How to Overthrow Capitalism

8/13/2019 How to Overthrow Capitalism

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Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

Irene Blankenship

Capitalism Destablized How Do

We Prepare To Overthrow the U.S.

Government

First Published:The 80s,Vol. 1,No. 3, October 1980.

Transcription, Editing and

Markup: Paul Saba

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One year ago, at its Founding

Congress, the Communist Workers

Party pointed out that U.S. capitalistsociety was heading into a period of

rapid destabilization. The working class, which for the previous

three decades had been put half to sleep by the revisionism of the

CPUSA (Communist Party, U.S.A.) and the false prosperity

of the capitalists temporary stabilization, would be jarred awake
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by the permanent economic crisis. At that time, we stated that the

working class would open up to communism as never before.

We further showed that this destabilization would last at least

five years (now four years), as it would take the monopolycapitalist class that long to decide and unite on a plan to pull

themselves out of this crisis if they can at all. These inter-

monopoly contradictions give us time to prepare for socialist

revolution, time to make sure that the capitalists will not be able

to stabilize their rule and again put the mass of workers back to

sleep. Our task, formulated at that time was to win the majority

and build up the Party beyond defeat in the next five years

(now four years). This was called the five-year framework.

To put it more concretely, since the era of imperialism began

around the turn of the century, advanced capitalist countries go

through periods of destabilization every 20 years or so and the

working class wakes up, becoming very receptive to

communism. During capitalist destabilization the possibility

arises for the working class to seize state power and establish

revolutionary socialism.

But in between these destabilized periods, the working class is

half asleep and the capitalist class effects its brutal dictatorship

unchallenged.

So the question that faces our Party is this: what should the

character of our work be and how can we utilize this situation of

rapid destabilizationthis relatively short period of timein order

to ensure that another 20 years of stabilization and consequently

deep sleep doesnt engulf the working class?

In this article, I would like to discuss some of the fabric and

characteristics of U.S. society as compared to the third world and

how this affects our preparation in periods of temporary

stabilization and destabilization.


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Party Core Formed From Advanced Elements of the 60s and 70s

The predecessor to the Communist Workers Party, the Workers

Viewpoint Organization, took shape and grew up during the

period of capitalist temporary stabilization. Our membership atthat time was almost exclusively drawn from the pool of

advanced elements from the student, anti-war and oppressed

nationality movements of the sixties and early seventies. We set

ourselves the task of forming a solid core of communists, highly

consolidated and trained in Marxism. We engaged in polemics

with opportunist organizations (some are still around, others are

long forgotten) in order to get the best elements from these

earlier, partial movements. Lenin said, Our first step was to

create a Communist Party so as to know whom we were talking

to and whom we could fully trust. The slogan of the First and

Second congresses was Down with the Centrists! We cannot

hope to master even the ABC of communism, unless all along the

line and throughout the world we make short shrift of the

Centrists and semi-Centrists, whom in Russia we call

Mensheviks. Our first task is to create a genuinely revolutionary

party and to break with the Mensheviks. (Speech in Defence of

the Tactics of the Communist International at the Third Congressof the Communist International,Party Work Among the Masses,

p. 150) As everyone knows now, we were highly successful in

this task. Because of the attention we paid to grounding ourselves

in the basics of Marxisma granite theoretical foundation, as

Lenin once put itand the principle of universal and all around

preparation for the dictatorship of the proletariat, we have been

able to keep our orientation in a very disoriented period. This is

in sharp contrast to other, opportunist organization like the

Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) who now proclaim

capitalism stronger than ever and the Revolutionary Communist

Party who are driven to a petty bourgeois frenzy because of the

economic crisis.


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The State of the Party and the Working Class During Capitalist

Temporary Stabilization

During this period our Party built up a tradition of boldly doing

propaganda among the working class. To the extent of our

capabilities we tried to lend a conscious character to the workers

spontaneous struggles. But our ability to propagate Marxism to

the workers and win the advanced to the Party was limited by a

number of factors.

First, the historical limitations. As stated before, we grew out

of the spontaneous movements of the sixties and seventies. Our

early members consisted of these advanced elements who were

striving for Marxism to answer the burning questions of their

day. And because of the need to form a core of professional

revolutionaries our work necessarily was focused on winning the

existing pool of Marxists to our line. Therefore, at that time we

were not well situated in the working class.

Second, the number of advanced workers and workers open to

communism was very small. This is because of the character of

capitalist stabilization, brought on by the political and militaryhegemony of United States imperialism. During the last round of

stabilization (1950s-1970s) the working class was politically

asleep. Using superprofits robbed from the third world to bribe

the labor aristocrats, and living off other countries (what Lenin

called a rentier state), the bourgeoisie was able to morally corrupt

the working class although they did not materially benefit from

this wealth. In fact most workers considered themselves middle

class. The labor aristocratsthe Meanys, Hoffas, and Boyleshad

a stranglehold over the workers. So, although there were militant

economic struggles during this time (like the perennial UMWA

wildcats), the number of advanced workers and the Partys

ability to win them over was very small indeed.


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From this situation follows three very important conclusions.

First, in the period of capitalist temporary stabilization, the Party

cannot win all or even the majority of advanced workers. Overall

the working class is not open to communism. The number of

workers who are is small and the Party is even smaller. Second,aside form the partial movements of the working class (Miners

for Democracy and others), all strata of the oppressed

nationalities, students, the poor and all the other downtrodden

masses, there was no independent, multinational working class

movement fighting for itself and its interests. Third, under the

conditions that the main forces are not politically organized and

are leaderless, it is very hard to deploy the proletariats direct

reserves (oppressed nationalities, womens movement, lowerpetty bourgeoisie) in such a way so as to strengthen and back up

the working class. It is also most difficult to take advantage of

the indirect reserves (inter-monopoly and inter-imperialist

contradictions and contradictions among the opportunist

misleaders) and they go largely unused.

