International Marxist tendency

Logo International Marxist Tendency

The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (also: Internationale Marxistische Strömung or International Marxist Tendency ), known until 2006 as the Committee for a Marxist International (KMI), is an international - according to its self-image, revolutionary-socialist - association founded in 1993 by Ted Grant and Alan Woods was founded and belongs to the Trotskyist camp . It is grouped around the website In Defense of Marxism and propagates Marxist ideas.

History and program

The IMT sees the biggest difference to other Trotskyist organizations in the fact that it rejects "sectarian behavior". This behavior expresses itself in particular in the splitting off of left currents - according to the IMT - purely “subjective” organizational-political or ideological considerations from the so-called traditional mass parties of the working class . According to their own understanding, this includes not only the new left-wing parties, but also the social democracy and (ex-) communist parties . Accordingly, the International works as far as possible in all countries on the basis of a “preparatory entry ” within these parties, which should be supported and built up.

The IMT originally emerged from a split within the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) founded by Ted Grant in 1974 and led until 1991 . The main reasons for this were the views of the majority of the CWI about a changed class character of social democracy and a different assessment of the international situation after the fall of the Berlin Wall . These differences led to a split within the British Militant Tendency at a conference in November 1991 and at the international level in 1992, in which the minority around Ted Grant received 7% and the majority around Militant General Secretary Peter Taaffe 93% of the delegate's votes.

While the sections of the CWI began to discontinue the tactics of preparatory entryism and to found independent parties, the members of the later IMT continued their orientation towards the - according to their own understanding - continuing mass parties of the working class. Depending on the national section, there is a higher or lower weighting of this work compared to open work. The term so-called "permanent trism", however, is rejected, since it implies a rigid focus exclusively on entryism.

The International Marxist Tendency was long known in parts of the left as the Committee for a Marxist International (KMI). Neither internally nor in the group's external image, this name was ever meaningful as a self-designation. Since the World Congress in July / August 2006, the organization's self-designation has officially been International Marxist Tendency . This name is used throughout. The website In Defense of Marxism, which publishes in over 30 different languages , is one of the most widely read Marxist websites in the world (outside of the People's Republic of China ).

The IMT sees itself in the political tradition of the Workers International League (WIL) founded by Jock Haston and Ted Grant in 1937 and the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL), the British group of the Pabloite part of the Fourth International, which was newly formed in 1956 .

Sections of the IMT

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section	Publication name	German translation	Connections to mass parties
Argentina	El Militante	Militant
Belgium	in Wallonia: Unité Socialiste in Flanders : Vonk	Socialist unity The spark	Parti Socialiste
Bolivia	Lucha de Clases	Class struggle	Movimiento al Socialismo
Brazil	Esquerda Marxista	Marxist left	Partido Socialismo e Liberdade Partido dos Trabalhadores (until 2015)
Denmark	revolution	revolution	Socialistisk Ungdomsfront (until 2014)
Germany	The Spark - Marxist Left	The Spark - Marxist Left	The left
El Salvador	Bloque Popular Juvenil	United front of youth	Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional
England and Wales	Socialist appeal	Socialist appeal	Labor Party
France	Revolution	revolution	Parti communiste français
Greece	Επανάσταση τάση Epanastasi Tási	Communist tendency	SYRIZA (until 2015)
Indonesia	Militan	Militant
Italy	Sinistra classe rivoluzione	Left, class, revolution	Partido della Rifondazione Comunista (until 2016)
Yugoslavia	Marksistička Organizacija Crveni	Marxist organization of the Reds
Canada	Fightback	Counterstrike	New Democratic Party
Morocco	رابطة العمل الشيوعي Rābitat al-ʿamal ash-shuyūʿī	Communist Labor League
Mexico	La Izquierda Socialista	Socialist left	Movimiento Regeneración Nacional
New Zealand	Socialist appeal	Socialist appeal	New Zealand Labor Party
Netherlands	Vonk	The spark
Nigeria	Workers' alternative	Worker alternative
Austria	The spark	The spark	Socialist youth in Austria Social Democratic Party of Austria (until 2015)
Pakistan	Tabqati Jeddojudh (until 2016) Lal Salaam (successor)	Class struggle Red front	Pakistan Peoples Party
Quebec	La Riposte	Counterstrike	Nouveau Parti Democratique du Québec
Russia	Враг Капитала Contract capital	Opponent of capital
Scotland	revolution	revolution	Scottish Socialist Party Labor Party (until 2014)
Sweden	revolution	revolution	Vänsterpartiet
Switzerland	in German-speaking Switzerland : The spark in French-speaking Switzerland : L'étincelle	The spark	Young Socialists Switzerland
Spain	El Militante (until 2009, reunification with the CWI in 2017) Lucha de Clases (successor) in Catalonia: Revolució	The fighter Class struggle revolution	PODEMOS Izquierda Unida (until 2014) CUP (in Catalonia since 2017)
South Africa	Revolutionary Young Marxists	Young revolutionary Marxists	Economic Freedom Fighters
Czech Republic	Marxistická Alternativa	Marxist alternative
United States	Socialist Revolution	Socialist revolution
Venezuela	Lucha de Clases	Class struggle	Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela

In addition to 30 sections, the IMT also has contacts in Nepal, Afghanistan, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and Cuba. The semiannual theory magazine América Socialista appears nationwide in Latin America. In addition, the International has the Marxist Student Federation, a worldwide association of Marxist students.

