Committee for a Workers' International
| Committee for a Workers' International | |
|---|---|
| founding | April 1974 |
| Place of foundation | London |
| Headquarters | Committee for a Workers' International PO Box 3688, London Britain, E11 1YE |
| Alignment | Socialism Communism Marxism Trotskyism |
| website | socialistworld.net |
The Committee for a Workers 'International (CWI) or Committee for a Workers' International ( KAI) is an international Trotskyist (by its own self-image a revolutionary-socialist) association. The aim of the organization with sections in over 40 countries is "the abolition of capitalism and the rule of the bourgeoisie , as well as the replacement of this rule by a workers' government based on public ownership of the means of production and the financial sector under the democratic control of the working class ." CWI follows a line of tradition that begins with the scientific socialism of Marx and Engels , the documents of the first four world congresses of the Third International under Lenin , the struggle of the Left Opposition of Trotsky and the transition program of the Fourth International .
The International Secretariat of the CWI is based in London and coordinates the work of the sections in the various countries. The individual sections of the CWI are each independent. The following principles apply in the CWI: Full-time functionaries receive no more than a skilled worker wage and are accountable to the members at all times and can be elected or voted out of office.
In theory and practice, the CWI clearly distances itself from Stalinism and the dictatorships in the former Soviet Union and other countries (see Real Socialism ).
In 2019 the CWI split when the majority of the Socialist Party (England and Wales) and the International Secretariat “re-established” the CWI. It was triggered by a debate about identity politics and trade union work, especially in the Socialist Party (Ireland) and the Socialist Alternative in the USA. The majority of the sections, including the Socialist Alternative (SAV) in Germany and the Socialist Left Party in Austria, remained for the most part in the organization now called "CWI Majority", which on February 1, 2020 was renamed International Socialist Alternative .
The minority that supported the international split, including the majority of the SAV federal executive board, formed the Socialist Organization Solidarity (Sol) .
history
Origins and establishment
The CWI was founded in April 1974 in London at a conference of 46 visitors from 12 countries; however, the origins of the CWI go back to the Trotskyist movement in Britain in the 1930s . The later leaders of the CWI and the British Militant Current , including Ted Grant and Jock Haston , were then members of the Workers' International League (WIL) founded in 1937. This did not participate in June 1938 in the merger of the other Trotskyist groups in Britain to form the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL), which in September 1938 became the official British section of the Fourth International. Trotsky sharply criticized the WIL and warned against "unprincipled clique politics [which] can only lead to ruin". In 1944 the WIL merged with the RSL to form the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) as the British section of the Fourth International .
As a result of the post-war crisis of the Fourth International and the leadership struggles between Ernest Mandel , Michel Pablo and James P. Cannon , the British section fell apart again. The conflicts revolved around the failure of the revolutionary uprisings predicted by Trotsky at the end of World War II and, as a result, the handling of the Fourth International with the still dominant social democratic and Stalinist workers' parties, in Great Britain the Labor Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain . The key question was the future need for independent Trotskyist parties as the revolutionary leadership of the working class. While the minority International Committee of the Fourth International spoke out in favor of Entrimus as a means of building up their own organization, the majority around the International Secretariat (ISVI) pursued entryism in the large workers' organizations as a permanent strategy.
Similar to the line of the ISVI, Jock Haston left the RCP as early as 1950, rejected the Fourth International as the leader of the world proletariat and saw the Labor Party as the "instrument for emancipation" of the working class. In doing so, he manifested a widespread demoralization which the international leadership described as: "You cannot do anything because reformism transforms the working class; you cannot do anything because Stalinism wins victories for the working class. You have no hope, a Trotskyist organization to build; they have no confidence in the development of the Fourth International. " Grant and his supporters were excluded from the majority around Gerry Healy shortly afterwards and in 1953 they formed the International Socialist Group (ISG).
