Introducing International Marxist Review International Marxist Review, which begins publication with this issue, is the English-language version of the magazine Quatrième Internationale, edited by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. It aims to present in depth the views of the Fourth International on important strategic, programmatic and tactical questions posed by the current stage of the international class struggle, to those readers whose first language is English. But given the proliferation of Marxist theoretical journals, especially in Britain where many copies of the journal will be sold, perhaps some word of explanation is in order.
For the Fourth International the political period remains that which opened with the tremendous rise of revolutionary struggles in 1968. Since the struggle of the French workers and students in May-June of that year, the whole world has witnessed a tremendous series of revolutionary struggles — from the revolutionary overthrow of the Caetano government in Portugal in 1974, to the massive mobilisation which brought down the Shah in Iran, the 1969 'hot autumn' in Italy, the victory in Vietnam in 1975 and the revolutionary victory in Nicaragua in 1979 - the examples could be added to many times.
But despite the fact that the period opened by 1968 is still the one we are living through, it remains the case that there has still been a heavy burden of defeats and setbacks. The counter-revolutionary coup in Chile in 1973, the 'democratic' counter-revolution in Portugal in 1975, the unexpected detour which the Iranian revolution is now going through under Khomeini, the military coup in Argentina in 1976, and the blow struck against the Polish workers in December 1981 are all examples. We must add to this the fact that the struggle in Western Europe after 1968 has proved to be much more drawn out and protracted than many expected, as the effects of the capitalist recession have stalled the workers' offensive.
All this points to an obvious conclusion. The defeat of imperialism and stalinism, the victory of socialism world-wide will not be the result of the spontaneous upsurge of the working class. The imperialist bourgeoisie, its allies in the dependent countries, and the Stalinist bureaucracy still have immense political reserves to draw on. They will not be defeated without the necessary strategy, tacties and programme - in short without revolutionary leadership.
For International Marxist Review, the history of the period since 1968 has shown the bankruptcy of the social democratic, stalinist, eurocommunist - and in the dependent world bourgeois and petty bourgeois nationalist — leaders of the working class. Our task is to aid the forging of an international revolutionary movement whose goal is the defence of the workers of every country, and the victory of revolutionary struggle in every country. Without theory and programme, and cadres trained in the spirit of that programme, such a movement will never be built.