I N D E F E N C E O F

MARXISM
THEORETICAL QUARTERLY OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARXIST TENDENCY

ANGELA DAVIS: FROM RADICAL TO ESTABLISHMENT

BOOK REVIEW: CHARTISM IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL
MARXISM & THE STATE
“WITHOUT REVOLUTIONARY THEORY, THERE CAN BE NO REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT” - LENIN

31
AUTUMN 2020
MARXIST.COM
1
 31
I N D E F E N C E O F

AUTUMN 2020
MARXISM
In Defence of Marxism aims to analyse revolutionary Editorial Board Contact us
developments internationally, as well as dealing with Rob Sewell, Fred editor@marxist.com
art, science and philosophy. In fighting for the ideas Weston, Alan Woods, Ana In Defence of
of Marxism, we also fight bourgeois, reformist and Muñoz, Jorge Martín Marxism
revisionist ideas that weaken the cause of socialism PO Box E14 6WG
Design & Layout
and the working class. Our prime task is the building 0207 739 2544
Daniel Morley
of a powerful worldwide Marxist tendency based on
the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. As Marx Subscription
explained: “Philosophers have only interpreted the UK £12, Europe £22/€26
world; the point, however, is to change it.” World £26/€32
Digital £8

CONTENTS
3 6
EDITORIAL ANGELA DAVIS:
FROM RADICAL TO
ESTABLISHMENT

12 16
THE CHARTIST IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL
REVOLUTION

27
MARXISM AND THE STATE: PART II
EDITORIAL
THE COMING
REVOLUTIONARY CRISIS

I f the early 2000s were marked by

the global war on terror, the 2010s
by post-crisis economic recovery
makers across the globe have most-
ly reacted with limited concessions
and a clampdown by security forces,
storm which has been brewing for
years. Everywhere is affected in this
truly global crisis.
and the rise of populism, the 2020s but without addressing the underly- Britain is very much caught up in
appear set to become the decade of ing causes. However, even if tackled this process. The British economy,
rage, unrest and shifting geo-politi- immediately, most of the grievances which was already in a parlous state,
cal sands.” This was the opening par- are deeply entrenched and would has been hammered over the recent
agraph of a report entitled “Political take years to address. With this in period. Output in the first six months
Risk Outlook 2020” by the Verisk Ma- mind, 2020 is unlikely to be a flash of 2020 was down 22%, on an annual-
plecroft consultancy firm in January in the pan. The next 12 months are ised basis, three times greater than
of this year. likely to yield more of the same, and the fall of 2008-9 and even 1929-31.
Bear in mind that this report was companies and investors will have to According to the Financial Times,
issued before the present crisis and learn to adapt to live with this ‘new “nothing like it has been seen since
pandemic, which already painted a normal.” the Great Frost of 1709.”
picture of a world in the grip of po- This is a remarkably frank assess- Perhaps a more accurate analogy
litical and social upheaval. They have ment of the world situation and the would be the Black Death of the 14th
come to the same conclusions as the prospects that lie ahead. This was century that undermined feudal so-
Marxists, that we have entered an followed by a new Deutsche Bank ciety. In a similar fashion, this pan-
epoch of revolution and counter-rev- report which highlighted an “age of demic is contributing to the demise
olution, although these strategists disorder.” As we have explained re- of capitalism, contributing to the
are advisers to big business. peatedly, upheaval and unrest is set growing anger everywhere.
In reviewing the situation, the re- to increase and is part of the “new Following the 2008 slump, the
port continues, “The pent-up rage normal.” biggest since the 1930s, capitalist
that boiled over into street protests The world capitalist crisis and pan- commentators were sniggering that
over the past year has caught most demic has only intensified the situa- despite the crisis there was no rev-
governments by surprise. Policy tion. In many ways, it is like a perfect olution. The Financial Times com-
BACK TO CONTENTS 3 EDITORIAL
mented, “In many respects, the big In Britain, the current leadership the past period.
surprise of the populist insurgency of the Tory Party is moulded in the Now, given the wretched member-
is that it has not been bigger. In an- image of Boris Johnson, a complete ship of the Tory Party, the mad ranks
other age, the 2008 crash might have political maverick and charlatan. of the petty-bourgeoisie, who can
triggered a revolution.” (FT, 11 Sep- Johnson was not the candidate of now choose the leader, the ruling
tember 2015) the bourgeois for Tory leader, as he class has lost control over a bour-
The strategists of capital should was clearly not up to the task. He geois party that was considered at
have heeded the old Yiddish curse, surrounded himself with Brexiteers, one point as the most successful in
May you get what you wish for. the most narrow minded and ob- Europe, if not the world. How far the
While the Boris Johnson govern- tuse of people. Dominic Cummings, mighty have fallen! The Tory party has
ment struggles to escape from the Johnson’s chief adviser, publicly ad- become Brexitised and consumed
vertised for “misfits and weirdos” to with narrow nationalism. Boris John-

“
lockdown, a second wave of the
pandemic is starting to develop in join him in Number Ten. son epitomises this wretchedness.
Britain as elsewhere, threatening to And this at the very time when
once again derail everything. British capitalism has entered the
The desperate attempts to bailout Starmer is a man the deepest of crises and when a strong,
the capitalist system has sent debt ruling class can do far-sighted and flexible leadership
levels spiralling to levels never ex- business with. In fact, is required. The Tory leaders cannot
perienced in peacetime. In the UK, see into next week, let alone having
he has lined himself up
public borrowing hit £150bn in the a long-term strategy. It is a govern-
with and defended big ment of crisis, forced into U-turns at
space of four months. The forecast
business even more every juncture. Johnson is clearly a
for March 2021 is around £400bn, an
unprecedented level.
than the Tories. He is a man out of his depth. Within a matter
loyal representative of of months, he has squandered all his
Of course, the working class will
be asked to pay the bill through more
capitalism and will do political capital and his lead in the
brutal austerity. There will be no es- their bidding. polls has collapsed.
cape from this. A second decade of As we enter the winter months,
austerity is staring us in the face. How degenerate have the bour- with the virus out of control and hos-
geois politicians become! This is a pitals filling up, Britain could also
On top of this we are facing the
reflection of the decay and decline of end up out of Europe without a deal.
prospect of Brexit at the end of the
British capitalism. This really is a perfect storm.
year, when this transitional period
will come to an end. Given the grow- In the 19th century, when Britain The right wing has regained con-
ing belligerent mood, there is a real was a leading power, the ruling class trol of the leadership in the Labour
danger that the UK and the EU will was extremely confident and rested Party under Sir Keir Starmer. With
not reach a trade agreement. The at- on representatives of the aristocra- the election of Sir Ed Davy in the Lib-
tempt by Britain to override the Brex- cy for guidance. They were able to eral Party, the two main opposition
it treaty has been met with threats take a more detached and long term parties now have leaders who are
of immediate legal action from Brus- view of things. As Trotsky explained, knights of the realm. Given the class
sels, an indication of a sharp esca- “The strength of the British bourgeoi- polarisation in society, this will not
lation between the two sides. Brexit, sie lay in its maturity, its wealth, its sit well with a radicalised working
whatever the deal, will be bad for world power…” He went on to show class.
British capitalism as market access their long-sightedness, thinking in Starmer has adopted a policy
to European markets will come with terms of centuries and continents. of “constructive opposition”, which
a price. A No Deal Brexit will be a ca- But that was long ago, when Brit- means in practise siding with the To-
lamity of the first order. ain “ruled the waves”. Today, Britain ries on many issues. Starmer sees
The British ruling class are exas- has been reduced to a second rate himself as the statesman. “The La-
perated at the situation. For the first power on the fringes of Europe. It has bour Party is under new manage-
time ever, they have lost control over long since lost its empire and world ment”, he proudly proclaimed. He is a
the Tory Party, as the ruling class in dominance. This decline of British man the ruling class can do business
the USA has lost control over the Re- capitalism went hand in hand with with. In fact, he has lined himself up
publican Party. This is an astonishing a degeneration of the bourgeois and with and defended big business even
state of affairs. their representatives, especially over more than the Tories. He opposes the

BACK TO CONTENTS 4 EDITORIAL

raising of Corporation Tax on compa- bour is invited in it might be difficult Only a bold militant stand will deliv-
nies, which the Tories were consid- to refuse.” er any chance of resistance. The very
ering. Starmer is a loyal represent- Even some union leaders, like Ma- struggle and the crisis of capitalism
ative of capitalism and will do their nuel Cortes, general secretary of will transform the consciousness of
bidding. He opposed the NEU when TSSA, called for political parties to the working class and new fresh lay-
they objected to opening schools for “work together” to defeat the pan- ers will enter into struggle. The idea
fear of spreading the virus. demic. of changing society will come to the
He is attempting to push the La- Sir Keir Starmer would jump at the fore as never before.
bour Party to the right, hoping in turn opportunity. This is where “construc- The trade union leaders will be
to demoralise the left in the party, a tive opposition” would end up. This forced to put themselves at the head
layer of which have already left the would be a betrayal on the lines of of this struggle or they will be re-
party. He has been able to do this as Ramsay MacDonald in 1931, who put placed by those willing to fight. In
the pandemic has meant that local the “national interests” above party the process, the trade unions will be
parties have not been meeting. But loyalty. Such a move would provoke transformed and shift further to the
there is enormous resentment build- massive opposition in the labour left. This, in turn, will also feed back
ing up against him. A recent poll of movement. It could even provoke a into the Labour Party.
party members showed the massive split in the Labour Party at a certain We are entering an unprecedent-

“
polarisation in the party. stage. ed period of class struggle. Within
Tony Blair pointed out that the only this, the ideas of Marxism will gain
way to win back complete control for a greater echo. The crisis of British
the right is to purge 300,000 mem- and world capitalism is preparing
bers. But this is easier said than done. We are entering an revolutionary upheavals in all coun-
The struggle in the party is far from unprecedented period of tries. In the coming period, with all
class struggle. Within this,
over, despite what some on the left the ebbs and flows, the question of
the ideas of Marxism will
think. It is a struggle of living forces. gain a greater echo. The
the revolutionary socialist transfor-
The events of the coming months and crisis of British and world mation of society will be posed. The
years will be like a hammer blow that capitalism is preparing task for the Marxist tendency is to
will continually churn up the situa- revolutionary upheavals in prepare for this politically and or-
tion. We are in a period of sharp and all countries. In the coming ganisationally, by building its forces
sudden changes, in which it is wise period, with all the ebbs and forging deep roots in the work-
to prepare for the unexpected. and flows, the question of ing class.
The Boris Johnson government the revolutionary socialist Trotsky wrote his book Where is
may soon find itself on the rocks. transformation of society Britain Going? in 1925 to arm the
He has warned that the situation is will be posed. The task for young British Communist Party. In it,
going to get even tougher. “The wa- the Marxist tendency is to he explained, “The conditions under-
ters are about to get choppier”, said prepare for this politically mining British society will inevitably
Johnson, the understatement of the and organisationally, by intensify. We do not intend to predict
century. There is already talk of re- building its forces and the exact tempo of this process, but it
forging deep roots in the
placing him with Sunak, the Chancel- will be measurable in terms of years,
working class.
lor. There is a lot of disquiet on the or in terms of five years at the most;
Tory backbenches. certainly not decades. This general
The ruling class, feeling the abyss However, given the growth in mass prospect requires us to ask above all
opening up in front of them, may de- unemployment, sackings and wage the question: will a Communist Par-
cide to either get rid of him or even cuts that are looming, the struggle ty be built in Britain in time with the
push for a National government. will undoubtedly shift to the industri- strength and the links with the mass-
Again, there has been talk about this, al front. es to be able to draw out at the right
and not only in private. “If Keir Starm- The working class is facing a storm. moment all the necessary practical
er manages to hold the government’s The trade unions, the basic defence conclusions from the sharpening cri-
feet too close to the fire,” wrote Lord organisations of the working class, sis? It is in this question that Great
Mandelson, the arch-Blairite, “a coa- will be forced into battle. Given the Britain’s fate is today contained.”
lition of some sort will begin to look scale of what is coming the unions
more attractive to Johnson and if La- will face unprecedented challenges.

BACK TO CONTENTS 5 EDITORIAL

ANGELA DAVIS: FROM RADICAL
TO ESTABLISHMENT
WITH THE RISE OF BLACK
LIVES MATTER INTO A RADICAL
MASS MOVEMENT, MANY ARE
REDISCOVERING ONE OF THE
HEROES OF THE STRUGGLE
FOR BLACK LIBERATION IN THE
‘70S. FIONA LALI ANALYSES HER
THEORETICAL IDEAS

A ngela Davis has been a source

of inspiration for revolutionaries
all over the world. Over the course
a murder that took place in a court-
hourse that sought to free 3 Panther
members. After being held in jail
and statistics how black women have
been exploited throughout America’s
history. As Malcom X once said “The
of her life, particularly during the for a year, she was acquitted of all most disrespected person in Ameri-
‘70s, she fought tremendously along- charges in 1972. No doubt her first ca is the black woman. The most un-
side countless others to advance the hand experience of the state formed protected person in America is the
cause of black liberation. In particu- her outlook on the world, and deter- black woman. The most neglected
lar, she fought in defence of black mination to fight capitalism. person in America is the Black wom-
prisoners, and has written and spo- Today, however, Davis is known for an.”
ken extensively on how the prison supporting Biden. How does a com- Naturally, activists and young peo-
industrial complex oppresses black munist go from Marx, to supporting ple involved with BLM are looking at
people. the Biden-Harris ticket? The 60s and the Civil Right Movements for lessons
Her most famous theoretical con- early 70s were a period of height- and ideas. Angela Davis has become
tribution is Women, Race and Class ened class struggle in America, and a symbol of that era. Not for noth-
(1981). Her respect and authority in all over the world. In such a time, it ing either: she was wanted by the
the movement comes from her long is natural for leaders/figures to be FBI - and while she was in jail ‘Free
period of activism, particularly with borne out of that struggle. Davis inad- Angela’ was a common cause. Even
the Black Panthers (although it’s un- vertently became this. It is important aesthetically, Davis and the Panthers
clear if she formally joined). Her po- to examine the ideas she expressed presented as symbols of resistance
litical work and education was with at that time. Today, with the surge of against racism. But we must go be-
the Communist Party. Eventually her BLM, Davis is being suggested as es- yond surface level symbolism and
membership of the Communist party sential reading for anti-racists. examine her ideas. Despite her polit-
and association with the Black Pan- Davis’ book maps the position of ical activism, the book has important
thers led to her dismissal from her black women in America from slav- limitations.
university post. She rose to fame ery to contemporary times. Davis Women, Race and Class was writ-
when on trial for her alleged role in shows through first hands accounts ten in 1981, just as the class struggle
BACK TO CONTENTS 6 ANGELA DAVIS
was ebbing. This ebb is reflected in no genuine interest in advancing the vis documents how petty bourgeois
her confusion. Although she quotes cause for black liberation, or work- white women became involved in the
Marx and presents capitalism as the ing class struggle. Davis leaves this movement for abolition. They felt a
problem, it reads more as an evalu- unsaid, which can obfuscate the connection with slaves. In fact they
ation of the suffrage movement and class role in liberation struggles. compared their own positions, as
its racism, rather than an explana- The title Women, race, and class docile wives trapped in marriage, as
tion for how black women can lib- presents the main problem. Wom- akin to slavery. As crude as that may
erate themselves through the class en, race, and class are not parallel seem, it formed the basis for some
struggle. This is where we must crit- identities that orbit each other. This solidarity which Davis recognises as
icise her. Often, Davis fails to fully is typically how identity politics pre- important.
support or put forward a position. sents things. It would be unfair to
In one chapter titled ‘Communist Dialectical relationship between
brush Davis off as a proponent of all
Women’ she gives mini biographies women’s struggle and racism
such ideas - especially at this stage
of different communist women, sum- in her political life (the ‘70s). How- A number of petty-bourgeois white
marising their ideas, but does not ever, herein lies the main point - the women enthusiastically took part in

“
elaborate on her support or disa- need for absolute political clarity in the fight for abolition in spite of the
greements with them. our ideas. The book is an excellent sexist attitude of some of its leaders.
report on these movements - but Davis comments that some of this
does not provide answers on how ex- sexism from prominent black lead-
actly Davis thinks women, race, and ers may have fed the racist attitude
The only way to fight class correspond. Her main focus is the suffrage leaders later adopted.
the sexism that existed on sexism in the abolition movement However, Frederick Douglass stood
and racism in the suffrage move- out as an exception to this rule. Doug-
within the abolition
ment. But she leaves unanswered lass enthusiastically supported the
movement, was for suffrage movement and introduced
the key question - how can we fight
women to continually these? the question of women’s rights to ab-
fight for abolition. The olition. Whilst other abolition leaders
struggles for democratic Where did oppression come were happy to accept this support,
rights for all people, from? many of them were of the view that
black or female, need to Race relations in America can only the woman’s question should be left
be linked for them all to be understood historically. The tran- aside.
be successful. Marx said, sition from slavery to wage labour On the question between women’s
in relation to the national is one that took place, not for some rights and liberation, Davis seems
moral revelation on behalf of the to go back and forth. She praises, in
question, “a nation that
slave-owning class, but thanks to the particular the Grimke sisters, who
oppresses another can crushing force and superiority of the unapologetically claimed that wom-
never itself be free” emerging bourgeoisie in the North, en’s liberation and black liberation
Throughout the book, the position who swept out the slave-owning were intertwined.
of black women is constantly pre- class in the South in order to enable “In her speech she proposed a
sented in opposition to that of white the free, unimpeded development of radical theory and practice which
petty bourgeois women who led the capitalism. Davis identifies this her- could have been realized through
suffrage movement in America. How- self. an alliance embracing labor, Black
ever, not much attention is given to The fight for abolition took place people and women. If, as Karl
the experience or role of poor white/ in this revolutionary period of ear- Marx said, “labor in a white skin
working class women. Unlike in Brit- ly capitalism. Although as Marxists, can never be free as long as labor
ain, there was less engagement by we understand that the true motive in a black skin is branded,” it was
the working class in the early suf- behind abolition for the emerging also true, as Angelina Grimke lu-
frage movement in the US. This is northern capitalists was economic, cidly insisted, that the democratic
partly because the working class it’s clear that there was huge moral struggles of the times —especial-
was still underdeveloped - but it is outrage at the existence of slavery ly the fight for women’s equality—
an important distinction to make. amongst the working class and mid- could be most effectively waged in
Petty bourgeois white women at the dle class in the northern states. Da- association with the struggle for
head of the suffrage movement had
BACK TO CONTENTS 7 ANGELA DAVIS
 Black Liberation.” ship between the two causes” ern women from joining the cause.

