Report from international socialist meeting
The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is an international socialist organisation with members in over 40 countries. A meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the CWI was held in Belgium in early December 2007.
The IEC is the democratically elected leadership of the CWI. About 70 members and visitors attended the annual meeting from sections in Asia, Latin America, Africa, USA, and Europe.
Each year the IEC meets to discuss and debate the situation facing working people and the poor across the globe. It outlines perspectives for working class struggle and provides political direction to its sections. It is the highest body of the CWI between World Congresses, which are held every 4 years.
In 2007 IEC members Stephen Jolly and Anthony Main attended the meeting. Anthony reports below on the main issues discussed.
Latin America
On the first day of the meeting we discussed Latin America. This continent is the most advanced in terms of class struggle. The rejection of neo liberal polices has gone much further than other parts of the world with a section of workers embracing the ideas of socialism.
A significant part of the discussion was devoted to the situation in Venezuela and the events surrounding the referendum. The underlying reason for the defeat of the referendum lies in the contradictions and weakness of the Chavez government. Despite important progressive reforms that have benefited the poorest sections of society, capitalism remains along with desperate social problems and a growing bureaucracy.
Economic growth in Venezuela over the past two years has been mainly due to high oil prices. This has given Chavez the political room to pay for many of the reforms he has implemented. However any fall in the price of oil could significantly change the situation in Venezuela. The CWI’s perspectives for Venezuela are linked to international perspectives and world economy. We argue that there is some urgency for the working class to push along the struggle and play the key role in building democratic socialism in that country.
The constituent assembly in Bolivia also came under discussion. Significant reforms over the past year and a half in Bolivia have improved the living standards for workers and the poor but inflation which is now over 10% is now erasing many of these reforms.
As in Venezuela, there is some confusion in Bolivia about socialism. The socialism that Evo Morales talks about is undefined. The masses know what they don’t want but are unsure of exactly what they do want. The government provides few alternatives to the current situation. Nevertheless the level of struggle in Bolivia is possibly greater than that in Venezuela and huge potential exists to spread the ideas of the CWI.
Most encouraging for the CWI has been the response in Brazil to the work of our Brazilian section, Socialismo Revolucionario (SR). SR works inside the new workers party P-Sol, the Party of Socialism and Liberty, and has been arguing that P-Sol should develop as a campaigning socialist force.
It was reported that SR is currently in discussions with several other socialist groups in Brazil. It is hoped that these groups will be consolidated in a series of meetings and activities in the first part of 2008.
Latin America is extremely unstable for capitalism and rich in lessons for socialists the world over. The Latin American continent is a laboratory for future struggles and the CWI will focus a great deal of our work there in the years to come.
World relations and the economy
Two full days were spent discussing the world economy and international relations. The sub prime mortgage crisis in the US, which led to one million US workers losing their homes in 2007, now threatens to spread from housing to credit cards. It is expected that almost two million US workers will lose their homes in 2008 due to mortgage defaults. The collapse of the US housing bubble had far reaching effects on the world economy and only marks the beginning of many problems for world capitalism.
Liquidity and finance capital has prolonged the current economic boom. In the US the average person’s debt to income ratio is 130%! This one time positive for capitalism is now turning into its opposite. Liquidity and finance capital is now becoming capitalism’s biggest problem. Recent US jobs growth figures has now led many in the ruling class to finally admit that a recession is looming in the US. The corporate globalisation of capitalism has only ensured that any economic crisis will be international.
The CWI has explained for some time that current boom is not as rock solid as many in the ruling class would have us believe. It is based on massive amounts of both public and private debt and the super exploitation of workers in countries like China and India. This makes its foundations very fragile. Delegates from the USA reported on the growing mood of opposition to the two big business parties there. Bush’s popularity is continuing its downward trend due to the Iraq war and the looming economic crisis. Many parts of the US economy are already in technical recession.
The situation in China was discussed and it was agreed that, despite record prolonged growth, China is not in a position to provide a lifeline to capitalism. Instead of being a saviour, China could actually be the trigger to an economic downturn. China is both the main rival to US imperialism and also its main lender with China holding $1 Trillion in US treasury bonds! Internal contradictions, especially the huge gap between rich and poor, could actually result in big clashes and changes in consciousness inside China itself in the years to come.
