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INTERNATIONAL ING MARXIST GROUP
Liberatir.
CONTENTS • Organising a Iwo-Day Educational School 2: Guide to a regional school on Women's EDUCATION KIT NUMBER:
%: Guido to a regional school on Stalinism and the
Price c Communist Parties.
IMG Education Commission
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Introduct ion This bulletin is the first produced by the education comaission of material for regional schools. The aim of these schools ig to help fill the obvious problem which has existed in the last period for education work for the IMG. It is necessary to give a brief explanation of why the education comission proposes this particular form of creanisation.
It is obvious today that the IMG is today far too large for old informal methods of educational activity to work. Most branches therefore have various forms of organised educational activity. In the past these used to be supplemented by national weekend schools on particular tonicse The problem is today however that these national schools world have t be so . large that.thev do: not give real opportunity for comrades to participate in discussion, raise points, they are so large thev tend to intimidate newer cdes etce ° For this reason, apart from vartous svecialised tonics and speakers, national schools have not been a big success and are not often usede At the same time however ost branches, while they can deal with some educational activities, have felt they do not have the speakers or resources to put on more ambitious or thorough educational events. The result has been a considerats gap in educatione Obviously no one measure will fill this - and the education commission has drawn un plans for systemetising education, but it is hoped that a fremework of regional schools can help to start this process, ‘ The format is the following . - 1. The national education commission will supvly speakers, a guide bo “hi topics to be dealt with at the school, and a reading liste This can provide the basis for branches and cdes to prepare a school. These »re the muides in this" bullatin. Over a period of time it is aimed to build up a selection of these on most key tonics but for the summer these start with Women's Liberation and Stalinism and the Communist Parties, Each school is the responsibility of a varticular member of the educaticn commission and a wavy of contacting them is included at the bevinins of each guide 2. A region, probably best organised by a large branch for a revion where there is no regional organdser, is responsible for the physical arransements for the school = hiring a place to hold it, circularising the branches etc. Some tips on how to do this are contained in the bulletin.
For obvious. reasons of availability of sneakers etc these schcols have to be set up wel). in advance. The education commission requires a minimum of six weeks advance notices It is reeommended a cony of the bulletin is bought for eack™“berson attending the school and these can be obtained for the price on the covers As this is uur first attempt .at these types of schools the education commission welcomes all feedback possible on the schools, tonics, bulletins and general education work,
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6RGANISING A TWO-DAY EDUCATIONAL S@HOOL There are only a few basic requirements for a successful local educa tional school: money, enthusiasm, a room, an audience and venue, some speakers and 6 bookstell, The national centre can provide the lest two - the local braneh must supnly the rest, The first couple of these however - money and enthusiasm - will generate themselves as long as the branch follows a few simple guidelines: 1. Schools are to help educate ourselves Comrades in the organisation don't get much time put aside solely for educa tionel activity, If the branch sets aside two days for a school there is no:point wasting it. Branch members, especially new “comrades; must be given time to read and prepere for the month prior to the school, 2e Schools help build branches Few other opportunities exist for the branch to. discuss with sympathisers about the politics of the organisation for two solid days. Educational schools are par ty-building events as much as anything else. Contacts of the organisation should be encouraged to attend and the branch should discuss who it wants to recruit out of the school. 3. Only the branch can build a school To be successful, the school must heve the resources of the brench behind it. For just one month, it should be seen as the major public initiative of the branch, with each comrade. involved in preperation for it. This means it should be discussed by the branch meeting, the brench should set up an organising committee of two or three comrades (with sympa thisers if appropriate) which reports regularly to the branch executive committee, and one member of the organising committee should keep ‘in contact with the Education Commission, 4e Schools can raise momcy There. are three opportunities for raising money from an educe tional school, Firstly, the profit from registration. The registration fee will depend to some extent on the cost of booking rooms, publicity, postage ete but £1.00 is a reasonable minimum charge. Most branches could with a little effort and planning get an audience of 30-40 to the school. Registration should cover all costs easily. Secondly, money can be raised at the school itself, A social in the evening should aim at least to cover costs - some have been known to raise money! A raffle during the school can raise a few pounds, Profit can even be made on tea and coffee served during the school, Thirdly, a virtually effortless way of ensuring a profit is organising e gocd bookstall, The Other Bookshop will give a discount (negotiable) to branches taking bookstalls for schools, Finally, each sehcol should include a fundraising speech.
