Stalinism yesterday and today: An agent for world imperialism

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6 ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT (The following are excerpts from the international report adopted by the Third National Convention of Socialist Action on Aug. 4, 1988.)

Fifty years ago this month, in August 1938, Leon Trotsky and a small group of supporters founded the Fourth International.

There were many at the time who were members or partisans of Trotsky's international Left Opposition who opposed the launching of the Fourth International. Isaac Deutscher, Trotsky's biographer, was one of them.

Deutscher said it was folly for such a small group of cadre to take on such an immense task. He said the Fourth International would be born from the defeats of the Latin America and the Caribbean •Cutting back on oil shipments te.

Nicaragua and offering to discuss an end to Soviet support for the Sandinistas. •Hinting at need for economic reform in Cuba, thus angering Fidel Castro. •Signing new commercial agreements with Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.

PACIFIC OCEAN Africa •Encouraging market-oriented reforms to spur agricultural production in drought-plagued Ethiopia. • Allowing Soviet-backed government in Angola to begin negotiations to end a 13-year civil war. • Reducing military aid to Mozambique.

revolutionary movements of the 1930s, and would therefore be unable to coalesce and inspire the new wave of radicalizing workers and youth.

Trotsky and his supporters-comrades like James P. Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism-strongly disagreed with the faint-hearts.

Trotsky said the most important task of his entire political life-more important than leading the Russian workers to power in 1917, or building the Red Army, or founding the Third International—was transmitting the legacy of revolutionary Marxism that had been broken by the Stalinization of the communist movement.

Trotsky and the founders of the Fourth International firmly believed that the only hope for the future of humanity-the only hope that capitalist wars, exploitation, and barbarism could be stopped once and for all—was to build a new revolutionary international party to ensure the programmatic continuity of Marxism, of Leninism, of Bolshevism.

What is often referred to as "Trotskyism" is nothing other than the continuity of Marxism, of Leninism, today.

The "Transitional Program," drafted by Trotsky in 1938, is the basic programmatic document of the Fourth International. It condenses the essence of the revolutionary socialist program in our epoch, the epoch of the death agony of capitalism.

The basic ideas and principles contained in the "Transitional Program" remain as timely and as essential to guide our political activity as they were when they were drafted 50 years ago.

Countless present-day examples could be given to demonstrate the relevance of our program today. I'd like to examine just one basic idea from our program—our historic position on the counterrevolutionary character of Stalinism—to demonstrate this point.

In the "Transitional Program," Trotsky wrote:

"The USSR thus embodies terrific contradictions. But it still remains a UNITED STATES AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA degenerated workers' state. Such is the social prognosis. The political prognosis has an alternative character: Either the bureaucracy, becoming ever more the organ of the world bourgeoisie in the workers' state, will overthrow the new forms of property and plunge the country back to capitalism; or the working class will crush the bureaucracy and open the way to socialism."

Trotsky here pointed to the role of the bureaucracy as the transmission belt of imperialism in the workers' state. He noted the bureaucracy's historic tendency to seek the restoration of capital as its solution to the economic crisis caused by its own bureaucratic mismanagement and despotism.

The example of Hungary Let us examine the most advanced model of perestroika, or economic restructuring, taking place in the Eastern European workers' states today—the case of Hungary. Gorbachev himself has pointed to Hungary as the model he hopes to emulate in the Soviet Union.

Hungary's new prime minister, Karoly Grosz, was in the United States in early August to learn about the so-called virtues of the free-enterprise system. He had earlier traveled to Great Britain, where he openly expressed his admiration for the British prime minister's free-market orientation.

Numerous newspaper articles took advantage of Grosz's U.S. visit to hail the new innovative steps taken by the Hungarian bureaucracy in recent years. The reports reveal the following:

• "In September, Hungary will adopt a new 'law of associations' that will permit foreigners to buy shares in Hungarian businesses, or even whole companies. Next year, the Budapest stock exchange will reopen for the first time in more than 40 years. The Hungarian constitution is also undergoing extensive revision." (New York Times, July 31)

• "Hungary is already far ahead of the Communist Bloc in economic innovation. It has an actively functioning bankruptcy Europe • Signing an agreement to eliminate all medium-range nuclear weapons from the Continent. •Negotiating deep cuts in long-range nuclear arms. •Pressing East bloc satellites to reform their economies and strengthen ties to the West.

