When the question of opportunism is discussed, one usually has in mind camo rism and -ruformim, however, there is another variety — left opportunim, i The left opportunist is one who seeks to gain political influence by the use of 'left' slogans and suggesting adventuristic lines of action without regard for the interests of the working class. In contemporary British politics this means addressing sections of the working class (shop stewards, Young Socialists, strikers, etc.) and trying to get them to take action which separates them from the main stream of the working class, The aim of this strategy is to gain members in ones and twos, increase the sales of the 'left opportunists' journals, and to fain the reputation of being the most forthright opponents of cepitalion, If the left opportunists gain influnco it rasults in the svctiona concornod taking ultra left action and disrupts the unity of those in action, Several strikes in recent years haye ended in disaster bhecausa of the activities of the left opportunists, Currently they are causing damage to the Young Socialist movement by pushing it along linas of action which lead to their separation from the bulk of the Labour Party, The right wing have made this easy for the left opportunists, tut the latter are not men without experience and they will bear a heavy respon” sibility for any damge done to the movement. :
Eecause the left opportunists! policics do not advance the working class and nearly always lead to defeat, they cannot carry out sustained activity in any one field. This leads tham to jump from field to field as they exhaust their possibilities or get into a mess, For example they presented the 'fascist menace! as though the stage were set for a mass fascist movement even though the necessary preconditions did not exist. But when the sensational increase in unemployment occurred, despite the fact that there has been no decisive change in the objective conditions, the fascist issue was immediately forgotten.
4 deep sectarianian’ flows from their policies, which * in turn leads to a 'social fascist! attitude toward all other tendencies, The leadership, in general educate their membership, who ave usually sincere and extremely active, in this spirit and use this as a justification of their methods of dealing with the 'enemies of the working-class,' The corollary is, of course, a cligue-ridden and undemocratic internal set—up within the left opportunist ors anisations, Bat it is important to recognise that this has political roots and ia not just a question of personalities, Coupled with the lerge turnover in membership of these organisations, there is the deplorable fact that many of the _ | ex-members, scarred by their experiences, leave the movement altogether.
The only answer to left opportunism is political education, eapecially in the history of the movement. From their whole orientation they cannot stand up +o an examination of their history. How is it possible for the left opportunists to explain the sudden shifts in their tactics? However, all this is not sufficient ~ the majority of the members join these organisations because they consider thom the most active. In fact the left opportunistsa gain many recruits by default, because Marxists are not taking the initiative in coming forward with a fighting policy of action within the workers movemont,. There are many reasons for this, @eg-; Marxists who are working correctly in the Labour movament tend to bo vver = turden. The fight against left opportuniam is important because they tand to disorientate and vary often destroy potential cadres in the movement.