First Published: The Forge Vol 7, No 41, December 1982
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Malcolm and Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
One of the most moving debates at the conference concerned the rehabilitation of two former members expelled from the party in 1980.
A group of party members had demanded the rehabilitation, having circulated a text to this effect in the weeks preceding the conference.
While recognizing that N. and G. (a woman and a man) had made mistakes, the text criticized the severity of the sanctions taken against the two, and, above all, the accusation that they were police agents that had infiltrated the party. The comrades denounced the Stalinist-type investigation (12-hour interrogation, violent acts, threats, etc.) that was carried out at the time by three party leaders, methods that were never brought to the attention of the party bodies that decided on the expulsion nor to the membership of the party.
The two never had any recourse to defend themselves and the expulsion had extremely serious consequences on their lives: guilt, changing jobs and place of dwelling, and total isolation from all party members and their former friends.
Wishing to render justice and break with the Stalinist conceptions behind such practices, the delegates voted almost unanimously to rehabilitate the two individuals. They also voted to severely censure all party structures responsible for the expulsion.