1976 National Conference of the International Marxist Group 1 cannot help recalling a conversation / happened to have at the Congress with one of the "Centre" delegates. "How oppressive the atmosphere is at our Congress!", he complained. the other, this biting controversy, this uncomradely attitude!"
• "What a splendid thing our Congress is!", I replied. "A free and open struggle. Opinions have been stated. The shades have been revealed. The groups have taken shape. Hands have been raised. A decision has been taken. A stage has been passed. Forward! That's the stuff for me! That's life! That's not like the endless, tedious word chopping of your intellectuals, which stops not because the question has been settled, but because they are too tired to talk anyThe comrade of the "Centre" stared at me in perplexity and shrugged his shoulders. We were talking different langsages.* (Lenin - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back)
This is the spirit in which the International Marxist Group, as every section of the Fourth International, seeks to hold its conference and pre-conference discussions. It is a method unlike that of any other major group on the British left. The Workers Revolutionary Party has expelled (The contributors declared a fac tion in the IMG last November.
The political basis and aim of our faction is to continue the struggle for Trotskyism against the line of the IMG and international leadership. Sections of our perspectives - dealing with women's oppression and the history of our struggle so far - had to be omitted from this outline for reasons of space.)
1. The economic, political and social structures of capitalism today fall into ever deeper crisis throughout the world. The liberation struggles of the oppressed masses in the "Third Worf" now combine with mounting struggles of the working class in the main imperialist centres - in Western Europe, Japan and America.
This process strikes many blows to the power of the imperialist ruling class. The state power of the bourgeoisie is overthrown in Indochina and Angola. The world revolution is on the offensive.
The reformist and Stalinist leaders of the workers movement can neither halt the tide of revolt, nor can they lead the way forward to socialism. These features of the world political situation create the most favourable conditions for the working class and for the building of mass revolutionary parties.
Events in Britain todav can only be assessed within the material reality of this overall process. It would be a grave error to decide that the decline in the size and scope of workers' struggles in Britain during the last year signifies a reversal of the basic tide of events, which remain very much on the side of the working class. In the face of employers' attacks on jobs and conditions, of moves to strengthen the repressive powers of the state and attacks on basic rights, the betrayals of trade union leaders and Labour politicians have not wiped out the major gains of the "This bitter fighting, this agitation one against before the 'conference' every single opposition tendency and democratic discussion to minorities. In each case the word of the omnipotent leader, or of a tiny inner circle, is supposed to be a substitute for serious discussion within the membership.
resources, to place itself in an entirely different tradition - that of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg and Discussion and internal democracy is not a luxury but a the organisation can be brought to bear in determining its political line.
isation and discussion for minorities. For the IMG conference, one delegate has been elected for every three members in order to allow serious representation of minorities;
sion meetings in the areas have been paid by the national The Perspectives Discussion at the since 1960. The International Socialists have expelled every opposition to date and refuse serious rights of organisation The IMG attempts, within its organisational and political the Communist movement before it was crushed by Stalin.
necessity. It is the only way in which all the experience of To gain that democracy requires serious rights of organthe fares of every tendency to speak at pre-conference discusorganisation; a total of 66 discussion documents have been ular pre-conference discussions, and on top of this each anti-imperialist campaigns.
ged in the course of the discussion.
tinental Press, 22 March 1976).
cuss the outcome of the conference. produced; each branch for the last two months has had reg area of the country has had three aggregates at which speak ers from the different view points have put forward their positions; and supporters of different documents have been able to organise themselves into tendencies and factions.
The discussion has centred on general perspectives in Britain, intervention in the trade unions, the Labour Party, the crisis in Scotland, questions of women's oppression and The contributions below represent a short summary of the five main positions which emerAt the same time there has also been a separate discussion culminating in a full day at the conference, on the differences which have emerged inside the Fourth International on the question of Portugal (for documentation see InterconAfter the conference the line which gains a majority will be applied. A leadership will be elected on that basis. 'An. other stage', in Lenin's words, will be passed through. In a supplement to the paper after the conference we will disimperialist domination in Ireland is a major part of the crisis for the ruling class. The defeat of British rule in Ireland will be a milestone on the road to workers power in this country. While the IMG on paper has a principled record of defence of the right to self-determination for Ireland and for immediate withdrawal of British troops, in practice our work has been confined in small circles of the TOM, mainly among elements who already oppose British rule in Ireland The pacifism and parliamentary illusions which dominate the workers movement are falsely seen as a uniform anti-Irish chauvinism. This has led us to abstain in the debates in the unions and the Labour Party, leaving the field open to the Stalinists and the reformists. To reverse this we must turn the energies of every member towards a fight in the workers organisations against youth unemployment and recruitment into the army.
Under the slogan of Unemployed youth into the unions - not into the army' we must campaign for jobs, not guns in the service of imperialism, for the youth. Together with this we must agitate for workers defence of every union and Labour Party member detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. On this basis we will politi cally prepare and build the forces for a mass working class movement under the banner Ireland is One Nation Britain Out Now. 5. The international rise of workers' struggles points to the burning need to build a world party for socialist revolution. Such a party must be based on the development of a Trotskyist programme wh which draws on the experiences of the workers movement and points the way forward in the struggle for socialism. It will be built in a common struggle for this programme in every country.
The forces of the IMG must be turned towards the task of political re-construction and re-building a strong world party a real Commu