Comrades, we’re living in tumultuous times, in vital times. They’re crucial times for building, for rebuilding our organisations, the organisations of the oppressed, of the opposition.

Greed, aggression, cruelty, exploitation are on the rampage. Clinton’s arrogant aggression in bombing Iraq again last week said it all. The arrogance of US imperialism in imposing its new world order promises increasing misery and hardship for the majority of the world’s people. Already half the world is living in poverty. Even in the advanced capitalist countries, 50 million are unemployed.

Yet the organisations of the oppressed are in disarray, not yet able to respond adequately.

Optimism or pessimism?

In my discussions with comrades around the world, I’d constantly run into a debate over how optimistic or pessimistic we were entitled to be when confronted with the new world situation. Sometimes it was expressed in different political evaluations, sometimes just a question of mood. I confess I was generally within a framework of optimism.

There’s certainly a mood of demoralisation amongst a lot of the left around the world. This is especially the case among those who come from a CP tradition, who looked to Moscow, but it’s also there among others, for example, those in the Fourth International, who come from the Trotskyist tradition. The collapse of the Soviet Union was a big blow.

I argued, as we have done, that sure, imperialism is cocky, sure, there have been big defeats, but these were prepared, they began, way back in the ‘20s, with the rise of Stalinism, and this last defeat was just the final instalment we had to pay.

I also argued, there’s another positive side to it also, the removal of that historical distortion, Stalinism. It’s not gone altogether yet, but it is the end of that era. And together with it there’s the removal in many countries of the blocks that the CPs so often were.

I also pointed to the crisis of Social Democracy. Their decline and exposure – as in France, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand… wherever in government administering capitalism’s austerity policies – is not a defeat for the left, but the precondition for moving forward again.

I could also point to the continuing contradictions of capitalism – the fundamental problems, and all the ravages we’re only too well aware of.

I also pointed to a recovery of some workers’ struggles after a two years’ lull – the strikes in Italy, the German metalworkers strike for example.

I also pointed to the continuing depth of the consciousness on social issues, the diversity of the different social movements – the overwhelming consciousness on environmental issues; the million strong gay and lesbian march on Washington in April.

Youth radicalisation

But the main argument I was able to use was the youth!

There’s a continuing radicalisation of young people. There’s a continuing alienation of young people under capitalism, in ALL advanced capitalist countries. The glorious consumer society, the cure-all market economy, is NOT solving their problems – the need for a meaningful life, for a decent education, for the right to a fulfilling job. etc.

Moreover, young people are not weighed down by the weight of the past, they don’t suffer from the false illusions of the past. Comrades radicalising today, in the framework of capitalism’s current crisis and its ongoing problems, don’t have big expectations from the past, from the Soviet Union, for example. They begin from the current issues and problems.

To develop a deeper understanding of those problems, of course, an understanding of history is required, and that’s one of the roles of our organisations, to educate, to situate today’s struggles in the broader international and historical context. And to give our CLASS orientation to events, countering the dominant propaganda of the ruling class and its mouthpieces.

But on my trip, in discussions with other comrades, and getting that feeling for the different levels of optimism and pessimism, that was one of the biggest contrasts that I noticed – HARDLY ANY of these parties had a functioning youth organisation.

This may come as a surprise to some of you… but there was nothing like Resistance in most of the countries I visited. And nothing as GOOD AS Resistance anywhere! Most of the Fourth International groups don’t have youth organisations. A few do, and they’re seeing the benefits (they tended to be a bit more optimistic!) Most of the parties from a Communist Party tradition that I visited don’t have youth organisations. None of the Green parties had functioning youth organisations.

We can’t take what we have achieved with Resistance for granted. Sometimes you wonder, if there was a Resistance in Britain, or other countries in Europe today where social conditions are so conducive to a massive youth revolt, finding the right organisational expression for that revolt would give a major impetus for the renewal of socialist forces.

So travelling around the world – in the USA, in Europe, in South Africa – I felt extremely confident about OUR perspectives, knowing they were being taken up and implemented by a new generation of socialist activists.

Special role of Resistance

Resistance has been our secret weapon, our magic formula.

The close political collaboration between the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance has been the key to the success of our tendency. This collaboration has been unique on the Australian left, and it even stands out on an international scale.

Resistance comrades founded the DSP – Resistance came first, in 1967, and it was the early leaders of Resistance who founded Direct Action, the precursor of Green Left Weekly, in 1970, and the DSP [then as Socialist Workers League, SWL], in 1972.

