New tendency's first meeting

The first meeting of the revolutionary democratic communist tendency (Organising Committee) was held on January 9. It was accepted that agreed minutes and/or reports of these meetings could be published in the Weekly Worker and Open Polemic.

The meeting agreed that there would be three 'gateways' into the tendency's aggregates. These would be critical support for three draft documents - rapprochement, factions, and revolutionary democratic communism. The last of these would be discussed at the next meeting. The first aggregate would be held on January 31 and discuss the 'gateways' and the related question of openness. Amendments to these documents must be submitted to the Organising Committee by January 24.

It was reported that the Republican Worker Tendency was prepared to attend the aggregates. However, there were some outstanding matters arising from a letter of complaint from the RWT. It was agreed to try to sort this out through mediation and to invite other organisations.

Provisional dates for the second and third aggregates are March 21 and May 30.

The following statement drafted at the end of 1997 was issued by the tendency: "We believe the time is now right to take the next steps in the rapprochement process on the basis of the agreed documents on factions and rapprochement. We identify the following stages in the process: preliminary stage; transitional stage; fusion conference.

1. Preliminary stage

a) Exploratory talks take place.

b) The CPGB (PCC) and the RDG (OC) publish a call for the formation of a revolutionary democratic communist tendency and invite others to join us.

c) The tendency will come into existence at the beginning of 1998 and be open to all who accept, though not necessarily agree with, the joint documents.

d) Representatives of participating organisations will act as the organising committee for the tendency with powers of cooption and the right to publish joint statements under the name of the tendency.

2. Transitional stage

The tendency will call a series of joint aggregates starting in January 1998. The number of these aggregates (provisionally three) will be flexible, depending on what progress the participants feel has been made. These aggregates will work on joint perspectives and other matters which require clarification. A provisional agenda might include: rapprochement; organisation of the new tendency - theory and practice; SLP work; Scotland and SSA work; building the tendency; general perspectives. At the end of the transitional stage, organisations and individuals will have the opportunity either to withdraw or to take the next step.

Entry and withdrawal from these aggregates is voluntary and this step should be taken without resort to polemics.

3. The fusion conference

At the end of the transitional period, a conference will be convened by the tendency to create a new fused organisation. Decisions at the conference will be taken by majority voting. The conference will decide:

• a) name of the tendency;
  b) organ for the tendency and its name;
  c) new 'Where we stand';
  d) programmatic basis;
  e) organisational principles, rules, subs, etc;
  f) perspectives.

Breakdown or failure

In going through this process it is always possible that there will be a breakdown or failure. We consider that the way we handle this is just as much a testament of communist politics as anything else. In the event of a failed unity, we should seek to establish the facts, in the first instance, concerning the breakdown by means of an agreed statement between all participating organisations. Further polemics must be handled with the greatest calm, precision and the interests of both communist rapprochement and the wider movement.

Thesis on communist rapprochement

1. The aim of communist rapprochement is to unite the communists into a revolutionary democratic communist party, which contains within its ranks the advanced part of the working class.

2. Such a party must be organised around a revolutionary programme, on the basis of democratic centralism, including full faction rights for minority views.

3. Marx and Engels laid the ideological foundations for revolutionary working class politics, combining the ideas of revolutionary democracy with the aim of communism, and placing these ideas on a scientific basis.

4. The early CPGB was founded in 1920 through a process of communist rapprochement, including the British Socialist Party and the Socialist Labour Party. This process, inspired by the Russian Revolution, was the first party of this type within the working class of Britain. With the rise of Stalinism, the party came under the hegemony of opportunist politics veering between ultra-leftism and centrism.

5. The British road to socialism confirmed the CPGB as a party of radical reformism, committed to a parliamentary road to socialism (later to evolve into Eurocommunism). The epicentre of this programmatic degeneration - which affected every part of the world communist movement - was the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was destroyed by the Stalinist bureaucracy.

6. Today the communist movement is fragmented into many different organisations, including the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party, Alliance for Workers Liberty, the Communist Party of Britain, Workers Power, Communist Party of Great Britain, the Workers Revolutionary Party, the Revolutionary Democratic Group, Red Action and others. There is no revolutionary democratic communist party.

