A New Beginning¶
Core Argument¶
The split that tore apart Militant was not a clash of equals but the culmination of a deep-seated organisational rot. Ted Grant concluded that a correct Trotskyist political line had been fatally combined with a Zinovievist apparatus, where leaders, unable to answer criticisms, resorted to insults, distortions, intrigues and administrative measures. These methods were alien to genuine Trotskyism, which relies on open debate and political authority. Grant’s own practice stood in stark contrast: he always answered criticisms openly, and his political and moral authority guaranteed a healthy internal regime. The Majority’s victory was won through manoeuvres, lies and apparatus force, not arguments. They concealed their real aim—a break from the Labour Party—which Grant warned would be a “shortcut over a cliff”. The result was destruction: loss of MPs, headquarters, printing press, the Merseyside and Scottish organisations, and most members.
A central point of contention was Grant’s 1987 prediction of a world slump. Taaffe’s claim that he “vigorously opposed” this prediction is false: no written documents or amendments exist. The Executive Committee, controlled by Taaffe’s supporters, allowed the articles to be published without reply. Grant’s prediction was a mistake of timing, not method. The 1990 recession was mild due to new Asian markets and credit expansion, but these factors later produced the worst slump in capitalist history, matching the 1930s. Marx, Engels and Trotsky all made similar factual errors without invalidating their method. Marxism is a science, but not an exact one; perspectives are conditional working hypotheses. Taaffe’s “conditional perspectives” are useless double book-keeping, designed to protect the leader’s infallibility.
After the split, Grant, then aged 78, was undaunted. The opposition retained experienced cadres and trade union activists in Britain and had the majority of the international tendency. They refounded the International, initially as the Committee for a Marxist International, later the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). In 1992, they launched Socialist Appeal, followed by a series of books beginning with Reason in Revolt. The website In Defence of Marxism was launched in 1997. The text argues against uniting with other groups, citing Engels’ letter to Bebel: recruiting from opponents brings confusion, and the primitive force of a fresh worker is worth more than ten renegades. The struggle for Marxist theory is central, as its neglect led to Militant’s degeneration.
The fall of the Soviet Union caused widespread pessimism, but Grant maintained unshakable faith in a socialist future. He predicted the collapse of Stalinism would be followed by a global crisis of capitalism—a prediction that came true within two decades. Capitalism has delivered war, not peace, and terrorism reflects insoluble contradictions. The revolutionary movement has been thrown back, with genuine Marxism reduced to a small minority. The central contradiction is that while conditions for socialist revolution have matured globally, the leaders of mass organisations remain products of a past capitalist boom, clinging to the system. The crisis of humanity is the crisis of proletarian leadership. Sects have failed to build alternatives to mass organisations; attempts like TUSC, Respect, and the Socialist Alliance have ended in ignominious failure. The working class will not bypass its traditional organisations. When it moves politically, it will transform them from within. The demand for unions to disaffiliate from the Labour Party ignores that the organic link gives Labour its class character. The correct approach, endorsed by UNITE’s conference, is for union members to join and take over the Labour Party.