It takes SIX WEEKS to organise a successful school. Two weeks of that is organising the branch to build the school, The organising committee should keep 3 points in mindg a) To get an audience of 30 will Seepilsee 60 invitations.
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WR} acreage: * b) The setevel ‘wil lose money unless written and comple te accounts are kept of : all finances involved in the school, ce) The only sure way of committ ing contacts and sympathisers to attending eh school is to invite them personelly. Written invita tions alone are very inefficient. So To help plen a schocl the Education Commission has drawn up é suggcsted timetable. A final point shculd be remembered - educational schools present | a public face of the orgsnisation to potential recruits. Their planning and organisation is as important as their politics. Good introduction arid chairing .. of the school can help it to be a success; poor planning and-lousy. presen te tion, can ruin the best educsticnals. -
12 Steps towards a Echool SIX WEEKS BEFORE 1) Decide the best school for the brench/region and its contects. 2) Set up an organising committee of 2-3 comrades, 3) Book the school with the Educa tion Commission and arrange a venue, One comrade (with a phone if possible) from the organising ettee to keep’ in contact with the Educetion Commission, apeett a treasurer. 4) Draw up an invitetion list for the school (Aim for twice the attendance you realistically want). Mail invi ta tion plus programme to cach. FIVE ‘WEEKS BEFORE. 5) Divide the invitation list up ond arrange for each person on ' it to be visited by a comrade (especially close sympathisers). LOR VEXKS.PUFORE 6) Send the reading list, detailed agenda and a literature order form to the initial list cf those coming to the school...“ 7) Get a bookstall from the Other Bookshop including all the main reeding suggested from the school, Use it regularly. 8) Organise a social event for one of the evenings. Also plen for a raffle during the schocl, THREE WEEKS BEFORE 9) Arrange for cdes in the branch to read and prepare for at least one session of. the school - so thet in cach session at <a least someone will*hsve something to say. TWO _WERKS BEFORE 10) Arrange the details of the creche, Orgenise accomodation for speakers and anyone else attending who needs it. 11) Check the availability of meals/food for during the school. . Arrange to provide tea and coffée during breaks in the sessions, ONE WEEK BEFORE 12) Arrange the’ organising details of the school: chairing of cach session; introduction from the branch to egnine tes fund raising speech; registration/accomode tion desk.
CHECK EVERYTHING ONCE AGAIN, ANN PHONE THR EDUCATION COMISSION TO GIVE DETAILS AND DIRECTIONS To ANY SPEAKERS AGAIN,
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Class 1
Origin and Nature of Womens Oppression
Additional Reading Class_1 Origin of the Family,.Private Property and the State - Frederich Engels Problems of Womens Liberation - Evelyn Reed Is Biology Womens Destiny? - Evcolyn Reed Womens Evolution - Evelyn Reed” ——— Women and the Family - Trotsky The Family: Progressive or Oppressive? - Caroline Lund Summary of Class Contcnt - Womens oppression has been an essential feature of class society throughout the ages.s. Its origins-2re economic and social in. character. While womens childbearing function throughout the evolution of pre-class and class aollietiy has always:been the samc, their social status has:not always been one of degredation, subject to mans control and command. The origins of womens oppression is intertwined with the transition from pre-class to class socicty The change in womens status developed along with the growing productivity ° of human labour. based on agriculture and stock raising; the rise of new divisions of labour, craftsmanship and commerce; the private approprintion of an increasing social surplus; and the development of the possibility for some humans to prosper from the exploitation of the labour of others.
Along with the private accumulation of wealth, the patriarchal family developed as the institution to which society transferred its responsibility for the unproductive members of society, especially the young. In this process women ceased to have an independent place in social production and their primary social role was increasingly defined as domestic servant and child bearer. Their productive role was determined by the family to which they belonged, by the man to whom they were subordinate. This economic dependence determined the second class social status of women and enabled the patriarchal family to be mointained. The patriarch family and the subjug-tion of women came into existence along with other institutions of emerging class society to buttress noscent class dividions and perpetuate the private accumulation of wealth and/or power. The state, with its police and armies, laws and courts, enforced this relationship. Ruling class ideology including religion, arose on this basis and played a vital role in justifying the degradation of the female sex and fostering the myth that biology is resonsible for womens infcrior status.