In this period the Party was not mature. The maturity of the

Party is a reflection of the maturity of the working class. The lack

of a strong Party at that time was natural. It merely reflected thatthe working class, although being ruthlessly oppressed and

impoverished, was still under the ideological corruption of the

labor aristocracy and the imperialist classes generally. The

working class at that time still had not awakened and made the

transition to its present position.

Stalin said, In this period the Party, as a driving force, was

weak. It was weak not only because it itself was young, but also

because the working-class movement as a whole was young and

because the revolutionary situation, the revolutionary movement,

was lacking, or little developed, particularly in the initial stages

of this period...

The Partys strategysince strategy presupposes the existence of

reserves and the possibility of manoeuvring with themwas necessarily


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narrow and restricted. The Party confined itself to mapping the

movements strategic plan, i.e., the route that the movement should

take; and the Partys reservesthe contradictions within the camp of the

enemies inside and outside of Russiaremained unused, or almost

unused, owing to the weakness of the Party.

The Partys tactics, since tactics presuppose the utilisation of all formsof the movement, forms of proletarian organisation, their combination

and mutual supplementation, etc., with the object of winning the masses

and ensuring strategic success, were also necessarily narrow and

without scope...

In this period the Party focused its attention and care upon the Party

itself, upon its own existence and preservation...

The principal task of communism in Russia in that period was to recruit

into the Party the best elements of the working class, those who were

most active and most devoted to the cause of the proletariat; to form the

ranks of the proletarian party and put it firmly on its feet. Comrade

Lenin formulated this task as follows: to win the vanguard of theproletariat to the side of communism. .. (The Party Before and After

Taking Power,Works, Vol. 5, pp. 103-104)

Painstaking Accumulation of Revolutionary Forces Characterize the

Partys Task During Stabilization

This is not to say that there was no class struggle or that the

Party did not engage the class struggle in its formative years.

Quite the contrary. The main problem at that time was that theclass struggle was too diffuse, too localized and its forms too

restrictive. There were quite a few single issues and different

streamlets such as the black liberation movement, contract

strikes, etc. The main fight we had to wage was to put them in

perspective and give a Marxist orientation to them so that the

advanced elements from these spontaneous movements would

not get burned out.

By the fall of 1977, the Workers Viewpoint Organization hadunited in its ranks the best communists in the country that came

from the earlier spontaneous movements. We were then able to

turn our full attention to the task of winning the advanced

workers to the Party and we vigorously went into the various

industrial concentrations. One of the characteristics of temporary


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stabilization is partial economic struggles taking place with the

total, or near total absence of political struggle. Work in this type

of situation, a non-revolutionary situation, must correspond to

these conditions.

That is why our Party started form the workers actual level at

the time and picked up on these immediate struggles, gave

leadership to them and in this context did propaganda to the

advanced workers. Through the ties, the confidence we gained,

and our organizing the workers in their day to day economic

struggles we raised the political level of the advanced workers.

The recruitment of these workers was basically one by one. We

concentrated on painstaking accumulation of revolutionary forces

to prepare ourselves for the political flow to come.

To Prepare for Workers Rule, We Must Grasp the Characteristics of U.S.

SocietySome Differences Between Third World & Advanced Capitalist

Countries

As long as national and state differences exist among peoples and

countriesand these differences will continue to exist for a very long

time even after the dictatorship of the proletariat has been established

on a world scalethe unity of international tactics of the Communistworking-class movement of all countries demands, not the elimination

of variety, not the abolition of national differences (that is a foolish

dream at the present moment), but such an application of the

fundamental principles of Communism (Soviet power and the

dictatorship of the proletariat) as will correctly modify these principles

in certain particulars, correctly adapt and apply them to national and

national-state differences. Investigate, study, seek, divine, grasp that

which is peculiarly national, specifically national in the concrete

manner in which each country approaches the fulfillment of the single

international task, in which it approaches the victory over opportunism

and left doctrinairism within the working-class movement, the

overthrow of the bourgeoisie, and the establishment of a Soviet republic

and a proletarian dictatorshipsuch is the main task of the historical

period through which all the advanced countries (and not only the

advanced countries) are now passing. (Left-Wing Communism, An

Infantile Disorder, pp. 95-96)


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What are some of the particularities of the social structure of

the United States that affect our preparation for workers rule?

How does this differ from third world countries?

The most important characteristic to take into account is theexistence of bourgeois democracy.

In September, 1974 we said, In an advanced capitalist country

like the U.S....unlike semi-feudal, semi-colonial or autocratic

states, bourgeois democracy is almost complete.. .The existence

of a relatively high degree of political liberty is a condition that

maintains the separation of the mass movement of the working

class from the communist movement, for it breeds bourgeois-

democratic illusions among the masses. In the advanced capitalist

countries, reform is the principal strategy to divert the struggle of

the working class from socialism... This condition of relatively

broad political liberty and reform, therefore, permits open

political propaganda and agitation. At the same time, it makes

economist and revisionist errors, such as serving the mass

movement passively at each separate stage of its develop-ment,

especially dangerous. (Workers Viewpoint Journal, Vol.1, No.2,

p. 18)

The bourgeoisie rules in this country indirectly, by default. As

long as no direct political challenge is mounted to their rule, they

stay in power. And as long as there is no direct challenge, they

tolerate and do not fear economic struggles and struggles for

partial gains. The big strike waves of 1953-54 and 1969-70,

although bitter, militant struggles which hurt the bourgeoisie

economically, did not by any means endanger their rule.

