Statement on Bangla Desh (8/12/71)

[p060] themselves in Bangla Desh, the building of an_alter- native revolutionary leader- ship of the working class; these are the immediate needs of the workers of Bangla Desh. The ICFI condemns un- equivocally the role of Peking and Moscow Stalin- isfn, which have refused to recognize the Bangla Desh Republic and has betrayed the national aspirations of the Bengali people. @ Long live the Bangla Desh Revolution! @ No compromise with the Hindu capitalists! @ Forward to the revolu- tionary and socialist unifica- tion of India!

[p061] INTERNA AL COMMITTEE OF THE FOURTH INTERNA IONAL ST Defeat imperialist conspiracy against Bangle BENGALI resistance to the barbaric Yahya Khan regime and the heritage of im- perialist partition in India has entered a decisive stage with the. intervention of Indian armed forces. It is now only a matter of time before the combined forces of the Mukti Bahini and the Indian army crush the Pakistan troops. in Bangla Desh and occupy Dacca. The International Com- mittee of the Fourth Inter- national was the only organ- ization to support in a principled manner the right of Bangla Desh to secede from Pakistan. It now stands unreserv- edly for the defeat of the hated Pakistan army and the liberation of Bangla Desh—as a prelude to the voluntary and revolutionary unification of India on socialist foundations. The ICFI supports com- pletely the right of the E Bengali people to solicit the . support of capitalist and workers’ states in their struggle to eliminate Pakis- tani oppression. We critically support the decision of the Indian bour- geois government to give military and economic aid to Bangla Desh. We con- demn the attempt of US imperialism to stop the con- flict through UN interven- tion and the threatened cessation of economic aid to India. US imperialism is deter- mined to utilize the Indo- Pakistan conflict to weaken the Indian economy, as its decision to cut off arms supplies shows. It wants to facilitate the unlimited penetration of US finance capital into India and the installation of a more docile regime in New Delhi. ; This is part of US im- périalism’s global strategy to contain and push back the . developing anti - imperialist struggles ot the SE Asian workers and peasants. At the same time the ICFI urge Indian and Bengali socialists to place no con- fidencé whatever in the capacity of the Bengali and Hindu bourgeoisie to carry through any of the tasks of the Indian democratic revo- lution. Behind Mrs Gandhi stand the Hindu fanatics of Jan Sangh and big-business in- terests who wish to annexe E Bengal, and take back the profitable jute and tea in- dustries which they lost after partition. Having co-opted a large proportion of the right-wing Awami League leadership in Calcutta, the Indian bour- geoisie and landlords will— after victory over Pakistan —seek to impose their rule through Awami League col- laborators. At the same time they will try to ruthlessly repress any revolutionary tendéncies around the Mukti Bahini as well as preventing any move- ment towards the revolu- tionary unification of E and W Bengal. That is why up to now the Congress movement has refused to recognize the Republic of Bangla Desh. It also explains its man- oeuvres with the National Awami Party of Maulana Bashani, in order to isolate and destroy those groups who are not prepared to subordinate themselves to the economic and strategic aims of the Hindu ruling class, The ferocious repression of the Naxalites in W Ben- gal—with the intervention of the Indian government on the side of Mrs Bandaran- aike against the Ceylonese rural uprising in April—is convincing proof of the re- actionary naturé of the Indian bourgeoisie. Another and even more fundamental reason for Indian intervention is the deadly fear of the mass up- rising which the Pakistani occupation has_ provoked, and the threat that this up- rising will spill over into W Bengal. The ICFI warn the Ben- gali workers’ and peasants’ revolutionaries. They must organize them- selves separately and main- tain their political indepen- dence from the Awami League bourgeoisie and the Stalinists. These tendencies seek to undermine their struggle and place them at the mercy of Delhi — in the same way as they previously accepted Rawalpindi rule. Revolutionaries must combine _ the national struggle with the fight for an uncompromising re- division of the land in the interests of the poor peasants, the nationalization of industry and the setting- up of a_ workers’ and peasants’ government. The workers and peasants will be compelled to struggle against the plans of the Indian bourgeoisie and will need the support of the working class of India and the rest of the world. Determined mobilization and action of the masses themselves in Bangla Desh, the building of an_alter- native revolutionary leader- ship of the working class; these are the immediate needs of the workers of Bangla Desh. The ICFI condemns un- equivocally the role of Peking and Moscow Stalin- isfn, which have refused to recognize the Bangla Desh Republic and has betrayed the national aspirations of the Bengali people. @ Long live the Bangla Desh Revolution! @ No compromise with the Hindu capitalists! ° Forward to the revolu- onary and socialist unifica- tion of India!

