Pabloism
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Michel Pablo ( el, Μισέλ Πάμπλο; 24 August 1911,
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
– 17 February 1996,
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
) was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis ( el, Μιχάλης Ν. Ράπτης), a
Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...
leader of
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
origin.


Early activism

Pablo joined the Trotskyist faction of the Group " Archeion marxismou" in 1928, and subsequently followed that faction when it split in 1929. He continued to be deeply involved in the factional struggles, splits and re-unifications of the Greek followers of Leon Trotsky until in 1934, this group joined forces with another Trotskyist group, led by Pandelis Pouliopoulos, resulting in the foundation of the Organisation of International Communists of Greece (OKDE). During the 1936 military dictatorship of
Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; el, Ιωάννης Μεταξάς; 12th April 187129th January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for t ...
, Pablo was arrested and exiled in the Aegean island of Folegandros. There he was not admitted by the orthodox communists, also in exile, so he joined the company of cattle and horse thieves, who at that time were punished with exile. In Folegandros he met his future wife Elli Dyovounioti. Together they escaped from the island and later from Greece. At the End of 1937, they went to Switzerland and finally to Paris, France, where Pablo represented the Greek Trotskyists at the founding conference of the
Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...
, which was held just outside of Paris in 1938. When
Nazi-Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
occupied France in 1940, Pablo stayed in Paris where he organized illegal propaganda and was involved in the re-construction and re-unification of the French Trotskyist movement, which was operating underground into the Provisional European Secretariat of the Frouth International.


Leadership of the Fourth International

By 1944 he was fully involved with the movement, and was elected the organizational secretary of its European Bureau, which had re-established contact between the Trotskyist parties. After the war, Pablo became the central leader of the
Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...
with the support of the SWP of the United States and James P. Cannon. Pablo played a key role in re-unifying, re-centralising and re-orienting the International. In 1946 Pablo visited Greece to successfully reunify the four separate Trotskyist parties. Pablo and
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter (5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
were instrumental in these years in winning the Fourth International to a position that asserted that the Eastern European states conquered by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1944-45 had by 1948 become what they described as
deformed workers' states In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers' states are states where the capitalist class has been overthrown, the economy is largely state owned and planned, but there is no internal democracy or workers' control of industry. In a deforme ...
.


Turn to the mass-parties.

In the uncertain aftermath of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, when the Trotskyists were numerically dwarfed by the mass
communist parties A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
and their hopes for a revolutionary breakthrough were dashed, Pablo also advanced a new tactic for the FI from its third world-congress in 1951 onward. He argued that a
Third World War World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...
, which was believed by many people to be imminent. In his document "Where are we going", Pablo writes "such a war would take on, from the very beginning the character of an international civil war, especially in Europe and in Asia. These continents would rapidly pass over under the control of the Soviet bureaucracy, of the Communist Parties, or of the revolutionary masses". Splits of revolutionary dissenters were likely to develop in the traditional mass parties of the working class. To gain influence, win members, establish a Marxist wing and most importantly to avoid becoming isolated sectarian circles with no connection to the working class, the Trotskyists should — where possible — join, or in Trotskyist terminology enter, the mass communist or social democratic (Labour) parties. This form of Entryism was intended to be a long-term tactic. It was understood by all that the FI would retain its political identity, and its own press. Entry was seldom carried out without splits or even violent conflict within the local propaganda circles, but proved to greatly add to local groups' flexibility where it was put into practice. Independent work should continue in Latin America, Ceylon, the United States, India. The innovative part of Pablo's proposed "Entryism sui generis", which was accepted by the Tenth Plenum of the Third World-Congress of the Fourth International was in the approach to the Stalinist parties wherever they were majority working-class party. Due to the extremely bureaucratic leadership of the Stalinist parties, Trotskyists would be prevented from proceeding in the same way as they would with reformist mass-parties, and had to maintain separate independent work, which "must be understood as having its chief aim to assist the work of entry". These changes in policy were adopted by the Fourth International in the early months of 1952.


The "Pabloite" Fourth International

Under the weight of the controversy that was caused by the resolutions adopted at the Third World-Congress of the Fourth International, factions in the US-SWP as well as the British section of the FI started to build a faction within the International, which broke away in 1953, constituting the
International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Rev ...
.


Rise and decline of Stalinism.

