International Struggle and the Marxist Tradition: Selected Writings vol. 1

Tony Cliff (1917-2000) was an outstanding Marxist. Standing for a position of ‘Neither Washington nor Moscow but international socialism’, his writings and practical activities have helped generate revolutionary organisation internationally. With the demise of Stalinism, the bankruptcy of Labour-Party-style reformism, and the emergence of anti-capitalist struggle, these ideas are more relevant than ever.
This first volume in the collection of Cliff’s writings covers his continuous engagement with the class struggle worldwide. The earliest pieces deal with the issue of Palestine and the Jews, and combine a rejection of British imperialism and Zionism with an analysis of the potential of the Arab working class.
A series of texts reprinted here grapple with the interrelations between the dynamics of mass struggle and the tasks of revolutionaries. High points in the fight against capitalism, such as France in May 1968 and the Portuguese Revolution of 1974-75, are studied in detail. The fantastic power shown when the working class fights is set against the problem of its lack of a leadership that could guide it to victory.
In writings on Luxemburg, Trotsky and Engels the issues of mass action, theory and practice, spontaneity and organisation, and the dynamics of the revolutionary party are developed. The final piece, on Indonesia, summarises many of these lessons, learned over two thirds of a century of tireless work.