Dear Jim:
We must be extremely careful with the Pabloites. Germain, who as usual waffles around in the center whilst contriving at all critical times to endorse the crimes of Pablo, plays a treacherous role in this whole business. As you say, actions speak louder than words.
This is especially true in relation to the civil war in Algeria. As you know, there are two forces involved in the national struggle in that country; the forces of Messali Hadj, which include the vast majority of Algerian workers living in France, as well as extensive support in Algeria (over 15,000 of its militants were in prison up to last November, i.e., before the recent wave of hostilities began); then there are the forces of the "Liberation Front" armed, financed and equipped from Cairo. This consists of some former Messalists, which include several Army officers trained by the French together with a sprinkling of corrupt politicians of a type like Ferhat Abbas. Bringing up the rear of this ragged crew are the Algerian Stalinists and the Pabloites.
The class issues involved in this struggle are quite pronounced. Messali is a splendid supporter of our movement and as you will see from his pamphlet which we have just shipped, reasons things out as a socialist. The "Front" represents a typical petty-bourgeois formation who desires "a deal" with the French (they accept the Nehru proposals).
A copy of an illegal paper put out by the "Front" made an attack on our people and Messali. This was prompted by the Pabloites who used the same language in their journal "La Vérité des Travailleurs." It was for circulating this journal that Pierre Frank and two others have recently been arrested.
Apart from the important political issues involved, it is perfectly clear that in the atmosphere prevailing, "unity" in France is not exactly a thriving proposition. If there is one thing that our people have done a good job on in France, it is on the Algerian issue. When I saw Messali last November, he was full of praise for them. Whatever may be their shortcomings, they were foursquare with the Algerian revolution, and this to me is more decisive than the word-spinning of Germain.
We had a visit from Pablo last February. The man was arrogant and threatened to start a faction in our ranks if we didn't come to heel and join his "international." We told him to go to hell and the meeting terminated after 20 minutes. He behaved throughout in a hostile way. Since then he has attempted to start a duplicated magazine and has sent Santen from Holland to build a section here. To do this he has endeavored to regroup the most demoralized and unreliable people to fight us—hardly the sort of thing one would do if genuine unity were being sought.
The approach of Pablo is conditioned by the fact that a number of people who want to be orthodox Trotskyists are imprisoned, as it were, in his set-up. For a time the "Parity Commission" maneuver served to keep them quiet. Now this prop has gone, Germain pops up with a line of talk which behind the scenes contains blackmail threats such as he used here. We must hold a very firm course when dealing with such tricksters—otherwise nothing but confusion will result.
Our most important task is to prepare a world Congress around the draft international resolution which you have been discussing. Added to this would be the recent developments inside the CP. We are in complete agreement with what you say on this matter. I intend adding to your remarks in a few days by citing some of our experiences here.
When we have hammered out an international political line and clarified our own forces, then it will be up to all those who desire serious unification to take a stand on our decisions. I do not think George Breitman should have any truck with Germain. Let him stew as he is for the time being. Any communication with him could be the subject of factional use later and would almost certainly cause confusion in France, where the comrades have got good reason to be touchy about Pablo.
The urgent thing is for our International Committee to adopt a clear political line. The sooner we speed up this aspect the sooner we will clear up the international problems.
Warmest wishes,
Burns [Healy]