The bourgeoisie has learned that generally speaking it is not to

their advantage to use consistent repression to smash the

workers movement. The working class, unlike the peasantry

(which is predominant in the third world) was born of modern

industry. Workers from all around an area are brought together to


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work under one roof. Here is where the workers ties are, here is

where their discipline is forged and wherein lays the basis for

their consciousness. And here is where they organize and where

their rudimentary forms of organizationthe trade unionsare.

Because of its social being, the working class is the mostadvanced, most revolutionary class and has the power to sustain

its revolutionary energy. For the bourgeoisie to crush it with

force (which they have tried to do) only calls forth more

resistance. The power and potential of the working class lies in

its capacity to organize. And the only way the bourgeoisie can rid

the working class of this capacity is to shut down every factory,

which of course they cannot do.

So if the proletariat has such wonderful capabilities to

organize, why does the bourgeoisie not fear these partial

struggles? The answer is that they have some very subtle,

sophisticated (and for this reason, all the more brutal) means at

their disposal to stop the proletariat. Some of the important

weapons in their arsenal are the labor aristocracy in the trade

unions, misleaders other partial movements and the ma media

particularly radio and TV.

By bribing the trade union leaders with super profits and

corrupting them both materially and ideologically, the

bourgeoisie has developed an elaborate network of agents to

sabotage the workers movement from within. Whether it selling

out strikes and organizing drives, pushing bourgeois political

action, stifling militant fights in the grievance procedure or

turning burning issues to the legislature and government agencies

(like Arnold Miller did with the miners struggle against Black

Lung) the labor aristocracy destroy the workers basic

organizations, keep them tied to the bourgeoisie and stunt their

political development and class consciousness.

Today, however, things are decidedly changing as early as

May 1978, we predicted this process:


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Since the trade unions are far more stable organizations than the

organizations of the national movements, the misleadership in the trade

unions are far more deeply entrenched. Since the political awakening of

the 60s, the leadership the national movement has been fluid and has

changed rapidly. From the Student Non-Violent Coordinating

Committee (SNCC) to the Black Panther Party, from Kawaidanationalism to Nkrumaism and Pan-Africanism to Marxism, the leading

ideology changed rapidly. Incorrect views are rapidly abandoned, while

the leadership is wide open. This enabled the communists to guide the

national movement to a higher level as the WVO is doing today. This is

different from the workers movement in the last 20 years.

The deepening economic crisis and the increasing attacks from the

bourgeoisie has fueled the resistance of the working class. The scattered

strikes of the iron ore workers, the longshoremen, the Pullman Standard

workers, and the coal miners are dealing blows at the attempt of the

bourgeoisie to attack the right to strike. The wage settlements in these

strikes have put a big dent in Carters voluntary wage control policy.The more the government steps in, the more the state being exposed

and its authority being weakened.

It is under these rapidly developing conditions that the diehard

representatives of the labor aristocracy, like Meany, Fitzsimmons, and

the Abel/McBride gang, are being shaken off their pedestals after

twenty years of unchallenged reign. Even Arnold Miller is being

exposed after only brief 6 year stint as a reform, second generation,

sellout misleader. (Workers Viewpoint, May 1978, p. 27)

The capitalists are also skilled at keeping different movements

separated, isolated a straightjacketed. They promote

special

interest groups and constituency politics. Each of these

streamlets of discontent has its own voice and organization

anti-nuke, environmental, women, oppressed nationality,

consumer, etc. The bourgeoisie builds these streamlets up and

often funds them (poverty programs, consumer councils) while

consciously channeling them into reformism and parliamentarism

and fencing them off from revolutionary socialism. By promoting

their pluralism, they keep these movements within the boundaryof bourgeois legality.

Imperialist countries like the U.S. also have an exceptionally

omnipotent mass media which they use to manipulate public

opinion and dull the minds of the American people. Night after

night of senseless plots, sex, violence, reformism exposes a la


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Lou Grant and Quincyall this serves to confuse the masses and

tell them that heaven is backbreaking labor plus a little

entertainment.

In addition to all this, as a part of their dual tactics, thebourgeoisie uses reactionary violence to keep the workers away

from socialism. The murders of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, the

CWP 5, and their counter intelligence and spying activities are all

designed to cut the most advanced leadership away from the

masses. But generally speaking, this tactic is carried out covertly,

for to do it openly would wake the masses up too much and very

rapidly.

In short, the bourgeoisie uses dual tactics of reform and

repression to keep us down and maintain their rule. Their rule is

ruthless and thoroughgoing. But the more advanced it is, the

sooner they run out of tricks. And for the proletariat to make

progress in our fight we must learn how to combat their rule tit

for tat. And precisely because our preparation must be thorough

(combating spies and terroristic attacks, parliamentary

manoeuvring, learning to use the mass media, learning to attack

and retreat, etc., etc.), our dictatorship, the dictatorship of theworking class will be that much more thorough and effective.

Contrast this with the third world revolutions. They have a

very large peasantry. And the peasantry, because of its social and

economic position, although it suffers great oppression, is not as

capable as the working class to organize and sustain resistance.

In the third world the dominant classes rule directly with

military force. There is no bourgeois democracy, no laboraristocracy, nor any poverty pimps to dupe the masses and

suffocate their struggles. All there is is naked force.

Consequently the masses struggle is sharper and more focused

against the ruling classes. The situation is generally always

destabilized and the revolutions target is clearly defined. The


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third world has no social props, only military props and therefore

the main form of struggle is armed.

But because the main form of struggle is armed struggle and

because of the large peasantry and small working class, it isdifficult or impossible to master all forms of struggle. Look at

Zimbabwe. After years in the bush fighting a guerrilla war,

ZANU had to switch to parliamentary and diplomatic work, a

sphere with which they had little experience. Further, because of

these two reasons, it will be relatively harder after seizing state

power to consolidate the revolution although it was relatively

easier to get started because the target was clear.