The overwhelming majority of the current leadership of the DSP were at one time activists and leaders in Resistance. Time after time Resistance activists have renewed the ranks of the party.

And the DSP has continued to build Resistance.

This mutual support has built us over the years, allowed us to weather difficult times, times when the rest of the left, here and overseas, has found it tough going. We’ve not only survived, but prospered.

Resistance has grown. The DSP has grown. Green Left Weekly has grown and its circulation has grown.

This close political collaboration will be even more important in the period ahead.

So your task continues to be, to not only continue to campaign on all the important issues and build Resistance, but to continue to build and support the Democratic Socialist Party.

For its part the DSP pledges its wholehearted support to continue to build Resistance:

• Helping organisationally;
• Helping with political discussions and collaboration;
• Helping with educating, training and integrating a new generation of socialist activists.

We’re sort of going through a period of transition at the moment. Much of the debris of the past has been cleared out of the way, so that now, even more than the founders of Resistance, this current generation has the chance to make their mark.

But there’s something else going for us today – the increased urgency for fundamental change in the face of impending environmental disasters. We don’t have unlimited time to solve the planet’s problems.

Greater role and responsibility

So there’s a vastly increased role, an increased responsibility for our tendency, for the DSP, for Resistance, and GLW.

There’s an increased role, an increased responsibility, for every comrade here.

There have been some defeats and retreats on the left, here, internationally. The old misleaders of the workers and oppressed have been defeated and discredited, while the new generation has not yet forged the weapons it needs – its leadership, its organisation.

The lack of strong parties and clear leadership is the greatest challenge facing us.

We have a greater weight, and greater possibilities, and greater responsibilities.

The greater possibilities will be fulfilled if everyone of us leads, becomes leaders, acts like leaders.

At the same time as it’s a time for rebuilding, for regroupment, for working with all other forces on the left, it’s also very much a time for doing it ourselves. The main burden will be on our shoulders.

But to succeed, we know a team leadership is required, where we all assist each other to lead, where we develop collective methods of work, where you’re not worrying about your own kudos, recognition. We’re not in it for that, if that’s your goal, there’s plenty of that crap out there in capitalist society.

We’re in it for higher goals.

Our goals

We often begin our political involvement with partial struggles, or at a local level – an environmental struggle here, a campaign for student rights there, or an anger at the injustice for workers and other oppressed. There are so many different cases, examples, issues that radicalised us. We come from different backgrounds, involved in different initial issues. But we all grasped the interconnection, the broad nature of our struggle – that it’s a global question, a class question, a question of survival of humanity even.

Through whatever path we came to it, we all have a common class orientation – on the side of the working class and the oppressed.

We all have a common goal – fundamental social change, the elimination of this capitalist system and its attendant ills.

We all have a common outlook – the communism of Marx and Engels, the genuine socialism of the leaders of the Russian Revolution.

Our task is to rescue that socialism from the decades of distortion of Stalinism, rescue it from the decades of distortion by the ruling class.

That involves both a political struggle, and an ideological struggle too. It involves being clear ourselves, educating ourselves, in the history, in the traditions, in the theory of the international socialist movement.

It involves dedicating our lives to becoming leaders of our class, and leaders of the big struggles that will be needed in the future.

It involves rescuing our real heroes, of the Russian Revolution.. Lenin, Trotsky; Of the Vietnamese Revolution.. Ho Chi Minh; Of the Cuban Revolution.. Fidel, Che; Of the ongoing struggle in Africa.. Chris Hani, and the leaders of the victories to come.

Che Guevara was an early hero of Resistance, and rightly so. We carried Che’s image on our banners, T-shirts, and badges, because we identified with his revolutionary spirit. Che, an Argentinean, sacrificed for the Cuban Revolution, and helped it succeed. He relinquished his positions in Cuba to extend the revolution, and sacrificed his life in 1967 in Bolivia for the sake of furthering the struggle, for liberating the whole world from imperialism.

That spirit must continue.

What a young communist should be

I’d like to quote to you at length from a speech by Che to a meeting of Young Communists in Cuba in 1962, where among other things he outlines his view of What a Young Communist Should Be:

“I believe the first thing that should characterise a Young Communist,” Che began, “is the honor he or she feels because they are a Young Communist: that pride that leads them to show the world they are a Young Communist.”

