Issuing body: Emergency Conference of the Fourth International (signed by Crux/Trotsky, Fischer/Schuessler, Martel/Cannon, Jones/Dunne, Stuart/Gordon; approved by Munis and Richardson)
Declaration Concerning the Permanent International Executive Committee
Since the Permanent International Executive Committee has virtually ceased to exist as such, the undersigned find themselves obliged to make known the following information.
1. The Permanent IEC was set up in New York immediately after the outbreak of the war, its composition being determined solely by presence in that city; an administrative secretary was designated by the political bureau of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) to work with the committee.
2. This committee was to act as a secretariat, with the widest possible participation of the other IEC members present in America.
3. From the opening of the debate within the SWP, the majority of the members of the permanent committee slid into a factional attitude, aligning themselves with the minority of that party, refusing to use their position on the committee to calm the conflict and, in practice, virtually ignoring the existence of the IEC for all purposes.
4. This non-functioning of the majority of the members of the permanent committee became evident when Crux and Fischer, members of the IEC, and Munis, the representative of the Mexican and Spanish sections, addressed to the permanent committee, on 20 February, the proposal to intervene in the SWP debate in order to preserve unity. The secretary of the committee transmitted this communication with his own approval and that of Comrade Martel. Despite the extreme gravity and urgency of the situation, they received no reply from Comrades Trent [Shachtman], Anton [Frankel], Johnson [James], and Lebrun [Pedrosa].
5. Comrades Trent and Anton took part at Cleveland in the splitting conference of the minority, as members of that faction of the SWP, as did Comrade Johnson, likewise without any mandate from the English section and most certainly without any mandate from the IEC. Comrade Lebrun endorsed the decisions taken on that occasion, likewise without the approval of his own section and without consulting the IEC. The only communication recently received by the IEC from Brazil informs us that that section maintains the position of "unconditional defence of the USSR" and accepts the discipline of the Fourth International, despite differences within its ranks. It also blames Lebrun for having failed in his duties toward his own party. All these comrades therefore acted without the knowledge of the IEC and without any regard for their duty as members of that body.
6. All the information at our disposal confirms that the overwhelming majority of the Fourth International remains faithful to Marxist theory, to our programme, to our political tradition, and to the organisational principles of Bolshevism. Communications with Europe are very difficult. But it is possible, and it is desirable, to create immediately a genuine Pan-American centre, based on the sections in activity, with the aim of recreating, as soon as possible, a new IEC that is genuinely representative of the Fourth International and capable of carrying on sustained revolutionary activity.
7. To this end, and considering the de facto non-existence of the Permanent IEC, we give our full support to the initiative taken by the American, Canadian, and Mexican sections of the Fourth International calling for a Pan-American conference. The conference, with the participation of all the sections able to furnish mandates, can and must immediately set up a representative body to replace the defunct Permanent IEC.
Signed: Crux [Trotsky], Fischer [Schuessler], Martel [Cannon], Jones [Dunne], and Stuart [Gordon], IEC administrative secretary.
Text approved by Munis, representative of the Spanish and Mexican sections, and Richardson, Canadian section.