“
To this we say Grimke is absolutely And they were right to! They weren’t But it was not just women from the
correct. Davis, as we will later show, just fighting for the freedom of black south who were alienated.
seems hesitant to commit to this people in the abstract, but black
analysis. Backward attitudes can women too, who in turn should have
be overcome most quickly through the right to vote. Unfortunately the
class struggle. This has been the position of the Grimke sisters was The class struggle cannot
case for advancing women’s rights not shared by other women’s suf- ignore race, when it is race
throughout history. The only way to frage leaders. Later on, many wom- that so clearly defines
fight the sexism that existed with- en who had supported abolition, re- the experience of the
in the abolition movement, was for scinded that support once they felt it black worker. It is race
women to continually fight for abo- threatened their chances at political that detaches the black
lition. The struggles for democratic equality with bourgeois men. Eliza- worker from the rest of the
rights for all people, black or female, beth Stanton was an example of this. working class. The labour
need to be linked for them all to be After abolition was achieved, suf- movement is not colourless,
successful. Marx said, in relation to frage leaders felt it was ‘their turn’. indeed racism was rife in
the national question, “a nation that “When Mr. Downing puts the ques- the US labour movement,
oppresses another can never itself tion to me: are you willing to have and therefore had to be
be free”. Therefore women must fight the colored man enfranchised be- consciously driven out of it
for black people, and black people fore the women, I say no; I would so that the movement could
must fight for women. We cannot not trust him with my rights; de- be at the forefront of the
separate these struggles, isolate and graded, oppressed himself, he fight against racism.
individualise them, but link them to- would be more despotic with the
gether with a common political goal. governing power than ever our White working class women, on
It is not a question of “If” Marx is Saxon rulers are.” the whole, were not actively engaged
right. in movement (at least not until the
Stanton’s despair at black men gain- early 20th Century and the influence
Some of the leading men in the ab- ing the vote over women is revealing
olitionist movement thought the ad- of the Socialist Party, which took up
of her racism. The category of wom- the cause for women’s suffrage). It
vancement of women’s rights was a en seems to stop where the race of
distraction, and would alienate peo- is presented that they were more
the individual is different to white. concerned with their immediate eco-
ple who only wanted to fight for ab- Stanton is concerned that the op-
olition. In response Angelina Grimke nomic needs (to Stanton’s distaste)
pression black men had suffered as rather than political equality. The in-
said: slaves would create some form of ability to connect political demands
“What then can woman do to free vengeful administration - she seems with economic ones reveals the class
the slave when she herself is slave unconcerned for what this would outlook of the suffrage leaders.
to the man?” mean for black women, though. Da- But this quotation reveals anoth-
Herein lies the crux of liberation. That vis documents how racist women’s er side to it. These women came to
rather than be separate to ensure suffrage became. view themselves as protectors of the
authenticity in fighting, each oppres- “As racism developed more dura- white race first and foremost. There-
sion and its abolition is dependent ble roots within white women’s or- fore this campaign strengthened,
on the other. Davis even commends ganizations, so too did the sexist above all, the ruling class. Bourgeois
them on this: cult of motherhood creep into the women sought to become equals
“Because the Grimke sisters had very movement whose announced with their men, only so they could ex-
such a profound consciousness of aim was the elimination of male ploit and oppress black people and
the inseparability of the fight for supremacy” the working class in equal measure.
black liberation and the fight for Davis claims that the two campaigns Davis presents this in moralistic
women’s liberation, they were nev- strengthened each other - white terms, but does not seem to highlight
er caught in the ideological snare supremacy and women’s suffrage. the role that the ruling class played
of insisting that one struggle was Many of the suffrage leaders claimed in furthering this split between wom-
absolutely more important than they could not be advocates for black en’s rights and black equality.
the other. They recognised the di- liberation as it would prevent south-
alectical character of the relation-
BACK TO CONTENTS 8 ANGELA DAVIS
Splits in the movements Marxists and communists to rank Rights Association in 1869m So-
As the constitution was being drawn struggles in order of oppression. journer Truth had recognised the
up, and the 15th Amendement prohib- Davis identifies Douglass’ other dangerous racism in the feminists
ited disenfranchisement on the basis shortcomings. He had a misplaced opposition to Black male suffrage.
of race, colour, previous servitude but trust in the Republican party, the In Frederick Douglass’ words, the
not sex this lay the ground work for party of capitalism, to be a vehicle position of Stanton’s and Antho-
a split between the suffrage leaders through which such equality could ny’s supporters was that …”no
and abolitionists. They were organ- arrive. This is because the Repub- Negro shall be enfranchised while
ised as the ‘Equal Rights Association’ licans supported giving black men the woman is not”
but this quickly fell apart. Douglass the vote. “This is the Negro’s hour” Davis seems to commend Sojourner
maintained that the amendment they claimed. However, the purpose Truth for realising the importance of
needed to be accepted, as a form of of this was to solidify those votes giving black men the vote. However,
much needed self defence for black for their party - it was not a commit- Truth is right - Douglass’ position is
people to quickly gain political equal- ment to black equality. It was simply clearly a betrayal of black women.
ity. He described it as “culmination the dawn of capitalist exploitation, The consequence of this split be-
of one-half of our demands’ ‘ and he against blacks and whites. tween the equal rights association
noted that the position of black peo- By comparison, the Democrats served only the ruling class. Should
ple was miles away from that of the were nominally supporting giving the right to vote for women have
suffrage leaders. women the right to vote. This is be- subsided until black people had
“When women, because they are cause the Democrats, who were tied greater economic standing? Davis is
women, are dragged from their to the old slave owning class, want- almost deliberately non-committal in
homes and hung upon lamp posts, ed to disenfranchise the black pop- her analysis, but tentatively pushes
when their children are torn from ulation in the South. Davis quotes Douglass.
their arms and their brains dashed one racist Democrat George Francis “Granted, the two Amendments
out upon the pavement; when they Train who said “Woman first and Ne- excluded women from the new
are objects of insult and outrage at gro last is my program”. Stanton was process of enfranchisement and
every turn; when they are in dan- more than happy to work with the were thus interpreted by them as
ger of having their homes burnt Democrats on this issue. detrimental to their political aims.
down over their heads; when their This was clearly two wings of Granted, they felt they had as pow-
children are not allowed to enter the ruling class inflaming a divide erful a case for suffrage as Black
schools; then they will have an ur- for their own interest. Davis sees men. Yet in articulating their op-
gency to obtain the ballot equal to through the republican and demo- position with arguments invoking
our own.” - Douglass to ERA 1869 crat strategy, but still seems to fall the privileges of white suprema-
Commenting on this, Davis contra- on the side of Douglass: cy, they revealed how defenseless
dicts her earlier statement about “Two years earlier, Sojourner Truth they remained—even after years
the dialectical relationship between might possibly have opposed the of involvement in progressive
struggles by saying: position of Frederick Douglass. At causes—to the pernicious ideo-
“As blunt and polemical as this ar- the 1867 ERA Convention she had logical influence of racism.”
gument may have been, there was opposed the ratification of the Davis writes off the suffrage leaders
a lucidity about it that was unmis- Fourteenth Amendment because it as being just racist. In doing this,
takable...Its vivid visual imagery effectively denied the franchise to she abandons a class analysis. The
demonstrated that the former Black women: dialectical relationship must flow in
Black slaves suffered an oppres- “There is a great stir about colour- both directions. We do not comment
sion that was qualitatively and ed men getting their rights, but not on these events to pass judgement
brutally different from the predic- a word about the coloured wom- on Douglass or otherwise, nor from
ament of white middle-class wom- an, and if coloured men get their narrow academic interests - we do
en” rights , and not coloured women so to learn lessons - this is the funda-
Objectively, this is true. At this time, theirs, you see the coloured men mental part missing from the book.
when lynching was a common oc- will be masters over the woman At this time, the working class
coruence, it is understandable why and it will be just as bad as it was was clearly underdeveloped. It would
at first thought, one would side with before” miss the point for us to criticise
Douglass. But it is not the role of “By the final meeting of the Equal Douglass and the abolitionists for
BACK TO CONTENTS 9 ANGELA DAVIS
lacking a class analysis. It would be argument that Debs did not consider one. Thus her position, like that of
like criticising the Levellers in the the issue of racism important. Again Debs, glossed over the national or
English Revolution for not building a we have a moralistic judgement on racial oppression in favour of class
Bolshevik party. They had no example a previous movement without ad- unity in an abstract way. In reality, if
to follow and the material conditions equate explanation. But we cannot racial and national oppression are
were not ripe enough. blindly hold people to standards ignored by the labour movement,
However, what we can do is look without explaining their context. The working class unity across national
at what happened as a consequence full quotation is: and racial divides will prove elusive.
of this entirely understandable lack “The Negro does not need them The major difference between Lux-
of class analysis. Splits opened up in and they serve to increase rather emburg and Debs here is that Luxem-
the movement and it became suscep- than diminish the necessity for ex- burg dismissed the national question
tible to prejudice injected into it by planation. We have nothing special despite being from an oppressed
two wings of the ruling class. That to offer the Negro, and we cannot nation. Debs, clearly, was not being
must be our takeaway from the move- make appeals to all the races. The ultra-left, but rather mechanical in
ment - not just a commentary on the Socialist Party is the party of the his application. This is what we must
racism of a movement’s leaders. working class, regardless of color learn from these movements, so as
— the whole working class of the not to repeat the same mistakes in
How can the class struggle play whole world.” our analysis. But despite his flaws, it
a role? helps nothing by selectively quoting
In the same essay, he says:
At the turn of the century, the Amer- him to make him appear worse than
“I have said and say again that,

“
ican Socialist party was formed. Dif- he was, to give the impression that
properly speaking, there is no
ferent socialist organisations exist- he was racist.
Negro question outside of the la-
ed, but the Socialist party was the
bor question—the working class
most prominent. Its leader Eugene
struggle. Our position as Social-
Debs twice won over 900,000 votes
ists and as a party is perfectly
in presidential elections. Although All over the world, millions
plain. We have simply to say: “The
there was still some way to go, the have protested for Black
class struggle is colorless.” The
beginnings of the 20th Century saw Lives Matter. The working
capitalists, white, black and other
a maturing of the working class and class, black and white,
shades, are on one side and the
its organisations, as well as the be-
workers, white, black and all oth- is moving. These events
ginnings of its connection with an-
er colors, on the other side. ” will leave Davis behind.
ti-racism. However, a large amount
of chauvinism still existed in the un- Whilst the general argument is cor- A powerful anger and
ions, not only on the question of race, rect, what’s clear from this is Debs’ energy exists amongst the
but women’s rights as well. Davis fo- mechanical approach. The class youth in particular. If the
cuses in particular on the question struggle cannot ignore race, when movement was organised
of racism, and comments that the it is race that so clearly defines the around a revolutionary
labour movement still did not take experience of the black worker. It is programme, it could
up the struggle in the way it should race that detaches the black worker mobilise the full strength
have: from the rest of the working class. of the working class to
“Even the outstanding leader Eu- The labour movement is not colour- strike a blow against the
gene Debs argued that Black peo- less, indeed racism was rife in the capitalist system
ple required no overall defense of US labour movement, and therefore
their rights to be equal and free had to be consciously driven out of it
so that the movement could be at the Lessons for today:
as a group. Since the Socialists’
overriding concern was the strug- forefront of the fight against racism. Marxism is not about describing
gle between capital and labor, so Debs’ position can be compared previous events but revealing the
Debs maintained, “we have noth- to that of Rosa Luxemburg on the mainsprings of them, and learning
ing special to offer the Negro.” national question, who came out the lessons. Why do we still have rac-
against the right of nations to self-de- ism and sexism, even after the ‘60s
Here Davis deliberately cuts out the and ‘70s, and so long after abolition
termination on the grounds that this
beginning and end of the quotation. and suffrage were won? It is not for
was a bourgeois nationalist demand,
She does this to support her tentative want of descriptions of racism and
and not a working class, socialist
BACK TO CONTENTS 10 ANGELA DAVIS
exhortations about how bad it is. It is at the forefront of the struggles of judgments, but we must understand
instead due to the insecurity, pover- the ‘70s. When the movement ebbed how Davis abandoned class struggle
ty, the uncertainty of capitalism, and she lost her way, and sadly today has for identity politics so that we don’t
the ruling class’ need to divide us. fallen into the trap of identity politics make the same mistakes.
Theory is important, but as Lenin and supports Biden and Harris. This In fact, we have just witnessed the
said it must be a guide to action. The is the direct result of the theoretical biggest social movement in Ameri-
suffrage movement’s leaders were inconsistencies evident in the book. ca’s history. We have more reason to
racist, but what does it mean for the The reality is, Davis has been on be optimistic about the power of the
struggle today? Not only were they this trajectory for a while. She sup- working class. All over the world, mil-
racist, but they sided with the ruling ported Obama in 2008, and again lions have protested for Black Lives
class. Our lesson from this period is in 2012. When it came to Hilary vs Matter. The working class, black and
that the only way to fight for women’s Trump in 2016, she said “I’m not so white, is moving. These events will
rights, or black equality, is through narcissistic to say that I wouldn’t leave Davis behind. A powerful an-
building an independent working vote for her”. And now she’s support- ger and energy exists amongst the
class organisation with a socialist ing Biden-Harris. All of this is in the youth in particular. If the movement
programme. Without this, the move- context of the ‘lesser-evil’ argument was organised around a revolution-
ment can more easily be divided, (bar Obama, whom she described as ary programme, it could mobilise the
protracting the overall struggle. being part of the ‘black radical tra- full strength of the working class to
It seems that there is something dition’.) This is the dead-end of an strike a blow against the capitalist
to learn and appreciate from Davis’s activist who, despite years of politi- system. We should base ourselves on
work, but it fails to put forward actu- cal activity, was not rooted in a clear a new generation of people ready to
al answers. For a long time, it didn’t organisation with theory or meth- fight for a fundamental change to so-
seem to matter. Events were enough od. She may be an inspiration for a ciety, and apply a scientific, Marxist
to sustain her. But this is the point. new generation of activists. But our understanding of the current move-
Davis could get away with this unsci- job is to build on what has come be- ments and how we can intervene in
entific, inconsistent approach when fore. We shouldn’t be dismayed at them to bring about socialist revolu-
her degeneration, or pass moralistic tion all over the world
1920 - WHEN BRITAIN
CAME CLOSE TO
REVOLUTION
THIS MONTH WELLRED BOOKS
WILL PUBLISH A BRAND NEW
TITLE ON THE HISTORY OF
CHARTISM, THE FIRST WORKING
CLASS MASS MOVEMENT
IN WORLD HISTORY. JOSH
HOLROYD REVIEWS THIS TIMELY
BOOK

