Scottish Communists

Marxism and the Asian Experience with Kenny Coyle, recorded on Thursday 8th September 2011 in Unity Office, Glasgow.

This meeting marks the publication of the new Communist pamphlet called "Asia, Imperialism and Resistance", written by Kenny who is resident in China. Contact the main Party Centre to order copies.

The pamphlet covers south east and north east Asia (not the whole of the asian continent). The lessons learned there could be applied elsewhere.

Development and adaption of Marxism by Asian comrades has been very important. Marxism has been important in Asia and has been applied there. The British left is particularly ignorant of the struggle in Asia, particularly the sectarian (ultra) Left which looks down its nose at it. The Communists are the ones who try not to under estimate the contribution of Asian Marxists and their contribution to Marxism as a whole.

Main Presentation.

Click "Read More" to view the further discussion, which looks deeper at this large subject, including Japan, North Korea, South Korea and so on.

Glasgow Communist's made an early start on Saturday with a stall at the CND event in George Square.

The YCL were to the fore in fending off the masses who clamoured to buy revolutionary tracts from the young comrades. Well ok a bit of hyperbole but a fair trade was done nevertheless. The new Kenny Coyle pamphlet ASIA:IMPERIALISM AND RESISTANCE was a best seller with that's day delivery almost sold out. However the early morning start clearly took its toll on the young dears and the old guard had to take over to maintain the Party's presence on the regular Buchanan Street stance.

Even with the Morning Star failing to make an appearance there was a brisk trade and a number of trade union activists stopped by for a bit of banter. Leaflets for   the STUC October 1st demonstration and the Morning Star Conference on 9th October were given out to interested passers by, and signatures were   collected for the trade union backed Peoples Charter.

Women's organiser Liz Payne on Imperialism

John Foster on Capitalism and Power

Mary Davis on the struggle between Capitalism or Socialism

Robert Griffiths on the forces which can be mobilised for resistance

Anita Wright sets out the new strategy

Gawain Little sets out the case for socialism

Emile Schepers writing in the Morning Star

The government of the Slovak Republic, a coalition of four right-wing parties (led by Prime Minister Iveta Radičová of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party) has approved draconian legislation that could end up sending members of the country's Communist Party and other leftists to prison for up to three years because of their beliefs and speech.The law would criminalise any promotion of, or professions of sympathy for, communism, as well as denial of the crimes of the previous socialist governments of the former Czechoslovakia.

It seeks to equate support for communism with support for nazism. The law came into force on Thursday, though constitutional challenges are being mounted and protests are planned. Besides the Communist Party of Slovakia, other democratic currents in the country are denouncing the law.

This is not the first attempt by the Slovak right to legitimise fascism by attacking communists.

A 2006 law makes opponents of the former communist-led government eligible for special government financial aid and includes anti-communist actions going back to October 6 1944.

After the Munich agreement of 1938, Hitler invaded Bohemia and Moravia - the "Czech" part of Czechoslovakia - directly and set up a puppet state.

The nazis also fomented the breaking away of Slovakia, which came under the rule of clerical fascist Monsignor Jozef Tiso who became a key ally for Hitler and participated in the Holocaust by facilitating the deportation of Slovak Jews.

In 1944 communists, Slovak military personnel and others organised the Slovak national uprising against the German occupation and the collaborationist government of Tiso.

On October 6 of that year, Czechoslovak and Soviet troops attempted to force the Dukla pass in the Carpathian mountains, so as to move from Poland into Slovakia to link up with the Slovak national uprising and defeat the nazis and their Slovak collaborators.

Unfortunately the effort failed and the uprising was crushed with many deaths.

Because of this, opponents of the 2006 law complain that people who were basically on the pro-nazi side toward the end of the second world war, even perhaps Tiso, who was hanged after the war, could end up being exonerated and even given material rewards.

The new anti-communist law in the Slovak Republic is one of several such attempts in former socialist bloc countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, where right-wing politicians hold power.

In each country, the left attributes the eagerness to attack the communists to a need to distract attention from the current rulers' own failed policies.

This follows on from "Trotskyism: A rough guide", which investigated Ultra Leftism.
Now Kenny Coyle looks at how Ultra Leftism (much broader than just Trotskyist groups) misunderstands Imperialism.
Right opportunism: short term gains in place of long term aims & principles.
Left opportunism: preserve abstract priciples rather than make short term compromises. Class struggle is more complex than their dogmatic strain allows.

Lenin: Imperialism is the highest stage of Capitalism. What is the relationship between Capitalism and Revolution? e.g. What are the characteristics of bourgeois revolutions?.... Advances but with limitations.......... Imperialist drive to export of Capital ..... Colonialism ........

and much more

Part 2 of the talk below focuses on the Ultra Left's misunderstanding and misrepresenting of the Chinese, Cuban and other Socialist revolutions, basically the Ultra Left myths which are often peddled.

In a blow to the reactionary forces and governments grouped around the Prague Declaration, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland has resolved to halt the ban imposed on progressives from displaying revolutionary symbols and imagery. At one time it was even mooted that the government would try to ban people from wearing Che Guevara t shirts!

On 19th of July the Constitutional Tribunal has issued a verdict  stating that the ban of communist symbols in Poland violates the  constitution.

