PART SIX

BUILDING A COMMUNIST PARTY IN BRITAIN

The general principles of Communism are laid down by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto (1848) - the manifesto of the Communist League. They are as valid today as when they were first written. They broadly state that:

• The capitalist system of production itself becomes a fetter on the further development of the productive forces and makes inevitable the replacement of capitalism by communism.
• The capitalist system not only 'forges the weapons that bring death to itself' but has brought into existence the modern working class which is to wield those weapons.
• The working class can only transform capitalist into communist society by 'raising itself to the position of ruling class' (establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat) and using its state power to expropriate the owners ofcapital -the old ruling class. After the experience of the Paris Commune 1871 'where the proletariat for the first time held political power for two whole months' an important addition was made. The Commune conclusively proved that 'the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made State machinery, and wield it for its own purposes' (1872 Preface). It had to destroy the old state machine.
• The 'dictatorship of the proletariat' only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society.

Communists, the Manifesto states, represent the interests of the working class as a whole:

'The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties by this only: 1. In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality. 2. In the various states of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole.'

The practical application of the principles of the Manifesto would depend 'everywhere and at all times' on the existing historical conditions. For that reason, as Marx and Engels made clear, no special stress was to be laid on the practical measures at the end of Section II of the Manifesto. Different tactical and programmatic positions would be adopted in different periods, and the practical measures taken would be different in the different countries. On the international level these differences had to be argued over and clarified in the international working class movement over a period of 60 years before a Communist International was finally established in 1919. Many initial conceptions of the development of the revolutionary process internationally had to be changed as the real political process unfolded.

THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS MOVEMENT

The First International was formed in 1864 after the rise in the tempo of the class struggle in Britain and France. Under the direction of Marx it attempted 'to unite the militant proletariat from above' to combat the alliances of the reactionary ruling class forces in Europe and to build an organised independent working class movement in the different countries. The First International (1864-1872) laid the foundation of the proletarian, international struggle for socialism.

Among the principles it fought for were the following:

• That the emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working class themselves; that the struggle for the emancipation of the working class means not a struggle for class privileges and monopolies but for equal rights and duties.
• That the economic subjection ofthe working class to the minority ruling class which owns the means of production of wealth is the source of all social misery and servitude.
• That efforts aimed at emancipating the working class have failed due to divisions of the working class in each country and lack of international solidarity between the working classes of different countries.
• That the emancipation ofthe working class is neither a local nor a national but a social question - an international question. It embraces all countries and depends for its solution on the theoretical and practical co-operation of the most advanced countries.

In the course of its many struggles and disputes the First International established a number of important political points:

First, that the working class had to have its own independent political organisation.

Second, through its official analysis of the Paris Commune - written by Marx - it laid down the principles of the dictatorship of the proletariat and of socialist organisation.

Third, through its intervention on the Irish question it pointed to the emergence of monopoly capitalism in Britain and fundamentally re-assessed the relationship between national liberation movements and the working class struggle for socialism. It pointed to the emergence of an opportunist trend in the British labour movement. It clarified the issue of nationalism and internationalism in the new circumstances.

The end of the First International saw the formation of working class parties in many countries in Europe. Britain was the main exception.

The Second International was established in Paris in 1889 and undertook to continue the work of the First International. It existed from 1889 to 1914, up to the war. This was the period of steady growth and relatively peaceful development of capitalism, a period without great revolutions. This period saw the rise of mass working class parties and the working class movement gained strength and matured in a number of countries. The working class leaders in most parties, however, became accustomed to the peaceful conditions and the ability to wage revolutionary struggles was soon lost. The period of the Second International saw the emergence of opportunism as an international trend with the advent of imperialism. The Second International finally collapsed in 1914 with the start of the First Imperialist War. Undermined by opportunism, it perished when the leaders of most parties deserted to the side of their respective ruling classes in the war. They betrayed the workers, they helped to prolong the slaughter and became enemies of socialism. Opportunism had triumphed, and a fundamental split in the working class movement had taken place.

The Third International actually emerged in 1918 after the years of struggle against opportunism and social-chauvinism, particularly during the war, had led to the formation of Communist Parties in a number of countries. It followed the victory of the working class in Russia. The Third (Communist) International was officially founded in March 1919 in Moscow, then the capital of the Russian Federal Soviet Republic. Lenin at the time said of the Third International that it had 'gathered the fruits of the work of the Second International, discarded its opportunist, social-chauvinist, bourgeois and petty bourgeois dross, and has begun to implement the dictatorship of the proletariat'.