T he publication of a new book on

Chartism, by Rob Sewell of Social-
ist Appeal, could not come at a more
ally obscured, with the movement
presented as nothing more than a
campaign for the vote. But while the
terloo massacre of 1819.
As the Chartist Reverend Stephens
announced to a crowd of 200,000 in
important time from the standpoint demand of universal male suffrage Lancashire: “This question of univer-
of the British Labour movement. To- was certainly its primary demand, sal suffrage is a knife and fork ques-
day the deepest crisis of British from its very beginning the Chartist tion, a bread and cheese question”.
capitalism in history coincides with movement aimed at far more than a One worker put it even better, de-
a dramatic shift to the right in the formal extension of democracy. claring the aim of the Charter to be
leadership of the Labour Party, and a Behind the purely democratic “plenty of roast beef, plum pudding
period of questioning and uncertain- demands contained in the People’s and strong beer by working three
ty amongst the Left. Charter of 1838, such as the secret hours a day.” As Engels explained at
In politics as in life, it is neces-
ballot and the payment of MPs, stood the time: “‘Political power our means,
sary to “know thyself”, as the sayingmillions of working men and wom- social happiness our end,’ is now the
goes. This applies to whole classes en, whose flesh and blood were be- clearly formulated war-cry of the
as well as to individuals. For the La-
ing quite literally devoured by the Chartists.” We would do well to take
bour movement to succeed it can- insatiable capitalist drive for profit. up this war-cry once more.
not afford to be educated by its ene-As Sewell notes, “It was the heroic Another remarkable feature of
mies. We must therefore have a firm efforts alone of these proletarians Chartism was its internationalism.
grasp of our own history. And there that made the Chartist movement An oft-repeated slander against the
is perhaps no period in history more into the mass force it was destined British working class is that it is by
inspiring, and more full of lessons, to become.” This gave the movement nature narrowly patriotic and dis-
than that of Chartism, the Heroic Agefor the Charter a fundamentally dif- trustful of foreigners. The history of
of the British working class. ferent character to even the most Chartism explodes this myth, which
radical bourgeois democrats. It was comes not from the workers at all
Class movement a class movement, forged over a se- but from the bosses and billionaire
The real history of Chartism is usu- ries of hard lessons, such as the Pe- press barons. Two of the most out-
BACK TO CONTENTS 12 CHARTIST REVOLUTION
standing leaders of the Chartist further action to carry the Charter Marx and Engels comment in the
movement, James Bronterre O’Brien in spite of the opposition of the par- Communist Manifesto that with
and Feargus O’Connor, were Irish- liament of landlords and millowners. every struggle against the bosses
men, and the demand for the repeal Sewell remarks, “In effect, the Con- the working class strives towards
of the Union with Ireland (the end of vention had now become a forum, greater unity and organisation, first
colonial rule) was even included in debating the pros and cons of revo- in an industrial and later also a polit-
the second Chartist petition, which lution and the next steps to be taken.” ical form. Chartism provides us with
garnered over 3 million votes. At the Convention and in the coun- a vibrant record of this process.
The Chartists also took notice of try the physical force Chartists easi- The failure of the first Convention
developments beyond these islands ly carried the day. Weak and isolated, and the inevitable wave of arrests
as well. Revolutionary events in the representatives of moral force and reaction that followed left the
France, Poland and Hungary were fol- left the Convention. The mood was movement with hard questions to
lowed closely. This was a movement summed up by Henry Vincent, who answer. The workers had petitioned
that saw itself as proletarian and explained that “in every town” the parliament, elected their own repre-
international, a link in the chain of workers had “an apparent fixed res- sentatives and even prepared for vio-
a worldwide revolution against tyr- olution to appeal to arms should this lent insurrection, but the loose struc-
anny and exploitation years before last moral effort fail…” ture of the movement had posed an
Marx famously wrote “workers of But the question of what exact- obstacle for unified and decisive ac-
the world unite”. ly to do remained. Its most openly tion.
revolutionary wing, led by the young This led thousands of Chartists to
Reform or revolution firebrand Julian Harney, even called draw the conclusion that something
Chartism was a mass proletari- for the Convention to declare itself a more was needed: a centralised polit-
an movement with the clear aim of workers’ parliament and overthrow ical organisation with its own mem-
transforming society for all, argua- the old regime. One handbill, circu- bership, leadership and programme,
bly the first of its kind. But struggle lating in May 1839, read: “Be patient devoted entirely to the winning of the
does not end there. From the very a day or two, but be ready at a min- Charter. This organisation was the
beginning the history of Chartism ute’s warning; no man knows today National Charter Association (NCA),
is characterised by a fierce debate what tomorrow may bring forth: be founded in 1840. At its height the NCA
over how exactly this task could be ready then to nourish the tree of lib- boasted 50,000 members organised
achieved. erty, WITH BLOOD OF TYRANTS.” This in 500 “classes” or branches. The
Perhaps in no other period of Brit- was no idle threat. Reports of work- first ever political party of the work-
ish history has the question of re- ers arming themselves were pouring ing class had been born.
form or revolution been debated as in from alarmed authorities and po- The Chartist movement was also
openly as in the insurrectionary year lice spies up and down the country. bolstered by its own press, with
of 1839. As the first Chartist peti- When the petition was rejected on O’Connor’s Northern Star represent-
tion was touring the country, adding 12 July, as expected, the delegates of ing the most influential of the Chartist
more than a million signatures to its the Convention prevaricated, unsure papers and, in effect, the official or-
swelling rolls, a national “Convention” of how to transform the their revo- gan of the NCA. This press acted not
was called in a deliberate nod to the lutionary words into action. The idea only as a collective propagandist and
Jacobins of the French Revolution. As of a general strike, or “holy week”, agitator, but also as a collective or-
the delegates assembled from mass was placed on the agenda, only to be ganiser. Reports of workers’ meet-
workers’ meetings up and down the abandoned. But in November 1839 ings and resolutions filled the Star’s
country, the most pressing question the threat of insurrection was trans- pages and lively polemics on strat-
of the day burst to the fore: what to formed into reality when thousands egy and tactics were read avidly by
do if parliament rejected the peti- of Chartist workers, armed and thousands of Chartist workers.
tion? marching in formation, attempted Again, a comparison must be
This immediately provoked a split to take the town of Newport and be- made with today. If ever the need
between the “moral force” Chartists, gin a nationwide revolt. This attempt for an independent workers’ press
who proposed that the Convention would go down to defeat, but the could be seen in Britain, it would be
dissolve itself, having supposedly ghost of Newport would haunt the over the last five years, in which an
achieved its purpose, and the “phys- country for years to come. implacable and ferocious campaign
ical force” Chartists who called for was waged against Corbyn and the
Organisation
BACK TO CONTENTS 13 CHARTIST REVOLUTION
Left by the entirety of the capitalist their determination, not simply to ceed from the obvious potential for
media. The answer of the present return to the wages of 1840, but for insurrection to victory, and for this
leadership of the Labour Party has the Charter to become the law of the movement paid dearly.
been to simply adopt the demands the land. This was a political gener- These figures, for all their weak-
and prejudices of that same media al strike, aiming at nothing less than nesses and limitations, stand like ti-
in the hope that it will win their af- the overthrow of the existing order tans above the cringing imps at the
fection. Such behaviour would have for the benefit of the working class. head of the present Labour move-
been met with derision and disgust This was a revolution. ment. If they faltered in the heat of
amongst the Chartists. And rightly revolution it was because they could
so! Leadership not pierce the veil of uncertainty that
In August 1842 there were, in effect, lay before them. That veil was tilted
The General Strike two powers in Britain: the state, with in 1871, when the workers of Paris
It is often said that after the experi- its army, police and courts, and the “stormed heaven” in the words of
ence of the Civil War, the British peo- workers’ strike committees. Local Marx. In Petrograd 1917 it was torn
ple have spurned revolution. This is factory owners had to apply to these forever. Today we can see further
a lie. Revolution swept over Britain committees for permission to restart than our Chartist predecessors, but
once more in 1842, when in response work, whilst shopkeepers contribut- only if we learn the lessons of the
to a 25% wage cut the workers of ed food and other necessities to the past.
Lancashire downed tools, and began strike, voluntarily or not.
what would become the first general However, such a situation of “dual Marxism and Chartism
strike in the history of capitalism. power” cannot last indefinitely, as Another fascinating aspect of the his-
The “Plug Plot”, so-called because Sewell explains in his chapter on the tory of Chartism is its relationship
the workers would pull the plugs Plug Plot, which is a particular high- with Marxism, which Sewell explores
out of the steam boilers in order to light. One side must defeat the other. in detail. It has long been common
stop work at the factories, rapidly And in this struggle the all-important in the British labour movement to
brought the whole of Manchester to question of leadership is posed point say that it “owes more to Methodism
a standstill and continued to spread blank. On this question as with many than Marxism”. This prejudice con-
across the country. Sewell states, “At others, the history of Chartism con- trasts sharply with reality, as Sewell
its height, the strike movement em- tains a great many lessons. demonstrates by reference to the
braced up to half-a-million workers Insurrection, as Marx explained, is close links between Chartism and
and covered an area from the Scot- an art. It must be planned in advance. Marxism.
tish coalfields to the tin mines of At a certain stage a date must be set Marx and Engels collaborated
Cornwall.” and plans coordinated in order to en- closely with two of the most influ-
But a general strike is not like any sure the first to rise are not isolated ential Chartists of the period: Julian
other strike. If a normal strike poses and crushed. Having risen, the work- Harney and Ernest Jones. They wrote
the question of who is really in charge ers looked to the NCA for a lead, but in the Chartist press, including the
on the factory floor, a general strike confronted with the concentrated Northern Star, and their ideas had
poses the question of who runs soci- force of the state, even the most out- a significant impact on the NCA as it
ety altogether. This was understood spoken physical force men lost their turned openly towards socialism af-
by the Chartists themselves, with nerve and allowed the workers to be ter the defeat of the third and final
one declaring that the strike was starved and beaten back to work for petition of 1848. But likewise, Char-
“nothing more nor less than the com- fear of a civil war they expected to tism had an influence of Marxism as
mencement of a revolution”. lose. well. Marx’s and Engels’ vision for the
Striking workers organised them- This was no cowardly betrayal how- emancipation of the working class
selves into assemblies for the pur- ever, as tragic as the defeat was. The came from the experience of the
pose of maintaining the strike, and truth is that nothing of this sort had working class itself, and from Char-
deciding on the next steps to be taken. ever been done before. The Chartist tism in particular.
These bodies were embryos of work- leaders were pioneers, “groping for Today, the revolutionary legacy of
ers’ power: the first ever instance of a solution” to use Sewell’s expres- Chartism lives on in the Marxist wing
what would later go by the Russian sion. Despite their genuine courage of the Labour movement. This is no
name of “soviets”. At these assem- in the face of extreme repression, accident. By defending the present
blies striking workers announced they simply did not know how to pro- system, the reformists are forced to

BACK TO CONTENTS 14 CHARTIST REVOLUTION

hide and denigrate the real history of This is no academic exercise. We tions a reality. This book should be
the working class. In trying to over- must grasp this priceless inher- seen as an important contribution to
throw it, the Marxists can do no oth- itance with both hands, and re-tie this historic task, making it essential
er than study that history and bring the knot of history if we are to suc- reading for every socialist in Britain
it to life. ceed in making the Chartists’ aspira- today

Available from Wellredbooks.net October 2020

Preorder now at wellredbooks.net/chartist-revolution.html
IN DEFENCE OF
HEGEL
250 YEARS AGO, ONE OF THE
GREATEST PHILOSOPHERS IN
HISTORY WAS BORN. ALTHOUGH
NOT A MATERIALIST OR
REVOLUTIONARY, HIS IDEAS LAID
THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS FOR
MARXISM. HAMID ALIZADEH
EXPLAINS WHY THEY WERE, AND
ARE, SO POWERFUL

G eorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was

born 250 years ago on 27 August
1770 into a petty-bourgeois family in
ted with the modes of expression
peculiar to him. The mystification
which dialectic suffers in Hegel’s
dialectics and, to use his terms, de-
fend the True Essence of Hegel’s ide-
as in the face of attacks by these
the German city of Stuttgart. A tow- hands, by no means prevents him charlatans.
ering genius with an encyclopaedic from being the first to present its Postmodernists such as Foucault,
mind, Hegel revolutionised every general form of working in a com- Derrida, Deleuze and Baudrillard,
field that he dedicated himself to. prehensive and conscious man- denounce objectivity and what they
The impact of Hegel’s ideas cannot be ner. With him it is standing on its call ‘meta narratives’ or ‘universals’,
underestimated, and as Marxists we head. It must be turned right side which are other words for general,
owe him a tremendous debt. up again, if you would discover the overarching conceptions. Instead
In the Afterword to the Second Ger- rational kernel within the mystical they paint a world of ‘difference’ -
man Edition of Capital, Marx wrote: shell.” meaning an atomised world - where
“[J]ust as I was working at the However, in what passes for philos- ‘contingency’ rules above ‘necessity’
first volume of Das Kapital, it was ophy at universities today, Hegel is and the subjective over the objective.
the good pleasure of the peevish, still treated like “a dead dog”, with Scientific thought is believed to be
arrogant, mediocre Epigonoi [Epi- his ideas continuously criminally nothing but a part of the dominat-
gones – Büchner, Dühring and oth- distorted to justify the latest post- ing discourse of “Power”, and there-
ers] who now talk large in cultured modernist trends. Hegel in reality by knowledge becomes a source of
Germany, to treat Hegel in same demolished the main arguments of oppression. In essence, this extreme
way as the brave Moses Mendels- postmodernism, long before it came one-sided approach, is the raising
sohn in Lessing’s time treated Spi- into being representing the extreme of subjectivism and eclecticism to
noza, i.e., as a ‘dead dog.’ I there- degeneration of bourgeois philoso- a principle, and the dismissal of a
fore openly avowed myself the phy. That is the main reason for the scientific, systematic approach. All
pupil of that mighty thinker, and hostility, openly or disguised, to his of this, of course, is hidden behind
even here and there, in the chap- ideas in official academic discourse. a thick impenetrable wall of convo-
ter on the theory of value, coquet- It is our task as Marxists to defend luted and deliberately ambivalent

BACK TO CONTENTS 16 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

 rhetoric. The result is an extremely so and Leonardo Da Vinci, nothing seeds to the downfall of that philos-
superficial world view where all ide- has fundamentally developed or ad- ophy itself, which is then negated by
as can be valid and where subjective vanced. From Homer to Shakespeare new schools of thought.
judgement can be sufficient proof for and from Johan Sebastian Bach to Each idea that is true at one point
any idea. Ludwig van Beethoven, there was in history becomes inadequate
Hegel on the other hand was fierce- no fundamental development - but in time and has to be replaced by
ly opposed to any kind of mental lazi- merely difference. Consequently, something more true. Or, as Hegel
ness, flippancy and shallowness: Newton, Darwin and Einstein did not explained, everything that arises as
“What is generally familiar there- represent any fundamental step for- rational is doomed by its own inner
fore, because it is familiar, is not ward for mankind, but merely an contradictions to become irrational
understood. It is the most com- accidental change in the ‘discourse’. and pass away at a later stage. But
mon self-deception, as like the de- The ridiculous claim of the postmod- the old philosophy is not lost for-
ception of others, to presuppose ernists, that progress is a figment of ever. Its essence is retained in new
something as known when recog- our imagination, falls apart the sec- schools of thought that appear in its
nising it and on that account to ond we concretise it. But these ladies place.
give assent to it” – (The Phenome- and gentlemen do not mind at all, be- The Pythagorean school of thought,
nology of Spirit (PoS), Hegel – our cause their ideas are not meant for for instance, is well known for its re-
translation) any concrete application in the real sults in the sphere of mathematics.
world. This school believed that numbers
To assume to know anything, as He-
As Marxists, we do not claim to be and mathematics constituted the
gel argues, cannot lead to any higher
special or to have found some elusive true reality of the world and hence
form of knowledge. What is neces-
magical formula that no one else dis- investigated the relationship be-
sary to achieve true knowledge, he
covered for hundreds of thousands tween numbers exhaustively. What
says, is to throw overboard all prej-
of years. We see Marxism as the ac- is less commonly known however, is
udices and embark on a “long and
cumulated experience of mankind that the Pythagoreans were a reli-
laborious journey”, to “sink into and
throughout history. We proudly put gious cult. Its members lived under
pervade” the subject-matter at hand;
ourselves at the end of a long line of very strict rules, had to follow rigid
“surrendering to it” in order to dis-
thinkers, from Trotsky, Lenin, Marx rituals and were, for instance, not
cover the underlying laws govern-
and Engels through to Hegel, to the allowed to eat meat or beans. They
ing nature, human society and con-
French Materialists of the enlighten- were also one of the first schools of
scious thought. This meticulous and
ment, to Aristotle, Socrates, Heracli- thought to have believed in the trans-
systematic struggle for a rational
tus and all the ancient Greek philos- migration of the soul and life after
insight, is Hegel’s guiding principle,
ophers. At each stage, these giants death. In fact, it can be said that the
permeating all of his writings. It is
represented the advancement of hu- Pythagorean school was one of the
what distinguishes him and sets him
man society and laid the intellectual founders of philosophical Idealism.
towering above all official philoso-
ground for new steps forward. Idealism is the notion that ideas are
phy today. And it is here, at the most
basic level, that the postmodernists Hegel had a similar view. He op- the primary component of our world,
part ways with Hegel and become ir- posed the outright dismissal of pre- and that material reality is only a re-
reconcilably opposed to his ideas. vious ideas. He did not see the his- flection of these ideas. All religions
tory of scientific thought as one of fall into this category and all ideal-
Old and new ideas random ideas developed by random ism eventually leads to some sort of
Why would we want to study ideas of a people, but as a reflection of the gen- religious thinking.
250-year-old philosopher? Can these eral process of the development of The Pythagorean school was bound
‘old’ theories satisfy the academic humanity and human culture, which to disintegrate. Its obscure and mys-
obsession with ‘new ideas’ and the are governed by specific laws lead- tical rites and rituals have long dis-
academic desire to present itself as ing from lower to higher forms of appeared into oblivion. Yet, there is
a complete break with the past? thinking. hardly any school student who is not
The postmodernists tell us that At each stage of development, new taught some of their brilliant discov-
there is no such thing as progress ideas play an enormous role in de- eries in the fields of mathematics. In
in nature or human history. From veloping our understanding of the fact, it can be said that these found-
the early humans painting on cave world and our place in it. But each ers of philosophical idealism were
walls, to the masterpieces of Picas- advance also carries within it the also the first thinkers to have inves-

BACK TO CONTENTS 17 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

tigated quantitative and numerical and thought which Hegel calls to its proper position in philosophy.
relations on a systematic basis. But ‘metaphysical’, which preferred He had no pretensions or intentions
this systematic treatment of quanti- to investigate things as given, as about being original, in the sense
ty at the hands of the cult itself – as fixed and stable, a method the rel- that our postmodernist friends de-
often happens with new advances in ics of which still strongly haunt sire. He developed his ideas by criti-
the history of ideas – was exaggerat- people’s minds, had a great deal quing all previous philosophy, sepa-
ed, distorted and shrouded in a mys- of historical justification in its day. rating their true essence from their
tical veil. But once it was stripped of It was necessary first to examine accidental and exaggerated aspects.
its one-sidedness and mysticism, it things before it was possible to His doctrine therefore was on the
became a cornerstone in all spheres examine processes. One had first one hand a revolutionary break with
of science and human knowledge. to know what a particular thing the past, but at the same time it pre-
The process we have outlined was before one could observe served most of the great advances of
above takes place throughout the his- the changes it was undergoing. previous schools of thought.
tory of philosophy. With the decline And such was the case with nat- If we look at the history of philos-
of one set of ideas and its superses- ural science. The old metaphysics, ophy in this way, what we have is not
sion by another, the accidental and which accepted things as finished the random rise and fall of different
non-essential aspects are discarded, objects, arose from a natural sci- philosophies, but a never ending pro-
while the true essence of the old is ence which investigated dead and cess from lower to higher forms of
retained and absorbed into the new. living things as finished objects. thought in a progressive deepening
At least in general terms, that is the But when this investigation had of our knowledge about the laws
outline of the process. progressed so far that it became governing our world. Our postmod-
Of course, this process is not one possible to take the decisive step ernist friends who oppose this idea
uninterrupted upward curve of de- forward, that is, to pass on the sys- are blissfully unaware that they are
velopment. Periods of progress can tematic investigation of the chang- themselves parroting ideas far older
be followed by a temporary decline, es which these things undergo in than Hegel. Their relativism and sub-
which are necessary to prepare the nature itself, then the last hour of jectivism can be traced throughout
path for further steps forward. An- the old metaphysic struck in the the history of philosophy, going back
cient Greek philosophy was full of realm of philosophy also. And in to ancient Greek Sophism and other
brilliant discoveries, the most im- fact, while natural science up to relativist schools – with the added
portant one being the dialectic: that the end of the last century was caveat that the Sophists were revo-
is, the notion of seeing the world as predominantly a collecting sci- lutionary and original. Their relativ-
an interconnected whole in constant ence, a science of finished things, ism emphasised the many sidedness
flux, driven by its inner contradic- in our century it is essentially a of the world and the hypocrisy of the
tions. But given the technological and systematizing science, a science Greek class society. Postmodernist
scientific knowledge of the time, this of the processes, of the origin relativism however, is thoroughly
advanced doctrine was not applica- and development of these things crude and reactionary, refuting ob-
ble to the tasks facing humanity. It and of the interconnection which jective reality altogether and defend-
was therefore almost forgotten. For binds all these natural processes ing the most degenerate aspects of
centuries, it was the conservative into one great whole. Physiology, bourgeois morality, such as individu-
idealist aspects of Greek philosophy which investigates the processes alism and nihilism. What these ideas
that formed the cornerstone of the occurring in plant and animal or- represent is the declining trend in
Scholastic philosophy of the Middle ganisms; embryology, which deals human thought, which reflects, not
Ages. In place of the dialectic, these with the development of individual the end of progress in general, but
philosophers adopted the metaphys- organisms from germs to maturi- the end of progress within class so-
ical method, which views the world ty; geology, which investigates the ciety.
as a rigid congregation of entities gradual formation of the Earth’s It is futile to talk about new and
fixed in time and space. But, while surface — all these are the off- old ideas as if these are hermetical-
this was formally a step back, it was spring of our century.” – (Ludwig ly sealed off from each other. All that
a necessary step back. As Engels ex- Feuerbach and the End of Classi- exists is doomed by its own inner
plained in Ludwig Feuerbach and the cal German Philosophy, Friedrich contradictions to perish and give way
End of Classical German Philosophy: Engels) to new phenomena on a higher level.
“The old method of investigation It was Hegel who restored dialectics And yet all that is new carries the old

