Introduction to Issue 4

The Myth of Lenin's "Concept of the Party" or "What they did to What Is to be Done?"   Hal Draper here examines "What is to be Done" for a concept of the party and Lenin's views and practices in the period between its publication and the Russian Revolution. Because of the relevance of this article to the discussion of the role of the party in International Socialist Forums we reprint here with permission.
An outline of a talk given by Cyril Smith to the Forum on 7 march 1999 exploring Marx's early writings to clarify the purpose of his work on philosophy.
First thoughts on the platform of the Iranian comrades by Jean Philip Dives from Care Rouge which published substantial extracts from the Minimum Platform produced by the Iranian Revolutionary Socialist Tendency.
Roger Smith recalls here his experience of May-June 1968 in Paris. He was sent there to report for the Black Dwarf a new radical paper of the left.
A critique of positivism and its effects on the concept of the party and its relationship to the workers movement.