The Paper Ian A In IB3 p.

115 a comrade from Coventry highlights the lack of focus on the paper by comrades on all sides of the current divisions in the SW . !e is absolutely correct in this" but only partially correct to diagnose the problem #that the ideological impact of $ohn and %indsey on our party has not been resolved and has not been &orked out'. (he relationships bet&een Socialist Worker" the party" and our audiences have changed radically over the last t&enty years yet the political causes and conse)uences of these changes have barely been discussedi. If the root cause of the SW *s decline has been a failure to develop accurate perspectives and correctly orientate itself since the early years of the #do&nturn'" it is no& &idely recognised that the closure of party branches compounded and accelerated this degeneration. (he &inding do&n of paper distribution played a comparable role in the decay of both the internal political culture of the SW and the party*s relationship &ith its periphery. (he Coventry comrade*s proposed solution #re+emphasise the selling of the paper' is as partial as his diagnosis. In parallel &ith developing a perspective firmly grounded in today*s realities" &e need to revie& the political functions of revolutionary papers and ho& those functions can best be fulfilled given the changes in both electronic and printing technology. We need to obstinately defend the political reasons for having a paper &hile responding to ne& opportunities and challenges. Serious revolutionaries have al&ays sei,ed on the latest and most effective methods of communication. If &e &ant to attract the most serious young militants" &e can ill afford to continue displaying such conservatism. The Roles of the Revolutionary Press I urge comrades to read -or re+read. Chris !arman*s 1/01 article #(he 2evolutionary ress' ii. 3or hundreds of years" any revolutionary serious about &inning over and mobilising the masses has needed a paper. 4e&spapers &ere the primary tool for communicating ideas to a mass audience given the technology and resources available to revolutionaries. We recognise that people hold contradictory ideas and that these are most open to change through the e5perience of struggle. We &ant to &in people over. (he paper tries to relate specific aspects of &orkers* e5perience to our general politics" a coherent &orld vie&" and the tasks of the moment. Some e5periences push &orkers to&ards revolutionary conclusions" &hile others pull them a&ay" so a revolutionary paper can*t simply reflect all e5periences" it has to select" distil" augment and analyse them to give a lead rather than passively reflecting &orking class life. In stark contrast to the bourgeois press" &hich presents each story in isolation 6 as a &elter of unconnected random events -e.g. crime unconnected to poverty" rape unconnected to age 3. 6 the revolutionary paper dra&s out the connections and relationships. 7any &orkers are cynical about the paper because they kno& the bourgeois media lies and distorts. We have to ensure our paper is accurate and reliable if &e are to build the trust &e need to &in the leadership of the class. We need the highest 8ournalistic standards. (he revolutionary paper includes propaganda and agitation. It helps sellers to identify their audience &ithin large cro&ds on street sales or demonstrations -one reason &hy eye+catching headlines matter..

(he paper reports struggles that &ould other&ise go unreported. 4ot only does this provide opportunities to build support" make arguments and dra& out lessons" it also helps the paper build readership. Comrades can go back to &orkers &ith the paper carrying a report of their struggles. (his is most po&erful if the &orkers themselves helped &rite the report. Building an audience for the paper builds the periphery of an organisation and politically prepares for future gro&th. Comrades operating in different locations" industries and campaigns sell the same paper and are forced to defend its line to regular buyers. (his encourages comrades to take up disagreements &ithin the party and thrash them out + centralising" facilitating and clarifying political arguments and unifying scattered groups. (he revolutionary paper has to ans&er the )uestion #What Is (o Be 9one:' &eek in and &eek out. It needs to take up arguments on key strategic )uestions. ;nlike the bourgeois media" &hich is fi5ated on the ne&" it should not be afraid to repeat key arguments over and over again -hopefully in different forms.. It also needs to address #What Is (o Be 9one:' in a more immediate sense 6 arguing ho& to &in in different campaigns and industrial disputes. !arman*s article e5plains clearly ho& the method of connecting e5perience to general politics differs bet&een an #upturn' and #do&nturn'. < do&nturn paper has to use longer articles" analysis" history" theory and international e5amples" as # Workers no longer discover for themselves the power of collective action. They do not see in practice how false the ideas of the ruling class are. It is only a minority sometimes a very small minority of the class who continue