[Marxism] 2 Plenary Talks at recent DSP Conference [World at a Crossroads], Sydney

[michael a. lebowitz]

    PSM Comrade Saraswathy's speech to final session WAAC conference
    <http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/psm-comrade-saraswathys-speech-to-final.html>
    <http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4251727554078622751&postID=7812666506926580994>


Posted by Dave Riley at Friday, April 17, 2009 [LeftClick]
*This is Deputy Chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM 
<http://www.parti-sosialis.org/>) Comrade M Sarawathy's speech to the 
final plenary of the World At A Crossroads conference. She is long-term 
organiser of plantation workers, urban settlers and women workers in 
Malaysia, and founder of the Textile Union at Imperial Garment.*

Red Salute from Malaysia to all the friends & comrades ! Socialist Party 
of Malaysia thanks DSP / Socialist Alliance & Resistance for inviting us 
for this valuable World at A Crossroads conference.

One of the most widely known truths today is that capitalism is in deep 
crisis of its own making . The endless search for greater and greater 
profits with complete disregard for people and the planet , has 
inevitably in crises which capitalism itself cannot solve.

The clock cannot be turned back on global warming which has resulted in 
major changes to temperatures and natural phenomena ,and which poses a 
serious threat to future life on earth.

Capitalism has also resultad in a crisis of resources. The resources of 
the world have been exhausted and depleted by unplanned production and 
wasteful exploitation .Peak oil production has been reached and we face 
the prospects of a world that is short of energy resources.


Currently we are all in the midst of a worldwide economic recession that 
is entirely created by the capitalist system .thanks to global 
capitalism no country in the world is spared. Workers are losing jobs in 
millions ; there is a widespread homelessness and misery. The recession 
has and is going to create massive poverty. World poverty figures are 
going to skyrocket.Of course, the capitalist- run media mourns not about 
the huge suffering of the people but about the bankruptcy of financial 
institutions such as Lehman Brothers and the drop in the billions owned 
by the billionaires.And about the billions being pumped in by capitalist 
governments to save the capitalist system.

The constant warming is that this is going to be the worst crisis in 80 
years ,and even worse than the recession of the 1930s .For us socialists 
this means a long period of suffering and deprivation for the people 
,brought about by the ruthless profits first and greed âEUR" driven system.


But this very bleak period also is a period of great hope, having 
created the objective conditions necessary for ending capitalism 
.Widespread unemployment and poverty also means widespread 
disenchantment and anger. We have the opportunity to create awareness
among workers y exposing the capitalist system âEUR" as a system that 
rides on the super exploitationand repression of workers. We have the 
opportunity now to create awreness about the socialist system.We have 
the opportunity to empower workers .I think we will all agree that the 
objective conditions are ready for a change.But are we ready to use this 
opportunity to fight for a socialist future ?

I would like to propose some actions we should take in order to be able 
to respond to the crisis of capitalism.

*1. Sinking our differences*

One of the biggest obstacles in the way to a concerted fight against 
capitalism is the factionalism among the left .Many groups seem to be 
more concerned about the correctness of their ideology and position 
rather the onslaught of capitalism and how the left will need a joint 
response to it. There is a need to unite on our similarities as 
socialists, oppressed to an inhuman system where the majority remains 
oppressed,and commit ourselves to struggle for socialism with the 
working class .There is a need for continuous dialogue over our 
defferences as we work togather.There is an urgent need for us to think 
of the challenges and kind of socialism in the 21stcentury and how to 
arrive at it. And to realize that capitalism is still strong and will 
will come
back after the recession only because the socialists wasted their 
opportunity. Human history of working class will never forgive us if we 
continue divide ourselves!

*2.Venezuela and Latin America*

We need to look at Venezuela and Latin America ,Non -socialists are 
achieving what socialists have failed to achieve in decades .Socialism 
is being introduced in ways never imagined before. What lessons can we 
learn from Latin America which we can apply in the struggle in our own 
countries ?

