International Communist Current
Public forum
Communism: not a nice idea but a material necessity
2.00, Saturday 12th May
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London
Nearest tube: Holborn
“Communism? Ah yes, like Russia used to be. The state controls the whole economy. Except for a small number of apparatchiks, who make all the decisions, everybody is paid the same low wages. People weren’t free to leave the country”.
No! That’s not the communism of Marx, who looked to the abolition of the wages system, the disappearance of the state and of national frontiers. To a society of freely associated producers!
“Oh that communism. A wonderful utopia. A nice idea, but it would never work……. Better to do what we can to make capitalism more humane”.
What doesn’t work is capitalism, which has long outlived itself and is dragging humanity into a nightmare of economic collapse, war and ecological destruction. Communism is a necessity for the survival and future flowering of the human species. Furthermore, it is no utopia. It expresses the fundamental historical interests of the working class.
Since 1990 and the collapse of the ‘Communist’ bloc - in reality a form of state capitalism - the International Communist Current has been publishing a series of articles in its theoretical journal, the International Review, around the theme ‘Communism is not a nice idea, but a material necessity’. The first volume of the series, published this month in book form, begins with ‘primitive’ communism and goes on to explore the conception of communism in the writings of Marx, Engels and other revolutionaries during the 19th century. The second volume of the series, already published in the International Review, deals with the period from the mass strikes of 1905 to the end of the first great revolutionary wave that followed the First World War. A third volume is already underway.
The meeting will consistent of a short presentation on the new book: why it is a fundamental duty of revolutionaries to reclaim the work of their ‘forgotten’ ancestors from the lies of the bourgeoisie and academia, and why it’s so important to bring the theoretical and practical lessons of the workers’ movement of the past to the knowledge of the new generation of revolutionaries. There will be plenty of time for discussion following the presentation.
All welcome
Communism: not a nice idea but a material necessity costs £7.50 (including P &P) and is available from the address below (Cheques / Postal Orders should be made payable to: International Review)
Contact:
Write (without mentioning the name) to:
BM Box 869, London, WC1N 3XX
www.internationalism.org / uk@internationalism.org
but what if i think communism is a nice idea