7. The communist movement is dominated by the SWP and Socialist Party. Both these tendencies are economistic and veer towards syndicalism and Labourism. Neither of these organisations has the correct ideological or programmatic foundations for building a new communist party. A revolutionary democratic communist party cannot be built out of the growth in the membership of these tendencies.

8. The formation of the Socialist Labour Party has created new opportunities for communists to work together. The SLP is not a communist party. Its policies are mainly influenced by left Labour socialism. But communist ideas also have an impact.

9. The SLP has attracted to its ranks a small but significant number of communists, including ex-members of the Militant, CPB, CPGB, SWP, Fourth International Supporters (Fisc) Socialist Outlook, RDG, International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT) and Workers Power. The SLP presents new opportunities for communist rapprochement.

10. In Scotland the main focus for communist rapprochement has been the formation of the Scottish Socialist Alliance. The SSA was formed at the initiative of the Scottish Militant Labour and includes the CPGB, Republican Worker Tendency and the Edinburgh Republicans.

11. Without significant change in the political situation, there is no immediate prospect of launching a communist party in the UK. However, the process of communist rapprochement, which played such an important role in the foundations of the CPGB, is part of the process which can move us in that direction.

12. The process of communist rapprochement is as yet only in its earliest stage. Our task is to define each stage correctly in order to act effectively.

13. The initial stages of communist rapprochement is the establishment of comradely relations between communist organisations. This may lead to joint work and cooperation, to building a united front for communist unity and even the fusion of organisations.

14. A higher stage of communist rapprochement is the struggle to create a revolutionary democratic communist tendency.

15. A revolutionary democratic communist tendency will be organised around a draft programme on the basis of democratic centralism with the full freedom for factions to express their views internally and publicly.

16. One tendency, uniting as many factions as necessary, will define itself in terms of the theory and practice of revolutionary working class democracy and communism. It will not define itself in terms of adherence to any particular historic leader (eg, Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin). Individual members or factions will be free to define themselves in whatever way they want.

17. This tendency would seek to actively engage with larger forces on the revolutionary left, as well as the class itself, where possible. Such a tendency would not be a communist party, whatever name it adopted. It would be or have the potential to become the main alternative to the other main tendencies within the communist movement.

18. The highest stage of communist rapprochement is the negotiation, preparation for, and the founding of a revolutionary democratic communist party, which unifies the main tendencies and the majority of communists into a single party.

19. The founding conference should debate and agree a programme, from various drafts, which will serve as the basis for the party.

20. The new party seeks to become a mass party by linking its programme to the struggles of the advanced section of the working class. The party will seek to become a genuine political leadership of the advanced workers. The party seeks to fuse, to merge its conscious organisation with a real movement of the class.

21. The revolutionary democratic communist tendency will make the struggle for communist unity, for the unification of tendencies, into a single party a central part of its activity.

22. However, the fight for a united communist party should not be considered as some diplomatic truce with Labourite, syndicalist, centrist and ultra-left politics. On the contrary there can be no united communist party without a hard fight against all forms of bureaucratic and anarchistic ideology. Defeating these ideas will be an important element in creating a strong united communist party.

Revolutionary democratic communism

1. For revolutionary democracy
We hold a revolutionary democratic attitude to all questions of bourgeois democracy (eg, civil liberties, women's rights, national question, racism, constitutional change, etc). We utilise bourgeois democracy, defend it against all anti-democratic forces, including the capitalists and the fascists. We seek to extend all democratic rights by mass struggle and revolutionary action. We consider the working class is the only genuinely democratic class under capitalism. We consider that the working class can become the leading force in society by championing the struggle for democracy.

2. For workers' power
We support the democratic self-organisation of the working class in trade unions, workplaces and communities. We are in favour of workers' control of all industries and services. We are in favour of replacing parliamentary democracy with a more advanced form of democracy, based on workplace councils electing delegates to a workers' parliament. This must be defended by an armed working class organised as the state (ie, the dictatorship of the proletariat).

3. For international socialism
Socialism must be developed by the international organisation of the working class. Socialism is the transitional period between world capitalism and communism.

4. For world communism
Our aim is to abolish the world market system of capitalism and replace it by world communism. Communist society is a classless worldwide community based on global planning, cooperation and mutual solidarity between the people of the world.