*3. We have to work*

We have to go the ground and agitate as Che says.Engage the working 
class in struggles , empower them âEUR" we gain the democratic space to 
enhance our struggles.We have to write pamphlets for workers to 
understand,have workers discussion âEUR" to create awareness and urge 
them into action. We have to harness the anger and frustration of the 
workers and make people aware that mankind is not doomed to suffer under 
the capitalism system for ever.Socialism doesn't drop from the sky!

As Rosa Luxemberg has said , the choice facing mankind is Socialism or 
Barbarism.There will be great anger and dissatisfaction with the 
existing economic system.Our role is to turn this frustration into a 
political struggle for a socialist society.

/Long Live Socialism !
Working Class Of The World Unite !
Hidup Perjuangan ! Hidup Sosialisma !
---
/


      For international co-operation based on refounding Marxism for the
      21st century [UnityblogNZ]
      <http://unityaotearoa.blogspot.com/2009/04/for-international-co-operation-based-on.html>


*Below is the speech delivered by Daphne Lawless, leading member of 
SW-NZ, to the World at a Crossroads conference in Sydney, Australia, 12 
April, 2009. The conference was a gathering of socialists from all over 
the world. See **http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/*

Comrades and friends, thank you for a wonderful time. Thank you in 
particular to our hosts from DSP and Resistance who've made this huge 
thing happen. Y saludos revolucionarios a nuestro/as compañero/as 
latinamericano/as.

I've had a wonderful time. Not used to so many people who agree with me! 
Not on everything - but on essentials. In 21st century socialism, no 
more space for socialist identity politics - "I'm a trot/maoist/state 
cap/I love Cuba". The only question is: are we building organisations 
which can help lead the struggle for a new world beyond the corporate 
market?

I think we should bring back idea of "scientific Marxism". Not 
Stalinist-style mechanical materialism but the scientific method.

Essence of that? Experiment. Try things. If it fails, no problem, try 
something else. Lenin said "the mark of a revolutionary is not never 
making mistakes, but learning from them."

What we don't have any space for any more is the opposite of scientific 
Marxism: sectarianism or "religious marxism".

Sectarianism doesn't mean being rude to other leftists. It's a wrong 
idea about the class struggle. It means treating Marxism as a religion.

A religion, as Marx puts it, is something that helps you deal with the 
world as is, rather than change it. Sectarian Marxism treats socialism 
as a "revealed truth" which can't be tampered with.

It bases itself on a set of idea, or a revered prophet, which can't be 
challenged. So it's elitist as well -- we the enlightened will teach the 
masses and become their leaders.

You can't experiment in a religion. That's called heresy and blasphemy. 
People like that are CAST OUT and not invited to parties. The survival 
of the group -- with the "right flavour of ideas" -- is the most 
important thing. And political activity is ritualised -- instead of 
going to Church on Sunday, or mosque on Friday, the sectarians sell 
their papers on Saturday, or wherever.

Most importantly, their world shrinks. The world that Marx saw was a 
huge world full of the teeming millions of the oppressed and exploited 
under capitalism. For the sectarians, the world revolves around perhaps 
a few hundred "professional activists" and union officials. If your 
world is shrinking, as the great American writer Robert Anton Wilson 
said, it means your intelligence is decreasing.

Sectarianism is not politics. It's a lifestyle choice.

It's Easter, so religious quote -- the programme was made for the 
struggle, not the struggle for the programme. If the struggle's not 
working, change the programme -- change the organisation if you have to. 
Don't be afraid.

For example, back home sects yell at RAM [Residents Action Movement] 
because we don't use the word "socialism". IT'S ONLY A WORD. It's not 
magic. I defy anyone to read RAM's programme and tell me that it's not 
pointing the way to a post-market economy. We don't use word socialism 
because workers don't know what it means any more.

Different strokes. Socialist Alliance here uses the word. In France, 
they've decided they've got space for an anti-capitalist broad party, 
not just anti-neoliberal. Good on them. Hope it works. But we make our 
own calls.

