Revolution and Counter Revolution

Communist Day School 2 June 2007

Below are video clips from a Day School hosted and tutored by Comrade Erna Bennett on the themes of "Revolution and Counter Revolution".

As well as active service in the Second World War in the Middle East and Greece, Erna Bennett was one of the early pioneers of genetic conservation.

A distinguished scientist and journalist and a veteran member, at various times, of the British, Italian and Australian Communist parties.

Part 1: A Period of Revolutions across Europe. A simple choice - Socialism or Barbarism?! Environmental concerns. What to do? Propaganda of silence.
Part 2: Capitalist priorities & ways of hiding problems. Class society - "for the good of the country?". Social struggle is between classes. Communist Manifesto. Stark reality - need to mobilise courage. Early revolutions: England and Germany.	Part 3: Ireland & O'Connell examined. Limiting (pacifying) revolutionary mood. A repeating pattern. Rules of the corrupt Capitalist game ignored. English revolution. Repeating betrayal.
Part 4: Papandreou in Greece - enormous suffering, quasi-fascism, civil war. Victors rewriting history. Weakness in numbers and ideology, divided forces. An example from the Italian Communist situation. Trotskyist groups. The Labour Party debated.	Part 5: Labour Party - alternatives? Social Democratic politics sell out in Government to ruling class. Lessons from Nazi Germany. Who will make the change?
Part 6: Politics within and without parliaments. Practical demands of current situations. Masses, majorities, mandates and Marxism. Who speaks for the masses? What are the concerns & priorities of ordinary citizens in this cultural environment?	Part 7: Taking initiatives. Importance of propaganda. Being critical in order to repair. Strengths & weaknesses. Involvements with other movements, building them up, key struggles & providing alternatives. Examples from Cuba. Without propaganda there are no mass movements, without mass movements there is no revolution possible. Something that cannot but win support.
Part 8: Working in wider movements and struggles. Shifting equilibrium. A heavy task ahead, what's my part in it? Counter-revolution by passive culture.	Part 9: Working in wider movements and struggles. Shifting equilibrium. A heavy task ahead, what's my part in it? Counter-revolution. Passive spectator culture. Resistance work e.g. Czechoslovakia - be on your guard. Be active revolutionaries. An emergency work. Extending respect.
Part 10: Countering misinformation about Socialism and exposing Capitalism. Being of practical use within communities. Identifying top priorities. Create social centres of reception. Being aware of culture. Think in terms of a counter-culture. Help to prepare the working class.	Part 11: Who makes the patterns of thought? Resistance movements. Represent the people. Communists gain respect. We are as responsible now as Germans were for the Nazis then. Why don't people resist? Because they don't have a resistance movement to inspire them.