Under capitalism, as in previous historical epochs, the family hes ovolved but the family system continucs to be an indispensible insitution of class rule fulfilling 211 the economic and social functions required of it. For the bourgeosie it provides the means of transmitting private property from one generation to another. For the classical petty bourgeoisie it is also aA unit of production, For the working class the family is imposed on it and serves the economic interests of the bourgeoisie. With the rise of capitalisn more women have been drawn into the labour market. As a result they have begun to question their domestic subjugation. This undermines the family system. + 4 OS The indispensible role of the family as 2 pillar of re Se ee z : f c ss j a é Jeological offensive agains x the ruling class to launch an id ———_— womens equality, and to reinforce the myth cea pein Mh den B ti is i a j to maintain the family system This is necessary 12 order me a geen super exploitation of women as wage earners, provide ——— ae she ceptional flexible reservoir of labour power and perpetuate e 1 “ anal Eee working class itself. The subjugation of women in the fore y io Ss ~ . . . a i provides the economic, social and ideological foundations for the opprcs of women aS a SCKe
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These classes are designed to give an understanding of the essential aspects of Socialist Revolution and the Struggle for Womens Liberation the draft resolution for the Fifth World Congress since reunification (11th world congress), submitted by the United Secretariat. It is obtainable in English in IIDB volume XV number 4, This resolution is essential reading for all classess Additional reading material relevant to each class is listed together with the summary outline of the classes. It would also be useful to reread IMG Pre-Conference Bulletin No. 31978 Struggle for Womens Liberation.
It is anticipated that branches will organise this series of classes and provide class tutors from within the branch membership. The education com= mission reccomends that a regional school should be held in each region during the summer months, prior tc the national conference on the world congress resolutions.
For help in planning these schools and to organise the tutors for thom please get in touch with Williams, PO Box 50, London N1. Comrade Williams can be contacted by tclephone at the following numbers: 01 261 1354 (daytime) 01 735 5566 (evenings). an:
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3 Because the oppression of women is historically intertwined with the divison of society into classes and with the role of the family as the basic unit of class society, this oppression can only be eradicated with the abolition of private ownship of the means of production and the transfer of the’ social and © economic functions borne under capitalism by the individual family, to society a whole. This is what gives the struggle for womens liberation 5 revolutiomary as dynamic and makes it a form of the class struggle.
Questions:
1. What were the economic and social changes in society which brought about the oppression of women?
What is the political importance of recognising women as an oppressed sex rather than a caste or class?
Why is the oppression of women indispensable to class socicty?
How did the patriarchal family evolve to be the basic unit of production and consumption? In what ways does the family system perpetuate the oppression of women? Why do Marxists view the family as 'a fundamental pillar of class society? Why isn't it possible for the working class family to be a revolutionary force?
How do socialists propose to achieve the elimination of the reactionary De family system?
Are all women oppressed in class society? Are women of different classes oppressed in different ways? Why doesn't the struggle of women, embracing working class, middle class and even some ruling class women, automatically take on a bourgeois or petty bourgeois: character?
Ve Since womens oppression has been an essential feature of class society since its inception, why wasn't it possible to pose on a mass scale the practical tasks of uprooting its causes, and combatting its cffects, before the era of the transition :from capitnlism to sdéialism?
Why is the liberation of women inseperable from the overthrow of capitalism and the creation of a socialist society? Qe Why is the materialist analysis of the historic origin and economic roots of womens oppression essential to developing a program and perspective capable of winning womens liberation?
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Class 2
Roots of the New Radicalisetion of Women and Responses from the Lourgeosie and Currents in the Workers Movement
Additional Reading Class 2
Feminism and the Marxist Movement - Mary-Alice Waters Hidden from History - Sheila Rowbottom Women and the Socialist Revolution - Mary-Alice Waters The Revolutionary Dynamics of Womens Liberation - George Novack Summary of class content.
Over the past decade millions of women throughout the world have been in revolt against their oppression. This radicalisation of women is unprecedented in the depth of the economic, social and political ferment it expresses and in its implications for the struggle against capitalist oppression and exploitation. Although the womens movement of today takes on a different character from that of the carlier struggles by women at the turn of the century, reflecting the depth of the bourgeois order today, nevertheless it stands on the shoulders of those struggles. In the most advanced capitalist countries the carlier struggles won to varying degrees, several important democratic rights which have helped to advance the changing social status of women.
