Lotta Comunista: The Origins — 1943–1952 Guido La Barbera Preface to the English Edition 9 Preface 13 Useful dates 19 Chapter One:«ONE OUGHT TO KNOW WITH WHOM ONE IS DEALING» 21 The balance-of-power theory 25 Theory and the ‘strategy-party’ 27 Chapter Two:THE FOUNDRY AND THE PARTISAN STRUGGLE 29 The Savona group 31 Passion disciplined by reason 39 Never again a tool in the hands of others 40 The Genoa group 41 The Sestri Ponente group 46 The groups in Rome and Tuscany 48 The strength of GAAP: ‘only a handful’ 52 Chapter Three:LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM: A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNISM 55 Reckoning with Bordiga 58 The Kronstadt article 60 I’m not an anarchist. Do I have to say it again? 61 An initial confrontation 62 The Arshinov platform 64 The «little group» phobia 66 Between Gramsci and Lenin 67 Working towards a new Leninism 68 The second confrontation 70 A stumbling block: the «simultaneous withering away» of the State 77 The third confrontation: the «issue of imperialism» 78 A dozen confident and great-hearted men 80 Anarchism: a focused, federated movement 82 The militant Bolshevik spirit 84 The battle at Ilva, Savona 85 Chapter Four:PONTEDECIMO, GENOA, 1951 87 Doubts on the theory of the State 89 February 1951: Pontedecimo 90 Do we understand the historical meaning of the party’s actions ? 96 Theories on the State 98 A workers’ group 103 Organising ourselves 100% 105 Chapter Five:THE ‘IMPERIALIST DEMOCRACY’ ISSUE 109 ‘Imperialist democracy’ in The Political Shell 112 Bukharin’s ‘New Leviathan’ theory 114 Lenin’s initial disagreement 115 Notes on Marxism and the State 116 ‘State and Revolution’: Marxism and anarchism 118 ‘Absterben’, ‘Abschaffung’, ‘Sprengung’ 120 The New Leviathan and the National Question 122 ‘State totalitarianism’ and the move towards Fascism 125 New Leviathan and World Leviathan 128 Asian Leviathans and the theory of the State 130 Chapter Six:THE UNITARY IMPERIALISM ISSUE 135 Three notes on unitary imperialism 138 A note on the theory of uneven development 139 The ambiguities of ‘Third Front’ / ‘Third Force’ 141 ‘Highly dangerous and wild’ formulations 142 The European currents of the ‘Third Force’ 144 The ‘Third Force’ in France 146 The Gauche and the ‘Cold War’ 148 Michel Pablo’s ‘The Coming War’ 149 The ‘Third Front’ of France’s libertarian communists 151 Studying international politics 154 A forecast on China 156 The Third Front decision 158 A year of fertile ‘exile’ in Argentina 162 A discussion on ‘totalitarianism’ 164 Chapter Seven:THE 'THIRD FRONT’ AND THE THORNY ISSUE OF EUROPE 167 Six months of arm-wrestling 169 The ‘betrayal’ myth 171 The need for theory 172 The Second National Conference at Florence 174 Back to the «little group» and anarchism 175 The search for a scientific order 177 The Turin group crisis 179 The problem of European imperialism 180 Open disagreement 186 «I don’t know of any anarchist economists» 189 Chapter Eight:1952: SOURCES FOR THE CLASH OVER EUROPE 191 Stalin and ‘The Economic Problems of Socialism’ 193 The international debate: Il Mondo and Turin’s La Stampa 195 The Amadeo Bordiga - Onorato Damen confrontation 198 ‘Los Tres Grandes’ 201 Methodology: a plurality of bourgeois sources 208 Chapter Nine:THE TRUE PARTITION: A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY 209 Imperialism and the balance of power: a correction to the theory 211 In Arrigo Cervetto’s laboratory 214 1951 texts: a re-examination 216 The «true partition» theory is born 220 Marx and equilibrium theory 221 Education on strategy: the big push 226 Chapter Ten:THE 1980s: DRAWING UP THE BALANCE 231 The mighty dollar’s super-imperialism 234 The risks of the two super-imperialisms theory 235 More on the «true partition» 237 Three interpretations of Yalta 239 The genetic concept of unitary imperialism 245 Chapter Eleven:CONCLUSIONS 247 Bibliography 253 Newspapers of the Workers’ Revolutionary Movement Quoted in the Book 265 Glossary 266 Maps 268 Index of Personal Names 269 Biographical Profiles 275
