Editorial Introduction to Issue 2

Editorial Introduction to Issue 2, Steve Dobbs. Reproduced from Issue 2 of the journal (available to buy here)

It has been just over three months since the launch of the Marxist World journal and the publication of our first issue, keeping us approximately in line with our remit of a quarterly publication. We printed a modest 200 copies with the aim of bringing critical Marxist analysis, theory and commentary on contemporary events to the wider workers’ movement. Members of the Editorial Board and our supporters have been selling the journal at Labour Party meetings, political rallies, events and online via the website. We are pleased to say that, at the time of writing, we have sold the vast majority of the copies printed. For us, this is confirmation that a layer of workers and young people are actively looking towards Marxist ideas to understand, and ultimately solve, the social and economic crises that we face today.

We believe that the economic crisis of 2008 has exposed not simply the bankruptcy of capitalism, but also the bankruptcy of much of the self-styled ‘revolutionary’ Left, who have not only failed to capitalise on developments, but appear to be in theoretical and numerical decline.

The freak electoral victory of Jeremy Corbyn to leader of the Labour Party last September has given reformism - the notion that capitalism can be gradually changed to improve the livelihoods of the working class - a major boost, chiming with the current level of workers’ consciousness. This is demonstrated by the fact that membership of the Labour Party has exploded to more than 400,000. At the same time, the two main parties of the ‘revolutionary’ Left here in Britain - the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party - have failed to adapt to the new developments within Labour and have ended up on the sidelines, unable to intervene in any meaningful way. Combined with their bureaucratic and cult-like organisational methods, most people are understandably repelled by their ‘Marxism’.

In the light of these events and malpractices, we believe there needs to be a period of open and democratic discussion around Marxist theory and what it means to put Marxist ideas into practice. This is not to say, as some of our critics claim, that all activity must be put on hold until we have the perfect understanding of Marxism. Naturally it is quite possible to engage in serious discussion and theoretical learning whilst participating in events. For example, supporters of Marxist World have helped build opposition to the EDL, joined the picket lines of the Junior Doctors’ strike and have engaged with workers in a variety of political and trade union meetings and events. Accusations of ‘arm chair’ socialism are hence unwarranted.

Yet in a time of theoretical confusion on the Left, the importance of serious study cannot be downplayed. When World War I broke out in 1914 and the various parties of the Socialist International renounced the cause of the working class and voted in favour of war credits for their own bourgeoisie, Lenin spent the best part of a year in the library studying Hegel and philosophy in a bid to work out what went wrong! Clearly Lenin felt there were times when it was completely justified to withdraw from activity when such ‘activism’ became counter-productive.

We will soon be publishing the first of many Marxist World books: an abridged version of Marx’s Capital Volume I, reinforcing our commitment to bringing Marxist theory to the wider labour movement. We will also be supporting the study of Capital with a series of online material that will refer specifically to this abridged edition. Copies of the abridged version of Capital are available to pre-order now via the website. [Editorial Note: Copies of Capital are available to buy here]

Members of the Editorial Board have been involved in public discussion via the journal, website and our Facebook discussion group between us and our wider supporters. Collectively we have reached a majority consensus on these key areas:

1. We recognise the centrality of all three volumes of Marx’s Capital, required to reach a fuller understanding of capitalism and its laws of motion. In particular we defend the importance of the Law of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall in relation to the capitalist cycle and crises, and reject underconsumptionist theory – the notion that economic crises are caused by ‘lack of demand’.

2. We identify the class character of the Chinese state as capitalist. This characterisation is especially important given the importance of China in relation to the world capitalist economy. We support Chinese workers in their struggle against the so-called ‘Communist Party’ and the bourgeoisie.

3. We reject the notion that the class character of the Labour Party changed in the 1990s from a bourgeois-workers party to an all-out capitalist party similar to the Tories. We believe that Labour remains a contradictory formation, comprising of struggle between the mostly liberal-Fabian Parliamentary Labour Party and the primarily working class and trade union social base. We therefore support all struggles within the Labour Party against the right wing and advocate a socialist programme in the space that the Corbyn/McDonnell leadership have opened up.

