Algeria Senegal Nigeria China (based in Hong Kong) India Japan Sri Lanka Austria Italy Belgium Britain Portugal Denmark Spain Greece Holland Finland Iceland as well as in some East European. countries Iran Israel Lebanon Egypt Iraq Sections:
Australia New Zealand Sections:
Canada/Quebec USA* Bolivia Chile Mexico Colombia Peru Panama Puerto Rico. Brazil Dominican Republic Venezuela Ecuador *The SWP in the USA is prevented from being an official section by reactionary legislation.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 12 military Middle persistent capitalist economy, system.
last month.
Luxembourg anti-imperialist Switzerland to the crisis West Germany conditions? revolution not 1974-75, countries?
Paralysis Norway Turkey placed on the agenda back Into acula such opposing such a way. movement and war.
defeats imperialist French Antilles This victorious.
MOTe Uniled Secretariat of the Fourth International CAPITALISM is currently undergoing its worst crisis since the start of the 1930s.
The defeat of American imperialism in Indochina has brought about a situation inside has prevented any massive intersention against revolutions. For the first time in a long while, capital lacks a world policeman to defend the key strategic political and economic positions of the international imperialist systemn.
This has heen seen in the fall of the Shah and then Somoza, which in their turn have seriously weakened the situation of imperialism in the Fast and faltering of the which , will lead to a new recession in 1980, underlines the depth of this historic crisis of the capitalist was the general framework resolutions and theses adopted the World Congress of the Fourth Three questions are immediately posed. Is imperialism now paralysed before the rise of and anti-capitalist throughout the world? Is a capitalist possible, and if so under what Why have the advances of the been more significant since particularly the The answer of the 1ith World Congress to the first question was unequivocal. been no military weakening of imperialism. In States goes. Its paralysis from 1974 to 1979 can only be explained in political terms.
For some time it has been feverishly working to end this situation. It is setting up specialised intervention forces in the middle cast central America, the Far East, and the Mediterranean, and is using every means to change the political climate of opinion in the USA so that new counter-revolutionary Such adventures will cost imperialism dear on the political level — in the United States as well as internationally. Ine nigh price makes l hesitate. But that won't prevent it from going The Fourth International therefore calls for sondanty wim acveloping revolutions aganisl counter-revolutionary the irresponsible idea imperialism is no longer capable of reacting in The reply of the 1Ith World Congress to the second question was no less unequivocal. The depth of the crisis means that capitalism can't extricate itselt through limited measures therefore preparing for 'solutions' similar to those of the 1930s: the crushing of the workers on the proletariat in countries on movements in a series of semi-colonial areas. And the international relation of forces is much less favourable to it than in 1929-42, so the crisis will be prolonged.
The decisive battles are ahead and not behind will create the conditions for the working class at last to overcome its crisis of all CulCI decisive battles with a good chance of emerging As to why the extremely grave crisis of the international imperialist system hasn't led to more decisive gains for the revolution, the reply of the 11th World Congress was also clear.
In the imperialist countries the working class has to confront an enemy infinitely wealthier, powellul MOTe experienced, *Semi-colonial counties. Experience shows that resourceful it cannot be brought down by semi-spontaneous actions, even when they are as broad and developing The undoubtedly 11th forces 'solution imperialist There has as the United can be May' in İtaly in 1969.
which is up to the task.
interventions, that credible apparatuses is still absent . It 15 Luen Uncle series of countries the beration beginning to countries into the West and the permanent semi-colonial world austerity offensive with Marxism' even the I SOLIDARITE Redstrend UNI ZIR WORIA KAI ZIR KYBEPNHTIKH TON H KYBEPNHIH KAPAMANAH АПО ТО 0/ impressive as those of May '68 or the 'creeping There has to be a revolutionary leadership There have to be new revolutionary parties which the masses already regard as useful instruments in their immediate struggles. And the organisational weakness of the FI's sections and the political weakness of the centrist organisations mean that such a alternative to Tetonas The situation is complicated further by the very nature of the present world crisis, which extends beyond the imperialist system and the capitalist mode of production to the system of bureaucratic domination in the workers states.
It is true that these countries have not been hit by a crisis of over-production and massive - which confirms the analysis of the Fl that these are no longer capitalist different mey economic and social problems as a result of the impasse of the bureaucratic system.
There is increasing discontent in broad layers of the population, in which workers are already playing a preponderant role in Poland and are do so in China and The political revolution in bureaucratised workers states is ripening along with the rise of the proletarian revolution in the But as long as this isn't victorious, international bourgeoisie is able to couple its ideological •oftensive t can go on about the "crisis or while the deep capitalism which Marxism predicted and alone can explain continues to worsen.
That is why the Fl lays so much stress on the defence of Marxism and its theoretical gains against the offensive of the bourgeoisie and the CSSR:
Repression und Widerstand KATAITOAH EPTATION HA DYIE 39 XPONIA Sulasili for dictatorship Stalinist dictatorship and its heirs.
through. mass mobilisation and of for the workers experience to embark on crisis flow three kinds of political tasks: 1. The defence revolutions in progress.
This especially the the the Peruvian masses, strike.
of native bourgeoisie stage of dual power, to smother struggle through persistent daily propaganda for the 'socialism we want', for our model of society in transition between capitalism and our programme for the of the proletariat - which has nothing to do with the monstrosities of the We fight for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie action which allows politicisation of the vast workers. fight for the maximum workers democracy inside the trade unions and other mass organisations. We fight to develop their own self-organisation in the most diverse forms, starting from their current struggles todav Only this will give the workers the necessary generalisation and centralisation of workers councils (soviets) in a period of revolutionary From this analysis of world developments and extension means the revolution, whose anti-capitalist and internatgonalist dvnamic is tar trom exhausted and has already extended to El Salvador. It must be understood in the context of a more general upturn of the revolutionary cycle in Latin America, with the huge upsurge of workers' struggles in Brazil, the determined struggles of and the failure of the military coup in Bolivia after 15 days of general Nothing is yet decided in Nicaragua. . The retains its strongholds.
Imperialism and the Latin-American bourgeoise want to treeze the situation at the present and then destroy the revolution. International solidarity to prevent this was one of the essential tasks
Fourth International bresche gauche es femmes et la crise.. rood Vroww en man : ongelijk in ch verald van de arbaid... waarom and repression they suffer;
but torward programme in this area;
*defence of soldiers struggle against use of nuclear weapons.
*the struggle for a 35-hour week;
*the struggle for the whole programme we women's liberation movement (for the first time in the history of the international workers movement, the ilth World Congress of the FI adopted a global democratic rights, a NATO and the other. imperialist military alliances, and against the There is a precondition for the achievement of these tasks, however, which was understood
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Africa Organised sympathisers:
Asia Sections:
Europe Sections:
Organised sympathisers:
Middle East Sections:
Organised sympathisers:
Organised sympathisers:
Caribbean Sections:
Organised sympathisers:
Crisis prolonged But to do this it first has to inflict major
klassen skampf
EVOLUTION gesToppl EPIA
COMBRTE NO ES HAY QUE IR A UNA HUELGA GENERAL ROTFRONT
To DIRECT ACTION Extradite the shah! End war threats against Iran.
THE MILITANT send back the Shah! kle HEIRAN