BACK TO CONTENTS 18 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

within its essence. This law not only In the general development of human by human consciousness.
applies to Dialectics, but permeates society and human thought from low- Standing with a foot in each of
all development. er to higher levels, no stage is per- these camps was Immanuel Kant,
“The more the ordinary mind takes manent. It is not difficult to see the the thinker immediately preceding
the opposition between true and revolutionary implications of these Hegel. Kant made a series of brilliant
false to be fixed, the more is it ac- ideas. But Hegel never reached these discoveries, amongst others, in the
customed to expect either agree- conclusions explicitly. Although he field of cosmology. His most impor-
ment or contradiction with a giv- did sympathise with the French rev- tant contribution, however, was his
en philosophical system, and only olution, politically he was a conserv- failed attempt at artificially unifying
to see reason for the one or the ative and a fervent supporter of the the empiricist and rationalist camps.
other in any explanatory state- Prussian state. The question is: how Kant theorised philosophical dual-
ment concerning such a system. It could he develop such revolutionary ism, which is the belief that both the
does not conceive the diversity of principles, if he was a conservative? world of ideas and the material world
philosophical systems as the pro- And: why did he remain politically a exist, but they do so independently of
gressive evolution of truth; rather, conservative, if he developed such each other.
it sees only contradiction in that revolutionary principles? According to Kant, there is a mate-
variety. The bud disappears when At his time, in developing his ideas, rial world existing outside and inde-
the blossom breaks through, and Hegel was waging a struggle against pendently of human consciousness.
we might say that the former is the weaknesses of some of the pre- But, due to the subjective viewpoint
refuted by the latter; in the same vailing philosophical tendencies of of individual human beings, we are
way when the fruit comes, the his time. On the one front he was unable to fully understand the ob-
blossom may be explained to be a struggling against Rationalists, such jects of this world. While we can su-
false form of the plant’s existence, as René Descartes, who famously perficially observe the world, we can,
for the fruit appears as its true coined the term “I think therefore I in his words, never comprehend the
nature in place of the blossom. am”. Descartes’ ideas were revolu- thing-in-itself. Knowledge and truth
These stages are not merely dif- tionary in that they boldly took aim are therefore not achieved by an in-
ferentiated; they supplant one an- at the position of the Catholic church vestigation of the world, but by the
other as being incompatible with and its stranglehold on European assistance of a series of predisposed
one another. But the ceaseless ac- society. Rather than accept the arbi- – a priori – categories such as quan-
tivity of their own inherent nature trary commands of the reactionary tity, quality, necessity, contradiction,
makes them at the same time mo- clergy, Descartes challenged them etc. It is with the help of these cate-
ments of an organic unity, where to justify their position. He relent- gories that we can make some sort
they not merely do not contradict lessly attacked the status quo and of sense of the external world. But
one another, but where one is as demanded everything, including God, where these a priori ideas came
necessary as the other; and this to bow before human Reason. There from and how they were implanted
equal necessity of all moments was, however, also a weak side to into the human mind, Kant could not
constitutes alone and thereby the Descartes’ assertion, which was that explain.
life of the whole. But contradiction real truth could only be reached by Kantianism, as opposed to He-
as between philosophical systems way of deductive reasoning, the proof gelianism, is popular in bourgeois
is not wont to be conceived in this for which lay in human intuition and academia today. In fact, the Kantian
way; on the other hand, the mind not in the objective world or material academic industry is now trying to
perceiving the contradiction does reality. expand into Hegelian thought, dis-
not commonly know how to relieve On the other end of the spectrum, torting Hegel to claim that he repre-
it or keep it free from its one-sid- Hegel took aim at the empiricist sented a direct continuation of Kant.
edness, and to recognise in what school, with figures like David Hume Prominent Hegel scholars such as
seems conflicting and inherent- who believed that immediate experi- Terry Pinkard and Robert B. Pippin,
ly antagonistic the presence of ence and the senses to be the only try to assert that Hegel was not all
mutually necessary moments.” – real source of knowledge. For the Em- that different from Kant.
(PoS, Hegel) piricists, knowledge was, in the last The prestigious new Cambridge
analysis, merely an accumulation of University translation of Hegel’s Sci-
Dualism, monism and Hegel’s facts, which could not be general- ence of Logic, for instance, which is
revolution in philosophy ised, rationally treated or processed becoming canonised in universities

BACK TO CONTENTS 19 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

 across the world, consistently trans- them is the hinge on which mod- dualism to its logical limit, and in do-
lates the German words Denken and ern philosophy turns. Meanwhile ing so, expose its deficiency. By this
Denkend (which in English plainly the natural belief of men gives the he achieved far more than today’s
means “thinking”) as Discourse and lie to it. In common life we reflect, postmodernists, who keep going
Discursive. This is a blatant falsifica- without particularly reminding down the same, well-trodden dead
tion of Hegel’s ideas and a transgres- ourselves that this is the process end of subjectivism in a desperate
sion of all norms of translation. It is a of arriving at the truth, and we search for new ideas. But Hegel did
criminal act of trying to sneak post- think without hesitation, and in the not stop here. His criticism of Kant
modernist subjectivism into Hegel. In firm belief that thought coincides and the rationalist philosophers be-
defending this choice, the translator with thing. And this belief is of the came a cornerstone in developing a
George Di Giovanni, casually asserts greatest importance. It marks the dialectical Logic.
without any proof that: “The subject diseased state of the age when Philosophy – and logic in par-
matter of the Logic is not the ‘thing- we see it adopt the despairing ticular – is a peculiar science. It is
in-itself’ or its phenomenal manifes- creed that our knowledge is only thinking about thought. Not just ordi-
tations, whether one conceives its subjective, and that beyond this nary thought, but scientific thought.
‘in-itself’ as a substance or as free- subjective we cannot go. Where- But who can prove anything right or
dom, but is discourse itself.” – (The as, rightly understood, truth is ob- wrong in this kind of science? Every
Science of Logic, Cambridge Hegel jective, and ought so to regulate person can, in theory, submit proof
Translations, Hegel – our emphasis) the conviction of every one, that for their own logic in their imagina-
What is meant by discourse in the the conviction of the individual is tion. As long as philosophy was kept
above quotation, is essentially hu- stamped as wrong when it does within the sphere of “pure thinking”
man culture. The only difference be- not agree with this rule. Modern and “intuition”, there were strict lim-
tween this form of subjectivism and views, on the contrary, put great its to its development. This was re-
Kant’s is that Di Giovanni (following value on the mere fact of convic- flected in Kant’s claim that Aristotle
Foucault, Derrida and more recent tion, and hold that to be convinced had said everything there was to say
postmodernists) has ‘collectivised’ is good for its own sake, whatever about logic.
the subjectivism by spreading it be the burden of our conviction — What he was referring to was Ar-
across many people rather than one. there being no standard by which istotle’s formal logic, which was
That is, humanity can not compre- we can measure its truth.” (The based on what is called the Law of
hend the thing-in-itself. But restrict- Encyclopedia Logic , Hegel) Identity, summed up as the concept
ing laws of nature and society to be If the mind is unable to perceive re- of A=A. Put very simply, this means
defined by the human mind, however ality as it is, and if nothing that we that everything is equal to itself. This
many minds that may be, was exactly experience can be proved to exist be- is true in everyday life. We easily rec-
the basis of Kantianism’s dead end. yond our mental representations or ognise the letter A, or any other fa-
Di Giovanni forces Hegel’s Logic into to be as we experience it, then how miliar phenomenon when we come
the straightjacket of Kantianism. But can we be sure of the existence of across them. But as Hegel pointed
disconnected from reality and objec- anything or anyone else? Kant did not out, an abstract A does not exist – no
tivity, Hegel’s logical categories are write about his own mind, but about two As are the same if you look at
no different than Kant’s a priori cat- the mind and thought in general. But them under a microscope.
egories. surely, if the essence of objective re- You could say that A represented
In fact, the critique of this notion ality was out of human reach, then a thing, such as a dog. But then no
was one of the main achievements of he could never understand this mind two dogs are exactly similar to each
Hegel. He dealt a devastating blow to ‘in-itself’ either. Even more crucial- other. There are different dog breeds,
Kant’s ideas and to all forms of dual- ly, why would Kant go through the different genders and endless differ-
ism: bother of writing and philosophis- ences between each individual dog.
“The divorce between thought and ing when he could not be certain of At the same time each individual dog
thing is mainly the work of the a world out there to understand his is in a process of constant growth,
Critical Philosophy [Kant’s philoso- ideas? That is a fundamental flaw of change and evolution. So to main-
phy – author], and runs counter to all Idealism, which cannot explain tain the Law of Identity, we have to
the conviction of all previous ages, how the world of ideas connects to say that a dog is equal to itself out-
that their agreement was a matter the material world. side of time and space. But that is a
of course. The antithesis between What Kant really did was to take completely empty statement which

BACK TO CONTENTS 20 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

 doesn’t tell us anything. Of course in sential part of human existence. It which they then conclude are unat-
everyday life, we can operate by this forms the foundation of all human tainable. In this way, they end up with
rule of thumb: a dog is a dog. But it relations. In fact, as Hegel pointed similar results as the rationalists.
would be hopeless to limit any scien- out, “one cannot describe what one Postmodernism today, eclectic as
tific enquiry to this sort of logic. means”. In order to explain and com- it is by nature, takes up the crudest
However, as long as the rational- prehend the simplest phenomena, positions of the rationalists and the
ists, and with them Kant, wanted to we have to generalise. Every single empiricists. On the one hand taking
confine consciousness and thinking word is a generalisation, and the a cue from empiricism, it raises the
apart from objectivity and essen- more detailed our explanation of a concepts of ‘difference’ and ‘discon-
tially apart from the material world, thing becomes, the more we will re- tinuity’ to its guiding principles in op-
no higher form of logic could be sort to general terms. Without this position to ‘identity’ and interconnec-
achieved. The period in question was ability, human society could not func- tion. The result is a world without a
the 16th to the 18th century, where tion a single day. Rationalism and fundamental underlying unity, ruled
the whole world was in total flux and empiricism according to Hegel form by an endlessly deepening separa-
turmoil; with the bourgeoisie rising two equally abstract positions: “... tion and atomisation. On this basis,
and rapid developments in science just as there is a breadth which is postmodernism denies any one sys-
and technology. And yet, philosophy emptiness, there is a depth which is tem of rational thought - or what they
was building a wall between itself empty too” (PoS, Hegel). The point of call ‘grand narratives’, ‘essentialism’
and this new world of knowledge. conscious thought is exactly to sort and ‘universalism’ - to be general-
Abstract subjective ideas cannot the infinite number of phenomena ly applicable. Of course, by denying
explain the constant change and flux and see the interconnections and re- ‘grand narratives’ and generalising
of the real world. General, abstract lations that are not immediately visi- thought altogether, it puts forward
concepts, which are not seen in the ble to the naked eye. the grandest, crudest and most gen-
process of their development and These generalisations come about eralising blanket statement conceiv-
which are not tied to facts and par- through our collective experience, able. On the other hand, alluding to
ticulars, are useless and superficial. in an ongoing process, which con- Kantian subjectivism, it denies that
They can mean whatever you want stantly deepens and revolutionises we can truly grasp reality due to our
them to. What is needed is to break our understanding of the world. The subjective viewpoints. This is only a
down the barrier between philoso- general image of a dog that we all poorer version of the old dualism .
phy and the material sciences. have does not fit precisely with any But Hegel overcame the dead end
According to Hegel, Logic was not really existing dog. But, by having in philosophy precisely by discarding
a special field, disconnected from seen and interacted with countless dualism in favour of monism. Mon-
science and human society. But dogs throughout history, we have ism is the belief that ideas and ma-
merely the highest form of all posi- abstracted an image of a dog in our terial reality are not disconnected
tive sciences, which gave flesh to its consciousness; an image stripped of from each other, but compose one
bones. In the field of material scienc- its accidental traits, boiling it down and the same world. Hegel’s monism
es, however, Hegel confronted the to the most essential characteristics was an absolute idealism otherwise
Empiricist school, represented for of a dog. This general concept of an known as objective idealism. As op-
Hegel by Hume in particular. Empir- abstract, universal dog, with all the posed to Kant and the rationalists,
icism essentially argues that imme- laws and processes which regulate Hegel did not separate the objective
diate experience is all that is needed it, is more true than the ideas we world from the subjective. According
to understand the world, i.e. that no can develop by seeing any individual to him, there is only one world, and
rational thinking or generalisation dog, at a particular moment in time. that is the world of the Idea. What
is necessary. Hegel agrees that the Without this general notion about the is objective according to Hegel, the
truth is concrete. But according to laws governing our world, we would laws operating in nature and thought,
him, a heap of facts does not lead to not be able to develop any science is the dialectic, which reflects itself
knowledge if you do not know how – or even the most basic general through material reality. This is not
to sort those facts. Or, in the words knowledge for that matter. the dialectical thought of any human,
of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, The empiricists inadvertently ad- but the mode of existence of an Abso-
“Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to mit as much by writing books in the lute idea or Absolute spirit. Through
men with barbarian souls.” generalising language of mankind philosophical thinking we can de-
The ability to generalise is an es- about the general laws of nature, duce the laws of the Absolute and act

BACK TO CONTENTS 21 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

upon the world in accordance with manner, found a place to operate be- but an approximate reflection of the
these. yond the mind of individuals: laws of nature.
This objective idealism had a two- “The rise of philosophy is due to Hegel’s monism was a deathblow
fold character. Firstly, this was ulti- these cravings of thought. Its point to the old philosophical method of
mately a religious idea, and Hegel of departure is Experience; includ- imposing our subjective ideas onto
never concealed this fact: ing under that name both our im- the objective world. Instead what he
“Plain minds have not unreasona- mediate consciousness and the demanded was a serious study of
bly taken exception to this subjec- inductions from it. ... the sciences, the objective world, in order to dis-
tive idealism, with its reduction based on experience, exert upon cover the laws operating here. This
of the facts of consciousness to the mind a stimulus to overcome was Hegel’s real revolution in philos-
a purely personal world, created the form in which their varied ophy and it is precisely this aspect
by ourselves alone. For the true contents are presented, and to el- that the postmodernists are trying
statement of the case is rather evate these contents to the rank to distort. It brings Hegel very close
as follows. The things of which of necessary truth. For the facts to a materialist position and forces
we have direct consciousness of science have the aspect of a him to litter his works with examples
are mere phenomena, not for us vast conglomerate, one thing com- from the material world.
only, but in their own nature; and ing side by side with another, as This is not a world of isolated phe-
the true and proper case of these if they were merely given and pre- nomena fixed in time and space, but
things, finite as they are, is to have sented — as, in short, devoid of all an interconnected whole in constant
their existence founded not in essential or necessary connection. flux. Hence, dialectics is not based
themselves but in the universal di- In consequence of this stimulus, on the Law of Identity, or A=A, but on
vine Idea. This view of things, it is thought is dragged out of its unre- the notion that A equals A, and at the
true, is as idealist as Kant’s; but, in alised universality and its fancied same time not-A. Everything is itself,
contradistinction to the subjective or merely possible satisfaction, and at the same time something else
idealism of the Critical philosophy, and impelled onwards to a devel- – or in other words, everything is con-
should be termed absolute ideal- opment from itself. On one hand tradictory and it is the interpenetra-
ism. Absolute idealism, however, this development only means that tion of these opposites that impels
though it is far in advance of vul- thought incorporates the contents the ceaseless motion and change
gar realism, is by no means mere- of science, in all their speciality of in the universe, going from lower to
ly restricted to philosophy. It lies at detail as submitted. On the other higher forms of existence.
the root of all religion; for religion it makes these contents imitate
too believes the actual world we the action of the original creative Dialectics
see, the sum total of existence, to thought, and present the aspect of “Being, the indeterminate immedi-
be created and governed by God.” a free evolution determined by the ate, is in fact nothing, and neither
(The Encyclopedia Logic, Hegel) logic of the fact alone.” (The Ency- more nor less than nothing.” (Sci-
clopedia Logic , Hegel) ence of Logic – SoL, Hegel)
Secondly, in spite of this conserva-
tive religious side, objective idealism Thus Hegel concludes knowledge is As we stated above, postmodern-
enabled a huge step forward for phi- not limited to abstract subjective ism raises ‘difference’ to the dom-
losophy. It was precisely by overcom- thinking ‘undiluted’ by experience. inant (dis)organising principle in
ing the shortfalls of dualism, that He- The underlying laws regulating our history and nature. In other words,
gel developed his dialectics. Because world and our thinking are independ- they claim, the illusion of categories,
when Hegel put religion on a ration- ent of humans, and via philosophi- stages, phases and limits belie the
al basis, he also connected rational cal thinking humans are capable of infinite variation in the world and hu-
thought to the empirical sciences. It understanding these. The primary man society. In a similar vein, we of-
was no longer enough to argue for place for the investigation of these ten hear that everything is ‘nuanced’.
an idea on a purely abstract basis, laws however, according to Hegel, is But if everything is ‘nuanced’, if there
because that idea had to prove its still within the human mind. His two are no such things as categories and
validity in the objective world. Now works on logic and his phenomenolo- delineations in time and space, all
the infinite material world of em- gy, are primarily concerned with the we end up with is a completely un-
pirical sciences was opened up to laws operating in consciousness. Of differentiated, static world – that is
philosophical study. Logic and scien- course, in reality, these are not the the very opposite of nuanced. Hegel
tific thinking, albeit by a roundabout laws of some eternal divine being, certainly does not oppose nuance as