The first appeal that the Communist International made to all working people throughout the world was to 'Remember the imperialist war'. It warned that unless capitalism is overthrown, the repetition of such destructive wars when the workers of different countries are forced 'to cut each other to pieces' is not only possible but inevitable. The Imperialist War confirmed what was written in the statutes of the First International that the emancipation of the working class is not a local, nor a national, but an international question.

The aim of the Communist International was to fight by all possible means, including armed struggle, to overthrow the international capitalist class and create an international Soviet republic as a transitional stage to the complete abolition of the state. The Communist International made it clear that it had broken with the racist traditions of the Second International 'which recognised only white-skinned people' and aimed at the liberation of the working people of the whole world. And it undertook to support every Soviet republic wherever it may be formed.

The Communist International recognised that if capitalism was to be abolished internationally it had to have a strong centralised organisation - to be a single universal Communist Party with the parties in each country acting as its sections. The organisational apparatus of the International had to be able to guarantee the working people of every country the opportunity to receive maximum assistance at any time from the organised working class of other countries.

The Communist International stressed the importance of support for national liberation movements in the struggle against imperialism. This was made clear in one of the conditions laid down for membership of the Communist International:

'A particularly marked and clear attitude on the question of the colonies and oppressed nations is necessary on the part ofthe Communist Parties of those countries where bourgeoisies are in possession of colonies and oppress other nations. Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International has the obligation of exposing the dodges of its 'own' imperialists in the colonies, of supporting every liberation movement in the colonies not only in words but in deeds, of demanding that their imperialist compatriots should be thrown out of the colonies, of cultivating in the hearts of the workers in their own country a truly fraternal relationship to the working population in the colonies and to the oppressed nations, and of carrying out systematic propaganda among their own country's troops against any oppression of colonial peoples.'

As part of this stand the Second Congress of the Communist International called together a Congress of the Peoples of the East at Baku in September 1920 soon after Baku had been liberated by the Red Army. It was the first attempt to appeal to the exploited and oppressed peoples in the colonial and semi-colonial countries to carry forward their revolutionary struggles to hasten the downfall of world capitalism with the support of the workers in Soviet Russia and the workers of Europe and America. Britain was the dominant imperialist power at that time and the fight to destroy British imperialism was a major theme of the Baku Congress.

The Congress was attended by 1,891 delegates from the following countries: Turkey, Persia, Egypt, India, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Kashgar, China, Japan, Korea, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Bukhara, Khiva, Daghestan, Northern Caucasia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkestan, Ferghana, the Kalmuck Autonomous Region, the Tatar Republic, and the Far Eastern District. The Manifesto of the Baku Congress made it clear why the Congress had been convened.

'Every peasant, every toiler, needs to know what the Communist International is. It is a union ofworkers and peasants - of the Communists of the whole world, which has set itself the aim of smashing the power of the rich and bringing about the complete equality of all...

'The Communist International wants to put an end not only to the power of the rich over the poor but also to the power of some peoples over others. For this purpose the workers of Europe and America must unite with the peasants and other working elements of the peoples of the East ...'

The working class of Europe had to rid itself of its opportunist leaders and unite with the oppressed peoples against imperialism. under the banner of the Communist International they could find the way.

Another important condition for the entry of Communist Parties to the Communist International was the support of every Soviet republic against counter-revolutionary forces

'Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International has the obligation to give unconditional support to every Soviet republic in its struggle against the forces of counter-revolution. The Communist Parties must carry out clear propaganda to prevent the transport of war materials to the enemies ofthe Soviet republics. They must also carry out legal or illegal propaganda, etc, with every means at their disposal among troops sent to stifle workers' republics.'

More than anything else communism was represented by the victory of the Russian revolution and the programme of the Communist International. It alone stood for the freedom of oppressed peoples from imperialism. It alone stood for the freedom of workers from the profit system that had confronted the vast majority of mankind with poverty, crisis and war. The Communist International at its Congresses after the First World War called upon all workers from the imperialist nations to break with their social democratic leaders (and other opportunists) and unite with the oppressed peoples to overthrow imperialism.

