Wed, 21 May 1997 23:48:05 -0400 COCKROACH! #62 (The Labor Party Again!) A EZINE FOR POOR AND WORKING CLASS PEOPLE. WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS. It is time that the poor and working class people have a voice on the Internet. Contributions can be sent to Subscribtions are free at Now on line! Check out the Home of COCKROACH! http://www.algonet.se/~malecki How often this zine will appear depends on you! -------------------------------------------------------- 1. The Labor Party Again! 2. Aldofo, Detcom and Joe Stalin! 3. Sweden Vs North korea! -------------------------------------------------------- The Labor Party Again! Chris writes; >You continously fail to see the difference between the LP, which has >already "broken from the Democrat Party," and some of the labor union >leadership who have one foot in the LP and one foot in the DP. We could >scream obsenities at them, call them dirty yellow running dogs, but that >is not going to convince them that they can trust us upon inviting us to >talk to their memberships. Actually Chris I like your answer because it shows the way some of the more intelligent supporters of the LP think. I find it extremely interesting and dead wrong. The above paragraph is so full of paradoxes and contradictions it becomes quite funny. But in reality we have to stop this garbage of paying lip service to the LP being "independent" and in reality it is the pro democratic trade union bureaucrats who call all the shots and determine policy for the Labor Party. Because those poor little bureaucrats are leading you Chris around by the nose.. >There are real logistical barriers to our reaching the organized working >class in the United States these days. The factories, mines, mills and >refineries have tall gates and guards around them. You go to the >shopping centers in the working class neighborhoods and the guards kick >you our or arest you when you try to hand out literature. One way we >know that we can reach the organized sectors of the class is through >their unions. That is the particular core of workers we will begin >building our party with. Your suggestions about how to reach them would >be better suited as advice for a heckler in a comedy club than a serious >organizer in current environments in the U.S. Parhaps you have spent too >long on the tundra to understand how far out you really sound to those >of us here in the midst of the struggle to create a genuine U.S. LP. >In solidarity, Now really Chris! As if organising in the trade unions in the United States differs fundementally from organising in the trade unions in Europe. Not really. But the approach of the present LP leadership appears to be a cow towing to the pro democratic party trade union bureaucrats who in order to keep a line open to the base want to play both ends of the stck. Why is it that you are asking people to get out their and organise independently on the grass roots level and turn around and tail the pro democratic trade union bureaucrats. Why not organise a grass roots movement in the trade union movement with a leadership and a program that fights for a *real* labor party independent of the twin parties of capitalism? It is really not a question of name calling but fundemental political strategy. Stop the crap about how difficult everything is and go in for a *real* independent line in the trade unions allso. As i see it now. The LP strategy is hardly to get out their and organise workers but bowing to the left wing of the trade union bureaucracy in trying to find a short cut to a mass workers party. These bureaucrats are certainly not interested in a *real* independent party and the policies that they dictate to the LP through "block" votes is hardly in the interests of the poor and working class people. I suggest that a serious LP should roll up their sleeves and independently build a LP in the trade unions not with the trade union bureaucracy who find it difficult to break with the democrats and thus force the LP to being not and indepent party but a party which is tied to the coat tails of the Democrats Hook Line and Sinker. At best one could say that your line represents kissing the asses of the trade union bureaucracy rather then getting out their and organising workers around a real party with and independent program. And as long as the leadership of the LP takes this road of sevility and cow towing every class concious militiant of the Labor Movement and poor and working class people should turn their backs to you, Because you are not prepared to take any *real* step which for poor and working class people say that the LP is not just a bunch of ass kissers to the left wing of the democratic party and especially the trade union bureucrats who are taking time and again by the nose into supporting the Democratic Party through thick and thin. In fact the latest round of elections just shows how despicable any party calling itself "independent" can go. With the LP line on the elections which was determined by the pro democratic party trade union bureaucrats with block votes is like spitting in the faces of the legislation poor and working class people will suffer under like "Welfare" that the Dems and Pubs are cooking up with the LP support to the Democrats. How quaint it will be when