tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34164554358930736772024-03-04T20:15:54.011-08:00Save the CPUSAA blog dedicated to saving the CPUSA from the Revisionism and Browderism that is eating away at it like a cancer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-11406335508184920852013-03-06T21:13:00.000-08:002013-03-06T21:13:00.521-08:00Where to Begin? The Communist Party USA and The Present Crisis<br />
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Originally posted at: http://toilerstruggle.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/where-to-begin-the-communist-party-usa-and-the-present-crisis/</div>
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At the present moment, the revolutionary movement of the proletariat is confronted with historic challenges and obstacles which boldly stand in the way of the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large in the interests of working and oppressed people. The reality at hand is the ongoing onslaught that the capitalists are forcing down the throats of working people by means of their ruthless austerity regimes and imperialist plunders. By now, no one can hide the fact that even those in the imperialist First World are suffering from the current crisis of capitalism. While the ruling classes of the West are crucifying Libyans in the name of freedom and democracy, and while the Syrian people, bloodied and exhausted, are struggling to resist imperialist invasion and a brutal civil war engineered and perpetuated by the West, working people of America are being stimulated, and beginning to wake up to the sights around them and realize the gravity of the situation. Witnessing the fury of cuts, austerity, and encroachments on democratic rights at home, and at the same time looking on at the terroristic wars being waged by their government throughout the world, American working people are showing signs of an increasingly awakened class consciousness in response to the crisis of the global capitalist-imperialist system. The achievement of a socialist consciousness, however, is still a complex and dynamic work in progress, and a protracted one at that.</div>
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As has been admitted, considerable challenges and obstacles litter the road to such a culmination. A capitalist crisis brings not only a responsive class consciousness or political resurgence of proletarian revolution, but also heightened offensives launched with the aim of sustaining the capitalist system regardless of the suffering by the masses of people entailed. The ruling class, split or divided, is fundamentally united by its “better dead than red” mentality, and, driven by this, is determined to fight to the death before surrendering state power to any revolutionary forces.</div>
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At such a time, and considering such realities, the fundamental question of the revolutionary Marxist agenda is the means by which the American proletariat can be organized, educated, and agitated to the point of realizing and being capable of successfully enacting the necessity of overthrowing capitalism. This is not only a question of strategy and means that has been discussed many a time around the tables of communists or in the essays and articles of radicals, but also a crucial problem concerning the very livelihood of the revolutionary movement and those involved.<span id="more-1254" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> It must be borne in mind that, regardless of what phrasemongering may be uttered by various comrades here and there, we are living in a time of definite systemic crisis and radical rupture of capitalism, and our actions and orientation must be suited accordingly to this state of conditions. It is simply unpardonable to ignore or be “innocent” of seeing the conditions that we are facing, the statistics and facts of which can be found presented anywhere, even in the pages of the bourgeois press.</div>
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Unfortunately, however, there are comrades who, although they may recognize the realities of capitalism at hand, shut their eyes to the realities of socialism and revolution which are inseparable from the problems of capitalism and their solution. This tendency is distinguished by its proposal of petty reformist and revisionist distortions in place of genuinely radical theory and practice, and one of the gravest aspects of this tendency is its very position within the working class movement.</div>
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There is no use in hiding the fact that the greatest representatives of the reformist and revisionist tendency within the ranks of the proletarian movement are those who constitute the present leadership of the Communist Party USA, i.e., Sam Webb and co. This group, this organized tendency, is responsible for proudly and unabashedly asserting and suggesting numerous theses concerning the path and means by which to deal with the current situation of capitalism which are entirely irreconcilable with Marxism, proletarian revolution, and even the realities of capitalism. As Comrade Mark Anderson has pointed out in his article <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Old Bug of Right Opportunism Returns</em>, these include, but are not limited to the following:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The capitalist system is not moribund, as Lenin said, but is relatively strong. It is not in general crisis. Therefore, the U.S. party’s strategy should be solely to win attainable reforms within the system rather than advocate capitalism’s revolutionary replacement with socialism.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anti-monopoly strategy, let alone anti-capitalist propaganda, is too advanced for this stage of struggle, and the main focus should instead be on rebuffing the most extreme right and the Republican Party.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Historically, socialism has shown itself to be unable to solve economic and social problems. Central planning is a failure; a market-oriented economy is the way to go. It’s not even clear anymore what socialism is.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The class struggle has ceased to be the central pivot around which all questions revolve.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Racism and national oppression are gradually receding. It is no longer necessary to aggressively push for affirmative action.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Issues of discrimination, anti-Semitism, and the struggle for the full equality of African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and Arab Americans, LGBT, women, and youth no longer requires special attention. Party Commissions and special demands on these questions are unnecessary.