The new radicalisation is rooted in the economic and social changes of the post world war II years, which have effected deepening contradictions in the capitalist cconomy, in the status of women and in the patriarchal family system. The womens movement has its own independent dynamis bit is deeply interconnected with the rise of other social struggles. It has bcen strongly affected by the international youth radicalisation,. by the black struggl¢ and by the liberation struggles of onpressed nations and nationalities. As the struggles of the organised working class have sharpened in recent years, the struggles. of women have spread and become more deeply intertwined with the developing social con= sciousness and political combativity of working class mon and vomen, 2nd have been a powerful motor force of social protest and political redicalisation.
The womens liberation movement is already emerging as an important compnent of the struggles of the oppressed in all sectors of the worlc revolution. In the colonial and semi-colonial countries, the growing struggles of women around meny of the same issues as in imperialist countries, tie in with the fight against imperialist exploitation and for national liberation. Similarly, in the bureaucratised worker states of the USSR, China and Eastern Europe, the efforts of women to achieve genuine liberation will be an important pert of the coming political revolution in these countries.
Despite differences as to how to deflect the radical thrust of the new rise of womens struggles, the aim of the ruling classes has been to contain the radicalisation within the framework of minimal reforms of the capitalist system.
The womens liberation movement, in virtually every case has arisen outside of and independent from the existing mass organisation of the worling class and has posed a profound challenge to all currents within the workers movement, especially to Stalinism and Social Democracy. After the consolidation of the Stalinist bureacracy in the USSR in the 1930's, the line of world Stalinicon has been the defence of the family as the ideal framework of hunen relations. This serves the needs of the Stalinist bureacracies themselves and also those of the capitalist status quo elsewhere.
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The formal positions taken by Social Democracy have frequently been more progressive than those of the Stalinist parties, especially in regard to abortion as a woman's right, but they have retreated in the face of reaction, cutting across women winning this right and increasing the burden of working class womene While Social Democratic parties must respond to some extent like the mass Stalinist parties, to pressure from their members and supporters, ultimately they will resist any of the demands of women which threaten cavitalist stability or pose a real fight against the ruling class and its private profit system,
Various sectarian and centrist currents in and around the working class move= ment have generally adopted economist positions towards the womens movement which they often denounce as a ''petty-bourgeois'' movement and a divisive element in the working class. Whether they participate within the womens movement or in sectarian formations outside they lack, like the Stalinists and Social Denocrats, a Marxist analysis of the character of womens oppression and its place in the struggle for womens liberation through the socialist revolution. All these currents are thus uneble to provide the perspectives and leadership to win the demands of the womens liberation movement.
Questions:
1- What are the objective social and political roots of the current radicalisation of women? In what ways does the wlm of today rest on the gains of previous womens movements and what ways has it surpassed them? 2. In what ways was womens suffrage an important objective gain for the working class?
AN - hat do we mean when we say that the womens movement has its own independent dynamic? In what ways is the womens movement interconnected with other social struggles?
4. What has there generally been 2 lag in the pace with which women of oppressed nationalitics have become conscious of their specific oppression as women?
How can the womens movement help to develop this consciousness? De The most serious gain won by the womens movement internationally has been the significant expansion of access to legal abortion. Why do the most. ‘ reactionary defenders of the capitalist system mobilise to prevent women from winning the Right to Choose?
Oe How are the differences between revolutionary Marvists and the reformist trends inthe workers movement towards the womens libcration movement re= flected today? Why isn't it possible for Stalism and Socicl Democracy and centrist currents in the workers movement to project a programme and perspective of struggle for women to win their liberation?
7 Why have the trade union. bureacrats often sanctioned the setting up of womens commissions in the trade unions? How can such cormissions help to .. toke the. womens movement forward? &. Is the issue of womens oppression as important in colonial and semicolonial lands and in the workers states as in advanced capitalist countries?
9. How docs the penctration of the capitalist market cconomy have a contradictory impact on women in the semi-colonial and colonial world? How does the fight ageinst imerialist exploitation end for national liberation tic in with the struggle for womens liberation?
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10. Why is the hold of the family in these countrics specifically strong on' women? 11. How does the participation of women in the national liberation struggle’ help transform the consciousness of women and men about womons capacities and role?