to adhere to a revolutionary socialist vision. And they do so on the basis not of direct experience, but of general ideas that have been developed out of struggles in the distant past or in distant countries '. !arman also &arns about the danger of a #pseudo+agitational' paper= This gives the appearance of reflecting an upsurge of real struggle. It is written in the language workers use in their everyday lives and it is full of accounts of exciting battles and exposures of the horror of the system! Instead of providing the activists with arguments for coming to terms with this situation, the paper with its phoney picture of enthusiasm and success simply leaves its readers cold! The Paper as an Organiser It is a commonplace for comrades to say that the paper is an organiser. (his is based on ideas from %enin*s 1/>? pamphlet #What Is (o Be 9one:' iii. (he process of collecting reports for the paper" producing and distributing it" selling it and collecting money for it &ould create a net&ork across the &hole country linking members and readers in a t&o+&ay political and organisational relationship &ith the political centre. (&enty years ago" paper distribution and contact visiting &ere ma8or parts of the life of every SW branch. Branches &hich met on a (hursday night &ould also meet up on a Wednesday to arrange delivery of papers to members and contacts at their homes or &orkplaces. < good branch paper organiser &ould kno& not only ho& many papers each comrade sold" but &ho to. Branches &ould maintain a #contact register' listing paper buyers and other key contacts in the area. (he dissolution of the branches had a terrible impact on paper distribution. Instead of an ongoing political relationships" &e relied more on &ho &e bumped into at particular meetings or protests. 7any members didn*t receive or pay for the paper. (o counteract unreliable distribution" members and readers &ere encouraged to get their papers by post" formalising the reduction of the paper*s organisational role. In the days of paper distribution" readers &ould also receive small bundles of

leaflets for &hatever &as going on" &hich they &ere asked to distribute. 7ailing of the paper disconnected readers from local branches. (hese days many readers &ill have read key articles online long before they get their hands of a physical copy of the paper. 9istribution of the paper &asn*t the only aspect to suffer. If at least some of your paper sales aren*t to the same people regularly" you are less likely to have to defend its contents 6 forcing you to read it carefully and to take up disagreements &ithin the organisation. (he paper*s role in centralising political arguments &ithin the organisation to unify the party is therefore reduced 6 arguments can fester in different sections of the party &ithout ever being had out and resolved. With members and readers having a more passive relationship to the paper" there &as less emphasis on training comrades to &rite and submit reports to the paper. <fter a year of asking the party to put a guide to &riting reports on the Socialist Worker &eb site" I submitted my o&n guide &hich &as published in IB? in 4ovember ?>1?" but &hich attracted no response from the paper or the CC. It*s not 8ust that not enough comrades &rite reports. (oo many of the industrial reports sho& no sense of &ho their audience is -the &orkers involved" potential supporters" other &orkers &ho might face similar issues:. and didn*t propose any ne5t steps. It*s far more effective to argue &hat should happen up front. We might influence events" or if things go badly it at least makes our criticisms of the bureaucracy after&ards far more concrete and convincing. Coping, Without the Politics (here &as never a meaningful political debate about the changes to ho& &e used the paper" or ho& to fill the ya&ning organisational gap they left. Instead there has been a falsely polarised debate about improving the party*s central online presence. But in an ad+hoc &ay many comrades around the country have adopted a range of approaches to establish and build relationships &ith members and our periphery" these included= 2ing+rounds Branch or district email #announcement' lists to send out leaflets etc @mail discussion groups Branch or district 3acebook groups or pages Branch or district &eb sites (e5t messages 3acebook events (&eets

Some of these are e5tremely effective for certain purposes. While a ring+round isn*t as good as a face+to+face conversation" it is a good second+best for many conversations" and is very time efficient by comparison. !o&ever" because &e never theorised &hat &e &ere doing" our use of these tools &as inconsistent and patchy. Whereas ?> years ago members &ould feel confident to politically argue &ith a ne& member &hy they should sell the paper or take part in contact visiting" our arguments for ring+ rounds &ere much more practical -they &ork. and less political" so &e &on fe&er comrades to taking part than &e should. olitical conviction and clarity about ho& doing something fits into the &ider political pro8ect helps comrades overcome lack of confidence.

