Leninist line and CLPD

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Lenin: "A party can contain a whole gamut of opinion... for a section real unanimity of opinion is necessary". John. Bloxam believes (SO, 13 January) that he is on particularly strong ground when he claims that all the rules which should apply to the Labour Party are equally applicable to CLPD. In fact the comparison is inappropriate.

A pressure group like CLPD, depends largely on the existence of a reasonable measure of agreement as regards the group's aims and methods. A democratic party on the other hand assumes only a broad measure of agreement so far as its immediate aims are concerned. Consequently it may include a much wider spectrum of opinion as to how its long term objectives may be achieved.

The election of a Labour government, for example, is a vital objective on which all Labour Party members may unite in a joint effort irrespective of their other differences.

Had John Bloxam done a bit of reading instead of merely pontificating about the "defence of democracy in CLPD", he might have avoided the mistake of confusing parties with preenin s writings the period of reaction which followed the defeat of the Russian 1905 Revolution, and which deal with the tactics appropriate in a new situation are instructive in this and other respects. In them Lenin defends the integrity of a socialist party against two forms of *liquidationism wnIcn gathered strength in response to the Revolution's defeat - the liquidationism of the opportunistic right and that of the ultra-left "Left"

A section is not a party, says Lenin, "A party can contain a whole gamut of opinion and shades of opinion. In the German Party, side by side with the pronouncedly revolutionary wing of Kautsky, we see the ultrarevisionist wing of Bernstein. That is not the case within a section. A section in a party is a group of like-minded persons formed for the purpose primarily of influencing the party in a definite direction ... For this a real unanimity of opinion is necessary." (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol.15, p.430).

Parallel

Without wishing to draw too close a parallel between the two situations, it is clear that the rules Lenin applied to the "section" are also appropriate to a pressure group like the CLPD. For a pressure group cannot • operate effectively if it allows different 'sections" within it to pull in opposite directions. But this is precisely the present situation within CLPD.

During the period when conditions were favourable for the advancement of democratic reforms, most of the "sections" which joined CLPD, including those which suffer from a large dose of infantile leftism and infantile feminIsm, were co- able to operate.

Once the tide had turned, these tendencies, having previously taken one step forward, have now retraced two steps back towards their previously held tactical positions. In these circumstances John Bloxam's calls for unity and democracy amount to no more than a smokescreen for an attempt by one section - and a very 5s0ag We invite readers to send us their letters, up to a usual maximum length of 400 words.

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