If at first you don’t succeed

Changed for the better? A scene from Good Bye Lenin!, in which a son tries to hide the fall of the Wall from his ill mother. But does it mean the end of communism?

TARIQ Ali’s The Idea of Communism is the first in a series examining the practice of communism in the 20th Century and its relevance for the world in the present crisis of capitalism.

In the first two chapters, Ali charts the sources and development of communism from its beginnings as a response to the “wage slavery of the workers during the earlier years of the Industrial Revolution”, through its codifying in the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels, through the Russian Revolution and its transition to Stalinism. He asks the question of how communism in the 20th Century would have fared if the revolution had happened in “economies of abundance”, in Germany or France rather than Russia.

Ali concedes near the end of the book that this material is “hardly original”, as it has been well known and rehearsed by historians. Yet his account of the history is concise and readable and couched in the terms of the present crisis. As a non-historian, I found this particularly useful and enlightening.

Some of the points are particularly effective. For example, discussing the lessons learned from the 20th Century:

“The practitioners of Communism failed. The divorce of theory from practice had become a permanent fixture. With the collapse of the practice, the doctors of theory, too, became discredited.

That is the difficulty with which the left continues to struggle.

In the third chapter, Ali examines the importance of the ideals of communism/socialism.anti-capitalism in the light of the present capitalist crisis and its continued exploitation of the working classes and of the fragile environment. The main thrust of this argument raises one vital question: Why, even after a crisis as dramatic as the present one, have governments slid so easily back into a system in which failure and collapse are inherent?

Capitalism has failed regularly, yet communism has failed once. The failure of Soviet and Chinese communism was, of course, calamitous due to the totalitarianism and repression undertaken by its leaders rather than due to the failure of the theory or ideal.

Ali also poses the question: why do the majority of people think that the failure of Russian and Chinese communism in the 20th Century is somehow the failure, once and for all, of the Marxist or communist ideology?

Ali tells us that the transition from feudalism to capitalism and democracy took 500 years, and saw periods of dictatorship. He then asks why we cannot consider that the failure of Russian and Chinese communism, with their dictatorships, is not simply a step on a long road to a possibly socialist future.

It is an interesting and hopeful message to those of us who despair in an apathetic generation. Ali also points to one of the most important lessons of Marx – who, Ali suggests, would have been horrified at seeing his work treated as a religious text –  who said that:

“Proletarian revolutions … criticise themselves continuously, come back to the apparently accomplished in order to begin afresh, deride with unmerciful thoroughness the inadequacies, weaknesses and paltriness of their first attempts.”

This quote highlights the main reason for my personal enjoyment of this book, in that it reminds us that we must continue to be self-critical and improve our campaigning techniques. This is particularly important with the apparent threat of the BNP and the challenge it provides for the left in this particular period.

Ali’s writing in general provides inspiration, ideas and counter-arguments to the right. it would be a valuable addition to any radical bookshelf. Enjoy.

- The May edition of Celynis out now, priced £2. Contact Leanne Wood’s office on (029) 2089 8719, email leanne.wood@wales.gov.uk.

- The Idea of Communism, by Tariq Ali, is published by Seagull Books