Lenin pointed out that one of the fundamental reasons for the

success of the Bolshevik revolution was that they went through

15 years of tremendous struggle with many varied forms of

revolutionary work. He went on to say, in order to fulfill its

task, the revolutionary class must be able to master all forms, or

aspects, of social activity without any exception (completing,

after the capture of political power, sometimes at great risk and

very great danger, what it did not complete before the capture of

power)... (Left-Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder, p.101)

The Definition of a Revolutionary Situation

The fundamental law of revolution, which has been confirmed by all

revolutions, and particularly by all three Russian revolutions in the

twentieth century, is as follows: it is not enough for revolution that the

exploited and oppressed masses should understand the impossibility of

living in the old way and demand changes; it is essential for revolution

that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way.

Only when the lower classes do no want the old way, and when the

upper classes cannot carry on in the old wayonly then can revolution

triumph. This truth may be expressed in other words: revolution is

impossible without a nationwide crisis (affecting both the exploited and

the exploiters). It follows that for revolution it is essential, first, that a

majority of the workers (or at least a majority of the class-conscious,

thinking, politically active workers) should fully understand that


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revolution is necessary and be ready to sacrifice their lives for it;

secondly, that the ruling classes should be passing through a

governmental crisis, which draws even the most backward masses into

politics (a symptom of every real revolution is a rapid, tenfold and even

hundredfold increase in the number of members of the toiling and

oppressed masseshitherto apatheticwho are capable of waging thepolitical struggle), weakens the government and makes it possible for

the revolutionaries to overthrow it rapidly. (Lenin, Left-Wing

Communism, An Infantile Disorder, p. 86)

How will this happen in the United States? As to what sort of

governmental crisis will occur, we cannot say. It could be a series

of Watergate/Abscam scandals one after the other. Or it could be

an attempted coup. Or any other sort of crisis. The point here is

not what specifically will touch off the revolutionary situation,

but how, in general terms, the revolutionary situation will

develop.

But it is not every revolutionary situation that leads to

revolution. Lenin said, .. .it is not eve revolutionary situation

that gives rise to a revolution; revolution arises only out of a

situation in which the above-mentioned objective changes are

accompanied by a subjective change, namely, the ability of the

revolutionary class to take revolutionary mass action strongenough to break (or dislocate) the old government, which never,

not even in a period of crisis falls, if it is not toppled over.

(The Collapse of the Second International,Against

Revisionism, p. 222)

And what causes this subjective change? It is a strong,

influential party that guides the work and oppressed every step of

the way, ceaselessly raises its class consciousness, constantly

points out the final aim of the movement and leads them in thefight for that aim.

Some Characteristics of a Pre-Revolutionary Situation


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As we have seen, conditions in the U.S. much different than in

the third world. When capitalism becomes destabilized, there is a

pre-revolutionary situation lying in between a non-revolutionary

and a revolutionary situation. The pre-revolutionary situation will

not necessarily take the form of a nationwide flow, as in Russiain 1912-1914. We have consistently pointed out that the

American workers are waking up under the impact of the

economic crisis and this awakening is taking the form at this

point of mass disorientation. After decades of dreaming of a

better life, they are seeing all their hopes slipping away, never

again to return.

The disorientation, the disillusionment with the American

way of life, has not led yet to a nationwide upsurge. It has led to

the workers questioning their whole lives, asking is it all worth it,

what is it all about? What were seeing is the beginning of

judgment day.

Precisely because of this questioning, this thoroughgoing

search for answers, the partial struggles, the different streamlets

of discontent do not hold the same interest and importance they

once had. During the temporary stabilization the questions wereeconomic questionsmore wages, better working conditions,

winning a particular strike, etc. And while these questions still

exist and in fact intensify because of the economic crisis, they are

dwarfed by the larger questions of the workers whole lives and

their future direction. The economic struggles that do go on now

assume a whole new light. Strikes are at an all-time low; but the

workers that do strike stay out longer, much longer than before.

They are also much more militant and violent as in the

Washington, Indiana strike where the workers blew up the

mayors house for assisting the scabs. This single strike, which is

becoming more typical, shows the working class desperation,

their growing awareness that they cannot live in the old way.


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So it is not yet a nationwide upsurge. The pre-revolutionary

situation caused by the rapid capitalist destabilization shows

itself in the form of pockets of struggle, pockets of resistance.

Here Miami and Levittown, there Washington, Indiana, and San

Diego; here Greensboro, there Kokomo. A nationwiderevolutionary situation will occur; it can come anytime within the

next two years. On this score there can be no doubt. And this will

mean several things for our work. But the question at hand is

how do we prepare now, in a pre-revolutionary situation to be in

a good position when the revolutionary situation does come?

Our Tasks in the Present Situation

Our tasks in this period are as follows. We must broaden out to

and reach the majority of American people; we must participate

in local and national agitation to swing the mood of the majority

and change the political scenery; we must build our existing

cadre core into a vanguard mass communist party through

propaganda; we must effect all around military preparation for

the revolutionary situation ahead. This is what is required for our

political and military preparation for the dictatorship of the

proletariatworkers rule in the United States.

If our scope of activity, our ability to win over the advanced

workers and mobilize the reserves was restricted during

temporary stabilization, it is just the opposite in this period. Our

recruitment in this period is not one by one, but groups and

circles of advanced workers. The possibilities for all of this

increases and it can be achieved if we do our work well and

implement our tasks. These tasks are designed so that we can

become well situated in the working class to take advantage ofthe coming revolutionary situation.