12. In addition to struggles around the same issues as in imerinlist countries what additional issues would women in colonial and semi colonial countries struggle around?
13. What other struggles would womens struggles within the workers states interrelate? ; ws oe
14,. In what ways does the international womens movement aid the struggles of wotien in semi-colonial and colonial countrics and in the workers: states?
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Class 3°. The Historic Position of tenga on Wore ns Oppression and ie Stalinist Betrayal Reading Class 2 Women and the Family - Trotsky On the Emancipation of Wortien = Lenin Feminism and the Marxist Movement - Mary Alice Waters Women in China - Kate Curtin Special issue of Labour Focus on Women in Eastern Europe
Summary of class content Socialist. Revolution and the Struggle for Womens Liberation is first full’ resolution on this question which has been adopted by a leading international body of the FI. It is presented to the’ ranks for discussion for the next world congress. This does not mean that before this we did not have a policy of support for the struggles of women for their liberation, or were indifferent to them. Support for the struggles of women has always been part of the programmatic foundations of the Fourth International.
The seaolieton’ under discussion now is very much a product of the new rise of womens struggles on a world scale, particularly in the advanced capitalist countries, over the past ton years. From observing and participating in this new womens movement, helping to advance its demands and win it support, revow-.... -—lutionary Marxists — been able to develop further their programme for the liberation of women. -
From the inception of the Marxist movement over 130 years ago, revolutionary Marxists have waged’ an unremitting struggle within the broad working class movement to establish a revolutionary attitude towards the struggle for womens liberation. They have fought to place it on a sound historical and materialist basis. This fight has differencitated the revolutionary and reformist currents within the working class movement, along the lines of thos committod to a class struggle perspective and those Felliewing n line of class collaboration.
The oppression of women was acscribed and denounced in such founding documents of the Marxist movement as the Communist Manifesto of 1848, Revolutionary figures of the past like Frederich Engels and August Bebel devoted considerable offorts to analysing and educating’ the working class movement about the origins and character of womens oppression to class socicty. The Russian Bolshevik party, under the leadership of Lenin and’ Trotsky, likewise had a truly revolutionary record on this question, attempting to implement to the greatest oxtent possible -~- given the limited material resources of the new Sovict state -= a programme for the liberation of women. The rise of the counter-revolutionary bureaucratic caste headed by Stalin in the 1920's, not only stopped this process but took away gains which had been made following the victorious revolution of 1917. The Stalinist. counter-revolution led to a policy of reviving and fortifying the family system by : restoring criminal punishment for abortion and giving up the perspective of moving in a systematic way to socialise the burdens carried by women; glorifying the family and through legal and cconomic sanctions attempting to bind families together. The maintenance of the family has enabled the burcaucracy to perpetuate an important division inside the working class through the roles assigned to the sexes.
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=8 Although differences exist on a historical, cultural, economic and social level within and between the different workers states the economic and social inferiority of women is maintained through the bolstering of the family institution as the norm of social relationships: in all-the.deformed.workers states from China to East Germany. This results in the perpetuation of the traditional burden of women, the double days work inside and outside the home;_and _ deeply affects the way women view themselves, their role in society and the goals they seck to obtain.
In the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as in the advanced capitalist countries, sufficient material wealth and technology today exist to significantly alleviate the double burden of women. Yet the distortions introduced in economic planning and the productive process, because of the absence of democratic control over production by the workers and the domination of the privileged, are a source of resentment. Women feel the dead weight of the bureacracy in this respect more, because -they are-forced..to compensate for... distortion in the economy through the double day's labour they perform. At the eame. time the Stalinist bureaucracies have repudiated the view of Lenin and other leaders of: the Russian revolution that unrestricted access to abortion is a. womens. clementary democratic right.
Women in the deformed and degenerated workers states will not win their full liberation short of a political revolution that removes the bureaucratic caste from power and vestorse workers democracy. The struggle of women for their liberation will be a significant component of the process of challenging and overturning the privileged bureaucratic regimes and establishing socialist democracy. Demands for the socialisation of domestic labour in particular are an important aspect of the transitional programme for the coming political revolution,
The fight of revolutionary marxists to win the leadership of fominists in other parts of the world is inter-related with the development of the political revolution in the deformed and degonerated workers states as well as with our ability to project a different image of socialism, that we as authentic marxists are fighting for.
