The Worker, Vol. 35, Number 2
No Force on Earth Can Stop the Objective Process of People Getting Together to Find Common Solutions to Their Common Problems
In last year's elections, 1/3 of workers spontaneously chose not to vote, expressing the fact that none of the capitalist politicians represent the interests of the masses.
The experience of the Workers Party also shows that along with the presence of widespread hatred and contempt for Republican and Democratic politicians, a significant and growing section of the workers recognize the need to take the further step of organizing the class as a class independent of and in opposition to the capitalist exploiters.
The question of organizing the working class as a class for itself is concentrated in the work of building the political party of the working class and this task is both the historic necessity of the times as well as a practical problem which the advanced elements of the class are taking up for solution. On every front – in the economic movements of the masses, in the anti-war struggles and the struggles against racist and fascist attacks, etc. – class conscious workers and activists are taking the question of organizing and advancing the struggle into their own hands.
Through the trade union bosses, as well as the opportunist and revisionist sects, the capitalists try to keep the workers under the political domination of the so-called "lesser evil," the Democratic Party, and to split up and liquidate all the mass struggles against the effects of the capitalist crisis.
The desired outcome of this organized pressure on the working class is to depolitize it – to stop investigation and discussion of solutions to society's pressing problems, to block the process of working out the theory which must guide the practical activity of those fighting in defense of the rights of people and for the progress of society.
The strategic and tactical line of the Workers Party is designed to overcome this influence and instead to unite the working class in the struggles of today and in the course of these struggles build up the conscious and independent forces of the workers themselves. Our tactical line, concentrated in the slogans "Make the Rich Pay!" "Mass Struggle Against Imperialist War," "Active Resistance to Racist and Fascist Attacks," "Build the Party of the Working Class," brings to the fore the class question and the independent role and initiative of the working class. The movement of the people cannot be left to spontaneity and aimlessness.
One of the great teachings of Lenin, which is always obscured and negated by the revisionists and opportunists of all stripes, is the necessity for the hegemony, the leadership, of the proletariat and its Marxist-Leninist vanguard. The revisionists and opportunists, whether from openly rightist positions or posing as ultra-leftists, are opposed to working and struggling to create the proletarian leadership in the thick of the actual class struggle. All the revisionists bow before spontaneity, awaiting the day when the "objective conditions" are ripe, when the movement "rises to a high level," etc., etc. But our experience shows the forces for the socialist revolution must be accumulated today in the course of the on-going class and mass battles against the effects of the capitalist crisis. Our experience shows that the masses themselves build up these forces but only through struggle and organization.
Our Marxist-Leninist work does not end with the propagation of the Marxist-Leninist ideas. We have always carried the work through to develop the program of action and struggle and to create conscious organization amongst the masses of the people. Rallying and uniting the activists and the entire working class begins with organizing on the basis of a definite line – the line of irreconcilable opposition to and struggle against the capitalists, the line that only the workers themselves can bring about their emancipation.
Only a party built by the workers themselves and devoted solely to the emancipation of the workers can unite the advanced elements of the class and inform all the movements of the class with common objectives and tactics.
The Party concentrates the experience and forces of the class, showing the masses how to fight and how to win.
At this time we can accelerate the work of building the Party by distributing The Worker widely amongst the people and speaking out for the interests and policy of the working class, popularizing and supporting the struggles of the masses.
The capitalists maintain a blockade of silence against the conditions and struggles of the masses in order to prevent the workers from seeing how the whole class is beginning to act and fight against the capitalist offensive. Widescale distribution of The Worker helps imbue the whole class with consciousness of its conditions and tasks. At the same time we must dig in in certain definite areas in order to come forward as the political leader of the class and its mass struggles.
An essential task of building the party is building simple discussion groups – discussion groups which are linked with the lives and struggles of the masses, discussion groups in which the class conscious workers and activists analyze the vital and decisive questions facing the movement, sum up the experiences in organizing the masses and provide tactical guidance for various struggles.
The current political set-up is designed precisely to exclude the people, to prevent the workers from participating in deciding the direction of society and the policies of government. It is this situation which must be changed and it is the workers themselves who must find ways and means to change it. The starting point is to build the organs of struggle capable of speaking out for the interests of the working people, for the agenda of the workers. It is necessary to create new politics which put the common interests of the vast majority of the people in command. We create this new politics by starting in the workplaces, schools and communities and standing up amongst our brothers and sisters to unite them around the agenda and program of the workers.
By carrying the work through to develop the program of action and struggle and to create conscious organization amongst the masses of the people we expose the politics of the capitalists which seeks to confuse and divide people, which insists that there are no real solutions for the problems of the workers. By building mass anti-imperialist organization, by initiating various organization to unite the class conscious workers, etc., we work together with the masses as organizers of the class struggle. It is through this experience, this struggle that the workers learn Marxism-Leninism and the line of the organization.
It is the same inside our organization. We have not started with "pure communists." We do not and cannot enjoy the luxury of sending people off to schools to learn Marxism-Leninism in lecture halls. We must build the Party and learn Marxism with our own hands and heads, starting from scratch. Thus we are building the Party organs and developing our initiative by relying on our own strength, by relying on the young workers and activists who emerge in the course of the work and the struggle. And we train ourselves through the struggle itself, always summing up and holding firm to our own experience, illuminated by the theory of Marxism-Leninism.
The action program of the Workers Party is precisely to go widely amongst the masses with the line of struggle, to organize meetings and discussions which take up the burning issues of the day, to take part in and advance the spontaneous struggles which are unfolding, and to increase and strengthen the organized links between the Workers Party and the broad masses.