BACK TO CONTENTS 22 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

such. On the contrary he recognises In this abstract thought experiment the internal contradictions of phe-
the infinite variety and flux permeat- Hegel is outlining the fundamentals nomena. Just as Pure Being inevita-
ing all phenomena. But for him, con- of dialectics – that change and con- bly becomes its opposite, death is
cepts such as nuance and gradation tradiction is the basis for all real inherent to life.
are precisely the transition between being. “...nowhere in heaven or on This change does not happen grad-
one thing and another and not the earth is there anything which does ually and peacefully, but via periods
dissolution of objects, concepts or not contain within itself both being of relative stability followed by a rap-
development in general. and nothing.” (Ibid) id acceleration. Once the body reach-
He effortlessly refutes the post- All phenomena, taken to their log- es a certain stage, terminal decline
modernist argument in the opening ical conclusion, will eventually turn takes speed. Likewise, when a fetus
lines of his Logic, which starts with into their opposite. Everything is in has grown to a certain age in the
the very simple concept of Pure Be- a state of uninterrupted change; of womb, birth comes swiftly.
ing. By Pure Being, Hegel means that coming into being and passing away. The same can be said of social
which is completely indeterminate As soon as one is born, one begins to revolutions. Once a given society has
and undifferentiated in time and die. Every human cell that is created reached a certain stage, the pro-
space; with no borders, no charac- will eventually cease to be. At a cer- ductive forces begin to come into
teristics and nothing that defines it. tain stage, our cells reproduce at a conflict with the existing relations
But, as Hegel remarks, we can not slower rate than they die and hence of production. The interests of the
say anything about this type of Being humans begin our period of decline, ruling class enter into sharp opposi-
because anything we say would limit which reaches another critical stage tion with those of the rising revolu-
and define it and hence it would not with death. But our death is not the tionary class, which represents new
be Pure Being any more. But in this end of humanity. Just like our birth and more advanced relations of pro-
Pure shape the attributes of Being was not its beginning. We are de- duction. Once this process reaches
are no different than Nothing. Thus, scendants of our parents who again a critical point, any accidental event
Indeterminate Being becomes Noth- came from previous generations etc. can set off a revolution.
ing. Nothing, likewise, as a concept, We can trace this lineage further Contradiction is the fundamental
can not be thought about without giv- back through the evolution of hu- source of all development and pro-
ing it some sort of meaning, which manity from primates, to the first gress. Hegel explains:
cannot be anything but Pure Being. single-celled organisms and the be- “All that is necessary to achieve sci-
Thus the two concepts flow into each ginnings of life on the planet. At each entific progress — and it is essen-
other before we can fix them in our step, the new species represented tial to strive to gain this quite sim-
thoughts. And it is here, in this uni- a step forward. The vast majority of ple insight — is the recognition
ty of Being and Nothing that we meet species have long gone extinct, while of the logical principle that the
the new category of Becoming: new ones, with more complex adap- negative is just as much positive,
“Pure Being and pure nothing are, tations to the environment, have tak- or that what is self-contradictory
therefore, the same. What is the en their place. But here, just like in does not resolve itself into a nulli-
truth is neither being nor nothing, the development of philosophy, we ty, into abstract nothingness, but
but that being — does not pass see that each step forward is not via essentially only into the negation
over but has passed over — into a random and complete reset. The of its particular content, in other
nothing, and nothing into being. new species negates yet preserves words, that such a negation is not
But it is equally true that they are some essential aspects of the old all and every negation but the ne-
not undistinguished from each ones. This is present in the develop- gation of a specific subject matter
other, that, on the contrary, they ment of embryos and fetuses, which which resolves itself, .... the nega-
are not the same, that they are ab- reflect the entire course of evolution tion … is a fresh Notion but high-
solutely distinct, and yet that they coming before each particular spe- er and richer than its predeces-
are unseparated and inseparable cies - although not in a straightfor- sor; for it is richer by the negation
and that each immediately van- ward mechanical manner. or opposite of the latter, therefore
ishes in its opposite. Their truth Constant change and the rise and contains it, but also something
is therefore, this movement of the fall of all phenomena represent the more, and is the unity of itself and
immediate vanishing of the one fundamental mode of existence of its opposite.” (SoL, Hegel)
into the other: becoming…” (SoL, matter. This change is not imposed This process takes place at all levels
Hegel) from outside, but rather is driven by of nature and society. Thus philosoph-
BACK TO CONTENTS 23 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL
 ical principles cannot be predeter- laws of development of nature, but ed with the material world through
mined schemas made up in the mind the laws of development of the Ab- which it is reflected. Thus, Hegel’s
of some creative genius. They must solute spirit or Absolute idea -about philosophy left the backdoor open
be discovered by us in the objects which as Engels noted, Hegel says for a return to a form of dualism, and
absolutely nothing. Engels explained:
that we are studying. It is our task, it is this backdoor that is now being
as Hegel urged, “to surrender” our- “The absolute concept [according used in academia to distort Hegel’s
selves to the material we are study- to Hegel] does not only exist — true achievements.
ing in order to understand the inner unknown where — from eternity, Furthermore, the obvious insight
laws of its organic life. In doing so, it is also the actual living soul of we can draw from Hegel’s method is
we will discover patterns and laws the whole existing world. It devel- the ceaseless change in nature and
that replicate themselves throughout ops into itself through all the pre- human society from lower to higher
nature and human society. liminary stages which are treated levels, and humanity’s ever-deeper
The academic rejection of ‘grand at length in the Logic and which understanding of the laws governing
narratives’ and ‘universalism’ is es- are all included in it. Then it ‘al- this process. There are no definite
sentially also the rejection of any ienates’ itself by changing into aims or limits to this process, be-
deeper going lawfulness in nature. nature, where, unconscious of cause, as Hegel says: “The very fact
These concepts, we are told, are elit- itself, disguised as a natural ne- that something is determined as a
ist and bar us from achieving the cessity, it goes through a new de- limitation implies that the limitation
‘utopias’ - or ‘heterotopias’ to use velopment and finally returns as is already transcended.” And yet He-
Foucault’s word - that we can im- man’s consciousness of himself. gel puts a definite limit and a final
agine. But Hegel opposes any talk of This self-consciousness then elab- aim for history and human thought.
abstract subjective freedom. Without orates itself again in history in the In the social sphere, this aim is the
necessity – or lawfulness – there can crude form until finally the abso- German state, and in philosophy, it is
be no talk of freedom. Real freedom lute concept again comes to itself Hegelian dialectics.
is the understanding of the laws that completely in the Hegelian philos- Hegel struck a deathblow to all
determine development. In fact, if ophy. According to Hegel, there- schematism and, by implication, to
nature acted arbitrarily without any fore, the dialectical development philosophy in the classical sense of
laws, there could be no freedom. If apparent in nature and history the word, as a separate system to be
gravity was a random power, people — that is, the causal interconnec- imposed onto reality. And yet he end-
would be flying about in all directions tion of the progressive movement ed up erecting the biggest schema
throughout space – assuming that from the lower to the higher, and system of them all.
solid matter could even be formed! which asserts itself through all How can we explain why he drew
How else could we talk about knowl- zigzag movements and temporary these conclusions? Hegel was a
edge and experience? The same law- retrogression — is only a copy Christian and a petty-bourgeois in
fulness must necessarily also apply [Abklatsch] of the self-movement Germany at a time when Germany
to human beings and human thought. of the concept going on from eter- was backward amongst its Euro-
If not objective laws, then what would nity, no one knows where, but at pean peers. The devastation of the
be the ultimate regulator of our acts all events independently of any 30-year-war had retarded the coun-
and intentions? No society could exist thinking human brain.” – (Ludwig try’s development. Nations such as
if it did not follow certain laws and Feuerbach and the End of Classi- France, Britain and the Netherlands
patterns that operate independent of cal German Philosophy, Friedrich were taking huge strides forward on
the will of human beings. Engels) the basis of the bourgeois revolution.
Real freedom, according to Hegel,
But the Absolute spirit, – concept, But Germany did not have a revolu-
is not a rejection of necessity, butidea etc. – are in ‘spirit’ completely tion, and was still haunted by feudal
the understanding of it. The better un-Hegelian elements, which do not property relations.
we understand the laws of our world, flow from any of Hegel’s investiga- Germany was far behind in terms
the more efficiently can we utilise tions. In fact, if you take the Absolute of technology, production, state
them for the benefit of humanity. out of Hegel’s work, all of the main structures and property relations.
points would remain. It appears like Ideas, however, could flow across the
The dead end of Hegelianism
a scaffold left there after the house borders unimpeded. Under the stim-
The problem, however, was that these was built. Hegel could never explain uli of the intense philosophical strug-
laws, in Hegel’s view, were not the how this Absolute spirit coincid- gles in Europe during the Enlight-

BACK TO CONTENTS 24 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

enment, the German intelligentsia selves unconsciously, in the form those who are perhaps most eager-
developed enormously and became of external necessity, in the midst ly pursuing a harmonious life, we
the most-advanced layer of society. of an endless series of seeming see a massive radicalisation and ev-
But it could not free itself from the accidents. Thereby the dialectic er-more-revolutionary conclusions.
yoke of feudal provincialism and pet- of concepts itself became merely Human history reveals these laws
ty bourgeois philistinism, which sur- the conscious reflex of the dialec- in the most striking manner. Before
rounded it on all sides. That is the tical motion of the real world and anything else, humans need to eat,
material basis for the ambiguity in thus the dialectic of Hegel was sleep and subsist. In this pursuit, they
Hegel’s ideas, which constantly takes turned over; or rather, turned off develop the tools and means of pro-
him to the outer edge of materialism its head, on which it was standing, duction, which raise their productivi-
without ever fully crossing over. What and placed upon its feet. And this ty. At a certain stage, this means that
is reflected in the idealist and con- materialist dialectic, which for a part of humanity does not have to
servative sides of Hegel’s writings, is years has been our best working work to sustain itself. This part can
not the Absolute spirit, but Hegel’s tool and our sharpest weapon…” live off the surplus created by others.
own personal and social position. (Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Here, we see the rise of class socie-
His field, philosophy, is for Hegel the Classical German Philosophy, Frie- ty, which is driven by the struggle for
motorforce of history and it is his drich Engels) this surplus product itself.
personal philosophy which marks Lenin once said that: “Marxism is al- At each stage of class society, the
the final culmination of this process. mighty because it is True”. By this he developments of the productive forc-
Furthermore, Hegel had the dis- meant that Marxism derives its ideas es lead to enormous steps forward
advantage that he preceded the ma- from material reality. It doesn’t have for humanity. Early class societies
jor developments in sciences, such a fixed schema which it forces onto coincided with the urban revolu-
as Biology, Geology and Chemistry, reality, but is itself a result of care- tion, which was a huge step forward
which revealed dialectics at play at ful investigation of the world around for humanity. Later class societies
all levels of nature. In a sense, He- us. In this way, Marxism is not a phi- based on slavery coincided with the
gel’s dialectic was in essence a bril- losophy in the classical sense of the flowering of science, culture and phi-
liant hypothesis, but nevertheless a word. losophy on an unprecedented scale.
hypothesis, shrouded in a mysticism, Marxists are materialists. As op- But slavery, which reached its apex
which prevented it from being appli- posed to the idealists, we believe in ancient Rome, was bound to buck-
cable to the material world. This fun- that there is nothing but the materi- le under the weight of its own con-
damental flaw led to the disintegra- al world. Human thoughts and ideas tradictions. From the ruins of slave
tion of the Hegelian school shortly are imperfect reflections of this ma- society came feudalism, which also
after his death. terial world; and the laws of dialec- became a fetter and was overthrown
tics are not the laws of ideas, but the by the bourgeoisie.
From Hegel to Marx
inherent laws of nature itself at the At each stage, the full develop-
It was up to Marx and Engels to sal- most general level. By our interac- ment of a given class society leads
vage the revolutionary kernel of tion with this world, we are able to to its downfall and its supersession
Hegel’s philosophy from its Idealist discover these laws. Human beings by another. Hegel was looking for the
shackles. On this basis, dialectics and the human mind are products of laws of development of philosophy in
was turned into a powerful weapon matter organised in a particular way. the field itself. Although it is true that
for revolutionary action: Individuals are free to make their philosophy has its own inner laws,
“Thus dialectics reduced itself to own decisions. But, once we take a it is nevertheless completely tied to
the science of the general laws of step back, we immediately see iron the development of society and the
motion, both of the external world laws operating independently and, productive forces. The rise and fall of
and of human thought — two often in opposition to, the will of hu- schools of philosophical thought al-
sets of laws which are identical man beings. ways corresponds with the rise and
in substance, but differ in their ex- A majority of ordinary, work- fall of different layers, classes and
pression in so far as the human ing-class people want nothing but a class societies.
mind can apply them conscious- peaceful life. Yet, in pursuit of this, Every revolutionary class must
ly, while in nature and also up to they run into the insurmountable ob- necessarily have a revolutionary phi-
now for the most part in human stacles put in front of them by class losophy. The bourgeoisie came to
history, these laws assert them- society. Hence, amongst precisely power on the basis of a fight against

BACK TO CONTENTS 25 IN DEFENCE OF HEGEL

feudalism and religious obscurant- ing class, must be dialectical mate- barbarism of class society, and to
ism. It came to the world fighting to rialism. This is an outlook that takes make humanity the master of its own
expose the Truth and laying bare the reality as it truly is, that is, in its to- destiny. The truth has now become a
hypocrisy and irrationality of feudal tality and flux. The working class is revolutionary weapon in the hands of
society. Its victory was a huge step fighting to end all class society, all the working class.
forward for humanity. The unprece- oppression, and with it, all illusions, Therefore for Marxists, freedom
dented development of the produc- prejudices and fetishes, which are today consists of recognising this
tive forces under capitalism has giv- the ideological products and crutch- process, participating in it as a con-
en us, for the first time, the capability es of class society. We need a thor- scious element rather than an un-
of lifting all of humanity out of pover- oughly materialist philosophy that conscious one, and helping push hu-
ty and generalised want. But capital- comprehends the laws of motion of manity out of this dead end of class
ism has also reached its limits and human society, which we are striving society. Thus we pave the way for
has now become an obstacle for hu- not only to change, but to change in the truly free and harmonious de-
man progress. Stating the truth has harmony with the needs of humanity velopment of human society. In this
become a threat to the system itself, as a whole. struggle, the dialectic is our strong-
because it lays bare its rotten and Within capitalist society, the work- est weapon, for this we owe Hegel a
decrepit nature. ing class is being prepared as its tremendous debt and it is our task to
The revolutionary philosophy of to- grave diggers. A class that can once defend this legacy against all attacks
day’s revolutionary class, the work- and for all lead humanity out of the and distortions

AVAILABLE NOW FROM WELLREDBOOKS.NET

BY
MARXISM & THE STATE: PART II
ARE MARXISTS IN FAVOUR
OF VIOLENT REVOLUTION?
IS A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION
EVEN POSSIBLE? THIS IS THE
FINAL PART OF ALAN WOODS’
EXPLANATION OF HOW MARX,
LENIN AND TROTSKY POSED THIS
QUESTION, AND THE TACTICS
INVOLVED.

