New Revolutionaries [antikvár]

PREFACEThe reason for presenting this book to the pubHc is essentially a simple one. For too long the ideas of revolutionary socialists on the left of the traditional communist parties have been suppressed or distorted, both in the capitalist countries and in most of the communist world. In the West it has been against the interests of the ruling groups to permit the development of a Marxian alternative to Stalinism; while in the Soviet Union itself the bureaucracy is afraid that a penetration of critical communist concepts will result in an ending of its powers and privileges. Of late, however, a spectre has begun to haunt the communist parties of Europe: Leon Trotsky. The ice-pick that killed Trotsky did not succeed in killing his ideas, and a revival of the theories advocated by Stalin's most powerful and consistent opponent are now seen by many as a Marxist alternative to Stalinism.A streak of Trotskyism, therefore, runs through this volume. For this I make no apologies. Its validity as a political credo has stood the test of time.I would like first of all to thank the contributors themselves for their support, the editors of*Intercontinental Press and of the following publications, in which some of the articles in this volume originally appeared: The Black Dwarf, Granma, Ramparts and the Socialist Worker. I wish also to thank all the individuals without whose help publication would have been interminably delayed. In particular, some of my political colleagues in the International Marxist Group whose encouragement was vital; Ann Scott, the editorial secretary at the offices of The Black Dwarf, who spent hours deciphering and typing some of the manuscripts; and Neil