[p062] INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT Withdraw troops! No compromise! Build revolutionary Marxist party! BRITISH imperialism has established military control in N Ireland as the only way to preserve the reac- tionary Unionist govern- ment. Internment without trial and shooting on sight are inflicted on the tradi- tionally Catholic working- class areas. Under the protection of this military dictatorship, neo-fascist organizations have armed and drilled sections of the Protest- ant middle class and backward Protestant workers. The British ruling class has always used Ireland as a base for its ‘most reactionary aims. In the epoch of capitalist decay this is just as true. As the British working class is faced with the task of reviving in new form its revolutionary tradi- tions, so the ruling class whips up the reactionary forces in Ulster out of the most reactionary traditions. The British working class, in its preparation to bring down the Tory government and take power, must of necessity take responsibility for the struggle of the Irish workers against that same imperialist estab- lishment. The Irish workers now have the first great chance of end- ing imperialist oppression, as their crisis coincides with the posing of revolutionary tasks before the work- ing class in Britain. Behind the acceleration of reac- tion in N Ireland lies the worsening economic crisis. The Catholic work- ers, the most oppressed section, started to fight against the Unionist government as the boom came to an end. The horrifying prospect now facing Unionism and British imperi- alism in Ireland is that the Protest- ant workers in engineering and ship répair, forced into struggle against the Westminster and Stormont governments by the deepening crisis, will reject Unionism and Paisleyism, which cannot answer these prob- lems, and fight alongside the Catho- lic workers. This is the reality behind the appearance that Protestant-Catholic divisions predominate. It was because the 50-year-long Unionist grip on the working class began to loosen in face of the economic and social crisis that Paisleyism sprang up in the 1960s. It is the worsening crisis now which makes Paisley turn his attention to demagogic calls for action against unemployment. The very same factors are at work in the Irish Republic. In face of the rise in working-class militancy since 1966, and with the prospect of even greater struggles because of the worsening crisis and Common Mar- ket entry, the Irish bourgeois parties resort yet again to nationalism to divert the struggle. There is no way out for the bour- geoisie on this road. By turning the attention of the workers to the N, they unwittingly prepare for an even greater explosion, because these struggles will combine. The treachery of the social-democrats in Ireland is revealed by the Irish Labour Party’s strategy of working for coalition with the bourgeois Fine Gael party. In the N and in the S, the main question, and the main responsi- bility facing the Irish section of the Fourth International is to establish the political independence of the working class from the bourgeoisie and all its agencies. The International Committee sup- ports the right of all oppressed peoples, including the Irish people, to fight with whatever methods and weapons they decide. In the struggle against the army and police of British imperialism, the working class of Britain and every other country cannot be neutral, and takes the side of the oppressed. At the same time, the Irish sec- tion of the Fourth International must struggle for those methods and those actions which advance the political independence of the work- ing class. The IRA’s methods will not defeat British imperialism and, if they are not opposed, will lead to defeat. The Catholic masses in the N provide support for the individual terrorism of the Provisionals, just as they supported the Civil Rights marchers, only because the Labour and trade union leaders have pro- vided no leadership or means of expression for the upsurge of the working class against the Unionist government. Those revisionists who support the nationalists are playing into the hands of the bourgeoisie, whose purpose is to tie the Catholic work- ers to the bourgeois parties in Dub- lin and, above all, prevent the gaining of working-class political independence. They obstruct the task of forging unity with the Pro- testant workers. The Provisionals’ campaign of forcing direct rule from Westminster through acts of terror is a cynical use of the Catholic workers under conditions of grave danger, with the sole aim of creat- ing the conditions for a deal directly between the Irish and_ British bourgeoisie. The role of the British Labour leaders and their