For New Communist Parties and the New International

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Up to now we have developed as a faction of the Third International. After our expulsion we regarded ourselves as a faction, and our aim was the reform of the Communist International. This was an absolutely inevitable stage. Even if some of us had had the conviction, some time ago, that the Comintern would be doomed to ultimate defeat, it would have been impossible for us to proclaim ourselves a new International. It was necessary to demonstrate what we are worth, what our ideas are worth, to train cadres. That could only be done as a faction. This was an inevitable stage.

We must put an end to this, internationally as well as nationally. We conceived of a theoretical development in which the historic events explained in advance by us, with our criticism, could produce a radical change in the policy of the Comintern. These great events have taken place. There was China, but at that time the criticism of the Opposition remained a closed book, and the workers in the West heard very little of it. There was Germany. We followed the events step by step, and we predicted them more or less accurately. This was the classic situation for reform to take place if it were possible

On April 5 [1933], after the resolution of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, we should have proclaimed: The Communist International is dead! We lost severed months that, despite everything, bear a certain importance. Why this delay? First, because our declaration of the need for a new party in Germany caused dissension in our ranks. The problem was to bring about a decisive turn without leading to a split The first stage was the proclamation of a new party for Germany. And then it was also necessary to see what the influence of the German catastrophe would be on other sections of the Comintern.

Our waiting attitude is to be explained by the caution necessary in such a turn. The influence of the German catastrophe must of necessity cause a change in the Comintern, either in the direction of reform or in the direction of accelerated disintegration. The Comintern cannot remain what it was on the eve of the German catastrophe. The road taken by the Comintern is now quite definite. One cannot hope for a miracle. It is doomed to defeat The idea of reform is to be rejected, nationally and internationally, for the Comintern in its entirety, because it is nothing more than an unscrupulous bureaucratic caste that has become the greatest enemy of the world working class. It is absolutely necessary to free the proletarian vanguard from the dictatorship of the Stalinist bureaucracy.

What does this turn mean in its essence? We cease to be a faction; we are no longer the Left Opposition; we become embryos of new parties. Our activity is no longer limited by the idea of factions. That should give us inestimable advantages. The Stalinist organizations diminish more and more. The working class casts the Comintern from its bosom. We will be doomed to failure if we remain attached to it Some organizations, some groups, are opposed to us only because we are in favor of reform. It will be said, they are confusionists, but there are also healthy elements among them who have not taken our road. We must free ourselves from the formal guardianship of the Stalinist bureaucracy.

Is it a question of proclaiming the split now? One cannot do that now. We do not have sufficient forces. A current towards the left is forming in the Socialist Parties. We should orient ourselves toward these currents. The Communist International was formed out of these centrist elements of yesterday who turned to the revolution. The general situation was much more favorable in 1918. The rhythm of development was much more rapid. Now we are faced with the greatest defeat of the workers' movement If the development is much slower, in the meantime the bankruptcy of the Social Democracy takes place side by side with the bankruptcy of the Comintern, and all that on the basis of the catastrophic bankruptcy of capitalist society.

We are the embryos for the formation of a revolutionary organization. Thus, for example, the conference projected in Brussels by the SAP and by similar groupings in other countries. We should answer yes to their invitations. If we say: it is necessary to be a faction of the Comintern, then a united front will take place against us on a question that has become empty. We must proceed differently. We must go there and say: "You have reproached us with reform. Now we are in a new historic stage in which the policy of reform is exhausted. Let's not discuss past points of view. The difference is liquidated."