A great social crisis is fermenting on a world scale. It is possible to spot the signs of the general crisis in almost every field. While the wealth is concentrating in fewer hands, the ranks of misery get more crowded on the other side. Welfare rises on the one side, destitution on the other. The economic, social and political pressure on the proletariat and other toiling classes is becoming more intense. Unemployment is rising, working conditions are becoming worse, sense of insecurity about future is desperately growing. The economic, social and democratic gains are gradually being destroyed, which were obtained and generalized for the whole of society by the working class after long struggles and great sacrifices.

In parallel with all these, authoritarian and militarist tendencies are gaining strength worldwide. Moral and cultural degeneration has reached unprecedented levels. Though objective conditions that interconnect and make closer the whole world society are developing on the one hand, we witness disintegration and polarization on ethnic, regional and sectarian etc. levels on the other. Not to mention the signs of an ecological crisis that threatens the whole life on our planet.

As a basic component of this picture, the world capitalist class has been on the offensive for about a quarter of a century, and the world proletariat and the socialist movement are on the retreat. This is the general picture, if you leave aside partial or temporary surges. This crisis ' which has been fermenting for a long time ' puts on the agenda a dilemma which had been described a century ago (this time on a higher level): socialism or barbarism! The general crisis of the system has brought the whole humanity once more to this historical crossroads.

However, while the dynamics of barbarism operate at full speed, the dynamics of human emancipation also have begun to reappear. Contrary to the claims of those myopic who sold their souls to the system, the potential of the proletariat for struggle is far from being extinct. Especially the popular uprisings and revolutionary situations in recent years in a number of Latin American countries reveal that the potential of the proletariat for struggle is an inexhaustible fountain.

But the problem begins exactly at that point; this fountain ' which provides us with a historical optimism ' is not enough for solving the essential problem. We are in need of a piston to prevent this energy from dissipating: revolutionary leadership! The phrase, 'the crisis of humanity is reduced to the crisis of proletarian leadership,' is making its timeliness felt as the clear expression of truth. All prospective revolutionary uprisings are doomed to prove futile, unless the revolutionary leadership of the proletariat is built on a world scale. Therefore, Lenin's century old answer to the question 'What is to be done?' stands before our eyes as the greatest lesson of the 20^th Century history.

The fundamental principle that will determine the line of Marksist Tutum is nothing but this great historical lesson. Thus, Marksist Tutum believes that the crisis of leadership on a world scale can only be solved in the light of this great historical lesson and it has the determination to work on this line with heart and soul like a mole, without indulging itself in the temptation of boasting and producing a pretentious discourse.

What we see as the basic requirement for this is to have such a perspective that is based on clear and correct views. All our effort is for making such a perspective influential in the region we live and all over the world.

The readers will surely observe elements of this perspective throughout the whole life of this journal. We do not feel the need to mention them all here, since they can be found in a text in this issue entitled 'Our Basic Positions'. But there is one of them we want to stress here; we see it as the central pillar of our perspective: the principle of internationalism. The readers will see a pure proletarian internationalist spirit, implacable towards any nationalist tendencies ' which have permeated deep inside the Turkish left and surface at every occasion ' and in perfect harmony with the revolutionary principles and traditions of the international workers movement.

A determined internationalist position is increasingly becoming crucial and urgent in this new period, since nationalism is on the rise and will probably gain strength and be disguised with left clothes through concepts like 'patriotism'. Unfortunately in these lands even those who use strong language in the name of socialism, communism or Marxism only mutter in the face of the crucial words of the Communist Manifesto: 'The workers have no country'.

We stress the principle of internationalism, since one of the distinctive features of the period of retreat and defeat that we mentioned above was a shameless trampling and hollowing of this principle for long years.

Besides, the impact on Turkey of this period of retreat on a world scale was very much graver, due to some particular factors. That is why the crisis of the left movement has been multifold in Turkey. The worldwide retreat found expression in the form of a violent military coup. This fascist coup literally crushed the whole working class movement and socialist movement. Furthermore, when the Stalinist bureaucratic dictatorships collapsed 10 years later, it was a second blow to the Turkish left, who had taken all its education in the Stalinist school of falsification. And this period of multiple defeats caused a complete liquidation in the ranks of the left whose ideological backbone was already very weak.

The first and basic step for getting out of this impasse in a healthy way should have been to draw a genuine revolutionary balance sheet. Unfortunately this could not be done. It is highly probable that those who refrain from questioning the past or take an evasive attitude on this point would hinder a new rise rather than helping it. What awaits the minds bearing the thought, 'No need for a balance sheet, let's get back to job,' is nothing but a great frustration.

The scale of damage is enormous; whoever underestimates it is utterly mistaken. We should clearly understand that left ranks are infected with all kinds of slackness and liberal manner now that we do not have the revolutionary atmosphere anymore which in the past was an antidote against the filth of the system. The sharp radical language seen in many occasions should not mislead us, either. Indeed this language is covering the lack of belief and slackness that lies beneath.

For this reason, building a new revolutionary Marxist culture and so to say discipline constitutes one of the main pillars of a revival. A fundamental dimension of getting rid of the mistakes of the past is to revive the positive values of the past. Unfortunately, there has been a serious disruption between generations and a very important outcome of this has appeared as a crisis of seriousness. Thus Marksist Tutum attaches great importance to the questions of method, attitude and approach. The road to re-establishment of a revolutionary center of gravity and an authority among the working class movement and responsive layers of youth passes from ' in addition to many other factors, of course ' restoring this seriousness.

We do not expect immediate results; a long period of hard work with patience and persistence is awaiting us. Indeed, the expectation of a quick and easy victory that has infected the Turkish left for almost 20 years is one of the worst habits to be eliminated. One wonders whether those who have refrained from touching the dirt of class struggle and undertaking long and standing efforts realize that they have not produced anything encouraging by jumping from this 'project' here to that 'platform' there over the last twenty years. On this point, we have nothing but to call for seriousness and repeat that history never offers shortcuts for difficult problems.

Marksist Tutum does not fall from the sky; it comes from a long and hard road and aims at taking the struggle for opening a genuine Marxist canal forward within the working class. We wholeheartedly believe that Marksist Tutum will find its echo especially in the person of a new generation of Marxist workers and youth who have succeeded in freeing itself from nationalism and reformism.