Ideological and organizational activity is necessary to unite the working class into its own party and its own class organizations. The program of Economic Rights, Democratic Renewal, a Democratic Foreign Policy and Socialism is part and parcel of the work to unite the class on a definite line and build up its organized detachments.
The experience of the Workers Party also shows that along with the presence of widespread hatred and contempt for Republican and Democratic politicians, a significant and growing section of the workers recognize the need to take the further step of organizing the class as a class independent of and in opposition to the capitalist exploiters.
The question of organizing the working class as a class for itself is concentrated in the work of building the political party of the working class and this task is both the historic necessity of the times as well as a practical problem which the advanced elements of the class are taking up for solution. On every front – in the economic movements of the masses, in the anti-war struggles and the struggles against racist and fascist attacks, etc. – class conscious workers and activists are taking the question of organizing and advancing the struggle into their own hands.
Through the trade union bosses, as well as the opportunist and revisionist sects, the capitalists try to keep the workers under the political domination of the so-called "lesser evil," the Democratic Party, and to split up and liquidate all the mass struggles against the effects of the capitalist crisis.
The desired outcome of this organized pressure on the working class is to depolitize it – to stop investigation and discussion of solutions to society's pressing problems, to block the process of working out the theory which must guide the practical activity of those fighting in defense of the rights of people and for the progress of society.
The strategic and tactical line of the Workers Party is designed to overcome this influence and instead to unite the working class in the struggles of today and in the course of these struggles build up the conscious and independent forces of the workers themselves. Our tactical line, concentrated in the slogans "Make the Rich Pay!" "Mass Struggle Against Imperialist War," "Active Resistance to Racist and Fascist Attacks," "Build the Party of the Working Class," brings to the fore the class question and the independent role and initiative of the working class. The movement of the people cannot be left to spontaneity and aimlessness.
One of the great teachings of Lenin, which is always obscured and negated by the revisionists and opportunists of all stripes, is the necessity for the hegemony, the leadership, of the proletariat and its Marxist-Leninist vanguard. The revisionists and opportunists, whether from openly rightist positions or posing as ultra-leftists, are opposed to working and struggling to create the proletarian leadership in the thick of the actual class struggle. All the revisionists bow before spontaneity, awaiting the day when the "objective conditions" are ripe, when the movement "rises to a high level," etc., etc. But our experience shows the forces for the socialist revolution must be accumulated today in the course of the on-going class and mass battles against the effects of the capitalist crisis. Our experience shows that the masses themselves build up these forces but only through struggle and organization.
Our Marxist-Leninist work does not end with the propagation of the Marxist-Leninist ideas. We have always carried the work through to develop the program of action and struggle and to create conscious organization amongst the masses of the people. Rallying and uniting the activists and the entire working class begins with organizing on the basis of a definite line – the line of irreconcilable opposition to and struggle against the capitalists, the line that only the workers themselves can bring about their emancipation.
Only a party built by the workers themselves and devoted solely to the emancipation of the workers can unite the advanced elements of the class and inform all the movements of the class with common objectives and tactics.
The Party concentrates the experience and forces of the class, showing the masses how to fight and how to win.
At this time we can accelerate the work of building the Party by distributing The Worker widely amongst the people and speaking out for the interests and policy of the working class, popularizing and supporting the struggles of the masses.
The capitalists maintain a blockade of silence against the conditions and struggles of the masses in order to prevent the workers from seeing how the whole class is beginning to act and fight against the capitalist offensive. Widescale distribution of The Worker helps imbue the whole class with consciousness of its conditions and tasks. At the same time we must dig in in certain definite areas in order to come forward as the political leader of the class and its mass struggles.
An essential task of building the party is building simple discussion groups – discussion groups which are linked with the lives and struggles of the masses, discussion groups in which the class conscious workers and activists analyze the vital and decisive questions facing the movement, sum up the experiences in organizing the masses and provide tactical guidance for various struggles.
The current political set-up is designed precisely to exclude the people, to prevent the workers from participating in deciding the direction of society and the policies of government. It is this situation which must be changed and it is the workers themselves who must find ways and means to change it. The starting point is to build the organs of struggle capable of speaking out for the interests of the working people, for the agenda of the workers. It is necessary to create new politics which put the common interests of the vast majority of the people in command. We create this new politics by starting in the workplaces, schools and communities and standing up amongst our brothers and sisters to unite them around the agenda and program of the workers.
By carrying the work through to develop the program of action and struggle and to create conscious organization amongst the masses of the people we expose the politics of the capitalists which seeks to confuse and divide people, which insists that there are no real solutions for the problems of the workers. By building mass anti-imperialist organization, by initiating various organization to unite the class conscious workers, etc., we work together with the masses as organizers of the class struggle. It is through this experience, this struggle that the workers learn Marxism-Leninism and the line of the organization.
It is the same inside our organization. We have not started with "pure communists." We do not and cannot enjoy the luxury of sending people off to schools to learn Marxism-Leninism in lecture halls. We must build the Party and learn Marxism with our own hands and heads, starting from scratch. Thus we are building the Party organs and developing our initiative by relying on our own strength, by relying on the young workers and activists who emerge in the course of the work and the struggle. And we train ourselves through the struggle itself, always summing up and holding firm to our own experience, illuminated by the theory of Marxism-Leninism.
The action program of the Workers Party is precisely to go widely amongst the masses with the line of struggle, to organize meetings and discussions which take up the burning issues of the day, to take part in and advance the spontaneous struggles which are unfolding, and to increase and strengthen the organized links between the Workers Party and the broad masses.
Ideological and organizational activity is necessary to unite the working class into its own party and its own class organizations. The program of Economic Rights, Democratic Renewal, a Democratic Foreign Policy and Socialism is part and parcel of the work to unite the class on a definite line and build up its organized detachments.