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Appendix: Theory and Practice Introduction Every revolutionarymovement has to face conditions that are unique, unique and unprecedented, because that is precisely what a revolution is, the creation of something new and hitherto unknown to the world. Those who foresee what is comingand devote themselves to advancingthe cause are naturally affected by the uniqueness of the situation. Most often they are intellectuals, motivated above all by a sense of historical development; and while this pushes them away from the crimes and catastrophes associated with the breakdown of a social order, they run the extreme danger of being caught in the organizational structure and ideas of a previous age. To be more concrete, over a hundred years ago Marx and Engels were able to put forward their ideas and programs in conflict with other organizations similar to theirs in size and potentiality. By 1914 Lenin and the revolutionaries had to deal not only with governments, but with the tremendous power of the Second International. By 1939 the revolutionary elements had to deal with the Second International, the Third International, and a powerful state claiming to be the representative of the revolutionarymovement. To day the tendency which has been very obvious during the later part of the 19th and during the 20th century has reached its climax. Arevolutionary movement is now faced not only with two world political organizationswhich claim to represent the interests of workers, but also with two states, centered in Moscow and Peking, which are actively organizing all over the worldwhat each claims to be the center of the movementsthat reflect the urgent necessity felt by most of the world for fundamental change in a decaying order. From the days of Marx and Engels, most probably before that, the problems of those who saw the necessity of total change was always the relation between the general ideas which understood and expressed the decay and breakup of the existing social order, and the translation of this into terms of programs and policies which the great mass of the population, or that section of it which was prepared to take action, could understand and accept. The difficulty is perhaps best expressed by Oliver Cromwell in his statement that he knew what he was against, although he couldn't say exactly what he was for. The problem of a revolutionary in the middle of our disturbed century might appear at first sight to be, and in some respects is, of a difficulty far beyond that of a revolutionary in any previous age. The Marxist today has got to analyze the actual situation and clarify his ideas not only against the ideas of bourgeois society, but against the doctrines claiming to be Marxist of Moscow and Peking. So that before the task of translating ideas, analysis, and theory into concrete programs and policies, the task of theoretical clarifications and understanding faces obstacles which can be and have repeatedly proved, as we have unfortunately seen, ultimately insuperable. The task is not made any less onerous by the fact that any theory or continuation of a historical development with perspectives for the future can only take place in constant communication with the actual movement of the masses, not necessarily to lead it but at any rate absorbing the constantly new experiences which are the basis for the explosions of the future. This task I was fortunateenough to see in all its profundities and difficult ramifications many years ago, and on the whole have been able to move with the times, maintain the historical development and yet be a part of a total movement which not only never lost touch but was always guided and impelled in particular directions by its contact with the concrete mass movement . The documents and experiences of Facing Reality are, I believe, as good an example as can be found of the strenuous effort needed for a Marxist movement in the middle of the 20th century to maintain its relation with fundamentals and yet to move, as any movementmust, or perish. In this critical situation the history and development of our movementover nearly 30 years is the best evidence of the vigorous and quite successful struggles withwhat might appear to be an insoluble problem. I am confident that today more than ever we have survived the perils and are well established and moving in the right direction. The proofs that I here submit are two. The first is this document, Theory and Practice, an address by Martin Glaberman, where, as never before...

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