What conclusions should revolutionaries draw from the great changes in Stalinism and capitalism in recent years?
Cliff: The collapse of the Stalinist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe in 1989 opened a great space for revolutionary socialism throughout the world. The impact of this collapse was massive on the world Stalinist movement. In some cases the Communist Party practically disintegrated. In Britain Nina Temple, the general secretary of the Communist Party, declared that the Socialist Workers Party was right, Russia is not socialist but state capitalist. That was as if the Pope declared that God doesn’t exist–in which case it would be very difficult to keep the Catholic Church intact. In other places the Communist Parties are a much greater influence, of a much greater size. But in these cases also, there has been a radical change in the nature of the party. In South Africa, in France, in Italy, the Communist Party became proponents of the market and privatization. They are no different from right-wing social democratic parties. At the same time that openings for the revolutionary left o