The Fourth World-Congress of the Fourth International was entitled "Rise and Decline of Stalinism". Inspired by the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...
as well as the Tito-Stalin split demonstrating that the Stalinist Communist Parties may not unalterably subordinate to Stalin, Pablo also started to argue that even the Stalinist parties who were in power in various countries at the time could be pushed into taking leadership in revolutionary conflicts by the mass activity of the working class, which caused further controversy and division within the ranks of the FI. Pablo was speculating on a split between the Stalinist regimes in China and the USSR as early as 1951. Pablo writes: "the rise of Communist Parties to power is not the consequence of a capacity of Stalinism to struggle for the Revolution, does not alter the internationally counter-revolutionary role of Stalinism, but it is the product of an exceptional combination of circumstances which has imposed the seizure of power either upon the Soviet bureaucracy (in the case of the European buffer zone) or upon certain Communist Parties (
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, China)".


Colonial Revolution and Guerrillaism.

The Fifth World-Congress in 1957 recognized for the first time that a major world depression was not likely in the proximate future. The central document emphasized the basic role of workers' democracy, not only as political factor, but also as indispensable for economic development. The second document was on "Colonial Revolution since the End of the Second World War", focusing on conflicts between French imperialism and the Vietminh, the Algerian war, and the Suez crisis which led to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The document argued that since the world revolution had first been successful in the east, instead of - how it was expected by Marxist theoreticians - in the Western countries. Colonial revolution, which could only be victorious as permanent revolution, thus was an integral part of the
world revolution World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class. For theorists, these revolutions will not necessarily occur simultaneously, but whe ...
, and constituted a link between
October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôc ...
and the triumph of the world revolution. The document contained a detailed study of the colonial movements, examined the respective roles of proletariat and peasentry in the colonial countries and emphasised the importance of guerrilla warfare in colonial countries, not only as military factor but as a factor in the organisation and political education fo the masses. The congress insisted on the necessity for the Trotskyist movement, especially in the imperialist countries to devote a large part of its activity to aiding colonial revolution. Pablo was personally engaged in supporting the Algerian national liberation struggle against
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. In 1959 he set up and operated a secret munitions factory, hidden within a citrus plantation in the Moroccan city of Kentire, where they manufactured a lightweight version of the Sten submachinegun while also overseeing a workshop on the Dutch-German border that produced counterfeit passports and cash to support the FLN.


Arrested in Amsterdam

In 1960, it was decided to move the headquarters of the Fourth International from Paris to Amsterdam because of the return of Charles de Gaulle to power, which made it less advisable to stay in Paris. In Amsterdam, it was thought, the Trotskyists would be freer to operate, and they would be closer to the European headquarters of the Algerian revolution, which was in Cologne. In July 1960 he was arrested in Amsterdam along with Sal Santen. A campaign for his release was launched by
Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
. After Pablo's Arrest, it was decided to move the International Secretariat to Rome, with the reason being that of the members of the Bureau of the Secretariat,
Pierre Frank Pierre Frank (24 October 1905, Paris – 18 April 1984, Paris) was a French Trotskyist leader. He served on the secretariat of the Fourth International from 1948 to 1979. Educated as a chemical engineer, Frank was one of the first French Trotsky ...
,
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter (5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
and
Livio Maitan Livio Maitan (April 1, 1923 – September 16, 2004) was an Italian Trotskyist, a leader of Associazione Bandiera Rossa and of the Fourth International. He was born in Venice. Life and career He graduated in Classics (''lettere classiche'') from ...
, Maitan was the only one who could devote full-time to work for the IS. Pablo opposed this decision. In 1961, Pablo was finally sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, and liberated at the end of his trial. After his release, he went to Great Britain, where through the intervention of supporters of his in Morocco, he was provided with a Moroccan passport. He took refuge in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
. After the victory of the Algerian revolution in 1962, he became an adviser in the economic reconstruction, in the Government of Ahmed Ben-Bella. Pablo was also part of a four-man committee tasked with drawing up a decree concerned with Property, which had been seized by the Algerians after the French colonials had fled the Country. He served in these positions until the Algerian government was overthrown in the
1965 Algerian coup d'état The 1965 Algerian coup d'état brought Colonel Houari Boumédiène to power as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Algeria. The bloodless ''coup d'état'' saw Algeria's first President, Ahmed Ben Bella, arrested and his closest supporters im ...
.