Little wonder that the opportunist leaders of the labour movements in the imperialist countries, whose very status and privilege arose from the existence of imperialism, hated and feared the Communist International. These leaders continued to defend the rotten and dying corpse of the Second International. Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Independent Labour Party in Britain, and the Prime Minister of the first two Labour governments of 1924 and 1929 and of the dole-cutting national coalition government of 1931-1935, a man who consistently betrayed the struggles of the British working class, spoke for all the opportunists when he said:

...the whole Second International is anti-Bolshevik. It is indeed the only real bulwark against Bolshevism short of military executions.' (The Labour Leader 14 August 1919)

The leadership in the revolutionary proletarian International had passed to the Russian working class movement. This shift in the centre of the revolutionary process to the East was the inevitable result of the victory of opportunism in the labour movements of the major imperialist countries and intensified imperialist exploitation throughout the world. Soviet, or proletarian, democracy was born in Russia. The first stable socialist republic in the world proved to be the proletarian and peasant Soviet Republic.

Lenin thought that the leadership of the revolutionary proletarian International would pass to the Russian working class only for a short time:

'I have had occasion more than once to say that it was easier for the Russians than for the advanced countries to begin the great proletarian revolution, but that it will be more difficult for them to continue it and carry it to final victory, in the sense ofthe complete organisation of a socialist society.'

Soviet republics in countries where the proletariat had much greater weight and influence in the more developed capitalist countries had every chance of surpassing Russia once they took the path of the dictatorship of the proletariat. But this development did not take place. The opportunist leadership of the working class movement in the imperialist countries proved to be far too influential. The revolution with the aid of the Russian working class spread East and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was built in 1922. However the Soviet Union was to remain totally isolated until after the Second World War.

Alter the victory of fascism in Germany in 1933, with the threat from the imperialist countries against the Soviet Union growing year by year, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 during the Second Imperialist War, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union found it necessary to dissolve the Third (Communist) International in 1943. This development was a major setback for the international working class movement. It was the result of the isolation of the Soviet Union and the total domination of opportunist currents in the working class movement in the imperialist countries.

After the heroic victories of the Red Army against fascism and the advance of socialism into Eastern Europe, the balance of class forces world-wide began to change. 1949 saw the victory of the Chinese revolution. Today a significant part of the world's population has chosen the path of socialism. The socialist countries are no longer isolated. But the victory of socialism, and the defeat of imperialism throughout the world demands the reconstruction of the Communist International. Imperialism is once again creating the conditions for a real revolutionary alliance of workers in the imperialist countries, oppressed people fighting imperialism, and the socialist countries. Yet, though imperialism is beginning to unite these revolutionary forces against itself, they have yet to unite in an international revolutionary organisation which can carry on the work of the Communist International. Such disunity can only strengthen imperialism. There are revolutionary movements not associated with communism; there are organisations calling themselves communist which are thoroughly opportunist such as the CPGB; there are international communist organisations which include opportunist alongside revolutionary parties; and there are revolutionary communists outside these organisations. Such a situation can only hold back the revolutionary struggle against imperialism.

Where the centre of such a revolutionary International will be and under what conditions it will be born remains to be seen. One thing however is clear, it can only be built on the basis of the fundamental standpoint of the Communist International 'workers and oppressed peoples unite' to destroy imperialism and build socialism throughout the world.

A communist party in Britain cannot be built except as part of the process to reconstruct the Communist International. Today communists in Britain can only practically contribute to that process by a resolute defence of the socialist countries and by building an anti-imperialist movement in Britain to destroy British imperialism.

WHAT IS A COMMUNIST PARTY?

The Communist Party is a part of the working class, the most advanced, politically conscious and revolutionary part. It will have the most politically conscious, most dedicated and far sighted proletarians in its ranks. The Communist Party differs from the general mass of the working class in that it looks at the whole historical path of the working class both nationally and internationally and attempts at each stage ofthe struggle to defend the working class as a whole, rather than individual groups or sections. The Communist Party is the organisational and political lever which assists the more politically conscious part of the working class to direct the struggle of the mass of working class and all oppressed strata on the right path.

How does a Communist Party come into existence? Lenin has argued that the existence of a mass revolutionary socialist workers party today - a Communist Party - depended on the fusion of two social movements:

'one, a spontaneous movement, a popular movement within the working class, the other, the movement of social thought in the direction of the theory of Marx and Engels...' In Britain this fusion has never taken place. In the 1830s and 1840s a mass working class party - the first in the history ofthe labour movement - came into existence. It was the National Charter Association founded in July 1840. It had about 50,000 members in the years of the rise of the Chartist movement. Its supporters and sympathisers ran into hundreds of thousands. Chartism not only had the backing of the main body of the working class in Britain but under conditions of extreme poverty and political repression became a militant movement which for a period of years was powerful enough to threaten revolution.

