Issuing body: International Secretariat of the Fourth International
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Letter from the International Secretariat to all members of the PCI
Comrades,
Sixteen full and alternate members of the CC (Bleibtreu, Dumont, Lambert, Renard, Maurin, Garrive, Cheramy, Lefevre, Baratier, Bloch, Mertens, S. Just, Annie Renard, Raynal, Cartier, Hemcé) have been suspended from their leading functions in the French section of the Fourth International by decision of the IS dated 20 January. The IS's sanction is limited to this measure. Those sanctioned remain members of the party and of the international. As of this day, the IS has taken charge of the leadership of the French section until the next plenum of the International Executive Committee, at which the question of the French section will be placed on the agenda. The International Executive Committee will in particular have to take a position on the decision taken by the IS.
The IS's decision falls within the powers granted to it by the statutes of the international (Section III, articles 11, 12, 13, and Section IV, article 18, of the First World Congress, Fourth International, special issue, pages 90, 91) in a general way, and more specifically within the mandate entrusted to it by the Third World Congress with regard to the French party, namely: "Should it prove that the French leadership does not live up to this hope (note: to loyally apply the line of the international), the IEC and the IS shall be charged with taking all organizational measures to rectify the situation in the party."
The terms of this mandate had been recalled to the CC members in the letter the IS sent to the CC dated 14 January. In the course of the two days of discussion at the CC that preceded the votes, the IS members present at this session stressed repeatedly that the IS had studied the situation of the French section at length and that a refusal of the IS's demands would entail sanctions.
In its letter (a copy of which will be given to all party members), the International Secretariat formulated the following demands: "We ask the CC to appoint a PB [Political Bureau] that will ensure the international's orientation is applied firmly and in a manner that allows no further loss of time. We ask the CC to refuse any discussion within the party of documents opposed to the analysis, perspectives, and orientation of the Third World Congress."
These demands were given concrete form, in the most moderate way possible, in the following resolution presented during the CC itself by the IS representatives:
"1. Between now and 15 April 1952 there will be an open discussion within the French organization on the basis of the IS letter."
"It shall proceed in keeping with the general line of this text and shall have as its purpose to make this orientation understood by the whole party and to prepare it to apply that orientation effectively."
"The party leadership shall see to it that this discussion actually proceeds in this general sense, and shall pay particular attention to the following points: a) that this framework for the discussion be respected, above all by the party's leading members; b) that in no way shall this discussion deviate onto subjects settled by the Third World Congress, in particular the assessment of the situation and Stalinism."
"2. This discussion shall be brought to a close by an extraordinary conference which shall finally settle and adopt such an orientation."
"3. Within the international, there shall be a discussion on the plan of the international leadership with a view to the next IEC. The IS shall communicate to the IEC members all the documents of the French discussion. It shall further communicate them to any other leadership that engages in a similar discussion. In addition, the IS shall communicate to the IEC members all the documents prepared for the present session of the PCI's CC."
"4. With a view to carrying on such a discussion within the party and beginning now to prepare it to apply this orientation, the IS considers it necessary that a new provisional PB be appointed, composed either of a majority of comrades who already have an understanding of this orientation, or — as a final concession — of four, four plus one member of the IS other than comrade Pierre Frank."
For what reasons did the IS present these demands? In October 1951 the CC had voted a resolution in which it undertook to apply the decisions of the Third World Congress with "understanding and discipline." But the IS was very quickly forced to note that the majority of the leadership showed hardly any understanding, and on the contrary displayed an ever more deliberate determination to ignore the decisions of the world congress and to go on in practice wanting to apply the line of the PCI's Seventh Congress, which was in opposition to the line adopted by the Third World Congress by an overwhelming majority, the majority of the French section being almost alone in opposing it. For example, the PB majority sought the IS's arbitration in the conflict it had with the minority over the trade-union question; when the IS answered unfavourably to the majority, the latter declared that the IS was in opposition to the World Congress as regards its application to France, and refused to apply the trade-union line set out by the IS.
