Internatinal in EUROPE Anyone coming to the London Social Forum will no doubt either be bewildered by or resigned to the 57 varieties of socialism and anarchism on offer. But many ESF participants will see the need to build international left co- operation alongside and as part of the international co-ordination of the social movements. Revolutionary marxists of the Fourth International (FI), to which Socialist Outlook is linked, have played a crucial role both in European left regroupment and in the leadership of social struggles. Drawing on contributions by comrades from a number of countries, Alex Cowper surveys the The Fourth International was founded in 1938 by Leon The International Socialist Group, British section of work being done by the Fl across the continent. Trotsky in the wake of the betrayal of the Third (Communist) International by Stalin. Today it is organised in more than forty countries. It grew tenfold in Europe in the wake of the student and worker uprisings of 1968. Although still small, it is probably the largest revolutionary marxist organisation worldwide. The work of the FI has been crucial to the development of the World and European Social Forums and to the building of the new parties organised in the European Anti-Capitalist Left. We endeavour to construct marxist currents within these parties and movements, but a distinctive feature of the International is that it does not try to advance its politics by hectoring or manipulation, but by patient work and building trust over a period of time, respecting democratic structures. The structure of the International itself and of its national sections reflects this approach. No one section dominates the others or issues orders for revolutionaries in other countries to carry out. The groups of the FI organise their work on the basis of majority decisions, carried out after Minorities in the sections have the democratic debate. right to continue fighting for their politics and to win the 14 the FI, has been involved in building for the European Social Forum along with other sections of the FI and is actively involved in the student, anti-war and trade union movements. With other marxists in England and Wales, we organise around the newspaper Socialist Resistance, which is in turn part of Respect, the new left unity coalition in England. In Scotland, we are members of the Scottish Socialist Party. The Fourth International and the ESF Bandiera Rossa, the Italian section of the Fourth International, was centrally involved in organising the ESF in Genoa in 2002 through its implantation in Rifondazione (the Party of Communist Refoundation) and Giovani Comunisti (Communist Youth). FI militants fought successfully to turn the party towards the social movements and youth, although we now see a rightward drift by Rifondazione's leadership.
union federation (DGB) has given no support to the led by the Communist Party). The Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire in France is the largest section of the FI and played a key role in the success of the Paris Social Forum last year, being involved in building local Social Forums in many French towns. It grew substantially in 2002-3 as a result of contesting the French presidential elections and mobilising against the neo-fascist Front Nationale. Its candidate, a 27-year-old postal worker, achieved 14% of the youth vote. But the LCR is also trying under difficult conditions to construct a broad, radical left alternative to the neo-liberal policies of the French government (see report below). Reports from around Europe: Social protests on the rise in Germany Nina Klarfeld for the Revolutionar Sozialistischer Bund' gives an overview of the work of revolutionaries in Germany. For some weeks we have been seeing a new level of social protests in Germany.These have spread out from the East German cities and now around 90,000 people have demonstrated in more than 120 towns. The main issues are the cutting of unemployment benefit and new laws that allow forced labour - if you don't accept Jobs that pay one euro an hour, you don't get welfare The demonstrations mostly take place without open support from the big trade unions. Only East German trade unions openly mobilise. The German trade demonstrations on a national level. The interesting thing about it is that layers of society have become active in the streets that have never been as radical before. Our intervention as the RSB consists of building up the local co-ordinations for the demonstrations, helping to send delegations from the West to demonstrations in the East (where unemployment and poverty is worse), and opposing nationalism and any Nazi presence on the demos. We highlight two major issues in our leaflets and when we debate with people: a minimum wage and a shorter working week. The latter is also discussed inside the trade unions. and calling for a 30-hour week is a part of the agenda of the national conference for action against social cuts. It is the central political task of the RSB to build a left wing current inside the trade-unions, taking part in mobilisations outside the parliament and helping to coordinate them. RSB branches are also active in local Social Forums, ATTAC. ecologist and feminist networks. Theother FUgroup in German is the ISE Anernationd/ Socialist Lette. The to groups engoge in join political work Bilding Oh the victory over Aznar Brian Anglo reports from the Spanish State. The Socialist Party victory over Aznar and his conservative People's Party in the March general elections has profoundly changed the political situation. Although these results were more due to a desire to get rid of what had gone before than actual enthusiasm for the Socialists, certain expectations were raised and it remains to be seen how long it will be before their neo-liberal policies lead to major clashes with important sections of the working class. The first signs are already there over the future of the shipyards. Accompanying and fomenting mobilisations against these policies is a key task. Despite the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, opposition to the war is still a big issue and FI supporters are active on this as they are on the European Constitution, with a (non-binding) referendum due next year, immigration, with over a million undocumented workers already present, the European Social Forum and the first Mediterranean Social Forum, embracing social movements from all the countries right round the Mediterranean, due to be held in Barcelona in June 2005. In addition to these, of course, FI supporters are also involved in a wide range of labour movement, solidarity and local campaigns as well as intervening in the huge crisis that has opened up in Izquierda Unida (United Left, The FI in the Spanish state, which includes members of various organisations, is reviving through an influx of young comrades. There has been increasing collaboration among all pro-Fl elements ensuring, among other things, a successful FI international youth camp here this summer. Building new left partles A number of European sections have been involved in building new left parties as the old Labour and Communist Parties go into decline. These parties are beginning to offer workers and youth a real alternative to the politics of the mainstream capitalist parties and to the growing far right. Thomas Eisler and Jorge Costa report on the situations in Denmark and Portugal respectively. 15