Questions: 1. How does the programme of the Fourth I®ternational embody the continuity of the struggles of women throughout history? 2. How did marxism provide. a scientific basis for womens ennai as both a revolutionary and realistic epans 3. How hive the differences betwcen the revolutionary and reformist trends in the workers movement been reflected in differing attitudes towards womens liberation?
4, What are the consequences of taking an ahistorical view towards womens liberation?
5 Why did Trotsky hold that the position of women 'tis the most graphic and telling indicator for evaluating a social regime and state policy?
How was this truc in the early years of the Soviet Union under the lcadorship of Lenin and Trotsky? Under Stalins leadership? 6. What are the social causcs for the betrayal of women by Stalinism? How is this betrayal rceflected in the thinking of many feminists and an obstacle to winning radicalised women to revolutionary marxism?
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7. Compare the situations of women within the workers states. How do they compare with women in the advanced capitalist states? Are the contradictions arising through what is technicakly possible today-to de to change the— --.-.. situation of women, similar to and as great in the workers states, as in _ advanced capitalist countrics? ~ 8, How do our demands for women in the workers states relate to our programme for overthrowing bureaucratic privilege and establishing workers deniocracy?
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10 Class 4
The Fourth International and the Struggle for Womens Liberation ry Additional Reading Class 4 The Transitional Programme - Trotsky Abortion - IMG pamphlict Fighting for Womens Rights - IMG pamphlot | Black Womens Struggle for Equality - Willie Mae Reid
Summary of class content The basic Marxist position on Womens cppression are part of the programmatic foundations of the F.I,. The new rise of womens struggles requires of us to outline our perspectives for leading these struggles to victory. Our goal is to win the confidence and leadership of the masses of women by showing that our programme, class struggle policies and practice, will lead to climinating womens oppression through a successful proletarian revolution and socialist reconstruction of society. To this end our class struggle stratogy has three facets: our political demands, our methods of struggle, and our class independence.
Through the totality of the demands we advance, we aim to build a bridge from the current necds and struggles of the masses and their level of con= sciousness to the culminating point of socialist revolution. As part of this transitional programme we put forward demands that relate to the specific oppression of women - legal, economic, social and sexual. These demands are directed against those responsible for the economic and social conditions in which womens oppression is rooted - the ruling class, its government and agencies. We orient the womens liberation movement toward clear political goals and in fighting for these demands masses of women will come to under-= stand the interrelationship of their oppression as victims of class rule, To achieve our demands we use proletarian methods of mobilisation and action, Everything wo do is aimed to bring the masses themselves into direct involvement in the struggle and to learn to rely on their own united power. Our class struggle methods are geared to awakening the initiatives of the great majority of women, to bring them together and increase their confidence in their own abilitics, intelligence, independence and strength.
The oppression of women as 2 sox constitutes the objective basis for the mobilisation of women in struggle through their own organisations, For this reason the Fourth Internationsl1 supports and helps build the womens movement ~ by which is meant all the women who organise themselves at one level or another to struggle against the oppression imposed on them by this socicty. The womens movement is characterised by its heterogenity, its penetration into all layers of socicty, and the fact that it is not tied to any one political organisation, It is still largely unstructured and referred to as the independent or autonomous womens movement. This means that the movo= ment is organised and led by women, that it takes the fight for womens rights and needs as its first priority, refusing to abandon that fight to any other interests or needs of any political tendency or any other social group, and is willing to carry the fight by whatevor means and with whatever forcos prove necessary. This is the character of the independent womens liberstion Movement we seek to build,
There is no contradiction between building the womens liberation movement and building a revolutionary party of women and mene The two serve differont functions. While we raise demands that deal with the specific oppression of
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41 : women, there is no objective basis for a separateMarxist woments organisation We try to build the strongest possible class struggle wing within the womens ‘ movement and strive to recruit the most conscious and combative women to | the revolutionary party. The forms through which we work can vary greatly depending on the concrete circumstances. Whatever forms we adopt the Fund= amental question to be decided is: What specific issues and demands ncecd to be raised in order to most effectively mobilise women and their allics in struggle. .