the LP in the next round say we can not put forth independent candidates but must once again give support to the Dems. Good Luck Chris. But I think that those in the LP that are serious about building a new party must oust not only the pro democratic party trade union bureacrats from leading the party by the nose down the path of support to the Democrats. But it also must remove the entire right wing line which Chris appears to represent. Because ultimately it is this line that is determining the policies of the LP. So in reality all the talk about "independence" is in fact bullshit because when it comes down to the cookie jar the LP is supporting the democratic party. Finally just a word about Malecki and "Cockroach". As a Communist and Trotskyist I naturally want to go much futher then the normal activist in the LP at present. Cockroach in a sense reflects a broad perspective of just this kind of stuff and what is taking place Internationsally after the demise of the Stalinists. And our conservative wing of the LP are now raising their voices to ban Cockroach. This is unfortunate because reality has a way of flying at you right through the window. Naturally I understand that many of the LP supporters are not prepared to go as far as Malecki in regards to our common political future in the workers movement. But the right wing of the LP does not even want to take ONE STEP and break with the democrats. And I certainly will give my full support to every LP member that is prepared to take just one fairly simple step.. Break with the Democrats! For a real independent Labor Party. If you really take this step then the LP would certainly deserve some sort of critical support. Until then the LP is just a part of the democratic party and must take responsibility for the line that at present determines the LP practice. That practice is calling for votes to a Democratic Party who's latest contribution to poor and working class people is a bill along with their republican allies on "welfare reform" which basically tells poor and working class people to starve to death! That is what the consequences of the present "No independent" candidates really means. Sorry if this letter appear to sharp for the LPers drinking their morning coffee. But I am afraid that i must place myself on the side of the people who will suffer because the LP tops are sucking up to the Democrats... Warm Regards Bob Malecki -------------------------------------------------------- Aldofo, Detcom and Joe Stalin! Dave wrote in reply to SC; >> Siddharth reduces fundamental arguments to matters of spelling, >generalised insults to Trotskyists, wanking on about his grandmother >and mud, and muddling up menshevik stage theory of which he is a hack >advocate, and growing up. Well grow up Siddarth, your efforts to >reduce these questions to trivia are resisted by history itself. > >None of the Trotskyists on this list are in any conspiracy, or acting >as inferiors or superiors. That is you stalinist mind caste slipping >into neutral. There have been several exchanges on these lists >about the Stalinist betrayals of the Chinese CP in 1927. Go back and >read those and come up with your defence of Chiang Kai-shek as an >honourary member of the Comintern. > >As for Jerry `inciting' Olaechea to come up with death threats, what >a pathetic joke. Where have you been during the heated exchanges on >Peru, or for that matter Olaechea's death threats to others on these >lists? While Olaechea and all his apologists try to minimise these >threats, Trotskyists are aware that Stalinists/Maoists have actually >carried these threats out against Trotskyists in the past as part of their >counter-revolutionary deals with the bourgeoisie to enforce spheres >of influence to defend "socialism in one country". > >Finally, the menshevik method which you, Godena, Olaechea and many >others share or defend on these lists, has already brought about the >single most counter-revolutionary overturn in history, the collapse >of the degenerate workers states and the restoration of capitalism in >the former SU and Eastern Europe, and is now being crowned by the >restoration of capitalism in the East. > >While it is necessary to point out these realities to you, in an >attempt to convince you that you are wrong, it is more than likely >that you will remain dogmatically hidebound to your >menshevik role in history, and end up where you belong in the >dust-bin of history, after the victorious working class has trampled >over you and your fellow bureaucratic bootlickers. > >Dave. Actually there is not to much to answer above Dave's reply. SC knows that Borokin was the COMINTERN representative in China during the Shang Hai episode and the Maoists followed Stalin down the road of popular front politics and the slaughter of the Chinese Proletariat in Shang Hai. And later on Mao had basically the same line and had to be pushed into going much futher then Stalin and his advisors would have liked in 1949. Where the same stagest theroy linked to popular front politics was present in the form of Mao's support to "private property" among other things. And as far as the Aldolfo affair where SC and even now Godena are whinging aboout the death threats being all Jerry's fault. This is just a big fucking lie. I mean SC