Founding Conference of the
Fourth International
1938
On The Mexican Question
The International Conference, having read the documents and statements of the former LCI (Galicia group) [Liga Comunista Internacionalista], and the decision of the Pan American Preconference at New York, and having heard the report of the U. S. delegation to Mexico, declares:
That it endorses the recommendation of the All-American Conference regarding the reorganization of the group formerly led by Galicia and Fernandez (LCI of Mexico) and takes no responsibility for the previous policy and attitude of this group.
The conference is obliged to adopt this resolution in view of the false policy of the leadership of the former LCI of Mexico. This policy, for which the principal responsibility falls on Comrades Galicia and Fernandez, brought the greatest discredit upon the Fourth International in Mexico and prevented a healthy development.
Under the guidance of its former leaders, the organization pursued a “third period” policy in the trade union field, which resulted in the split in the building trades union movement, and the creation of an “independent” and “red” trade union composed merely of League members isolated from the masses.
In the struggle against the high cost of living, the League issued irresponsible and adventuristic slogans, not only calling for a “general strike” but also for “sabotage” and “direct action.”
In the struggle against foreign imperialism in Mexico, the leadership of the LCI (Galicia group), instead of emphasizing above all in its agitation the struggle against the American and British bandits, emphasized rather the bourgeois nationalist Cardenas regime, attacking it in a way that was one sided, sectarian, and, in the given circumstances, objectively reactionary. The clinching proof of the irresponsibility of the Galicia leadership was given several days prior to the arrival of the U. S. delegation in Mexico, when this leadership induced the members of the organization to vote the dissolution of the League, thus liquidating the Mexican section of the International. The subsequent decision no less frivolous than the first to reconstitute the League, can be regarded not as a responsible decision, but rather as a maneuver aimed at preventing criticism and serious efforts to reconstruct the movement of the Fourth International in Mexico on a healthy and solid basis.
With the above indicated purpose in mind, the International Conference mandates Comrade C. to continue his efforts, under the direct supervision of the International Subsecretariat, to facilitate the reorganization of the Mexican section of the Fourth International.
The International Conference cordially invites all former and present comrades of the LCI to tighten up their ranks in the Fourth International and its reorganized Mexican section, on the basis of accepting the decisions of the conference and the discipline of the Fourth International.
The International Conference further declares that, regarding the factional struggle, devoid of principle and of political significance, carried on between Comrades Galicia and 0. Fernandez, these two comrades may be admitted to membership in the ranks of the reorganized section only on condition that for a period of one year they shall not occupy any leading post in the organization. The new executive committee of the organization should be composed, above all, of serious and experienced proletarian elements.
Concerning the case of Comrade Diego Rivera, the International Conference further declares that in view of the difficulties that have arisen in the past with this comrade in the internal relationships of the Mexican section, he shall not form part of the reconstituted organization, but that his work and activity for the Fourth International shall remain under the direct control of the International Subsecretariat.
Last updated on 12.5.2005