After the Healy group joined the international minority around the "International Committee" , in 1957 the Grant Group under the old name "Revolutionary Socialist League" (RSL) became the official British section of the Fourth International "International Secretariat" (ISVI). Before that, the self-proclaimed "official" section of the ISIV around Socialist Outlook editor John Lawrence had dissolved itself
Persistent differences with the international leadership led in the early 1960s to the establishment of a rival organization to the RSL in Britain, the International Group (IG), supported by the leadership of the International. When there were further political rifts between the RSL leadership and the international leadership at the 8th World Congress of the (now partially reunited) Fourth International in December 1965 and the IG was officially recognized as a "sympathetic section" alongside the RSL the final break between the RSL and the "United Secretariat of the Fourth International".
The RSL had meanwhile started publishing the newspaper “Militant” in early 1964 under the direction of the Liverpool-based editor-in-chief Peter Taaffe , and it was pursuing a strategy of “preparatory entry” in the British Labor Party , which allowed it to hold a majority of the executive board until 1970 in the Labor Youth Organization Labor Party Young Socialists (LPYS). The rapid growth of the organization, which from then on became known as the "Militant Current", and above all its influence in the LPYS allowed it to gradually establish international contacts to Marxist-oriented sections of social democratic youth organizations through the regular meetings of the IUSY To lay the foundation stone for the development of an own international movement that emerged in 1974 with the CWI.
The CWI in the 1970s and 1980s
Through international contacts, the British militant movement and the new CWI succeeded in building up small groups in Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Greece and Spain, but also in India and Sri Lanka by the end of the 1970s. The orientation of the International was shaped by the strategy of "preparatory entry", which went back to Ted Grant: As long as large sections of the working class were organized in social democratic and Stalinist mass parties and unions , it was the task of Marxist forces to build cadre tribes in these mass organizations in this way to lay the foundation for the formation of a revolutionary mass international which could arise after the breakdown of the working class with the bourgeois and Stalinist leaderships of the large organizations. This orientation was also expressed in the name of the CWI, which consciously called itself a committee for a (future) workers' international instead of proclaiming itself a revolutionary mass international with its own modest forces.
The CWI gained international strength primarily through the rapid growth of the British organization in the 1980s, which included three Labor MPs, controlled the Liverpool City Council between 1983 and 1987 and grew to up to 8,000 members. By the end of the 1980s, the International had over 20 sections and, according to one statement, should have had a total of up to 14,000 members.
Splitting of the International in 1991/92
In 1991/92 the CWI split on an international level when a minority around Militant co-founder Ted Grant and his supporters, including Alan Woods , left the organization and built an independent international movement that is now known as the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) operates. Already at the end of the 1980s, conflicts in the militant leadership had come to a head, among other things about the assessment of the future economic situation, the processes in the Stalinist states of Eastern Europe and the USSR and increasingly also about further work in the social democratic parties. Ultimately, the decisive factor for the break was the so-called “open turn” in Britain: After Militant stood for the first time independently against the Labor Party in a by-election in Liverpool-Walton in May 1991, this orientation should follow as a whole Country are implemented, whereas a parliamentary group formed around Grant, which criticized the new strategy as a "threat to 40 years of work". At a conference in November 1991, Grant's minority only got 7% of the vote, while the majority got 93%. In January 1992, the grant group finally separated from Militant and CWI - according to the IMT's account by exclusion, from the point of view of the CWI majority by voluntary resignation after the minority had started to build up its own structures and finances in the background.
The break was not limited to militants in Britain, but ran through the entire International: some CWI sections split in the middle, a minority went almost as one with the Grant group (including the sections in Spain, Italy and Pakistan), however, the majority of the sections remained largely with the CWI, including the sections in Germany, Greece, Sweden and South Africa.
The CWI since the 1990s
After the minority split off, the CWI majority underwent a strategic and substantive realignment in the early 1990s : most of the CWI sections left the social democratic or Stalinist parties and changed into open-minded parties, including, for example, the German section Voran , which became Renamed Socialist Alternative (SAV) and left the Jusos and the SPD . The social democratic parties have been described by the CWI as completely bourgeois since the 1990s, whereby a central task of revolutionary Marxists from now on is not only the building of openly revolutionary organizations, but also the rebuilding of broad workers 'parties and the workers' movement as a whole ("double task") . Wherever there are starting points for building new workers' parties in individual countries, CWI sections participate, for example the SAV in the German party Die Linke , the Portuguese section Socialismo Revolucionário on Bloco de Esquerda or the Greek section Xekinima in SYRIZA in the past . Organizations like the English Socialist Party (the former militant current), however, form independent parties.
