The first issue of The Black Dwarf hit the streets exactly a year today. At that stage even our wellwishers expressed grave doubts as to our viability. There were others who sneered at us and saw us basicly as a threat to the unimaginative and dull political journals they themselves were involved in producing. There were even times when we ourselves were infected by the prevailing pessimism and gloom. Despite all this we are still here and, in the circumstances, that in itself is sufficient reason for self-congratulation. This we hope will explain the incestuous character of this particular issue of the newspaper.
However it would be incorrect to say that it has been an easy job to keep the Dwarf alive and from the financial point of view alone we have to acknowledge and thank a few of our readers who came to our rescue at moments when we really needed them. In particular we would thank a reader in N. Wales who donated £1500 to us at various stages. We will repay her when the revolution comes.
It would also be dishonest to maintain that we have made no mistakes in the past. Some of these must be analysed to prevent their recurrence. But we would not accept the view that the last four or five issues of the Dwarf represent out Thermidor or that we have become a degenerated socialist journal pandering to norms of reformist journalism. Admittedly all has not been well over the last few weeks but a more accurate description of what happened would be: insularity and isolationism. What are the reasons for this?
The strength of the Dwarf - its non-sectarian attitude and the fact that it is not affiliated to any organisation is in ONE sense also its main weakness It means that we exist in a sort of political limbo and therefore it makes it easier to make concessions to reformist journalism. A revolutionary socialist newspaper should exist for a specific purpose; it should have a clearly defined perspective. Comrade Lenin saw such a newspaper as an organiser and indeed there is no doubt regarding the role which ISKRA played in organising Russian revolutionaries both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The Dwarf would obviously like to see a regroupment of the revolutionary left in Britain and such a regroupment would obviously exclude those who saw parliamentary activity as the only way to a socialist Britain. We would obviously like to see ourselves as the organ of a revolutionary party however embryonic it may be. At the moment this is merely a pipe dream and the transitional period (i.e. the period of increasing radicalisation and at the same time the absence of a revolutionary organisation) is an exceptionally difficult period for us. We revolutionise the ideas of large numbers of young activists but can offer them no immediate perspective except to read The Black Dwarf and take part in multifarious demonstrations. The same problem, though admittedly in a more limited and indirect way, faces independent, theoretical journals such as New Left Review. For us this problem is more practical and more immediate as organisational links would go a long way towards solving our chronic distribution problems. Problems which face almost ever revolutionary journal (and some reformist ones) in a capitalist society.
Furthermore the absence of an organisation leaves the responsibility of deciding editorial policy to the editorial board which tends to get isolated, particularly if some of its members do not participate in revolutionary movements. They begin to see themselves as professional journalists. In the best reformist traditions, of course.
The Dwarf has in the past always seen itself as a vanguard paper of the revolutionary left, a large majority of which grew out of the activities of the Mandel. motto will be: Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, or as a result of the May/June events in France and needless to say the rapidly developing contradictions which continue to weaken British capitalism despite the efforts of social-democracy. Our purpose should be to service the needs of these militants in the absence of a revolutionary party; to educate them; to reflect their problems and attack their weaknesses. Of course we want our circulation to increase but this must not happen (in fact it can't) at the cost of weakening our crudely aggressive, brash and optimistic political image. We should not pander to centrism in any form or shape. We are first and foremost socialist revolutionaries and our journalism is only one of the methods we use to win support for our ideas. We abhor the fake-reformist illusions of those who talk in terms of appealing to bourgeois objectivity. To paraphrase Comrade Lenin: while our socialist theory should never capitulate before spontaneity, we should at the same time learn to apply spontaneity to our socialist theory. The same fact is stressed in the birthday message we print elsewhere in this issue from Comrade The Black Dwarf should be audacious and yes, vulgar. It should offend bourgeios sensibilities and appeal to young workers and students. It should write about struggles elsewhere in the world and relate them to struggles in Britain. For too long have left polities in this country been tied to a dull and narrow insularity. We will change all this and our we hope to be