The fusion of Chartism with scientific socialism was historically not to occur. For precisely at the time when scientific socialism became an influence in the Chartist movement, that movement was in decline. Not only had Chartism suffered a major defeat in 1848 but the conditions in Britain which had given rise to that movement were beginning to change.

In the third quarter of the nineteenth century (1850-75) British capitalism, with the markets of the world under its domination, rapidly expanded and was able to relax the extreme pressure upon the working class which had been ever present in the 1830s and 1840s. Wages rose and conditions improved especially for the skilled craftsmen who more and more assumed the leadership ofthe working class. These privileged workers turned aside from Chartism to build up their 'New Model' trade unions and their Co-operative Societies. The spirit of rebellion disappeared and proposals for radical reconstruction of society were brushed aside. Opportunist currents were to dominate the British working class movement unchallenged for over 40 years.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century the conditions of the working class deteriorated again. The class struggle intensified and the mass of the working class - the unskilled workers - were organised with the help of socialists in the New Unions which were founded in Britain in the late 1880s. Engels was very optimistic about this development precisely because the mass of unskilled workers was free from the inherited 'bourgeois' prejudices of the workers in the Old Unions - 'their minds were virgin soil'. But again the fusion of scientific socialism with a mass popular movement within the working class did not take place. The socialist organisations in Britain at that time were too backward, divisive and sectarian to prevent the leadership of the New Unions being drawn into the opportunist structure of the old unions with its army of paid and bought off officials. Opportunism again was triumphant in the British working class movement.

With the advent of imperialism and the growth of opportunism as an international trend, it became clear that a revolutionary socialist movement would only be built if socialists abandon their preoccupation with the privileged minority of workers and, in Lenin's words, 'go down lower and deeper', 'to the real masses' - the real majority not infected with bourgeois prejudices. This standpoint dictates our strategy for building a communist party in Britain today. A communist party can only be built first and foremost among those sections of the working class whose conditions of existence force them into conflict with the British imperialist state. The 1981 Uprisings established beyond doubt that black people, and black youth, in particular, are a leading force opposed to the British imperialist state. As we have argued earlier their daily experience of racist harassment by the British state has given them the ability - in advance of any other section ofthe working class - to see the British state as an oppressive machine for dominating the working class as a whole. In addition they identify by virtue of their oppression with all the oppressed peoples fighting imperialism. Communists have to work alongside these forces and other oppressed sections of the working class to build with them an anti-imperialist anti-racist movement which will draw in wider sections of the working class. Only from the most politically conscious, vanguard elements of this movement, schooled in the anti-imperialist struggle, can a new communist party be born in Britain. The fusion of scientific socialism with a mass popular movement in Britain must become a real possibility. Communists have a duty to do everything possible to realise this historic possibility.

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TASKS OF COMMUNISTS IN BRITAIN TODAY

At all times the tasks of communists must be formulated in accordance with the existing social political and historical conditions. In Britain, today, those conditions, as outlined throughout this document, dictate that the necessary and urgent political task of communists is to utilise every available opportunity in all spheres of struggle through propaganda, agitation and practical activity to foster encourage and develop the growth of an anti-imperialist movement out of which a new communist party can be built. The practical expression of this general task differs in each case, but in all cases communists work to win new forces to the anti-imperialist position and to practical activity based on that position. In all cases communists work to bring to the forefront the connection between all particular struggles and the central struggle against the imperialist ruling class and its agents in the working class movement. The practical application of this standpoint can be outlined in relation to major issues which are crucial to the development of an anti-imperialist movement in Britain today.

IRELAND

Communists will work for the defeat of British imperialism in Ireland. They give unconditional support to the national liberation struggle to drive British imperialism out of Ireland. Communists will attempt to build an anti-imperialist solidarity campaign in Britain which demands self-determination for the Irish people. Today that means an anti-imperialist movement based on the demands Victory To The Irish People! Troops Out Now!

