I welcome the decision of the French Ligue Communiste R=E9volutionnaire
(LCR) to launch a new revolutionary anti-capitalist party, as re****ted
on favourably by Peter Manson, the editor of the Weekly Worker
(February 21, http://cpgb.org.uk/worker/709/defeatliquidators.html).
The LCR has established itself as the most serious far left party in
France , with just over 4% in last year's presidential election.
Calling the new party "anti-capitalist", rather than "socialist",
"communist", "Marxist" or "Trotskyist", will have some advantages. I
have long felt that calling themselves "communist" limits the LCR's
appeal, due to the association with the Stalinist regimes that
collapsed in the USSR and Eastern Europe , and the collapse of the
vote received by the official Communist Party (PCF), to a meagre 1.9%,
seems to confirm this hypothesis. Calling themselves "Marxist" would
cause a similar problem, and using the term "Trotskyist" would limit
their appeal to a subset of Marxists. Calling the new party
"socialist" could make them appear less radical than they really are,
due to the existence of the mainstream Socialist Party (PS), which is
clearly in favour of the continuation of the capitalist system.
"Socialist" means different things to different people. I have a minor
criticism of LCR leader Olivier Besancenot, who said that the new
party will "counterpose, against the management of existing
institutions, the perspective of a workers' government". The term
"workers' government" would seem to imply a Marxist form of socialism,
composed of hierarchies of committees based on workplaces, where the
middle class has little or no say. Whereas I would sup****t some degree
of workers' control of industry, I am in favour of a government
elected by pro****tional representation (PR) using single transferable
vote (STV), and I wouldn't want the new party to exclude socialists
like me. A good sign, however, that the new party would not do so is
the fact that the LCR has held discussions with the anarchist grouping
Alternative Libertaire (AL) and anarchists are massively opposed to
hierarchical structures. Although AL has rejected joining, the new
party could attract some anarchists to its ranks and win the sup****t
of others in elections; I have found that the best anarchists tend to
welcome the efforts of genuine left-wingers who do stand in elections
even though they do not want to participate in electoral campaigning
themselves.
The sectarian Trotskyist group Lutte Ouvri=E8re (LO), which had
previously outpolled the LCR, has criticised the proposal for the new
party by suggesting that it would attract "liberals and do-gooders".
How could a revolutionary party ever come to power without attracting
such well-meaning individuals? Many of them could of course be won to
socialist ideas, but even those who aren't tend to play an im****tant
positive role in society. For me, the most im****tant struggle is
between good and bad, for a world in which people can democratically
choose the form of society they want (and I would argue that the STV
form of PR, which many liberals argue for, is im****tant to enable such
choices to be made), and against the drift towards a totalitarian
society in which revolutionary change is impossible.
The front page article of the February 23 Guardian, entitled
"Government wants personal details of every traveller" (http://
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/23/uksecurity.terrorismandtravel),
points out that the British New Labour government is demanding that
passengers travelling between EU countries or domestic flights would
have to hand over a mass of personal information, including their
mobile phone numbers and credit card details, which would be stored
for 13 years and used to "profile" suspects. The article also states:
" Brussels officials are already considering controversial anti-terror
plans that would collect up to 19 pieces of information on every air
passenger entering or leaving the EU". Whereas opposing terrorism
would be used as an excuse, the real agenda is to prevent socialist
revolution via the sort of society predicted by George Orwell in
"Nineteen Eighty-Four".
New Labour is rejecting calls for a DNA database of every citizen, but
that is probably because there would be mass defiance if they tried to
summon people to give compulsory samples. It would be much easier for
them to get away with preventing people from travelling if they
refused to cooperate with Big Brother, in a similar way to their plans
to gather biometric data from foreigners entering the UK and for those
renewing pass****ts, and put on the ID cards database. Hopefully the
series of losses of data from existing government databases will
ensure that ID cards are never implemented.
PS: Two items of good news: I had thought that Priya Reddy (warcry)
was a political prisoner in a psychiatric institution; I am now in
email contact with her and she has pointed out that she has never been
in such a place. Also, Alana Murray, who I was informed had died "in
suspicious cir***stances", is still alive.
--
Steve Wallis (Glasgow, Scotland)
For im****tant/urgent communications, please email:
warcrysteve@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/steve-wallis-socialist-blog,
http://blog.myspace.com/galaxiasteve
My socialist website: http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk
My socialist musical poetry: http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/poetry.htm
(and at my MySpace and Multiply pages)
My pages at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/galaxiasteve,
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3D731729407
and Multiply:
http://socialiststeve.multiply.com
Founder, Ethical Capitalism Network: http://www.ethicalcapitalism.org
Founder, Foundation for PR-based Socialism: http://www.PRsocialism.org
Founder, Revolutionary Platform Network:
http://www.revolutionaryplatform.ne=
t
My socialist band, Galaxia/Red Day/Red Friday:
http://www.galaxiamusic.org,
http://www.myspace.com/galaxiamusic
Author, "Revolution Destroyed? Have I ensured that a world socialist
revolution will never happen?": http://www.revolutiondestroyed.net
For discussion of the credit crunch, go to
http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=3D156
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