Audio's Daniel Bensaïd

Bensaid expose les premiers pas de la création d'une nouvelle Internationale par Trotsky. Concernant la base politique de la lutte internationale, la première chose à faire était de rassembler tous les documents programmatiques fondamentaux de la Troisième Internationale. Cela concerne notamment les questions sur la Révolution Russe : la question de l'Etat, celle de la forme de la dictature du prolétariat, les premières années de l'organisation sovietique, puis la discussion intervenue lors des troisième et quatrième congrès sur le front unique. Mais quelques événements historiques majeurs posent de nouveaux problèmes de tactique. Bensaid décrit le contexte : la question de la guerre, la guerre mondiale, les armements nucléaires, la révolution chinoise, etc. Il parle de la formation de l'Internationalle et de l'Opposition de Gauche.

Trois idées de conclusion :
1- Les nouveaux problèmes auxquels doit faire face l'Internationale du fait des conditions de sa création.
2- Comment embrasser, à partir de là, la question de la fusion.
3- Premières expériences concrètes.

This lecture is composed of two main parts: the post-war condition (36-50), and the years of the splits in the FI (50-56). Bensaïd mentions Trotsky's expectation that the Second World War would be a repetition of the first in the sense that it would trigger revolutions. However, with the expectations not met, comrades had to rethink the situation after the war. Bensaïd mentions the world congress of 46 as an important moment, which brought together the leftist forces that were dispersed during the war. Bensaïd provides an international context of post-war years with a specific mention of the condition of CPs in various countries. The debates on workers' state and the future and nature of eastern countries, e.g. Yugoslavia. In the second part of the lecture, Bensaïd continues with the Years of the Splits (1950-1956), providing an in-depth contextual analysis of the international political situation during those years, with a special focus on the eastern countries, these being the main axis of international politics. The five elements that made a big impact in the world politics: "capitalism will not collapse by its internal economic conditions", consolidation of workers states,  Yugoslavia-Soviet conflict, Chinese Revolution and its victory, beginning of the Korean War. These debates had effects on the building of the Fourth International in its early years and some clashes of ideas led to splits. Bensaïd specifically dwells on the Yugoslavian-Soviet conflict to discuss the condition of CPs, the Stalinisation and bureucratisation trends. He makes a omparative analysis of the Yugoslavian and Chinese CPs.

Bensaïd starts this lecture with a mention of Ernest Mandel's "What Should Be Modified and What Should Be Maintained in the Theses of the Second World Congress of the Fourth International on the Question of Stalinism?", alternatively known as "Ten Theses," and Michel Pablo's "Where Are We Going?".  He then moves onto the organisational consequences of the period following the splits of 1952 and 1954 and discusses the isolation of sections; "How to survive this isolation without becoming crystallised into a small sectarian group?" A reconsideration and reformulation of the tasks of the Fourth International, after Trotsky's prediction of Stalinism's downfall and rise of the Fourth International following the World War II proved false. Bensaïd quotes Mandel and mentions his three characteristics --namely spontaneity of masses, empirical leadership, advances of consciousness towards revolutionary marxism-- which can be unified with one single formula: the stage of centrism, aka progressive centrism. Adoption of entryist tactics, as a particular stage in the development of class consciousness. Transitional slogans that bridge the existing level of consciousness and the necessity of taking power. Similarly, entryism is a bridge between class consciousness and necessity of revolutionary party. Discussion of "strategic entryism" which combines integration in the process of mass radicalisation with a revolutionary programme. At the Third World Congress when the general orientation was on entrism, despite the French section's disagreement. This led to suspension of its leadership. Bensaïd cites Pablo's report as a key document on the organisational consequences of this resolution in "pre-revolutionary" conditions. After a break, Bensaïd moves onto the third main heading of his account of FI: the years towards the reunification. He outlines some key political and historical events that were tests for two main currents after the split (ICFI and ISFI).