Why national liberation alone is not enough

The Cuban Revolution in 1959, which overthrew a US backed dictator, was not led by revolutionary workers but by a guerilla group led by Fidel Castro. (Photo: Flickr/ Burt Glinn)

Why have so few ­revolutions succeeded? One answer to this question is provided by the theory of deflected permanent revolution.

In the previous column, we explored how Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution established that in less developed countries the working class can lead revolutions that combine democratic and socialist aims.

This theory was vindicated in Russia in 1917.

But none of the revolutions throughout the 20th century developed from democratic demands to socialism or spread internationally.

Tony Cliff, one of the founders of the Socialist Workers Party, returned to the theory of permanent revolution in 1963 to understand why.

According to Trotsky’s theory, only workers were capable of leading a revolution, national bourgeoisies were too weak and cowardly.

But the revolutions in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959 were not led by workers.

Mao Zedong’s army was based on peasants in the countryside. A guerrilla group led by Fidel Castro overthrew a US backed dictator in Cuba.

In neither Beijing nor Havana did revolutionary workers force the “democratic” revolution towards socialist liberation.

And they were not exceptional. Other anti-colonial revolts—in Ghana, India, Egypt, Indonesia and Algeria—deviated from Trotsky’s theory.

Cliff identified elements of the theory that held true and those that did not.

The bourgeoisie remained as cowardly as Trotsky predicted.

But it was not inevitable that workers assumed leadership of the revolution.

Cliff explained, “While the conservative, cowardly nature of a late-developing bourgeoisie is an absolute law, the revolutionary character of the young working class is neither absolute nor inevitable.”

When the class that has traditionally carried out a historical task is absent, a different group steps in.

In many of the anti-colonial revolutions, this group was the intelligentsia—students, clerical workers, journalists and writers. They positioned themselves as leaders in the struggle against colonialism—but above all, they were the “manipulators of the masses”.

In a period of nationalist struggles against imperialism, a revolutionary intelligentsia can provide a coherent and confident leadership.

These leaders have advantages over others in society. They were able to develop their capacity to organise and to lead struggles in the clubs, associations and student unions that existed across the colonial world prior to decolonisation.

Cliff said the intelligentsia, “hope for reform from above and would dearly love to hand the new world over to a grateful people, rather than see the liberating struggle of a self-conscious and freely associated people result in a new world for themselves.”

After the victory of national liberation, it was often this intelligentsia that assumed the place of the old ruling classes. But in the context of weak private capital, the state was the only lever on power.

And so the Soviet Union—by this time controlled by a state capitalist ruling class—became the model for development.

National self-sufficiency within a global economy—not international working class revolution—became the goal.

Trotsky argued that the revolution may start in Asia or Africa where the working class was less conservative and bureaucratised.

It was the task of revolutionary socialists in the developed West to extend and spread these revolutions.

Revolutionaries in the Global South can build socialist societies in alliance with successful struggles in the developed world.

This was the heart of Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution.

Cliff explained that in the absence of a revolutionary working class, different social forces would deflect liberation struggles from permanent revolution.

National liberation alone could not break the chains of global capitalism. That would need social liberation through working class self-activity combined with the leadership of a revolutionary party.