Build the CWP into a Vanguard Mass Communist Party Through

Propaganda


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First, our Party now has the opportunity to win over the

majority of the advanced workers in the country. During

stabilization, as we have seen, the number of advanced workers

was small and our ability to win them over was limited. But now,

with the grip of the labor aristocrats being shattered, and underthe impact of the economic crisis, the number of advanced

workers is rapidly multiplying. These workers are politically far-

sighted and revolutionary, but for the most part are not Marxist.

The Party must become the decisive ideological and political

leadership of the working class. Winning over the advanced

workers is important because the advanced workers determine

the character and level of the workers movement and are its

independent leaders. The relationship between the advanced

workers and communists is also a gauge of the development of

the working class movement and the state of fusion between the

working class and communist movements. It is therefore a gauge

of how far the Party has come to becoming the decisive

ideological and political leadership of the class as a whole.

Lenin said, that, The fact that the working class participates in

the political struggle, and even in political revolution, does not initself make its politics Social-Democratic politics. (What Is To

Be Done?) This means that they are won over to the side of

seeing the necessity for workers rulethe dictatorship of the

proletariat. And to the extent that they do not see this

fundamental aim, to that extent the Partys concrete ability to

recruit them is hampered.

This is and will be especially crucial in the Partys attempt to

lead the masses to seizing state power from the bourgeoisie in arevolutionary situation. For at a time when the working class

must move in unison under the Partys leadershipwhen all the

factors for a revolutionary situation are ripeany vacillation,

doubt, hesitancy, discord, lack of resoluteness on the part of the

advanced workers, or at least the majority of themwill put the


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seizure of state power in doubt. If the advanced vacillate, the

masses will do so thousand times more.

Comrade Jerry Tung, General Secretary of the Communist

Workers Party, recently had this to say about the importance ofpropaganda in building up the Party: So our approach is that, in

terms of the character of the Partys task, we must meet the

polarization head-on. You must take propaganda, the Partys line,

out there and run the line from morning to evening. You gotta

run it. Otherwise, it will not be strong enough. Peoples families

are being affected by the crisis in such a thoroughgoing way.

Peoples families are breaking apart. People are losing their jobs.

Their kids may never get jobs, from their perspective, in their

lifetimes. They face the danger of losing their houses, and even

their cars. In a situation like that, if you dont run the line now,

they wont remember you six days later. Youll just be another

person. So you must run the line now. You cannot just talk about

youre affected by the crisis because youre a worker. Youre

affected by the crisis because youre Afro-American or youre

affected by this crisis because nuclear power is coming. You

cannot deal with it one issue at a time anymore. You have to run

the full line. You have to explain to them the crisis of capitalism,and then show the relation of all those other things to it.

Otherwise the line will not be sharp enough and the leadership

will not be strong enough for them.

We must boldly recruit these workers and expand our cadre

core into a vanguard mass communist party. Without the

advanced workers in the Party or under its influence, there is no

way we can command the authority and respect needed to lead

the masses in struggle. The working class would remain

leaderless and the Party would turn into an insignificant sect

instead of the vital political force it must be.

In addressing why the Party must recruit broadly in times of

mass ferment, Lenin said,


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Danger may be said to lie in a sudden influx of large numbers of

non-Social Democrats into the Party. If that occurred, the Party would

be dissolved among the masses, it would cease to be the conscious

vanguard of its class, its role would be reduced to that of a tail. That

would mean a very deplorable period indeed. And this danger could

undoubtedly become a very serious one if we showed any inclinationtowards demagogy, if we lacked party principles (programme, tactical

rules, organisational experience) entirely, or if those principles were

feeble and shaky. But the fact is that no such ifs exist. We Bolsheviks

have never shown any inclination towards demagogy. On the contrary,

we have always fought resolutely, openly and straightforwardly against

the slightest attempts at demagogy: we have demanded class-

consciousness from those joining the Party, we have insisted on the

tremendous importance of continuity in the Partys development, we

have preached discipline and demanded that every Party member be

trained in one or other of the Party organisations. We have a firmly

established Party programme which is officially recognised by allSocial-Democrats and the fundamental propositions of which have not

given rise to any criticism (criticism of individual points and

formulations is quite legitimate and necessary in any live party). We

have resolutions on tactics which are consistently and systematically

worked out at the Second and Third Congresses and in the course of

many years work of the Social-Democratic press. We also have some

organisational experience and an actual organisation, which has played

an educational role and has undoubtedly borne fruit, a fact which may

not be immediately apparent, but which can be denied only by the blind

or by the blinded. Let us not exaggerate this danger, comrades, Social-

Democracy has established a name for itself, has created a trend andhas built up cadres of Social-Democratic workers. And now that the

heroic proletariat has proved by deeds its readiness to fight, and its

ability to fight consistently and in a body for clearly-understood aims,

to fight in a purely Social-Democratic spirit, it would be simply

ridiculous to doubt that the workers who belong to our Party, or who

will join it tomorrow at the invitation of the Central Committee, will be

Social-Democrats in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. The working

class is instinctively, spontaneously Social-Democratic, and more than

ten years of work put in by Social-Democracy has done a great deal to

transform this spontaneity into consciousness. Dont invent bugaboos,

comrades! Dont forget that in every live and growing party there willalways be elements of instability, vacillation, wavering. But these

elements can be influenced, and they will submit to the influence of the

steadfast and solid core of Social-Democrats. (The Reorganization of

the Party,Collected Works, Vol. 10, pp. 31-32)

Change Political Scenery Through Agitation and Action


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As long as the question was (and in so far as it still is) one of

winning over the vanguard of the proletariat to Communism, so long,

and to that extent, propaganda was in the forefront; even propaganda

circles, with all the defects of the circle spirit, are useful under these

conditions and produce fruitful results. But when it is a question of

practical action by the masses, of the disposition, if one may so expressit, of vast armies, of the alignment of all the class forces of the given

society for the final and decisive battle, then propaganda habits alone,

the mere repetition of the truths of pure Communism, are of no avail.