B oth Lenin and Trotsky emphasised

that the socialist revolution in the
advanced capitalist countries would
the last analysis, to the crisis of lead-
ership of the workers’ organisations,
and this is more true today than
programme of Marxism with the nec-
essarily unfinished, confused and in-
coherent aspirations of the masses.
differ in important respects to the when it was written. The crisis of Failure to do this would reduce us to
Russian Revolution. In one sense, it capitalism signifies also the crisis of a sterile and impotent sect. We have
would be more difficult. In Lenin’s reformism. The next period will see to see, in the words of the German
phrase, in tsarist Russia, capitalism a whole series of inner convulsions poet Goethe, which Marx frequently
broke at its weakest link. Capitalism and splits in the reformist parties quoted: “Theory is grey, my friend,
in North America, Western Europe and trade unions. At a certain stage, but the tree of life is evergreen.”
and Japan has accumulated enor- mass left wings will crystallise which Marxists do not work in a vacuum.
mous reserves of fat, especially over will present big opportunities for the The long period of capitalist upswing
the last half century. Lenin pointed Marxists. after 1945 has had an effect on the
out that in countries like Britain, the However, it is not a foregone con- consciousness of the working class,
ruling class has developed to a fine clusion that we will succeed in win- including the advanced layer. There
art the corruption of the leaders of ning over the decisive sections of the is no automatic mechanism whereby
the labour movement. This is now advanced workers and youth. Revolu- the experience of one generation of
true of all the advanced capitalist tionary politics is both a science and workers can be transmitted to the
countries to an unparalleled degree. an art. We need a scientific perspec- next. Every generation has to relearn
Since the Second World War, the tive which enables us to understand the lessons of the past through ex-
reformist and Stalinist leaderships the general processes, and not be perience. The present generation is
have degenerated to an extent which thrown off balance by episodic twists passing through some particular-
puts the past in the shade. By an iro- and turns, and the ephemeral moods ly painful experiences, but they will
ny of history, they have all embraced of the masses. But this is not enough. learn. If we are present in sufficient
“the market” just when it is beginning It is necessary to educate the cad- numbers, the learning process will
to break down. Trotsky explained that res in flexible tactics and the art of be shorter and easier.
the crisis of humanity is reduced, in connecting the finished scientific It is necessary to find a common
BACK TO CONTENTS 27 MARXISM AND THE STATE
language with the workers, without question I would like to put: I want “However the American commu-
making concessions in principle. Be- to ask what your opinion is of the nist revolution will be insignifi-
fore the War, a whole generation had idea that the revolutionary terror cant compared to the Bolshevik
been brought up on the basis of the must almost necessarily lead to Revolution in Russia, in terms of
Russian Revolution. Revolution, war the Thermidorian terror. your national wealth and popu-
and counter-revolution were familiar “Trotsky: Also, in such a general lation, no matter how great its
ideas, at least to the advanced layers. form I cannot accept it and cannot comparative cost. That is because
But this is no longer true. In the ad- deny it. Terror in a revolution is civil war of a revolutionary nature
vanced capitalist countries (though an indication, a symptom of weak- isn’t fought by the handful of men
not in the colonial world) there has ness, not of strength. at the top—the 5 or 10 percent
been, to a certain extent, a blunting who own nine-tenths of American
of class consciousness, reflecting a “LaFollette: Of weakness? wealth; this handful could recruit
certain “softening” of the contradic- “Trotsky: Of weakness—such ter- its counter-revolutionary armies
tions in society. That is beginning to rible means. The revolution on a along from among the middle
change. The new period which we are low basis must have more terror classes. Even so, the revolution
entering into will be a convulsive one. that a revolution on a higher basis. could attract them to its banner
The old illusions in reformism will be In a revolution on a low basis you by showing that support of the so-
burned out of the consciousness of incur more danger of counter-rev- viets alone offers them the pros-
the workers. olution.” (The Case of Leon Trotsky, pect of salvation.
However, it is necessary to take p. 372.) “Everybody below this group is
the class as we find it. The Russian The matter by no means ends there. already economically prepared
revolutionary Herzen used to say of On many occasions Trotsky returned for communism. The depression
his friend Bakunin that he always to this question. The barest acquaint- has ravaged your working class
mistook the second month of preg- ance with his writings proves that and has already dealt a crushing
nancy for the ninth. This is the or- Trotsky’s approach to the question blow to the farmers, who had al-
ganic sickness of ultra lefts in every of revolutionary violence was exact- ready been injured by the long ag-
period. Such mistakes will only pro- ly the same as our own. This is what ricultural decline of the post-war
duce abortions! At the present stage, Trotsky has to say on the subject in decade. There is no reason why
we are still in the process of winning a little pamphlet entitled If Ameri- these groups should counterpose
over the ones and twos, of attempt- ca Should Go Communist where we determined resistance to the rev-
ing to sink roots in the labour organ- read the following: olution; they have nothing to lose
isations and win the ear of the activ- “Actually American soviets will be providing, of course, that the revo-
ists. The way in which we proceed in as different from the Russian so- lutionary leaders adopt a farsight-
this will be decisive for the future. viets as the United States of Pres- ed and moderate policy toward
ident Roosevelt differs from the them.
Trotsky on “If America Should
Go Communist” Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II. “Who else will fight against com-
Yet communism can come in Amer- munism? Your corporal’s guard
The revolution in advanced countries ica only through revolution, just
will be both more difficult and easi- of billionaires and multimillion-
as independence and democracy aires? Your Mellons, Morgans,
er than in Russia. The Russian Rev- came in America. The American
olution did not encounter serious Fords and Rockefellers? They will
temperament is energetic and vio- cease struggling as soon as they
resistance until Russia was invaded lent, and it will insist on breaking
by 21 imperialist armies, when it was fail to find other people to fight for
a good many dishes and upset- them.
obliged to resort to terror in order ting a good many apple carts be-
to survive. However, Trotsky explains fore communism is firmly estab- “The American soviet government
that in, say, a socialist America, this lished. Americans are enthusiasts will take firm possession of the
would not be necessary. How did and sportsmen before they are commanding heights of your busi-
Trotsky recommend the Trotskyists specialists and statesmen, and it ness system: the banks, the key
to approach the American workers would be contrary to the American industries and the transporta-
before the War? We have a good ex- tradition to make a major change tion and communication systems.
ample of Trotsky’s method in the re- without choosing sides and crack- It will then give the farmers, the
cords of the Dewey Commission: ing heads. small tradespeople and business-
“LaFollette: There is one more men a good long time to think
BACK TO CONTENTS 28 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 things over and see how well the perience with this kind of thing in the the workers, not only in the factories
nationalised section of industry past. During the Second World War, and unions but in the armed forces.
is working.” (Trotsky, If America the Workers International League The WIL conducted highly success-
Should Go Communist, Writings (WIL) in Britain defended Trotsky’s ful work in the army, navy and air
1934-35, p. 74.) proletarian military policy against force during the War. Contrary to the
What is the meaning of these lines? the Revolutionary Socialist League expectations of Trotsky, the British
While not denying for a moment the (RSL), who allegedly stood for Lenin’s ruling class was compelled to per-
need for a revolutionary struggle for policy of “revolutionary defeatism.” mit democratic rights in order to
power (how could any Marxist do The RSL accused us of a “very serious get the support of the workers for
such a thing?). Trotsky tells the Amer- departure” from the point of view the alleged “War against fascism.”
ican worker the obvious truth that, of Lenin and Trotsky, for not repeat- Even in the armed forces, there was
given the overwhelmingly favoura- ing word for word the arguments of a surprising amount of latitude for
ble class balance of forces, given a Lenin in 1914-15, not realising that revolutionary work (within the lim-
serious Marxist leadership with a the situation was entirely different. its of military discipline, which our
correct attitude to the small farmers In practice, the WIL stood for rev- comrades, following Trotsky’s advice,
and petit-bourgeoisie, the big capi- olutionary defeatism, but translated always scrupulously observed). One
talists would find themselves isolat- into a language which the workers of our comrades was elected Presi-
ed, paralysed, suspended in mid-air. could understand and identify with dent of the “Forces parliament” in
This was precisely what happened in in the given context. To have repeat- Egypt, standing on the programme
France in 1968, even without a Marx- ed like parrots the slogans “the main of the Fourth International. Another
ist leadership, although the revolu- enemy is at home” and “turn the im- comrade was asked by the officer in
tion was betrayed by the Stalinists, perialist war into a civil war” at a charge of political education to give
as we shall see. time when Hitler was running amok, lectures to the troops on politics, as
physically annihilating the workers’ he seemed to know more about it,
Trotskyism versus Sectarianism organisations in Europe, would have and used his position to put forward
War and revolution are the funda- been utter madness. As a matter of Trotskyist ideas. Another, who had
mental tests for any revolutionary fact, the RSL never advocated these been promoted to officer in the air
tendency and above all its leader- “rrrrrrevolutionary” ideas in the force was so successful in winning
ship. We base ourselves firmly on the workers’ organisations or anywhere over the airmen that he was given an
policy and method of Lenin and Trot- else, except the bedroom! They would honourable discharge from the RAF,
sky. The approach of our tendency on have got a rather rough reception and spent the rest of the War trying
all fundamental questions has not had they attempted to do so. to get back.
varied for the last 50 years, and has Only on one occasion did one par- This work in the armed forces was
been tested in practice, and shown ticularly obtuse representative of only possible on the basis of our cor-
to be correct. this group actually defend their po- rect policies and methods. It could
We are proud of the fact that we sition in the Labour Party. He actu- never have succeeded on any other
are the continuers of the ideas, ally moved a resolution in his local basis. The shrill ultraleftism of the
methods and traditions of Marx, En- branch, stating that “the victory of RSL, based on a few quotes from
gels, Lenin and, above all, Leon Trot- Germany was the lesser evil,” and Lenin taken out of context and misun-
sky in whose writings (especially his then wondered why he was expelled! derstood, completely paralysed them
last writings) we have the distilled As always, this kind of terminologi- and doomed them to impotence. This
essence of the Marxist method as cal radicalism is strictly for internal “rrrrrrevolutionary” nonsense could
applied to the concrete conditions of consumption. Small ultraleft groups, not get the ear of the workers. They
the modern epoch. Just compare the isolated from the class, have nobody would have been regarded as luna-
rich, creative, dialectical approach of to talk to but themselves. Since no- tics or traitors. For example, when
Trotsky, say, to the military policy of body is listening, they can say any- Pierre Frank had the bright idea of
the proletariat in the Second World thing they like, no matter how bizarre. distributing a leaflet in Britain after
War to the arid schemas of the sects, As typical sectarians, the RSL spent the fall of France in 1940, calling on
who imagine that they are great rev- the whole of the War arguing to each the workers to “seize the factories,”
olutionaries because they are able to other in internal bulletins. That was the British workers were actually
quote a few lines from Lenin which their only activity. On the other hand, working 18 hours a day voluntarily to
they have not understood. the policies and methods of our ten- help what they saw as a “War against
Our tendency has had plenty of ex- dency got a significant echo among Hitler.” Here we see the same non-
BACK TO CONTENTS 29 MARXISM AND THE STATE
sense, the same barren formalism fied to by the ruling class. On the very always harping on the same theme,
which tries to inflict a ready-made first day of the War, every branch of not realising that they are falling into
schema on reality without regard the WIL was raided by the police. They a trap prepared by the bourgeois and
for time or place. It is a fundamen- saw the danger posed by our policy their reformist allies. Some time ago,
tally wrong method, the method of and tactics, whereas they treated comrade Ted Grant was interviewed
abstract politics, which has nothing the RSL as an irrelevance, which it on British television, about the time
in common with the method and ap- undoubtedly was. Wherein lay the of his expulsion from the Labour Par-
proach worked out by Trotsky and mistake of the RSL? In adopting an ty. Not surprisingly, one of the ques-
continued by our tendency. abstract position in relation to the tions asked was “are you in favour
What was the position advocated Leninist policy on war and revolution. of violence?” to which Ted replied:
by the WIL? We said to the British In attempting to apply certain slo- “Are you in favour of the plague? Of
workers: “We agree Hitler is our en- gans and ideas without regard to the course I am not in favour of violence.
emy. We are not pacifists. We are in real situation of society, the labour We stand for the election of a Labour
favour of defeating the Nazis. But we movement, or the consciousness of government which must pass an en-
cannot entrust this task to Church- the working class. It is a poor substi- abling act to nationalise the banks
ill and the ruling class, who backed tute for a real policy. and the big monopolies.” Naturally,
Hitler and applauded the destruction The Stalinists committed all kinds the interviewer would have been de-
of the German labour movement. The of mistakes, both of an ultra left and lighted if, instead of this answer, he
only force that can defeat the Nazis opportunist nature. But even they had received a diatribe on the need
is the working class. Therefore, we were never guilty of such madness. to smash the state, the inevitability
demand that the Labour Party break Such elementary mistakes would of civil war, etc.
from the coalition, take power into be impossible for any tendency that The whole issue at stake is how
its own hands and transform socie- was really rooted in the class. That is we pose the question of power in
ty. Then we can wage a revolutionary the essence of the problem. such a way that we can win over
war against Hitler.” and mobilise the masses for an of-
How Not to Pose the Question fensive against capital. That will only
Alongside this programme, we put
forward transitional demands in line How do we pose the question? Not be achieved by linking the day-to-day
with Trotsky’s proletarian military by repeating revolutionary phrases struggles of the workers (“economic
programme, such as the creation about civil war, but by explaining the demands”) to the idea of expropri-
of military schools for the training fundamentals of Marxism, and above ating the banks and big monopolies.
of workers’ officers, and control of fighting to win the masses. That can only be done in a transitional
military training by the trade unions. The increased power of the pro- manner, not by abstract discussions
This was to give a concrete content letariat, which is now the decisive on the need for a violent overthrow
to the slogan “arm the workers.” majority of the main industrialised of the state by military means. Let us
While the RSL sectarians were deliv- countries, undoubtedly creates fa- see how Trotsky posed the question.
ering revolutionary speeches to each vourable objective conditions for the In The Transitional Programme,
other (in the bedroom), the WIL was socialist transformation of society. which represents the summing-up of
conducting genuinely revolutionary As we have explained many times, the the Marxist position on how to car-
work in the factories, shop stew- development of the productive forces ry out the socialist transformation
ards’ committees and trade union and the disappearance of the peas- of society, Trotsky explains the pre-
branches. By combining an implaca- antry in the period since the Second cise relationship between “econom-
ble firmness on principles with the World War has enormously strength- ic” demands and the overthrow of
necessary flexibility in tactics, we en the working class. The problem is the bourgeoisie. His attitude towards
were able to get a favourable echo in that the class is not conscious of the this is clearly shown in the discus-
the labour movement—including the fact, and the reformist leaders go to sions on the transitional programme,
Communist Party. On this basis, we great lengths to convince the work- which, by the way, were internal dis-
built one of the most successful or- ers that they are weak and the bour- cussions, intended precisely to edu-
ganisations in the history of interna- geois and its state is strong. Part of cate and develop the leading cadres
tional Trotskyism, the RCP, while the the trick is to frighten the workers of the Trotskyist movement:
RSL withered and disappeared. with the idea that revolution inevi- “Trotsky: The slogan ‘expropria-
The correctness of our approach tably means violence, civil war, the tion’ in the program does not ex-
to War and military policy was testi- streets running with blood and so on. clude compensation. In this sense,
Curiously, the ultra left sects are
BACK TO CONTENTS 30 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 we often oppose expropriation dition that they handed over the fac- selves, they had all written off the
to confiscation. Confiscation ex- tories peacefully, without resistance. European working class. Let us begin
cludes compensation, but expro- It goes without saying that neither with the bourgeois. Did they antici-
priation can include compensa- Trotsky nor they entertained any illu- pate the movement in France?
tion. How much compensation is sions that the bourgeoisie would not In May 1968, The Economist pub-
another question. For example fight with every means at their dis- lished a special supplement on
while agitating we can be asked, posal to hold onto their power and France written by Norman Macrae to
what will you do now, transform wealth. But this depends precisely mark ten years of Gaullist rule. In this
the owners and bearers of power on what means are really at their supplement, Macrae sings the prais-
into tramps? No, we will give them disposal in the decisive moment. And es of the successes of French capi-
decent compensation necessary that, in turn, depends to a large ex- talism, pointing out that the French
for their life, insofar as they are tent on the ability of the revolutionary had a higher living standard than the
unable to work—that is, the old- party to combine absolute firmness British; ate more meat; owned more
er generation. It is not necessary on principles with absolute flexibility cars and so on. And he cited the
to imitate the Russians. They suf- and intelligence in the field of tactics. “great national advantage” of France
fered intervention from many cap- over her neighbour across the Chan-
italist nations; it deprived them of May 1968 nel: its trade unions were “patheti-
the possibility of giving compensa- Real living examples of revolution cally weak.” The ink was hardly dry
tion. We are a rich people in the are the test of any theory. May 1968 on Macrae’s article when the French
United States, and when we come was such a historical example. These working class astonished the world
into power we will give compen- events reveal that defeat of the work- with a social uprising unequalled in
sation to the older generation. In ing class has not come about by such modern times.
this sense it would not be favoura- a thing as the “strong state” but by The fact is that the May events
ble to proclaim confiscation with- the ineptitude of the reformist and were not foreseen by the strate-
out any compensation. It is better Stalinist leaders who were not pre- gists of capital, either in France or
to use expropriation than confis- pared to mobilise the full force of the anywhere else. Still less were they
cation, because expropriation can working class. foreseen by the Stalinist and reform-
be equal to confiscation, but can The French events of 1968 repre- ist leaders who strained might and
include also some compensation. sented the greatest revolutionary main to derail the movement once it
“We should show that we are not general strike in history. Although began, but who played no role what-
a revengeful people. In the Unit- there were only about 3 million soever in preparing or organising
ed States it is very important to workers organised in the unions, them.
show that it is a question of ma- ten million struck and occupied the Things were even worse when
terial possibilities, but we will not factories. The students, teachers, it came to the 57 varieties of pseu-
personally destroy the capitalist professional people, peasants, sci- do-Marxist sects, in which France
class.” (Trotsky, The Transitional entists, footballers, even the girls of has been so fruitful-to her cost.
Programme, p. 197.) the Follies Bergères were all drawn These intellectual ladies and gentle-
into the struggle. The red flag flew men (most of whom, by the way, have
To the sectarian mind, it seems to over factories, schools, universities,
be impermissible “in principle” that spent decades arguing about “armed
labour exchanges, even astronomi- struggle,” insurrection and the rest)
a revolutionary tendency could sug- cal observatories. Power was really
gest that we could pay any compen- not only did not foresee any move-
in the hands of the working class. ment of the French workers. They
sation to the bourgeoisie, just as it is The government was powerless, left
supposedly ruled out that the work- specifically denied any such possi-
suspended in mid-air by the uprising. bility. Let us take one of their lead-
ers might take power without “inevi- The “strong state” of De Gaulle was
table civil war.” That is the difference ing “theoreticians,” André Gorz. This
paralysed. This mighty movement individual wrote, in an article that
between genuine Marxism and mere took place at the height of the post-
formalism. In essence, Trotsky is re- saw the light of day in the middle of
war economic upswing in capitalism. the uprising that “in the foreseeable
peating the same method that Marx The French events of 1968 were
and Engels applied when they said future there will be no crisis of Eu-
not only not foreseen by anyone ex- ropean capitalism so dramatic as
that, under certain conditions, the cept our tendency, they took every
proletariat might consider offering to drive the mass of workers to rev-
other trend completely by surprise, olutionary general strikes or armed
to “buy out” the capitalists, on con- because, with the exception of our-
BACK TO CONTENTS 31 MARXISM AND THE STATE
insurrections in support of their vi- are on the streets it is too late for us. to take power when the most fa-
tal interests.” (A. Gorz, Reform and You cannot improvise a revolutionary vourable circumstances existed, the
Revolution, in The Socialist Register organisation. It must be created in French workers may have to pay with
1968. Our emphasis.) advance. civil war in the future.
Nor was Gorz alone in his apprais- The events of May were more than
1968 was a Revolution
al of the situation. Ernest Mandel a general strike. This was a revolu-
spoke at a meeting in London only It is not only a question of the dis- tion, betrayed by the Stalinists. Who-
one month before these great events. appearance of the peasantry. The ever does not understand this, un-
In the course of his lecture, he spoke development of industry means derstands nothing. Every section of
about everything under the sun, but that the proletariat itself is much the proletariat was involved in strug-
never mentioned a single word about stronger than it was in the 1930s, gle. The colossal scope of the move-
the situation of the French working let alone the time of the Paris Com- ment, its sweep and élan, were in the
class. When this contradiction was mune, when practically all the work- best revolutionary traditions of the
pointed out to him by one of our com- ers were in small workshops. Even French working class. And this was
rades from the floor, his reply was in 1931 nearly two thirds of all indus- achieved without any lead whatsoev-