Stalinist apologists is to serve directly the interests of the big bourgeoisie. They sent the troops into Ireland, and they now act as the open representatives of the Tory government in completing the ‘military solution’. The cam- paign in Britain to get the imperial- ist troops out of Ireland coincides with the struggle for alternative revqlutionary leadership, to throw out the Labour traitors in the course of the struggle to bring down the Tory government. Only the working class united behind revolutionary Marxist leader- ship will abolish the border in Ireland, establish a united Irish Republic, and settle the problem of the democratic rights of religious minorities. The bourgeoisie, N and S, seeks only for the best way of accommo- dating to British imperialism and settling accounts wi a working class which they must at all costs keep divided. The fight of the workers in the N against unem- ployment and poverty, and in defence of their trade unions and their democratic rights, a struggle against the governments at Stor- mont and at Westminster, undoubt- edly coincides with that of the British working class, and with the need of the workers in Eire to overthrow the bourgeois parties which have enslaved them since partition. It is fear of this prospect which now throws together the right-wing politicians on both sides of the border. Lynch and his Ministers make overtures to Paisley, who they hope can control the Protest- ant workers better than can the dis- credited Faulkner. The IRA Provisionals’ spokesman, O'Connell, has appealed to Paisley to establish his party among Catho- lics. Paisley has uttered what would once have been impossible words for him: a united Ireland. This is the bourgeois vision of a united Ireland: controlled by ultra- right parties and tied to British imperialism. The International Committee calls upon all sections of the British labour movement to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ireland. It calls upon Irish workers, Pro- testant and Catholic, to join ‘the ‘Right to Work’ campaign of the Young Socialists and Socialist Labour League. It calls upon the workers of N Ireland to unite in their trade unions in defence of their living standards and basic rights. Above all, the International Com- mittee calls upon all revolutionary fighters in the youth and working class in Ireland to join the Irish section of the Fourth International, to fight for the political indepen- dence of the working class and for Marxist theory against all the agencies of bourgeois ideology, from the churches to the Stalinists and revisionists. The Irish section of the FI will establish its leadership in the fight for the unity of the Irish working class, and the unity of the Irish and British working classes against the common enemy. It is because that unity can now be forged that the long history of defeats of the Irish people's struggle against imperialism can now be ended. December 6, 1971

[p063] INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT Withdraw troops! No compromise! Build revolutionary Marxist party! BRITISH imperialism has established military control in N Ireland as the only way to preserve the reac- tionary Unionist govern- ment. Internment without trial and shooting on sight are inflicted on the tradi- tionally Catholic working- class areas. Under the protection of this military dictatorship, neo-fascist organizations have armed and drilled sections of the Protest- ant middle class and backward Protestant workers. The British ruling class has always used Ireland as a base for its ‘most reactionary aims. In the epoch of capitalist decay this is just as true. As the British working class is faced with the task of reviving in new form its revolutionary tradi- tions, so the ruling class whips up the reactionary forces in Ulster out of the most reactionary traditions. The British working class, in its preparation to bring down the Tory government and take power, must of necessity take responsibility for the struggle of the Irish workers against that same imperialist estab- lishment. The Irish workers now have the first great chance of end- ing imperialist oppression, as their crisis coincides with the posing of revolutionary tasks before the work- ing class in Britain. Behind the acceleration of reac- tion in N Ireland lies the worsening economic crisis. The Catholic work- ers, the ‘most oppressed section, started to fight against the Unionist government as the boom came to an end. The horrifying prospect now facing Unionism and British imperi- alism in Ireland is that the Protest- ant workers in engineering and ship répair, forced into struggle against the Westminster and Stormont governments by the deepening crisis, will reject Unionism