In these circumstances one must not count in thousands, as the

propagandist does who belongs to a small group that has not yet given

leadership to the masses; in these circumstances one must count in

millions and tens of millions. In these circumstances we must not only

ask ourselves whether we have convinced the vanguard of the

revolutionary class, but also whether the historically effective forces of

all classespositively of all the classes of the given society without

exceptionare aligned in such a way that everything is fully ripe for thedecisive battle: in such a way that 1) all the class forces hostile to us

have become sufficiently entangled, are sufficiently at loggerheads with

each other, have sufficiently weakened themselves in a struggle which

is beyond their strength; that 2) all the vacillating, wavering, unstable,

intermediate elementsthe petty bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeois

democrats as distinct from the bourgeoisie have sufficiently exposed

themselves in the eyes of the people, have sufficiently exposed

themselves through their practical bankruptcy; and that 3) among the

proletariat a mass sentiment in favour of supporting the most

determined, supremely bold, revolutionary action against the

bourgeoisie has arisen and begun vigorously to grow. Then revolutionis indeed ripe; then, indeed, if we have correctly gauged all the

conditions indicated and briefly outlined above, and if we have chosen

the moment rightly, our victory is assured. (Left-Wing Communism,

An Infantile Disorder, pp. 98-99)

The final and decisive battle is not an immediate question for

us now; however, great attention should be paid to this passage

by Lenin. With a nationwide resistance developing in pockets,

the question confronts us: how can we win over the majority?

All classes are going into motion now. In different parts of the

country, and at different times, the masses are waging a fight

whose basic content is saying we cannot live in the old way.

Not only is it also possible to win over the majority of advanced

workers to the Party, it is also possible to win over the majority


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of the whole working class and its reserves. The possibilities for

work among all classes and strata is better than ever before.

Propaganda, which is absolutely necessary to build the CWP

into a mass communist party, is insufficient for this task. Onlyagitation and action can crystallize the masses sentiment and

change the political scenery. The bourgeoisie knows this. That is

why they didnt confine themselves to chauvinist propaganda;

they had to use anti-Iranian agitation and counterrevolutionary

demonstrations in order to whip up chauvinism, scapegoat

foreigners for the problems and therefore change the whole mood

of the country. That, too, is their only hope to guarantee any

interest in the presidential elections. Reagans and Carters

campaign have no content but catchy slogans and blaming each

other.

The Bolsheviks under Lenin learned this lesson, too.

Commenting on the political values of a 400,000 strong march

under Bolshevik slogans, Lenin said, The mutual position of the

classes, their correlation in the struggle against each other, their

strength, particularly in comparison with the strength of the

parties, were all revealed so distinctly, so strikingly, soimpressively by last Sundays demonstration that, whatever the

course and pace of further developments, the gain in political

awareness and clarity has been tremendous. (The Eighteenth of

June,Between the Two Revolutions, p. 293)

The party has been able to crystallize the masses deepest

sentiments through its campaign to serve notice to the politicians

at the Democratic Convention. The purpose of this campaign was

to focus the masses attention and public opinion of thebrittleness of the capitalist system and point out that they have a

fighting chance in following the CWP toward socialist

revolution.


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From the outset of the campaign the Party carried out mass

propaganda explaining the economic crisis and why socialism is

the only solution. Propaganda posters went up in every major

cityand then somecreating mass debates and forums on the

merits of socialism versus capitalism. The Party was able toreach millions upon millions of people with its message.

Our daily mass propaganda, which spoke for the American

workers and oppressed, laid the basis for our agitation and

crystallization of the masses sentiment by our frontal assault on

the Convention itself.

Lenin said, It is not enough to explain to the workers that they

are politically oppressed (no more than it was to explain to them

that their interests were antagonistic to the interests of the

employers). Agitation must be conducted over every concrete

example of this oppression.. .And inasmuch as this oppression

affects the most diverse classes of society, inasmuch as it

manifests itself in the most varied spheres of life and activity,

industrial, civic, personal, family, religious, scientific, etc., etc.,

is it not evident that we shall not be fulfilling our task of

developing the political consciousness of the workers if we donot undertake the organization of the political exposure of the

autocracy in all its aspects! In order to carry on agitation around

concrete examples of oppression, these examples must be

exposed... (What Is To Be Done?, pp. 70-71)

Our agitation and action throughout the Democratic

Convention, culminating in the frontal assault, was such political

exposure. With the eyes of the whole country on the Democratic

Convention, we cut through the bourgeoisies media blockade,slapped them in the face, exposed to the masses the brittleness of

the capitalist system and showed them that they do have a

fighting chance.


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This message rippled out beyond the demonstration. This

message succeeded in getting out to the whole country. During

the week of the Convention and the week prior to it, the

capitalists main worry was the CWP. The police department

tried to box us in and even said they would give us a choice spotto demonstrate. The news media all betrayed their concern with

questions like, What is the CWP up to? The Partys task was to

bring out to the American people that we are the only effective

opposition to the monopoly capitalist class. The Partys prestige

and the masses openness to us has increased many times over as

a result of our Serve Notice campaign.

