Editorials

[p004] Editorials Ceylon and the Fourth International THE DECISION OF prominent leaders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon to join the capitalist coalition government of Mrs. Bandaranaike marks a qualitative change in the struggle against revisionism in the Fourth International. It would not have been possible for this act of gross betrayal to have taken place had it not been for the political cover which the renegades concerned enjoyed from the Pabloite Paris centre. Since 1953 the international movement founded by Trotsky in 1938 has been completely rent asunder by the conflict between those who have defended Trotsky’s policies and the Pablo revisionists who have sought to adapt these policies towards support for Social-Democratic and Stalinist bureaucracies. What has happened in Ceylon shows that these revisionists »~ are now the open agents of imperialism. In Algeria, Pablo, as an official attached to the government of Ben Bella, in effect carries out policies which benefit French imperialism. In Britain revisionists such as Jock Haston, one-time national secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party, British Section of the Fourth International, is now one of the big right-wing union chiefs organising the witch-hunt against militants in the Electrical Trades Union. The Socialist Workers Party of the United States provided full support for the Paris centre which in turn by its policies encouraged the capitulation in Ceylon. Imperialism is today using these renegade Trotskyists against the real Trotskyists who fight to defend and explain the policies outlined by Trotsky at the founding conference of the Fourth Inter- ‘ national in 1938. The organisation founded by Trotsky at that time has in fact degenerated and can no longer be con- sidered a Trotskyist movement, whose aim is the building of revolutionary parties to overthrow capitalism. That is the lesson of Ceylon. Only the International Committee of the Fourth International continues Trotsky’s work. James P. Cannon, one of the closest collaborators . of Trotsky, is just as guilty for what happened in Ceylon as Pablo. He adamantly refused to discuss with the Socialist Labour League and the organisa- tions of the Committee of the Fourth International FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 1964 the major political differences which have now been revealed through the agency of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s coalition government. Cannon has betrayed every- thing that Trotsky fought for. His shameful silence is the silence of an opportunist coward who in the final years of his life rallies to the assistance of a clique of renegades who have destroyed a large portion of Trotsky’s Fourth International. He remained silent about events in the United States, when, after the assassination of Kerinedy, Farrell Dobbs, the National Secretary of the SWP, sent a telegram of condolence to Kennedy’s widow. The Ceylon coalition marks the end of an era and the opening of a new stage in the struggle of Trotskyists to reconstruct the Fourth International on the basis of Trotsky’s teachings, This can only be done provided a complete break is made from Pablo revisionism. No excuses can any longer be made which will justify the betrayal in Ceylon. All those leaders associated with this betrayal are, we repeat, the tools of imperialism. The reconstruction of Trotsky’s Fourth Inter- national will be facilitated if it is undertaken as an essential task constantly related to the building of revolutionary parties. The building of the Fourth International is not something that can be separated from the struggle to relate Marxist theory to practice. The training of international leaders is inseparable from the construction of revolutionary parties. The Trotskyists who today fight for the Fourth Inter- national must follow closely the developments in all countries of the world so that in the day-to-day experiences of building revolutionary parties they can assimilate the essential knowledge necessary for the building of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution. All those members who have remained in the Pabloite ranks and believe it is possible to reform these ranks should consider this new situation without delay. The revisionists have in Ceylon used the name of Trotskyism to betray the working class. This is what must guide them in their decision. If they wish to break from the shame of Ceylon then they must prepare forthwith to break from Pabloism in all its forms. (See ‘Documents’ pps. 88-92)

