Movement for a Socialist Future

This document was signed by a number of organisations in 1994 and is presented here in its original form to contribute to the discussion about the need for a new International

The nature of our epoch and the necessity for the Fifth International

The Great October socialist revolution in 1917 ushered in a new historical epoch of the transition from capitalism to socialism. Objectively this epoch continues in spite of the fact, that today the economies, and therefore the working masses of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam are being forcibly incorporated into the world economy, forming a new whole.

The crisis of imperialism is world-wide. It is a whole with an independent existence which penetrates every part, every country, including those which are not part of capitalism. The agreements made during the GATT talks cannot be implemented without provoking the undefeated masses into struggle in every country. The working class in France, Belgium, Spain and Mexico has already shown its resistance to the unemployment and poverty arising from the free movement of capital. A new level of internationalisation of imperialist dominance has emerged in the systematic attempts of the leaders of the main bourgeois states to co-ordinate their efforts within the G7, the "Ten", the European Union. It is also revealed in the formation of international alliances of liberal and conservative parties.

Following the demise of the USSR, world imperialism set out to impose a so-called New World Order based on economic, political and social dominance by the leading industrial states. Imperialism is setting out to establish neo-colonial exploitation of the majority of humanity. The communist movement has , however, experienced a process of break-up and national separation. But in the epoch of imperialism, of world economy and world politics under the domination of finance capital, no workers' party can establish its programme by proceeding solely or mainly from conditions and tendencies of developments in its own country. Such a programme must proceed directly from an analysis of the conditions and tendencies of the world economy, and of the world political system taken as a whole, in its connections and contradictions.

Life in the 21st Century can be guaranteed only through the victory of the working class in the revolutionary struggle for social ownership and control of the means of production. All the conditions are present for a giant leap forward for humanity. It is only the liberation of the means of production through socialist revolution that offers a way forward.

The pressure for capitalist restoration in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam is an undisguised attempt to wrest the gains of October, above all the nationalised property relations, from the world's working class. The reciprocal action of opposites - the working class in struggle for socialism against the capitalist restorationists - is the source of the political revolution, which acquires the features of a social revolution as the capitalist restoration makes more progress. The reintroduction of capitalism would require super-exploitation of the working class, fascism, war and consequent global catastrophe.

Theoretical Principles

Parties, organisations, groups and movements willing to take part in the creation of the new International of Communists, share the following principles of the theory of Marxism:

The working class is the only consistently revolutionary class in society, capable of leading other strata of working people, which may and must become its allies. However, the working class cannot fulfil its historic revolutionary mission solely by its own efforts. Communists are responsible for constantly developing Marxist theory and for the introduction of socialist consciousness into the workers' movement.

All the material conditions exist for socialist revolution in capitalist countries and for halting the restoration of capitalism in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam.

The industrial capitalist countries, under the dominance of the private ownership, cannot:

avert global environmental catastrophe; improve the living standards for the masses; provide economic stability; secure the development of science and culture; attract the political support of the population and resist the growing pressure of neo-fascist and authoritarian forces.

Developing countries are forced into neo-colonial dependency by international capitalism. This process is reinforced by the international division of labour. The gap between the rich and the poor in the world is increasing, endangering the stability of the whole world capitalist system.

Unlike the parties of the reformist Second International, we understand the socialist revolution not as a quantitative collection of the elements of democracy and socialism, but as a qualitative leap to the conquest of power by working people.

Such a transition may occur in both a peaceful and non-peaceful way. There is no doubt, however, that working people will not be able to take power by purely parliamentary methods. Seeking a peaceful outcome of the socialist revolution, the parties of the Fifth International rule out any sole right of the bourgeoisie to defend its class interests by military means. Communists must be ready to overcome any resistance to the class will of the proletariat to enforce the will of working people.

The new International is guided by the scientific theory of materialist dialectics, the theory of knowledge of Marxism. This method rejects formulas, quotations, empty abstractions and impressions. It is a concrete analysis of concrete conditions, from living perception to abstract thought and thence to practice. As Lenin insisted, without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary party. Materialist dialectics is the essence of Marxism and not an aspect (Lenin). It is tested through recruitment, training and party building. Revolutionary consciousness can only develop in conflict with trade union and other forms of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology. Only a party led in this way can be ready for the abrupt turns that characterise our epoch. It is not possible to lead the working class in successful revolutionary struggle without this approach. In fact, such struggles will inevitably end in defeat.

Lessons of History

The new International is based on the revolutionary legacy of the Ist, the IInd, the IIIrd and the IVth Internationals, having decisively rejected bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology as well as the dogma of Stalinist and Trotskyist varieties.

The most important revolutionary achievements of the IIIrd Communist International are the following:

decisive break with reformist conceptions of socialism;

an ideological and organisational split between reformists and revolutionaries on an international scale;

through the example of the Russian Revolution it proved that power can only be conquered through revolutionary means.

