The struggle for socialism around the world today

Scan page 7

'We are confident that the workers will resist the further inroads of capitalism in the workers' states-not out of ideological preference (many of them will continue to harbor illusions in West German-style capitalism)-but because theu will oppose unemploument vitalism)-but because they will oppose unemploym and the lowering of their standard of living.' The following article is based on a report adopted by the National Committee of Socialist Action. The report, which was presented by Socialist Action editor Alan Benjamin, has been adapted and updated for publication.

Hardly a day goes by without an editorial in the mainstream media proclaiming the death of socialism. The international capitalist class is hell-bent on convincing working people the world over that capitalism is here to stay and that socialism has shown itself to be bankrupt.

A recent article in Business Week magazine (April 16, 1990), for example, warns the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa "not to follow the abysmal records of other nations that were seduced by socialism."

The author of the article, economics professor Gary Becker, urges "South Africa's Black leaders to ponder the miserable performance of these controlled economies." For Becker, the evidence of the 20th century shows that "private enterprise and the quest for profits not only promote economic growth but also open up opportunities to unpopular minorities"—whereas socialism "discriminates in favor of politically powerful groups and retards economic progress."

Of course, what Becker and the countless other writers of his ilk forget to point out is that the world capitalist system is on the verge of collapsing under the pressure of a growing mountain of debt and overproduction. They also leave out the fact that hundreds of millions of people around the world have been pushed to the edge of starvation by a system that long ago outlived its usefulness. [See UNICEF article, page 3.] Becker and others would like the South African masses, who are fighting to overthrow what they call "racial capitalism," to accept capitalism with a "human face;" that is, capitalism without apartheid. They are anxious that the regular flow of super-profits to the South African bosses and multinational corporations not be interrupted.

But the most blatant lie promoted by this growing chorus of capitalist apologists is the equation they make between socialism and Stalinism. It is the Stalinist system which is crumbling before our very eyes— not socialism, which has never existed in these countries.

Socialism requires the fullest development of workers' democracy, of a planned economy run and controlled by the workers. But such a system is incompatible with bureaucratic rule and privilege. Socialism, in fact, is the mortal enemy of Stalinism.

A theoretical problem for us?

Unfortunately, many in the socialist movement have been influenced by the capitalist propaganda blitz and have been demoralized by the recent events in Eastern Europe.

Take Oliver MacDonald, for example, one of the most prominent socialist scholars in England. In a recent issue of the British monthly Socialist Outlook (No. 22, March 1990), MacDonald states that "[flor hundreds of millions of people in Europe, this [the situation in Eastern Europe] is not simply a defeat for communism with a capital 'C, let alone a defeat for Stalinism, but a defeat for communism with a capital 'M, —for Marxism itself.

"Serious Marxists will not just brush this aside and say, "This is not our defeat, we are advancing,' and all that. This is a serious practical and theoretical problem for us."

MacDonald goes on to say that the political revolutions are failing in Eastern Europe because they have not been led by socialists, but by people "who see the only viable alternative as being Western capitalism."

That the struggles in Eastern Europe are not being led by socialists is true-at least for the time being. But MacDonald leaves out one very important factor in his assessment of these events, and that is the role of the working class.

We in Socialist Action are not in need of soul-searching about the "theoretical problems before us." Quite the contrary. We have hailed the unfolding political revolution in the East as one of the most advanced stages of the class struggle in this century.

Unlike others who are confused by the appearance of thingsbelieving, for example, that the statue of the Goddess of Liberty represents a call for the return of capitalism— we have kept our eyes on the working class and their struggles.

We were inspired by the Chinese workers who established their own independent unions in the months leading up to the events at Tiananmen Square. These workers lambasted the Chinese Stalinist bureaucracy for instituting capitalist market reforms that created further inequalities and attacked their standard of living.

We applauded the workers' general strike in Czechoslovakia that brought down the Stalinists. We hailed the formation of the workers' committees and councils in Romania-the embryonic forms of workers' rule-that brought down Causescu.

