Not so far out?
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-10-15Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 12 →
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armed struggle Organiser no.54.
First, Carol Hobb's letter concerning the Laurence Scott strike. She writes: "Workers like those at LSE slow off the mark as they might be...
Presumably comrade Hobbs does not intend to imply that the LSE workers were "slow off the mark" but that is what she says. Such a claim is ludicrous and the workers at LSE who saw the letter were rightly offended by it.
One of them said to me, "tell Carol Hobbs not to show her face here again"
Second the letter from the Unity of Communist But it is false to claim that the Mojahedeen are interested only in a coup to install themselves and BaniSadr. Were that the case, they could possibly achieve it tomorrow. They are a genuine mass revolutionary organisation, who. at this point in time - whatever future disagreements we may have, whatever the differences there might be between us, were we actually fighting together are leading, with great heroism, struggle against Khomeini.
If Bani-Sadr wants to support a programme of democratic demands now, why not use him to unite broad opposition forces?
The Mojahedeen recogMojahedeen are just 'liberals' or that they should go into an alliance with the UCM, Peykar or Komala is ludicrous.
All those organisations are small and denounce the Mojahedeen, more often than not, as counter-revolutionaries. It is not up to the Mojahedeen to seek a united front with them, but rather up to them to seek a united front with the Mojahedeen.
That they refuse to do so is an indication of their own sectarianism.
At this distance l am not convinced that the Mojahedeen has not compromised itself - but nor am I convinced that it has.
CLIVE BRADLEY IN REPLY to David Herincx's letter in Socialist Organiser (October 1) | would like to put across my own view.
First, as a Class Fighter supporter, I did not vote for the letter to be written as published. The only thing I voted for was that a letter should be written to say that Alexis Carras should not have written the article without finding out all the correct facts.
As the letter implies, was not "merely" told 1 could not sell SO alongside Militant supporters, but received a very confused phone call which said I could not sell papers under the YS name. After a few hours this was taken back by another YS member.
Dave's letter says Welwyn and Hatfield YS does not have any Militant speakers as Class Fighter are in the majority. Our YS does not have any Class Fighter speakers as Militant are in John Kelly (Writeback, last week) exposes the paralytic Parliament-centred politics of the Militant with a neat comparison of a quote from Militant and a quote from Trotsky.
But he also adds a quote rejecting the ballot-box road to socialism' from Provisional Sinn Fein - implying that though Militant are not really Marxist, the Provisionals are.
I think that another couple of quotes would be in order to balance the picture.
"Here then is the immense difference between the socialist republican and our friends the physical force men.
"The latter, by stifling ail discussions of principle, earn the passive and fleeting commendation of the unthinking multitude; the former by insisting upon a thorough understanding of their basic principles, do not so readily attract the multitude, but do attract and hold the more thoughtful amongst them.
"It is the difference between a mob in revolt and an army in preparation. The mob who cheer a speaker LEON TROTSKY 30p from Socialist Organiser, 28 Middle Lane, London N8 the majority.
As for the paragraph on a YS member from Woolwich doing the deadly crime of tampering with the minutes book, all he did was add two words in pencil at the bottom of a list of suggestions for future meetings. The two words were 'gay liberation' which they obviously found very offensive.
All things considered 1 do think our YS has been hard done by.
LINDA MOULSDALE referring to the hopes of a physical force movement disorganised and divided by the passage through the British legislature of any trumpery home rule bill.
"The army of class conscious workers... strong in their knowledge of economic truth and firmly grounded in their revolutionary principles, would remain unaffected by any such manoeuvre and, knowing it would not change their position as a subject class, would still press forward resolute and undivided, with their faces set towards their only hope of emancipation (Connolly) "Marxism is quite far from the thought that armed conflict is the only revolutionary method, or a panacea good under all conditions. Marxism in general knows no fetishes insurrec neither parliamentary nor tional."
(Trotsky)
FOSTER London.
Lurch This they can do by distinguishing and showing differences between BaniSadr and the Mojahedeen both in terms of social and international relations as well as exposing the Mojahedeen leaders' lurch to the right in order to attract and bring those existing revolutionary elements inside the Mojahedeen under a communist platform.
Fourthly, it is very easy, even for a Marxist beginner, to quote: "Indeed the vacillating social forces, ie. the petty-bourgeoisie, must make a choice one day, between the working class then go on to say Mojaked- and the bourgeoisie" een have made their choice"
Comrades! Communists are not narrators of the events. Your duty is to interpret and analyse the situation in order to change it.
What have Komala, Peykar and Unity of Communist Militants done in order to change this unholy alliance except labelling and branding the Mojahedeen organisation - as a whole and not just their leadership - as "petty bourgeois' ', 'bourgeois democrat' , etc?
Why should they seek an alliance with you when with such positions you repel them towards Bani-Sadr?
What attempts have you made to unite the left and make a proletarian alternative, let alone attract the Moiahedeen towards you!
Democratic
Fifthly, we are astonished that you call yourselves supporters of the Unity of Communist Militants as we believed that they were more democratic and if those comrades had written such a letter, after the sentence "the existing revolutionary Marxist forces like Komala, Peykar and the Unity of Communist Militants", they would have at least put an "etc."
would have mentioned others such as OIPFG (Minority), Organisation of Communist Unity, Rahe Kargar, Left Unity, Razmandegan, Independent Working Class Movement, Nabard Communist Group, etc., etc.
Finally, as anxious Iranian students in Britain about the happenings in Iran, we are always happy to help comrades in the publication of their translated Iranjan cummunist literature so long as it further fortifies the class struggle in Iran and elsewhere.
Long live solidarity!
Long live proletarian democracy!
Long live socialism!
SOCIETY OF IRANIAN STUDENTS IN LONDON (LEFT PLATFORM)
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THE TRANSITIONAL PROGRAM FOR REVOLUTION
would, in the very hour of apparent success, be utterly