During the course of the hunger strike campaign of l981 the existing solidarity movement - TOM and other middle class left organisations - conclusively demonstrated its complete domination by opportunist forces, its complete ineffectiveness and therefore its complete inability to develop in an anti-imperialist direction. This fact dictated the necessity to create an anti-imperialist solidarity movement directed towards the most oppressed sections of the working class: the Irish Solidarity Movement (ISM). This movement with its anti-imperialist position, its democratic structure and its practical activity makes it possible for communists to work alongside other anti-imperialist forces to build a broad anti-imperialist solidarity movement. The anti-imperialist stand of the ISM is expressed in the three slogans:

• Victory to the Irish People
• Troops Out Now
• The Right to Repatriation for all Irish P0Ws

As a crucial part of the work to build the ISM, communists fight wherever possible for united campaigns with other forces and individuals. They do this to win the widest possible support for Irish liberation, to win new forces to the anti-imperialist position and to defend the democratic rights necessary for the building of an anti-imperialist movement. Concrete examples of this are: (1) The unity campaign of 1983 conducted under the slogans 'Complete British Withdrawal from Ireland! Self-Determination for the Irish People! The Right of Repatriation for all Irish POWs!' (2) Campaigns against police harassment of Irish solidarity activists. (3) Campaigns against particular aspects of British imperialist rule in Ireland such as informers, PTA, plastic bullets etc. In such wider campaigns communists fight to win participants in the campaigns to the anti-imperialist position without making the acceptance of this position a pre-condition for participation.

SOUTH AFRICA

Communists work to build solidarity in Britain for the liberation movements in Southern Africa. They give unconditional support to the ANC, SWAPO and all other forces in their fight to overthrow the racist apartheid state. They call for the total economic, political, cultural and military isolation of the apartheid regime. At all times communists work alongside other anti-imperialist forces to build the widest possible support for liberation in southern Africa. Communists bring to the fore the connection between the struggle against the racist regime in South Africa and the racist imperialist state in Britain. Communists fight to win all forces involved in the struggle against apartheid to the understanding that unless this vital connection is understood and the work accordingly directed towards the most oppressed sections of the British working class, an effective mass solidarity movement cannot be built.

Communists work within the Anti-Apartheid Movement and any other anti-apartheid groups to win those active in these movements to the anti-imperialist position. Communists fight for the defence of anti-apartheid activists against police harassment not only to defend democratic rights but also to expose the collaboration between British imperialism and the apartheid regime. Communists oppose all attempts to restrict the development of an anti-imperialist current or tie it to the prejudices and interests oft he British Labour and trade union. movement. Communists fight for:

• Complete economic, political, military and cultural isolation of the South African racist regime.

• Victory to the ANC and SWAPO in the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.

RACISM

Communists will fight against all forms of racism. Communists support the struggle of black people and other racially oppressed sections of the working class against racism, police harassment, immigration controls and discrimination in employment, housing, education, health, the social services and any other forms of discrimination. Communists support the defence of the black community against racist and fascist attacks. At all times communists seek to expose the fact that the primary source of racism is the racist British imperialist state. Communists work within anti-racist campaigns and will join with other anti-racist forces to create such campaigns when necessary. In these campaigns communists will work to build an anti-imperialist current which (1) recognises the inseparable connection between the struggle against racism and the struggle against British imperialism; (2) recognises the central role that black youth must play in these campaigns; (3) defends those arrested or victimised during anti-racist struggles; (4) opposes all attempts by opportunists to restrict the activity of any campaign to suit their own prejudices and interests.

Communists fight for:

• End police harassment
• End all immigration controls
• Repeal the Nationality Act
• End all racist discrimination

SOLIDARITY WITH THE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES AND PEOPLE'S REPUBLICS

Communists oppose the imperialist offensive against the socialist countries. Communists give unconditional support to the socialist countries in their struggle against imperialism and counter-revolution.

As the world-wide crisis of the imperialist system deepens, all imperialist nations are driven to intensify their military, economic and propaganda offensive against existing socialist countries, People's Republics and all other countries which have broken from the imperialist stranglehold. Communists therefore at all times fight to oppose and expose the imperialist offensive against such countries. Communists in Britain promote solidarity with all such countries, regardless of any disputes which may arise between individual socialist countries, People's Republics and other countries which have broken from the imperialist system. Communists fight for:

• Hands off the socialist countries
• Defend the People's Republics
• No to imperialist cold war

SOLIDARITY WITH ALL ANTI-IMPERIALIST MOVEMENTS

Communists given unconditional support to all oppressed peoples in their struggle against imperialist domination and for their right of self-determination.

• Victory to the oppressed peoples of the world
• Workers and oppressed peoples unite to destroy imperialism.

DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

In order to guarantee the conditions of its own existence the imperialist system is driven to attack all existing democratic rights and intensify discrimination and oppression. Communists recognising this fact at all times fight to promote defence of and extension of all existing democratic rights. At the same time communists oppose all attempts by the imperialist ruling class not only to restrict existing democratic rights but also to strengthen and extend its own repressive apparatus.

This struggle for democracy unites all anti-racist, anti-imperialist campaigns and communists fight to bring this unity to the fore. Communists recognise that unless the newly emerging revolutionary forces are thoroughly trained in the struggle for democracy, the struggle for socialism cannot be brought to success. Communists will expose the fact that such democracy can be guaranteed and given its fullest expression only through the overthrow of the imperialist system itself.

Communists recognising the central importance of the struggle for democratic rights seek to work in unity with all forces and individuals who give active support to the defence of democratic rights. Communists must demonstrate through their propaganda, agitation and practical activity that they are the most resolute and dedicated defenders of democratic rights. Concrete examples of this standpoint include:

POLICE Opposition to any extension of police powers; opposition to the equipping of the police with anti-civilian riot weaponry, guns etc; opposition to all forms of police harassment; support for the demand for independent public inquiries into all deaths in police or prison custody.

PRISONS Opposition to internal disciplinary procedures; opposition to the existence or creation of anti-prisoner 'riot squads' such as MUFTI; support for the extension of all democratic and legal rights to prisoners.

COURTS Opposition to all restrictions on legal rights such as refusal of legal aid, restrictions on the right to trial by jury, jury-vetting etc.

WOMEN Opposition to all forms of social, political and material discrimination against women; support for campaigns demanding equal pay, full nursery provision, free and safe abortion and contraception on demand, etc.

TRADE UNION RIGHTS Opposition to all restrictions on workers' rights to defend their jobs and living standards.

Communists oppose all forms of social, political and material discrimination in all spheres of social life against homosexuals, those classified as 'mentally ill', the elderly, the disabled and all other sections, at all times exposing the fact that the source of all such discrimination is the racist imperialist system itself.

Lenin gave precise expression to this task of communists in relation to democracy more than sixty years ago:

'The proletariat cannot be victorious except through democracy, ie by giving full effect to democracy and by linking with each step of its struggle democratic demands formulated in the most resolute terms. It is absurd to counterpose the socialist revolution and the revolutionary struggle against capitalism to a single problem of "democracy"... We must combine the revolutionary struggle against capitalism with the revolutionary programme and tactics on all democratic demands... While capitalism exists, these demands - all of them - can only be accomplished as an exception, and even then in an incomplete and distorted form. Basing ourselves on the democracy already achieved, and exposing its incompleteness under capitalism, we demand the overthrow of capitalism, the expropriation of the bourgeoisie, as a necessary basis both for the abolition of the poverty of the masses and for the complete and all-round institution of all democratic reforms ... The social revolution is not a single battle, but a period covering a series of battles over all sorts of problems of economic and democratic reform, which are consummated only by the expropriation of the bourgeoisie. It is for the sake of this final aim that we must formulate every one of our democratic demands in a consistently revolutionary way... It is... quite inconceivable that the proletariat, as a historical class, will be able to defeat the bourgeoisie, unless it is prepared for that by being educated in the spirit of the most consistent, and resolutely revolutionary democracy.' (Lenin Collected Works Vol 21 pp 408-9)

AGITATION AND PROPAGANDA

Communists have a duty to produce propaganda and agitational material which exposes the nature of British imperialism and its opportunist supporters in the working class movement; which defends oppressed peoples and the socialist countries and calls for political and practical action to build an anti-imperialist movement.

Communists will produce propaganda to educate the working class in the ideas and practice of communism and the history of the working class and oppressed peoples' struggles for freedom democracy and socialism. In 1979 the RCG founded its newspaper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! to carry out these political tasks.

Only by consistently carrying out all these tasks can the influence of the opportunist Labour and trade union leaders be fought. Only by consistently carrying out all these tasks will new vanguard forces of the British working class emerge schooled in the anti-imperialist struggle. Only by consistently carrying out all these tasks can communists in Britain help to create the conditions in which a new Communist Party can be built and so take forward the struggle for the socialist revolution in Britain.

WORKERS AND OPPRESSED PEOPLES OF ALL COUNTRIES UNITE TO DESTROY IMPERIALISM

September 1983

Revised in November 1983 after discussion at the RCG Conference