The Tribunal has stated that the realisation of the article 256 of  Penal Code, which was implementing on 8th of June 2010, violates a  principle of freedom of expression, of acquiring and disseminating  information that has been secured by the constitution. In its statement  judges of the Tribunal wrote that section 2 of that law (Who in order to  popularize produces, records, imports, stores, possess, presents,  transports or sends printing, record or other item containing content  described in section 1 or being a carrier of fascist, communist "or other  totalitarian symbolism" is subjected to the same punishment.) was  unclear and because of this could pose a threat to freedom of speech.  They also commented that “totalitarian symbols” mentioned in new law  were not defined. The Tribunal has also reminded that Poland has signed the European  Convention on Human Rights and therefore should accept its principles. The decision of the Constitutional Tribunal was a result of an appeal  put forward by several MPs.

This verdict is definitive. It confirms that our arguments and the campaign against this ban were  well-founded. However it is only one step in the fight against anticommunism. Our campaign against discrimination of communists must be continued on national and international level because of the problem  of reprisals which are taking place in many countries, particularly in  Eastern Europe. The lawsuit against Algirdas Paleckis in Lithuania and  the new law that criminalises questioning of the “communist crimes” in Slovakia is the most recent evidence of this tendency.

In conclusion, we would like to thank for all solidarity actions that were organised around the world and support from various progressive organisations. Especially we would like to thank all comrades who visited Warsaw on 8th of June 2010 when that ban was introduced, to participate in a meeting, press conference and demonstration.

On behalf of the CC of the Communist Party of Poland

Beata Karon

Taken from http://21stcenturymanifesto.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/ban-of-communist-symbols-in-poland-ruled-unlawful/

For more on Anti Communism and the Prague Declaration see http://www.scottishcommunists.org.uk/communist-videos/anti-communism-and-the-prague-decloration

On the Failure of Neo Liberalism in these countries see http://www.scottishcommunists.org.uk/communist-videos/the-failure-of-neo-liberalism-in-the-baltic-republics

World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY).

The world's largest youth organisation speaks out.

Written by WFDY in: http://www.wfdy.org/2011/08/10/on-the-riots-in-london-and-other-parts-of-britain/

The Young Communist League supports the call of the youth of London for justice and for a future.

We condemn the reckless violence and widespread criminality of recent nights but understand it as a direct product of the capitalist system, and the resulting dangerous lack of security and stability for the youth of today, accompanied by disenfranchisement and exacerbated by unprecedented levels of alienation.

Additionally, the chaotic manner in which the youth are expressing their anger is just one dangerous consequence of the promotion by the bourgeois media of “indignant peoples” protest, protest without organisation, called through social media and without structure, democracy, leadership or clear politics. Their message is that organisation is not necessary for change, and consequently the developments across London reflect an individualism without regard for class or community, and void of any social responsibility.

It is clear that the anger of the youth is derived from a number of factors including police brutality, the massive reduction in public spending on youth and other services, and a general frustration at a future with little prospects.

The YCL notes that the cuts in public spending have had a disproportionate impact on both the youth and ethnic minority groups.

However, this form of protest, promoted through the organs of the class enemy, stifles political development amongst young people, at a time when the capitalist system itself is in deep crisis and its future is questioned by many.

The YCL maintains that politics without Marxism-Leninism is like a journey with no map.

The choice for Britain’s youth remains clear: Socialism or Barbarism!

Mick Carty

Acting General Secretary

Young Communist League - Britain

This video could make you a Communist activist! Marxism is the summing up of the experience of the working class in it's struggle for Socialism.

Indepth presentation and discussion on the development of Marxism in the 21st Century, and how to be an effective Communist campaigner in your work place and community.

Class struggle is the motive for change. Communists need to be where working people are organised - in Trade Unions in the workplaces, in Tennents Associations, in Community groups, even if they are very rudimentary, even if they need to be built up. They have to be built on real experience. Learn from the experience of struggle of the working class - you need to be part of that.

The SNP now has control of the Scottish Parliament. Its 69 MSPs give it an absolute majority over Labour (37), the Tories (15), the humbled Lib-Dems (5), the Greens (2) and the one independent - the redoubtable Margo Macdonald.

What caused this transformation? Alex Salmond's leadership style? The SNP certainly benefitted. Salmond is moderate, affable, down-to-earth and with an unerring instinct for election pledges with popular credibility.

Yet there were three far more compelling reasons. One was the switch of the Lib-Dem vote to the SNP. The second was comprehensive support from the big business press - from Murdoch's Sun, Newsquest's Herald and the Johnston Press. Third, and probably most important, was the failure of the Labour Party campaign.

The problem was not so much the Labour leader, Iain Gray. It was the degree to which the dogmas of new Labour thought still grip the party north of the border. The SNP was very vulnerable on the cuts. Over the previous year the SNP minority government had simply passed them on to local government. Yet to have challenged the whole logic of the cuts, and exposed the SNP, would also have meant challenging the orthodoxy of big business economics.

Days before the election, at Glasgow May Day, Unite leader Len McCluskey called on Scottish Labour to "regain its radical edge" and to provide an alternative to the cuts. "New Labour philosophy - that slavish ideology of neoliberalism - has failed. It's no good embracing the concept of cuts but saying we won't cut as fast."

Scottish Labour refused to heed this advice and chose instead take its final election stand on knife crime and the defence of the union against Scottish independence.