was on M1 where Adolfo repeatedly was threaterning people with bullets, icepicks and steel boots. And to think that the Stalinists do not mean this shit. Well, I am afraid they will just have to wait to the PCP were to wind up in state power to learn the lesson of how Stalinists deal with the political opposition. But it is interesting that Jerry know is being used to defend "poor" Aldolfo. What a joke! And I still defend Z in her decision on Aldolfo who thinks that death threats and calling every body lizards and Fujimora agents at best belong to normal tactics in the workers movement. In fact Godena should immediately be removed as a moderater for defending Aldolfo and his very "real" threats of death and violence against political opponents in the workers movement. And I who always thought that Godena was trying to clean up the more dirty aspects of Stalinism in order to continue the rotten political line that they historically represent. Well, Even Malecki can be wrong. And obviously on this point i have been too quick in my accessment of Godena. Because his line as moderater is a defense of using the old Stalinist model of violence and killing your political opponents as viable. Finally John's observation was quite thoughtful in regards to the professors in the first world countries in regards to this question. Well John the professor's for years sluffed off the Moscow trials and the killing of Trotskyists. So what's new? Now they are even more despicable in becoming aploogists for Aldolfo and his ilk. As usuall the sniffing little whiner Barkely outshines them all as usuall. Barkely get off your god dammed knees will you! Warm Regards Bob Malecki -------------------------------------------------------- >On March 6, 1997, "htorres" wrote: > >>Malecki: >>" Aldolfo says that anybody who does not support the PCP, every speech that >>Gonzalo ever made, etc is and agent of Fujimora at best!" >>In fact, Adolfo doesn't support every Gonzalo's speech, because Gonzalo and >>ALL the PCP-SL leaders in jail are promoting a peace agreement with >>Fujimori! Jaques replied; >There is absolutely no evidence of a so-called "promotion of a peace >agreement" by Chairman Gonzalo. Since his arrestation in September 1992, he >has been jailed in the condition of total isolation. Here is what he really >said at the only occasion he could speak publicly, on September 24, 1992: > >"We are here in circumstances which some think to be a great defeat. They >are dreaming. Today we say to them this is only a bend in the road. Nothing >more! A bend in the middle of the road. And tough the road is long, we >shall travel it to the end. We will reach our goal and we will win! (...) >We will continue to carry out the plans of the People's War for the seizure >of power." > >Since then, no one has been able to meet and speak directly with him, even >his doctors, his relatives, nor his own lawyer who has been arrested >himself, charged for "apology for terrorism" and jailed for the rest of his >life! > >The rumours about a so-called "capitulation" from Gonzalo came from the >mouth of Alberto Fujimori himself. By repeating this sinister lie, you are >unmasking yourself as a vulgar counter-revolutionary propagandist. > >But what can we expect from an open supporter of the "official Left" in >Peru, that only wants to save the State from the revolution that is going >on? In fact, it is this so-called Left, along with their Trotskyist >cheerleaders, that is supporting peace with the oppressors, mainly by >opposing the People's War led by the PCP. > >Jacques Beaudoin Dear Jacques, I understand the problems you are having in defending "god" Gonzalo. The problem is in fact, despite all the speeches you claim Gonzalo made or did not make is the fact that the PCP have has their ultimate political line in the stage theroy of revolution in Peru. And Gonzalo and his parrot Aldofo on this list have always had the line of making a deal with a wing of the Peruvian bougeoisie. As to whether it will be Fujimora or somebody else that the PCP makes the deal with is actually irrevelant. The point being that the PCP has a fundementally incorrect line on workers revolution. And time will tell just *who* the PCP will make the deal with. Already Aldolfo is talking about a right wing coup to oust Fujimora thus opening the way for the PCP to make a deal with Fujimora. Naturally there can be many twists and turns and the PCP with their theroy will sooner or later make the deal. That is the bottom line of this debate. Against this line the Trotskyists call for Proletarian Independence from all wings of the bougeoisie in Peru. And that it is the working class and not the peasantry that is the revolutionary motor in Peru. Just as it is a maoist pipedream of the "Peruvian Revolution" because any serious attempt to organising the Proletariat in Latin America must be seen out of a revolutionary Internationalist perspective and not through the spectacles of the Stalinist theroy of "Socialism in one country" linked to making a deal with the local "progressive" wing of the Peruvian bougeoisie. Now if you can take from a document or a speech where Gonzalo does not have the fundementally wrong perspective of finding a "progressive" wing of the bougeoisie in Peru to make a deal with. Then perhaps