Statement of the current in the NPA
« Anticapitalism and revolution »
1. A situation full of contradictions : bourgeoisies on the offensive, mass struggles on an international scale, rebirth of reformism and of the far right
As we are facing a world crisis that seems to have no prospects of resolution the bourgeoisies are trying to make the people bear the burden of this crisis. The people and the working classes do not remain passive in front of these attacks. The revolutionary processes in Northern Africa and the Middle East keep on advancing and they are spreading to new countries. Large struggles are taking place in a growing series of countries on all continents (from Turkey to Brazil and from Bulgaria to Bengladesh...). Socialism has not yet become again a perspective for the vast majority of those who are fighting. This has an impact on those different movements but does not prevent the strategic issues of workers' power and revolution to become relevant again. We are witnessing the many expressions of a revolt that is global.
At the same time one has to acknowledge that the core countries of the European Union (Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom) seem to be spared by this international wave for now. We are even rather witnessing a general weakening in terms of the organizations that claim to represent workers and of our camp in the relationship between classes as well as the level of conscioussness in the workplaces. This weakening tends to instensify. For now the ruling classes have managed to inflict momentous losses to the working classes in Europe.
At the same time one has to acknowledge that the core countries of the European Union (Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom) seem to be spared by this international wave for now. We are even rather witnessing a general weakening in terms of the organizations that claim to represent workers and of our camp in the relationship between classes as well as the level of conscioussness in the workplaces. This weakening tends to instensify. For now the ruling classes have managed to inflict momentous losses to the working classes in Europe.
This general situation and also the relationship between classes can either change rapidly or can become part of the picture. The possibility for the NPA to adress the crisis it is experimenting depends on its ability to face the contradictions of the period by having a more political and homogenous response than in the past. The same is true for the foundation and building of a current.
In this context two partly new political phenomena appeared in these last few years in Europe. The first is the rise of the far right (albeit in different ways, from national-populist formations to openly fascists organizations) which can be explained by the economic crisis and also by the strengh of the attacks of the ruling classes and the setbacks experienced in the class struggle. The second phenomena is the rebirth or the strenghening of antiliberal reformism both in the form of parties and of coalitions that are clearly different from social-liberalism even though their links with the trade union leadership and the State makes them collaborate on different levels with socialist [NoT : social-liberal] parties.
In France the fact that the National Front (FN) is becoming part of the political landscape and also its influence among the people is now going one step further. By its past still reflected by the composition of its leadership and also by the links it entertains with several small fascist regroupings, the FN remains an organization which under different circumstances could be the basis for a fascist party. But for now the main danger lies in its ability to draw on the profound disorientation of the popular classes amidst the lack of a collective perspective for emancipation. This is the danger rather than its ability to recruit the petty bourgeoisie that is ready to fight the labor movement or to express the interest of the capitalist class which has for now many more tricks up its sleeve to maintain social peace.
The key objectives of the period are : to rebuild the idea that emancipation is possible and to change the relationship of forces between the classes, in one word to allow labor to experience victories again even partial ones. To simply denounce « fascism » or to claim to prevent a party « that is not like the others » from appearing publicly does not allow us today to fight the rise of the far right. However we need to try and build every time that it is possible a response to the far right that is at the same time both militant and under the banner of unity. With the possibility of electoral successes for the far right we should first and foremost denounce the bourgeois, anti-worker and racist nature of this party. We should show that they are apt to become part of the institutions and that they are easily corruptible like the recent past has shown us.
The rebirth of reformism has taken the form of the Left Front (FDG) in France that was launched at the same time than the NPA. Very quickly in a situation that was unfavorable to us we have felt the pressure of the FDG which led to several splits, that last one of them implying a key sector of the former direction.
2. The way the orientation of the majority evolves justifies the foundation of a current
The breakup with the Anticapitalist Left (GA) and the Poutou presidential campaign did maintain the separation from the reformists. However it did not allow for the clarification of the orientation of the NPA.
Even if within the majority formed after the 2012 presidential election different orientations exist alongside one another, this majority took over the demand of the « social and political front » conceived as a permanent posture of interpellation, discussion and yearning for political agreements with the FDG. It did so through the demand for an « anti-austerity government ». A persistant crisis of orientation adds istelf up to the real difficulties of the objective situation.
The political goal of our organization that is socialist revolution implies a united front policy that's fitting to the situation. The united front is two folded. The first one is the strategic side : it is the unity of millions of workers that will allow the confrontation with the bourgeoisie. We are pushing forward for the unity of action of all the forces of the labor movement from top to bottom to act on precise issues regardless of their position towards the government. The key criteria for unity is that it allows our social base to enter into struggle with the goal of winning on immediate demands, of gaining confidence into our own strengh, of favorising self-organisation and of having the possibility to struggle beyond existing organizations and trade union bureaucracy. It does not mean however that we adopt the same positions : we are leading the struggles that needs to be led in order to have the right demands and the right organizing strategy, including organizing people against the policies of these traditionnal leaders. Moreover sometimes action and initiatives need to be taken alone because common action with the reformists is impossible. In every level we try to encourage all the forms of self-organisation : strike and struggle committees, coordinations, in the general perspective to take over the control of society as a whole which implies for the exploited and the oppressed to take control of their own struggle.
