Outlook tion and the permanent revolution. ising of productive indeed structurally inbuilt in these towards the endless reproduction of the status quo. Eastern Europe have fallen behind in the information technology revHowever deep the attachment of the proletariat to the social rains of a non-capitalist system, the knowl. edge that workers in the West are on average more prosperous and in more has While the lives of the East European masses are incomparably ber"third world", they are still - by the yardstick of the overall devclopproductive technique and drab, stultifying and impoverished.
Now hundreds of millions of peo. ple have decided that to gain a betict mc. acy wal not go on in the old way, and their leaders are inca. pable ol going on in the old ways these are the classic conditions for the emergence of pre-revolutionary The ocurad in tas dermany have ocurred in Germany. Until the autumn of 1989 it seemed that Eastern Burope undergoCOlises ordoco ment-that of Poland and Hungary towards radical marketisation garia, Czechoslovakia, Germany cand in different way Romania) remaining true the Stalinist model.
morement of the East German workers smashed this dichotomy and led directly to the events in Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria, leaving Ceausescu dynasty in Romania isolated and under siege. shown by Poland, whole sections of of trying to defeat the workers eco.
The historic stakes nomically and politically in order In the medium term there are evi- to prepare the ground for Western dently three possible outcomes of in-vestment and the restoration of the present upsurge, and they The main obstacle to the restora. country. Bither capitalism will be tion of capitalism is the working restored; or the political revolution Cuss se win; or bureaucratic rule will be The working class in cach country must be delcated m a series of But in overall historic sense frontal battles if property is to be the choice is between the restora- re-privatised, a domestic bureau tion of capitalism and workers' cratic-bourgeoisie established, and power the social gains of the masses wiped In part the outcome depends on out. the close interaction between the Two obviously related questions events in East Burope and those in are at issue here: the level of mobil. the Soviet Union. If the crisis of isation of the masses, and their perestroika were to result in the fall overall political consciousness. of Gorbacher and the restoration of Both are presently in deep flux. a hardline Stalinist leadership, this While a spontancous fight against could well spur a counter-offensive austerity can delay the restoration by the bureaucracy in the Bast of capitalism, only a conscious fight European countries for a democratic socialist order can But this seems an unlikely devel- lead to the victory of the political opment, and any sharp attempt to revolution. Two restore the raise themselves here. burcaucratic domination, especial- First, it is an open question ly one based on force, would result what extent the discreditins of any explosion, with form of 'socialism' and collectivism incalculable consequences. by the Stalinist rulers has sucMore likely, the events in Eastern Aurone which have now overtaker the arms of capitalism. those in the USSR itself, can easily For example, while in East Gerflow back into the Soviet Union many socialist and collectivist valfuelling demands for an end to the ues seem to he strong, the pull of Communist monopoly of power Such a develonment sould realle the population is also strong. place Gorbacher's position Beyond that, even those like jcopardy: the CPSU's monopoly is Vadley Havel in Corcholovakis contarne continuanca who are suspicious of the West, and bureaucratic rule in the Soviet Union itself.
some form ol democratic socialism.
cine ste some lineynecien generally remain committed to and momentous event in the Soviet "marketisation' as the sole form of Vo coles muchon possible economic restructuring. likely to lie in a protracted triangu- This is an historic gain for prolar struggie between restorationist apitanst sacologues, and a man torces aidea by imperialism: the moth problen for building a bureaucracy, or rather those sectons of it which want to defend Secondly, while the restoration of Stalinist rule; and the working implies the defeat of class. Stalinism and an historic vindica. In practice, as most dramatically tion of all currents that argue for socialism with democracy, nonetheless the restoration of capicalism in Eastern Europe - especially il combined with a similar outcome in the USSR - would be a world historic defeat for the workIn this respect it is absolutely irresponsible to capitalist and burcaucratic collectivist currents the weight of the TOOTCVOTAC the world relationship of forces. With their defeat, the continued existence of the Cuhan workers' state and of the revolutionary government in Nicaragua would be peril.
Imperialism would be much freer to enare in adventures, not only, for example, towards Vietnam, but against the whole third world. Imperialism rampant would rapidly Icad to resurgent militarism, espe cially in Japan and Germany.
New inter-imperialist wars could not be ruled out. The reimposition of the imperialist yoke in Eastern Europe is a nightmare scenario.
An opposite scenario, the possidemocratic socialist states, or even a militant fight in that direction, could have an explosive impact on the, working class in every country, advanced capitalist world, includThe danger for imperialism is not just that of the atractive power of democratic socialist states if thes are established, but of the lessons of mass mobilisation. Already there is greater in East Germany today than hey are in any advanced capitalist trammelled, inspect their own police file - if it hasn't been destroyed. The power of the secret police, including the right to surveillance, is completely destroyed. lessons spilling over into Western Europe are immense.
To maximise the opportunities for construction of a there can be no political revolution vithout it. We do not define such a leadership as necessarily explicitly Trotskyist; but it must engage in a and demands of the political revo ution, on the axis of socialism with democracy.
This must include a rejection of marketisation as the main form of economic restructuring, building of organisations of workers power at the level of the tactory and throughout society. the fight to build organised bodies DESURDORA VO ORAYI currents i and parties in every cast European country, and, and through ceaseless contacts and political intervention, we and our co-thinkers internation to the of such a leadership.
The programme of political revolution The programme of political revolution which we advocate must go system and the establishment of to our demands must be the fight for the self-organisation and political independence of the class from Stalinist and bourgeois forceile we do not write off reform Communists at the base of the Stal. inist parties, history has answerca the question or whether these parties can be for SORESE democracy: by and large they are finished; their working class base will increasingly look elsewhere.
The fight workers' self orfor independent trade unions and workers councils independent of the Stalinist important example of developextensive COURICHS which emergence Poland. ing class, were the for socialist PERSE castern tion ECTOULOR raises in the service key around vital.
in for In particular political ments of this kind was the mass working class movement and an network workers' Solidarnosc Under these conditions the workwith in the GOR But in general real of the Stalinism's absoinclude ecologically-susdemand prostammic The first - 01 But the masses, obiectives but of labour. to unify the United
Outlook November Sat 27 London Recialm Our Rights Campaign Organising Conference with Tony Benn introducing his Trade Union Rights Bill. Ilam.-4p.m.,Birkbeck College. Malet St., London WCI.