50 Years of World Revolution (1917-1967): An international symposium edited by Ernest Mandel. (Merit Publishers. [illegible])
This Symposium is necessary reading for all who want to acquaint themselves with the best in current Marxist thought. The introduction by Ernest Mandel alone is almost worth the price of the book. It ranges over the whole vast field of the revolutionary movement since the Bolshevik victory in 1917 and shows how richly our epoch deserves the name "The Age of Permanent Revolution". Despite the defeats, the setbacks and the betrayals, the international working class and their allies in the Third World continue the struggle which can only end with the destruction of capitalist imperialism.
In his analysis, Mandel shows how Lenin and Trotsky prepared the way for October because they, almost alone among their contemporaries, understood the real nature of the situation. Lenin forged the weapon which would ensure that victory—the Bolshevik Party. Trotsky, with his Theory of Permanent Revolution "made clear the only form the seizure of power could take in (backward) Russia—that is the establishment of the [illegible] allied to the poor peasantry." By 1917, Lenin had also come to this conclusion and the result was his famous "April Theses" which was the blue-print for the October Revolution. Trotsky, for his part, had abandoned his illusions about an ideologically loose party united with the Mensheviks—since when, as Lenin put it, there has been "no better Bolshevik".
Unfortunately, most of the other leading Bolsheviks only superficially learned the lessons of October—or regarded the Russian experience as "exceptional"—and have applied (or rather, misapplied) some of Lenin's pre-1917 conceptions to revolutionary situations in other countries, with disastrous results for the proletariat. It was left, first to the Left Opposition in Russia, under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, then to the Fourth International, to continue the ideas of Bolshevism. This collection of articles is a good reflection of the ideas of the Fourth International. All the writers are leaders of the International or, in the case of the Americans, leading members of parties in very close association with the Fourth International. (The laws of the United States make international affiliation illegal).
Luis Vitale, a well-known Chilean revolutionary communist, goes back to Marx and Engels and shows how their fundamental prediction—that socialism would supplant the capitalist system—has been confirmed by history. This theme is taken further by Livio Maitan of Italy, whose article on "The Theory of Permanent Revolution" shows that it was in direct line with ideas already developed by Marx and Engels—even the name "The Revolution in Permanence" was first used by Marx. He deals [illegible] Trotsky on this issue, differences which were resolved in the "April Theses" and in an even more emphatic manner by the October Revolution itself. Maitan also deals with the post-Lenin controversies about the Theory of Permanent Revolution and indicates that events in Cuba and China have vindicated the theory.
Sirio Di Giacomaria, another leading Italian Trotskyist, deals with the "Three Phases of the Russian Revolution", and draws from it three principal lessons: 1) The absolute necessity for socialist revolution; 2) the necessity of building a revolutionary party in which theoretical and practical work are based on a democratic relationship between an elected leadership and a conscious and militant rank and file; 3) the necessity of developing the tactics to bring the masses to attack the bourgeois state without hesitation at the most favourable moment.
Ross Dawson of Canada deals with the rise and fall of the Third International, while the German Trotskyist Georg Jungclass writes on the tragedy of the German proletariat, led to defeat by Stalinism and Social Democracy. This is a valuable article, all the more so because of the very clear definition of fascism which it contains, in contradiction to the loose and often irresponsible way in which the term is often used.
The Argentinian Marxist, Nahuel Moreno, deals with the developments of the Chinese and Indo-Chinese Revolutions. The theory of Permanent Revolution is effectively used to show how the Chinese Revolution of 1925-27 began as a reflection of the revolutionary upsurge which followed the Russian Revolution and argues that the Revolution which brought Mao to power "cannot be explained except by the revolutionary pressure of the European workers and the attitude of the Americans in the armed forces" following World War I. He discusses the lessons of the failure of the 1927 revolution and the consequences of that defeat, and goes on to deal with the eventual victory of the Chinese Communists and the subsequent developments. He shows how that victory was followed by an intensification of the struggle in Vietnam and concludes that the safety of the deformed workers states in Asia (as in the Soviet Union) can, in the final analysis, only be secured by the victory of the world revolution, and, in the first place, in the main capitalist countries—most importantly the United States.
Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso, general secretary of the Bolivian section of the Fourth International, deals with the lessons of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba once again shows that the revolutionary process does not go by stages. He deals very effectively also with those who would deny the proletarian nature of the Cuban revolution because it was not led by a Leninist Party.
George Breitman applies the Leninist teachings on the national question to the black liberation struggle in the United States and shows how the role of the black liberation fighters is "akin to the leading role of the insurgent colonial masses at this stage of the world revolution". It also served as the trigger which set in motion the wave of student revolts which surged through the campuses.
That there is no "third way" based on a mixed economy for the underdeveloped countries of the world is the theme of the article by Sitaram B. Kolpe, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party of India. The tragic developments in Algeria, Ghana, Indonesia, etc. have effectively shown where this "third way" leads as compared to the revolutionary direction taken by Cuba and China.
George Novack gives a lucid outline of how to apply the laws of uneven and combined development to the world revolutionary process. Fernand Charlier of Belgium discusses the roots of bureaucracy and how to fight it. Ernest Mandel makes a valuable contribution on "Economics of the Transition Period", while Joseph Hansen deals with the relevance of Marxism-Leninism for today. Pierre Frank, a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, traces the history of proletarian internationalism and shows that for "true revolutionary Marxists, proletarian internationalism is not a sentimental notion that falls apart at the first sound of rifles, cannon and bombs (but) a fundamental concept ... which has deep objective roots; a concept whose application the capitalists dread."
James P. Cannon, leading United States Trotskyist, makes crystal clear that without the vanguard party as organiser and director there can be no thorough-going proletarian revolution. The building of such a party is no easy task. Cannon shows the tremendous difficulties encountered by the world Trotskyist movement over the past three decades. The presence of [illegible], wealthy Labour, Social Democratic or Stalinist organisations, exercising bureaucratic control over the labour movement, has to be overcome. Of particular interest is his reference to the tactic of Marxists going into mass parties for extended periods (entrism) with the aim of creating, consolidating and expanding the initial cadres and establishing firm ties with the advanced elements, with the ultimate objective of building a new mass revolutionary party of the working class. He shows the pitfalls in this kind of work, but concludes [illegible] is a necessary tactic at certain times.
CVG