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In the (anti-capitalist) left, there are different political approaches. Some of them are discussed here: Reformist parties as a vehicle? Movements as a panacea? Broad alliances against the right? Left unity projects? Workplace interventions and cadre organization? Today the effects of the current crisis of capitalism become particularly prominent - with the (upcoming) austerity measures and massive attacks on the working class. Here the weakness of the labour movement and the (radical) left in the fight against these deteriorations becomes evident. At the same time the crisis and its consequences put the various concepts of the (radical) left to a practical test. We want to discuss various strategies and put forward our own ideas because successful resistance requires right conceptions.
Social Democrats and unions
parties from within, for example through the construction of a left wing within them or with the help of the reformist youth organizations. These experiments however have to fail because of the character of the reformist parties themselves. The reformist parties are bureaucratic system-preserving parties. Very little chance of success too have projects of building a left current within social democratic parties, which then are meant to, in the course of the escalation of class struggle secede from the reformists. Usually the label left remains very vague, that is, there usually is a lowest common, left-reformist, denominator that unites these projects. That such a project and its reformist programmatic basis are able to radicalize and will simply turn into a revolutionary programmatic has yet to be proven. But problems also arise elsewhere: on the one hand, many activists in such projects often themselves get tied up with the reformist party via material benefits. To stay within the reformist party structures, one usually has to give in to opportunistic adjustments and, not infrequently, to cooperate with the bureaucracy against rebellious parts of the party basis. On the other hand these reformist parties lose more and more of their political content and their activist base too. Often the left wing projects rather win people into the reformist parties than out of them. Furthermore, a certain amount of critical, leftist forces in the reformist party also has a beneficial function for the Social Democrats. Because it binds potentially radical forces to reformism, hinders the creation of a class struggle socialist pole outside, and thereby helps to preserve the social democratic hegemony in the labour movement. But how can an alternative to these reformist organizations look like? It is often said that it is necessary for leftwing forces to obtain social relevance and influence. The proposed strategies are then also intended to be broad to be effective. In the current situation with the threat of austerity measures and the threat of strengthening right-wing forces, this broad appeal is seen as more urgent and important. These arguments are in principle correct. We can only succeed with a broad, militant movement, strikes, mass mobilizations and demonstrations. However, for many leftists they lead to short-sighted and wrong conclusions. So let us take a look at different strategies which are discussed and practiced today.
The social democratic parties in many countries are involved in the government and so directly take part in the passing-on of the crisis and the national debt on wage dependants. When they are in opposition they are mainly concerned with the next election. The Social Democrats happily participated in the neoliberal restructuring of society themselves for decades. They are fully absorbed into and captured in the capitalist logic and bound to the capitalist mode of production and the bourgeois state by their material interest. As they are a bureaucratized system parties we wouldnt expect any other policy from them. The unions are dominated by reformist bureaucracies in almost every country. They are bound to capitalism by privileges and therefore act according to the intentions of the ruling class. They have internalized the capitalist logic of location and foremost pursue a policy of damage limitation for the better-off sections of the working class of each nation. Already in the last decades they shrunk back more and more when facing the neo-liberal attacks and they have also managed and sold various detoriations and sold them to the workers as an inevitable lesser evil. The reformist-dominated apparatus of the unions is now helpless when facing the effects of the crisis. Rather than rely on mass mobilization, they cling to the illusion of an upswing of a regulated capitalism in the interests of the bosses and they are negotiating reduced working hours, wage cuts and the mitigation of mass redundancies. Any hopes that the bureaucrats may change their course are naive. What is needed is an alternative to the established organizations of the working class and its strategies of damage reduction and social partnership. Some on the left want to reform the social democratic
Movements Left
and
the
Many on the left see their central task in participation and the building of social movements. Basically, it is true that resistance to capitalism can only be successful when based on a broad movement and not by negotiation or isolated actions. Social movements therefore are important points of reference for leftwing forces. However, it is ultimately unlikely to be successful in fighting the system by limiting politics to the construction of and participation in social movements. A central feature of social movements is that they have their own dynamics: they often develop quickly and unexpectedly, and often attract many people in a short time. However, they are often (almost) over just as quickly as they began. It is therefore an illusion, that these movements can just be started by leftwing forces. Moreover, the emergence of a movement still does not guarantee its success. This depends both on the size and the broadness of it, as well as on the participating political forces and their strength. If the independent and radical forces are too weak, there often is a take over of the movement by reformist forces which are channelling the protest into negotiations and/or harmless actions. Such
In some countries due to the crisis right(extremist) forces are gaining strength. Many on the left therefore see preventing a shift to the right as one of their most important tasks. Left and radical left forces have, of course, a fundamental interest in ensuring that right(extremist) forces are as weak as possible in society. In most cases, however, this resistance against the political right has politically problematic characteristics. Often such campaigns have, at least indirectly, an electoral orientation and are aimed primarily at the weakening of right-wing parties in elections. This on
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Its fragmentation is often put forward as the key reason for the weakness of the (radical) left. The solution therefore is supposed to be the unity of the left. Therefore, many on the left focus on building a new left (mass) party. We are of course also in principle for a unified Left and also aim at building a new, broad revolutionary workers party. However, not all strategies are suitable for this end and an association of left-wing forces does not make sense at all times at any price and under all cir-
We however see it necessary to have clarity, especially on these key political questions. Moving the clarification of the key policy questions to later must lead to future breaks and political impasses. Postponing such questions whilst engrossed in regular political work will mean that there will never be time to have such discussions. They are even less likely to be addressed during tense situations and periodsof class struggle, but especially during those intense times it is crucial which perspectives are proposed, and whether the radical forces are strong enough!
But isnt the focus on the development of revolutionary organizations and rooting them in the working class inappropriate given the urgency of the current situation? Are revolutionary demands not way too abstract? Isnt the foremost task the current fightback? The reformist apparatuses, who feel
We see the key tasks of revolutionaries in the establishment of a stable revolutionary organization and rooting them in the working class. There are no shortcuts, like reformist projects or clever (election-) campaigns, to this end. There can not even be an (electoral-) campaign which would be good enough to substitute real roots in the working class. Even if such an electoral alliance or a similar project, using all kinds of the professional tricks of the bourgeois media, can manage to appear as being of some relevance for a certain its real influence will eventually become evident. Ultimately there is no way around the patient building of an organisation of revolutionary activists. Such a project can not rely on expectations of a short-term breakthrough, which generally quickly end in disappointment anyway. Overall, a revolutionary socialist organization can only be successful in the longer term and fulfil a function for the working class if it is based on a sturdy cadre, a layer of activists that have a deep political understanding, a clear common direction, a realistic perspective, a deep commitment to the revolutionary struggle of the working class and collective resolve. It also requires a clear perspective on the political sustainability of the organization and its ideas in the working class and practical steps in this direction. Given that the capitalist promises` more and more are exposed as empty words, we face stormy times in which the Marxist organizations will be of great importance. They and their concepts will be put to the test in the coming years. It is crucial not to miss the arising chances and not to postpone the process of radicalisation. Through the events of the class struggle and their theoretical processing, there will be not only a strengthening but also a decomposition of the revolutionary forces and displacements within the (radical) left in general. We are convinced that a new revolutionary International can only come through a process of re-groupment in this spectrum. We want to enter this future process with an organisation politically, organisationally and numerically as strong as possible and fight for our positions. by Johannes Wolf, RSO Vienna
Contact: If you want to know more about the Revolutionary Socialist Organisation, check out our website: www.revolutionarysocialism.blogspot.com or e-mail us at: revolutionarysocialist@gmx.com or just simply talk to the person who sold you this paper.