Fourth International
PABLO ANNOUNCES HIS BREAK WITH THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL :
[The United Secretariat of the Fourth International, issued | the following statement May 24 in reply to a “declaration" of "The Rovorytyonary-Marxist Tendency of the Fourth International" (see p. 31).
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In the May issue of Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, the face tion headed by M. Pablo published a notice stating its differences with the majority of the Fourth International and its decision to "never agree" to being “identified" with the majority stand. The grouping has. chosen this way of informing the Trotskyist movement that it refuses to abide by the majority decisions of the next world congress of the Fourth International, preparations for which have been underway for some months. Thus the document amounts to public announcement of the split toward which Pablo has been moving for the past year and a half,
As justification for his grave decision, Pablo advances the following line of argument:
That an “ideological” crisis is racking the entire international Communist movement due to ossification of theory. . That just as the Stalinist movement is afflicted with an undue delay in theory catching up with reality, so is the Trotskyist movement. That just as the Stalinist movement has differentiated into ideological tendencies because of this, so has the Trotskyist movement. And just as it would be wrong to identify Stalinism with a single tendency, so is it wrong to identify Trotskyism with a single tendency. Therefore, the Pablo grouping, despite the smallness of its forces and its incapacity to convince the majority of the Trotskyist movement of the correctness of its views in a free internal discussion, is nevertheless entitled to appear before the world as an autonomous grouping; and, at the same time, speak in the name of the Fourth International,
In addition to the above arguments, Pablo proclaims that he has been fighting for many years to "reorient" the world Trotskyist movement both in theory and in practice. On the theoretical level he has been fighting to have the Fourth International discard much of its theoretical heritage as "dross"; and on the practical level he has been fighting to have it shift the "priority" of its revolutionary-socialist work from the imperialist centers to the colonial areas.
He alleges finally that the Fourth International and its sec-~ tions and sympathizing parties, due to their failure to accept the novelties he offers in theory and practice, are today standing at
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the "margin" of the colonial revolution, are farther than ever from currents in the workers states and Communist parties engendered by “de-Stalinization," are wrong in offering critical support to the Chinese side in the Sino-Soviet dispute, are "minimizing" the aid granted by the USSR and the workers states of Eastern Europe to the colonial revolution, have chosen the "wrong side" in the internal differences among the Angolan freedom fighters, and consequently belong to “a dead past without a future."
This line of argument, based on a rightist deviation and embellished. with some rather exaggerated clains, cannot stand the slightest oritical examination.
First of all, to represent the Trotskyist movement as not fundamentally different from Stalinism, insofar as the root source of difficulties in theory are concerned, signifies nothing less than throwing overboard the basic theoretical heritage of Trotskyism and substituting in its place alien conceptions that are far from new. The ideology of Stalinism emanates from the parasitic bureaucratic caste in the Soviet Union. Its main aim is not to reflect reality or to serve in changing reality. The ideology of Stalinism is an ideology of apology, the principal objective of which is to cover up and disguise the bureaucracy and to further its special inter~ ests. Such crises as occur in Stalinist ideology are symptoms of the economic, social and political contradictions faced by this conservative easte under the pressures of a mounting world revolution and rising domestie proletarian demands on the one hand and counterrevolutionary imperialism on the other, In-this way the coming political revolution in the Soviet Union, through which the working class will end the arbitrary rule of the bureaucratic caste and restore the proletarian democracy and revolutionary program of Lenin and Trotsky, casts its shadow ahead.
From his basic position concerning the common source of allegedly Similar ideological flaws in both Stalinism and Trotskyism, Pablo derives his conclusion that just as it would be incorrect to consider one tendency in the spectrum extending from Yugoslavia to Albania as speaking for the whole, so in the Trotskyist movement it is incorrect to consider one tendency as speaking for the organization as a whole, even if it is an overwhelming majority. (This does not prevent Pablo, of course, from giving the fraudulent impression in his public faction organ that the views of his tiny minority represent the Fourth International as a whole). Thus, following the thread of Pablo's argument, the majority has no right to submit him to discipline, while he -- as an independent tendency -- does have the right, like any other autonomous formation, to follow and to publicly advocate whatever line he chooses, including palming it off as the line of the Fourth International.