The CWI has recently achieved international success, particularly in countries such as Ireland and the USA: In Ireland, Socialist Party member Joe Higgins entered the Irish Parliament in 1997 , and since 2016 the Socialist Party has been with its electoral alliance AAA / Solidarity with three MPs represented in the Dáil . In 2013, Kshama Sawant from the US Socialist Alternative section made it onto the Seattle city council .
After a process of rapprochement since mid-2016, the reunification of the CWI with the former Spanish section "El Militante" took place in July 2017, which had followed the minority around Ted Grant into the IMT in 1992, but the International in 2010 together with the majority of the Venezuelan and had left the Mexican IMT sections and from then on called itself "Izquierda Revolucionaria" (IR; Revolutionary Left). After merging with IR in Spain, Venezuela and Mexico, the CWI now has sections in over 40 countries on all inhabited continents.
At the CWI congress from 22. – 25. July 2019 in London there were "lively debates" about the right course for a Trotskyist organization. The German section of the CWI, the SAV, speaks of a split between the CWI and its own organization. The majority of the federal board of the SAV published a statement on the organization website in which they u. a. accuses the sections from Ireland, Greece and the USA of "image politics". At the same time, they published an appeal against the split between the CWI and the SAV on the SAV website , supported by Lucy Redler , among others . At a federal conference in September 2019, the majority of the members decided to remain part of the majority of the CWI. A minority then left the organization, including the majority of the federal executive board and the federal management. Those who left founded the new Trotskyist organization Socialist Organization Solidarity (Sol) on September 8, 2019 .
Sections of the CWI / KAI
| section | Surname | German translation |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Socialist Party | Socialist party |
| Belgium | Left Socialist Partij - Parti socialiste de lutte | Socialist Left Party - Socialist Struggle Party |
| Brazil | Liberdade, Socialismo e Revolução | Freedom, socialism and revolution |
| Chile | Socialismo Revolucionario | Revolutionary socialism |
| China | chinaworker.info | China workers |
| Germany | Socialist organization solidarity | |
| Ivory Coast | Militant | Militant |
| England and Wales | Socialist Party (1974-2019) | Socialist party |
| Finland | Socialists Vaihtoehto | Socialist alternative |
| France | Gauche Révolutionnaire | Revolutionary left |
| Greece | Ξεκίνημα | Beginning |
| Hong Kong | 社會主義 行動
Sekuizyuji Haangdung |
Socialist action |
| India | New Socialist Alternative | New socialist alternative |
| Ireland | Socialist Party / Páirtí Sóisialach | Socialist party |
| Israel and Palestine | حركة النضال الاشتراكي / מאבק סוציאליסטי
Ma'avak Sotzialisti / Harakah al-Nidal al-Ashteraki |
Socialist struggle |
| Italy | Resistenze Internazionali | International resistance |
| Canada | Socialist alternative | Socialist alternative |
| Malaysia | Sosialis Alternatif | Socialist alternative |
| Mexico | Izquierda Revolucionaria | Revolutionary left |
| New Zealand | Socialist Voice | Socialist voice |
| Netherlands | Socialist alternative | Socialist alternative |
| Nigeria | Democratic Socialist Movement | Democratic Socialist Movement |
| Austria | Socialist Left Party | |
| Poland | Alternatywa Socjalistyczna | Socialist alternative |
| Portugal | Socialismo Revolucionário | Revolutionary socialism |
| Quebec | Alternative socialist | Socialist alternative |
| Romania | Mâna de Lucru | Hand of labor |
| Russia | Социалистическая альтернатива | Socialist alternative |
| Scotland | Socialist Party Scotland | Socialist Party Scotland |
| Sweden | Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna | Socialist Justice Party |
| Spain | Izquierda Revolucionaria | Revolutionary left |
| Sri Lanka | එක්සත් සමාජවාදි පකෂය / ஐக்கிய சோசலிச கட்சி
