Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 08:57:00 GMT
Subject: Re: the state redux & socialism



Justin's attack on the Marxist idea of a workers state has
a long pedigree. While of course it was used by reformists 
and outright pro capitalists during the era of the cold war,
it actually goes further back than that.

As I argued previously, a workers state is a tool to deprive the
bourgeoisie of its rights, just as a democratic state is a tool 
that the bourgeoisie uses to deprive workers of their rights.
This is really all that a workers state is, and this is precisely
why as soon as it is established, it starts to whither away.

Because the working class is a large class, and the largest class
in society, this state will be the most democratic, in fact the
only truly  democratic [ in the sense of the imposition of the
will of the majority onto the minority ] in history.

Depriving, for instance, Rupert Murdoch of his right to free 
speech, and giving control of his newspapers to the workers that
produce them, would be IMO one of the first tasks of any revolution.
In fact, I don't even know whether or not Rupert Murdoch has a vote
in Britain - the point is, this, for him, is the least important
of his civil rights. As far as he is given civil rights, he will use
those rights to reestablish a bourgeois dictatorship, with or without
a democratic veneer.

Of course there will be grey areas. I hope a new workers state could be
as liberal as possible. Having said this, one of the earliest and worse
mistakes was to let the counter revolutionaries captured in the winter
palace go "on their word as gentlemen" that they would not plot
against the workers state. Every single one of them went on to command
one or other of the white armies. Can you believe it ? These people should
have at least been deprived of their liberty and probably of their lives
as well.

My first answer is to the "how do you decide ?" question is that it is
a political question. Are these people using these rights for the purpose
of overthrowing the workers state ? How do we best prevent their success 
in the present political circumstances ? It's not a question of "how many
shares do you own ?" or anything like that.

My second  amd most important answer is that it is not the party that decides,
but the working class through its democratic, anti parliamentary, institutions
created during the revolution itself. The health and vibrancy of this working
class democracy is the only guarantee anyone can give about the potential decline
of workers power and the rise of counter revolution, "Stalinist" or otherwise.

But any abstract nonsense about giving the Rupert Murdoch's of this world any
rights at all weakens workers democracy and strengthens all its enemies.

Adam.



Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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