{"id":3114,"date":"2012-02-26T19:45:29","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T19:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=3114"},"modified":"2021-03-05T19:06:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T19:06:14","slug":"the-rcn-call-for-socialistcommunist-regroupment-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/26\/the-rcn-call-for-socialistcommunist-regroupment-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"THE RCN CALL FOR SOCIALIST\/COMMUNIST REGROUPMENT IN SCOTLAND"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Strong And United Left Is Needed More Than Ever<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We Have Not Stopped The Capitalist Offensive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We Need To Listen, Learn, Then Move On<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In our lifetime there has never been a greater need for unity of socialists and communists, nor has there been a greater fragmentation of the Left.<\/p>\n<p>What we have had under capitalism is as good as it was going to get. Now employment protection, pensions, health services, housing provision and education are under sustained and organised attack with a disproportionate effect upon youth and women.<\/p>\n<p>The post World War II gains are under attack by all the pro-capitalist parties, not just the Tories; yet still union representatives and various sects call on workers to oppose Tory or Con-Dem cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Doesn\u2019t it make you want to weep? It\u2019s not just that these cuts are being implemented by <strong><em>all<\/em><\/strong> parties, it\u2019s that all parties are doing so because <strong><em>capitalism requires it and they have no alternative to capitalism<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Capitalism is not in crisis in the sense that those who \u2018run\u2019 it have made mistakes; capitalism is doing what it has to do \u2013 subject economies to periodic painful depressions in order to survive.<\/p>\n<p>This is the point. It is not possible in the long term to humanely manage or reform capital! Capitalism can be forced to grant limited concessions by organised militant action, but as soon as we let our guard down they will snatch them back as is currently happening.<\/p>\n<p>We need to move beyond capital\u2019s parasitic stranglehold on human society. We need to find a way to organise to that end.<\/p>\n<h3>Past Failures<\/h3>\n<p>Many groups\/organisations\/parties on the Left point to achievements of which they are proud &#8211; recruitment, a prominent role in key struggles, electoral successes or producing quality publications are examples. Yet the Left is weaker and more fragmented than for many decades and, in Scotland, the once strong <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> is a shadow of its former self<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3114_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3114_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_3114_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3114_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_3114_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3114_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">see <a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/11\/the-rcn-platform-and-the-ssp\/\">The <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym> Platform And The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym><\/a><\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3114_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3114_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Self-proclaimed revolutionary \u2018parties\u2019 or proto-parties put most of their efforts into fighting each other. Why is this?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gurus, self appointed leaders and media attention seeking personalities have set up and controlled too many of our organisations. Democracy has not been open or even practised.<\/li>\n<li>Members and recruits are \u2018given the line\u2019 to repeat. They are told <strong><em>what<\/em><\/strong> to think instead of being encouraged <strong><em>how<\/em><\/strong> to think.<\/li>\n<li>Front organisations are set up with little if any democracy mainly in order to recruit.<\/li>\n<li>Broad Lefts share this same democratic deficit and limiting aspirations.<\/li>\n<li>New activists become disillusioned and misdirected \u2013 just think of some of the slogans (and weep again) \u2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2026.Fight The Con-Dem Cuts.. it\u2019s <strong><em>capitalism<\/em><\/strong> we are fighting against and all the parties supporting it and all the organisations supporting them, including the Labour Party, the <acronym title=\"Trades Union Congress\">TUC<\/acronym>, <acronym title=\"Scottish Trades Union Congress\">STUC<\/acronym> and the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026Make Poverty History\u2026 you mean, make <strong><em>capitalism<\/em><\/strong> history and all the parties and organisations supporting it.<\/p>\n<p>We need to move beyond populism, reformism, electoralism and egotism.<\/p>\n<h3>Conditions For Regroupment<\/h3>\n<p>A fundamental issue is the democratic and interpersonal nature of how we interact. We won\u2019t get far without open, comradely and non-sexist behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>We need a framework that lays out rights and responsibilities of individuals, groups, platforms, networks and organisations that come together. We need a style of discussion and debate that allows us to listen, reflect, and question. We need to discourage the sectarian \u2018We have our line and we will vote en-bloc\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>We need to start from a few fundamental realities:-<\/p>\n<p>It is the capitalist mode of production that constitutes the underlying problem. It is a system of exploitation with its wage slavery and domestic drudgery, and its denial to the majority of the guaranteed material means to provide a decent living. It is also a system of oppression with its patriarchy and consequent sexism, its competitive states, national chauvinism and racism, and its denial of real democracy and human dignity. It is a system of necessary and recurring crises, continuous wars and environmental degradation.<\/p>\n<p>Capitalism promotes a selfish individualism based on \u2018having\u2019. We must offer an alternative, based on that aspect of being human which capitalism suppresses &#8211; our shared social existence. Then we can prioritise \u2018being\u2019 over \u2018having\u2019. Therefore, it is not enough to fight against capital. We must fight for a system of human emancipation and liberation \u2013 i.e. communism organised on the principles:-<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u201cFrom each according to their ability; to each according to their needs.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhere the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We need to develop an Immediate Programme based on meeting our real needs which, through the development of independent working class politics and organisation, \u00a0allows us to fundamentally break with capitalism and move towards the first phase of communism, i.e. socialism.<\/p>\n<p>We should lead by example. We will be judged by the way we behave within our organisation.<\/p>\n<h3>Next Steps<\/h3>\n<p>We in the Republican Communist Network are joining in the call for a regroupment of the Left and will help to facilitate this.<\/p>\n<p>We are <strong>not<\/strong> suggesting the setting up of another Party \u2013 that would be a decision for those who had come together under this regroupment, once a sufficient base of support had been won amongst the working class.<\/p>\n<p>We <strong>are<\/strong> suggesting that the points within this leaflet should form part of the discussions for a regroupment. Others will certainly have additional points to discuss.<\/p>\n<p>A fuller description of our current thinking can be found at:- <a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/23\/beyond-the-ssp-and-solidarity-forgive-and-forget-or-listen-learn-and-then-move-on\/\">Beyond The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> And Solidarity \u2013 \u2018Forgive And Forget\u2019 or \u2018Listen, Learn And Then Move On\u2019?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Please contact us if you are interested in joining the call for a new regroupment. This is <strong>not<\/strong> a recruitment tactic (although we would like to hear from you if you are interested).<\/p>\n<p>Please add your voice to the call for a regroupment at whatever meetings\/demos\/strikes you participate in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>United We Stand A Chance Of A Better Future<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Divided We Face Increasing Barbarism Under Capitalism<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>We Must Learn From Our Mistakes And Move On<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><h3><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3114_1();\">References<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3114_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3114_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/h3><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_3114_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_3114_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_3114_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_3114_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">see <a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/11\/the-rcn-platform-and-the-ssp\/\">The <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym> Platform And The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym><\/a><\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_3114_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3114_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3114_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_3114_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3114_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3114_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3114_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3114_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3114_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_3114_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_3114_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3114_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_3114_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3114_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Strong And United Left Is Needed More Than Ever We Have Not Stopped The Capitalist Offensive We Need To Listen, Learn, Then Move On In our lifetime there has never been a greater need for unity of socialists and communists, nor has there been a greater fragmentation of the Left. What we have had&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1852,1854],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-3114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-communists-organise","category-the-left-crisis","tag-author-rcn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":7137,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3114"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18230,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114\/revisions\/18230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}