SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 21, February 1990
December 1. members assembled before the Central Committee building, shouting 'Extraordinary congress!'. The new leader agreed to call an extraordinary conference at the end of December - which cannot change the Central Committee, cannot change the rules and cannot change the party's programme.
People shouted him down, Two days later at a demonstration of 150,000, a majority took up the shout of 'extraordinary congress". Again the General Secretary came out, but this time he said OK, I have understood you, I will change the extraordinary conference into a congress". In all the provincial towns similar developments are taking place. I would say that today several hundred thousand members of the SED are involved in a genuine left opposition towards the party leadership, and want very radical changes in the party statutes, with the right of tendency and faction, as well as changes in the programme and the place of the party in East German society.
In Czechoslovakia things have not gone as far as that from the point of view of the duration of mass demonstrations: it was all much quicker. The traditional rule of the bureaucracy collapsed like a house of cards, but in a way significantly different from East Germany. The working class in Czechoslovakia has played the absolutely decisive role.
The students, spurred on by the very courageous work for the last ten years of a small group of oppositionists including our comrade Petr Uhl, took to the streets. They were very severely repressed, beaten up by the police. Then, for 48 hours we could say that the working class. the mass of the population, hesitated on whether to support the students. Then something extraordinary happened: the conservative wing of the bureaucracy sent delegations to the factories. The students, too, sent delegations to practically every large factory in the country, and a real debate started, which counterposed the positions in front of the workers. The workers decided in favour of the democratic revolution, against the bureaucracy. They were finished, and within a few hours the Politburo capitulated.
So we have the beginning of a political revolution today in East
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Germany and Czechoslovakia, the two most proletarian countries of Easter Europe. I say the begin- ning, because we are still at the beginning: there is no prospect of a rapid victory, but the revolution is developing under exceptionally favourable international condi- tions. Lenin and Trotsky, and the Communist movement before them have always looked upon the German working class, and especially the workers of central Germany as the key element for bringing about a socialist world revolution. This central German working class has the oldest, strongest and deepest socialist tradition of our continent if not the world. In the last general elections before World War One, every MP but one in Saxony and Thuringia were Social Democrats. In 1923, the left Social Democrats and Communist Party had an absolute majority in the parliament of Saxony. In 1946, in a free referendum, 86 per cent of voters in central Germany voted for the expropriation of the banks and large capitalists. That's the historic tradition of that working class. The international and German capitalists were aware of the ex- plosive strength of these workers, and have made sure that a powerful gendarme would weigh down upon them: first it was the imperial Ger- man army; then the Reichswer, then the Wermacht and SS; then the victorious armies after World War Two; then the Stalinists through the Soviet army and later increasingly the repressive forces of East Ger- many. Now for the first time in 100 years a situation has evolved as a result of all the changes on a world scale, in which there is no longer a gendarme capable of intervening in the short term against that working class. The Soviet army cannot (I will not say because Gorbachev does not want to; he doesn't but that's neither here nor there. The Soviet people would not permit it). NATO troops cannot (the American population would not allow Bush to embark on an adventure in central Europe four times larger than the Vietnam war). The West German army won't for the time being: the West German population will not allow it. And the East German amy can't because the regime is in a state of total political and moral disintegration. So we have a set of exceptionally favourable circumstances: the two revolutions have the big asset of time to unfold. Of course I don't mean unlimited time - nobody can really make predictions whether it be two years, three years, I don't know. But they have time to mature, time to achieve decisive conquests. Their revolutions are not inevitably doomed. But to avoid any danger of euphoria I would also add that this is not a revolution that stands a great chance of success. I think the chance of victory is very limited, because it has great weaknesses. I will mention three, but I could mention more. • There is a lack of ideological clarity: it is less advanced than either May 1968 or the Prague Spring, which were clear anti-capitalist movements. • There is a lack of self-organisation. In Czechoslovakia it is a bit better than in East Germany, and there are some committees being formed, and it seems some strike committees being formed in some factories. In East Germany there is little self-organisation at rank and file level, though there are oppositional groupings springing up and a Page 24
IN DEPTH remaining in the hands of the bureaucrats. years or three: that is impossible. and a retreat from what seems possible today. of restructuring to make it viable. years many other things could change, too. cially characterised by two factors:
