Declaration of Fraternal Relations between the Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (Russia) and the International Workers' Committee The Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (PDP) of Russia and the International Workers' Committee (IWC) agree to this declaration of fraternal relations as part of the necessary struggle to build a mass international Marxist party of the proletariat as the world party of socialist revolution. >> I. Basic Agreement The agreement between the International Workers' Committee and the Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, resulting thus far in this declaration of fraternal relations, was the result of many months of discussions and correspondence. All during this time, the goals of both organizations were the same: the building of links between workers of different countries with the ultimate goal of building a democratic-centralist international party of the proletariat. The first concrete signs of a developing common agreement came in a letter from the Council of the PDP on January 23, 2000 (see Appendix A). The letter from the PDP expressed agreement with most of the positions put forward in the Basic Principles of the Marxist Workers' Group (the principled basis of the International Workers' Committee). And, in those areas where there was disagreement, the PDP expressed their commitment to further discussion. >> II. Class, Party and Leadership The development of capitalism in the last century has further clarified class relations. In the capitalist countries -- first in the imperialist Great Powers (USA, Britain, France, Germany, Japan) and later in the other capitalist states -- the process of liquidating the "old" petty bourgeoisie and the development of the artificially-maintained "new middle class" has meant that the possibility of sections of the petty bourgeoisie aligning itself with an insurgent revolutionary proletariat has been qualitatively reduced. The result was that, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the petty bourgeoisie had transformed from an unstable class wavering between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat to a stable class serving as a "buffer zone" for the bourgeoisie. The petty bourgeoisie as a class no longer wavers ideologically, but serves the bourgeoisie as an appendage -- filling the role of manager, bureaucrat, politician and judge, and freeing up the bourgeois to pursue speculative adventures. In the USSR and Eastern Europe, the entrenchment of a declassed bureaucracy in the Kremlin acted as a transmission belt for the most reactionary elements of bourgeois ideology into Soviet society. The ideology that drove the transformation of the petty bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries was translated into the transformation of the intelligentsia and a wing of the bureaucracy into an embryonic petty bourgeoisie. However, not long after the consolidation of the "new" petty bourgeoisie was initiated, a new current in the Marxist movement began to emerge. Both the PDP and the IWC represent in embryo this new Marxist understanding of class relations in today's world. Future collaboration between the two organizations will strengthen the new movement to reclaim Marxism from the petty-bourgeois and bourgeois "socialists" and "communists" and develop it on a proletarian basis. >> III. Unresolved Issue: The Class Nature of the USSR The October Revolution was the most historically important event of the 20th century. For the first time, the proletariat seized power and held on to it. In the wake of the October Revolution, advanced workers around the world rallied behind the red banner of the Bolshevik Party. Both the PDP and the IWC reject the conception of the USSR put forward by the "official Communist" movement that the USSR was "socialism." As well, both organizations reject the false assumption that the USSR was "state capitalist." Most importantly, both the IWC and the PDP agree on the fundamental tasks facing the working class of Russia. Both organizations recognize that the proletariat of Russia must begin to organize itself as an independent political movement. We both warn the workers of Russia to beware of the phony "Communist" organizations like the bourgeois-socialist "Communist Party of the Russian Federation" and the petty-bourgeois neo-Stalinists. Both the IWC and the PDP recognize that the new mass Marxist party of the proletariat will emerge through the fusion of the most advanced layers of the Russian working class with a proletarian Marxist organization. But this is where the commonality of positions between the IWC and the PDP diverge. And much of this divergence results from the different traditions of the two organizations. The IWC comes from the tradition of Bolshevik-Leninism, best known in the person of its leader, Leon Trotsky. In this movement, the IWC sees the continuation of the best political traditions and method of Lenin, the Bolshevik Party and the early Communist International. The IWC's theoretical basis begins with the writings of Trotsky on the nature of the USSR, namely The Revolution Betrayed and In Defense of Marxism. The PDP comes from a "dissident Marxist" tradition unique to states like the USSR. The PDP believes that there is no movement that existed at the time of their founding that adequately understood the changes in the USSR since Lenin's time. The PDP's theoretical basis for understanding the nature of the USSR is written in The Second Communist Manifesto of Alexei Razlatsky, which contends that the post-Stalin regime was a form of feudalism resting on a collectivized economy. Both the IWC and the PDP have agreed to continue studying each other's documents on this question, and will attempt to clarify and resolve the political differences that currently exist. * * * It is not by historical accident that the IWC and PDP have developed fraternal relations. Both organizations, though coming from different traditions, have reached similar conclusions and developed a common general viewpoint. This is due to the proletarian composition of both organizations, and our mutual commitment to understanding and elaborating the Marxist method for the situation we face today. In adopting this common declaration of fraternal relations, both organizations commit to learning even more about each other through joint discussion and work, while being fully conscious of the difficulties posed by geographic distance, language barriers and differing political tradition. Overcoming these objective problems will require conscious, mutual efforts. Our perspective is for these fraternal relations to be the next step toward the principled fusion of our two organizations, thus uniting our efforts in the struggle for the world proletarian dictatorship and world communism. The realization of such a fusion would represent a qualitative leap forward in the development of an international Marxist party of the proletariat. Approved by the PDP (http://www.proletarism.org/), 5 April 2000 Approved by the IWC (http://www.marxistworker.org/iwc/), 6 April 2000 -------------------- Appendix A: Letter from the Council of the PDP to the IWC January 23, 2000 Comrades, friends! We have read the Principles by which the Marxist Workers' Group is guided. First and foremost we must say: We are not simply glad, but also are surprised up to what degree in many respects our views coincide! It is the most common estimation, the most common impression that we have read. But, unfortunately, your translation on Russian is not quite good (maybe because a "machine" translation made it) -- therefore we not everywhere up to the end have understood the text. We shall try, with what was translated by our translator -- who is not in the city at present. Therefore while we shall state our attitude on those points that are completely clear and clear to us from translation, that at us is. 1. We completely agree with you that our ideological weapon can only be Marxism, i.e., dialectical materialism, as a method of the analysis of historical experience and today. 2. We the same as also you, count, that the proletarian party should be especially class political organization. For example, in charter of the PDP (our party) it is written down, that workers have a casting vote in it -- the others have only consultative. We are not "proletarian sect" in the sense that we drive away from us any and all non-proletarian elements. We cooperate with those who firmly stand on the class positions of the proletariat. 3. We agree that one of the main dangers to a workers' party is petty bourgeois influence, petty-bourgeois ideology. 4. We, as well as you, are certainly internationalists. The workers' and revolutionary communist movement should not become isolated in narrow national frameworks of one country at all. As well, the concept of the smooth development of "democracy" into revolution, into the dictatorship of proletariat, is a most malicious myth of the intellectuals and petty bourgeoisie. 5. We as well declare unconditional solidarity with national-liberation movement in semicolonial countries with the its further development into a proletarian revolutionary movement. 6. (This point is absolutely badly translated. The answer to it we shall write later.) 7. Understanding that trade unions is only initial, basic, and certainly, not the revolutionary form of the organization of working class, we count that the proletarian party actively should conduct propaganda and agitation activities in trade unions. The attitude toward army is the same for us as it is for you. Comrades, the rest of the translation is again bad. We do not want to speak about the principles and views of the MWG imprecisely, approximately. Wait until we shall receive good translation. Long live the dictatorship of the proletariat! Proletarians of all countries, unite! With proletarian greetings; G. Isayev V. Kotelnikov --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