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The term “U.S. imperialism” is too simplistic. The U.S. government, especially under President Obama, can play a positive and humanitarian role in world politics. For this reason it is permissible for the U.S. military and NATO forces to occupy other nations like Iraq and Afghanistan, impose “democratic” reforms, and secure neoliberal economic advantages. Peace and solidarity work is therefore not as important as it once was.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Electoral politics should be limited to work within the Democratic Party. Any attempt to go outside the two-party system is sectarian and futile. Running candidates on the Communist Party ticket is especially narrow and self-defeating.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The CPUSA is bogged down by dogmatism, sectarianism and rigidity. Many of the stock slanders of the Party are indeed justified. It may not survive unless it abandons its outdated dogmas, including the dogma that it should play a leading, vanguard role.”</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The Party should emulate social democracy and seek to merge with the broad left. The “Communist plus” should be given a quiet burial, and Marxist-Leninist education and literature (including a printed news paper) are relatively unimportant. Strong party organization is no longer necessary.”</li>
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These notions, although perpetrated and implied in nearly every article or speech that the leadership puts forward, have yet to be presented in more of a concentrated and straightforward expression than in Sam Webb’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It Does</em>. An unabashed rejection and condemnation of Marxism-Leninism, a manifesto for reformism and wholesale revisionism, and, above all, the guiding orientation of the Communist Party USA’s present leadership and thus Party policy, Webb’s essay is an unavoidable and undeniably significant document. The document is even further significant upon realizing its context in present conditions.</div>
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At such a time of glaringly evident and deep crisis of the global capitalist system, in the face of the looming environmental disaster facing humanity, and in view of US imperialism’s continued, vicious and violent onslaught against the peoples of the global south – one would think that at such a time, the leadership of the Communist Party USA would shoulder its revolutionary rifle and recognize its historic mission to organize the working class for revolutionary resistance and struggle against the world capitalist-imperialist offensive. Sam Webb, however, has proven that a very different view is at large within the Party’s ranks, and, most unfortunately, among its leading figures. Indeed, few pronouncements have so shocked the American Left as has Sam Webb’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It Does</em>.</div>
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In antagonism to Webb’s theses and proposed orientation, however, there exists a revolutionary alternative which, rather than striving to cope with, accomodate, and appease the more “progressive” spectrums of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class, believes in the pivotal conclusions reached by Marx and Lenin that have made Marxism-Leninism the scientifically deduced theory and practice of the emancipation of the world’s exploited and oppressed people that has accumulated the blood, sweat, tears, triumphs and tribulations, and successes and failures of more than a hundred years of struggle.</div>
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This tendency, which very much may be the Bolshevik tendency of today (as opposed to the Menshevik tendency of Webb and co.), resolves that, in view of the existing conditions, we must not abandon but instead hold high the banner of Marxism-Leninism, and, rather than ditch truly revolutionary politics, embrace them. The historic dilemma facing communists at the present juncture of history is one of either letting American capitalism continue its history, or, alternatively, beginning the history of American socialism. As has been said, the fundamental question of the revolutionary Marxist agenda is the means by which the American proletariat can be organized, educated, and agitated to the point of realizing and being capable of successfully enacting the necessity of transforming bourgeois society and thus opening the road for such a socialist America. The way forward is clear: we communists must organize ourselves as the vanguard of working people and the revolution, we must develop a Party capable of educating, organizing, agitating, and leading working people and their allies in the collective struggle for socialism.</div>
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Presently, we are playing two ends against a middle in that we, in line with Party policy, are responsible for developing and maintaining a mass base of support by being activists in the struggle against the problems of capitalism, but at the same time we are allying with a “section” of the capitalists in power, the “progressive” Democrats, because they supposedly constitute a buffer against the forces of ultra-reaction, i.e., the far Right, and serve as a popular force in the interests of the “people” and “inclusive democracy”, as Sam Webb would put it. By perpetrating such a policy, however, communists the country over are fulfilling a self-destructive prophecy of dooming the proletarian movement under the guise of “reinvigorating” or “broadening” it. Under the present line, we are responsible for rallying the masses of people around the struggle against capitalism by means of joining and tail-ending forces which objectively bolster and support the capitalist system. The incongruity is glaringly evident. The lack of materialist class analysis is inexcusable.</div>
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Rather than miseducating and misleading people in struggle in this manner, however, the Communist Party USA must be tasked with handling its historic mission of organizing the forces of revolution against those of reaction, with shouldering its task of educating, agitating, organizing, and leading working people against the reactionary forces of capitalism, whether or not they label themselves Democrat, or Republican, or Libertarian, etc.</div>
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A revolution is on the agenda when people can no longer go on living in the old way. Such a horizon is extremely close in view. We cannot pretend to know what exact day the people will be compelled to take to the streets and overthrow the current order, nor can we pretend to know the exact day on which the integuments of capitalism will burst asunder and revolution will be the only open door for humanity. What communists, what the Communist Party USA, should do, can do, and must do, however, is prepare cadres, educate, organize, and agitate working people, and orient its work towards facing its historic mission of leading the American people in casting capitalism to the dustbin of history, and opening up, on the basis of socialism, prospects for humanity’s sustainable and just development.</div>