that there would be no movement trial enterprises in France employed er from the tops of the CP and SP.
of the French workers for the next no wage-workers at all, and another What is a revolution? Trotsky ex-
twenty years. third of them employed less than ten. plains that a revolution is a situation
Only 0.5% of industrial enterprises
During the May events, the univer- when the mass of normally apathet-
employed more than a hundred. The
sity was, of course, occupied by the ic men and women begin to partic-
fundamental change was shown in
students. In the central courtyard ipate actively in the life of society,
1968 in the key role played by giant
there were a lot of stalls on which when they acquire an awareness of
factories such as the Renault works
one could see the papers of all the their strength and move to take their
in Flins, with a total workforce of
left groups. They were all monthlies destiny into their own hands. That is
10,500, of which 1,000 participated in
at that time, and had not had time just what a revolution is. And that is
pickets and a minimum of 5,000 at-
to publish a new edition after the what happened on a colossal scale in
tended daily strike meetings at that
strike had begun. Without exception, France in 1968.
plant alone.
they all dedicated the front page to The class balance of forces was
Vietnam, Bolivia, Cuba, Che Guevara, In 1936, when the correlation of here expressed, not as a mere ab-
Mao Zedong-in fact, everything and class forces was infinitely less fa- stract potential or statistic, but as an
anything except the French working vourable, in a situation that was not actual power on the streets and in the
class! one tenth as advanced, Trotsky said factories. The French workers flexed
that the CP could have taken power
These other trends did not expect their muscles, and became aware of
without meeting any effective resist-
it, because they had, in effect, written the enormous power in their hands.
ance:
off the working class in the advanced Some idea of this is conveyed by the
capitalist countries as “corrupt” and “If the party of Léon Blum was real- following description of the mighty
“bourgeoisified.” ly Socialist it might, basing itself demonstration of a million which
upon the general strike, have over- took over the streets of Paris on the
Incidentally, many of them found
thrown the bourgeoisie in June, 13th of May:
a comfortable refuge in endless dis-
almost without civil war, with a
cussions about the “armed struggle” “Endlessly they filed past. There
minimum of disturbance and of
in the cafes of Paris, which relieved were whole sections of hospital
sacrifices. But the party of Blum
them of any necessity of seeking con- personnel in white coats, some car-
is a bourgeois party, the young-
tacts with the real world and prob- rying posters saying ‘Où sont les
er brother of rotten Radicalism.”
lems of the French workers, which, disparus des hôpitaux?’ (‘Where
(Leon Trotsky, On France, p. 178,
had they done so, would have fur- are the missing injured?’). Every
our emphasis.)
nished them with more than enough factory, every major workplace
information to forewarn them of the The relation of forces in 1968 was seemed to be represented. There
impending social explosion. vastly more favourable. A peaceful were numerous groups of railway-
Unfortunately, we had no group in transformation was possible, if the men, postmen, printers, Metro
France to be able to intervene effec- CP leaders had acted as Marxists personnel, metal workers, airport
tively in these events. The main les- should act. It is essential to stress workers, market men, electricians,
son of 1968 is that, once the workers this. But, equally, because of the be- lawyers, sewermen, bank employ-
trayal of the Stalinists, who refused ees, building workers, glass and
BACK TO CONTENTS 32 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 chemical workers, waiters, munic- was made with the peasant organ- tion is not the plans of the regime,
ipal employees, painters and dec- isations in the surrounding areas, but the real balance of forces in so-
orators, gas workers, shop girls, and food supplies were arranged, ciety. Incidentally, De Gaulle, who was
insurance clerks, road sweepers, with prices fixed by the workers and quite an astute bourgeois, was fully
film studio operators, busmen, peasants. To prevent profiteering, aware of the real situation (although,
teachers, workers from the new shops had to display a sticker in the as we will see, he initially underes-
plastic industries, row upon row window with the words: “This shop timated it, and made a very serious
upon row of them, the flesh and is authorised to open. Its prices are error as a result. In common with all
blood of modern capitalist society, under permanent supervision by the the others, he too was not expecting
an unending mass, a power that unions.” The sticker was signed by the French workers to move).
could sweep everything before it, the CGT, CFDT and FO. A litre of milk The fact of the matter is that the
if it but decided to do so.” (Quot- was sold for 50 centimes compared movement caught the ruling class
ed in Revolutionary Rehearsals, p. to the normal 80. A kilo of potatoes and the government entirely off
12.) was cut from 70 centimes to 12. A guard. They were terrified of the
Once in struggle the workers began kilo of carrots from 80 to 50, and so movement of the students, as the
to take initiatives which went far be- on. then Prime Minister, Pompidou ad-
yond the limits of a normal strike. Since the schools were closed, mits in his memoirs:
The printers and journalists imposed teachers and students organised “Some people ... have thought that
a kind of workers’ control of the nurseries, play-groups, free meals by reopening the Sorbonne and
press. Bourgeois papers had to sub- and activities for the strikers’ chil- having the students released I
mit their editorials for scrutiny, and dren. Committees of strikers’ wives had shown weakness and set the
had to publish the declarations of were set up and played a leading role agitation going again. I would sim-
the workers’ committees. De Gaulle’s organising food supplies. Not only the ply answer as follows: let’s sup-
plan to hold a referendum was frus- students, but the professional layers pose that, on Monday 13 May the
trated by the action of the workers. were infected with the bug of revo- Sorbonne had remained closed
The general was unable even to get lution. The astronomers occupied an under police protection. Who can
ballot sheets for a referendum print- observatory. There was a strike at imagine that the crowd, swarm-
ed because of the strike of the French the nuclear research centre at Sa- ing towards Denfert-Rochereau,
printing workers and the refusal of clay, where the majority of the 10,000 would have fail to break in, carry-
their Belgian colleagues to scab. The employees were researchers, techni- ing everything before it like a riv-
class balance of forces is not pure- cians, engineers or graduate scien- er in flood? I preferred to give the
ly a matter of the relative numerical tists. Even the Church was affected. Sorbonne to the students than to
strength of the working class as op- In the Latin Quarter, young Catholics see them take it by force.” (G. Pom-
posed to the peasants and middle occupied a church and demanded a pidou, Pour Rétablir une Vérité, pp.
class in general. Once the proletariat debate instead of mass. 184-5.)
enters into decisive struggle, show- Elsewhere he adds:
The Myth of the “Strong State”
ing itself to be a powerful force in “The crisis was infinitely more
society, it quickly attracts the ex- The contingency plans of the French
government were similar to the plans serious and more profound; the
ploited mass of peasants and small regime would stand or be over-
shopkeepers who are crushed by the of every ruling class in history, when
faced with revolution. The govern- thrown, but it could not be saved
banks and monopolies. This was ev- by a mere cabinet reshuffle. It was
ident in 1968, when the peasants set ment of Tsar Nicholas (“the bloody”
they called him) was not short of its not my position that was in ques-
up roadblocks around Nantes and tion. It was General De Gaulle, the
distributed free food to the strikers. military contingency plans before
February 1917. But whether such Fifth Republic, and, to a consider-
Workers took control of petrol able extent, Republican rule itself.”
supplies in Nantes, refusing entry to plans can be put into effect is entire-
ly another matter, as Nicholas found (Ibid., p. 197.)
all petrol tankers which did not car-
out to his cost. Merely to repeat after What did Pompidou mean when he
ry authorisation from the strike com-
the event that “the government had said that “Republican rule itself” was
mittee. A picket was placed on the
contingency plans” tells us nothing in danger? He meant that the capital-
only functioning petrol pump in the
at all. It would be astonishing if such ist state itself was threatened with
town, which made sure that petrol
plans did not exist, and not only in overthrow. And in this, he was quite
was only issued to doctors. Contact
France! What is decisive in a revolu- right. After Pompidou tried to defused
BACK TO CONTENTS 33 MARXISM AND THE STATE
the crisis by reopening the Sorbonne ipation,’ but it was not clear what Séguy by turning it down flat. The
the movement merely acquired fresh the precise terms of the question accords of Grenelle, as they were
momentum with a demonstration of would be, and it seemed to those called, were stillborn.
250,000. Terrified that the students who heard him to be suspiciously “The Council of Ministers met at
would join forces with the workers like a device. He said that it was 3 p.m. on 27 May, soon after the
and storm the Elysée, the presiden- the duty of the state to ensure Renault workers’ rejection of the
tial palace was evacuated. public order, but his voice lacked Grenelle accords. The General pre-
It is true that De Gaulle in the its old resonance, and the phrases, sided, but it was noted that his
first stage placed his confidence although still in the same solemn heart and mind were elsewhere.
on the Stalinist leaders to save the language, somehow no longer car- He stared at his ministers without
situation. He said to his naval ADC, ried conviction. He came across seeing them, his arms flat on the
François Flohic, “Don’t worry, Flohic, as an old man, tired and wounded.
wounded table in front of him, his shoul-
the Communists will keep them in He knew it himself. ‘I missed the ders hunched, seemingly ‘totally
order.” (Philippe Alexandre, L’Elysée target,’ he said that evening. The indifferent’ to what was going on
en péril, p. 299.) What do these words best that Pompidou could say was: around him. There was a discus-
prove? Neither more or less than the ‘It could have been worse.’” (C. Wil- sion about the referendum; the
fact which we have always main- liams, The Last Great Frenchman. General apparently heard only
tained that the capitalist system A life of General De Gaulle, pp. 463- bits of it.” (Ibid., pp. 464-5, our em-
could not exist without the support 4, our emphasis.) phasis.)
of the reformist (and Stalinist) la- “But De Gaulle’s mood, on the morn- These extracts from a sympathet-
bour leaders. This support is worth ing of the 25th, had turned for ic biography paint a vivid picture
much more to them than any amount the worse. He was, in the words of total disorientation, panic and
of tanks and policemen. De Gaulle, as of one of his ministers, ‘pros-pros- demoralisation. De Gaulle, the same
an intelligent bourgeois, understood trate-stooped and aged.’
aged He kept man who had placed his faith in the
this perfectly. However, the essence on repeating, ‘It’s a mess.’ Anoth- Communists to “keep them in or-
of a revolution is that the masses be- er minister found an old man who der,” according to the US ambassa-
gin to participate actively in events, ‘had no «feel» for the future.’ The dor, now told him that “the game’s
begin to take matters into their own General sent for his son Philippe, up. In a few days the Communists
hands. The General’s confidence did who found his father ‘tired’ and will be in power.” Why? Quite simply
not last long. He was forced to cut noted that he had hardly slept. because De Gaulle saw the sweep of
short his presidential trip to Roma- Philippe suggested that his father the revolutionary movement and did
nia because of the rapidly deterio- might make for the Atlantic port not believe they could hold the line,
rating situation in Paris. His biogra- of Brest-shadows of 1940-but was even with the services of the Stalinist
pher, Charles Williams, graphically told that he would not give up. leaders.
describes De Gaulle’s state of mind
“From
From 25 to 28 May De Gaulle re-
on the eve of his broadcast to the na- Contradiction
mained in a state of profound
tion on May 24th:
gloom. Pompidou’s negotiations
gloom There is a self-evident contradiction
“There is no doubt that, after the ex- here. On the one hand, De Gaulle is
with the trade unions had been a
hilaration of Romania, the General supremely confident in the knowl-
farce. He had simply given them
had been badly shaken by what he edge that the CP leaders will keep
all they asked for: sweeping in-
had found on his return to France.
France the masses under control. The next
creases in pay and social benefits,
During the ensuing three days, he minute, he is seized by the “terrify-
and an increase in the minimum
seemed to at least one visitor, who ing idea” that the CP leaders will be
wage of 35 per cent. The only snag
had not seen him for some time, “propelled to power in spite of them-
was that, even after the deal had
to be old and indecisive, his stoop selves.”
been signed, the CGT had insisted
accentuated. It seemed as though that it would have to be ratified by Evidently there is a problem, and a
it was all getting too much for him.
him their membership. George Séguy, serious one! Not only do innumerable
“The broadcast of 24 May, when it the CGT leader, hurried off to the witnesses assert that De Gaulle was
came, was a complete flop. The Paris suburb of Billancourt, where completely prostrate and demoral-
General looked, and sounded, 12,000 Renault workers were ised, but on at least two occasions
shifty and scared.
scared True, he an- on strike. When the agreement he contemplated fleeing the country.
nounced a referendum on ‘partic- was put to them, they humiliated His own son urged him to escape via
BACK TO CONTENTS 34 MARXISM AND THE STATE
Brest, and other sources state that son, and then a very considerable On 13 May a police union body rep-
he considered remaining in West quantity of artillery spread out resenting 80 per cent of uniformed
Germany, where he had gone to vis- fanwise around Petrograd. Moreo- personnel issued a declaration that
it general Massu. De Gaulle was a ver the enemy with the help of the it
clever and calculating politician who Central Executive Committee will “...considers the prime minister’s
never acted on impulse, and rarely almost certainly attempt to bring statement to be a recognition
lost his nerve. If he told the US am- troops from the front...’” that the students were in the right,
bassador that “the game is up, and And Trotsky answers the objections and as a total disavowal of the
in a few days the Communists will be of Kamenev and Zinoviev as follows: actions by the police force which
in power,” it is because he believed it. the government itself had ordered.
“The list sounds imposing, but it is
And not he alone, but the majority of In these circumstances, it is sur-
only a list. If an army as a whole is
the ruling class. prised that an effective dialogue
a copy of society, then when soci-
The French ruling class still dis- ety openly splits, both armies are with the students was not sought
posed of a formidable machine of copies of the two warring camps. before these regrettable confron-
repression. How formidable? Let’s The army of the possessors con- tations took place.” (Le Monde, 15
see. There were some 144,000 po- tained the wormholes of isolation May 1968.)
lice (armed) of various categories, and decay.” (Trotsky, History of the If this was the position with the po-
including 13,500 of the notorious Russian Revolution, p. 1042.) lice, the effect of the revolution on the
CRS riot police, and some 261,000 rank and file of the army would have
soldiers stationed in France or West According to the celebrated apho-
rism of Mao, “power grows from the been even greater. As it was, despite
Germany. If one approaches the ques- the lack of information, there were
tion from a purely quantitative point barrel of a gun.” But guns have to be
wielded by soldiers, and soldiers do reports of a ferment in the armed
of view, then one would have to rule forces, and even a mutiny in the navy.
out not just a peaceful transforma- not live in a vacuum, but are influ-
enced by the moods of the masses. In The aircraft carrier Clemenceau, due
tion, but the possibility of revolution to go to the Pacific for a nuclear test,
in general, and not just in France in any society, the police are more back-
ward than the army. Yet in France the suddenly turned back and returned
1968. From this point of view, no revo- to Toulon without explanation. There
lution could ever have succeeded in police, to quote the headline of The
Times (31 May) were “seething with were reports of a mutiny on board
the whole of history. But the question and several sailors were said to
cannot be posed in this way. discontent.”
have been “lost at sea.” (Le Canard
In every revolution, voices are “They are seething with discontent
Enchainé, 19th June, a fuller report
raised which attempt to frighten the over their treatment by the Gov-
was published in Action 14th June,
oppressed class with the spectre of ernment,” says the article, “andand
but this was confiscated by the au-
violence, bloodshed and the “inevita- the branch dealing with intelli-
thorities).
bility of civil war.” Kamenev and Zino- gence about student activity has
been deliberately depriving the A leaflet published by members
viev spoke in exactly the same way on of the RIMECA (mechanised infantry
the eve of the October insurrection: Government of information about
student leaders in support of an regiment) stationed at Mutzig near
“The enemies of the insurrection Strasbourg indicates that sections
expenses claim.
claim
in the ranks of the Bolshevik par- of the army were already being af-
ty itself found, however, sufficient “...Nor have the police been im- fected by the mood of the masses. It
ground for pessimistic conclusions. pressed by the Government’s be- included the following section:
Zinoviev and Kamenev gave warn- haviour since the troubles broke “Like all conscripts, we are con-
ing against an under-estimation out. ‘They are terrified of losing fined to barracks. We are being
of the enemy’s forces. ‘Petrograd our support,’ said one man. prepared to intervene as repres-
will decide, and in Petrograd the “Such dissatisfaction is one of the sive forces. The workers and youth
enemy has ... considerable forc- reasons for the apparent inactivity must know that the soldiers of the
es: 5,000 junkers, magnificently of the Paris police in the past few contingent WILL NEVER SHOOT ON
armed and knowing how to fight, days. Last week, men at several lo- WORKERS. We Action Committees
and then the army headquar- cal stations refused to go on duty are opposed at all costs to the sur-
ters, and then the shock troops, at the cross-roads and squares of rounding of factories by soldiers.
and then the Cossacks, and then the capital.” (The Times, 31/5/1968,
a considerable part of the garri- “Tomorrow or the day after we
our emphasis.) are expected to surround an ar-
BACK TO CONTENTS 35 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 maments factory which three even the reactionary intelligence reaucrat plays on the fears of the
hundred workers who work there branch, as we have seen, was re- masses. Like labour bureaucrats
want to occupy. WE SHALL FRATER- fusing to collaborate with the gov- everywhere, he knows that many
NISE. ernment against the students) that workers fear the prospect of vio-
“Soldiers of the contingent, form saved the situation for French capi- lence and bloodshed. This fact is a
your committees!” (Quoted in Rev- talism. It was the monstrous betrayal book sealed with seven seals for the
olutionary Rehearsals, p. 26.) of the Stalinist and trade union lead- ultra left sects, who immediately
ers. This conclusion is not just ours, fall into the trap set for them by the
The production of such a leaflet was but finds support in the most unlike- bourgeois and the bureaucrats. This
clearly an exceptional example of the ly source. In the entry on May 1968 is one reason they will never win the
most revolutionary elements among in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, we masses in a thousand years. The kind
the conscripts. But, in the midst of aread the following: of terminological radicalism which
revolution of such massive propor- “De Gaulle seemed incapable of is a normal hallmark of sectarians
tions, is it possible to doubt that the grappling with the crisis or even is merely the other side of the coin
rank and file of the army would have understanding its nature. The of their complete lack of confidence
rapidly been “infected” by the bacil- Communist and Trade Union lead- in the working class, their supersti-
lus of revolt? The strategists of inter- ers, however, provided him with tious faith in the “strong state” and,
national capital did not doubt it. Nei- a breathing space; they opposed above all, their organic inability to
ther did their French counterparts. further upheaval, evidently fear- penetrate the working class, or even
In a state of panic, which we have ing the loss of their followers to find a common language with the
already documented sufficiently, De their most extremist and anar- workers.
Gaulle suddenly vanished. chist rivals.” How would a genuine Marxist ten-
It turns out that De Gaulle went dency have acted under such circum-
to Germany to consult with general What was the main weapon used by
the Stalinists to persuade the work- stances? By advancing the slogan of
Massu. It does not require much im- insurrection and civil war? That is just
agination to work out what he asked ers not to attempt to take power?
That the state was strong, that there what the sects did. Indeed, they at-
him. “Can we rely on the army?” The tempted to put it into practice (with-
answer is not contained in any of would be violence and civil war. Let
them speak for themselves. Accord- out the masses!). This is the distilled
the written sources, for obvious rea- essence of petit-bourgeois ultraleft-
sons. The Times sent its correspond- ing to Waldeck-Rochet, the party’s
general secretary: ism and adventurism, which always
ent to Germany to interview French plays into the hands of the right wing.
soldiers, the big majority of whom “In reality the choice to be made in
May was the following: No. The Marxists would have acted in
were working class conscripts. One the same way as Lenin. They would
of those interviewed answered the - Either to act in such a way that have conducted systematic work in
question whether he would fire on the strike would permit the essen- the CP, YCL and unions building up
the workers thus: “Never! I think their tial demands of the workers to points of support over the whole of
methods may be a bit rough, but I am be satisfied, and to pursue at the the previous period. During the May
a worker’s son myself.” same time, on the political level, a Events, the main slogan of the Marx-
In its editorial, The Times asked the policy aimed at making necessary ists would have been the setting up
key question: “Can De Gaulle use the democratic changes by constitu- of elected committees to co-ordinate
army?” and answered its own ques- tional means. This was our party’s and direct the struggle, and to link
tion, saying that he could perhaps position. these up on a local, regional and, ul-
use it once. In other words, a single - Or else quite simply to provoke timately, on a national basis. At the
bloody clash would be sufficient to a trial of strength, in other words same time, they would have demand-
break the army in pieces. That was move towards an insurrection: ed the CP take power, expropriate
the appraisal of the most hard-head- this would include a recourse to the capitalists and transform society.
ed strategists of international capi- armed struggle aimed at over- Could this have been done peace-
tal at the time. There is no reason to throwing the regime by force. This fully? As we have seen, Trotsky in
doubt their word on this occasion. was the adventurist position of 1936, said that the Socialist leaders
Who saved De Gaulle? certain ultra-left groups.”
groups (L’Hu- could have simply brushed aside
manité, 10 July ‘68, our emphasis.) the resistance of the ruling class.
It was not at all the army or the po- What would he have said in a situa-
lice (who were so demoralised that Note how skilfully this Stalinist bu-
BACK TO CONTENTS 36 MARXISM AND THE STATE
tion like this, which was a thousand But does it mean that the question question of power. However, even in
times more favourable? In answer to of the responsibility for the outbreak the course of a revolution, it is nec-
the speeches of Waldeck Rochet and of hostilities is beside the point? To essary to place all the responsibility
company, who were attempting to imagine such a thing is to complete- for violence on the shoulders of the
frighten the workers with the spectre ly misunderstand the conduct of ruling class, in order to win over the
of bloodshed and civil war, we would war. Why is it that every government masses, not only of the working class,
have pointed out, as Lenin pointed in every war always tries to put the but also of the petit bourgeoisie. It is
out a hundred times in 1917, and as blame for starting it on the shoulders therefore not only correct, but abso-
Trotsky did in 1936, that the reformist of the enemy? Is this an accident? Or a lutely essential that we should pres-
(Stalinist) labour leaders, with the whim? On the contrary. War is not just ent the movement in a defensive light.
