We are indebted to the latest issue of the New Left Review for naking available in linglish the text of speeches made in the Contral Committes debate on the 22nd Congress.
The 31 speeches reported represented many points of view but in almost all caseS$ called for the sftematic critique of Communist political practice in the U.5S.S.R. and the rest of the world. This ropresents an entirely new state of affairs: gone are tho days when ‘political discussion! boiled down to ; meroly praising tho latest declarations of the C.P.S.U.
Some dominant themes emerged: so-called 'polycentrism', that is greater freedom the Communist Partics to decide thoir own policios instead of following the 'loading party', democracy inside the Communist Party, freedom under social— ism and the assessment of Stalinism.
It would bo true to day that 'rovisionist' ideas predominated but there wers many things which we would find ourselves in agreement with. The attack on 'monolithismg the call for the right of 'majorities and minorities'g the attacks against 'justificationism', .that is, the tendency to explain all the faults of Stalinism as being due to special conditions, octc., etc. Ono speaker, spoke of a ‘typical feature of Stalinism, the formation of a bureaucratice crust, not : as a simple set of habits, but as a massive social and political phenomena.! The days of the Stalmist intornational monolith are well and truly over 5142 event of tremendous significance for the development of an international revelu jonary