Presentation of the work of some selected sections

Venezuela

The Hands Off Venezuela (HOV) campaign , which was launched worldwide by the tendency in 2002 , aims to ensure that the “revolutionary process” in Venezuela is recognized in the trade unions of the industrialized nations , and acts against media distortions of this process. This work has so far been very successful in many countries. Despite serious preventive efforts by Venezuelan and European politics, as well as various “left-wing radical” organizations, the major event took place on May 11, 2006 in the Vienna Arena , which was attended by over 5,000 people and at which Hugo Chavez gave a speech. Regardless of the concrete results of the worldwide development of the “Hands Off Venezuela” structures, the IMT credits itself as the only international Marxist force with the socialist character of the process of the “ Bolivarian Revolution ”, as well as the role of Hugo Chávez within this movement from the beginning “ correct ", d. H. to have appropriately recognized in its dialectical complexity and to have consistently defended against all attacks. That is why the campaign - despite its political and economic independence, as well as its clear criticism, particularly of parts of the government's domestic and foreign policy - had the backing of Hugo Chávez and, to this day, his successor Nicolás Maduro .

Alan Woods , who - in an elected position - is the head of the IMT, was on friendly terms with Chavez and is a relatively well-known person in Venezuela. It is, however, a hoax to claim that Woods was an official and "professional" or paid advisor to the Venezuelan government. Nonetheless, Hugo Chávez - among many other ideological references - had also been referring positively to Leon Trotsky since the spring of 2007 . His writings and thoughts were brought closer to Chávez through the work of the IMT and in particular through discussions with Woods. With his occasional references to Trotsky, Chavez did not prove himself to be a Trotskyist, according to the IMT's assessment, but rather these statements are rather the subjective expression of the objective historical tendency towards socialism that the IMT believes can currently be observed in Latin America.

Cuba

Since 2003 there has also been contact with Cuban Trotskyists. The designation of Cuba as a Stalinist dictatorship was dropped because the organization, in connection with its Venezuela work, realized that it had taken what it considers to be a wrong position with regard to the Cuban revolution in the past. In accordance with Ted Grant's maxim that it is not reprehensible to commit mistakes, but rather that it is politically harmful not to admit them and not want to correct one's own line accordingly, the group changed its assessment of the Cuban state and the person of Fidel Castros . The delegates of the IMT World Congress 2006 confirmed this new line with an overwhelming majority and - in view of Castro's illness and the political decisions that went with it - passed a message of solidarity in defense of the Cuban state. This solidarity was reaffirmed after Castro's death. However, Cuba is still seen as a "deformed workers state". Since 2006, the International has been fully defending the achievements of the Cuban Revolution (nationalized industry, planned economy, foreign trade monopoly, which it believes is an exemplary health, social and educational system compared to Latin America and the USA), but at the same time promotes them both inside and outside of Cuba Initiation of a process of proletarian democratization of that deformed workers' state, u. a. because only in this way the "achievements of the revolution" mentioned could really be defended.

Italy

Italy and Spain were the sections that joined the IMT as a result of the split in the CWI in 1992. However, since the majority of the Spanish section separated from the IMT in 2009 and reunited with the CWI in summer 2017, the Italian section is of particular importance to the IMT. Her section called Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione worked for 20 years as part of the Partito della Rifondazione Communista (PRC) , which participated in several government formations. Members of the organization were represented in governing bodies such as the Central Committee and, for a short time, in the party's central secretariat. In 2016 the participation in the PRC was terminated.

In the parliamentary elections in March 2018, Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione ran together with the Partito Comunista dei Lavoratori , a small Trotskyist party based on the political ideas of Gerry Healy , in an electoral alliance called Sinistra Rivoluzionaria. The electoral alliance received 29,176 votes (0.08%) nationwide.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, the section there had been active within the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) under the name Tabqati Jeddojudh (class struggle) since the late 1970s . A prominent supporter of the organization was the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai . However, due to a split in March 2016 due to differences of opinion on the PPP, the up to then 1,500-membered and by far largest section of the International lost almost 90% of its members. The worldwide membership of the IMT was reduced by a third. The section called Lal Salaam (Red Front), newly founded by a "Unity Conference" in Lahore in March 2016, practices independent work. This has some influence within the militant trade union movement as well as influential left youth organizations in the Kashmir region , for example the politically independent Progressive Youth Alliance.