Engage in Socialist Agitation to Build A Communist Workers Movement

Our aim in reaching out to the majority and bringing them

under the leadership of the Party is to create an independent,

mass workers movement for socialism. The majority of people

are disillusioned and have deep questions about the prospects of

life under capitalism. We must not delay this task. Remember,

Lenin said, that every moment of delay in this task will play into

the hands of the enemies of Social-Democracy; for the new

streams are seeking an immediate outlet, and if they do not find aSocial-Democratic channel they will rush into a non-Social-

Democratic channel. (New Tasks and New Forces,Party

Work Among the Masses, p. 20)

Agitation must be linked with propaganda in that it, too must

put forth socialist revolution as the only alternative to more

suffering and win the broad masses to the movement for

workers rule. We cannot confine the ideas of socialism to

propagandaeven mass propaganda. If we dont reach themajority of Americans with the need for socialism, then some

other political trend will reach them with their solution. This is

especially true for the U.S. with its long history of bourgeois

pluralism. The two roads in the 80s and socialism must be put

on the agenda of our agitation over each and every issue facing


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Americans without exception. And we must participate in

pacesetting struggles to make this concrete for them.

Stalin said, Slogans are still more important in the political

sphere, when one has to deal with tens and hundreds of millionsof the population, with their diverse demands and requirements.

A slogan is a concise and clear formulation of the aims of the

struggle, near or remote, given by the leading group, let us say, of the

proletariat, by its party. Slogans vary in accordance with the different

aims of the struggle, aims embracing either a whole historical period or

individual stages and episodes of the given historical period. The slogan

Down with the autocracy which was first advanced by the

Emancipation of Labour group in the eighties of the last century,

was a propaganda slogan, since its aim was to win over to the Party

individuals and groups of the most steadfast and sturdy fighters, in the

period of the Russo-Japanese war, when the instability of the autocracy

became more or less evident to large sections of the working class, this

slogan became an agitation slogan, for it was designed to win over vast

masses of the toilers. (Concerning the Question of Strategy and

Tactics of the Russian Communists. StalinsCollected Works, Vol. 5,

P. 174)

The Working Class Makes Revolution Out of Necessity

Building up a mass workers movement for socialism does notmean that every worker must be Marxist and be theoretically

clear on the principles of communism. What it does mean,

though, is that the working class and oppressed feel that the Party

is the only political force capable of leading them. Most workers

will not be clear about the aims of the movement; many will have

criticisms or disagree with all or part of our political program.

But what unites them solidly behind the Party is our

demonstrated ability to lead, our moral authority.

Why will the workers, the masses, and the Party line up in this

fashion? Because under capitalism it is impossible to create a

new socialist man with socialist consciousness. The daily

grind, the struggle just to survive, keeps people down and

provides little or no opportunity for the masses to politically


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develop and become convinced communists. The masses make

revolution out of necessity, not out of a theoretical, but out of a

practical, understanding of the need for revolution.

From this follows several important conclusions. First, wemust seize state power when the opportunity arises; we cannot

and will not demand that the whole working class be convinced

Marxists before we seize power. The overthrow of the capitalist

class is just the first step of the revolution; it is not the end, not

by a long way. Only after we have state power can we begin in

earnest the arduous task of raising the workers and oppressed to a

communist level of consciousness.

But the working class must emancipate itself. No one can do it

for them. And we cannot be communist social workers who,

instead of organizing the workers themselves to fight for their

interests, try to patch up the problems of capitalism and make life

better for the workers. Inherent in our method of preparation

for workers rule is organizing the workers in their class struggle

against the capitalists and in the course of this fight raise the

political level of the working class as high as possible.

Lenin said, ...the idea, common among the old parties and the

old leaders of the Second International, that the majority of the

exploited toilers can achieve complete clarity of socialist

consciousness and firm socialist convictions and character under

capitalist slavery, under the yoke of the bourgeoisie (which

assumes an infinite variety of forms that become more subtle and

at the same time more brutal and ruthless the higher the cultural

level in a given capitalist country) is also idealisation of

capitalism and of bourgeois democracy, as well as deception ofthe workers. In fact, it is only after the vanguard of the

proletariat, supported by the whole or the majority of this, the

only revolutionary class, overthrows the exploiters, suppresses

them, emancipates the exploited from their state of slavery and

immediately improves their conditions of life at the expense of


25/30

the expropriated capitalistsit is only after this, and only in the

actual process of an acute class struggle, that the masses of the

toilers and exploited can be educated, trained and organised

around the proletariat under whose influence and guidance they

can get rid of the selfishness, disunity, vices and weaknessesengendered by private property; only then will they be converted

into a free union of free workers. (Theses on the Fundamental

Tasks of the Second Congress of the Communist

International,Party Work Among the Masses, p. 114)

The Party Must Learn All Forms of Struggle

We must utilize all forms of struggle in order to reach the

masses. Not only direct Party work, but united front work as

well. Not only mass political action, but parliamentary action as

well. Not only peaceful, but military, too. In May 1978 we said:

We must learn to work in old (parliamentary and legal) and new

(violent and illegal) forms in a new way, because we are carrying out a

new type of preparation So comrades who become, say, union

officials, cannot know just how every other union official carries out

their tasks, but we must use this form in a new way to serve all-rounded

and systematic preparation for the dictatorship of the proletariat. These

comrades must influence their environment in the spirit of the wholeParty and not allow the environment to swallow them up. To know the

workers sentiments ismost fundamental. But they have to be bold in

plunging into the superstructure work, and all this must be done in the

spirit of Partyism. (Workers Viewpoint, May 1978, p. 28)

We must utilize all forms of struggle in order to reach the

masses. Not only direct Party work, but united front work as

well. Not only mass political action, but parliamentary action as

well. Not only peaceful, but military, too. This is true for all

times, but even more so in destabilization. We are living in

extremely volatile times and conditions change rapidly. Public

opinion switches course in a matter of a day and in the course of

a day, or a week at most, we can be looking at an entirely

different situation, Rip Van Winkle style.


