number of other "Democratic" capitalist states. For the trots (by the 30s, always playing their cards 2 decbels to the left of the stalinists behinds) it meant another "turn' this time to 'entryism" into the Social Democratic and lib-lab parties in 1935 . Of course all this done under the "socialist' rhetoric of united frontism. All this did was confuse and dmoralize more workers away from the communist programme and toward lib-lab ism and social democracy and nationalist patriotism! Let us remind the trotsky people that the best of bolshevism had condemned social democracy and laborism as counterrevolutionary at the start of WW1 in 1914-15. Correctly so. Having seen the use of 'united front' tactics by these currents up close here in the US. I can only say that in 99% percent of the cases , it is just opportunism and class conciliation pure and simple. That is why the left- liberals and social democrats them selves today pander for such frontism to block militants and activists from building a working class political (and industrial) trend based on the programme of class combativity, & a workers movement for socialsim. Neil for the communist-left web site of the internationalists http://www.geocities.com/~italianleft Thanks. --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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