Introduction
The International Communist League (Spartacists) sent us a letter on 29 May 2025 proposing “discussions between our respective tendencies to clarify the substance of our differences,” suggesting the national question in Quebec, Palestine, Ireland and South Africa, as well as the current global situation. On 5 June, we responded by accepting their proposal, and the talks were held in London on 19 July, with three representatives from each organization in attendance.
Our 5 June letter made clear that:
“we do not view these discussions as closed negotiations or pre-fusion talks-we plan on full transparency with our membership and the general socialist public and hope you do as well. Given your trajectory away from our shared political heritage over the past couple years, we see a growing gap between our respective programmatic commitments, not a convergence pointing towards regroupment. However, the degree to which your programmatic turn has been accompanied by an openness to discussion provides an opportunity to examine what may and may not remain of our common origins and to clarify the differences between us.”
We reproduce here edited versions of the eight main presentations on the national question given at the meeting, in the order they were delivered:
International Bolshevik Tendency
17 August 2025