CHINA IRAN INDIAN OCEAN Middle East and Persian Gulf •Stepping up efforts to convene an international peace conference to deal with the Arab-Israeli question.

•Urging the P.L.O. to recognize Israel's right to exist.

•Sending a consular delegation to Jerusalem as possible prelude to a renewal of diplomatic relations.

• Advocating a greater role for U.N. in the gulf.

•Keeping lines open to Iran while cultivating ties with more moderate gulf countries.

law, established well ahead of its Communist neighbors. A banking system has been established to compete with what was once a state banking monopoly. A small bond market is flourishing." (Los Angeles Times, May 25)

• "In 1982, Hungary was the second Comecon [Soviet economic bloc] country to join the International Monetary Fund. In joining, it adopted one of its notorious adjustment programs, which was designed to reduce demand throughout the economy by restrictive tax, wage, and interest policy, and by further compressing state investment.

"Price reform was instituted to let world prices operate also in the domestic economy. In 1986, another law was passed that provided for closing plants and introducing unemployment." (International Viewpoint, July 25)

• "Within the next 18 months, 100,000 Hungarian workers, or 2 percent of the active population, will be officially unemployed." (Libération, July 14, 1988.) Other sources estimate the number of unemployed at 200,000.

As a result of these perestroika reforms, the standard of living of the Hungarian workers has nosedived. A million Hungarians are living beneath the subsistence level. Hungarian families cannot make ends meet with their dwindling incomes. Of the roughly 5 million wage earners, about 4 million have to work a second job. The average workday has been stretched to between 12 and 14 hours.

Capitalist restoration?

Don't all these measures represent the gradual introduction of capitalist market mechanisms and forms? Of course they do. This does not mean, however, that quantity will gradually turn into quality-that is, the bureaucracy will continue its market reforms to the point where, one day, a new capitalist state will have been created.

To restore capitalism, and not just undermine the workers' state through capitalist mechanisms, the bureaucracy Time magazine's view of Gorbachev' "peace" overtures Afghanistan • Withdrawing 115,000 troops beginning May 15, and not insisting that a Soviet. controlled government be left behind.

Asia •Pushing a plan for a "zone of peace" that would reduce foreign warships in the area. •Pressing Vietnamese allies to pull troops out of Kampuchea. • Making partial troop withdrawals from positions along the Sino-Soviet border. • Offering to train astronauts for Indonesia.

Map by must defeat the working class in major class battles. At the same time, not all wings of the bureaucracy are willing to go as far down the path of capitalist restoration as others. Their own material interests are attached to the preservation of the bureaucratized workers' states.

At this level, we can expect more rifts and conflicts within the Stalinist bureaucracies. The path to capitalist restoration is therefore not automatic or without contradictions.

Hungarian workers resist

The Hungarian workers, for their part, are not taking these attacks lying down.

On March 15, 1987, over 3000 people marched in the streets of Budapest in a commemoration of the defeated Hungarian revolution of 1848. This is how a Hungarian dissident described the march in an open letter published in France:

"Dear friends, "This year's March 15 commemoration represents an event of great significance. This year, the workers who have been laid off as a result of the economic reforms of the past five years, the youth, and all layers of the population who have been hard hit (continued

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Gorbachev's foreign policy is in continuity with that pursued by Josef Stalin, shown here with Churchill and Roosevelt in 'Join Socialist Action!' ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT 7 (continued from previous page)

by the increased cost of living, protested openly in the streets for four days. They carried with them the ideals of 1848 and of the revolution of the workers' councils of 1956."

This reference to the "soviet" forms of organization—the workers' councils which sprang up throughout Hungary in 1956 is a sign that the workers in these states are renewing the traditions of the October revolution of 1917 in their struggle against the entrenched bureaucracies.

In Poland, the failure of the Jaruzelski bureaucracy to win popular support for its economic "reforms" and its failure to crush Solidarity is another indication of the depth of the movement for political revolution.

