From pan-Africanism to internationalism

The debate about revolution by stages and socialist revolution cannot remain abstract. African militants must be able to foresee what the dynamics of the class struggle will be and how a victorious revolutionary crisis will unfold Perplexed and short of arguments, many comrades who support the theory of revolution by stages tall back on defensive arguments: how to conceive the victory of socialism To build a workers' state in Senegal or in Dahomey! The peasant majority, the weakness of the proletariat, the demographic weakness, the insufficient development of We should point out first of all that reformist experiences, as was the case of the Nkrumah regime (where the laws of the market and the capitalist mode of production were not questioned), have not prevented an imperialist reaction. To believe that one can progress by small leaps because this doesn't upset- the major western powers is to believe that imperialists are idiots, which is always a fatal mistake. In the imperialist age, the question of the nature of revolution no loner depends on given national idiosyncracies. These are themselves the result of the international domination of capital. Therefore our strategic anti-capitalist answer emerges directly from the leninist analysis of imperialism. But, for all this, do we believe in the possibility of a victorious proletarian revolution in one African country, in the middle of revolutionary marxist analysis is the existing reality of the socialist revolution. But this is not the only conclusion. In black Africa, it is a question of destroying the neo-colonial state or of breaking the colonial domination in so far as it is the intermediary for capitalist and imperialist necessary development of productive forces, resistence to international counter-revolution, demographic needs, the necessary ex tension of energy sources etc... IMPOSE first a regional, then a continental dimension for the building of socialism. - At first, one is unlikely to see the development within one country of a widely implanted avant-garde organisation able to raise the question of power, without at the same time seeing a movement - however weak - developing in neighbouring countries with similar objective - In addition the revolutionary crisis of one country, whether successful or not, cannot help but produce a similar effect, even if less - The victory of the working class and of its avant-garde party, that is to say the destruction of the bourgeois state and the building of a workers' state representing the interests of the toiling masses and the poor peasants, cannot take place without inducing an unprecedented - In such a situation the arbitrary frontiers imposed by imperialism will appear to all, including the masses, as an outdated yoke to be The attitude of the young worker state is therefore to support and help the revolutionary developments which its appearance has prompted, not only because this is an internationalist duty but also because its own existence and its ability to solve the political and economic questions of the transitional period depend on the existence or otherwise of a regional entity allowing true democratic planning, a real development of must incite the revolutionary leadership to internationalise the revolution, both spontaneously and voluntarily, and to join up with the avant- This is why, from its first steps, the African revolutionary marxist avant-garde incorporates certain perspectives in both practice and - by fighting all the pan-African, multiclass and ethnocentric illusions propagated by petty bourgeois nationalism which pretends to be more - by seeking debate, unity of action and solidarity with all organisations fighting for the socialist revolution, - by giving itself the political and organisational means of developing into a political force on a continental scale. That is to say to articulate the debating structures for the joint formulation and the integrated development of all the revolutionary marxist These are absolutely vital questions in order to analyse the soundness of a political line. For example today it is not enough to make an abstract appeal to socialism without specifying the internationalist implications at the programmatic and organisational level. Dr Nkrumah. TO INTERNATIONALISM How to face up to neo-colonial Africa and imperialism? productive forces... all this would seem to inhibit anti-capitalist efforts. neo-colonial reaction? No! This means that: and subjective situations. intensive, in neighbouring countries. mobilisation throughout the whole region, if not the whole continent. productive forces and sufficient military strength to resist counter-revolution. strategy: - by advancing internationalist slogans for unity of the African workers' struggle, unitary than Nyerere, who in turn claims to be more unitary than Gowon, who in turn etc., groups in black Africa, - by working for the development of this force in those countries where it does not exist, - by working in close collaboration, on a regional scale: 1) for clearly elaborated necessities and 2) for common organisational needs, by actively participating in the building of the IV th International. 