We welcomed the many proletarian forms of struggle in Romania, East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union itself: strike committees (such as in Vorkuta), soldiers' committees, factory committees, etc.

All of these embryonic or potential forms of workers' rule are stifled and limited at this moment, it is true. This is because of the petty-bourgeois leadership that has championed the fight for democracy and, at least for now, has been placed in the leadership of these movements. These people, it is quite obvious, have no perspective for waging a struggle for socialist democracy.

Workers will resist inroads We are confident that the workers will resist the further inroads of capitalism in the workers' states—not out of ideological preference (many of them will continue to harbor illusions in West German-style capitalism)-but because they will oppose unemployment and the lowering of their standard of living.

These workers, we must understand, will not be getting Western European capitalism as part of the "new deal." Theirs will more resemble South Korean or Brazilian enclave capitalism than anything else. The overturn of the planned economies in the East will signify unemployment and increased misery for millions of workers and their families.

In Poland, the young workers are already openly defying the "sell-out" Walesa and leading wild-cat strikes. A new opposition current called Solidarnosc '80 (to denote its identification with the initial goals of the union) was just founded.

In the Soviet Union the coal miners, with their powerful general strike last year, sent a SOCIALIST message to Gorbachev that perestroika austerity is unacceptable. This is what accounts for Gorbachev's impasse in moving full steam ahead with the pro-capitalist reforms he has promised.

Building revolutionary parties We in Socialist Action believe that tremendous opportunities have been created in the East for building revolutionary-Marxist combat parties on the basis of the political program put forward by Leon Trotsky over 50 years ago in the founding documents of the Fourth International.

Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed" and "Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution" remain the cornerstone theoretical documents for revolutionists in this epoch. They have been proven correct by the recent events in the East. It is uncanny how relevant they are to the situation today.

The situation is wide open for the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution, to intervene with its banner raised high. There is a giant political void in Eastern Europe that must be filled.

With a corps of militants articulating the right ideas, the Fourth International could, without any doubt, be propelled into the leadership of the mass movements against capitalist restoration and austerity that are just down the pike.

The Fourth International could and should be part of this developing fightback, seeking to take it all the way to the establishment of (continued on page 8)

ACTION MAY 1990 7

Scan page 8

SOCIALISM (continued from page genuinely socialist society.

On the upsurge in China A sign of the immense possibilities opened up to the Fourth International is the recent appearance of a magazine published by Chinese "pro-Democracy" dissidents that takes a clear position in favor of socialist democracy.

The magazine is called Open Forum. To quote its masthead, it is a "trilingual [English, French, Chinese] review edited by the Association 'Looking for a New Path for the Democratic Movement in China." It is published every two or three months in Paris.

The second issue of this magazine (February 1990) reflects a growing understanding of the meaning of the recent events in Eastern Europe and the need for socialism.

The lead editorial titled "Long Live Democratic Internationalism," states:

"The notion of proletarian internationalism appeared publicly with the Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1848. For Marx and Engels, 'the working class knows no borders.' The slogan is 'Proletarians of the world, unite!' reinforced by the Internationale, the symbolic song of the Paris Commune. Since then, proletarian internationalism has been the ideal and the directing line of both communists and socialists."

The editors of Open Forum go on to explain how Stalinism "deviated the communist movement from its role," with Stalin "defending the absurd thesis that "socialism can win in one country.'"

The consequence of this, the editors state, is that "orthodox Marxism thus loses both content and form. The countries of the 'communist bloc' only preoccupy themselves with their particular interests and sometimes show intentions of hegemony... This explains the crisis in the 'socialist' camp and in these Stalinist movements"

They continue:

"In the face of this situation, expected for so long, international reactionary imperialists boil over with ardor and joy and a few convenient men of letters and anti-communist experts hasten to announce the final defeat of communism and socialism and to proclaim loud and clear the victory of capitalism. Some even go as far as saying with impudence that the '1990s are the end of the ghost.' "We do not agree with these extravagant predictions and cheap maledictions. It is obvious that many scandals and crimes have marred the international communist movement and the 'socialist' camp. Indeed, some of its leaders have trodden on human rights by repressing any democratic upsurge."