I could almost believe your whining. Unfortunately you can't and time will prove that Gonzalo and the PCP will make a deal. If not with Fujimori (which is a clear alternative) for the Stalinists and their stage theroy of revolution, then it certainly will be another wing of the bougeoisie in Peru. But my tip is that Gonzalo will make the deal unless a serious split in the Peruvian bougeoisie develops and a new hero comes from that the PCP can capitulate to. So the basic problem is not whether it will be Fujimora or not. But the PCP line of looking for a wing of the bougeoisie to make the deal with! Warm Regards Bob Malecki ------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Vs North korea! Kong Olav wrote: >Which country is closer to the socialism presented in Marx's works. >Sweden or N. Korea, and why? If neither of those two are a good example >then what is one? Marx hardly presents socialism in his works. What he does is examine the development of capitalism and the way it is developing towards a terminal crisis. He sees the development (political and revolutionary) through and out of this crisis as a freeing up of the means of production from capitalist relations of production. He points to some preconditions for this freeing up. The first and most important is the taking of production into common ownership, that is, the abolition of private property in the sphere of production. This is a precondition that has not been met in Sweden, which is a capitalist country through and through. It's one of the ten most exploitative countries in the world -- as an imperialist nation it's a piranha among the bigger sharks (just like Australia, say). Welfare state policies don't make socialism. They were introduced in a number of countries after the war as a temporary concession to the power and the revolutionary mood of the working class, and recent years have shown just how temporary they were. Welfare state policies in fact helped capitalism by promoting industrial peace, encouraging reactionary trade unions and producing well-educated and highly productive workers. N. Korea on the other hand *has* fulfilled this first condition. It did it as part of the revolutionary upheaval spearheaded by the postwar Chinese revolution. However, public ownership of the means of production and the abolition of capitalism are not enough by themselves to produce socialism. Marx defines this as "from each according to his ability, to each according to his work", and makes it clear that the main precondition for achieving this is non-capitalist economic control in the world market. On this basis, there have been *no* socialist countries yet. So instead of socialism, Marxists speak of "dictatorships of the proletariat", where a state based on the overturn of capitalism is fighting with other similar states to wrest control of the world economy from capitalism. The miserable record of the Stalinist Soviet Union and the workers' states that emerged in its train, either by independent revolutions (as in China, Yugoslavia, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam) or conquest (much of Eastern Europe) has produced the phenomenon of dictatorships of the proletariat moving *away* from socialism, rather than towards it. The collapse of the Soviet Union is the greatest example of this dynamic, which has its roots in the reactionary and bureaucratic politics of Stalinist leaderships. So North Korea (like Cuba etc) is set to follow in the wake of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, with economic and political collapse going hand in hand. If the working class is not democratically empowered to run a workers' state, then its "socialism" will not be longlasting and the quality of life there will be far from socialist. Trotsky foresaw this development of workers' states run by a bureaucratic Stalinist caste towards surrender to the imperialists very clearly. In the Transitional Programme, of which he was the main author, in 1938, he wrote: The USSR thus embodies terrific contradictions. But it still remains a *degenerated workers' state*. Such is the social diagnosis. The political prognosis has an alternative character: either the bureaucracy, becoming ever more the organ of the world bourgeoisie in the workers' state, will overthrow the new forms of property and plunge the country back to capitalism; or the working class will crush the bureaucracy and open the way to socialism. Transitional Programme "The USSR and Problems of the Transitional Epoch" It might be possible to get a few pointers about what socialism could be like from either Sweden or North Korea, but they'd be very limited and if taken as some kind of model to adopt they'd be disastrous -- just look at how stupid the Havels of this world (and other East European wannabes) have been made to look by their vapourings about the Swedish model!! Hugh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check Out My HomePage where you can, Read the book! Ha Ha Ha McNamara, Vietnam-My Bellybutton is my Crystalball! Or Get The Latest Issue of COCKROACH a zine for poor and working-class people http://www.algonet.se/~malecki Back issues of Cockroach and the book can also be found at; http://www.kmf.org/malecki/ --------------------------------------------------------