If the Trotskyist movement were to acquiesce in this, it would be reduced to a mere federation of tendencies with clashing
views on some of the most important issues of the day. Any minority, no matter how small or ephemeral, would be entitled to speak with an authority equal to that of the majority. The practical effect, it is obvious, would be to destroy the Fourth International.
But this is not all. The logic of Pablo's argument, if carried to the end, would signify -- not the unification of revolutionists internationally on the basis of a correct program, as is advo= cated by the Fourth International ~- but the complete dispersion of | their forces. For instance, why shouldn't a,subgrouping in the Pablo faction bring out their own public organ in a still further proliferation of tendencies and multiplication of ideological confusion?
In his own way, Pablo shows his awareness of the need to block the. development of the logical consequences of his position, parti-~ cularly as it affects his own followers, Iron centralism is the rule in any areas which he considers to be his "own," Expulsion forthwith is the punishment for the "crime" of agreeing with the position of the majority of the Fourth International. Pablo's arguments about the need for discarding democratic centralism, at least “at present" -~- while he is in a minority -- could scarcely be more cynical and unprincipled,
Obviously it is sophistry to refer to the growing polycen=trism of the Communist parties as an excuse for splitting from the Fourth International, The real need in the entire revolutionary movement is to rally to a correct program; thus the real issue is the program of the Fourth International. Isn't that program, ham-=mered out in decades of discussion and tested by great events, a revolutionary Marxist program? Then those who adhere to it are duty bound to abide by democratic centralism in presenting their differences and contributions, or in seeking to win a majority.
We do not deny Pablots democratic right to proclaim himself an autonomous tendency alongside all the others in the workers movement; but it is fraudulent to do this under the label of the Fourth International, and we have already protested this deception.
As for Pablo's messianic efforts for an unspecified number of years to "reorient" the world Trotskyist movement and to get it to discard an unspecified part of its theoretical heritage as "dross," the following can be said: If we are to believe Pablo, it is based on the view that the Trotskyist movement was "born historically" in Europe and North America and was consequently "deformed" from birth due to the imperialist milieu in which it saw the light of day. For a long time, he says, he has sought to "de-Europeanize" and "de-North Americanize’™ the world Trotskyist movement, thus overcoming the original deformation. Engaging in crudely apparent demagogy, this European grossly distorts the truth. The Trotskyist movement was born historically in the Soviet Union in 1923 as the direct continuation of Leninism. Its program has always included the basic docu-
ments of the first four congresses of the Third International which place special emphasis on problems of the colonial revolution, on relations with nationalist movements and minority struggles. Its theory of permanent revolution applies with special force to the colonial world, However, if Pablo wished to continue riding this hobbyhorse about overcoming the birth defects of Trotskyism, the movement would not deny him the right so long as he kept his enterprise within the movement itself; i.e., so long as he adhered to the rules of democratic centralism governing all tendencies, group= ings and factions who participate loyally in the rich internal life © of the Fourth International, The world Trotskyist movement is not monolithic, It includes distinct tendencies not only of varying degrees of political experience and maturity but of different shadings. In fact the Fourth International seeks the adherence of revolutionary=minded tendencies who may have special positions on cer= tain points to which they wish to win the movement but who are willing to abide by democratic centralism, accepting majority rule and unity in action.
Pablo has chosen to break with democratic centralism, how= ever, and presumably will now inform the Fourth International more clearly and fully from an outside platform precisely what in its program he considers to be "dross" and in what way the world Trotskyist movement requires "reorientation" -- if he does not lose all interest - ‘in the subject.
Pablo's funereal utterances about: ‘the: Fourth International and its sections and sympathizing parties standing at the “margin" of revolutionary developments, separated from the "de-Stalinization" process, and on the.wrong side in the Sino-Soviet dispute, in disputes in Algeria and among the Angolan revolutionists are evidently written for the edification of the bureaucracies he is trying to play up to today. No doubt they will appreciate the way in which he seeks to slander and denigrate the movement with which he was so Long associated and perhaps in his own conscience he will find it easier through such means to justify the course he has decided to follow.