4. At the same time we are clear that, historically, there has never been an example, in any country, whereby a bourgeois-workers party has been transformed into a socialist one, i.e. a party that is committed to revolutionary Marxism. Every time a democratic movement has developed among the rank and file of such parties in support of Marxist ideas, the bourgeois leadership of these parties, be they right or left reformists, have always resorted to bureaucratic and undemocratic methods to silence, suppress and expel such movements. On some occasions they have even gone so far as to utilize the support of the bourgeois state, with police physically removing such members from meetings! Our commitment to working within the Labour Party is therefore conditional on having the democratic space necessary to put forward and advocate Marxist ideas.

5. We reject the ‘dual strategy’ of actively building a reformist party, that is, campaigning for bringing one into being whether one already exists or not, in parallel to the building of a Marxist revolutionary party, as typified by the approach of the Socialist Party/Committee for a Workers International. Our role as Marxists is to propagate for the building of a unified multi-tendency revolutionary party based on the fullest and freest discussion and debate, with unity on the basis of programmatic action rather than adhering to specific pet theories developed after Marx.

6. We therefore defend and advocate genuine democratic centralism as practiced by the Russian Social Democratic and Labour Party (RSDLP), as outlined by Lars T. Lih against the historical distortions of the Stalinists, bourgeois and bureaucratic, cult-like sectarian Left.

There are still other areas of discussion that we have only just begun to touch upon or haven’t even discussed. These discussions will continue to unfold through future issues of the journal, website and our Facebook discussion group. In contrast to the sectarian Left, we have no fear of open discussion. In fact, we believe that it is an absolutely necessary condition for development of a healthy, democratic Marxist movement. We believe that the leadership of the sectarian Left groups operate on the basis of circular logic, and their intolerance for divergent views stems in part from their Stalinist conception that there is no possibility they can be wrong. This is especially ironic given almost the entire existing sectarian Left were originally splits and expelled sections from other groups that operated in the same way. Hence they see no reason to facilitate any kind of meaningful democratic debate. From their perspective, such efforts would be a waste of time, since the leadership is always right!

Members of the Marxist World Editorial Board are unanimous in our rejection of this approach. While, of course, each member of the Board believes they are right in whatever theory or programmatic conception they defend and put forward, each member also accepts the possibility they could be wrong on any issue. For us, the purpose of debate is not simply to give the illusion of a multi-tendency organisation whilst in practice subscribing to a homogeneous narrow viewpoint, but to genuinely engage and learn from the wider workers’ movement, and to develop the Marxist education of all our readers and supporters. In doing so, we wish to help prepare our supporters to act as a correcting influence on this or any future Editorial Board or socialist leadership that might deviate from Marxism.

Reflecting our commitment to public debate, in this issue Pete Glover gives an ‘unorthodox’ take on the state and Lenin’s theory of imperialism in his extended article ‘Who the f**k are you to say the leader of the Russian revolution was wrong?‘. This approach is also a complete break from the methods of the sectarian Left. It is their view that the working class will only be convinced of the seriousness of a Marxist group if it presents a monolithic political programme to the public, with each member of the organisation putting forward exactly the same ideas, regardless of their own political convictions. Far from being convincing, we believe it leaves a very negative, cult-like impression on the working class. Even if there was a high level of internal democracy inside these groups, of which some of them claim, its complete absence in their public activity means that workers do not get that impression.

With the diversity of views among the Editorial Board on certain issues, we would like to reiterate that all contributions to Marxist World are simply contributions to continued open discussions within Marxist World and the wider labour movement.

Also in this issue we continue with what was a central theme in the previous issue and a fundamental question for all socialists: how can we solve the crisis of capitalism? This is reflected in the inclusion of an article from the Militant archives, ‘A Million Jobs a Year – Reviving the Alternative Economic Strategy‘ by Bob McKee, and Steve Dobbs’s critical review of Srnicek & William’s Inventing the Future. This is in addition to other articles covering subjects such as the May elections, the EU referendum, Marxist philosophy and more.

We hope that readers find our articles and material useful, and are encouraged to get in touch with us via email or the website with questions, comments or article submissions.