We have received this "Appeal" published below from a group of left communist sympathisers in Sydney and Adelaide( Australia) [ Our Answer below ]
Appeal to sympathisers of the Communist Left (Australia)
Comrades!
Today humanity faces the same ultimatum posed to it since the eve of the First World War, in the words of Rosa Luxemburg and Friedrich Engels before her - Socialism or Barbarism.
The world capitalist system has seen its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with the working class taking the brunt of the blow, everywhere facing wage-freezes, job-cuts and worsening working conditions. The threat of global environmental catastrophe looks more possible than ever before. Bloody and brutal conflicts rage on around the globe - from Iraq to Afghanistan, Somalia to Sudan, Colombia to Mexico.
In contrast to these emanations of a moribund society we also see the germs of a new world - without exploitation or oppression, without poverty or scarcity, without wars or national borders - in the class struggle of the international working class.
The Communist Left has its origins in the Left currents of the Communist International which came into being as a proletarian response to its opportunist slidings when faced with the retreat of the international revolutionary wave in the 1920s. Whilst the Communist Left had expressions in many countries its most prominent representatives were to be found in Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Russia. In the period of counter-revolution which opened at the end of the 1920s, it was the Communist Left which proved to be the most intransigent defenders of proletarian internationalism and the most rigorous in drawing up the balance sheet of the revolutionary wave.
Whilst sympathisers of the Communist Left do exist in Australia, at this point they do so only as individuals suffering largely from political isolation. In order to effectively intervene in the class struggle, it is necessary that revolutionaries organise themselves into a political organisation, founded on the basis of shared positions and principles.
However, at the present hour the immediate formation of such a group is not on the agenda in Australia. What is needed at present is the coming together of internationalists for discussion conducted with the goal of initiating and maintaining contact between comrades (particularly those who are geographically isolated) and collective political clarification of the positions which define the communist programme today.
Thus, we appeal for the initiation of organised discussions between all sympathisers of the Communist Left in Australia. It is proposed that the discussions are conducted under the name: ‘Internationalist Communist Affiliate Network'.
We propose the criteria for participation is agreement with the most elementary positions of left communism today:
- Imperialist war and national movements of all stripes have nothing to offer the working class but death and destruction. The working class must oppose all bourgeois camps. By calling on them to take the side of one or another faction, the bourgeoisie divide workers and lead them to massacre their class brothers and sisters.
- Parliament and bourgeois elections are a masquerade. Capitalist ‘democracy' does not differ at root from any form of capitalist dictatorship. Any call to participate in the parliamentary circus can only reinforce the lie that elections offer any real choice for the exploited.
- All unions are organs of the capitalist system and act in its service. The fundamental role of the unions is to police the working class and sabotage its struggles. In order to defend its immediate interests, and ultimately to make the revolution, the working class must struggle outside and against the unions.
With fraternal communist greetings, Fabius, Jack, Max, Niccolo, Thomas
Internationalist greetings comrades!
It’s good news to hear that left communists are beginning to organize in Australia. We wish you a warm welcome.
As you mentioned, capitalism is facing its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Most importantly, we’re faced with a set of circumstances that cry out for
an international and internationalist response from the world’s working class. Today, it is more than a question, of general debate and analyses, but an actuality.
The attacks on the working class, carried on throughout the world today, have crystallized around Greece and the EU. In many ways, Greece has become the weathervane and mine-canary for not only the European but the global ruling class. For, in virtually every country and region, the very same austerity measures, the very same attacks on wages and living conditions, whether in the private or public sectors, with the same nationalist rationales ‘of staying competitive in a global market’, are being advanced.
The competing brothers of Capital are united in their attacks on the international working class, while the proletariat is kept divided, fragmented and atomized by repression, the unions, and capitalism’s left wing. One would think that the very similarity of these attacks should create the means for a unified common fight-back by the world’s working class. This is indeed the task facing us and the international working class, which is an important reason why we welcome your invitation for discussion, and debate. A number of months ago we put forward a proposal for online discussion forum to help facilitate debate amongst the Communist Left, of which a copy is printed below. In any case we welcome any questions, contributions and assessment, analysis, and debate as you progress as a group. Don’t hesitate to ask, we’ll try to help in any way we can.
Internationalist Communists Montreal ICM-CIM