The struggle for political revolution is the struggle to defend the gains of the October revolution: nationalized property and the planned economy. It is the struggle to sweep away the rotten bureaucracy and revive the soviets as the fundamental decision-making bodies of the workers' state.

The Soviet Union today Let us now look at what has been going on in the Soviet Union in recent months.

Take the recent 19th special conference of the Soviet Communist Party. Here it was made clear that what the Soviet masses mean by glasnost (or openness) is not the same thing as what the Gorbachev reformers mean.

Leading up to the conference, during the weeks of electing delegates, many Gorbachev reformers were kept off the lists by the so-called hardliners. In various cities, these reformers appealed to the masses to put pressure on the party officials to allow them to be delegates to the conference.

In the cities of Omsk, Sakhalin, Kuybyshey, and Yaroslavl, mass demonstrations of up to 10,000 people took place. But in most cases, these protests demanded more than the annulment of the mandates of the "hardline" delegates. They also called for the removal of despised party officials, the legalization of independent unions and political organizations, and an end to the monopoly on political power by the ruling bureaucracy.

On June 25, on the eve of the party conference, 1000 people held an authorized rally to demand a memorial monument in honor of the victims of Stalinist repression. The group which called the demonstration, Dynamo, had gathered 43,000 signatures on their petition. [This demand was ultimately met by the party conference.] The following resolution was adopted by acclamation by the rally participants:

"The participants at this meeting address themselves to the Soviet Supreme Court to ask for the rehabilitation of all those who were persecuted for the political views, regardless of when they were convicted."

The resolution went on to call for the release of political prisoners under Gorbachev: "We also call for the release of all current political prisoners, that is, of all those who were convicted for expressing their political beliefs without committing acts of violence or calling on others to commit them."

Many of the rally speakers, such as writer Oleg Volkov, in line with the resolution, stated, "We should not limit our discussion to the repression under Stalin."

These demands, which hit at the very heart of bureaucratic rule, went far beyond the limits set by the Gorbachev wing of the bureaucracy. The specter of these movements moving in an increasingly independent direction is constantly raised by the party hardliners to warn Gorbachev against offering too many democratic openings.

And the hardliners and the Gorbachev reformers have reason to fear that the openings will be broken wide open by the Soviet masses. Over the past three years there has been a proliferation of independent socialist clubs and movements, some of which have actually called for the legalization of all socialist parties and formations, a demand which has been categorically rejected by both wings of the bureaucracy.

At the same time, the bureaucracy is becomingly acutely aware of the fact that the Soviet workers are not going along with the economic reforms. There have been strikes against wage cuts and the 1945 at signing of Yalta agreements.

introduction of unemployment. There is grumbling. And more dangerous yet, there is motion for the creation of independent unions.

In 1977, the Ukranian miner Vladimir Khlebanov founded the Association of Free Unions and then the Free Interprofessional Association of Workers (SMOT). Khlebanov was jailed in 1978 and has been there ever since.

There have been numerous reports in the last three years of unionists demanding Khlebanov's release and the legalization of the SMOT and other independent unions.

Soviet policy in South Africa Another aspect of the current world situation which confirms Trotsky's characterization of the Stalinist bureaucracy as a counterrevolutionary force throughout the world is Gorbachev's foreign policy.

Gorbachev has taken the traditional Stalinist policy of "peaceful coexistence" with imperialism to new levels. Gorbachev wants stability and imperialist credits to attempt to resolve the political and economic crisis of the bureaucracy—within the boundaries of one country. This goal, of course, is impossible.

In exchange for the decreased military pressure from imperialism (which is a false and dangerous illusion) and for its increased economic collaboration, Gorbachev is fully ready to sacrifice revolutionary struggles throughout the world.

Dozens of articles in the mainstream media have pointed to the "positive" and "constructive" influence the Soviet leadership has had in settling "regional conflicts" around the world.

An article in The San Francisco Chronicle (June 7), for example, states:

"The Soviet view of South Africa, like its view of Israel, is changing. Over the past two years the Soviet Union has been broadening its contacts with Israel... , Now they have started low-level contacts with South Africa's ruling whites....

"In 1986, a member of the Soviet Union's Africa Institute, Gleb Starushenko, proposed the idea of 'comprehensive guarantees for the white population' and special constitutional arrangements calculated to allay white fears.

