File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9712, message 729


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.



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