SW believes that broad parties will wither and fail if they don't have a 
committed source of revolutionary ideas, strategy and practice. But -- 
and this is really important -- Marxist groups are doomed to wither, 
fail, turn in on themselves, become useless sects with no hope of 
relevance, if they're not right at the centre of broad popular movements 
reaching out to workers and all the oppressed and making practical 
action right here and right now. And if those movements don't exist, we 
have to help make them happen.

We were bashed for initiating RAM rather than being parasites on a union 
or a broad-left formation started by someone else. Apparently it's "not 
what socialists do" to actually organise the class, but to wait for 
someone else to do the hard yards and then fight for leadership of it. 
Newsflash comrades -- if your sect has 400 or 4000 members but still 
acts like a religious community rather than a political party, then it's 
still a sect. Irrelevant to actual workers, you know, the people who 
make history?

But scientific Marxists need to continually experiment to see if it 
works. And you can only do that by talking to the working class, by 
reaching out into their communities, by joining them in their struggles, 
by offering ideas and programmes which make sense in the here and now 
but point somewhere better.

Marx said: "Communists do not form a party opposed to other proletarian 
parties". Marxists are supposed to merge with the class vanguard, to 
test and therefore improve Marxist theory. We are NOT the class vanguard 
ourselves unless we prove to be so in practice!

Sectarianism says that the theory as it stands is absolutely perfect, 
and therefore Marxists have the right to be leaders of the struggle -- 
we ARE the vanguard, in other words, even if we're totally isolated from 
the actually existing struggle.

Therefore, anyone who argues with Marxism or opposes the Marxist group 
-- so say the sectarians, are enemies that need to be defeated. This is 
the attitude that has led Marxist groups to destroy broad left 
formations rather than lose control of them.

That's not science. That's holy war.

Sometimes our theory will be wrong and we will have to amend it. We 
should learn from our allies, our opponents, even from our enemies.

In Venezuela -- great example. Hugo Chavez is leading a revolution which 
is pretty much being made up as it goes along. That's not a criticism -- 
it's how it has to be. Where we're going, there are no road maps. Chávez 
and his comrades learn from the example of Cuba, from Marxist theory, 
from the new generation of radical thinkers coming out of the States and 
Europe, but he experiments and sees what happens.

Big secret of psychology -- you are what you do. If you persuade 
yourself that "objective conditions do not permit anything real to 
happen, so best to build our tiny group in an activist ghetto", then 
quite certainly they won't. If you believe that they might work... well, 
they might not. But what are you concerned with -- truth, or protecting 
your reputation and self image? Truth ONLY comes through contact with 
the real world of horrible jobs. Success ONLY comes through experiment.

Materialism teaches that words and ideas are only real things when 
backed up with action and concrete things in the real world. "Socialism 
and revolution" are just words. The movements represented here are 
putting content to the word "socialism" again -- and it's a different 
content than that of the Berlin Wall, the gulags, and of authoritarian 
capitalism like we have in China. That's the real meaning of "struggling 
for a programme", as Trotsky said.

You can't give leadership by lecturing. Only by giving ideas which have 
practical action and are "real" to the majority of workers. You have to 
earn leadership, every day, in practice -- you don't deserve it because 
you're the chosen ones with the right ideology.

Science and the class struggle don't observe national boundaries. So we 
need some kind of growing international co-operation. Not like sectarian 
"internationals" united by a profession of faith. We must have 
international co-operation based on common practice -- on common 
practice of Marxists and revolutionaries determined to build broad mass 
forces opposed to neo-liberal capitalism. But also based on refounding 
Marxism for the 21st century, from top to bottom.

Conferences like this are a start; so are things like the new 
Ecosocialist International Network.

Let's keep experimenting; let's keep swapping notes on our successes and 
failures; and let's keep growing together in practice, and thus in 
theory that actually is worthy of the name "Marxism for the 21st century".

¡Venceremos!

-- 
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development'
Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H.
Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar
Caracas, Venezuela
fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231
www.centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve
mlebowit at sfu.ca