and Paisleyism, which cannot answer these prob- lems, and fight alongside the Catho- lic workers. This is the reality behind the appearance that Protestant-Catholic divisions predominate. It was because the 50-year-long Unionist grip on the working class began to loosen in face of the economic and social crisis that Paisleyism sprang up in the 1960s. It is the worsening crisis now which makes Paisley turn his attention to demagogic calls for action against unemployment. The very same factors are at work in the Irish Republic. In face of the rise in working-class militancy since 1966, and with the prospect of even greater struggles because of the worsening crisis and Common Mar- ket entry, the Irish bourgeois parties resort yet again to nationalism to divert the struggle. There is no way out for the bour- geoisie on this road. By turning the attention of the workers to the N, they unwittingly prepare for an even greater explosion, because these struggles will combine. The treachery of the social-democrats in Ireland is revealed by the Irish Labour Party’s strategy of working for coalition with the bourgeois Fine Gael party. In the N and in the S, the main question, and the main responsi- bility facing the Irish section of the Fourth International is to establish the political independence of the working class from the bourgeoisie and all its agencies. The International Committee sup- ports the right of all oppressed peoples, including the Irish people, to fight with whatever methods and weapons they decide. In the struggle against the army and police of British imperialism, the working class of Britain and every other country cannot be neutral, and takes the side of the oppressed. At the same time, the Irish sec- tion of the Fourth International must struggle for those methods and those actions which advance the political independence of the work- -ing class. The IRA’s methods will not defeat British imperialism and, if they are not opposed, will lead to defeat. The Catholic masses in the N provide support for the individual terrorism of the Provisionals, just as they supported the Civil Rights marchers, only because the Labour and trade union leaders have pro- vided no leadership or means of expression for the upsurge of the working class against the Unionist government. Those revisionists who support the nationalists are playing into the hands of the bourgeoisie, whose purpose is to tie the Catholic work- ers to the bourgeois parties in Dub- lin and, above all, prevent the gaining of working-class political independence. They obstruct the task of forging unity with the Pro- testant workers. The Provisionals’ campaign of forcing direct rule from Westminster through acts of terror is a cynical use of the Catholic workers under conditions of grave danger, with the sole aim of creat- ing the conditions for a deal directly between the Irish and_ British bourgeoisie. The role of the British Labour leaders and their Stalinist apologists is to serve directly the interests of the big bourgeoisie. They sent the troops into Ireland, and they now act as the open representatives of the Tory government in completing the ‘military solution’, The cam- paign in Britain to get the imperial- ist troops out of Ireland coincides with the struggle for alternative revqlutionary leadership, to throw out the Labour traitors in the course of the struggle to bring down the Tory government. Only the working class united behind revolutionary Marxist leader- ship will abolish the border in Ireland, establish a united Irish Republic, and settle the problem of the democratic rights of religious minorities. The bourgeoisie, N and S, seeks only for the best way of accommo- dating to British imperialism and settling accounts with a working class which they must at all costs keep divided. The fight of the workers in the N against unem- ployment and poverty, and in defence of their trade unions and their democratic rights, a struggle against the governments at Stor- mont and at Westminster, undoubt- edly coincides with that of the British working class, and with the need of the workers in Eire to overthrow the bourgeois parties which have enslaved them since Partition. It is fear of this prospect which now throws together the right-wing politicians on both sides of the border. Lynch and his Ministérs make overtures to Paisley, who they hope can control the Protest- ant workers better than can the dis- credited Faulkner. The IRA Provisionals’ spokesman, O’Connell, has appealed to Paisley to establish his party among Catho- lics. Paisley has uttered what would once have been impossible words for him: a united Ireland. This is the bourgeois vision of a united Ireland: controlled by ultra- right parties and tied