The meeting noted that a down-turn in the world economy will not automatically mean an explosion of class struggle. But it will have a big effect on shaping working class consciousness. Depending on the severity of the looming downturn this could lead to a collapse of trust in the institutions of capitalism and its representatives in the major parties. A downturn in the economy will also aggravate political tensions worldwide.
The crisis engulfing the world economy can produce different reactions from different sections of the working class. This is especially the case given the absence of workers parties in most countries and the crisis of leadership in the trade unions. Huge amounts of anger and discontent already exist against governments and bosses in many countries. In a downturn this will intensify. There has also already been a determined mood by some workers in many struggles which were reported on during this session.
This session also took in the crises developing in Asia and touched on the recent uprising in Burma. There were contributions on Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia, where the biggest opposition movement for over ten years has begun. In this session Stephen Jolly reported on the recent developments in Australia including the federal election.
Europe and new workers’ parties
In a similar international trend, trade union leaders across Europe have often acted as a handbrake on workers struggle. Despite this, the rail-workers’ strikes in France and Germany were symptomatic of the mood developing amongst workers across Europe.
Initiatives being taken to set up new mass workers’ parties in Europe have fared differently in different countries. Lessons were drawn from recent developments in the Left Party in Germany, the PRC in Italy, the Socialist Party in the Netherlands and the SSP in Scotland. Recent initiatives involving CWI sections in Britain, France, Belgium and Greece were also reported on and discussed.
Contributions from Austria, Sweden, Poland, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Russia all contributed to deepening the CWI’s understanding of the situation in Europe.
Nigeria, South Africa & Pakistan
Individual sessions were held later in the week on Nigeria, South Africa and Pakistan. In all of these countries the CWI has huge potential to grow but many complications also exist.
The elections in Nigeria, which were marred by unprecedented rigging, were discussed along with the many general strikes that have convulsed the country over the past 8 years. The situation facing two jailed student leaders, who are members of the CWI, was reported on in detail. Whilst they have been locked up for defending quality education for all, hundreds of corrupt politicians who have stolen billions of Naira from ordinary people are walking the streets freely.
The South African delegates reported on the situation in that country including the June public sector strike and the leadership battle in the ANC between Mbeki and Zuma. The ANC is currently facing its biggest crisis ever. Big opportunities are opening up in South Africa for the CWI with many groups seriously investigating our ideas.
In Pakistan the situation is very dangerous for CWI members. Our members are under attack from both the state and from right wing religious extremists. This has gotten worse in recent weeks since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. In reality Musharraf has only lifted the state of emergency in name and all of the restrictions still exist. The national elections, which have already been postponed, will be a farce and will not go any way to resolving the tensions in Pakistan.
Building the CWI
A day was spent discussing the tasks of the CWI and party building. Even in a relatively difficult period to convince people of the ideas of socialism, it was reported that CWI sections have shown on many occasions that they have the ability to give a lead and to win battles.
One of the roles of the CWI is to communicate analyses and new developments and to report on the activities and achievements of workers movements across the world. In periods of low levels of struggle, socialists also have to provide a lead in struggles when and where they can.
A major theme of the meeting was the absence in most countries of an independent political voice in the form of mass workers’ parties. The collapse of the Stalinist regimes in the early 1990s witnessed the liquidation of the planned economies. Despite their undemocratic nature these regimes provided an ideological counter weight to the ideas of neo-liberal capitalism.
The early 1990s was an important historical turning point, with major consequences for the working class and, particularly, its consciousness. Since then there has been an unrelenting ideological offensive against the ideas of planning and socialism. Consciousness has been thrown back. Socialists today face in effect similar tasks to socialists one hundred years ago. That is a dual task of both rebuilding the working class movements and building revolutionary organisations.
As we move into a period of economic slowdown, the effects will have profound effects on the consciousness of working people and lead them to ask questions about the credibility of the capitalist system.
History also shows that workers will not allow bosses to off load economic losses onto them without a fight. It is clear that we are moving into a period where there will be increased struggle and a much better reception for the ideas of democratic planning and socialism. The CWI will be at the fore of both arguing for those ideas and involving ourselves in struggle in the years to come.
