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From The New International, Vol. X No. 9, September 1944, p. 274.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
We call the special attention of our readers to the study, On the Development of Declining Capitalism, and on the Situation, Tasks and Perspectives of the Labor Movement, which we begin publishing in this issue of the review. It is the work of our German Trotskyist comrades and constitutes the most exhaustive treatment they have yet given to views which, as they indicate, they have been in the process of developing over a long period of time. Though the document is long, the reader interested in the fundamental problems of the working class and revolutionary movements will find himself more than repaid by a thoughtful reading of it. Although, as the reader will himself note, there are passages in the document with which we do not find ourself in agreement, he will also note the more fundamental respects in which the document presents views similar to those which we have set forth in these pages for the past few years. In the next issue, in any case, we shall take the opportunity to give a rounded declaration of our views on the thesis elaborated by the German comrades.
It goes without saying, however, that in accordance with the tradition that The New International has sought to maintain in the Marxian movement, we readily publish the work of the German comrades as a contribution to the discussion of our problems despite any divergence that we may have with them on one point or on many. This serves to emphasize once more, unfortunately, the difference between our attitude and the one-sided monologues which the SWP leadership mockingly calls “discussion.”
The importance of the German document speaks for itself. Its length, however, has made it necessary for us to postpone the publication of other material scheduled for this issue of the review. They will therefore appear in the October issue.
Among them will be: the conclusion of the timely excerpt from Karl Marx’s brilliant Herr Vogt, which we have translated into English for the first time; as well as the conclusion of Max Shachtman’s reply to the attack on The Struggle for the New Course made by the Cannonite press.
In addition, there will be a series of articles on the extremely important conventions of the United Mine Workers Union and the big CIO unions which took place in September – the Auto Workers, the Rubber Workers, the Shipbuilding Workers and the United Electrical & Radio Workers Unions. Each will be dealt with by a writer who was present during the conventions and thus had an opportunity to observe them on the spot.
Of course, the October issue will contain the conclusion of the article on the Anti-Marxian Offensive, a criticism of the critics which many of our readers have often asked us to make, and a continuation – if space will permit, then the entire remainder – of the document of the German comrades.
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Last updated on 16 December 2015