There has been a growing awareness in the Australian Left of the need for a revolutionary socialist party, able to contain within a democratic framework, the different revolutionary tendencies existing in Australia today.
This need is in fact one of the main questions being discussed widely in different circles for protest,as such,has reached a certain level where it now needs the political clarification that can only be achieved in a party organisation. In a sense, this is a sign of the growing maturity of the Australian protest movement.
Many factors have contributed to the need for a revolutionary party being placed urgently on the agenda. There is the realisation first of all that none of the existing working class parties - Australian Labour Party or the Communist Party of Australia - offer any real alternative to the system, or provide a framework in which revolutionary politics can be discussed and action determined. In addition, Australia is being affected by the growing revolutionary upsurge in Europe, North America and for that matter the whole world. The French revolt provided an example of the revolutionary potential in the advanced capitalist countries, but also showed the dire need for a mass revolutionary socialist party able to lead the masses to victory despite Stalinist and reformist betrayal.
The French and Czech crises both in their own way highlighted the crisis of Stalinism. Nowhere is that crisis more evident than in the CPA. As the Soviets churn out their falsified propaganda, the pro-Soviet forces step up their campaign and hope to topple the leadership. Much depends on the decision that the Moscow bureaucrats take on whether to split the C.P.'s. The resignation of Thorez's widow points to their possible determination to do precisely that.
A further factor is the feeling in the student movement that As lacking in any real perspective and that a more general political framework is needed to allow proper discussion and analysis. Similarly, in the antwar movement following the two militant deomonstrations (in Melbourne on July 4th, in Sydney on September 20th) and the general growh in militancy both here and abroad there is also a need for a revolutionary political framework in which these problems can be solved.
In the trade union movement there is also a crisis of perspective. Traditional trade unionism is still immersed in deadening routine of arbitration and spends much of its time doing the donkey-work for the state machine, Even at the level of the fight for wages, they appear to achieve little. As a result, the workers retire into apathy, resenting union dues as a waste of money. With very few exceptions are any concepts of workers self-management advanced, that being considered outside the scope of unionism. Only in some of the white-collar unions (teachers, airpilots) arc questions of workers control and management raised, but without their full potential
being developed or recnsmisede Finally, there are many ex-communists and independent soci pissts, unattracted by either the CPA or ALP, who NOW, in the preac~+ upsurge, feel the need for political organisation and action. envy are joincd by the youth who have just-omerged in political life and feel that need also.
From these different layers has arisen the demand for 4 new democrat= ically organised revolutionary socialist organisation, which can, in turn, be transitional to a revolutionary socialist party.
On The Nature Of The Party
If the revolt today is against power-lessness and alienation of the masses from decision making, then it follows that any political organisation which seeks to lead and organise that revolt mst itself give real power and decision-making to its memebers.
It is for that reason that the revolutionary socialist Organisation must itself in real terms become a microcosm of the SELF MANAGED society sought for. For it is only in such a democratically organised party that the real problems facing militants can be solved, in an atmosphere of free debate where theoretical’ study and analysis and reseach pervades the whole party. But in a real sense, the degree of real democracy will depend on the level of ideological consciousness and education among the membership as a whole, as well as their activism and militancy. No matter how democratic the. constitution of a revolutionary organisation there is always the danger of bureaucratisation when there is a wide gap between the leadership, in a general atmosphere of low ideological understanding. It is in such an atmosphere too, that factionalism (as against tendency organisation +) develops into a destructive force,
If a-really effective revolutionary force is to be built in Australia, it must be extremely democratic in its organisation and of a high ideological level. Both conditions are interdependent: one cannot exist in real terms without the other.
Let us examine what we mean by "high ideological level".
Marxism Is Above All Critical And Sceptical
If Marxism is anything, it is materialist, it is critical, it is sceptical; it is dialectical and historical in its method. Marxist method implies that the individual must, by the use of his critical faculties, himself, in + We distinguish between Wed oe tee and the right of persons inside a revolutioaary organisation to organise and propegate a particular view they may hold in common. Factionalism means: rather the attempt to take over a political apparatus by machine politics (stacking ———_ etc.) rather than by political persuasion.
his own. consciousness, come to the truth of all questions, as best as he is able. A scrupulous internal intellectual honesty is the real hallmark of the real Marxist. Certainly on some questions, he may accept the opinions and analyses of those whom he trusts, through experience (and not position). But whenever there is debate, the individual must carry out his ow independent enquiry, Stalinism and reformism have combined to crush this independence of the militant, to glorify the "Leader", to vaunt the superiority of the collective will and intellect of the Party over that of the individual. In reality, of course, the collective will of the "Party" has meant that/8ne man, or of a few men.
Any new revolutionary organisation must then reverse this false pattern of thought imposed under Stalinism and reformism and liberate the individual party memeber with a positive demand for self-expression, self-education and independence of thought. Such independence can only emerge from an abundance of information on the historical background, on the factual material behind the different problems: and a complete application of the Marxist method to such problems.