The editorial continues further down:

"The political and economic crises which we can observe today in China, in the USSR, and in the Eastern European coun tries in no way mean that socialist and communist doctrine was fundamentally mistaken or that it has failed in practice.

«What these crises prove is only that Stalinism has erred fundamentally and failed totally. Stalinism is false socialism; it is an amalgam of social fascism, imperial chauvinism, bureaucratism, and dictatorial absolutism. Until today, no country has succeeded in founding a socialist society based on scientific socialism, which is the ideal realm of Marxism. How then can one prophesy its total defeat?"

They go on to say:

"Real socialism cannot be established in just one or several isolated countries (least of all in Third World countries). Neither can a real democratic system be established in only one or several isolated countries. Real socialism must be built up progressively on the basis, for example, of the experience of the Paris Commune and of the soviets which resulted in the [Russian] October Revolution."

The editorial then attacks the Stalinist policy of allowing ever-growing imperialist penetration into the workers' states, pointing out that the bureaucrats are becoming "compradores of capitalism" and are seeking to establish a "new liberal form of bureaucratic capitalism." It concludes by calling for genuine proletarian internationalism to defend the Chinese anti-bureaucratic revolution.

The people who are involved in the "Association" that publishes Open Forum are not of secondary importance in the Chinese pro-Democracy Movement. The main person in this current is Lin Xilin, who was imprisoned for 15 years in China after her leading role during the 1956 "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom" period.

Another person involved in this magazine is Yue Wu, who was one of the central leaders of the Autonomous Workers Federation of Peking. Yue Wu was one of the coordinators of the workers' contingent at Tiananmen Square.

Others include lesser-known leaders of the student movement at Tiananmen Square, journalists, workers, and intellectuals. All of them are in exile. Most of them live in France, where the pro-socialist Chinese dissidents have regrouped.

(Unfortunately nearly all the Chinese dissidents in the United States have been co-opted by the U.S. State Department-even though George Bush sends friendly delegations to visit Deng Xiaoping and refuses to extend their student visas.)

Impact of Eastern Europe One of the reasons why these Chinese dissidents have developed so quickly over the past year is the unfolding political revolution in Eastern Europe.

On Jan. 9, for example, the core group of the "Association for a New Path" issued a statement titled, "For our people, hope has been renewed with the demonstrations in Eastern Europe. " In it they write:

STO "What do the Romanian people and we have in common? They, like we, fought a dictator who claimed to represent the working class but who starved the people to pay back the debt owed to the International Monetary Fund, and who didn't hesitate to massacre the people at Timisoara to hold onto power.

"The Chinese workers are also held under tight rein under pretext that it is necessary to pay back the imperialist debt. But the debt of Deng Xiaoping is not the debt of the Chinese people. No more than the Romanian people, the Chinese people never saw a single cent of these loans benefit them; the money was used to enrich the layer of corrupt bureaucrats who are willing to sell the country off to the highest bidder, just like in the days prior to the War of Liberation.

"For our people, who were in shock after June 4, hope was renewed with the demonstrations in Eastern Europe. Hence one could read dazibao [political posters] in Peking This is obviously what brought fear to the bureaucrats. They may have been able to co-opt the student movement, but when the workers began to mobilize around their own demands, this was too much for Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng.

But what this meant is that the large bulk of those who were arrested and tortured after the June 4 crackdown were workers. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times (Feb. 6, 1990) bears this out. The article states:

"The Asia Watch report [which was released the previous day] notes that there have been at least 40 officially announced executions of protesters, including many convicted only of crimes against property, such as burning vehicles or setting fire to trains.

"While most international attention has been focused on the situation of students and intellectuals, the Asia Watch report states that 'it is the workers in China who have in fact borne the brunt of the recent and continuing repression.'

----- pull-quotes -----

MEANS FRCEDOM