2evolutionaries need clarity about ho& to make best use of the tools available" and clarity about ho& routine activities fit into their political pro8ect. We have many more options available than %enin did 6 &e need to raise the political level of discussion about our activity. Technological Change (here has been some debate in the party about the impact of the internet iv" but it has often been ill+ informed and" because it took place outside the conte5t of a discussion of the politics behind revolutionary papers" falsely polarised. (he contributions v by !ossam el+!amala&y of the 2evolutionary Socialists in @gypt" are far more useful precisely because they start &ith the politics. (here are many technological changes since %enin*s day that have an impact on ho& &e best accomplish the tasks for &hich he used a paper" including= 1. <cceleration of bourgeois media" &ith instant global communication and ?1 hour ne&s ?. Workers increasingly get ne&s from (A" radio and the internet rather than physical publications 3. 3acilities to design and print material are no& cheap and &idely available 1. 2elatively cheap and fast long distance travel 5. eBooks are rapidly taking market share from print publications -8ust go on public transport in rush hour. B. 7ultiple cheap" instant forms of targeted communication -phones" email" S7S. C. Cheap and &idespread ability to produce and distribute photos" audio and video 0. Web sites" many of &hich are not simply one+to+many forms of communication" but allo& vie&ers to interact &ith the o&ner and each other /. Social media -e.g. 3acebook" (&itter" Dou(ube. 1>. Cheap and &idespread ability for groups to discuss remotely -e.g. phoneEvideo conferences" online forums" email discussion groups" 3acebook groups and pages. 11. 7obile access to many of the above forms of communication 1?. 7assive state surveillance and loss of privacy -CC(A" emailEphone interception" logging online activity" records of financial transactions. Comrades are right to be alert to potential pitfalls of ne& technologies 6 particularly &here they facilitate repression by the state and employers. But the bath&ater no longer contains 8ust a baby 6 it is gro&ing up fast. 7ar5ists argue that the basis of social revolution is conflict bet&een the productive forces and the relations of production. It is clear that the SW *s failure to adapt its organisation to take advantage of modern communication technologies has contributed to its crisis. (o )uote !ossam= "emocratic debate in any organi#ation also re$uires rapid transfer of different views to the rest of the membership, and given the un%ustified refusal to use the internet out of fears of the technological unknown!, printing irregular internal discussion bulletins was not the best alternative. Why should a member even bother writing one of these papers, knowing that it will only be published months later, and printed god knows when, and uncertain whether it will even reach all the membership at all& The absence of rapid channels of internal dialogue is a ma%or cause of internal organi#ational explosions, splits, frustration for some and their exit from the organi#ation.! We sometimes forget that 'arxism is simply scientific socialism!, which analyses the world and history, and provides evidence for action based on scientific grounds. The stunning development of communications technology over the past two decades has had a significant impact on the relations and forces of production, in other words on the base of our society

and the world. Is this development not reflected in the superstructure, in human beings( way of life, and in the way we build political organi#ations& This is not an invitation to build organi#ation in a virtual world, but an invitation to create scientific socialist organi#ation rooted in the ground, which provides for its members safe, modern channels for its members in different geographical locations to communicate democratically at the speed re$uired by the era in which we live in order to ensure harmony and centralism in action.! (he Coventry comrade argues that debating online is an individualistic approach to debate e)uivalent to postal ballots for strikes" contrasting it &ith mass meetings. Ff course face+to+face meetings are the gold standard for debate. But there &as never a time &hen revolutionaries relied on collective meetings alone. 7ar5 G @ngels" along &ith every other revolutionary of note" spent much time engaged in correspondence. 2ussian revolutionaries often had to produce their papers abroad" relying almost entirely on letters to keep abreast of events and debates. Fnline debates have real pitfalls. It is much harder to read the tone of a message" so they are prone to misinterpretation and the escalation of disagreements. eople say things online that they &ouldn*t say to your face. Fnline discussions can also become dominated by a fe& participants. (he more aggressive the e5changes" the more it discourages broad participation. (o some e5tent these problems can be overcome by education and e5perience" but moderation can help" as can formats &hich prevent or discourage multiple instant responses. (here*s also a big difference bet&een discussion in groups of like+minded people -e.g. friends on social media" closed groups. or forums open to any and all. It*s hard to debate the finer points of 7ar5ist theory if you are being trolled by (ories. 