In a sense, the duty of revolutionary organisation is to provide to all its members the intellectual training which in capitalist society as a whole is provided (in a distorted way) to only a small percentage of the population. In a way, it is not only a question of turning intellectuals into proletarians in outlook, but also of turning proletarians into intellectuals, Indeed, it is part of the revolutionary workers struggle. to liberate himself from his proletarian condition to become an intellectual in training. The Stalinist bureaucrats! glorification of the "proletarian" was in fact a glorification of his proletarian condition which arises from his status as a wage slave,
The Role Of Leadership
Nevertheless, precisely because we do live in a capitalist society in which human development is stunted, all the facilities that the party may make available to its members will still mean that certain of its members — will play more of a leading role than others. But such a leading role must arise purely from the critical confidence that the membership has in the leadership, which must be accountable at all times and be subject to the right of recall. Discipline will above all be due to the conscious understanding and conviction of the membership rather than to any artificially imposed rules and regulations. ;
But given the fact that we still livein a capitalist society, the temptations of bureaucratisation will be ever-present as a short.cut, as an easy solution to problems, as a "natural" development from the functions of leadership. Hence, a great deal of responsibility rests on those in leading positions to consciously watch their bureaucratic tendencies and maintain a suitable modesty and a scrupulous intellectual doubt on all their own beliefs and proposals. They should almost welcome defeat or correction on questions as a healthy correction to their own ego and growing sense of infallability.
Yet of course,-it is insufficient to rely simply on self-control by leadorship or the high level of awareness among the membership. The constitution of the party must be so conceived so that democratic control over the leadership can be speedily and effectively maintained, and the freest and fullest discussion occur. :
The revolutionary socialist party of today must be conceived of asa free voluntary and conscious union of proletarian-intellectuals and intellectual- > proletarians around a common programme of struggle for socialist democracy based on the principle of self-management.
The union of these independently thinking workers and intellectuals must be of a type as to allow them to develop to the highest degree possible’ their autonomous functioning as militants in their own sphere: of activity, and their control in the basic unit of the party of their own: militant work. The essential function of leadership is to encourage the creative militant work of the self-governing basic party unit +,to provide a forum for an exchange of experiences and the cross-fertilization of ideas and conception of new forms and avenues of militancy, as well as to absorb newly won members in existing areas of work.
Such a concept does not mean a denial of leadership or organisation (as it does to classical anarchism), nor does it mean an abdication of leadership (as occurs sometimes in CP's when the function of leadership is more as a police force to crack down on opposition). The basic party unit is the essence of party activity: all else serves it. The basic party units themselves control and determine their own work; elected leadership can only propose, suggest and convince. It cannot oblige the basic party units to follow any particular pattern.
Similarly, the basic party units should be able to organise fields of activity at higher levels, to hold joint meetings, joint activity and even orgenise permanent levels of organisation and coordination which can
then make decisions at that level. Besides the normal structures determined by territorial groupings, etc., the constitution must be flexible enough to accept basic unit decisions to organise at other levels as well. Given, too, the federative nature of Australian society, we believe that the revolutionary socialist party must also be federative (though probably not on formal State bound-ries but on more realistic urban and rural functional units).
Besides this degree of independence of the basic party units and the federative nature of the organisation as a whole, other principles of democratic control should be included in the constitutions. At all levels for example, the principle of rotating chairmen should apply - in other words, the bureaucratic and largely decorative function of "president" be abolished. Secretarial functions should be divided among a number of » individuals and not concentrated in one person. The right of recall should eee ee + "Basic party units" is used here rathcr than branches, because the last term has bureaucratic-centralist connotations.
apply at all levels. Referenda should be held when balloted for (although this may be questioned as valid and the aggregate mecting found better suited)... All should be done to throw responsibility on the individual and avoid bureaucratisation as much as possible.
Yet that said, the party must also function with certain centralist forms. The functional regional bodies (major city units, rural regions elect their own regional committee, which divides the secretarial functions among its members. On a national level, a national conference will meet based upon election directly from the basic party units. It then elects in turn a national committee which will in turn divide up the secretarial functions among its members. The exact division of authority between national and regional conference must be rather flexible although a rather obvious division of interest will exist. Basically, however, the national conference must take fundamental decisions on national and international questions. %
Such a constitutional "model" for a revolutionary socialist organisation must be matched by the possible organisation within the: party not only of functional or territorial units and levels, but: also the right to organise according to commonly-held beliefs on one or more issues. This is the right of tendency, granted to those who find they hold a common view on one or more subjects and wish to organise support inside the organisation for their viewpoint, either through discussion organs provided, or, if they judge them insufficient, through their own tendency publications which in turn may in extreme cases be published publicly. But the right of tendency also fundamentally includes the right of organisation around ideas and a platform.
Some Possible Objections
Perhaps the first type of objection to such an organisation would be that it would be wide open to police spies and lack security.