The program of the Fourth International calls on revolution-~ ists to integrate themselves in the revolutionary movements or mass organizations of their own countries, whether this be in the colonial world or in the economically advanced countries. The primary aim is to build a revolutionary Marxist party; but it is also an essential way of expressing internationalism, For instance, in the development of the revolution in the Congo, in South Africa, in Vietnam, in Santo Domingo, a revolutionist can play a vital role in Europe or North America in his union or other mass organization in solidarity with comrades in those lands. Contrariwise, comrades in the colonial countries can play an immensely valuable role in advancing the revolutionary movement inside the imperialist countries by
pursuing their own revolutionary struggle at home.
The Fourth International has never permitted its program to remain a mere abstraction. Its members in the colonial countries have a proud record of participation in great struggles in their own lands. In the recent period Peru can be. cited where Hugo Blanco has gained renown throughout Latin America as a peasant leader; Bolivia where the Trotskyists constitute a leading tendency in. the working class; South. Africa where many Trotskyists are now serving. long prison sentences because of their role in the political. opposition. The list could be extended to many other countries. In the imperialist centers, the Trotskyists have stood in the forefront in organizing actions of solidarity with the colonial revolution, Their role in Western Europe and North America in defending the Algerian and Cuban revolutions from the moment they began offers an inspiring example, As to the idea that revolutionary Marxists should leave their posts in this difficult front of struggle and go to the colonial countries, this is justified where it is a question of volunteers needed to strengthen a military struggle, or of technicians needed during the consolidation of independence and the construction of socialism, but it is a caricature of internationalism to conceive of this as capable of substituting for an indigenous . political leadership based on an indigenous revolutionary Marxist party. .
- The relation of the Trotskyist movement to the process of . "de-Stalinization" is not at all as Pablo pictures it. The truth is that the old Stalinist slanders about Trotskyism have fallen away on a world scale. Where the revolutionary currents are running strong, as in Latin America, the Trotskyist movement is being increasingly accepted 2% its real worth aricong the vanguard, It counts many former members of the Communist party in its ranks, it has good relations with others and is experiencing less and less difficulty in working with those among whom the hostility of the © past still lingers. This new relationship does not extend, of course, to those who have not yet transcended the cult of the personality of Stalin or to bureaucratic elements, whether of the Maoist, Khrushchevist or Titoist variety. Perhaps it is in the latter field that Pablo would very much like to "reorient" the . world Trotskyist movement.
In the Sino-Soviet dispute, the Fourth International has: critically supported Peking as against Moscow on specific issues, Peking's militancy is more favorable to the development of the world revolution than Moscow's insistence on "peaceful coexistence" (meaning maintenance of the status quo in relation to imperialism and the class struggle). At the same time, the limitations in Peking's position, particularly its efforts to maintain the cult of Stalin, have been severely criticized by the Fourth International. The Trotskyist position in this dispute is independent, and has
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drawn fire from both bureaucracies,
As for the differences among the nationalist tendencies in the Angolan freedom movement, the Fourth International bases its. position neither on Holden Roberto!s leadership as such nor that of his opponents but on determining which tendency is most deeply engaged in actually fighting Portuguese imperialism on the scene, Pablots analogy with the MNA [Mouvement National Algérien] and the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale] is completely false. The Fourth International gave critical support to the FLN because it was actually fighting in Algeria -- which was not the case with the MNA, And our support to the FLN never implied political confidence in the Algerian leaders. of the time like Ferhat Abbas and Belkacem Krim,
Pablo's innuendo about the position of the Fourth International in relation to the Ben Bella government is scarcely worth noting. Members of the Fourth International in Western Europe were persecuted by French imperialism for supporting the Algerian revo= lution during the most difficult years. Some suffered imprisonment; some were targets of OAS [Organisation de l'Armée Secréte] bombings. Active solidarity with the Algerian revolution was displayed by all tendencies of the Fourth International despite their differences on various questions. Since the victory of the Algerian freedom struggle, the Fourth International has strongly defended the Ben Bella government against all its counterrevolutionary enemies -=- and againgt this. government's own. weaknesses and lack of a Marxist=- | Leninist orientation, which are also part of the situation. All. this is well known among the Algerian vanguard.
