The Fourth International and strategic debates today

The strategic importance of internationalism and the role of an international

Speaker: Penelope Duggan

1. World Capitalism and the need for an international

- today Bolsonaro, rise of authoritarian regimes, pandemic, climate catastrophe - an unprecedented situation

- when the FI was founded

- the class nature, the imperialist and oppressive nature of the global system

- resistance

- global justice movement in the 1990s

- return of strategic issues

- socialism in the 21st century

2. The Fourth International today

- The Fourth after three failures

the difficult road to the foundation

threat of world war

transitional programme

- post war

1953 split -> different tendencies

1963 reunification

- the FI since 1968

FI sections

“broad anti-capitalist” or new parties (1995)

- what type of party

°transitional nature of these projects

°FI framework at the national level

°independence from the apparatuses and institutions

°involvement and priority of self-activity, self-organization of the workers' movement and social movements

°wage political battles on these principles - class independence... on politically priority themes: ecosocialism, feminism, anti-racism,

°militant and political practice internal democracy against the reproduction of oppression

°theoretical and programmatic education

°renewal through specific work with youth

- Understanding the national situation ° an orientation, not a tactic to adopt

Readings

Bureau statement: “Trump’s defeat interrupts momentum of authoritarian right worldwide”

September 1938 - the founding of the Fourth International

Role and party-building tasks of the Fourth International

Additional reading: Daniel Bensaïd: The formative years of the Fourth International (1933-1938)

Gus Massiah: The new world struggles to be born

Michael Löwy: The Fourth International is 80 years old!

Pierre Rousset: Reflections on the “party question” (expanded version) – an overview