[p005] 54 EDITORIAL Youth and the labour bureaucracy SINCE ITS BRIGHTON CONFERENCE at the end of March where the Young Socialists carried a policy com- pletely opposed to that of the right-wing leadership of the Labour Party, a ferocious witch-hunt has been launched against them. On four occasions leading officials of the Labour Party, acting on the flimsiest pretext, have called in the police with instructions which in at least one case has led to a man-handling of Young Socialists. Indeed the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party have publicly pro- claimed their open hostility against young people who in any way might disagree with them. At the Durham Miners Gala a story was skilfully knitted together by right-wing officials to the effect that Young Socialists intended to come in force to the Gala and attack Messrs. Brown and Wilson. Absolutely no evidence was brought forward to justify these allegations. It was all part of the unscrupulous campaign to discredit the Young Socialists. Naturally expulsions are the order of the day and a growing number of Young Socialist. branches are being closed down even before the election. The right wing are, however, in a dilemma. They want to persecute and hound left-wing youth out of the Labour Party but they are postponing an all-out attack until after the general election. This situation is very favourable for Young Socialists. Having defeated Wilson and Co. on policy they must under no circumstances hesitate to fight for these policies inside the Party and the trade unions. But it cannot be done if they allow themselves to be kicked from pillar to post by right-wing Labour agents without fighting back. The only way to answer the witch-hunt is to show clearly where the policies of the Young Socialists conflict with those of the right wing. All allegations about Young Socialists adopting thuggery and violence by people such as A. L. Williams, Secretary of the Labour Party are red herrings designed to cover up the wide divergence on policies. The youth have now the responsibility to explain these policies to the adult movement. They must not allow themselves to be driven out of the movement by the attacks from the right. A national campaign for recruits to the Young Socialists around the policies of the Brighton Conference is on the order of the day. This, we are confident will be most successful because the left wing have undoubt- edly the overwhelming majority of the Young Socialists behind them. They are the recognised leadership of the Labour youth in Britain today. The way to defeat the right wing is to bring fresh forces into the fight. Young Socialists should do everything possible to recruit youth, especially young school-leavers without jobs, as well as young people in blind-alley occupations. They must turn outwards towards youth and avoid the temptation to turn inwards in the struggle against the bureaucracy. The issue is one of policy and it is only when it is presented in the course of a struggle to influence youth will it impress the adult movement. The youth have much to learn from struggle such as the postmen’s strike. The sluggish political life of the adult constituency parties does not represent the working class. Large sections of workers, such as postmen, are prepared, given leadership, to fight to a finish to obtain improvements in their wages and working conditions. This is the heart of the labour movement and not the cliques of right-wingers and centrists who hang around many of the Constituency Parties waiting for something to turn up. The struggle against bureaucracy consists of learning how to combine participation in the class struggle with the fight inside the trade unions and © Labour Party. The Young Socialists will have to pay great attention to the trade unions and encourage all the recruits that they make to become members of their unions and to fight within their unions for socialist policies. The developments within the Young Socialist movement in Britain is of enormous importance to the international labour movement. Young people with little experience to begin with, have forged a leadership that has defeated the most experienced social democratic leadership in the world. No matter what explanations are offered for the isolation of the right wing in the youth, one thing stands out clearly, the policies of the Labour Party FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 1964

[p006] Name Address Organization Please tear off and send to The Newsletter, FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 1964 I enclose 8/6 for 12 issues (post paid) of The Newsletter. 186A Clapham High Street, London, S. by the most modern techniques Starting out as a little news-sheet in May, 1957, it has fought its way up to a newspaper printed Se ° Comes eee seen ees e eee reese erseesrsccer een eeer es See eesreernve Please send me: The Newsletter/Book Lists/Information about The Socialist Labour League. A. i Y Ne: Fonpase ” abeates, Fal 18, 1968 ‘Yel. 7, Me 306 oth apelyirtll aaah seals 1 lately = peel |i! Ne altyte it van the attri nyt i! rere tess peliepl isi ES LAATET AOM Beta (eee Te Ht ban off CEL SHEEP aut TGWU conference cool on Wilson’s An indispensable guide to national and international developments A week-by-week Marxist coverage obtainable only in the columns of The Newsletter ebro QNypepeestannee [THE i Vitti uly ie Tana 2 te ey HGR LCA) MASSIVE POLICE # GUARD talk soting ey, cmnticag Prk hod a cn =z = aoe +s Aetirad on me example. EDITORIAL Trotskyism all over the world, and Britain is but one decisively rejected in Britain. leadership have nothing to offer youth, and have been rally ‘behind the Young Socialists. All those adult workers engaged in struggles must Th Youth are turning to ey are waging election. labour movement tomorrow. betray the working class if Labour wins the general the right-wing leaders who are now preparing to be taken to see to it that they are not smashed by the fight today that will be the fight of the entire Every effort must be 55

[p007] 56