So much for Pablo's attempted justification of his course away from the Fourth International and toward an unspecified milieu,
In 1963 at a Reunification Congress, the world Trotskyist movement, represented by the International Secretariat and the majority of the International Committee, succeeded in healing a breach of ten years! standing on the basis of a principled program, including both the basic tenets of the world Trotskyist movement going back to 1923 and the advances reflecting world developments since then. Only minor groupings (Healy, Lambert, Posadas) refused to join in the Reunification Congress although they were invited to send delegates either as participants or observers. Pablo voted for the reunification and hailed it as a big step forward. It was hoped that a collective leadership, including Pablo, could be established despite the important differences and reservations which he held,
However, Pablo, it is now clear, was not sincere in his sup=port of the reunification. He immediately set about organizing a faction on an international scale. In accordance with the tradition of the Fourth International, which has always led and fostered a highly democratic internal life, full rights were granted to this faction. Pablo's program, however, was such that he was impelled
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into increasingly grave violations of discipline. Eventually, as a warning, he and others with him were suspended from the leadership. Instead of changing their course, however, they moved all the more deliberately toward a split, engaging in a kind of factional “brink-~ manship" that included repeated predictions over the past year and a half of Pablo's imminent expulsion at the hands of the majority.
The political explanation for Pablo's course is his rightist position on some major points.. In the. Sino-Soviet dispute the grouping stood somewhere between Tito and Khrushchev until the latter's downfall. Since then they appear to have accepted Kosygin-Brezhnev as a reasonable replacement. This rightist stand led them in the case of Chile to project the possibility of a socialist government coming to power via the electoral road. In Ceylon they envisaged a revolutionary upsurge centering around the Bandaranaike bourgeois coalition government. Their Khrushchevist or Titoist prejudices in the Sino-Soviet conflict led them to go so far during Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam as to publicly imply that Peking at least shared in the guilt for the continued crisis. They made the impermissible declaration, for instance, that "China, in going it alone, can contribute to precipitating a world catastrophe,"
In the same issue of Sous le Drapeau_du Socialisme in which the split declaration appears, Pablo apologizes for the failure of Kosygin-Brezhnev to come at once to the aid of North Vietnam in an effective way when it suffered military assault from American imperialism. Three months after Johnson. began the bombing raids, Pablo could still write: “A certain prudence on the part of the Workers States and of the USSR in particular is absolutely necessary under these conditions," This was after the Pentagon had conducted 8,863 individual bombing forays in Vietnam in February, March and Aprill Pablo adds, as if to indicate his closeness to the Kremlin's theory of peaceful coexistence with imperialism: “It is a question of giving time for all the factors to intervene in order to oblige American imperialism to withdraw, while handling them tactfully in this retreat.
As for the practical consequences of Pablo's rightist posi~ tion, the faction has cut itself off from the possibility of integration with militant currents that favor the revolutionary road as against “peaceful coexistence" with imperialism. The fact is that without listing other parts of the world, where his followers are but a handful, in Africa, where Pablo claims to have the most strength and influence, the group is outweighed by forces loyal to the Fourth International; and it has practically no African members. To cover up the smallness of his following, Pablo claims Ta large number of organizations...'' The claim is pure bluff, including such creations on paper as the “African Commission" and "European Conmis-~ sion" of "The Revolutionary-Marxist Tendency."
One of the reasons why the Pablo grouping selected this mores
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ent te issue their splitting declaration was precisely because at the coming world congress, where a political confrontation with them had been placed on the agenda, it was evident they would represent “an. even smaller proportion of the reunified movement than the ten per cent or so which they obtained at the Reunification Congress. two years ago.
While this grouping dwindled, the Fourth International as a - whole has been able to register encouraging ‘successes in a number of areas Since the Reunification Congress, Recruiting among some sections has been especially heartening as have certain openings which have favored the world Trotskyist movement.
The United Secretariat does not dismiss the members of the Pablo grouping as of no further interest, despite the very unfavorable political direction in which they are moving. .They are fundamentally committed to revolutionary socialism, They will, however, make-the mistake of their lives if they continue down the course outlined for them by the head of the faction. We hope that they will draw up short and refuse to break with the Fourth International. The fate of similar splits in the past offers some grim lessons as to the perspectives facing a group like this that tries “going it alone.
Imprimerie: 21 rue d'tAboukir, Paris a , (amprimé par les soins de | Directeur-Gérant: Pierre FRANK. — 1'éditeur).
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