Guido La Barbera Preface to the English Edition 9 Preface 13 Useful dates 19 Chapter One:«ONE OUGHT TO KNOW WITH WHOM ONE IS DEALING» 21 The balance-of-power theory 25 Theory and the ‘strategy-party’ 27 Chapter Two:THE FOUNDRY AND THE PARTISAN STRUGGLE 29 The Savona group 31 Passion disciplined by reason 39 Never again a tool in the hands of others 40 The Genoa group 41 The Sestri Ponente group 46 The groups in Rome and Tuscany 48 The strength of GAAP: ‘only a handful’ 52 Chapter Three:LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM: A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNISM 55 Reckoning with Bordiga 58 The Kronstadt article 60 I’m not an anarchist. Do I have to say it again? 61 An initial confrontation 62 The Arshinov platform 64 The «little group» phobia 66 Between Gramsci and Lenin 67 Working towards a new Leninism 68 The second confrontation 70 A stumbling block: the «simultaneous withering away» of the State 77 The third confrontation: the «issue of imperialism» 78 A dozen confident and great-hearted men 80 Anarchism: a focused, federated movement 82 The militant Bolshevik spirit 84 The battle at Ilva, Savona 85 Chapter Four:PONTEDECIMO, GENOA, 1951 87 Doubts on the theory of the State 89 February 1951: Pontedecimo 90 Do we understand the historical meaning of the party’s actions ? 96 Theories on the State 98 A workers’ group 103 Organising ourselves 100% 105 Chapter Five:THE ‘IMPERIALIST DEMOCRACY’ ISSUE 109 ‘Imperialist democracy’ in The Political Shell 112 Bukharin’s ‘New Leviathan’ theory 114 Lenin’s initial disagreement 115 Notes on Marxism and the State 116 ‘State and Revolution’: Marxism and anarchism 118 ‘Absterben’, ‘Abschaffung’, ‘Sprengung’ 120 The New Leviathan and the National Question 122 ‘State totalitarianism’ and the move towards Fascism 125 New Leviathan and World Leviathan 128 Asian Leviathans and the theory of the State 130 Chapter Six:THE UNITARY IMPERIALISM ISSUE 135 Three notes on unitary imperialism 138 A note on the theory of uneven development 139 The ambiguities of ‘Third Front’ / ‘Third Force’ 141 ‘Highly dangerous and wild’ formulations 142 The European currents of the ‘Third Force’ 144 The ‘Third Force’ in France 146 The Gauche and the ‘Cold War’ 148 Michel Pablo’s ‘The Coming War’ 149 The ‘Third Front’ of France’s libertarian communists 151 Studying international politics 154 A forecast on China 156 The Third Front decision 158 A year of fertile ‘exile’ in Argentina 162 A discussion on ‘totalitarianism’ 164 Chapter Seven:THE 'THIRD FRONT’ AND THE THORNY ISSUE OF EUROPE 167 Six months of arm-wrestling 169 The ‘betrayal’ myth 171 The need for theory 172 The Second National Conference at Florence 174 Back to the «little group» and anarchism 175 The search for a scientific order 177 The Turin group crisis 179 The problem of European imperialism 180 Open disagreement 186 «I don’t know of any anarchist economists» 189 Chapter Eight:1952: SOURCES FOR THE CLASH OVER EUROPE 191 Stalin and ‘The Economic Problems of Socialism’ 193 The international debate: Il Mondo and Turin’s La Stampa 195 The Amadeo Bordiga - Onorato Damen confrontation 198 ‘Los Tres Grandes’ 201 Methodology: a plurality of bourgeois sources 208 Chapter Nine:THE TRUE PARTITION: A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY 209 Imperialism and the balance of power: a correction to the theory 211 In Arrigo Cervetto’s laboratory 214 1951 texts: a re-examination 216 The «true partition» theory is born 220 Marx and equilibrium theory 221 Education on strategy: the big push 226 Chapter Ten:THE 1980s: DRAWING UP THE BALANCE 231 The mighty dollar’s super-imperialism 234 The risks of the two super-imperialisms theory 235 More on the «true partition» 237 Three interpretations of Yalta 239 The genetic concept of unitary imperialism 245 Chapter Eleven:CONCLUSIONS 247 Bibliography 253 Newspapers of the Workers’ Revolutionary Movement Quoted in the Book 265 Glossary 266 Maps 268 Index of Personal Names 269 Biographical Profiles 275