Greece

The section in Greece was active in the ruling mass socialist party SYRIZA until September 2015 . The publication name Communist tendency goes back to the attempt to establish a dialogue between radical party members in SYRIZA and the supporters of the communist KKE . The section gained national recognition through the documentary film Greece on the Brink as well as through two members represented in the then Central Committee of SYRIZA. In the meantime, the organization came into the media's trajectory because it had taken a radical stance against the political line of party leader Alexis Tsipras. In particular because of his disregard for the result of the referendum - staged by Alexis Tsipras himself - on June 5, 2015 on the further acceptance of the austerity policy imposed by the Troika, in which 61% of the population voted no ("Oxi"), he was voted by the Members heavily criticized.

The LAE left-wing split from SYRIZA was viewed by members as precipitous, as it ultimately isolated the revolutionary left from the masses. Instead, a joint fight against Alexis Tsipras and the right wing of the party in SYRIZA would have made more sense, since the left wing of the party had the political majority in the Central Committee. However, because SYRIZA no longer offers a contact point for progressive sections of the population because of its austerity policy and without internal party opposition, the members also declared their withdrawal from the party.

Germany

The magazine Der Funke has been the organ of the International Marxist Tendency in Germany, which has existed since 1992 and which arose as a reaction to the expulsion of its members from the then CWI group Voran . Today, in addition to open work, the members continue to focus regionally on youth groups of the Left Party called Linksjugend ['solid] .

In addition to Wiesbaden as the headquarters of the German section, there are other local groups in Berlin, Bremen, Braunschweig, Gießen, Hamburg, Munich / Waldkraiburg and near Stuttgart. The entire membership is represented in over 15 major German cities.

Austria

The group Der Funke was founded in 1993. The trend in Austria is still oriented towards the SPÖ , but mainly only towards its youth organization Socialist Youth Austria (SJ) and a collaboration in the parliamentary group of social democratic trade unionists (FSG) in the ÖGB . In the Styrian state elections in 2015, however, the election of the KPÖ Styria was called. The Austrian IMT section has also existed since 1992 and emerged as a spin-off from the CWI group Vorwärts . According to their own information, groups exist in Vienna , Upper Austria ( Linz ), Vorarlberg ( Bregenz and Feldkirch ), Lower Austria ( Mostviertel ) and Styria ( Graz ).

Switzerland

The IMT section in Switzerland first appeared public on May 1, 2007 with its publication Der Funke . She is mainly active with the Young Socialists (JUSO) and in the Unia trade union and also in the universities. Local groups were set up in Winterthur, Basel, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Aargau and Thurgau.

literature

• Eric Wegner: CWI and IMT: The Militant Tendency and its Successors . Revolutionary Socialist Organization, Vienna 2009, ISBN 3-901831-26-6 (Marxism 30)

Web links

• In Defense of Marxism

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Evers: "On the History of Forward" . In: “Trotskyism in Austria” . Marxism Working Group (AGM), Vienna 1996, p. 249
2. ↑ Erich Wegner: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) . Vienna 2009, p. 102 .
3. ↑ International connections and publications. In Defense Of Marxism. Retrieved November 27, 2016 . 
4. ^ Website of the Marxist Student Federation. Retrieved April 7, 2016 . 
5. ^ International Marxist Tendency: Statement of the IMT on the death of Fidel Castro | German | Other Languages. In: www.marxist.com. Retrieved January 11, 2017 . 
6. ^ CWI / IR unification: An historic strengthening of the forces of Marxism. July 31, 2017, accessed March 15, 2018 . 
7. ^ Declaration by the IMT on the change in tactics in Italy. February 23, 2018, accessed March 15, 2018 . 
8. ^ Official result of the 2018 parliamentary elections in Italy. March 6, 2018, accessed March 15, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Omar Waraich: Malala, Obama, socialism: Nobel laureate's political views are complex. Aljazeera America, December 23, 2014, accessed May 13, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Valeed A. Khan: Unity Conference of the IMT in Pakistan. In Defense of Marxism, March 19, 2016, accessed May 13, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Progressive Youth Alliance: Kashmir: Founding Convention of Progressive Youth Alliance. A new beginning. In Defense of Marxism, August 25, 2017, accessed May 13, 2018 . 
12. ^ Documentary: Greece on the brink. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 17, 2016 ; accessed on November 27, 2016 (English, German). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ^ Intervention of the communist tendency in the central committee of SYRIZA. Retrieved November 27, 2016 . 
14. ^ Greece: sell-off and punishment of the OXI. Retrieved November 27, 2016 . 
15. ^ Resolution of the majority in the Central Committee of SYRIZA. Retrieved November 27, 2016 . 
16. ^ Declaration on leaving the party from SYRIZA. Retrieved November 27, 2016 . 
17. ↑ The spark: order a subscription. In: derfunke.at. Retrieved March 11, 2020 . 
18. ↑ "Der Funke" calls for the election of the KPÖ Styria. Retrieved July 5, 2016 .