BEHIND THE ROME CONFERENCE

It would be interesting to know how many members ef the Communist Party have read the manifesto issued by the meeting of 17 Communist Parties at the Gramsci Institute, Rome, on November 21-24. Although the British Communist Party was represented by R. P. Dutt and John Gollan, there has been no mention as yet of the policy implications of that meeting for the Communist Party in Britain. c .

The manifesto itself is published without comment in the December 12 issue of World News. In all essentials it is a verification of our warning in The Newsletter of November 7 that in connexion with the summit talks the Communist Parties in the west would swing to the Right. The closer the Soviet bureaucrats draw diplomatically to agreement with the imperialists, the more the Communist Parties must subordinate themselves to maintaining the status quo, that is, a peaceful relationship between the Soviet Union and imperialism.

Togliatti intervenes ‘A’ feature of Moscow’s contempt for the puppet leaders: of these parties is that they never consult them about the nature of their discussions ‘with top people like Eisenhower. The ‘allpowerful’ men of the Kremlin take it for granted that, just as it was in the old days, so. it'must be now. When Nikita turns, all the little would-be: Nikitas must also turn. .

Kremlin circles ‘appreciate that just as they:are obliged te employ house-cleaners:to remove the after-effects of an overnight Kremlin ‘banquet, so in a political sense it is necessary to employ ‘similar people to straighten out the comtrades who: have some slight misgivings about such things as. the recent. Washington talks, and K’s 20th Congress speech, .- © Following Khrushchev’s recent trip to the U.S.A. the man who organised this type of servants’ squad was Palmiro. Togliatti; an old-guard Stalinist. It was he who brought the. boys together, under the auspices of the Italian Communist Party.

Togliatti began his preparations for the new turn with an article in the World Marxist Review No. 11 called ‘History of , the Communist International—Some Problems.’ This article sets out to justify the Right turn now by an admission that the . theory of social-fascism outlined by the 1928 Sixth Congress, which largely contributed to Hitler assuming power in Germany, was a mistake. Togliatti, of course, remains silent about the repeated warnings that comrade Trotsky and the Left Opposition gave at the time about this catastrophic ultraleftism. Instead he turns towards the period of Popular Frontism announced by Dimitrov at the Seventh World Congress in 1935. This, then, is the tactical keynote of the new turn.

The manifesto from the Gramsci Institute calls for broad unity embracing christian workers as well as members of the Social Democratic parties. The appeal is directed to all workers ‘whatever their political views’, a formula which is flexible enough to embrace sections of the Tory and Liberal . Parties.

A programme of mild reforms The programme offered for such unity has, of course, nothing to do with communism. It is a mild combination of reformist and liberal demands in vogue in most countries of western Europe over the past 50 years. It calls for economic co-operation between all countries, for full employment, against unemployment, for wage increases, for the improvement of the social security services, for equality of rights for women and young workers, and last but not least it demands in the name of ‘the spirit of glorious traditions of past struggles . . . a great international campaign to win the 40-hour week without reduction of wages.’ There is scarcely a Right-wing trade union jeader in Britain who would refuse adherence to these demands, on paper at least. +» Significant, of course, is the omission of any demands to stop the manufacture of the H-bomb. There is no reference to nuclear weapons in this.miserable programme—we must. be careful not to offend the imperialists too much. There is no demand for the Communist Parties to take power in their respective countries. All references to overall nationalization without compensation are carefully left out.

What the new line means in practice This policy is the mainspring of the new turn and the forthcoming ‘unity’ offensive. An all-embracing ‘unity’ appeal around an inoffensive programme of reformist demands, some of which will be gracefully dropped overboard if ever a time arises when a real struggle develops around them. What the Rome meeting wanted to avoid above all was the possibility of any clash between the capitalists and the Communist Parties.

Togliatti, Duclos, Gollan and Dutt know full well that we are in a period when the employers are on the offensive They realize from past experience the difficulty of keeping the rank and file of their parties in order, so they propose to combine two policies. For the militants they will have a ‘maximum’ policy which talks vaguely of taking power and nationalization, but in practice they will hide behind the policies of the trade union. bureaucrats, particularly in Britain. This is clearly shown im the Daily Worker of December 14, when the provincial edition had a banner headline supporting the National Union of ‘MineWorkers’ call for a seven-hour day. The Daily Worker knows full well that the present leadership of the NUM are doing everything possible to avoid this struggle, but they hope to be able to justify the inactivity of the Communist Party by leaving the NUM bosses to take the can back. © Mr Ilyichov helps out ,In case rank-and-file members of the Communist Party are unclear about their party’s new policy of abandoning the class, struggle in favour of supporting Right-wingers, they should study the article by one L. Ilyichov in the same issue of World Marxist Review as the declaration of Togliatti, with an eye on thé Gramsci conference. (Can this be the Ilyichov who not long ago functioned as official spokesman of the Soviet foreign office?) Mr. Ilyichov declares that it is possible to have peaceful economic competition between the capitalist and socialist countries. He goes on to talk about the struggle in the ‘sphere of ideology’, which he says must be carried on in a way that makes it possible ‘within reasonable limits to take into account the point of view of the opponent.’ This ideological struggle, says Ilyichov, must be waged by peaceful, not military means. He calls for ‘persuasion, explanation and polemic.’ That 1s how the job will be done. Original ideas are not Mr Ilyichov’s strong point; the Fabian Society has been preaching this for a considerable time in their life and death struggle against Marxism. It will be interesting to see the employing class give up control and ownership over their property after a persuasive polemic. Indeed, the Socialist Party of Great Britain might even qualify for united action with the Communist Party on this basis.

The real reason why Gollan and Dutt have not yet outlined the implications of the Italian conference is because they are concerned. about the danger of militant resistance in their own ranks. In the motor-car and other industries Communist Party members are in almost constant conflict with the employers, so King Street must proceed with caution. Their support for the NUM programme is an indication of the line they will take in the immediate future. It is in fact a continu ation of the policy which the Electrical Trades Union has followed in the Confederation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Unions: ‘Go along with the unions on their minimum (Continued at foot of page 263)