Eksath Samajavadi Pakshaya / Aikkiy Cōcalic Kaṭci |
United Socialist Party |
| Sudan | Socialist alternative | Socialist alternative |
| South Africa | Workers and Socialist Party | Labor and Socialist Party |
| Taiwan | International Socialist Forward | International Socialist Forward |
| Czech Republic | Socialistická Alternativa Budoucnost | Socialist alternative future |
| Tunisia | Alternative Socialiste - Al-Badil al-Ishtirak | Socialist alternative |
| Turkey | SOSYALİST ALTERNATİF | Socialist alternative |
| Venezuela | Izquierda Revolucionaria | Revolutionary left |
| United States | Socialist alternative | Socialist alternative |
| Cyprus | Νέα Διεθνιστική Αριστερά
Nea Diethnistike Aristera |
New internationalist left |
Source:
swell
- ^ A b c socialistworld.net : links to sections
- ^ A b c socialism.info : An important step forward - unification of the Committee for a Workers' International and the Revolutionary Left
- ^ Committee for a workers' International - Britain: Socialist Party conference overwhelmingly supports refounding CWI. August 2, 2019, accessed June 24, 2020 .
- ↑ International Socialist Alternative: Announcement || Welcome to Our New Website! February 4, 2020, accessed June 24, 2020 .
- ↑ The struggle for socialism continues. September 8, 2019, accessed on June 24, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, p. 4.
- ^ Declaration of the founding conference of the Fourth International (1938): "On Unification Of The British Section"
- ↑ Haston, Jock: Letter to the "Club": 1950.
- ↑ Open letter from the IS to all members of the RCP, 8 Feb. 1949 in: The History of British Trotskyism by Martin Upham
- ↑ Historical and international foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (Great Britain) (current member of the ICFI)
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, pp. 5-6.
- ^ Wegner, Eric: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (Marxismus 30), Vienna 2009, pp. 5-6.
- ↑ Historical and international foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (Great Britain) (current member of the ICFI)
- ^ Wegner, Eric: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (Marxismus 30), Vienna 2009, p. 12.
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, pp. 6-7.
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, pp. 9–11.
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, pp. 11–13.
- ↑ Taaffe, Peter: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000, p. 7.
- ^ Wegner, Eric: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (Marxismus 30), Vienna 2009, p. 135.
- ^ A b Taaffe, Peter: Two Trends: The Political Roots Of The Breakaway, London 1992.
- ↑ marxist.net : The New Turn - A Threat To Forty Years Work
- ^ Wegner, Eric: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (Marxismus 30), Vienna 2009, p. 102.
- ↑ Woods, Alan: Ted Grant. The Permanent Revolutionary - How Militant Was Destroyed
- ^ Wegner, Eric: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) (Marxismus 30), Vienna 2009, pp. 154–164.
- ^ Socialism.info : Forty Years Committee for a Workers' International
- ^ Socialism.info : After the elections in Ireland: Left strengthened
- ^ Sozialismus.info : Historical success: The socialist Kshama Sawant wins the elections in Seattle
- ^ Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary, from The Socialist Party of Britian: Britain: Socialist Party conference overwhelmingly supports refounding CWI. In: Homepage of the CWI. July 25, 2019, Retrieved August 2, 2019 (UK English).
- ^ Split into CWI and SAV. In: Homepage of the SAV. July 31, 2019, accessed on August 2, 2019 (German).
- ↑ The struggle for socialism continues - Socialist Organization Solidarity. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .
literature
- Eric Wegner: CWI & IMT. The Militant Tendency and its successors: the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) and the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), Vienna 2009, ISBN 3-901831-26-6 (Marxism 30).
- Peter Taaffe: The International. History of the Committee for a Workers' International, Berlin 2000.