The Communist Party's assessment

Ivan Beavis of the Communist Party of Britain speaks at the Socialist Resistance seminar on broad parties. He’s not seeking to take power because the role of the Communist Party in Britain was defined by Lenin as that of acting within the mass party of the working class, the Labour Party and within the mass…

Liam

June 30, 2008

1–2 minutes

Ivan Beavis of the Communist Party of Britain speaks at the Socialist Resistance seminar on broad parties.

He’s not seeking to take power because the role of the Communist Party in Britain was defined by Lenin as that of acting within the mass party of the working class, the Labour Party and within the mass organisations of the working class.

It is Communist Party policy that they should be part of the Labour Party and they were part of it until they were expelled in the 1920s. They do not seek to supplant the Labour Party….

If you have trouble with the video click here

7 responses to “The Communist Party's assessment”

Lawrence Parker

June 30, 2008 at 8:03 am

Ivan’s plenary speech was rather astounding in that he didn’t actually represent the CPB’s twin-track policy of working toward a new mass party of labour while not writing off the reclamation of the Labour Party.

For factional reasons presumably, Ivan only represented one track of this policy – the ‘traditionalist’ line of reclaiming the Labour Party.

He did admit in the workshop session that followed this, under pressure from Socialist Resistance supporters, that there were differences in the CPB and that others were more flexible than his “cautious” approach.

I guarantee that if you got Robert Griffiths to speak, the emaphasis would be completely different, given that he is a supporter of the ‘new mass labour party line’.

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Chris Brooks

June 30, 2008 at 8:38 am

I don’t think anyone familiar with the CPB will really have found it astounding that Ivan said what he said. But what is interesting is that the CPB sent Ivan to this sort of event, knowing well what he would say to it. What message did that send – and who was the primary audience for it?

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Briz Blogger

June 30, 2008 at 8:45 am

Ivan’s justfication for his position seems to be very simple – back in 1920 Lenin told the CP what it’s role was to be, and 88 years later they’re still carrying out his orders. And without access to a ouija board, I don’t suppose that any change of line will merit serious consideration…

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Adamski

June 30, 2008 at 9:10 am

Didn’t Lenin say that the workers should support Labour in the same way as the rope supports the hanged man?

And one remembers that early British communist who spoke of taking the Labour leaders by the hand as the preliminaries to taking them by the throat!

Actually the CPB position is a complete distortion of Lenin’s attitude to the Labour Party

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Joseph Kisolo

June 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Reclaim the labour party from without by getting the unions (who we also need to reclaim) to put more demands on them.

I’m sorry but of all the perspectives for a way forward for the left this has to be the worst I’ve heard. Totally stuck in the past.

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Lawrence

July 1, 2008 at 5:20 pm

Liam,

Any reason why this is now unavailable?

I’ve given the link to various people and they can’t get it.

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Liam

July 1, 2008 at 6:42 pm

No idea. It seems to work ok if you click on “here”

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