[p. 79]
The Revolutionary Workers party of India has announced that it is merging with the Revolutionary Communist party. The announcement appeared in the Feb. 5 issue of their official newspaper, "The Militant" . (By choosing this name, the Indian comrades indicated their adherence to the revolutionary-socialist tradition which we have sought to maintain through the years.)
The united organization, to be called the Revolutionary Communist party of India, has four main points in its program: (1) support of the struggle of the masses against foreign imperialism and native capitalism. (2) "Unconditional defense of the Soviet Union, China, and other workers' states against any capitalist attack." (3) Support of the struggle of the working people to end "bureaucratic privileges in the Soviet camp countries." (4) Subordination of all partial and sectional interests of the working people to "the world socialist revolution."
In a document jointly adopted by the central committees of the two parties, the basis of the merger is stated to be the acceptance of the "fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism" and rejection of "all doctrines of class peace and revisionism."
"Capitalism as a world system is doomed," the document declares, "Its signs are unmistakably evident today. We are already living in an epoch of transition from capitalism to socialism.
"World capitalism can be finally vanquished only through the struggle and victory of the international proletariat, subject to the laws of the uneven development of capitalism."
The fate of Indian capitalism, as part of world capitalism, is held to be sealed. The Indian masses can solve their fundamental problems only through a "socialist social order and organization of a democratic workers' state based on the leadership of the working class in alliance with the rural masses and urban petty bourgeoisie."
In a series of planks, the nationalization of basic industry is advocated together with a state monopoly of foreign trade. Transitional measures are advanced such as workers' control of production and a sliding scale of wages and hours. Stress is placed on the struggle for complete equality and defense of democratic rights.
Specifying their attitude toward the main operating forces in the radical movement, they call for "Relentless struggle, ideological or political, against the pro-imperialist policies of the social-democratic parties as well as against the class-collaborationist, opportunist and revisionist policies of the Communist parties."
In a statement accompanying the joint platform, 'The Militant" declares that discussions on the differences that separated the two parties were held between leading members for the past 18 months. The joint platform is essentially the same as the one proposed in the first issue of "The Militant" (March 20, 1959) as a "minimum basis" for Marxist unification in India.
The RCPI has already ratified the agreement to merge; the RWPI is holding district conferences to consider ratification. It is expected that the membership will approve the proposed step. A merger conference is scheduled for April.
We hope that this unification of Marxist forces in India will serve to hearten and inspire revolutionary socialists throughout the world. To strengthen the Marxist movement in India is to strengthen its counterpart in the centers of imperialist power, particularly in Britain.
The unification in India will increase the political weight of the Socialist Labor League, the Marxist wing of the British Labor party. This is especially timely, for the Socialist Labor League has been the object of a savage witch-hunt, visited upon the tendency, in part, because of their firm support of socialist and anti-imperialist movements in India and other colonial areas.
We can think of no more auspicious first step which the new Revolutionary Communist party of India might take than to express the international side of its program by issuing a strong declaration of support to the Socialist Labor League against the witch-hunting capitalist press, right-wing Labor party and trade-union bureaucrats, and assorted centrists who seek to destroy this promising tendency.
To come to the aid of the beleaguered British socialists may seem no more than an elementary expression of international solidarity. But it has a reciprocal effect. It strengthens those who take such action. That's one of the ways the world socialist revolution moves ahead.