We are pleased to introduce the first of what will become regular monthly editorials, updating our activities over the preceding month and their political context.
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The Past Month
November was the second month since the editors of The Partyist journal joined forces with Prometheus. With our expanded board of 13 editors now well-established, we are working hard to push forward the project of an independent working class Marxist political party in Britain. We are working on a common politics document for the new board, setting out the basis of our unity, which will be shared soon.
And the events of the past month have reaffirmed the urgency of working class political independence and the struggle for socialism. The re-election of Donald Trump to the White House and his subsequent executive appointments brought about an end to the flimsy pretence of US “red lines” for Israel. He will continue and intensify support for the genocidal assaults in Palestine and Lebanon. Amidst the devastation of genocide and war, the climate crisis grows, as shown by fatal extreme flooding in Spain and, more recently, in Wales and the Midlands. Just as grimly familiar is the continued global ascendancy of the right and far right inside and outside of government, and the consolidation of anti-migrant politics in the wealthy countries.
Against this trend, resistance to Zionism in Palestine and the wider Arab region has been joined by uprisings against oppressive, undemocratic and anti-working class regimes in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. A recent 24-hour general strike in Greece saw the working class challenge austerity and Greece’s support for NATO, especially for maintaining a frigate in the Red Sea to protect Israel from Ansar Allah’s blockade1. A movement is also growing for a general strike in Belgium, led by the Workers’ Party of Belgium. Attempts to institute a coup through the imposition of martial law in South Korea were defeated by people rallying to the national assembly and the threat of a general strike.
The desperate need for political action is as clear as ever; without real political organisation, we cannot meet this challenge.
Articles and Events
Since The Partyist joined Prometheus, we have published an insightful 3-part series by Callum F analysing the Sanders/Corbyn experience 2015-2020, entitled “The Five Years of Democratic Socialism”2 and an excellent review by Andreas Chari of Tony Collins’ new book on the background to the formation of the CPGB in 19213. These pieces draw out the positive and negative lessons of past struggles in order to inform our politics today.
Encouragingly, this month has seen an explosion of interest in the project of party-building. A big positive development has been a proliferation of public events asking these questions, which show some promise of moving things forward.
Firstly, Talking about Socialism (from a Marxist point of view) – better known as TAS – hosted a public meeting in Manchester discussing why we must build a socialist/communist party, which several Prometheus editors attended. Nick Wrack of TAS opened with a general overview of why we need a mass, democratically-organised communist party. Then, Ed Potts of both Prometheus and TAS gave a talk on how we can move towards this, which he emphasised would involve steps. The first step would be to begin regrouping the forces which are already opening advocating for the mass democratic organisation which we need (which he identified as TAS, CPGB, and Prometheus). Ed argued for opening talks between these trends around agreements and disagreements, and moving towards common work and, eventually, unity.
Secondly, there has been a highly popular series of discussions at Pelican House in London, called “Party Time?”, at each of which a panel of activists, writers and politicians have spoken followed by an admirably open and extensive discussion section with all the attendees. This genuine attempt to foster democratic debate was a welcome change from nodding along to speeches from well-known talking heads, as has been the norm in the past. However, differing interpretations of what a party is have kept discussions at a relatively low political level and no concrete proposals for action have emerged yet. Conversations have consistently skipped the question of what are the political bases/programme/objectives of the party we wish to build – especially in relation to its attitude to capitalism and the state. Notably, however, the session with Peter Mertens of the Workers’ Party of Belgium did address this. Mertens emphasised his party’s three-part ethos (established at its 8th Congress in 2008) of being a Marxist party fighting for socialism; but – despite remaining firm on principles – being flexible in tactic; and, finally, constantly striving to become a party truly of and for the working class.
We warmly welcome these events, which have been drawing together an impressive number of comrades to discuss the most pressing question our movement faces. Nevertheless, a great deal more work needs to be done. Much like the lead up to New Year’s Eve, “party” is the word on everybody’s lips, but nobody is quite sure exactly where or how or who to invite
What is the Party?
To push this discussion forward, we launched our “What is the Party?” call for submissions4. We asked collectives and individuals to write in and answer the questions: What do you mean by the party? What are the purposes of such an organisation? What are the functions it needs to cover? And how might it come about? An array of excellent submissions came in, the first four of which can be found on our website. We are still taking original submissions, and comrades are also encouraged to respond to any of the articles already published.
First, Archie Woodrow argued for the necessity of anticapitalist organisation and regroupment of British anticapitalist forces, with proposals for how this may come about and the barriers faced. Then, in his piece, Mike Macnair explored the political purpose of the party and what he understands by its general nature to be.
Following this, Lawrence Parker, provided an overview of the history of ‘the communist party’ on the British left, and the current organisational terrain. Finally, Joe Todd argued for the need for a new organisation acting as a political home for disorganised leftists.
We have more articles in this series in the pipeline, and want to thank all those who have already submitted drafts. If you want to respond to a piece or would like to write your own contribution, please reach out to us at editors@prometheusjournal.org.
Our First In-Person Event
We’re very excited to announce that on 7pm, January 14th in London, Prometheus Journal will be joined by Bruno Leipold and Barnaby Raine for the launch of Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought.
Citizen Marx is the first book to offer a comprehensive exploration of Marx’s relationship to republicanism. Bruno Leipold and Barnaby Raine will discuss the book, Marxism and republicanism and the political relevance of a liberatory Marxism at this moment.
Looking Forward
We hope that our commissioned series on the party question provokes further debate, making the task ahead of us clearer. But, undoubtedly, the hardest part still lies ahead of us: the political battle around the project of party-building to put the best of these ideas into action.
As always, our journal exists as an open forum for developing these plans, and as an editorial board, we will take an active role in pushing forward to a party of the working class. If you are someone who wishes to reflect on the current organising situation for the British left, please do consider writing for us.
Finally, we would like to invite you to join our project as a supporter by contributing a small amount each month on Patreon here. We have launched our Patreon with the following membership tiers:
£3 – Entryist: Discord access plus Patreon-only channels showing sneak peeks of upcoming progress.
£5 – Supporter: All the above plus e-books of each quarter’s articles (delivered early on the following quarter).
£15 – Little Engels: This is a primary fundraising role for the comrades who can afford it. All of the above are included, plus our neverending gratitude and acknowledgements.
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your support.
References
- https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/20/general-strike-brings-greece-to-a-standstill/ ↩︎
- https://prometheusjournal.org/2024/09/30/the-five-years-of-democratic-socialism-part-1-reforms-without-reformism/,
https://prometheusjournal.org/2024/10/14/the-five-years-of-democratic-socialism-part-2-a-winnable-state/,
https://prometheusjournal.org/2024/10/28/the-five-years-of-democratic-socialism-part-3-votes-for-the-class-struggle/ ↩︎ - https://prometheusjournal.org/2024/11/11/review-raising-the-red-flag-marxism-labourism-and-the-roots-of-british-communism-1884-1921/ ↩︎
- rs21 has also contributed to this debate and launched their own call here: https://revsoc21.uk/2024/11/25/is-it-time-for-a-new-left-party-in-britain/ ↩︎
