TROTSKYIST POSITION ON CHINESE-SOVIET RIFT
ROME, Feb, 18 -- A statement of the position of the Internationa! Secretariat of the Fourth International on the Chinese-Soviet rift was released today by Livio Maitan. The statement begins by referring to the fact that at the inception of the dispute two ana a hai? years ago. the IS in an "Open Letter" gave critical support te the position: defended by the Chinese Communist party inasmuch as it fels thea tha: on most of the key issues of the international! class struzele. the pesitirons of the Chinese were more to the left en more rrozressive :san those taken by the Khrushchev terdency.
Yiewing the differences as they now stand, the statement hoicn that on the fsllowing points the CCP has shown itseif to be furthe: +o she left and more correct than the Khrushchev tendency:
(1) That imperialism has not changed its nature and that in the struggle agsinst imperialist war preparations, one shou"d not
. a sow illusions about this or. that imperialist group.
(2) That the risk of atiother world war can be ‘ended only by overthrowing imperialism and capitalism.
(3) That the needs of the colonial revolution must not be subordinated to the alleged "needs" of "peaceful coexistence."
(4) That no reliance can be placed on the national bourgeoisie of colonial and semicolonial countries and that a revolution once begun tends to proceed in an "uninterrupted" way, a view which approaches Trotsky's theory of the permanent revolution.
(5) That it is illusory to believe in a "peaceful road towards socialism" in the imperialist countries, not least of the illusions being the so-called "theory" of "structural reforms" advocated by the Italian CP leader Togliatti; this, in fact, being a theory that socialism can achieve victory without overthrowing the bourgeois state machine. .
(6) That the "five. conditions" placed by Fidel Castro during the recent Cuban crisis deserved immediate support, as. was given by the Chinese; that Khrushchev spread an illusion when he held that Kennedy had given a "guarantee" not to invade Cuba again; and that the Cubans were correct in rejecting unilateral inspection by the United Nations of military bases in Cuba.
(7) That a majority and minority can coexist in the world Communist movement and in a Communist party ard that a minority can sometimes be right against the majority.
While holding the view that these positions are generally more progressive than the reformist political line followed by the leader~ ship of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and of most other CP’s, the statement criticizes the Chinese as taking stands alien to Marxism-Leninism on the following issues:
(1) Their underestimation of the results of a nuclear world War.
(2) Their unprincipled bloc with the Enver Hodza clique in Albania and their refusal to support de~Stalinization in the Soviet Union the way Castro did.
(4) Their unprincipled characterization of Yugoslavia as a capitalist state.
(4) Their maintenance of a bureaucratic regime within the Chinese workers state and the Chinese Communist party.
The statement holds that the discussion in the Communist nove ment will inevitably deepen, posing more and more sharply ali the key questions of Communist policy in the world today. It is in the interests of the Communist movement as a whole to make possible a
-l10=clear and public confrontation of positions, including those developed by the Trotskyist movement and other tendencies.
The debate should not be carried on in a dogmatic, byzantine and sterile way] the statement advocates, but on the basis of the extremely rich and variegated experiences undergone by the revolutionary working-class movement, For that reason the International Secretariat of the Fourth International. favors an international conference of the world Communist movement, provided that it is a genuinely democratic forum where each tendency can freely express its views and from which no tendency is excluded. ,
In the last analysis, the statement concludes, the current crisis in the world Communist movement can come to an end only through new orgenizational crystallizations which will free the international working-class movement from the grip of stultifying bureaucratic practices.
"THT WORKER'S CO-OPERATIVE OF AISSAT IDER"
By Pierre Frank
In order to prepare for the socialist future of Algeria, it is essential to establish a number of strongholds today which can serve in the struggle against the capitalist sectors, both foreign and domestic, The installation and organization of such strongholds take as their point of departure the "biens vacants"; the property -- grounds and buildings, both industrial and agricultural -abandoned on a massive scale by the "pieds noirs" (European colondalists born in Algeria).
Among the experiments under way, I should like to present a brief appreciation of a co-operative in the town of Blida named "The Worker's Co-operative of Aissat Idir," which is probably the furthest advanced although it was established only a little more than three months ago.
The region is one of the most favorable for such an experiment -~ the fertile plain of the Mitidja, far enough away from Algiers to avoid the difficulties entailed by stiff competition, close enough to enjoy maximum aid from the government. +
The inspirer of the operation, Boudissa Safi, is one of the leaders of the Algerian trade unions. He named the enterprise after the Algerian trade-union leader Aissat Idir, who was murdered by French imperialisn.
The most striking feature of the work of the co-operative is that it is not governed by a narrow concept. Boudissa Safi began with a sweeping view of the future that he would like to assure Algeria. The co-operative includes a whole series of enterprises which, in Blida and its surroundings and even farther, were abandoned by the pieds noirs. All these enterprises have been brought under ‘a single «control and a single ain.
se
The co-operative covers an impressive number of projects. Here is a by-no-means inclusive list: Twenty farms, covering 12,500 acres, a quarry, a clay pit, a brickyard, a construction firm, a cloth manufactury, a soft-drink plant, retail food stores, including butcher shops, a printing plant, a hotel and restaurant, various shops (hardware, etc.), all the movie houses of Blida, and a co-operative of fishermen at Castiglione about thirty kilometers from Blida.
This ig not a blueprint, existing only on paper; everything I have mentioned is already functioning. Moreover, the directors of the co-operative hope to widen their operations as needs and opportunities arise.
The combining of all these various enterprises which formerly belonged to individual proprietors, enables the co-operative to operate to a& great extent on its own resources. The clay pit provides materials for the brickyard; it in turn supplies the construction business; the farms provide products needed by the retail stores, etc. The co-operative, of course, must buy some raw materials; such products, for example, as cement, yarn for the textile plant, etc.
Bach distinct enterprise, each farm, has a management committee ("somite de gestion"). The project as a whole is directed by a kind of central managenent committee -- an administration committee ("somite d'administration”) of some twenty members. It would not be truthful, of course, to assert that everything runs smoothly, that every single management committee functions normally.
Wages are set in accordance with officially established norms. The ceiling is 650 francs ($130) a month. It is scarcely necessary to sey that the men who created this co-operative are not personally interested in financial gain and do not keep track of the hours they put in.
Moreover, from the very beginning they were faced with the problem of making things run in a profitable way, all the more so pince the pieds noirs, here as everywhere in Algeria, stopped necessary upkeep work as soon as they realized that defeat was inevitable. Consequently the problem of re-equipment was acute.
That the co-operative, in which more than 500 people now have permanent employment, has begun to prove itself can be seen from two facta which happen to have no relationship. First, thanks to the co-operative's stores, food prices have dropped appreciably in Blida, Secondly, shortly after it was launched, the co-operative was granted bank credits. .
The operation that was begun is moving ahead; each day sees new undertakings. Difficulties are not lacking, of course. Among these, one of the worst is the shortage of trained personnel. But friends of New Algeria are joining the Worker's Co-operative of
‘In the city of Blida, this co-operative is already a force. It will not fail to make its influence felt as its activities widen, passing from the sphere of production and distribution to culture, as its organizers intend shall soon be the case.
Aissat Idir can even become an important school for the education of personnel to manage the numerous "vacated properties."
Feb. 16, 1963:
HELP