We do not share the orientation of « anti-austerity governments » and the emphasis put on a public debate with « all the forces that do not participate to the government ». However it is the purpose of a party to put forward the issue of power. But this issue cannot be reduced only to an answer in terms of government. The « workers government » that we defend the necessity of is a government that aims to challenge the rights of capitalists to rule society. This government cannot be the result of parliamentary tricks within the bourgeois institutions. It can only emerge from a general upheaveal and self-organized movement of the workers and the youth (mass strikes, general strikes, protests, occupations, requisitions...) and from a duality of power, « a new may 68 that would not stop half-way ». We are hence putting forward the demand for a workers government as a transitionnal demand starting from where the struggles are at to show the way to the overthrow of capitalism. The question to be answered is : « what would you do instead of Hollande's government? », or to explain how our project is different than the ones from the parties in the FDG. Our answer would articulate itself around two issues : transitionnal demands that such a government would take (fordidding of layoffs, requisition of the businesses that are closing or laying off people, requisition of the banks, etc.) and the foundation upon which such a government might emerge : the necessary self-activity of the working masses.
In order to advocate for this goal in a manner that is effective and concrete we need to link it with where our forces are at and what we do and beyond with our strategic goal of workers taking power. But the majority at the last congress did not prioritize the issues of intervention and construction especially intervention and construction towards workplaces and the youth.
During the last congress in February 2013 the Y platform waged two battles that are in our eyes essential for the NPA and its implication in class struggle. On the one hand the fight for the political independance of revolutionary anticapitalists with the will to make the intervention and construction within the workplaces and the youth the top priority of the organization. On the other hand to try and deepen the discussion about whether the present day NPA matches what we had in mind in the beginning and what is our idea for a party. This second discussion resulted in an alternative platform. More than a third (32 %) of the militants of the NPA backed this platform. Even still the majority gave no hint that it would take us into account and that would associate us in any other way than on the basis of rallying their own policies.
It is because after the congress we could not see any possiblity of bettering the situation without a prolonged organized internal struggle that we have decided not only not to dissolve the Y platform but to explore the possibility to turn this platform into an internal current by giving it – necessarily on a temporary basis – more cohesion and also tools to intervene in the situation.
The evolution of the NPA and its leadership since the congress confirmed the analysis we had put forward and the goal we set to ourselves. The orientation and leadership crisis is only going deeper and deeper while several different ideas for a party coexist together within the NPA including the project of « uniting all the anticapitalists » that is the most shared one. This situation fosters great confusion that was also expressed by the vote for the W platform which went as far as to question the usefullness of a centralised party. The coexistence of these different ideas for a party within the majority ends up preventing it to play its leadership rôle.
The clearest picture of this is the preparation of the city council elections : the variety of tickets implying the NPA (independant and anticapitalist, with the Left Party (PG) and/or some other parts of the FDG, with the FDG altogether under the leadership of the Communist Party (PCF) ) allows a general chaos in which even the majority line has a hard time being heard at all. The local deals already passed with the FDG in momentous cities are only validating the FDG strategy and politics. Instead of putting pressure on the reformists' contradictions it is they who profit from our weaknesses.
The national political council (CPN) and the executive committee (CE) keep on spending most of their time wondering which is the right way to discuss politics with the FDG rather than to put the party back on the tracks of intervention in the class struggle and building the party without adressing albeit in a very punctual and superficial manner the real issues that workers and revolutionarries are facing at the national, european and global level.
3. A political disagreement with direct political and practical implications
These disagreements go beyond mere tactics. The demand for an « anti-austerity government » understood as the natural byproduct of a « left opposition » against Hollande-Ayrault stems from an incorrect strategic hypothesis. To understand its full meaning one has to analyse the Greek situation where the leadership of the 4th international (FI) is putting forward the same demand : a « government of the left parties » with strong emphasis put on the fact that such a government could be a « possible tool for transition » towards a radical transformation of the economy and of politics. Going the same way the resolution passed with a majority in the congress and advocated by the comrade of the X platform states that : « the proposal for a government of the united left, of « social salvation », could be the first step towards the reorganization of the country on an anticapitalist basis ».
The strategical hypothesis here is the same than the one put forward in a more systematic way by the comrades of the GA and that can be summed up as following : in advanced capitalist countries the break with the system will be a combination of mass movement and electoral successes.
This hypothesis is incorrect : far from being tools for a revolutionary transformation of society governments of the « radical » left or of the left parties under the leadership of reformist organizations became sooner or later hurdles the workers had to confront. It is necessary to have a tactical approach to theses organizations with the goal of challenging their influence and aura but the anticapitalists cannnot help but break with these organizations. The issue of the separation or separations within the united front is being dodged by the comrades of the majority and replaced by a linear strategical perspective : the anti-austerity government as a natural consequence of the left opposition, the reorganizing of the country on an anticapitalist basis as a consequence of the government of the left parties.