26/30

In addition, as Lenin said, History generally, and the history

of revolutions in particular, is always richer in content, more

varied, more many-sided, more lively and subtle than even the

best parties and the most class conscious vanguards of the most

advanced classes imagine. This is understandable, because eventhe best vanguards express the class consciousness, will, passion

and imagination of tens of thousands; whereas revolutions are

made, at moments of upsurge and the exertion of all human

capacities, by the class consciousness, will, passion and

imagination of tens of millions, spurred on by a most acute

struggle of classes. (Left-Wing Communism, An Infantile

Disorder, p. 100)

Therefore, we must combine the strictest devotion to

Communist ideas with the practical ability to manoeuvre,

compromise and retreat to reach the broad masses. Moreover, we

must learn how to correctly combine these different forms of

struggle and maximize the Partys impact. A brief look at the

Partys work after the assassination of the CWP 5 will illustrate

this.

The government hoped to kill our Party on November 3 andeither force us underground or turn us toward reformism by

scaring us. We did neither. Right after the Massacre, the Party

took the political offensive in many ways. The eyes of the whole

country were upon us. To get our message across to the

American people and avenge our comrades deaths, we took

vanguard actions around the country and confronted the FBI

directly. We doubled and tripled our agitation and newspaper

sales at the plant gates. We correctly utilized the bourgeois

media. All this and more led up to the Partys armed funeral

march where we combined the firm principle of armed self-

defense with negotiations and forced the state to back down

before us. Had we not skillfully utilized these different forms, we

would not have succeeded in drawing the masses into the fight to

avenge the CWP 5. And with the whole world watching, we


27/30

would have failed in showing it that the U.S. monopoly

capitalists can be beat and socialism is a real possibility in the

U.S.

Transitional Demands and the Revolutionary Crisis

As the pre-revolutionary situation develops and becomes a

nationwide revolutionary crisis, the Party must put forth

transitional demands. In Russia, these demands were for peace,

bread and freedom and All Power to the Soviets! The Party

must utilize the everyday needs of the masses and advance

transitional slogans and partial demands corresponding to these

needs. But they must be bent in such a way so as to lead the

masses in the decisive battle for power. They must be brought

into such a position where there is on the one hand, a conscious,

firm and unswerving resolve on the part of the class conscious

elements to fight to the end; and on the other, a mood of despair

among the broad masses who feel that nothing can now be saved

by half-measures; that you cannot influence anybody; that the

hungry will smash everything, destroy everything, even

anarchistically, if the Bolsheviks are not able to lead them in a

decisive battle. (Lenin, Letter to Comrades,Between the TwoRevolutions, p. 499)

Transitional Demands Cannot Be Equated With Socialism

The essence of the transitional demands are for socialism; that

is, only under workers rule can these demands be met. But taken

by themselves, transitional demands are not socialist demands.

Bread, peace, and freedom is not yet socialism. All Power to the

Soviets is not yet socialism. The demands and slogans are putforward to unleash the masses fighting ability and help them to

realize that socialism is the only solution.

Actually the scope of the revolution, its tasks and methods are

much broader than this. Seizing state power is only the first step.


28/30

It is not the end of the revolution, not by a long way. The

leadership of the working class, the Communist Workers Party,

cannot define the tasks of the revolution in terms of the

transitional demands, because these demands are only used to

bring the masses in a position to follow and support the Party inseizing power.

The whole political and economic situation today is so

inflammable that any spark can set off a spontaneous

revolutionary situation. It could be religious persecution. It could

be the murder of Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman,

by killer cops. But waging a vigorous fight against these

manifestations of oppression in no way means we endorse

worship of God or petty bourgeois exploitation.

To reduce communism to these demands, to equate our

communist program for the dictatorship of the proletariat with

the partial, transitional demands is to degrade communism. For

the Party to equate the two in a revolutionary situation would

mean that it could very well lose orientation and be unable to

move on to solve the much more complicated problems of

continuing the revolution under workers rule.

And to do this now, to say, Socialist revolution means death

to killer cops, would really throw us off course. We do use

inflammable material for propaganda and agitation. Police

murder or any immediate issue can be the starting point for

communist agitation and propaganda. But to reduce our

propaganda and agitation to Socialist revolution means death to

killer cops limits our work and in the case of this slogan will

turn us into a terroristic sect. Especially nowwhen we arebuilding up the Partys forces and the majority of workers and

oppressed are open but disorientedto define communism in

terms of killer cops, or gas shortages, or high food prices, or

whatever, means depriving the vanguard of the sweep it needs to

build itself up.


29/30

The decade of the 80s was ushered in by the murder of the

CWP 5. The next day, Iranian students took over the U.S.

embassy; the biggest wave of chauvinism in decades was the

temporary response of many Americans. But many of the same

people who demonstrated against the Iranians also hit the streetsagainst the draft, clearly targeting the oil monopolies.

This is all a reflection of the American working class waking

up from a three decade-long sleep. To be sure, the disorientation

is great; but this is an inevitable occurrence when they are just

stirring and questioning literally everything. There is no one

issue right now to crystallize the masses resistance. Everything

is the issue. Peoples whole lives under capitalism is the issue.

The Partys main task now is to explain every aspect of the

workers situation, every aspect of their oppression without

exception, from the standpoint of the extensive decay of

capitalism. Our propaganda must reach out to the majority and

explain why socialism is the only solution. We must start from

the appearance of things (Iran is pushing us around bullying us,

or socialism means oppression like in Russia) and patiently

explain again and again why capitalism is the source of theworkers misery.

At the same time we must lead pacesetting fights, like the

Kokomo action and the Democratic Convention campaign

struggles which establish the Party at the forefront of the working

class and which establish its moral authority.

If we keep to this orientation, we will be able to take advantage

of the excellent situation ahead and provide the working class theleadership it needs to seize state power and establish socialism.


30/30

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How to Overthrow Capitalism

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