Letter: "Kautskyan"

  1. Die Neue Zeit
    Die Neue Zeit
    http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/796/letters.php



    In his book Revolutionary strategy: Marxism and the challenge of left unity, Mike Macnair argues for an independent working class organisation that follows a Kautskyan ‘strategy of patience’, trying to go back to the principles that made early social democracy successful and find an updated form.

    He sums up the strategic line as follows: “Until we have won a majority (identifiable by our votes in election results), the workers’ party will remain in opposition and not in government. While in opposition we will, of course, make every effort to win partial gains through strikes, single-issue campaigns, etc, including partial agreements with other parties not amounting to government coalitions, and not involving the workers’ party expressing confidence in these parties.”

    While I’m sympathetic to his general argument, I think there are some significant differences under present conditions that require serious thinking about the revival of an analogous strategy.

    Firstly, the existence of large reformist parties with working class roots (eg, present-day European social democracy) that will continue to win a significant section of workers. This is quite unlike the rapidly growing SPD at the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, once a party has grown to significance, there will be pressures from the electorate and members to enter into coalitions for important short-term reforms and keeping the reformist party in check. Anything else is considered ‘irresponsible’. Look at the present-day Norwegian Socialist Left Party, for example.

    Secondly, the lack of a growing core of industrial workers, which had strong workplace bargaining power. The political power of the Scandinavian social democratic parties rested on mass trade unions. This growing core gave the movement confidence that the future belonged to it. Today the industrial working class is decimated and in decline in the advanced capitalist economies. One major source of strength for early social democracy no longer exists. Large-scale industrial workplaces should not be idealised, but they concentrate workers and put them on an equal basis, upon which a class-consciousness can be formed. The unique level of industrial employment in Europe certainly had an effect on the formation of the European working classes and hence on the specificity of the trajectory of western European capitalism during the 20th century.

    Thirdly, the lack of affiliated, independent, working class organisations. What cemented the class basis of the Scandinavian labour movement was the fact that it could provide the working class with things that neither the state nor market could, including educational and recreational activities. This has partly been undermined by the very success of social democratic reforms.

    Even if a mass movement could take off, the Kautskyan strategy could not be copied straightaway because under present conditions it would be unlikely to win support beyond the size of, say, Die Linke or at best the organisationally powerful Dutch Socialist Party, in the short to medium term primarily due to the existence of a large reformist party. But, if it would be intransigent about delegitimising the existing institutions and pushing the entire political spectrum leftwards, it would be worthwhile. Indeed, this is what some populist far-right parties have done quite successfully in the opposite direction.

    I do, however, see two possible areas where space for a revived mass movement could open up.

    Firstly, supranational trade union struggle that pushes towards political unification of the working class on a supranational level. Such a unification project seems to be underway in South America, but would be very relevant to counter the current form of European unification.

    Secondly, gaining relevance within the ‘precariat’- ie, the growing mass of workers with precarious forms of employment, such as part-time, semi-legal and so on. Of course, a problem here is that this section of the service proletariat has a relatively weak bargaining position, but an independent working class organisation could provide forms of security.

    What is needed is a scientific theory of working class formation and organisation. Classical Marxism provided one for industrialising capitalism, but we need one for service-dominated capitalist economies. An important work that enables the beginning of such a theory is Beverly Silver’s Forces of labour: workers’ movements and globalisation since 1870.

    In sum, the revival of a socialist mass movement is both a theoretical-scientific matter and a practical-organisational one.

    David Zachariah
    email
  2. Die Neue Zeit
    Die Neue Zeit
    Since this letter is another integrative letter (commenting on various chapters), I thought I'd post the letter and my comments in a separate thread.

    While I’m sympathetic to his general argument, I think there are some significant differences under present conditions that require serious thinking about the revival of an analogous strategy.

    Firstly, the existence of large reformist parties with working class roots (eg, present-day European social democracy) that will continue to win a significant section of workers. This is quite unlike the rapidly growing SPD at the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, once a party has grown to significance, there will be pressures from the electorate and members to enter into coalitions for important short-term reforms and keeping the reformist party in check. Anything else is considered ‘irresponsible’. Look at the present-day Norwegian Socialist Left Party, for example.
    I've indeed read similar stuff on other boards, even on Rabble.ca, all the talk of praising coalition governments and such.

    There is also pressure to be coalitionist without entering into a formal coalition (including the acceptance of Cabinet positions), which is something that the Bloc Quebecois did recently with the Liberals and NDP:

    While in opposition we will, of course, make every effort to win partial gains through strikes, single issue campaigns, etc, including partial agreements with other parties not amounting to government coalitions, and not involving the workers’ party expressing confidence in these parties.
    The failed coalition deal would have had the Bloc "express confidence" for a duration of 18 months.

    Everything else in the letter, though, is self-explanatory, and I have commented on those factors in my CSR pamphlet.