THESES ON THE ANTI-FASCIST UNITED- FRONT
(Adopted by the Communist League, January, 1975); Originally Printed Combat Number 1; March 1975.

1. Fascism is the open terrorist dictatorship of a reactionary ruling class exercised through a fascist political party having a mass base.

2. The ideology of fascism is based on appeals to racist and chauvinist prejudices, combined with demagogic "anti-capitalist"  propaganda.

3. Fascism seeks to build its mass base primarily among the petty- bourgeoisie end lumpen-proletariat, but extended as far as is possible into the working class proper and its organisations.

4. In a monopoly capitalist country, the development of the movement for socialist revolution is inevitable, as is a counter-offensive by monopoly capital aimed at the forcible suppression of this movement for socialist revolution. Thus, the attempt by monopoly capital to impose some form of fascist dictatorship becomes inevitable at a certain stage in the development of the movement for socialist revolution.

5. The attempt by monopoly capital to impose a fascist dictatorship will be made at a time when the development of the movement for socialist revolution, led by a Marxist-Leninist Party of the working class, has reached the stage where it is making "parliamentary democracy", with the democratic rights and liberties associated with this, an unsuitable form of state power for monopoly capital, but before it has developed to the point where it is capable of overthrowing the state power of monopoly capital in a socialist revolution. The attempt by monopoly capital to impose a fascist dictatorship will thus constitute  a pre-emptive strike against the working class.

6. For this reason, the movement for socialist revolution is not capable, on its own, of defeating the attempt of monopoly capital to impose a fascist dictatorship.

7. The defeat of the attempt of monopoly capital to impose a fascist dictatorship can be achieved only by the organisation of    a much broader united front than that formed by the movement for a socialist revolution at a particular stage of its development, that is, by the organisation of the broadest possible anti-fascist united front  embracing, so far as is possible, all persons and organisations which, irrespective of their current attitude to socialist revolution or indeed to any other question are prepared to participate actively in resistance to fascism.

8. It must be expected that attempts will constantly be made by social democratic, revisionist  and Trotskyite leaders, who objectively represent the interests of monopoly capital, to discredit, disrupt and divert the anti-fascist united front from its task of resisting fascism, despite the fact that they may pay lip-service to this task. While in this respect social-democracy, revisionism and trotskyism may be regarded as 'the moderate wing of fascism", the main enemy,  against which the struggle of the anti-fascist united front must be directed, is fascism itself. The role of the social-democratic, revisionist and trotskyite leaders in seeking to sabotage this struggle must be used to expose them as objective agents of monopoly capital.

9. The aim of the anti-fascist united front must be to resist fascism. Until the stage of the actual socialist revolution (see Thesis 22) a clear distinction must be drawn between the declared aim of the anti-fascist united front and that of the  movement for socialist revolution, the latter representing a united front at a  higher level of political consciousness. Until the stage of actual socialist revolution, any attempt to impose upon the anti-fascist united front aims, actions and propaganda appropriate only to the movement for socialist revolution represents harmful "leftist" disruption.

10. The movement for socialist revolution will form the most politically conscious stratum of the broader anti-fascist united front and will strive to win its leadership. In addition to their role within the anti-fascist united front, however, the movement for socialist revolution (and the Party) must continue their own independent political activity at a higher political level.

11. The movement for socialist revolution will strive to lead the anti-fascist struggle in such a way that the less politically conscious members of the anti-fascist united front will have their political consciousness raised in this struggle so that the strength of the movement for socialist revolution (and, at a higher level still, of the Party) will be constantly augmented from the ranks of the anti-fascist united front. At the same time, the movement for socialist revolution will strive to lead the anti-fascist struggle in such a way that the strength of the anti-fascist united front will be constantly augmented by the recruitment of persons and organisations who were formerly neutral, or even favourably inclined, towards fascism.

12. The anti-fascist united front must have an organised form and a democratically elected leadership.

15. The replacement of the "parliamentary democratic" form of capitalist state, with the democratic rights and liberties associated with this, by a fascist dictatorship is seriously restrictive to the struggle for socialist revolution. Therefore, in the interests of maintaining  the most favourable conditions for the development of the movement for socialist revolution, the maximum possible resistance must be exerted by the anti-fascist united front to the attempt of monopoly capital to replace the "parliamentary democratic" form of capitalist state by a fascist form. Thus, the struggle to maintain "parliamentary democracy" -- until the movement for socialist revolution is strong enough to replace it by working class rule, by socialist democracy -- represents no compromise with monopoly capital. On the contrary, since it is monopoly capital which seeks to replace "parliamentary democracy" by a fascist dictatorship, the struggle of the anti-fascist united front to maintain "parliamentary democracy" against attempts to replace it by fascism constitutes struggle against monopoly capital.

14. The decay of monopoly capitalism makes the existence of collective bargaining in regard to wages and conditions unsatisfactory to monopoly capital, which therefore strives to bring the trade unions within the structure of the capitalist state, that is, to establish a corporate state.

15. An important  democratic right and liberty which the anti-fascist united front should and must strive to defend is that of collective bargaining free from intervention by the capitalist state. To the extent that the united front against fascism is won to this aim, the anti-fascist united front will also become a united front against corporatism.

16. Membership of the anti-fascist united front should be open to any person or organisation declaring readiness to participate  in organised resistance to fascism. While the appeal of the front will be directed  primarily towards the working class , members of any social class prepared to participate in organised resistance to fascism (for example, immigrant and Jewish workers who are likely to be the victims of fascist racial persecution) should be welcomed into membership.

17. The tactics of the struggle against fascism, must be active, not passive, and in no way reliant upon illusions about the role of the state as a "defender of parliamentary democracy" against fascism.

18. Defensive violence against attacks from any quarter, from the fascists or from the police, is at all times justified. The hard-won democratic rights to hold meetings, to assemble and to demonstrate must be defended, if necessary and practicable, by similar means.

19. In the period of resistance to fascism, the tactics of blocking by weight of numbers, attempts by the fascists to hold public meetings, demonstrations, etc., in the name of enforcing the Race Relations Act (which bans public expressions of racist propaganda) is tactically correct where it is  practicable. At the same time, membership of the anti-fascist United Front should not be narrowed to exclude persons or organisations which, while declaring  themselves prepared to resist fascism, are not prepared to participate in such actions because for the time being, they mistakenly believe in "free speech" for fascists.

20. In the period of resistance to fascism, offensive violence (such as assaults upon the police, upon fascists, etc.) facilitates the presentation of the anti-fascist united front as composed of "extremists" on   a par with the fascists themselves; it is therefore, to be condemned and its executants expelled from the anti-fascist united front.

21. The activities of the anti-fascist united front should include marches, demonstrations, public meetings, defensive actions against fascist demonstrations, cultural events (in which anti-fascist films should play an important role) and - of particular importance strategically - educational classes on the nature and causes of fascism. Revolutionary socialists should strive particularly to play a leading role in the orientation of these educational classes in order to expose fascism as an offensive weapon of monopoly capital.

22. When monopoly capital makes its  actual attempt to impose a fascist dictatorship, the Party and the movement for socialist revolution must strive to transform the struggle against fascism, which up to then has been defensive in character, into a decisive, offensive struggle against monopoly capital, into a socialist revolution, so that the anti-fascist united front at this stage merges with the movement for socialist revolution. At this stage, those sections of small capital which may have hitherto supported the anti-fascist united front will inevitably desert that front and go over to the side of the counter-revolutionary front of monopoly capital.



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