At the same time the IIIrd Communist International became the hostage of the bureaucratic transformation of the Russian/All-Union Communist Party. As a result it turned into the instrument of the theory of socialism in a single country. Democratic centralism was substituted by bureaucratic centralism, and the solidarity and support of Bolshevik Russia by an apology for the reactionary features of Stalinism.

It is this transformation that led the Comintern to the brink of dissolution in the late 1930s. However, long after its formal dissolution in 1943, the structures and traditions of the Comintern had a contradictory role as the instrument of Stalinism in other countries and in the world communist movement.

The International must incorporate the achievements of the Fourth International over its half century of existence. These are:

the foundation of the theory of bureaucratic transformation of Soviet Russia and its development;

ideologically and in practice fighting against liquidation of parties into reformism and a variety of protest movements as well as Stalinist or Trotskyist dogma;

defending Marxism as a theory of knowledge against all forms of revisionism and bourgeois ideology;

inseparable from this, the defeat of state penetration by forces of imperialism and Stalinism

Programme, Strategy and Tactics

The parties of the International share the view of the Bolsheviks that while socialist revolution has to begin and develop on a national basis, it is founded on the perspective of world revolution, which implies the priority of ideological, political and other support of the revolutionary movement throughout the word. The new International resolutely rejects any export of revolution by military means to countries where there is no immediate revolutionary situation.

The parties of the new International will actively engage in workers' and democratic movements, as well as in trade unions and protest movements. They may join political blocks and coalitions with other parties and movements to defend democratic freedoms and the various interests of the masses as part of a struggle for power by the working class.

The new International, however, will implacably oppose at all times any attempt by member parties to liquidate into centrist, dogmatic, extremist and nationalist organisations, protest movements or any other non-revolutionary groupings.

Parties of the International will lead an ideological struggle against centrism, reformism, nationalism, chauvinism and revisionism to show workers how these forces tie the proletariat to bureaucracy and to capitalism Proletarian internationalism and communist solidarity are key principles of the new International. Members of the new International assume the following international duties:

to actively fight any persecution of member parties ;

to organise political acts of solidarity with any party in a critical stage of class struggle;

to help and strengthen by every means necessary members of the new International.

The International gives its unconditional support to all national movements in struggle against imperialist domination. The break-up of Stalinism, together with the world slump, has created new conditions for the struggle in the former colonial countries. These changes have created a sharp leadership crisis within those movements which have achieved national independence as well as those still fighting to attain it. In some countries, the crisis of national bourgeois leadership is leading to a break-up of states into ethnic and religious entities. Only leadership based on socialist internationalism can maintain and develop the integrity of these states and thwart the intrigues of imperialism and pseudo-socialist demagogues.

The inability of national bourgeois regimes to provide answers to the basic problems of life in such countries, together with the absence of socialist leadership, has led to a growing influence of reactionary, religious ideas amongst the masses. There is no solution to the problems facing the masses along this path. We stand by the propositions of Lenin elaborated in the first congresses of the Communist International that the democratic tasks of former subject nations can only be guaranteed by the socialist revolution.

We support the right of nations to self-determination against imperialism and reaction. At the same time, the Fifth International will oppose bourgeois nationalism, artificial divisions among the popular masses provoked by bourgeois and reactionary nationalists, and is for the transformation of the national liberation struggle into one for socialist revolution.

Within this right to self-determination are contained the rights of national minorities and peoples to their language, culture and religion and not to suffer discrimination in civic and economic rights. The parties of the International oppose the manipulation of legitimate national aspirations by reactionary regimes and struggle for their overthrow. Only workers governments can transcend nationalism with socialist internationalism.

In Russia and the other republics of the former USSR as well as in East European countries, capitalist restoration plans must be halted. Instead, the International struggles for workers' management and control. Bourgeois political regimes must be replaced by socialist workers' governments based on a new political system of Soviet-type power by the working class. This must be accomplished as a part of the political revolution through the development of communist leadership.

In Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and all the capitalist nations, the task of revolutionary parties is the smashing of the state and seizure of power by the working class. Parties in each country will draw up Transitional Demands appropriate for national conditions. These will advance the consciousness of workers and show concretely the socialist solution to their problems.

Organisational Principles

The International affirms that none of these principles or task can be realised outside of the building of Leninist parties. History has shown that it is impossible for the working masses to defeat the imperialists without a special organisation - a democratic centralist party. Democratic centralism is both an ideological and organisational principle, based on the dialectical materialist outlook and method: Open discussion internally, total unity in practice, the authority of leadership.

Membership of the Fifth International entails training by members of each section, through international and national schools, in the theory and practice of materialist dialectics. This training must be based on the understanding that the working class is kept oppressed predominantly by ideological means.

Marxism must be constantly developed by the leaders of the new International in struggle against bourgeois ideology in the building of the Fifth International of Communists.

The Russian Party of Communists
The Socialist Future Group of Britain
Communist Party of Mauritius
Union of Workers, Perm

December 14, 1994