First, the only real guarantee that police spies will be guickly spotted or be ineffective is the highest possible ideological level. The best atmosphere in which police spies flourish is one of ignorance, elitism and cultism around an individual, and in which an elaborate innerparty police system is set up... itself open to take-over by the police themselves, :
The decentralisation of power inside the party will mean that the police will find it near-impossible to find out total party membership and other details by simply working themselves into higher party positions. Because the basic party units is the one where most questions are resolved the police will not find the convenience of highly centralised party organisation waiting for them.
As for political disruption, they will have to first convince a highlyeducated and independently-minded membership...
But what of the danger of favtionalism developing in such a democratic organisation? Let us note first of all that in the Stalinist or reformist type party, the major "favtion" is always the leadership, In the revolutionaty socialist party as outlined above, the full freedom to organise on the basis of ideas, plus 4 high ideological level we are assuming, will be together the best possible preventives for factionalism if by that we mean manipulative efforts to take over the party machine by "getting the numbers", "Stacking meetings", etc. without any political | persuasion being involved. If only because the "machine" as such will be of such limited power as to be rejected.if such a situation should arise, . by the basic party units, while means of democratic control make such methods pointless and doomed to failure.
Let us note, too, that factionalism in the above sense arises when disagreement is driven underground, when there is a low ideological level dominated by an omnipotent bureaucracy, and hence opposition even on a minor point is driven to such means. The best defence against a destructive factionalism is the fullest democracy and the highest possible ideological level.
But what of discipline and unity in action, some will object... The collapse of Stalinism shows that the old-time monolithism of the CP's has passed forever. No more is it conceivable for a party to build on the basis of unquestioning acceptance of the "Leader" and “leadership”. Misgivings about the apparent disarray of the Left, about the myriad of groupings and ideas, cannot be overcome by a return to stealinist monolithism. But neither can a situation be accepted as desirable (except as a transition from monolithism). The answer is in a new and higher form of unity, based on a high ideological understanding and analysis, where unity is built on disunity on a whole number of points, but unity around basic questions and around a given number of other points. Essentially too, the minority, if they hold a position deeply, must be allowed to opt out of that decision as.an extreme measure (although minority acceptance of majority decisions should be accepted -s a general rule, but only as a conscious voluntary act.) Unity, in the new party, will only come from consciousness and voluntary acceptance. =
To those who make a facile analogy with a trade union, we can reply that the revolutionary party is the voluntary alliance of the most conscious and vanguard independently minded individuals. A trade union is a@ union of the most diverse elements of the working class, from the. most backward to members of the revolutionary party. In direct confrontation with the boss, unity is essential and if necessary has to be imposed on > backward workers after a democratically-arrived at decision. Similar forms cannot however apply among conscious, independently minded revol- : utionaries, united in a party.
The Relation between the Party and Workers and Students
The revolutionary socialist party, gathering the most conscious revolutionary workers and students in its ranks, seeks to give leadership to the mass of workers and students. But this leadership must be con-
ceived of in another way than that proferred by reformist or Stalinist parties. For them, leadership is essentially bureaucratic in function. It is given to the workers and students in form of instructions, orders or at best, lessons.
For revolutionary socialists, however, such elitist concepts, profoundly rooted in trade unions and other mass organisations, must be rejected. Leadership for us is conceived as seeking to encourage among the masses their own creative faculties and initiatives and their own revolutionary militancy. That arises from the concept we have of the nature of social change, based upon the demand for self-management and control of all aspects of social life. Thus, the vital thing to develop is the worker and student alliance and their confidence in their own ability to manage society, and their militancy in fighting for such demands and, finally, a taking of power, at each time such a possibility arises, into their own hands, no matter for how long or in what sphere (even minor). It is high time that Marxists forgot the facile analogy of the working class with an army... with generals on top giving the orders and the cannon-fodder below carrying them out. This concept was never correct - it is disastrous today.
How to Build a Revolutionary Party Today?
The need for such a party is increasingly felt among different layers, Concretely, there exist a number of revolutionary groups and journals, as well as many individuals, who feel this need. To overcome disparate origins, lack of organisational experience, etc. it is vital that such groups link up first in an alliance which would be transitional to a revolutionary party. Such a party could possibly be achieved through the construction of a militant, youghful, democratically-organised revolutionary socialist alliance, which through its attractiveness and rapid growth would quickly pose to the members of the Communist Party the need and desirability of unity in a single, revolutionary party.
The unity of a left opposition group inside the CPA with the revolution-. ary socialist organisation would mean that the CPA would be superceded as the major Marxist party in Australia and a new, viable grouping take its place.
It is of interest then that the CPA though Laurie Aarons has circulated a number of left journals and individuals with an invitation to initiate a conference of left groups to thrash out differences and get maximum unity in action. International, while welcoming the initiative has urged that a whole series of groups be invited. Nevertheless, the calling of such a conference shows how widely felt is the need for some new unified grouping and the inadequacy of existing parties..e.oe
«eee Moves are already progessing in a number of States to form... the cadre force of such a new organisation and to launch it in the coming month in a public way. It will be a feature of the Left political scene in 1969 which will colour all future developments.
25th October 1968
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