Fourth International Posadist

The Fourth International Posadist is a Trotskyist international. It was founded in 1962 by J. Posadas, who had been the leader of the Latin America Bureau of the Fourth International in the 1950s, and of the Fourth International's section in Argentina.

History

When the Fourth International (FI) split in 1953, Posadas and his followers sided with Michel Pablo and the International Secretariat of the Fourth International (ISFI). The Posadists began quarrelling with the majority of the ISFI in 1959 over the question of nuclear war with Posadas being a proponent as, he claimed, it would destroy capitalism and clear the way for socialism.[1] The Posadists finally split with the ISFI in 1962 to form the Fourth International (Posadist). The group initially had a following in several countries, particularly among railway workers in Cuba, tin workers in Bolivia and farm workers in Brazil. At its peak in the late 1960s the Posadists had approximately 1,000 members worldwide.

There was a significant Posadist group in Cuba. Posadist guerrillas fought alongside Castro and Che Guevara in the 1959 revolution. When the Posadists split from the Fourth International in 1962 they took the Cuban section with them, meaning no other Trotskyist group was represented in Cuba in the 1960s.

The Posadist group was accused by Soviet-friendly forces in Cuba of arguing that the Cuban government should forcibly expel the American military base at Guantanamo Bay and of trying to organize workers in the town of Guantánamo to march on the nearby military base. That was taken as a justification by the government for imposing a ban on them, Castro denouncing their influence as "pestilential" at the Tricontinental Congress held in January 1966.[2] Cuban Posadists went on to claim that Castro had Guevara killed when, it turned out, he was actually in Bolivia fighting with the guerrilla movement there. Conversely, after Guevara was executed by Bolivian authorities, Posadas claimed in 1967 that Che Guevara was not actually dead but was being kept in prison by Castro's government.

In the late 1960s the Posadists became increasingly interested in UFOs, claiming they were evidence of socialism on other planets.[3] The movement became increasingly esoteric and New Age, beginning to decline until Posadas' death in 1981, which led to its virtual dissolution.

Theories

Nuclear first strike

As an ideology Posadism supports the potential for Third World revolution, is enthusiastic about nuclear war and space exploration by the former USSR and the People's Republic of China, and has an esoteric concern for "harmonisation" and "man's relationship to the earth, to nature and to the cosmos", based upon an original analysis of working class culture developed by J. Posadas.

Ufology and esotericism

Some detractors have made allegations that the Posadists believe in a New Age doctrine based upon a millenarian belief in UFOs coming from a socialist future or alien socialist planet, and that fringe science experiments involving human–dolphin communication and water birth are also popular themes among Posadas' followers. The Colombian section of the Posadist International denies this as an "attempt by the Colombian media to smear us".

Posadas was the author of a number of works with an unconventional slant; he tried to create a synthesis of Trotskyism and Ufology. His most prominent thesis from this perspective was Flying saucers, the process of matter and energy, science, the revolutionary and working-class struggle and the socialist future of mankind (1968). Posadists believed that extra-terrestrials visiting earth in flying saucers must come from a socially and scientifically advanced civilisation to master inter-planetary travel and that the working-class should welcome the alien invaders as their liberators.

Member parties

The Fourth International Posadist claims the following parties as members.[4] It is unknown how many of these organisations still exist or how many members they have. However it is unlikely there are more than a hundred members of the Posadist movement throughout the world. The organization currently lists contacts in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, however only Uruguay has a functioning party.[5]

Defunct

  • Argentina – Revolutionary Workers' Party Posadist (Partido Obrero Revolucionario – Posadista)
  • Belgium – Revolutionary Worker's Party – Trotskyist (Parti Ouvrier Révolutionnaire – Trotskiste)
  • Bolivia – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Trotskyist Posadist) (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista Posadista))
  • Brazil – Brazilian Section of the Trotskyist-Posadist IVth International (Seção Brasileira da IV Internacional Trotskista-Posadista)
  • Britain – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Trotskyist)[6]
  • Chile – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Posadist) (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Posadista))
  • Colombia – Posadist Trotskyist Workers Party (Partido Obrero Trotskista Posadista)
  • Cuba – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Trotskyist) – (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista))
  • France – Revolutionary Communist Party (Trotskyist) – (Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire (Trotskyiste))
  • Germany – Posadist Communist Party (Posadistische Kommunistische Partei)
  • Greece – Revolutionary Communist Party-Posadists (Epanastatiko Kommounistiko Komma-Posadistes)
  • Italy – Revolutionary Communist Party (Trotskyist-Posadist) – (Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario (Trotzkista-Posadista))
  • Mexico – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Trotskyist) – (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista))
  • Peru – Revolutionary Workers' Party (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista))
  • Spain – Revolutionary Worker's Party (Trotskyist-Posadist) – (Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista-Posadista))
  • United States – Revolutionary Workers Party (Trotskyist-Posadist)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Alexander, Robert Jackson (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929–1985: a documented analysis of the movement. Duke University Press. pp. 659–664. ISBN 0-8223-1066-X.
  2. ↑ Alexander, Robert Jackson (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929–1985: a documented analysis of the movement. Duke University Press. pp. 230–231. ISBN 0-8223-1066-X.
  3. ↑ https://www.marxists.org/archive/posadas/1968/06/flyingsaucers.html
  4. ↑ http://quatrieme-internationale-posadiste.org/QIP/index.php?lang=en
  5. ↑ http://cuartainternacionalposadista.org/
  6. ↑ Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike (2002). Encyclopedia of British and Irish political organizations. Continuum. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-8264-5814-8.

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