3rom capitalists to union organisers to the SW " everyone recognises in practice that the most effective &ay to communicate is to use a combination of different tools. (his is both because some tools are better or &orse than others for some purposes" but also crucially because some people are more comfortable engaging &ith some tools than others. (he challenge is to get the mi5 right" not to dismiss them out of hand. Socialist Worker Socialist Worker remains the best paper on the left" takes up a broad range of political issues" covers nearly all significant struggles and is attractively designed. But given the inade)uate clarity of our perspectives in recent decadesvi it is hardly surprising that &e have struggled to pitch the paper right to connect &ith an audience. Socialist Worker has a very strong #brand' -even if some&hat tarnished at the moment." due to its longevity and consistent use on leaflets" the paper" placards" flyposting and online. (he CC*s article on publications -IB3 p.11. makes only cursory reference to the Socialist Worker &eb site The new )ocialist Worker website launched earlier this year has had a great reception. It has been designed to be responsive to whatever device it(s being read on so is much more accessible for those who read it on mobiles or tablets. There is greater flexibility for using photos and video clips that people send in from disputes and campaigns!. (he ne& &eb site is attractive and does &ork on multiple devices. But it has failed to address the political problems &hich led to the -largely unimplemented. decisions of the $anuary ?>1? SW conference. In terms of content it has little more than the print edition. It makes no attempt to interact &ith readers or to collect contacts. (he archive is considerably less usable than the previous version. %ittle use is made of tagging. Integration &ith the SW &eb site is poor.

Fn the &ider publications front" it is ama,ing that &e make so little use of 93 and eBooks" &hich &ould enable us to publish far more" at far less cost" than ever before. It is ironic that one of the main arguments advanced inside the SW against the use of the internet is its #passive' nature. Det the &ay &e use the internet reinforces rather than counters this risk. We don*t provide a form to collect email addresses for updates" encouraging comments on articles" providing map and calendar links for events to encourage people to participate. We lag far behind the movement vii and this is apparent to lots of people" particularly the young people &ho should form such a crucial part of our audience. What should we do Instead of the &eb site becoming an afterthought" &hat !ossam describes as #no more than an online companion for the content of the print edition'" the we! site should !eco"e the central organ. It provides a far more po&erful tool for collecting reports" centralising political debate" carrying our arguments to a &ide audience and building political relationships &ith them than a print publication can. But &e must not thro& the baby out &ith the bath&ater. Print pu!lications re"ain essential. (hey are needed for sale on the street" on pickets and protests" in meetings and in &orkplaces. (hey are needed to reach those &ith little or no internet access and those &ho simply prefer reading hardcopy. If the &eb site is to be the central organ" &e need a significant shift of resources to&ards it" to ensure it is fit for purpose" is regularly updated and that members are trained to use it effectively. If that means less of our limited resources have to go to some or all of our print publications" so be it. We &ill have to politically argue for members and supporters to make effective use of both online and paper publications. %enin made a political argument for ho& revolutionaries could organise effectively around an all+2ussian ne&spaper. !e &on some people to that argument" and proved in practice that it &orked. !e put for&ard a strategy for overcoming the problems that plagued the scattered groups of revolutionaries and gave them a tool they found &orked. We have to do the same today 6 providing publications and organisation that helps revolutionaries be as effective as possible. If &e have publications that these activists want to use" the activists &ill help carry our arguments into the class and &in us a &ider audience" influence and periphery. (he $anuary ?>1? SW conference passed a motion about getting more members involved in the production of industrial leaflets" but only after a CC amendment removed the concrete proposal to provide a toolkit and templates to facilitate this. (he process of &riting leaflets" arguing about &hat goes in them and ho& to pitch the argument is an important part of developing comrades* ability to assess situations and give a lead. Where possible" leaflets should be &ritten by a ne& and e5perienced comrades together" involving non+members &here appropriate. (he process of getting the information for a &orkplace bulletin helps deepen our roots. %eaflets and the response to them should be discussed in branch meetings" &hich &ill often provoke debate. We need to fight for a culture of collective local leaflet production " as part of a process of training comrades to &rite for other publications. (he centrally produced leaflets are useful" but comrades should be encouraged to adapt them to add details of local events etc. Comrades can readily print out andEor photocopy leaflets in each area. We used to have Hestetner stencil duplicators in ma8or districts 6 these days every area should have at least one good printerEcopier.