Today, in Australian conditions, of course we need to relate to the political issues here, and use a transitional language that’s able to reach people where they’re at, but Che’s central point is absolutely valid. We need to be up front about our socialist politics, we need to defend our ideas and our organisation with pride. Having these ideas and having these comrades and having this organisation gives meaning to our life in an otherwise meaningless and horrible society. There is NOTHING that we can do with our lives that can be more satisfying, more fulfilling, more useful.

“In addition to this”, Che continued, “there should be a great sensitivity to all problems, a great sensitivity to injustice; an independent spirit, whenever something arises that is not right, no matter what anyone says about it; to concern oneself with all that one does not understand; to discuss and ask for clarification of what is not clear; to declare war on formalism, on all types of formalism; to be always open to new experiences, to conform to the great experience of humanity, which for many years has been advancing on the path of socialism; to be aware of the concrete conditions of our country, to the realities that exist in Cuba; and to think – each and every one of us – about how to go about changing reality, how to improve it.”

Independent spirits

So much is expressed in those words. And how strongly they apply to our Resistance.

That great sensitivity to injustice is what brought us together. We feel such solidarity with every instance of injustice and oppression, in every corner of the globe. It’s our starting point, but it’s not enough. Liberals can have that concern about the world’s problems, but without our understanding of the causes or a program of action for their resolution, they’re powerless, directionless.

Che’s “Independent spirits” – they’re here in this room. We’re rebels, rebels against the current system. Joining Resistance is an act of rebellion, a very important act of rebellion, but again, it’s only the beginning. But we always have to remain “independent spirits”, questing, striving, challenging the status quo, questioning.

And as Che said, we need to be an active participant, WITH humanity in its forward march, able to respond to new events, new ideas, able to interpret our reality in order to change it. To educate ourselves, formally, and informally, so as to better lead our class.

Che continued: “The Young Communist ought to be first in everything, to fight to be first, and to feel frustrated when one is forced to occupy any other place: to fight to be better, to be first. Of course, not everyone can be first, but one can be among the first, in the vanguard.”

Well, does that sound a little too competitive and individualistic? Not if you’re approaching it from the point of view of the goals, of the tasks of the struggle, and not your personal place in it. We SHOULD strive to be first, to be the first in Green Left sales; the first in political leadership and organisational tasks; the first in helping, training, recruiting others.

Che went on: “The Young Communist should decide to be a living example, a mirror for those comrades who do not belong to communist youth organisations; to be an example also to older men and women. Those who have lost faith in life and a certain youthful enthusiasm always respond to inspiration and good example.”

Living examples

We lead by example, both within our organisations and in relation to the rest of society. We ARE on display – what we do matters.

And we know how important the role of young people in inspiring the rest can be.

“Together with all this, a great spirit of sacrifice, there ought to be a spirit of sacrifice not reserved for heroic days only, but for every moment. One ought to sacrifice oneself to help a companion with their little jobs so that they can finish their work, or studies, so that they can improve in any way possible. One ought always to be attentive to the human mass that surrounds one.

“This means that every Young Communist must be essentially human, so human that he or she responds to the best in human beings, brings out the best a person has to offer by means of work, study, and the exercise of continued solidarity with their people and with all the peoples of the world. He or she must develop their sensibility to the maximum, to the point that they feel anguish when someone is assassinated in any corner of the world, and they feel elation when in some corner of the world a new banner of liberty is raised.”

To be truly human – that expresses the essence of it for me, what we are about. It’s only through that socialist consciousness, and through participating in the struggle to change the world, to do away with INhuman capitalism, that we do start to fulfil our human potential. And through this process we start to see our place in the world, our place in history, to truly become citizens of time. And through that international solidarity with our brothers and sisters everywhere, we also become citizens of the world:

Internationalism

“The Young Communist cannot be limited by the frontiers of a territory; he or she must practice working class internationalism and feel it is something of their own. They must remember, as we all must remember – all those who aspire to be Communists here in Cuba – that they are a real and inspiring example for our whole America. Even more than for America, they are an example for other countries of the world who fight on other continents for liberty against colonialism, against neo-colonialism, against imperialism, against all the forms of oppression by unjust systems. They ought to remember always that we are a lighted torch, that we are the same mirror that each of us is individually for the people of Cuba. We are that mirror in order that all the peoples of America may see themselves, all the people of the oppressed world who are fighting for their liberty. And we must be worthy of setting that example. Every hour, every minute, we must be worthy.”

Che we know was the supreme internationalist.