Our perspective cf trying to mobilisc masses of women can often best be achieved today through united~front-type action campaigns which can mobilise the broadest possible support around concrete demands, In this way the greatest power is brought to bear against the capitalist government and workers arc educated concerning their own strength. The Stalinists and labour bureacrats will stand exposed if they refuse to support such united campaigns for womens. needs. United-front-type campaigns are of particular importance in deepening the interaction between the independent womens movement and the labour movement and bringing greater numbers of women workers into struggle.
Political independence is the third facet of our class struggle strategy for the fight against womens cppression. This means that we do not defer or subordinate any demand, action of struggle of women to the political needs and concerns of either the bourgeois or reformist political forces. Only through an uncompromising programmatic and organisational break from the bourgeoisie and all forms of class collaborationism will the working class and its allies, including women struggling for their liberation, be mobilised as a powerful and self confident force capable of carrying the socialist revolution through to the end.
The orientation of the sections and sympathising organisations of the F.I. is to commit our forces to: building the womens liberation movement and action campaigns around specific issues like abortion, childcare and other aspects of our programme, and encourage international solidarity in the womens movement, and where possible, international coordination of campaigns around common issues.
Womens liberation work is not the responsibility of women comrades alone y although they will have to lead it. The party leadership has the responsibility to take the lead to ensure that all comrades are educated about this work and collectively share the responsibility for it. The leadership also has the responsibility for giving conscious attention to the education, — political development, and leadership training of women comrades and helping them find solutions to their extra burdens and responsibilities that stem from social and economic inequalities.
Questions: 4. The F.I. perspectives for the womens liberation struggle stand in the revolutionary marxist tradition. What are the considerations that this is based on? 2, Give examples of democratic and transitional demands which the nesolutton projects for the womens liberation movement » What is the importance © democratic demands in mobilising opposition to capitalism? Who do we direct these demands against and why do we do so? ema i 14 tiate the programme of . How does the system of demands outlined differen a revolutionary socialists from that of reformists? What determines which demands become central at any given point in the struggle?
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42 How do the questions of method of struggle and class independence also act as a dividing line between revolutionists and other tendencics?
The international resolution states that there are no exclusinvely womens De issues. What does this mean? Why are independent womens organisations necessary? Why does the resolution consider it unnecessary to have women's caucuses or pressure groups in the revolutionary party? 6. Why does the resolution project a united-front-type approach to building. a womens movement? What are the pitfalls in other approaches?
Why is the resolution opposed to creating a socialist womens party or Ve -a womens party in general?
What is the special importance of the womens liberation movement for women workers? For immigrant and Black women workers?
How is the struggle for womens liberation part of the process of building - Qe a mass revolutionary party? 10.
What are the specific tasks which the resolution outlines for the -leader= ship of the revolutionary party to carry out in order to combat the in= fluence of bourgeois ideology inside the revolutionary party on the question of womens oppression? In what specific ways must the lend help to develop women cadres? Te
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BIUSATION SCHOOL OW | JISM. AND THE COMMUNIST PART
Speakers for this seheol are esordineted vie ede Webster, He may be contacted via ede Jones at the centre ( 359 8391)
Part ene: Bureaucracy and the skalinist per ties The Oommunist movement was born through the victory of the Russian revolution in 1917 and in a struggle against the bureaucratisation of the second international, This session examines’ the pressires which led to the formation of a :.: ‘:: ; governing caste in the Soviet Union and the international political consequences, Basic reading: The United Secretariat Thsses 'Kurocommunism: A new stage in the crisis of Stalinism,' . . ; Supplemen tary reading: Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed, esp. Chapter Vv : Trotsky, 'The Draft Programme of the Communist Interne tional', in The Third’
Internstional After Lenin Trotsky, Preobrazhensky et al - The Platform of the left Opposition Mandel =~ On Bureaucracy Se: Camiller ~ 'The Popular Fronts of the 1930s', in Internstional Spring 1977 Trotsky - 'A Fresh Lesson: After the Imperialist Peace at Munich! in ANE of ; Leen Trotsky 1938-39 The Bevelopment and Disintepra thon of world Stalin - SWP (US) Educetion for Socielists Bulletin
Guideline questions:
What were the historic conditions that gave rise to Stalin's victory in the Soviet Union?
Was the victory of Stalin inevitable after the death of Lenin?
Why wes the Stalinist leadership of the Communist Perty of the Soviet Union se successful in turning all the other Communist Parties against Trotsky and the international opposition?