We need "ore writers. (his isn*t 8ust because people &ho &rite for publications engage &ith them more and are more likely to sell them. ublications over&helmingly &ritten by full time 8ournalists &ill not fully reflect the e5periences of &orkers and the oppressed. 3or e5ample" 2ay in IB3 p.11> raises some interesting )uestions about modern management techni)ues found in almost every &orkplace. (hese are despised by many &orkers" yet &e rarely &rite about them or e5plain the connection bet&een them and the &ider picture of capitalist e5ploitation and resistance. #eaflets are not enough. When the ISESW used to produce a lot of &orkplace bulletins" the guide &as that one side should be about the &orkplace" the other side about politics. But these &ere intended for use alongside a paper. In shifting resources a&ay from print publications to&ards electronic publications &e should be clear that a ?+sided <1 leaflet cannot ade)uately integrate the specific &ith the general or carry a good range of articles. @ven the 1/B0 Socialist Worker had four pagesI Internet users are accustomed to information being provided apparently free of charge. In reality the users are the products rather than the customers" &ith their personal data and their screen+ space being sold to advertisers. (his mind+set has spread" causing a crisis in print media and the shift to&ards free ne&spapers funded by advertising alone. Socialists cannot copy this model. We have to win a political argu"ent with readers to financially support our pu!lications " &hile recognising that this does not simply mean a price per copy. @arly papers &ere e5pensive and literacy lo&" so they &ere often shared or read out" &ith funds collected. In contrast" online readership &ill e5ceed the number of financial supporters. We need to ma5imise readership and fight to ma5imise the proportion &ho financially contribute. (his is easier &ith our print publications than online" so linking the t&o can help. Re$use is crucial. If the &eb site is our primary organ" articles from it can be combined to produce a variety of print publications. Some might be printed centrally" others could 8ust be made available in 93" eBook andEor more editable formats for do&nload and use on eBook readers and for local adaptation -&here appropriate." printing and distribution. 3e& people like to read longer articles on a C screen or a phone. Socialist Worker leaflets and the occasional #pull outs' sometimes end up on noticeboards and &alls in &orkplaces. (his is the hard+copy version of the online phenomenon of content # going viral'. We should look to have more content that can be promoted in this &ay via social media" &hether that is infographics" memes" pull outs that can be printed as posters" or short pamphletsEfact+sheets. <ll should carry the &eb address. We should produce a series of guides for "e"!ers and run training sessions around them" 8ust as &e have begun to do around organising in the &orkplace. (hese should cover topics such as leaflet &riting" &riting for the &eb site" taking usable photos" production and use of video" livestreaming" effective use of social media" using the internet &ithout risking victimisation etc. (he bourgeois media has struggled &ith the pace of ?1EC ne&s" unable to keep up &ith the pace of social media and reduced to reporting due to the difficulty in providing considered analysis before stories are past their use+by date. We need to avoid the same trap. Fur &eb site should not try to report everything instantly -though careful use of live reporting from ma8or events can attract an audience.. All our reports should have a purpose e.g. e5pose in8ustice" highlight struggles" learn lessons" argue &hat is to be done. But neither can &e al&ays afford to &ait until &e have hammered out a #line' before commenting on important events. We shouldn*t be afraid to distinguish clearly bet&een the editorial voice and allo&ing space for analysis by individual comrades &ho may be able