In the weeks preceding the January CC, the situation deteriorated rapidly. Several texts were prepared by the PB majority on the political situation and on work within the Stalinist mass organizations, texts which, as with the trade-union question, were in opposition to the line of the Third World Congress. But the PB majority not only claimed to deny the IS the right — not to say the capacity — to decide on the interpretation of the world congress's decisions, while being answerable for this to the IEC, but it also intended to raise before the whole French party discussions on questions that called into question the decisions of the world congress, notably the analysis and perspectives of the international situation, as well as the question of Stalinism.
- The PB majority, under the pretext of discussing the application of the Third World Congress's decisions to France, wished not only to call into question the decisions of that congress, but even intended — to use an expression of comrade Renard's at one of the last PB meetings — to set the French party against the international. All the infamous accusations that had already been current before the party's Seventh Congress — and notably that of capitulating to Stalinism — accusations that had not been raised from the platform of the world congress, were taken up again with redoubled violence, to which were added new, base accusations against the IS in general or against certain of its members in particular. (The IS will inform the IEC of the accusations that were moreover made in certain interventions at the CC, without any member of the majority rising against the infamies being hurled at the most responsible militants of our international movement.)
We are well aware that, for the young members who form a significant part of the French section of the Fourth International, what is happening is a painful blow, a profound shock. The IS is deeply convinced that it has done everything possible to put an end to a grave situation for the French organization, in the most flexible manner, after months and months of patient effort and political persuasion, and we are convinced that the IEC — that is, the most politically qualified body of Trotskyism — will approve. Remember how the publication of the theses of the Ninth Plenum was received, how the preparation of the party's Seventh Congress and that of the Third World Congress were conducted in the French section. The most extravagant accusations, the least responsible statements, the incessant shifts of position, the most superficial methods took the place of serious discussion. We must tell you, comrades of the French party, that the conduct of the French majority's delegates aroused much concern and even indignation among a great many delegates to the world congress, among the oldest and most seasoned militants of Trotskyism. It was the members of the IS who insisted with them that an experiment be attempted, allowing the majority of the French party leadership to show its will to apply the decisions of the world congress. Nearly six months have shown that it did not have the strength to do so, indeed more than that — that it was being pulled by other, very powerful forces at work in the present period. For what has just occurred is not a chance accident, a false manoeuvre, an effect of stubbornness on one side or the other. We do not know whether it will still be possible partially to repair the situation, for what has just occurred is above all the result, upon our movement in France — still so little rooted in the working class, in a socially torn country — of two important facts: first, the degeneration of the Yugoslav revolution, for which the members of the French party made such great efforts, which had raised great hopes in them and which now leaves a bitter and profound disillusionment. Second, the preparation for war, which places extraordinary pressures on everyone. But the very fact of seeking a solution elsewhere than in the international is in itself the expression of an inability to resist these forces.
Members of the French section of the Fourth International, the shock felt today by many of you is still little compared with what the near future will bring you to know. To withstand the storms that will bear down upon you, you will find no other strength than the Fourth International. None of the pre-war national groups, however strong they appeared, survived the Second World War. Reject today any step that would lead you to a split with the Fourth International. Do not let there be a repetition of the disruption that struck the ranks of the French Trotskyists on the eve of 1939. Whatever your positions in relation to those that prevailed at the Third World Congress, however harsh the IS's decision may appear to you today, never forget your loyalty to the Fourth International. It is not only a programme, it is also an organization. Do not give way to impulsive gestures. All the necessary documents will be given to you. Take the time to study them. But never forget that fighting in the ranks of the Fourth International is the only way fully to carry out one's revolutionary duty, to make Trotskyism triumph in the great battles of the coming years. It is not only the IS that asks this of you. Through it, it is the Trotskyists of more than thirty-five countries of the world who appeal to your sense of responsibility and to your devotion to the cause of Trotskyism, to the Fourth International. Close ranks around the banner of the Fourth International.
21 January 1952 The International Secretariat
Postscript: As a result of the IS's decisions, the leadership of the French section is taken in hand by the IS until the next IEC plenum. The IS thus constitutes your sole statutorily qualified leadership. The IS has more specifically charged Pierre Frank with practically assuming this leadership, surrounding himself with the support of those comrades who place discipline to the international above any tendency position or personal consideration.