Internationalism | Mike Martin

This is a transcript of a talk on Internationalism given to a recent Sheffield Left Unity meeting by local supporter Mike Martin

“Workers of all Lands Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win.” Marx, Communist Manifesto 1848.

International organisation is an objective necessity for the working class. We would not think of confining political or economic struggle to one district, so as capital is global workers must combine globally. Moreover, ideas cross national boundaries; witness the influence of Thomas Paine on both the American and French revolutions.

By the time Marx was writing capitalism was breaking down old feudal barriers and a working class was emerging – a class without property to defend – that could be seen as the bearer of civilised values, in contrast to the reactionary regimes that dominated Europe.

It was clear that the working class could only progress through independent organisation. In Britain the Chartists were the first political mobilisation of the class, retreating later into trade unionism. The slogan “workers of the world unite!” was put into practice in the International Working Mens Association or First International (1864). It did indeed lead acts of solidarity, such as preventing the movement of strike breakers and agitating against slavery in the American Civil War. However, the movement foundered on the conservatism of the English Trade Unions (essentially male dominated craft unions) which were more at home with the Liberals than with class warfare. Some supporters of the International were prominent in the 1871 Paris Commune – the first glimpse of workers in power.

In 1889 the Second International or Socialist International was formed. This had much greater organisational success, especially in Germany, but again conservatism among functionaries, especially in the trade unions meant that increasingly only lip service was paid to principled politics. Conferences passed motions against war and threatened strikes in the event of an outbreak. When war came in 1914 the great majority sided each with their own ruling class and voted for national defence, sending workers into battle to slaughter each other.

Both these experiences pointed to the need for a clear revolutionary programme representing independent politics of the working class as an international class. In reaction to the collapse of the Second International and following the Russian Revolution the Bolsheviks founded the 3rd International (Comintern), based on 21 conditions (few of todays revolutionaries would qualify).

This time, backed by state power the Communist International appeared poised to make real gains and millions around the world rallied to the banner of the Russian Revolution. The Bolsheviks had taken power on the explicit assumption that Russia 1917 was the start of the world revolution, and everything was subordinate to that objective. Following the failure of the revolution to spread to Germany and given the isolation of Russia after years of civil war and foreign intervention, conservative forces again appeared. Voices emerged around the Stalin faction of the growing soviet bureaucracy to claim that it was possible to build socialism in one country. Effectively this meant turning away from world revolution. The Comintern gradually turned into an obstacle to revolution, an arm of soviet diplomacy. The bureaucracy emerged as an actively counter-revolutionary force, slaughtering marxists inside the USSR and imposing disastrous policies on the world movement.

Opposition movements in the Russian CP including a large Left opposition led by Trotsky resisted these developments and faced expulsion exile imprisonment and death – thousands perished. After the defeat in Germany where Stalinist policies had opened the way to the Nazis, Trotsky began preparations for the 4th International, launched in 1938, returning to the principles of the October revolution. Objective conditions did not favour the new movement which was not in a position to lead many mass struggles and which faced harassment from all sides and the murder of its leaders.

In the post-war period the FI faced a crisis of perspective. Whereas in the 1st World War regimes collapsed and revolutions were possible, after the 2nd due to the success of the Red Army and the role of Social Democracy in the west, Stalinism and reformism emerged strengthened and dominated the workers movement. Many Trotskyists concluded that the answer to this had to be a long term project of entry in the mass organisations -effectively liquidation. Others led by James P Cannon of the US SWP opposed this trend and the movement split in 1953. In 1963 a reunification took place, mainly between SWP and the European sections based on adaptation to 3rd world movements and in particular to the idea that the success of the Cuban revolution meant that revolutions could take place without a revolutionary party. In 1969 the Unified Secretariat at its 9th World Congress voted in favour of guerrilla warfare, with disastrous results in Argentina. The trotskyists who refused to join the unification in 1963 grouped around the International Committee. The biggest problem for the International Committee was that its leading figure was Gerry Healy. After an internal crisis in the WRP its British section Healy was expelled. The International Committee undertook a re-examination of the history of the movement and established the political basis for its work centred on the World Socialist Web (www.wsws.org)

The core ideas of the Fourth International remain relevant and despite the fashion for criticising the movement it emerges with more to its credit than any of the 57 varieties of Stalinism, Maoism, Castroism. Most left radical groups, whether they like it or not trace their origins to the FI, having diverged over some historically significant event (Cold War, origins of the Cliff group).

The main principles of internationalism I would describe as follows;

Political analysis should begin with assessment of developments in the world as a whole rather than the peculiarities of a particular country.

No national solutions to current problems, no Socialism in one country.

Theory of Permanent Revolution, developed by Trotsky but has its origins in Marx’s observations on the inability of the bourgeoisie to complete even its own democratic tasks. It falls to the workers movement to lead the struggle for democratic demands and continue on to socialism (no Stalinist “stages” of allying with bourgeoisie in popular front movements). Political independence of the working class.

Opposition to Bureaucracy, both in the state and in the workers movement. Stalinism was its most virulent expression.

Crisis of leadership. Existing leaderships of the workers have failed and must be challenged politically and removed. Many radical groups think wrongly that these leaders can be pressured to lead in a principled way.