For some years before the war, as well as during the war, the one issue that overshad­owed all other political questions was the menace of Fascism. This is the period of the United Front, of the attempt to bring into action against Fascism all sections, all classes in every country. With every advance of the Fascists, made over the bodies of countless numbers of workers and the ruins of their organisations, the extent of the danger became more evident, and the need to stem the tide of capitalist reactions more imperative. As a result the working class was forced on to the defensive; the United Front was a means of protecting the gains made in previous years, not an effort to break down capitalism.

In politics, however, as in war, a defensive operation, if correctly conducted, should open the way for attack. It was at Moscow and Stalingrad that the Nazi invaders received their death blow. With the defeat of the Fascist Powers the world has not returned merely to the position that existed before the rise of Fascism. For Fascism represents in one aspect the defensive form assumed by capitalism against the working class. The defeat of Fascism has therefore been a defeat also for world capitalism. It follows that the result of the war has shifted the balance of class forces in favour of the working class. The end of the war begins a new phase in the class struggle.

The growth in the strength of the working class movement has been reflected in the elections held in Europe since the end of the war. Towards the end of May, 1946, elections had taken place in seventeen European States, including Great Britain, but excluding the Soviet Union, Poland and Rumania, and of course, Fascist Spain and Portugal. Of 109 million votes recorded in these seventeen countries, about one-quarter went to Communist and allied parties, a very small number were cast in favour of openly reactionary candidates, and the great bulk of the remaining 70 per cent went to the Social Democrats and other liberal or centrist groups. In Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugosla­via and Albania, the Communist Party has emerged as the strongest single party; in a number of other countries it has a considerable representation in elected bodies. Of 5 233 deputies elected to constituent and legislative assemblies, 1,496 (28.6 per cent.;
were Communists, as compared with the 125 Communist deputies found throughout Europe before the war.

We are justified in concluding that great numbers of people in Europe have turned their backs on the policies that led to Fascism and war. This mood is shared also by the peoples of the Far East, in Indonesia, Burma, India and China. They too are finding their path to a new society, one free of alien domination and imperialist exploitation.

THE NEXT STAGE

What is to be the next stage? In some countries, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, we may find that the fundamental issue of political power has already been settled. Certainly, in the agrarian countries bordering on the Soviet Union, where this big estates of the reactionary ruling class have been confiscated, and where the land ha been divided among the peasantry, a social revolution has taken place. Here, where the defeat of Fascism involved in effect the overthrow of the dominant sections o capitalists, the war has itself been a revolutionary process, in which power has been transferred to the workers and peasants. In Western Europe, on the other hand, that process has still to be worked out to its conclusion.

In Great Britain, France, Italy and other Western European States, conditions are not unlike those that existed after the First World War in Germany. Governments are dominated by Social Democratic parties, but the capitalist economy and the capitalist state continue to function. These governments have applied a measure of nationalisation of industry, they have introduced reforms, but they have not altered the essential features of capitalist society. As compared with the position after the 1914-18 war, however, one important difference must be noted: the revolutionary section of the Labour Movement is not now in opposition to Social Democracy, but in alliance with it. Communists are either in the governments of Western Europe, or support these governments. The United Front of the pre-war period has become the National Front of the post-war.

Like the United Front, the National Front is based on a compromise, a shelving of differences, and agreement on a joint programme. Agreement has been reached, specifically, on a policy of suppressing Fascist organisations, restoring and extending democratic rights, bringing about social reforms, and widening the scope of State control and ownership in economic life. This is not a defensive programme, but neither is it an alliance for bringing about a change towards socialism. The National Front may therefore be expected to continue on its present basis as long as the problems that must be faced can be settled within the framework of capitalist society. When, however, problems demanding a revolutionary solution can no longer be evaded, when a settlement has to be reached by making fundamental changes in the structure of society, the National Front will reach a crisis. Either it goes over to a revolutionary policy, or it disintegrates.

Such a stage must come. For capitalism has not found, and cannot find, a means of overcoming its contradictions, of reconciling the technique of mass production with private ownership and the profit motive. That contradiction is not marked to-day, when the war conditions of full employment and unsatisfied markets continue to operate, and when the process of inflation gives an assurance of profitability. At some point, however, the inevitable contraction must take place; the supply of consumers' goods will exceed the purchasing power of the people, and production will decline. In order to maintain or restore the rate of profit, the capitalist class will attempt to carry out a policy of deflation. For this purpose a frontal attack will be made on wage standards. It is both during a period of unlimited inflation, endangering the living standards of the people, and during a deflation, taking the form of depression, that the demand of the working class must come into irreconcilable conflict with the demands of the capitalist. Government must then find a working class solution or a capitalist solution. Whatever course may be adopted, the National Front must undergo a radical change.

THE CHOICE

This choice, between revolutionary struggle and submission to the capitalist class, presents itself also in the field of international politics. At the present time the great international issues are being fought out around the peace table and in the United Nations Organisation.24 The conflict has already so weakened the ties between the United Nations that something like a war atmosphere is being created. The Imperialist States, under the leadership of the U.S.A., and using the threat of atomic weapons, are attempting to obtain a peace settlement in accordance with the interests of world capitalism. On the one hand they are seeking strategic points and markets from which to dominate the world economy; on the other they attempt to obstruct advance by the forces of progress and socialism. Since the Soviet Union is the only State capable of offering effective resistance to their demands, and because of their antagonism towards their socialist economy, the Imperialist Powers have made her their chief target of attack.

We have defined two sets of factors that may be expected to change the present political situation. On the one hand we anticipate an end to the post-war boom, and a capitalist attack on workers wages and living standards. On the other hand the imperi­alist anti-democratic policies of the capitalist States will bring them into conflict with the people's governments in Europe and with the liberation movements in the colonies. At the moment, under conditions of inflation, the economic factors appear less urgent than questions of international policy, and it is in this second field that the National Front is being subjected to its severest tests. How has it stood up to the strain?

In the Eastern European countries, as we have already pointed out, National Front governments are following a firm policy of uprooting Fascism and strengthening the safeguards of peace. In Western Europe, however, developments are less satisfactory. Here, where the possessors of colonies are concentrated, and where Anglo-American imperialism exercises its greatest influence, Social Democratic parties generally con­tinue to show the subservience to the imperialistic outlook that characterised them before the war. They have failed to take steps to free their colonies, and they have followed the lead of the Imperialists in their attack upon the Soviet Union.

A renewal of capitalist aggression must be expected. The working class, to-day in the ascendancy, can face and overcome this challenge, but only by making further and greater advances towards socialism and peace. This is the task facing the National Front governments; their ability to survive will depend upon their determination to find a working class solution for their problems. If Social Democracy continues its historic role of providing a bulwark for capitalism, it will be swept aside in the people's offensive against imperialism and capitalist exploitation.

In conclusion we can say that world events have confirmed our perspective of twelve months ago, a perspective of increasing class struggle and of the end of the United Front phase of defensive action. The Browder theory of continued class collaboration has been proved to be unreal.25 We here in South Africa will draw aid and strength from the working class movement abroad. It is for us to strengthen our contacts with them and to build up units for the World Federation of Trade Unions, the World Youth Organisation and the World Federation of Women.2" We must learn to expose South African imperialism through them, and to obtain their support. On our part, we must expose the policies of the imperialists and their threats of war, and continue to build up goodwill for the Soviet Union and the popular governments of Europe. Above all, it is our duty to join hands with the colonial peoples in their struggle for liberation, and do all we can to assist them, in Africa and elsewhere.