The need for joint discussion between the International Committee and the Unified Secretariat

[p059] The need for joint discussion between the International Committee CONSIDER- ABLE interest has been aroused by the reports which have appeared concerning the two meetings be- tween myself and members of the Unified Secretariat. The Secretariat itself issued a statement in July which said, amongst other things : ‘The Fourth International is, of course, in favour of unifying revolutionary forces wherever possible on a prin- cipled basis. We are there- fore prepared to ré-examine the question of the SLL [Socialist Labour League] and OT [Organization Trot- skyiste] unifying with the Fourth International if ob- jective evidence should show that this is feasible. ‘The SLL and OT might well begin this process by beginning to discuss their political and theoretical differences with us in a frank and comradely way, without the use of slander or falsifying the positions we hold, and by beginning to engage in common ac- tions on such elementary things as defence of victims of the class struggle.’ The International Marxist Group, its English affiliate, commenting on this, issued a statement on August 23, 1970, which said : & . . it shows quite clearly that the United Secretariat rejected Healy’s fake unity proposals. These have not been accepted, and there are no internal discussions taking place.’ At no time did I or any- one else from the _ Inter- national Committee make proposals as such for unity to the United Secretariat. In the Workers Press of July 7 we summarized the reasons for our approach as follows: ‘As part of this prepara- tion the Committee reé- quested G. Healy, the national secretary of the Socialist Labour League, to contact representatives of the Unified Sécretariat for informal talks around the possibility of joint discus- sion centred on outstanding political differences and directed towards the hold- ing of a joint international conference.’ We are more firmly con- vincéd than ever that there is a basis for such an ap- proach, and we accept as a positive step forward the recommendation of the Uni- fied Secretariat that ‘The SLL and OT might well begin this process by beginning to discuss their political and theoretical differences with us in a frank and comradely way’. We are prepared to ac- cept this, otherwise it would have been useless to have made any approach in thé first place. and the Unified Secretariat Factional manoeuvring over ‘unity’ as such would convince no one, and we have no intention of en- gaging in this. The comrades of the Unified Secretariat are quite corréct to stress that the stage before us is not one of ‘unity’ as such. We see it as an effort on both sides to re-examine the favour- able objective situation to see whether or not some advancés could be made along this road. Our position today is consistent with the pro- posals we made in 1963 when the Unified Secre- tariat was formed. To re- fresh our readers’ memories these were as follows: ‘l. That a world congress of the forces of the IC and IS should be con- vened during the autumn of 1964; ‘2. That a joint committee of representatives of the two organizations should regularly meet to prepare this conference and to work out practical ways and means for co-opera- tion in the different coun- tries ; ‘3. This committee should set out to prepare a joint resolution on world per- spectives for the confer- ence. This _ resolution would outline the points of agreement as well as disagreement. During the preparation of the resolu- tion, all the sections would be constantly in- forméd of the work of the committee. In this way a genuine and posi- tive discussion involving the differences would be organized ; ‘4, Congress insisted that this discussion must take place in all sections, not only in thé leaderships, but in the ranks. Unless this decision was carried out, it would be impos- sible for the international movement to develop new cadres which would be able to provide adequate political leadership in the next period. A_ proper circulation of all docu- ments must take place; ‘5. Joint discussion between the members of the sec- tions, particularly in W Europe, should be organ- ized. Whilst these discus- sions would deal with the differences, Congress be- lieved that they should be extended to include a discussion on the practical work of the various sec- tions in a way that would bring the members of these sections closer to- gether. Such a discussion would also have an all- round effect on the edu- cation of the cadrés. ‘These proposals are to be immediately transmitted .to the International Sec- retariat, with the hope that the joint work can begin immediately.’ (Re- produced from ‘World Fourth International. Winter 1970/71