lot of political activity. might come quicker than we think, but for the moment it is not there. • The political power ob- jectives are extremely unclear for the masses in both East Germany and Czechoslovakia. They want to get rid of the Stalinist-dominated state in- stitutions - that's absolutely clear - but they have no clear view of what they want to replace them. Generally they are vulnerable under such cir- cumstances to all kinds of manocuvres and compromises that will be advanced by the reformist wing of the bureaucracy. Both in East Germany and in Czechoslovakia the refor- mist wing of bureaucrats have some powerful reserves. In Czechoslovakia they have the popular figure and prestige of Dubcek; in East Germany the reformist wing around Modrow is a group of clever manoeuvrists who know all the tricks of the social democratic and trade union bureaucracies. They can present themselves as a 'lesser evil" in the eyes of opposition forces who do not know exactly what they should be fighting for. Free elections, the establishment of a multi-party system and the elimination of the leading role of the CP are all OK, but they don't take us very far, or prevent the real power of the apparatus Under these circumstances the movement may become tired out. I think tiring out the movement is the strategy of the liberal wing of the bureaucracy. You can demonstrate in the streets in millions for one, two three even four weeks, but you cannot sustain this for a year, two What we have seen in Poland could repeat itself. When a turning point comes, the people become disappointed that the situation is not shaping up in as radical a way as they had hoped, there could be some repressive move - not of the 1956 or 1968 or Tienanmen Square type, but of the Polish type. Some opposition movements might again be condemned to illegality; there could be some restrictions on the freedome of the media. This would not destroy the movement - it is too broad to be destroyed - but it would inflict a big, deep disappointment Combined with that danger is the economic danger - the pressure from the western capitalist economies, especially the West German and EC economies and behind them the whole capitalist world market. We should be clear on one thing: a short-term restoration of capitalism is completely impossible - even the capitalists do not want it. Who wants to buy bankrupt factories? The overwhelming majority of the East European state sector is bankrupt, and needs a long period There is talk, for example of privatising 2,000 state enterprises in Poland, which is a lot. But that is out of 20,000 - only ten per cent. They say it could take 20 years before things tum decisively: in 20 What we are seeing in Poland and Hungary is a strong deterrent to the workers in East Germany - a process of gradual social and economic decomposition without a real radical restoration of capitalism, involving the dismantling of some of the traditional aspects of the socialised and bureaucratically planned economy. This is espe- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 20, Dec-Jan 1989-90
N D • A tremendous corruption, phenomenon of theft and pillage of national wealth - partly by the bureaucracy itself becoming involved in privatisation, but mostly by international capi- tal. One example is the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, to be bought by an American bil lionairess for $100m. All ex- perts know that the real assets of that shipyard are worth be- tween five and eight times that much. Every single project of privatisation by international carries capital this same hallmark of sell-out, theft, pil- lage of national wealth. Poland is being treated exactly like a Third World economy. • The other aspect is the tremendous growth of poverty and social misery in the country. I have just returned from Poland, and it would make Soup you weep. kitchens are being government's official figures show 4-5 milion living below the poverty line, twice as many as there were before the electoral victory of Solidar- nosc. If old age pensioners spent every penny they receive on meat they would be able to afford only four kilos a month: so they don't eat any. When I was in Wroclaw the pensioners had just begun a hunger strike supported by our friends in the PPS(RD), under the terrible slogan Die from hunger together, don't starve one by one". The International Herald Tribune says this: "As they dismantle the pervasive and intricate Stalinist economic system, encourage a new private sector and seek out Western invest- ment, the East European governments must plunge their societies into a whiriwind of dislocation, in which high inflation, high unemployment and the emergence of sharp social and economic inequality will be painful but inevitable features. This process, already well under way in Poland and Hungary, will invite the emergence of radical political movements or even new popular uprisings" Exactly so. Before you can restore capitalism, before you can bring this disintegration to its final completion you will have to move against these new radical movements and new popular uprisings. This means that the real battle is still before us. The East German and Czech work- ing classes are much stronger than the Polish and Hungarian: and seeing all this, they will think things over ten times before going down I must add, however, to counter any euphoria that if there is mass disappointment, it cannot be excluded even in East Germany that the blandishments of the consumer markets of the West could win a mass base of support even for the idea of a capitalist reunification of Ger- many. (...) The demands of political freedom have taken an absolutely central place in this anti-bureaucratic revolution. And the successes they have achieved have had an absolutely historic significance if they can be in- stitutionalised and maintained. They mean that for the first time since the Spanish revolution and Stalin's bloody purges freedom is now more and more coming back into our camp, becoming more and more as SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 21, February 1990
E P T H A workers paradise? East Berliners crowd into West Berlin shops - while their money lasts sociated with socialism - an unbeatable combination.