3 EROM PAN-AFRICANISM The coming to power of a workers' and peasants goverment Finally, a mass insurrection which is not initially defeated has every chance of continuing as a region-wide mobilisation and opposition. The building of a revolutionary marxist avant-garde on the continental scale is also necessary in relation to the military task of fighting the First of all, it is necessary to make a precise analysis of each of the many associations and organisations which carve the African continent At least within the limits of this short article, one can start from the assumption that they are without exception all pro-imperialist structures. Within the last decades these regroupings have been reduced. Thus one can cite at random: the Communal African and Malgachian Organisation (CAMO); the Organisation for the Development of the Senegalese Valley (ODSV); the Economic Community of West Africa (ECWA); the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (CEUCA); the Economic Association of Oriental Africa, the Council of Agreement etc... not forgetting the Group of Tchad Lake Riverside States and the many bilateral commissions.. Within the format of imperialist plunder, each of these associations attempts to standardise its market. Both imperialism and the African bougeoisies are perfectly aware that the structure of the existing rump states is not sufficient for even minimal industrialisation. Now, in a few years we have passed from a conception, in the imperialist brain-trusts, of the African countries being maintained only as suppliers of raw materials to a conception whereby a certain amount of local industrialisation is necessary and encouraged. It is also necessary to recognise the lack of those factors which would have allowed the implantation of industries in the African countries taken individually. In February 1972 the Economic and Social Committee of the EEC found the Ivory market too small, being incapable of offering new perspectives to local industry. It proposed better regional cooperation for Togo and Dahomey, starting with an international exploitation of the Aveta cement works; and it deplored the narrowness of the Nigerian market. Pompidou officially declared himself in favour of these Since then hardly a day goes by without some or other jumped-up "expert in the economics of the underdeveloped countries" justifying the regroupings. Naturally, no mention is made of the contradictory maintainance of the arbitrary frontiers, because the dual economic regrouping/micro-state is strictly necessary for imperialist domination. For their part the African bourgeoisie is too well aware of its weakness not to hang on to the present political geography of Africa, and not to remain at the head of those states which are both a source and an outlet for its One of the most explicit quotes on this matter comes from the secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity, Eteki. In connection "To a certain extent the OAU does not exclude sub-regional organisations. They can constitute concentric circles of solidarity which will lead to general solidarity. The only thing the OAU wishes is that these organisations should not be the focus for political orientations which differ from that determined by the states within the OAU. CAMO appears to be leaving aside all political tendencies in favour of directing its efforts towards technical cooperation among its states. We think this is a good thing, and we can but encourage and watch with sympathy these technical and cooperative efforts between CAMO members, all of whom are active members of the OAU." For its part, the crisis in CAMO demonstrates the necessity of switching from regroupings determined by ties with the old colonial powers to regroupings on a regional basis determined by larger interests (for example the EEC). The last CAMO conference suggested "turning to" So imperialism has known for a long time how to plan its strategy on both the regional and continental scale. In its own way the bourgeoisie s internationalist. But we know that African unity seen from this angle not only cannot solve the problem of underdevelopment, but can still Nkrumah had conceived the need to widen the market, to create a genuine African economy by means of industrial belts built in regional areas. But Nkrumah's fundamental error was to conceive African unity as a conglomeration of states, without taking into account their class nature. Under these conditions it was never possible to lay the cornerstone of African unity (in the Nkrumah sense). On the contrary, we give a class answer to a question which is chronic even among bourgeois circles. But we furnish an answer which is not only economical but also political, organisational and ideological, and which includes a resolution of the national and ethnic question. Under these conditions, the odds are that the dynamics of class conflict will remodel the African geo-political map anew. We do not make paper decisions about the future workers' state in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali. Only the line of conduct starting from a revolutionary crisis in one of these countries will define, on its own, the limits of the struggle. We refuse all spontaneism in this matter, which means that the revolutionary avant-garde must analyse and theorise those dynamics. This is particularly acute in the case of Guinea, where the PAIGC believes it can build an independent economy within the national framework; or again in the case of Cabinda where imperialist appetites are already clashing. Another important point is not to confuse Biafra and Eritrea: micro-nationalism orchestrated by imperialism, and genuine colonial dominat- Again it is important not to confuse revolutionary victory in one country with the real possibility of building socialism on a large scale. Here is to be found the basis of our internationalism within the perspective of a United Socialist States of Africa. 4 imperialist counter-offensive. UTOPIA? - NO! regional groupings. process of accumulation. economic matters! ion. represston Available from; 10 impasse Guemene, Paris 4, into a multitude of neo-colonial cartels and groups. with CAMO's relations with the OAU, he said: less liberate the African masses from all domination. or Is our internationalist problematic still utopian Could it be a trotskyist invention? "Red Books', order from London N1 SENGHO REPRIN afrique en lutte 97 Caledonian Road,