Matériel de lecture mouvements sociaux

Extract from the code of conduct of the ICS (Indian Section of the Fourth International)

Apart from the aforementioned considerations, we now need to lay down certain additional conditions. A person is deemed to be a revolutionary not only by the political beliefs that he/she adheres to, but also by the "personal" life that he/she has. A comrade might be a staunch supporter of the Party's position on "Women". And yet, in his personal life he might be extremely opressive as far as his relations with his wife are concerned. Should we remain silent spectators to this and satisfy ourselves with the fact that at least his "public" image is in consonance with that of the Party position? In so far as his relations with his wife, daughter and women comrades are concerned, it becomes as much a partu concern as his political beliefs.
And it needs to be openly discussed in the Party even at the cost of alienating the comrade. A comrade's political image cannot be different from his/her personal life. There arte certain comrades who have extremely conservative and traditional views regarding women, and yet may go along with the majority position for fear of being branded "conservative". Beliefs which have become ingrained over a period of years might be difficult to charge. Yet, it does not mean that the question should not be discussed. It becomes even more imperative that we bring these problems, however, "minor", into the open and thrash them out .
Similarly, a comrade might publicly oppose any form of communalism/casteism, and yet in his/her personal relations with either comrades or persons outside the Party he/she might adopt a communalist or casteistattitude. A singular communalist and/or casteist incident on the part of the comrade may recessitate that strict action be taken. It cannot be taken lightly and must be discussed in the Party, and if it is a serious incident it might even necessitate the expulsion of the comrade concerned . As far as Religion is concerned we might be strong believers in atheism, yet practically spaking, we might be faced with a real contradiction in wh at we believe in and what actually happens. A worker whom we recruit, for example, might be a militant and yet in his/her personal life might be extremely religious. Should we recruit the worker or should we first ask him/her to shed his/her religious beliefs before recruiting him/her?
A worker will lose his/her faith in religion only through his/her practical experience and no amount of lecturing will ever change views which have been embedded since childhood. Our approach instead should be that we should take up and discuss these issues and other similar issues which are closely interwo ven with the personal lives of new recruits and comrades.