to British imperialism. The International Committee calls upon all sections of the British labour movement to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ireland. It calls upon Irish workers, Pro- testant and Catholic, to join ‘the ‘Right to Work’ campaign of the Young Socialists and Socialist Labour Léague. It calls upon the workers of N Ireland to unite in their trade unions in defence of their living standards and basic rights. Above all, the International Com- mittee calls upon all revolutionary fighters in the youth and working class in Ireland to join the Irish section of the Fourth International, to fight for the political indepen- dence of the working class and for Marxist theory against all the agencies of bourgeois ideology, from the churches to the Stalinists and revisionists. The Irish section of the FI will establish its leadership in the fight for the unity of the Irish working class, and the unity of the Irish and British working classes against the common enemy. It is because that unity can now be forged that the long history of defeats of the Irish people’s struggle against imperialism can now be ended. December 6, 1971

[p064] BOOKS - PAMPHLETS - PERIODICALS GENERAL Stalinism in Britain by Robert Biack (paper) (cloth) _ a bes Ten Days that shook the world (John Reed) wee wee vas Revolution and counter-revolution in Spain (Felix Morrow) (Paper) ... (Cloth) ... Revolution and counter-revolution in Hungary (G. Healy) French Revolution Betrayed, May/June 1968 (Tom Kemp) Early History of the Communist Party of Great Britain (B. Pearce) Lenin: Speech to the Petrograd Soviet, 1918 (G. Zinoviev) ... Revolutionary Silhouettes by Lunacharsky ... vee vee _ Platform of the Left Opposition (1927) vee wes ves wes Problems of the Fourth International (G. Healy) ... Moscow Trials Anthology . Behind the Moscow Trial (Max Shachtman) Notebook of an Agitator (J. P. Canon) (paper ... (Cloth) . New Nationalism and the Negro struggle (Tim Wohiforth) Karl Marx (1818-1883) (C. Slaughter) A Balance Sheet of Revisionism (C. Slaughter) . . Moscoso Affair—A case history of revisionism (M. Banda) The Socialist Labour League and revisionism The Class Nature of the International Socialism Group (C. Slaughter) An open letter to Richard Clements (M. Banda) ... Reform or revolution (C. Slaughter) wee ves vee An open letter to J. Hansen ... . An open letter to J. Hansen (R. Black) Who are the [International Socialists (C. Slaughter) The Theory and Practice of Revisionism (M. Banda) After December 8th? The next step The Measured Day Work and Productivity Deal Swindle (B. Franks) a YOUNG SOCIALISTS How to build the Young Socialists ... SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE POCKET LIBRARY No. 1. The case for a General Election No. 2. The Ulster dossier CEYLON The Great Betrayal (G. Healy) . The Logic of coalition politics (M. Banda) BELGIUM Class Struggle in Belguim (1960-61) General Strike (T. Kemp) A New Party? Some Lessons for Belgian Labour (P. Arnold) . Fourth international (yearly) 12} 00 35 75 25 10 25 123 15 75 25 124 62} 75 75 25 10 074 10 02 04 05 02 04 02} 02 10 15 024 174 02} 05 05 05 05 90 New Park Publications Ltd., 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4

[p065] Subscribe to Fourth International FourTH INTERNATIONAL is the theoretical journal of the International Committee of the Fourth Inter- national. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work of Lasour REvIEW which concluded its 12th year of publication with its issue of Summer 1963, the fifth number of volume 7. FouRTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work and traditions of Revolutionary Communism since the death of Lenin. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL represents the unbroken chain of theoretical journals in the Bolshevik tradition, whose continuators were the Left Opposition led and inspired by Leon Trotsky. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL follows in the traditions of that Opposition and in the traditions of the Fourth International of Leon Trotsky. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL is the product of decades of continuous struggle of Marxists in the Inter- national Labour’ movement against Stalinism, Reformism and Revisionism. FoURTH INTERNATIONAL represents the successful fusion of Marxist trends in this International Labour movement, from Trotskyist to Com- munist, Social-Democratic and Trade Union movements. