For several years, different elements in Russia, either in isolation or belonging to organised groups, have undertaken a search for a revolutionary political coherence. This situation is in some ways comparable to what happened in Western Europe during the period that followed the social struggles of May 1968 in France. It testifies to the proletariat’s ability to create from within itself revolutionary minorities, including in a region of the world where it has suffered the most from the world counter-revolution, in its Stalinist form. This historical ability of the world proletariat to tend towards the recovery of its revolutionary consciousness, through the reappropriation of its history by its minorities, is also to be found today in Germany, the other country where the proletariat suffered most heavily from the effects of the counter-revolution. Following the crushing of the insurrection in Berlin by the Social-Democracy in 1919 (which dealt a fatal blow to the world revolutionary wave), the proletariat in Germany was physically crushed by fascism, while after World War II it became the target of intense campaigns of bourgeois democratic propaganda. Since 1968, Germany has been relatively backward in the development of revolutionary ideas, and yet today we see there the appearance of discussion groups crystallising a reflection on this level. Given the geographical dispersal of the groups and elements involved in this process of political deepening in Russia itself, or further afield in the old "Soviet" republics as for example in the Ukraine, there is a danger that this process of reflection be diluted and so fall prey to sterilisation and the discouragement of the elements who are undertaking it today. It is therefore the responsibility of those elements have taken the process of reflection furthest, to set up a framework for discussion in order to provide a reference point for all those who, in different degrees, are also involved in the same dynamic. Aware of these necessities, the following organisations take the initiative of setting up such a framework through the creation of a discussion forum:
the Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalist Group in Moscow,
the Group of Revolutionary Proletarian Collectivists,
and the International Communist Current.
What is the purpose of the discussion forum?
Its purpose is to undertake a systematic discussion, with a view to clarification, of those questions which proved crucial for the workers’ movement and which will continue to be so in the future confrontations between the classes: internationalism, the reasons for the defeat of the world revolutionary wave, the degeneration of the Russian revolution, state capitalism, national liberation, the role of the trade unions etc. Its purpose is to gather and to make known contributions on these questions, which put forward different approaches that have already appeared within the workers’ movement, as well as differences of view, disagreements, or questionings that may exist amongst the participants in the forum. The forum is therefore an open place for the discussion and confrontation of political ideas, with the sole aim of clarification through political argument, following the proletarian method which excludes any approach in contradiction with the disinterested aim of the emancipation of the working class. In particular, it is not a "hunting ground" for unprincipled recruitment as this is habitually practised by organisations situated on the extreme left of the political apparatus of the bourgeoisie (Trotskyists, etc).
Which political currents, or positions, can find expression in the forum?
All the debates within the forum are intended to be public, and will therefore be published via the Internet or a review. Any contribution to the debates of the forum is welcome. Nonetheless, in order to preserve the proletarian nature of the forum, it is necessary that each participant should reject the following openly bourgeois positions: participation in the government of any country whatever, for any reason whatever; subjection of the proletariat’s interests to those of the "nation", the exaltation of nationalism and patriotism; struggle for reforms within the capitalist system instead of the struggle with the aim of overthrowing it on a worldwide basis; calling for the defence of the USSR in the world imperialist arena, before its collapse; the defence of the socialist or "degenerated workers’" nature of the Stalinist regimes as they were set up in Russia after the defeat of the revolution, or afterwards in countries like China or those in Eastern Europe; support, even critical support, for any party that bases its activity on any of the positions above. It follows from these criteria that any element or organisation who identify with heritage of Stalinism, social democracy, Trotskyism, or official anarchism (in other words the current which, in 1936-37, took part in or justified the participation in the bourgeois government in Spain), cannot contribute to the life of the forum. We nonetheless distinguish between membership of one of these bourgeois currents, which would indeed prevent any participation in the forum, and the situation where individuals who are involved in a process of splitting from them while still sharing some of their positions or their logic, wish to take part. The latter, with their questions, are welcome.
What texts may be published in the forum?
The precondition for open and unfettered debate within the proletarian camp is freedom of expression and criticism. Any contribution that meets the criteria of the previous paragraph, whether it is the work of a group or of an individual, may therefore be published. This being said, it will be subject to the following conditions:
that it is relevant to the subject under discussion;
that it does not duplicate another contribution being published (which is likely to happen if a large number of individuals not belonging to any political group take part in the forum);
that, however sharp the polemic, it follows the elementary rules of mutual respect amongst comrades who take part in the same combat and cherish the same ideal: that of the emancipation of the proletariat and so of the whole of humanity.
It is the responsibility of the organisers of the forum to decide on the contents of each issue depending on the subject under discussion. It is also their responsibility to decide which subjects should be submitted for discussion.
What are the perspectives for the forum?
The perspectives for the forum in the future are no different from those at its outset: open debate with a view to political clarification. The forum will fulfil a purpose as long as it is a centre for open political discussion, and we can hope that its impact and the richness of its debates will only increase. Nonetheless, circumstances may lead to the disappearance of any life within it. In this case it would no longer be of any use to the proletariat and its dissolution would be the best means of preventing it from falling into the hands of the bourgeoisie. The forum is not the embryo of a future political organisation of the proletariat. The clarification of different points of view may lead some of its participants to move towards the positions of one of the proletariat historical currents and to join organisations which represent these. There is no reason for such a process to call into question the activity of the forum: such a process should not aim at progressively transforming the forum into a political organisation with the elaboration of a political platform, which would in fact set a limit to the forum’s reason for existence, which is the openness of its debates. It is not impossible that confronted with events of major importance (for example the outbreak of war), the forum (or some of its members) may be led to take position publicly as such. This would merely concretise the growing and common concern of its participants for the defence of the proletariat's historic interests: in certain circumstances the adoption of a common position by the internationalists may be able to make a positive contribution. It should nonetheless be born in mind that such circumstances cannot be the rule, otherwise they will make the forum tend to become a political organisation. Those members of the forum who feel the perfectly legitimate need to intervene more frequently towards the working class can very well do so as sympathisers, or members of the existing political organisations of the proletariat.
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