Response to the correspondence between groups of the communist left

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We publish here a response from an ICC sympathiser in Belgium to the correspondence among groups of the communist left regarding the joint statement on the Ukraine war signed by several groups[1]. We invite further reactions from comrades to this initiative, which, though modest, has a significance that goes beyond the immediate moment.

ICC, September 2022


I fully welcome the publication of the correspondence concerning the joint declaration of some groups of the Communist Left on the war in Ukraine.
It would have been good if it had been published sooner, which would probably have prevented a number of misunderstandings among contacts of the ICC and other internationalists.
However, I can well understand that the publication of the correspondence was not done sooner in order to enable other groups to participate in the ICC initiative at a later date.
I must say that by reading this correspondence I have gained a better understanding of the intentions of the ICC and I have also got to know and appreciate some groups better.
This applies:

1. To the "Istituto Onorato Damen":
Earlier I judged this group rather negatively. I remain very critical of this group, but I find its response to the proposal of the ICC very mature and constructive.

2. To the “Internationalist Communist Tendency”. Despite their rejection from the beginning of this ICC proposal (this becomes more and more clear in the course of the correspondence) and despite the fact that they do not or hardly answer the questions and remarks of the ICC, they have taken the effort to repeatedly respond in detail to the ICC.

Therefore, the correspondence is very enlightening about the positions and the attitude of ICC and ICT.

3. In connection with the group "Internationalist Communist Perspective"(South Korea):
From the correspondence I understand that the ICC is not by definition negative towards signing the Joint Declaration with the ICC and others, at the same time as supporting the "No War But The Class War" initiative launched by the ICT or a part of it. See the letter of the ICC to the ICT of 29 April 2022:

"Your letter brings up the ICT motivation behind the No War but the Class War appeal.
Whatever the merits of this appeal - we agree with its underlying internationalist principles - or weaknesses, it was, and is, perfectly possible for the ICT to also sign the joint statement which contains the same internationalist principles. The Korean group, Internationalist Communist Perspective, has proved this option in practice."

4. The various so-called "International Communist Parties" persist in their gross error of thinking that they are alone in the world, alone with the right positions towards the whole world, the evil world.

Most of them simply do not answer and one of them (Il Programma) answers :
"Dear friends,
Now is not the time for talk, but for putting into practice the unchanged and unchanging directives of revolutionary preparation...".
The predecessors whose "unchanged and unchanging directives of revolutionary preparation" they intend to continue were surely great talkers, writers and drafters of statements.
See Marx and Engels with the Communist Correspondence Society, the "Arbeiterbildungsvereinen" in several countries, the Communist League and the International Workingmen's Association (1st International), see also and even more Lenin with the "Iskra", "What is to be done?"...and especially his "April Theses" from 1917 in which he, going against the attitude of a large part of the Bolsheviks at that time, said :
"In view of the undoubted honesty of those broad sections of the mass believers in revolutionary defencism who accept the war only as a necessity, and not as a means of conquest, in view of the fact that they are being deceived by the bourgeoisie, it is necessary with particular thoroughness, persistence and patience to explain their error to them, to explain the inseparable connection existing between capital and the imperialist war. ..." (Thesis 1) and "...our task is, as long as this government yields to the influence of the bourgeoisie, to present a patient, systematic, and persistent explanation of the errors of their tactics, an explanation especially adapted to the practical needs of the masses." (Thesis 4)
Also notable is the addressing of the ICC as "Dear friends", where all the others address the ICC at least as "Comrades", even the anarchists of the KRAS.

Perhaps, after a more thorough re-reading of the whole correspondence, there will be a follow-up to these remarks on this interesting and important correspondence between groups of the proletarian political milieu.

C.

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