Reunification

Meanwhile, in 1963, ICFI groups around the Socialist Workers Party were moving back towards unity with the ISFI, sharing common positions towards the Cuban revolution. Pablo was regarded by the SWP as a barrier to that unification. The world congress in 1963 formed the
reunified Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International C ...
. Pablo moved a counter-resolution at the 1963 reunification congress, as well as the main resolution on Algeria, and was elected to the international executive committee. Tensions grew, and Pablo and his African Bureau were outside the International by the end of 1965 for partly disputed reasons: in the International's view, Pablo's tendency's orientation on what was commonly portrayed as "Third-World Guerrillaism" broke with the International publicly and placed itself outside the FI. Being busy with the situation in Algeria also made it difficult for him to defend himself against accusations leveraged against him by the FI's leadership. By then, Pablo had key political differences with the FI. In addition, Pablo was critical on the prospect of re-unification of the Trotskyist movement as advocated by
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter (5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
, Joseph Hansen and others. Pablo himself declared his differences with the United Secretariat as follows: # Disagreement with the assessment of Maoism as evolving towards revolutionary Marxist positions to which it was necessary to offer critical support. # Disagreement with the assessment of the Khrushchev tendency of the Soviet bureaucracy as simple personal quarrel. Pablo had maintained that the Khrushchev tendency was more receptive to pressures of Soviet society than the Stalinist tendency that sought to overthrow it. # Disagreement with the support given by the executive committee of the United Secretariat to Holden Roberto against the MPLA in Angola. Pablo favored supporting the latter. Publicly defending those positions would lead to Pablo and his supporters to be accused of having violated democratic centralism, thus placing themselves outside of the Fourth International. This was followed by expulsions of Pablo's supporters from the United Secretariat.


Outside the Fourth International

During the Colonels' dictatorship in Greece in 1967 Pablo, together with
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...
established a network to assist resistance members' escape abroad.


The International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency.

After being expelled, Pablo and his supporters regrouped as the International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency of the Fourth International (TMRIQI) Internationally. This group dropped the reference to the Fourth International during its meetings in 1972 and at the same time proclaimed it no longer considered itself Trotskyist nor a party of world revolution. Instead they considered themselves a Marxist tendency fostering
self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
on all levels within social movements. This coincided with Pablo being politically active in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, under Allende's government. In 1979, the TMRI would send an open letter to members of the Fourth International, calling for the need to "develop new directions, new forms of struggle and of organization" as well as "the elaboration of a transition program based on socialist autogestion". The United Secretariat paid little attention to this letter. A resolution of the Seventh International Conference of the TMRI in 1980 declares the adoption of Christian Rakovsky's theory of "bureaucratic centrism". After the fall of the Greek Junta, he returned to
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, played a role in the founding of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) and, from 1981, served as Special Advisor to Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou; The sections of the IRMT rejoined the reunified Fourth International in 1994 and 1995, although the agreement was not applied in Pablo's individual case. Unusually for a revolutionary, his funeral was a state event in his native Greece. This is explained by his personal friendship from the 1930s with Papandreou who had been a Trotskyist in his youth. Pablo's motto was: "The meaning of life is life itself" (Νόημα της ζωής είναι η ίδια η ζωή).As quoted by Savas Michael Matsas i
"Intellectual Revolutionary in Lean Times"
''Efimerida ton Syntakton'', 25-02-2014.


References


Bibliography

*Michel Raptis, ''Revolution and Counter Revolution in Chile: A Dossier on Workers' Participation in the Revolutionary Process'' (London:
Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in Ma ...
, 1974). *Michel Raptis, ''Socialism, Democracy & Self-Management: Political Essays'' (London: Allison & Busby, 1980). *Michel Raptis, ''Étude pour une politique agraire en Algerie''. *Pierre Frank, ''The Fourth International: The Long March of the Trotskyists''. *Francois Moreau, ''Combats et debats de la Quatrieme Internationale''. *Klaus Leggewie, ''Koffertrager. Das Algerienprojekt der Deutsche Linken in Adenauer Deutschland''. *Lena Hoff, ''Resistance in Exile. A study of the political correspondence between Nicolas Calas and Michel Raptis 1967-72'', *Robert J. Alexander, ''International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement''.


External links


Genesis of Pabloism
by the Spartacist League

provides a bio-bibliographical sketch of Michel Pablo

Includes Papandreou's comment on Pablo's death
Resistance in exile – a study of the political correspondence between Nicolas Calas and Michalis Raptis (Pablo) 1967-72
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pablo, Michel 1911 births 1996 deaths Politicians from Alexandria National Technical University of Athens alumni Greek communists Greek Marxists Greek Trotskyists Egyptian people of Greek descent Egyptian emigrants to Greece