Outside of the Toronto Communist Group, Workers’ Unity, and the Bolshevik Tendency, there were only two individuals in the Journal grouping. The names of these two individuals have never yet been publicly associated with the Journal, and for security reasons we do not seek to be the first to do so. However, one of these individuals ran for membership on the editorial board, and so his politics must be dealt with.
This person has a nationally published position paper which openly attacks the Boishevik Revolution. The members of the Bolshevik Tendency who were on the Journal at the time were liberal and opportunist in not opposing his membership in the Journal collective, since his politics lie outside of the basis of unity, broad as it is. This is a self-criticism. He, like the other individual in the Journal grouping, joins the rest of the current membership in having a long history of economist and right-opportunist politics.
There are two salient features to this person’s platform: (1) Build unity around a task, and (2) stop Bolshevik Tendency obstructionism. Of course, as is to be expected from one who openly calls for “unity around a common task”, this individual follows the leadership of the TCG in calling for the Journal to “principledly demarcate positions in order to achieve unity at a higher level.” This is a change in this person’s position. When he was first interviewed for Journal membership he was told of the struggle over what the Journal is and he said that he felt that the Journal should remain an open forum for debate and not strive for internal unity over political line. He has never explained the change in his position. The bogey of “Bolshevik Tendency obstructionism” has been dealt with elsewhere, as has his failure to advance that criticism to us or allow a response to it. This individual also shamelessly calls for majority-minority decisions over what constitutes Marxism-Leninism and therefore what is acceptable for publication within Canadian Revolution. The long history of opportunism and incorrect political perspectives within the Journal member ship apparently does not bother him.