The Cuban comrades we know as great internationalists – witness their role in Angola in defeating the South African apartheid army.

That must be our orientation also. It’s essential, especially when we’re conscious of the dangers of Australia’s isolation, its provincialism, that could very easily blunt our socialist perspectives.

It’s our duty, towards the Asian region, to have an internationalist outlook, to organise active solidarity.

It’s our duty, around the world as well. And Resistance has a proud record – from our origins, in the solidarity campaign with the people of Vietnam, through solidarity with Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Indonesia, South Africa. It’s been an inseparable part of our political activity.

We’re all disappointed that the ANC Youth League tour wasn’t able to come off for this conference, but we’ll have future tours. And we’ll also have our own trips there, to learn, and to report.

Next year, we hope to have a GLW journalist based in Johannesburg, Terry Townsend. He’ll be travelling there in September, to attend a conference on The Future of Socialism in South Africa, and preparing the ground for next year. We’ve already had very useful trips there this year by GLW London correspondent Frank Noakes in February, to the ANC solidarity conference, and myself last month.

GLW itself is very much an internationalist publication, and has unparalleled coverage of world events, with our permanent correspondents in Europe and Moscow, our part-time correspondents in Nicaragua, Indonesia, the US, Mexico, Cambodia, New Zealand, and countries throughout Europe.

This international coverage can only increase. It’s already a networking tool as well. A calling card, that opens doors around the world because of its tremendous respect and prestige.

We’re exploring also the possibility of an international Alternative News Service on email, through Pegasus, using the existing resources of GLW and our correspondents as the core of it.

A further consequence of the collapse of Stalinism is that barriers are down, there’s a greater possibility for regroupments, for discussions with groups and individuals coming from different traditions.

On my trip I was able to initiate discussions with parties from different political traditions about the possibility of setting up an international English language magazine, as a forum for debating and discussing the central questions involved in building the socialist movement in this period following the collapse of Stalinism.

In the period ahead we’ll see increasing participation by Resistance in WFDY [World Federation of Democratic Youth] and ASA [Asian Students Association]. There’s a WFDY conference in Delhi in September, and they’ve invited the DSP to provide a speaker, so we’ll make sure we attend. And comrades travelling to Europe in future will be welcome to call in at the WFDY office in Budapest, we can even consider helping out on a volunteer basis for short periods.

And much of the international political activity for the DSP, Resistance and Green Left in the next nine months will be a lead up to the International Green Left Conference in Sydney, April 1-4. Comrades have seen the first leaflet. We expect an attendance of about 1000. Many international guests have been invited. It will also be an opportunity for a closed consultation with all the parties and organisations from the region that attend, to discuss possibilities for closer collaboration and common perspectives.

Consolidation and growth

But to do all the international work, the solidarity work, that we’d like to, to fulfill our obligations in helping other revolutions, we need to be stronger ourselves. We need to grow.

To have a bigger impact on Australian politics, to carry out many of the tasks we’re discussing at this conference, we need to be stronger also. We need to grow.

So the period ahead will be very much a period of education, of discussion, of consolidation. The DSP national decision-making conference will be held in Sydney next January 3-8. All Resistance comrades are invited and encouraged to attend, of course.

But even more importantly, I’d invite all Resistance comrades to consider joining the DSP if they haven’t already done so, so they can fully participate in the pre-conference discussion that is opening up, in written form from now, and oral discussions in the branches soon. It will be a rich and educational discussion.

In that same speech by Che I quoted from, he concluded by commenting:

“Comrades, to speak to youth is a very great task. One feels the desire to transmit many things youth already comprehends.”

I’ve felt the same.

“There are many things that I would like to say about all our endeavours and desires; about how, unfortunately, many of them are shattered when confronted with everyday reality and how we have to begin all over again; about the moments of weakness and about how contact with the people – with the ideals and the purity of the people – infuses in us renewed revolutionary fervor.”

Yes, it’s our involvement in real struggles, with the people in struggle, that gives us renewed revolutionary fervour, and allows us to return to the struggle again and again. But it’s also our knowledge that it’s an involvement in the international struggle, and our involvement over time, our historical perspective.

So as citizens of the world, able to see the global picture, and as citizens of time, able to see the historical picture, let’s use that renewed revolutionary fervour to build a stronger DSP, a stronger Green Left Weekly, and a stronger Resistance in the year ahead.

[DSP National Secretary John Percy recently returned from meetings and discussions with left parties and organisations in the US, Europe, and South Africa.]