Such an orientation trivializes the fact that only mass movements and the self organization of workers can modify the relationship of forces and open the way for a government that stands for workers' interest in a perspective that can only be the toppling of the capitalist system. That is why we abide by our choice for an independant political perspective in which the construction of a revolutionary alternative and for a workers government opening the way for socialism leans on united front tactics in and for struggles that do not imply any sort of politcal agreement – let alone an agreement for a government together – with antiliberal reformists.
This hypotheses is also heavy with implications as to the kind of party we wish to build. Indeed if electoral victories are central to the break with the system then one has to build organizations that are built for elections. The report on Europe introduced by the Executive Bureau of the FI in October 2012 laments on the inability for anticapitalists organizations to « transform [in the short term] in meaningful electoral points of reference in a period with it is more necessary than ever in front of austarity policies ». There is only one step from here to conclude that anticapitalists and revolutionarries in order to become these points of reference have to join broaders organizations or coalitions including reformist currents or parties. A step that has been made by the comrades of the GA which the previously quoted report makes as well : « That is why the buidling of anticapitalist and revolutionarry organization has to be thought of in the perspective of building new political tools in the framework of unity ».
We must on the contrary advance in the building of a strong marxist anticapitalist and revolutionary organization all the more able to lead a daring united-front policy open to other currents because it will be able to define within itself a coherent orientation shared widely within the party. A party centered on taking part in class struggle with a priority on the working classes which are the only ones able to lead a revolutionarry process towards socialism, first and foremost in workplaces and also in education where future workers are concentrated. This does not mean that battlegrounds like feminist, ecologist and antiracist struggles should be left aside but that on these battlegrounds as well the intervention of the working classes will be decisive. A party which to gain in strengh and efficiency will have to make the effort to give its activists a solid marxist training.
A party that is fully internationalist not only on the grounds of moral solidarity but on the basis of a shared understanding that socialist revolution can only be international and thus requires a strong international political vessel. The founding principles of the NPA passed in 2009 concluded that « the NPA will engage dialogue with other anticapitalist and revolutionary forces throughout the world in the prospect of the building of a new international ». Such a political perspective remains valid. Some members of the NPA are part of a political association with the GA and C&A [NoT : small group that left the NPA for the FDG after the United Left – GU – and before the GA] that is part of the FI. Other numerous links exist like for example through the Revolutionary Youth Camp. But the relationship of the NPA to the FI like with other international groups are not under the control of either the party nor its governing bodies. In the prospect of the next Congress we should open this debate and more boradly the one of the building of an international.
4. A current to change the NPA, its orientation and leadership
The current that we are founding gives itself the goal, starting from the elements set forth in the Y platform, of a comprehensive change of the NPA's orientation as aforementionned. This implies also to redefine what should be the idea of the party in the current period.
At the same time we shall continue obviously the work of construction at every level of the organization. The current must enable us to be more efficient, must be a tool for the day-to-day activity of the militants especially around our priorities : local committee work, industry-wide work, political training, building the party in workplaces and the youth... We state that the founding of the current is a confirmation to our strong commitment to the NPA, to its construction and to its militants in both political and fraternal solidarity.
Such a change will take place obviously by a change in leadership. We know this will not come only from the organic growth of our only political current but will also imply internal recomposing and joining up with some sectors of the leadership who collaborate now in the majority. We are also aware that this political battle will not necessarily succeed as soon as the next congress and will require to be fought on the long run. We are organizing ourselves today to contribute to such a process and to make it become reality tomorrow.
This battle for the birth of a new direction will unfold at the same time through concrete demonstrations on the ground and also through the elaboration and day-to-day advocacy of a different orientation and the pursuit of strategical debates within the party. We will continue to keep the debate going about the different ways for workers to take the power by drawing on the lessons of marxism in order to confront them with current experiences of struggle and uprisings around the world. At the same time and with the same goal we will attempt to help concretely local committees (those where we have members of the current as well as the others) to strenghen their intervention and to ground their politics in class struggle.
The new current is officially founded november 30th and december 1st 2013. All those who recognize themselves in the Y platform and in this founding statement are members of the current. The leadership of the current is composed by its members in the national political council (CPN). A national animation team will elaborate its day-to-day intervention in the NPA. This national animation team in relationship with the representatives in the CPN will be responsible for the organization of national and regional gatherings of the current, of the maintenance of the email list and of the public advocacy of its positions and reflexions through a review or bulletin. These publications do not have the goal to be a substitute for NPA publications but rather a tool to conduct discussions about orientation within the party and our immediate surroundings. This animation team will be elected during the national gathering for the founding of the current and elected again at each new national convention. It can be reinforced in case of need with the decision of the members of the CPN.
Adopted on december 1st 2013.
Translation by Stan Miller.