The main political objection against socialist revolution will start to disappear if this combination can be consolidated. Capitalism is increasingly vulnerable and losing credibility as a haven of political and personal freedom - not only because so many despotic capitalist regimes have ridden roughshod over democratic rights in the Third World, but also because capitalism is increasingly restricting rights in the imperialist countries themselves. The deeper the economic crisis of the bourgeois states, the more the capitalists will have to attack social security and real wages, the more the unrest will grow, and the stronger will be the attacks on trade unions, the right to strike, freedom of the press; the more Big Brother will be looking over your shoulder not now in Eastem Europe but in Western Europe, the USA and Japan.
In East Germany over 11 million visas have now been issued for travel: but what is happening to the right to travel in the capitalist countries? We know that in one country after another - France, West Germany, Japan, Britain, Hong Kong and the USA - the bourgeoisie is restricting the right of entry, restricting immigration, expelling immigrants, in most cases in blatantly racist ways. The Berlin Wall has fallen and will not be re-crected, but the capitalists" racist immigration laws will be toughened.
So let's imagine an East Germany with a freedom of demonstration much greater than West Germany (not very difficult!); with a much more liberal electoral law (full proportional representation, while in West Germany you need five percent to get into parliament): with a press, radio and television system much more critical of the authorities and open to people such as striking workers than the West German media; with locally elected committees of citizens having the right to veto any project threatening the environment: with elected women's councils having the right to veto any management decision concerning women in factories, shops, and offices; which qualitatively reduced militarism - even disbanding the standing army to implement Lenin's definition of soviet power as having "no bureaucracy, no police and no standing army'. Imagine an East Germany in which there would be
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Leipzig: New Forum headquarters displays photos of the main demonstrations qualitatively more trade union and workers' rights than in West Ger- many, fulfilling one of the demands of the November 4 demonstration - for "workers" self management, not workers' co-determination". All this could become a reality if the political revolution wins in East Germany. Can you visualise the impact all this would have on the West Ger- man working class, the women's movement, peace movement and green movement? With a single blow, socialism could again become credible as a higher form of civilisation in the eyes of hundreds of milions of people throughout the world. The chances of this kind of victory for political revolution may be only one in ten: but even if they were only one in a hundred it would be utterly irresponsible to let the opportunity pass. World history is today on a razor's edge in central Europe. The Soviet Left: the story so far by Rick Simon The liberalisation of Soviet society brought about by Gorbachev and the so- cial crisis in the Soviet Union has led to the emergence of an array of political for- ces, ranging from anti-semitic, neo-fascist groups such as 'Pamyat" (Memory), and pro-monarchist and nationalist groups on to ecological, social- the Right, democratic, Marxist and anarcho-syn- dicalist currents on the Left. Some of the nuclei of these organisations existed under Brezhnev, and many individuals were active inside the Communist Party (CPSU) as the only legal political force: Boris Kagarlitsky, one of the most prominent Soviet Marxists, was imprisoned under Brezhnev and expelled from the party for organising a group Page 26
IN DEPTH •DIE LETTLIGER. KUNSTLERVERBANDE FORDERN FREIE®VYAALEN without shame or guilt. higher social order and social values. "Young of Socialists' and publishing called journal "Left Tum'. Soviet The FUME Left has under- gone a process of differentiation, of splits and fusions, as it has extended its political experience. Initially. the Left saw itself as the 'left-wing of perestroika" and of needing to combine with more liberal forces around the struggle for glasnost and democratic expression. This united struggle was directed against the old Brezhnevites and Stalinists who wished to retain the old economic system and its privileges. The Left therefore identified with
(...) The hour of the Fourth Interna- tional is beginning to strike. We are now at the start of a world-wide rise of new mass workers' movements, in which for the first time in history our movement is like a fish in water. We can speak freely, and raise our programme without fear of slander or repression. These movements are not yet con- scious revolutionary movements: their future depends upon the strengthening of the revolutionary marxist currents and organisation. For us it is a tremendous historic op- portunity, not only in Eastem Europe but also in Brazil, in South Africa, in Korea and many other South countries. What these opportunities reflect is the