overwhelming support of the mass- a military question, but involves pol- However, it may be objected that
es, could take power peacefully, with itics. The mobilisation of public opin- the insurrection has an offensive
a minimum of effort, without civil ion, at home and abroad, in support character. Again, as an abstract gen-
war, and that this was the only way of the war is a fundamental question, eral proposition it is correct. Danton
of avoiding violence. And this was un- which can only be resolved on the pointed out that the slogan of insur-
doubtedly a million times more true political plane. Engels explained that rection is “De l’audace, de l’audace,
in France than in Russia in 1917. This, in warfare the importance of morale et encore de l’audace!” (Audacity,
and not the shrill ultraleftism of the to the physical is three to one. Hence, audacity and yet more audacity!).
sects, was the only way to get the ear the fundamental task of diplomacy But that does not at all exhaust the
of the Communist workers, defeat is to convince “public opinion” that question of revolutionary tactics. The
the Stalinist leadership and win over its particular army acted only in truth is always concrete. In the class
the masses to the idea of revolution. self-defence, in response to intolera- struggle, as in normal warfare, it is
ble provocation, “enemy aggression” necessary to assess under what con-
Defence and offence and so on. A government which did ditions it is possible to go onto the
From the point of view of formal log- not act in this way would commit offensive, and when it is necessary
ic, defence and offence are immuta- an intolerable blunder, and do enor- to adopt a defensive position. War-
ble opposites. However, in practice, mous damage to its war effort. fare would be a very simple matter
they frequently pass into each oth- All this is a thousand times more if it only consisted of a simple rule,
er. A defensive struggle, under cer- true in the socialist revolution. The applicable to all circumstances. But
tain conditions, can be transformed proletariat, unlike the ruling class, the general who only knew one com-
into an offensive struggle, and vice does not possess an army, and will mand-”Attack!”-would swiftly lead
versa. There are many points of never possess an armed force ca- his army to annihilation. It is neces-
comparison between the wars be- pable of taking on the forces of the sary to learn how to attack, but also
tween nations and wars between bourgeois state, provided that the to retreat in good order, to tack, veer,
the classes. But there are also dif- latter remains intact. Whereas con- manoeuvre, avoid giving battle under
ferences. A bourgeois standing army ventional war is mainly a military unfavourable circumstances, and so
is prepared, financed and armed for question, in which diplomacy plays on. The whole history of Bolshevism
decades in preparation for war. The a significant but subordinate role, is full of examples of the kind of skil-
general staff can choose when and the task of the socialist revolution ful and flexible tactics reflected in
where hostilities begin. Of course, is therefore mainly the political task the writings of Lenin, and summed
even here, it is not a purely military of winning over the masses and the up in Left Wing Communism.
question. Clausewitz explained that armed forces. The roles are reversed. The problem was that, after 1917,
“war is the continuation of politics In point of fact, the overwhelm- the young and inexperienced leaders
by other means.” The military acts ing majority of the struggles of the of the Communist Parties in the first
of bourgeois governments are deter- working class begin as defensive five years of the Communist Inter-
mined by the class interests of the struggles: struggles to defend living national had not had time to absorb
bourgeoisie. For this reason, Marx- standards, jobs, democratic rights, and digest the lessons of the histo-
ists have always pointed out that the etc. Under certain circumstances, ry of Bolshevism and the Russian
question of “who fires the first shot” particularly with correct leadership, Revolution. They had read State and
is an entirely secondary considera- these defensive struggles can pre- Revolution and Lenin’s writings of the
tion which does not have any bearing pare the way for an offensive, includ- War period, and were able to repeat
on the concrete character of a war. ing a general strike, which poses the mechanically the slogans about the
This general proposition is correct.
BACK TO CONTENTS 37 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 need to smash the bourgeois state, has nothing in common with the real serve the revolutionary vanguard
civil war, the criticism of reformism methods of Bolshevism of which it is advantageously at all times and
and parliamentarism, the imper- merely an abstract caricature. We under all conditions. On the con-
missibility of uniting with the Social have already mentioned the defence trary, peaceful conditions and
Democracy. But they had not under- testimony in the Minneapolis Trial. democratic legal forms are most
stood a single word of what they had One of the criticisms of the ultra left useful in the period when the par-
read. They did not understand the Munis was precisely that Cannon pre- ty is still gathering its forces and
method of Lenin. For the entire pe- sented the question of violence as a when the main strength and re-
riod from 1917 till his death, Lenin question of self-defence. “Why not,” sources, including the resources
struggled to straighten them out, asked Munis, “raise the voice at this of violence, are on the other side.
even demonstratively declaring that, point and call upon the workers to Lenin remarked that Engels was
if these were “Lefts,” he was a “Right.” organise their own violence against ‘most correct’ in ‘ advocating the
The “Left” Communists considered the reactionary violence?” And Can- use of bourgeois legality’ and say-
Lenin and Trotsky to have succumbed non replied: ing to the German ruling class in
to opportunism. In practice, they “Why not? Because it was not nec- 1891: ‘Be the first to shoot, Messrs.
held that the tactics and methods ad- essary or advisable either to raise Bourgeois!’
vocated by them represented a “very the voice or issue any call for ac- “Our party which must still strive
serious departure from the point tion at this time. We were talking, to get a hearing from the as yet
of view of Lenin and Trotsky,” which in the first place, for the benefit of indifferent working class of Amer-
“will mean that the International will the uninitiated worker who would ica has the least reason of all to
never be able to fulfil its historical reading the testimony in the pa- emphasise or to ‘advocate’ vio-
mission.” The clearest expression of per or in pamphlet form. We need- lence. This attitude is determined
this was the “theory of the offensive” ed a calm and careful exposition by the present stage of class de-
put forward by the leaders of the in order to get his attention. This velopment and the relation of forc-
German CP. worker is by no means waiting es in the United States.” (Ibid., pp.
Starting from the fact that the impatiently for our call to violent 30-31.)
Communist Parties were not yet the action. Quite the contrary, he ar-
The slightest acquaintance with the
decisive majority of the class, Lenin dently believes in the so-called
history of the Russian Revolution, be-
advanced the slogan of the united democracy, and the first question
fore during and after October, will
front, of patient work in the mass or- he will ask, if he becomes interest-
suffice to demonstrate this. On the
ganisations, of participation in bour- ed in socialism, is: ‘Why can’t we
eve of the October Revolution, there
geois parliaments, as a means of win- get it peacefully, by the ballot?’ It
was a difference of opinion between
ning the masses. This was the prior is necessary to patiently explain
Lenin and Trotsky concerning the
condition for socialist revolution. But to him that, while we would pre-
date of the insurrection. Lenin want-
the “Lefts” were not satisfied. They fer it that way, the bosses will not
ed to move straight to the seizure of
scornfully dismissed Lenin’s advice permit it, will resort to violence
power in September, whereas Trot-
to “turn to the masses,” considering against the majority, and that the
sky was in favour of postponing the
that the only possible policy for a rev- workers must defend themselves
insurrection until the Congress of
olutionary party was “revolutionary and their right to change things.”
Soviets. Why did Trotsky take this po-
offence.” Lenin and Trotsky fought (Munis and Cannon, What policy
sition? Did he suffer from a lack of
tooth and nail against this “theory,” for revolutionists - Marxism or Ul-
audacity? Not at all. Trotsky under-
which led to a bloody defeat in March tra-leftism, p. 25.)
stood that, even in a revolution, the
1921. This was an extreme example And again: question of legality is extremely im-
of an ultra left trend that was very “That ‘force is the midwife of every portant for the masses.
widespread at the time, and which old society pregnant with the new’- The Bolsheviks were sure they
has re-surfaced many times in the this is an axiom known to every would get the majority at the Con-
history of the movement. It was al- student of Marxism. It is wrong to gress, and could therefore appear
ways combated by Lenin and Trotsky, entertain or disseminate illusions before the masses as the legitimate
and even before them by Marx and on this score, and we did so at the power in society. This was not a sec-
Engels. trial. But it is a great mistake to ondary question, but was a vital fac-
Despite its very “revolutionary” conclude from this that the vio- tor in achieving a peaceful transfer
appearance, this kind of approach lence and the talk about violence of power. Once again, the essential
BACK TO CONTENTS 38 MARXISM AND THE STATE
element was not military, but politi- son for his action was to convince ways affected by the general moods
cal. Incidentally, the Bolsheviks pre- the workers of Britain and France, in society. This is particularly true of
sented the October insurrection as where the ruling class were slander- the conscripts, which is why Marxists
a defensive action to prevent Russia ing Lenin as a German agent, that do not support the petit-bourgeois
from sliding into chaos and civil war. the Bolsheviks were the victims of pacifist demand for the abolition of
And this is no accident. Even when aggression, and that the predatory military service. We are in favour of
you are in a position to go onto the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed un- young workers being trained in the
offensive (which is by no means al- der duress. They had no alternative. use of arms, although with trade un-
ways the case, rather the contrary), There is no doubt that the new treaty ion rights, and under the control of
it is always necessary to act and was still less favourable than before the labour organisations. The reac-
speak as if you were fighting a defen- the German offensive. But here, as al- tionary nature of the petit-bourgeois
sive struggle, placing all the respon- ways, what motivated Lenin and Trot- policy is shown by attempts by the
sibility on the enemy. sky was the interests of the World ruling class of many countries to re-
Let us take one more example. In Revolution. The balance of forces place conscription with a profession-
1918, the fate of the Revolution hung ruled out a revolutionary offensive. al army, despite the fact that this will
in the balance. The armies of German The Bolsheviks were compelled to cost more money.
imperialism were poised to invade. take a defensive position, and even Why do they take this line? Be-
The military forces at the disposal of make painful concessions to German cause they can see what is coming.
the Bolsheviks were totally insuffi- imperialism in order to survive. At a certain stage explosions are
cient to permit a serious resistance. They placed all their confidence inevitable. It is implicit in the whole
Fearing the complete destruction of in their internationalist policies, ap- situation. The ruling class of these
the Revolution, Lenin advocated the pealing to the workers of the world countries is attempting to prepare
immediate signing of peace with Ger- to come to their assistance. Even lat- for this, and imagines that a profes-
many, even at the cost of sacrificing er, when Trotsky built the Red Army, sional army will serve their interests
territory. Bukharin, who, at that time, he was under no illusions that the better. As a matter of fact, their con-
held an ultra left position, stood for Revolution could be saved by purely fidence is misplaced. Under modern
a revolutionary war against Germany, military means. The reason why the conditions, the overwhelming major-
a highly “audacious” position, which, Revolution was able to survive the ity of professional soldiers are work-
under the concrete conditions, would attacks by 21 armies of foreign inter- ing class youths who join the army
have certainly led to the destruction vention was not the heroism of the to escape unemployment. Despite all
of the Revolution. Red Army, important as that was, but the efforts to brutalise them (which
Trotsky, who was in charge of ne- the opposition of the workers of Brit- we must denounce and oppose, de-
gotiations at Brest-Litovsk, attempt- ain, France and other countries to manding trade union rights for sol-
ed to spin out the talks as long as the plans of the imperialists, and the diers to draw them closer to the la-
possible, in the hope that the Ger- fact that the troops of every foreign bour movement), when there is a big
man workers would rise. In fact, this army sent to Russia mutinied. movement of the class, they will be
occurred a few months later, but this The British Prime Minister Lloyd affected, as even the police were af-
would have been too late to avoid a George explained the withdrawal of fected in 1968.
shattering German offensive, had the British troops because they were
How we pose the Question
the Bolsheviks not given way. When “infected with Bolshevik influenza.”
the German imperialists presented Not in carrying out the Revolution, The question of how the transfor-
a final ultimatum, Trotsky, who had but in defending it, the main weapon mation of society is posed depends
skilfully used the negotiations to car- was a revolutionary internationalist on the situation. That is precise-
ry out revolutionary agitation which policy. That was the “secret weap- ly the meaning of the transitional
had a big effect in Germany and Aus- on” which amply made up for the ex- programme. It is not a question of
tria, refused to sign the treaty and treme weakness of the Revolution in abstract formulae, which we are
demonstratively broke off the nego- the face of what were, on paper, over- obliged to put forward, irrespec-
tiations, although he knew that this whelmingly superior forces. From a tive of time and place, but of a pro-
would mean a German attack. military point of view, the Bolsheviks gramme which, taking into consid-
Trotsky’s position had nothing in ought never have been able to take eration the actual consciousness of
common with the ultraleft line of power, and certainly not hold onto it. the class, flows from the real needs
Bukharin. He explained that the rea- In a revolution, the troops are al- of the situation. Take a concrete in-
stance. In Northern Ireland, we were
BACK TO CONTENTS 39 MARXISM AND THE STATE
faced with a very difficult and com- all kinds of issues, big and small, the to fight against the bosses and
plicated situation. The main problem socialist revolution would be utterly their government. Let us by all
was the national question in a par- impossible. means fight together for the elec-
ticularly monstrous form. Society Let us pose the question different- tion of a Labour government. But
was polarised on religious sectarian ly. Would it have been correct for us that is not enough. A Labour gov-
lines. Our policy was dictated by the to have put forward the same slogan ernment must carry out policies
need to unite the workers on class of a workers’ defence force (which in the interests of the working
lines. Our central demand was for we have agreed was absolutely class. How can they do that, when
the establishment of a Labour Party, necessary for Northern Ireland) in the banks and monopolies are in
based on the unions. However, in a England, Scotland and Wales? No. It the hands of our enemies?
position where the paramilitary mad- would have been a fundamental er- “How do we deal with that? Once
men on both sides were conducting ror. The workers would have regard- elected, Labour must take emer-
a campaign of murder and mayhem, ed us, quite justifiably, as raving lu- gency action to solve unemploy-
this was completely insufficient. natics. Why? Because, at this stage, ment, homelessness and all the
For decades, our tendency, and in the concrete conditions in Britain, other problems. They must imme-
we alone, put forward the demand such a slogan bears absolutely no diately pass an Enabling Act to na-
for a trade union defence force, to relation to the reality of the working tionalise the banks and monopo-
defend the workers against sectari- class and society. lies. We will pay fair compensation,
an attacks. This slogan, which corre- And here we approach the essence by which we mean minimum com-
sponds to Trotsky’s demand to arm of the problem. For a Marxist, revolu- pensation on the basis of proven
the picket line, was not sucked out tionary politics does not consist of a need only.
of our thumb. In 1969, the (mainly number of abstract propositions, like “Will the ruling class allow this
Protestant) workers in Harland and mathematical axioms, which can be to happen? All previous histo-
Wolfs, the big shipyards in Belfast, applied indifferently to each and any ry speaks against their giving
set up patrols, under the control of situation. If that were so, our work up without a fight. (Even George
the shop stewards committee, to de- would be a lot easier! We have to find Brown, said this in 1966.) They will
fend Catholic workers against intim- a way of creatively applying the sci- try to use the House of Lords and
idation. Under the circumstances, a ence of Marxism to a given situation, the Monarchy to delay and block
workers’ defence force would have in such a way that we find an echo progressive laws. So we must
to be armed. Without arms, these for our idea in the working class. abolish these reactionary and un-
patrols were powerless against the In Britain, for the whole of the last democratic institutions. They will
paramilitaries. In fact, it was the IRA period, the focal point of our prop- use the mass media to spread lies
which smashed this incipient move- aganda (and we are still mainly a and panic. We should put an end
ment by murdering some of the par- propaganda tendency) has been the to the domination of the press by
ticipating Protestant workers. demand that a Labour government a handful of Tory millionaires, na-
Was the slogan of a workers’ de- must take over the commanding tionalise the press, radio and tele-
fence force the correct one to put heights of the economy. Of course, vision, and guarantee free access
forward in the concrete conditions we endeavour to win over the most to the mass media to any tendency,
of Northern Ireland? Undoubtedly. advanced workers and youth to the party or organisation (including
Had it succeeded, it would have had ideas of Marxism. But 99% of British the trade unions who are denied
a fundamental effect, changing the workers are not Marxists. That is the a voice, despite representing mil-
whole class balance of forces. Begin- problem. The overwhelming majori- lions of people) in accordance to
ning as a defensive slogan, it could ty of those that are politically aware the number of votes they receive
have been the starting point for an support the Labour Party. At this in elections, or the number of
offensive movement of the class stage, a fairly small minority of these members they have.
later on. We repeat, most workers’ support the left reformists, although
movements have an initially defen- is changing. “Big business will do everything
sive character. With correct leader- in its power to sabotage and
In effect, we say to the British
ship, small successes in defensive wreck the economy in order to
worker:
struggles can lead to bigger things. bring down a Labour government
“We have not yet convinced you of
Without the day-to-day struggle for pledged to socialist policies. We
the need for revolution? Very well.
advance under capitalism, involving have seen this in the past. When
Let us at least agree that we have they do not like certain policies,
BACK TO CONTENTS 40 MARXISM AND THE STATE
 they organise conspiracies, runs even greater impact than Russia conspiracies of the bourgeois, not
on the pound, and so on. Therefore, 1917. Given the enormous strength just to bring the government down,
Labour must mobilise the working of the working class, and the im- but even to plot with the tops of the
class outside parliament to set passe of capitalism everywhere, armed forces some kind of Bona-
up elected committees in every the bourgeois regimes in Europe partist-royalist coup.
workplace, to establish workers’ would fall rapidly, creating the ba- In the 1970s in a debate with Tony
control and management of the sis for the Socialist United States Benn in front of two thousand young
nationalised industries, to prevent of Europe and, finally world social- socialists, Ted Grant explained that
the sabotage of the bosses. ism. That is our perspective. unless a left Labour government mo-
“It is necessary to issue an appeal “Does it seem difficult? But what al- bilised the working class to trans-
to the members of the police and ternative is there? The experience form society, then there could be a
the armed forces to support the of all past Labour governments an- reaction and that would even open
democratically elected govern- swers that question. If the Labour the way to civil war, and that the re-
ment (many of them are Labour leaders do not take drastic action sponsibility for this would be on the
supporters), immediately pass to break the power of the banks shoulders of the Labour and trade
a law recognising trade union and monopolies, it will find itself union leaders for not changing socie-
rights and legalising the right to a hostage to the City of London. It ty in time. In his Diary, Benn refers to
strike for soldiers and police, and will be forced to carry out an at- this crudely, saying that Grant came
calling on them to arrest any of- tack on the living standards of the out in favour of civil war! In fact, by
ficers who are plotting against workers, the poor, the unemployed. posing the question in this way, we
the government. Then, when it no longer suits the got the nearly unanimous support
bosses, they will organise a con- of the LPYS for socialist revolution
“There must be measures to win
spiracy, using the press and TV, and our policy, which would not have
over the middle class, the small
to bring the Labour government been possible on any other basis.
businessmen and shopkeepers,
down, and impose an even more The general approach of the IMT
who are being ruined by big busi-
reactionary Tory government. to the question is the only correct
ness and the banks. We should
one from a Marxist point of view. We
point out to them that the nation- “In reality, what we propose is not
have not varied one inch on this is-
alisation of the banks and the so difficult. If the Labour leaders
sue from the position we took during
elimination of a whole series of dedicated one tenth of the ener-
World War Two. That position is the
middlemen will mean cheap credit gies they spend in defending cap-
continuation and development of the
and lower costs. italism on mobilising the might of
approach worked out by the Old Man,
“Above all, a nationalised planned the working class to change soci-
which, in turn, is derived from the
economy under the democratic ety, the socialist transformation
position of Marx, Engels and Lenin. It
control and management of the could be accomplished quickly
has been shown to be correct time
working class will enable us to and painlessly. But we warn that,
and again, particularly in the peri-
eliminate unemployment and in- if they fail to do this, the way will
od since 1945, and above all in the
troduce the six hour day and four be prepared, on the basis of the
Portuguese Revolution and in France
day week, while increasing pro- frightful collapse of British capi-
1968. Thus, it is not only a question
duction and raising wages. talism, for a catastrophe for the
of theory, but of the actual historical
working class.”
“By mobilising the working class experience of the proletariat inter-
on this basis, Labour would rap- In the coming period, it is quite pos- nationally.
idly cut the ground from under sible that there can be a Left Labour It is essential that all comrades
the feet of reaction. Any attempt government in Britain. We would have study the Marxist theory of the state,
to organise a counter-revolution- fundamentally the same position. not just in the classical texts of
ary conspiracy would be brushed The only difference is that, under the Marxism, which retain their full va-
aside. Under these conditions, a pressure of the working class, the lidity, but in the living experience of
peaceful transformation of society left reformists may take measures the class struggle over the last hun-
would be entirely possible. More- against the bourgeois which, without dred years, which is summed up in
over, the example of a democrat- carrying through a complete trans- the method, programme, tactics and
ic workers’ state in an advanced formation of society, would make the general approach of the IMT interna-
country like Britain (or any other normal functioning of capitalism im- tionally
advanced country) would have an possible, creating the conditions for
BACK TO CONTENTS 41 MARXISM AND THE STATE
GET YOUR
TICKETS
HERE!
42