"The Russians are holding out to both Israel and South Africa a tantalizing possibility of what the Americans once called 'constructive engagement."

You have here in a nutshell the terms of a political settlement in South Africa that would end the excesses of apartheid while retaining and reaffirming the capitalist system of exploitation, something like that which occurred in Zimbabwe.

The new "constitutional guidelines for a multiparty democracy and a mixed economy," presented by the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) on July 28 should be understood in this light. They represent a signal that the ANC's top leadership is willing to accommodate to the white liberal wing of the South African ruling class. The ANC is highly influenced by the pro-Moscow South African Communist Party.

The new ANC guidelines, according to The New York Times (July 29), "are far more specific than the Congress' 1955 blueprint for South Africa, a document known as the Freedom Charter."

The Times continues: "The guidelines come in response to criticism by some Western leaders and white liberals in South Africa that the Congress' platform is too vague." The guidelines announced by the ANC include "specific guarantees for the preservation of a strong private sector in the economy."

Settling other "conflicts"

In an editorial dated July 31, The New York Times hails what the editors call the "Stirrings of Peace" throughout the world. "What is the reason for these stirrings?" the writers ask. They answer: "The Soviet Union's new foreign policy. Mikhail Gorbachev has ceased issuing blank checks to revolutionary regimes."

"In Nicaragua," the Times states, "a peace process has begun on terms close to those that Washington has long sought."

An article reprinted in The World Press Review (August 1988) makes the same point:

"Nicaragua's Sandinista government has been prompted by its 'natural ally' [i.e., the Soviet Union] to negotiate directly with opponents, the contras, in compliance with the peace plan of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. And the Soviets have asked Yassir Arafat, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to recognize not only Israel's right to exist but also its security interests."

An article from the July 29 San Francisco Chronicle reports on the visit by an Israeli delegation to the Soviet Union, the first of its kind in nearly three decades: "Until recently, Moscow demanded that The following are excerpts from Jake Cooper's speech to the Aug. 6 rally. Cooper is a veteran of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strikes. He was a guard to Leon Trotsky in Coyoacan, Mexico, in 1939, and was imprisoned in 1944 under the Smith Act.

Comrades and friends, all of you here tonight who are struggling against the oppression of the workers: We welcome you. And not only do we welcome you, but we want you to join us.

I see a lot eager fighters out Israel had to leave all Arab territories it seized in the 1967 war before it would consider a restoration of diplomatic relations.

"Western diplomats also say that Moscow appears to have dropped its insistence on the creation of an independent Palestinian state as part of a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and may be open to other proposals. Israeli officials acknowledge a more conciliatory approach."

Already the Hungarian and Polish bureaucracies have renewed diplomatic relations with Israel, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the butcher of the Palestinian people, has met with Soviet officials to discuss doing the same.

Amazingly, this is taking place at a time when the Zionist state of Israel is being condemned worldwide for its brutal repression of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza.

[Elsewhere, in Angola, the Soviet bureaucracy has urged the MPLA government to "open negotiations and start a dialogue on the country's future" with the CIA-financed UNITA mercenary forces. An article in the Aug. 11 Los Angeles Times noted that "Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Adamishin's position appeared to be closer to that of UNITA than to that of the government that Moscow has supported for nearly 13 years."] Can there be any doubt in anyone's mind about the counterrevolutionary character of the Stalinist bureaucracy? Hardly. Theirs is a counterrevolutionary policy-not just in a few countries of the world, but everywhere. That's what Trotsky concluded after Stalin permitted the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1933. That is what we believe This assessment was the principal factor that led Trotsky to the decision to form the Fourth International. It is one of the principal justifications for the existence of the Fourth International today.

there who are looking at this crazy system, a system which is ruining our world, a system which in this last period of our lives, from the time I was born till now, has killed off millions upon millions of people in the interest of profits.

We're asking you to join us. If you want to stop the destruction of this world by the capitalist class, the place to be is with us, in Socialist Action, because this is the most noble struggle you could possibly become involved in. We want you with us. We need soldiers in this fight.

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fields in these and 17 other countries.

In the United States, the Committee's petition was endorsed by over 100 persons

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