to comment before a collective vie& has been formed. Indeed" their comments and the responses to them can help to develop a collective vie&. We need to establish a strong contacts culture" &here &e seek to build online and offline contacts &ith activists and use them systematically to strengthen political relationships and build. 2ing+ rounds and face+to+face visits can be mi5ed to provide both )uantity and )uality. We need to use the tools effectively to facilitate the internal life of the organisation. Aarious groups of comrades -locally" fractionally" factionally. have e5perimented &ith the use of email discussion lists" 3acebook discussions" Skype conference calls etc to facilitate debate. 4one are &ithout their problems" but &e need to e5periment and discuss the pros and cons in order to agree &hat is the best practise. (his isn*t 8ust about internal debate" &here even the CC say in IB3 # We believe there should be an )W "ebate area on the )W* website where people who want to reply to articles in our publications or raise important theoretical issues should be able to do so. +or example, if comrades wanted to reply to, or add to, the recent discussion in the review between 'ark Thomas and ,d -ooksby on left strategy, there is no reason why they should not do so online '. It can also be about involving a &ider range of people. Some comrades already find it hard to participate in branch meetings due to caring responsibilities" mobility or geographical isolation. We should try to make our meetings physically accessible to all" but could private livestreaming help those &ho can*t be there in person: Increased use of online communications to reach out and provide resources is likely to mean &e recruit more people in places &here there is no branch -this is certainly the e5perience of unions &ith online recruitment.. We need a "edia co""ittee &ith a range of e5pertise to produce detailed proposals and drive through the re)uired changes. Conclusions (he SW has allo&ed itself to fall a long &ay behind in its efforts to communicate and organise. Instead of sei,ing on every opportunity to apply and develop %enin*s politics in the light of technological change" &e have clung on to the form of the revolutionary paper &hile our practice has changed to rob it of much of its political content. If &e are to build effectively" &e need a decisive shift to correct our errors as )uickly as possible. We cannot afford to fritter a&ay opportunities to build by clinging to outdated methods &hich are clearly not &orking. <s !ossam says= The site will not be a substitute for the paper, and comrades must continue in the hard work of distributing the paper at events, to the network of members, and to sympathi#ers. "espite the increasing numbers of workers using the internet .whether via mobile or via a link at home on in cyber/caf0s1, the paper will continue to be an essential means to interact with them, and we must do our utmost to ensure that it is published regularly, but the paper will be a complementary rather than a central, organi#ing publication. It may be that the adoption of the website as an organi#er is the first step towards the modern answer to the same $uestion posed by 2enin in the last century3 what is to be done&!

i <my G 7ark engage in the debate in IB1 p.1> and IB3 p.C3 ii http=EE&&&.mar5ists.orgEarchiveEharmanE1/01E55Erevpress.html iii http=EE&&&.mar5ists.orgEarchiveEleninE&orksE1/>1E&itbdEinde5.htm iv $onny $ones on #Social media and social movements' is useful" particularly the points about strong and &eak ties. http=EE&&&.is8.org.ukE:idJC?? v #What is to be done= (he Website as an Frgani,er' http=EE&&&.araba&y.orgE?>1?E>/E>BE&hat+is+to+be+done+the+ &ebsite+as+an+organi,er+revsocE #Communication technology and revolutionary organi,ation in the ?1st century' http=EE&&&.araba&y.orgE?>13E1>E?>Ecommunication+technology+and+revolutionary+organi,ation+in+the+?1st+ centuryE vi (he #do&nturn' &as a very useful description" recognising that the &ave of &orkers* struggle ebbed in the late 1/C>s" and allo&ing the party to hold together. But &e assumed that nothing more significant had changed" made no serious attempt at analysing the ne& period" assumed that an upturn &ould come along soon" and so failed to orientate ourselves correctly. Class struggle has more than one dimension 6 to understand it &e need a deeper analysis than #upturn'" #do&nturn' or #in bet&een'. vii See" for e5ample" much of the material aimed at unions by $ason 7ann= http=EE&&&.strategic+organi,ing.comE