Dialectical materialism therefore may sound like an academic discussion topic, but it is an active, interventionist method of analysis, flat- Iranian revolution. the old regime of the Shah. The miners' strike of 1984-5 was entirely different 74, and will never be Thin is a real problem, since we all go for- ward into the future equipped with ideas and methods learned in the past. The only way to struggle to change the world, and to learn from it how to fight more effectively. Of course mfor- mists like today's TUC and Labour leadership society, so they see the process as one of dis- Marxists, who recognixe the need to mobilise and smash their state machinery, recognise that this cannot be done simply by issuing propagan- da for socialism. A programme and policy must and demands of the working class, and The kemel of dialectical materialism is that contradiction may be uncomfortable for but it is not ac- should begin from and return to the practical ex- thcoretical analysis of the interactions between its component parts in their processer of change. This analysis should lead to elaborat- A marxist organisation will check the cor- democratic process which analyses the ex- gle. This should also deepen its understanding ly counterposed to the idealist methods of sec- Page 27 from that of 1973- perience of carrying them out in the class strug carding anything that might lead to conflict. the fight, which must then be tested out Ignore or ridicule it at your peril! defenders of 'common sensc' the official labour movement. repeated in the same form. tarian propagandism. life, of change. The common factor in such developments is The rocognition of the labour movement as marxist analysis and programme. The unity also contains conflict, and thus the needs of change, tradiction between the pressures felt by the rank and file membership in the workplaces -under and file themselves, however there are also differentiations between sectors and the Analysing this complex dialectical picture can reveal the contradictions that may at times open The unions represent the unity but also the cal exploitation of the family unit to divide, and the use of mass scabbing can all divide worker geois ideology or policy. Sections of the union ticularly important in the assessment of the point at which quantity is transformed into qualiry, an ever larger number of small, quan- titative changes can produce at a given point a qualitative change. This occurs all the time in the natural world - rising temperature in a ket- te produces a qualitative leap from water to steam at boiling point; nine months of smaller ly new development when the baby is born. The same can be true in politics: years of right wing class collaboration by the Electricians' union (EETPU) led during the Wapping dispute to the ing, and the eventual break from the TUC to be relatively routine and predictable (as with the kettle), or take the form of an abrupt "leap' in development (as when a nuclear reactor melts down, or a series of quantitative mass demonstrations and army defections produces the sudden collapse of a repressive regime - as in Iran ten years ago). a unity of opposites is a starting point for any In the unions, in particular there is a clear con- direct management pressure - and the relative- ly privileged life-style of their full-time offi- more downtrodden layers: cach is subject to dis tinct pressures and makes different demands. interpenetration of opposites. Racism, the cyni- from worker, turning some into agents of bour- In this regard, dialectical analysis is par- changes in pregnancy gives rise to a qualitative- qualitative change to union-busting, scab-herd- The miners' strike: in a constant, complex process of change for a US-style 'businces union'. Such transformations may bureaucracy also play this role. the more secure, better-paid the door to major struggles. cials. Among the rank inter-relation between them; between the NUM as a union in struggle and the TUC (itself NUM: between the official labour movement class; and between the working class and the coal boss Jan MacGregor and the Thatcher peared not to change for wecks on end, then to change from hour to hour. To offer adequate, solidarity in that situation required a constant process of dialectical analysincapable of detect- The contradiction between form and content also appears at the level of the individual. That is why opinion polls are so inadequate as a lated snapshot of cach single punter's view at one moment, in the absence of uny political in- tervention or leadership. In fact each worker is her/himself a conflict of opposites - reflecting not only the existing balance of class forces (in- cluding the setbacks under ten years of Thatcherism) hut also the objective need and potential of the working class to fight back. This is the element which can be bullt upon under conditions of mass, participatory democracy - and why Tories and the Lahour right wing preferisolating individual postal ballotsto mass bludgeon opponents, bur for the great revolutionaries it was seen as a practical tool for What are the key factors in dialectical analysis? The first is the conflict berween form and content: each phenomenon must be seen as the product of a unity and conflict of opposites - opposites which are themselves in a proccas Thus, forexample, the single out ward reality of the 1984-5 miners" strike concealed a con- tinual, complex internal process of change in the balance of forces - within the NUM itself in the uneven, fluctuating morale of the rank and file, the divisions within its Icadership, and the divided between the forces of new realism and those still prepared to offer some support to the as a whole and the rank and file of the working ruling class (championed and led as it war by Outwardly, the situation of the strike ap- consistent and principled leadership and guide to Labour policy: all they offer is an iso- of development, change and interconnection: SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 14 April 1989 analysis and a guide to intervention. ing and assessing each change. Theres of 1917.- materialism into a 3 ahrupt tactical tum he fought for in the April Later, lesser figures may have tried to tur semi-mystical creed or state orthodoxy dialectical