Whst was ‘socialism in one country'? What were its consequences in (a) the British Géneral Strike of 1926? (b) China between 1925 and 1927 ?
Why was an ultra-left turn made at the 1928 congress of the Comintern and what were the international political consequences?
In 1935 the Comintern undertook a tactic called the Popular Front, What was this? What were its consequences?
Was the dissolution of the Comintern in 1943 significant ?
What is the difference between a sociel democratic and a stalinist par ty?
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G Wor i . the Phenomena of Eurocommunism, The - stalinist bureaucrecy was the product of specific rela tfona of interna Terre class forces - those of defeot for the working cless, Since 1968 those rela tions of Class forces have fundamen telly changed. The consequence-'uas been a crisis ‘of the Communist Parties, This session looks at the politics of the Burocommunists and asks what revolutioneries shéuld propose es an alternative, .
Basic reading: Saad - Mandel - From Stalinism to Eurocommunism, or Inprecer 556 & % United Secretariat Theses: Eurocommunism, A New Stage in the Crisis of Stalin ‘Supplementary Reading: Carillos Eurocommunism and the state. (actonsts socialist halen ge LET)
Ellenstein,- Interview in Marxism Today, May 1978.
Althusser, 'What must change in the Perty', in New Left Revi ew 109, Weber, 'The Burocommunist Mirage!, in New Left Review 110 Mandel, 'Revolutionary Strategy in Western Europe’, in New Left Rirtalj 100 Anderson, 'The Antimonies of Antonio Gramsci', in New Left Review 100 Evolution of the Commnist Porties in Western Europe - document of the Buropean PBs meeting of the FI in Tnprecor 12.12.1974 , Juideline questions:
Is it true that the experience of the Bolshevik revolution is irrelevant today?
Dz the lessons of Chile under Allende show the correctness of the theories of Burocomnuniem?. + ‘ ee ; Do the events in Resign) duxinig 1974 and 1975 suppor t the view that the state cen be transformed from within?
T&es the working cless in Western Europe need to seek alliances with other social classes or layers? If yes, is the allience between ‘the Italian Communist Party and Christian Democracy such an example? , What sort of alliances do revolutioaaries propose? ; Can Parliament survive alongside institutions of direct democracy in the transition to socialism? | :
What did Gsemsci mean when he spoke of 'hegemony'?
Is Eurocommmnism the politics of the Communist Parties of the Populer Front period with a different name? ; .What is the impact of Eurocommunism in Eastern Europe?
What attitude should revolutionaries edopt to currents emerging within the Communist Parties that are critical of Moscow?
a8 e®
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Part three The British Communist Party The adoption at the last congress of the British Communist Party of the new draft of the British Road to Socialism clearly places the CPGB in the political framework of Eurocommunism. The aim of this session is to look at the history of the CPGB and to locate this session within it, but also to arm comrades to debate the CP's politics
The British Road to Socialism The British CP in Crisis, Socialist Challenge, Battle of Ideas Supplementary - Warren - Critique of the British Road, in New Left Review, 63 (also available from the education commission, 10p) Tariq Ali - The Coming British Revolution, Ch 3 Roberts/Blackburn exchange - International, summer 1977 Pearce and Woodhouse, Communism in Britain Gurseline gues tions:
When other Communist Parties in Western Europe, for example the French, Spanish and Italian, have grown to mass proportions why has the CPGB remained so small?
In what ways does the anti-monopoly allfance differ from our revolutionary Marxist understanding of the united front?
All the western European CPs, including the British, proclaim the importance of an alliance with the petit=-bourgeoisie.e Is this relevant in the British context?
In what ways does the Broad Left in the Trade Unions differ from the minority movement ir he early 1920s?
During the late 1960s and early seventies the Liason Committee for the Befence of trade unions was able to organise hundreds of thousands of workers in political strikes. Now it has virtually disappeared. Why?
Would a ‘left government', committed to 'progressive! policies, be a step forward for the class struggle?
What are our disagreements with the CPGBs position on the fight. for the liberation of women?
Will the fight for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland aid the struggle of the Irish people for self determination?
How far is the CPGB prepared to support the strussle for democratic rights in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe?
At the last CPGB congress didn't all the members have the chance to comment on the new party programme? Wasn't the congress filmed for television? Does that mean that the congress and the inner party life is democratic?
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