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL, With its first issue, com- menced a new period of activity in the Inter-_ national Labour movement and continues to prepare and equip the Marxist movement for its future intervention in the battles of the working class which promise to eclipse and transcend all previous struggles both in their depth and scope. To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186a Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 I enclose cheque/postal order/money order/draft for £ to pay for issues of FOURTH INTERNATIONAL. Volume.... No... Price 20p (postage 3p per issue) seer eece oer eee oem e tress eeeseeceereneeeresrese Some writings by Leon Trotsky Lessons of October 60 The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects . 75 History of the Russian Revolution (3 Vols) 1 50 Problems of the Chinese Revolution (Paper) 1 124 (Cloth) l 874 Revolution Betrayed (Paper) 624 (Cloth) 1 50 Germany 1931/32 (Paper) 1 25 (Cloth) 1 874 An Age of Permanent Revolution: a Trotsky Anthology 474 In Defence of Marxism (Paper) 524 (Cloth) 1 05 The First Five Years of the Communist Inter- national Vol II (Paper) 624 (Cloth) 924 In Defence of the October Revolution 15 The Class Nature of the Soviet State 20 Strategy & Tactics in the Imperialist Epoch _(1928) - 124 The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International 05 Through What Stage are we Passing? 10 The Intelligentsia and Socialism (1910) 05 Class and Art 10 Where is Britain Going? 374 Leon Sedov: Dedicated to the proletarian youth 124 Stalinism and Trotskyism in the USA 074 My Life 1 75 Their Morals and Ours 20 mel To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186A Clapham High St., London, S.W.4. I enclose cheque/postal order/money order/ draft for £ to pay for SOOM See eH EES OO HOES Eder e cere DEeSEsESOOHESEEeEeEesese TPO wees me eee res esecars caress vesesesesseesecesscess Printed by Plough Press Ltd (T.U.) 12/71 R/o 180 Clapham High St., S.W.A.

[p066] Subscribe to Fourth International FourTH INTERNATIONAL is the theoretical journal of the International Committee of the Fourth Inter- national. FourRTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work of Lasour REeviEW which concluded its 12th year of publication with its issue of Summer 1963, the fifth number of volume 7. FourTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work and traditions of Revolutionary Communism since the death of Lenin. FourRTH INTERNATIONAL represents the unbroken chain of theoretical journals in the Bolshevik tradition, whose continuators were the Left Opposition led and inspired by Leon Trotsky. FourTH INTERNATIONAL follows in the traditions of that Opposition and in the traditions of the Fourth International of Leon Trotsky. FouRTH INTERNATIONAL is the product of decades of continuous struggle of Marxists in the Inter- national Labour’ movement against Stalinism, Reformism and Revisionism. FourTH INTERNATIONAL represents the successful fusion of Marxist trends in this International Labour movement, from Trotskyist to Com- munist, Social-Democratic and Trade Union movements. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL, with its first issue, com- menced a new period of activity in the Inter- national Labour movement and continues to prepare and equip the Marxist movement for its future intervention in the battles of the working class which promise to eclipse and transcend all previous struggles both in their depth and scope. To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186a Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 I enclose cheque/postal order/money order/draft for £ to pay for issues of FourTtH INTERNATIONAL. Volume.... No..... Price 20p (postage 3p per issue) Some writings by leon Trotsky Lessons of October 60 The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects 75 History of the Russian Revolution (3 Vols) 1 50 Problems of the Chinese Revolution (Paper) 1 124 (Cloth) 1 874 Revolution Betrayed (Paper) 624 (Cloth) 1 50 Germany 1931/32 (Paper) 1 Ze (Cloth) 1 874 An Age of Permanent Revolution: a Trotsky Anthology 474 In Defence of Marxism (Paper) 524 (Cloth) 1 05 The First Five Years of the Communist Inter- national Vol II (Paper) 624 (Cloth) 924 In Defence of the October Revolution 15 The Class Nature of the Soviet State 20 Strategy & Tactics in the Imperialist Epoch _(1928) 124 The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International 05 Through What Stage are we Passing? 10 The Intelligentsia and Socialism (1910) 05 Class and Art 10 Where is Britain Going? 374 Leon Sedov: Dedicated to the proletarian youth 124 Stalinism and Trotskyism in the USA 074 My Life 1 @& Their Morals and Ours 20 LS To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186A Clapham High St., London, S.W.4. I enclose cheque/postal order/money order/ draft for £ to pay for PRT e ene eae e eee eee eee eee ae eases esas eee eee eee eeeeeees Printed by Plough Press Ltd (T.U.) 12/71 R/o 180 Clapham High St., S.W.4.