The Communist Party of Britain

I'm quite nostalgic about my early twenties in the International Marxist Group, the British Section of the Fourth International. The cause was exciting and compelling, the organisation provided a normative framework for day-to-day life, there were great parties and discos, you had a support network wherever you went .. and as there were sections in most countries revolutionary tourism was a super-benefit (stay with the local comrades in the south of France - as I did, twice).

Wouldn't it be nice to replicate that sense of belonging? Clare has the Catholic Church, another internationalist, mass-participation organisation, but it's not for me. The Fourth International too is a lost cause. In the UK it's now just another SJW group with somewhat better economics.

But the Communist Party?

I had to check, I thought it had disbanded.

Not so. The Communist Party of Britain is alive and publishes the Morning Star. More than that, it's plugged into the Corbyn project.

It's quite well-connected. When it organised the Communist University at Ruskin House in November 2006 speakers included Labour MP John McDonnell, RMT general secretary Bob Crow and CND chair Kate Hudson. Corbyn reads and writes for the Morning Star.

Admittedly its membership is small and declining. In 2017 its adherents numbered 734 (a figure even the IMG attained once). In elections its votes have been derisory.

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Still, who needs popularity if you're right. There's a branch about twenty miles away. Perhaps I should check what it stands for?

From the Party website FAQs (my emphasis throughout):

"What about the crimes committed by Stalin?

The crimes committed during the Stalin period cannot be ignored. But the first attempts to build a socialist society took place in a semi-feudal society facing the hostile forces of imperialism. A bureaucratic-command system of economic and political rule became entrenched.  The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the trade unions became integrated into the apparatus of the state, eroding working class and popular democracy.

In the late 1930s in particular, severe violations of socialist democracy and law occurred as large numbers of innocent people were imprisoned and executed. Lessons have to be learnt from both the achievements and the failures of this period."

"Eroding"? I believe this is called a (tepid) stalinist apologia. Mistakes were made and lessons must be learned. What and what?

"Doesn't communism go against human nature?

The idea that human nature and communism don't mix is based on the concept that humans are innately individualistic and selfish. In truth, human behaviour is related to the society in which they develop. Capitalism actively encourages these behavioural traits to develop and become normal in society. Under socialism the conditions for these traits to be advantageous are removed and instead are replaced by those that promote mutual cooperation and respect for other members of society."

Good luck with that.

"What is the CPBs' position on the EU?

We're a party of internationalists so we're committed to supporting the workers' and peoples' of Europe in their struggles. Ultimately we consider the cultural, historic and other differences between workers in different countries to be less significant than with the differences between Britain's workers and members of the British capitalist class. However the EU is an institution that is fundamentally opposed to working class interests. The EU exists to promote the interest of monopoly capital and big business, particularly German and French.  ...

We want to see a Europe of democratic states that value public services, guarantees the rights of workers and puts the interests of ordinary people above those of big business. This is impossible while we remain within the EU given its anti-democratic structures. We need to campaign for a ‘left exit’ from the EU, based on socialist policies that respect the rights of other European countries."

Why isn't this Labour's policy? 

[I know why].

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The Party's programme is called Britain's Road to Socialism.

"Britain's Road to Socialism is the programme of the Communist Party of Britain, and is adhered to by the Young Communist League and the editors of the Morning Star newspaper.

It proposes that socialism can be achieved in Britain by the working class leading the other classes in a popular democratic anti-monopoly alliance against monopoly capital, and implementing a left-wing programme of socialist construction."

Ninety eight years of existence as a Communist Party and these folk have learned nothing. The muscular old-time CPGB reimagined as a senior citizen tribute band.

I rather fear I shall have to look elsewhere for my concierge organisation of choice.