This autumn, after setbacks in the regional and in the Fourth Internationalists are also active in Austria, European elections, the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire Belgium, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, intends to rejoin the battle on two main fronts: the resistance Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and across the world against the conservative French government and the fight To find out more about the ISG or other FI sections, for a left NO vote against the European Constitution. In contact [email protected] and we will put you in touch Denmark The Danish section of the Fourth International, the SAP, works inside the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten). The Alliance has four seats in the national parliament. The SAP sees its main task as developing the Red-Green Alliance to be more able to intervene and play a leading role in social struggles. Since the right wing came to power the task is to unite the struggles of different groups in order to confront the government's ultra-neo-liberal politics. At the moment, trade unions, students. the anti-war movement and the Defend Christiania movement are preparing actions linked to the opening of the Danish parliament at the beginning of October. This will also coincide with the Danish Social Forum. Portugal For the last five years, militants of the Fl in Portugal have been engaged - together with organisations - in building the Left Bloc, a new socialist organisation that has three MPs in the national parliament and gained its first Euro-MP in June. The Left Bloc now has an important influence in Portuguese society. It is in the frontline of the anti-war movement and has confronted the neo-liberal politics of the social democrats and, since the 2002 elections, of the conservative right. Over the past year, the fight against the brutality of the government has been central to the Left Bloc's activity in the movements of workers, students and women. Left Bloc militants are an active part of the student movement against university fees, which last year mobilised on the streets the biggest student demonstration in twenty years. The Bloc has fought the far right policy of the government on abortion, which is still illegal - women are prosecuted for having abortions. We promoted a pro-referendum campaign that gathered 120,000 signatures. has also recently launched a public campaign against bank secrecy and for taxing the fortunes of the rich who fraudulently avoid payment. France The LoR prepares for new battles Patrick Auzende outlines the tasks facing the French section of the FI in the coming months. this context, the success of the European Social Forum in London and the second world women's march are for and follow the links. the LCR important weapons in the struggle against neo- liberalism and in the search for an alternative at national "Christimia is d'alternanive date based on cological principles, in the centre ef Copenhagen lets hated bythe suthorities, whe de case it of promotine drags. 16 In France, the Chirac-Raffarin-Sarkozy (CRS) government is still on the offensive in spite of suffering electoral reverses. After attacking the pension system and social welfare, after privatising the gas and electricity sectors, the conservatives now want to dismantle the labour code (which sets out workers' rights), beginning with the right to strike in the public sector. In this difficult period the LCR advocates unity in action as the orientation of the entire political and social left with the goal of stopping the vicious cycle of defeat that the working class is now in. To realise this goal, the LCR takes part in solidarity networks, in support of actions in favour of workers and youth and in the preparation of the necessary social movements. For example, the LCR has made proposals to organize a joint private-public sector strike to defend social security and to build a national demonstration against racism. The other challenge for the LCR is the construction of a unitary campaign for a left NO vote against the European Rejecting any withdrawal into narrow Constitution. nationalism, the LCR wants to challenge the model of a neo- liberal and militarist Europe and to raise the necessity for another Europe, a Europe of solidarity, an internationalist and ecologist Europe. Hence the LCR is proposing a common front with other organisations, political currents and personalities against the neo-liberalism enshrined in the new Constitution. The French referendum on this Constitution will take place in the second half of 2005. The framework of the conference of the European Anti- Capitalist Left, where the LCR is a driving force in association with the Red-Green Alliance in Denmark, the Left Bloc in Portugal and the Scottish Socialist Party, and whose next session will take place during the ESF, will be central to the campaign for a left NO. Lastly, the LCR, as part of its project of renovation, will continue to advance the idea of a new political and social force able to unite the radical left and to break with the social-liberalism of the French Socialist Party and its Communist and Green satellites. At the LCR's national congress in 2005 its militants will make a balance sheet of the fiasco of its electoral alliance of March and June 2004 with Lutte Ouvrière (the other large revolutionary marxist organisation in France) and the LCR will present a new manifesto to develop the political and programmatic discussion in the social movements, in the trade unions and with other currents of the left. with the relevant organisation, or go to www.isg-fi.org.uk