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What is to be done? Where to begin?</div>
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The Communist Party USA, as our Party of working and oppressed people, must be first and foremost revolutionized in its theory and practice.</div>
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As Lenin so presciently pointed out: “In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization. Disunited by the rule of anarchic competition in the bourgeois world, ground down by forced labor for capital, constantly thrust back to the “lower depths” of utter destitution, savagery, and degeneration, the proletariat can become an invincible force only through its ideological unification on the principles of Marxism being reinforced by the material unity of organization, which welds millions of toilers into an army of the working class.” Neither the senile rule of the American imperialists nor the senescent rule of international capital will be able to withstand this army. The Communist Party USA must render itself such an organization which has the theoretical foresight, fighting capacity, and determination by which to wield millions of American workers into an army committed to overthrowing capitalism and bringing fruition to the adage that has been inscribed on the Party’s banners for decades: “Peace, democracy, equality, socialism!” To this end, establishing the very organizational and ideological integrity which the Party currently lacks is an imperative matter.</div>
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Such is the guiding principle by which to begin to orient the struggle against the retrograde trends in the Party and begin to push forward the struggle for the emancipation of working and oppressed people in the United States of America. It us up to communists around the country to realize these crucial realities of theory and practice, and contribute their lot to working out concrete methods and means of building a Communist Party which is not just interested in interpreting the world, but effectively changing it. Limiting ourselves as we currently are to tail-ending the Democratic Party, the trade unions, “progressive” politics, and so on is systematically sabotaging and impeding the development of what has rang essential since the days of the Communist Manifesto: “They [communists] openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.” Working and oppressed people of all countries, unite!</div>
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Signed: Comrades J. Arnoldski, John Mackoviak, Analise Spencer, Jim Byrne, and E.C. Tolentino of the Tucson Club of the CPUSA</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-33800820586544448572013-01-29T18:42:00.001-08:002013-01-29T18:42:39.629-08:00Oklahoma Workers' Monthly: A Farewell to Arms, or a Workers’ Uprising?<a href="http://okworkersmonthly.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-farewell-to-arms-or-workers-uprising.html?spref=bl">Oklahoma Workers' Monthly: A Farewell to Arms, or a Workers’ Uprising?</a>: A Response to the CPUSA National Committee’s statement on Gun Control By Daniel Lee A document bearing the headline “A statemen...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-64109644129585112202012-12-01T19:03:00.004-08:002012-12-01T19:03:39.858-08:00Right Opportunism in the CPUSA<h1 class="entry-title">
</h1>
<a href="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/opportunism.jpg"><em></em></a><em> From: http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/right-opportunism-in-the-cpusa/#more-4971</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/opportunism.jpg?w=226&h=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4972" height="300" src="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/opportunism.jpg?w=226&h=300" title="opportunism" width="226" /></a><em> </em><br />
<em>The following is a discussion article for the upcoming Communist Party USA national convention. I a</em><br />
<em>m reposting it here from </em><a href="http://mltoday.com/en/the-old-bug-of-right-opportunism-returns-788.html"><em>ML Today</em></a><em> as an exploration of the development of Right Opportunism in the CPUSA. <a href="http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1928/10/19.htm">As Comrade Stalin has said</a>, “</em>Under capitalist conditions<em>
the Right deviation in communism signifies a tendency … of a section of
the Communists to depart from the revolutionary line of Marxism in the
direction of Social-Democracy.” For an important analysis
of the historical roots of Right Opportunism in the CPUSA, see </em><a href="http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/harry-haywood-archive/"><em>Harry Haywood</em></a><em>‘s article, “</em><a href="http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/harry-haywood-the-degeneration-of-the-cpusa-in-the-1950s/"><em>The Degeneration of the CPUSA in the 1950s</em></a>.<em>” See also the section on <a href="http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/2005/01/20/study-guide-ideological-struggle-against-revisionism/">antirevisionism</a> of the Marxist-Leninist Study Guide:</em><br />
<strong>The Old Bug of Right Opportunism Returns</strong><br />
by Mark Anderson<br />
Although Marxist-Leninist terminology has fallen out of vogue with
the top leadership of our Party, there’s no avoiding the use of precise,
scientific language if one is to analyze contemporary phenomena from a
Communist point of view. To do so would be like trying to have a
discussion of Newtonian physics without using words like force or
matter.<br />
For several years our Party has been suffering from the corrosive
effects of what Marx, Lenin and other Marxists called opportunism,
specifically right opportunism. This was not name-calling on their part,
but was instead an attempt to define a historically determined
phenomenon that persists to this day.<br />
<span id="more-4971"></span>Former CPUSA chairman Gus Hall, in a 1979
article titled “Opportunism: the Destructive Germ,” defined right
opportunism as “an unnecessary and unprincipled accommodation and, in
the end, a capitulation to the enemy. It is a sacrificing of the
longer-term and more basic interests of the working class and the people
behind the guise of getting concessions on some immediate questions.”<br />
He called opportunism a recurrent “virus,” an “old bug,” that the
Party, surrounded as it is by bourgeois pressures, had to constantly be
on guard against.<br />
Generally speaking, right opportunism means sacrificing principle for
short-term gains. It means an excessive readiness to make compromises
with the capitalist class at the expense of the working class, to “get
along” with capitalist order, to “go with the flow” and work for small
changes around the edges rather than for fundamental change. It’s
closely related to the concept of reformism.<br />
The “left” variant of opportunism is characterized by sectarian
phrase-mongering detached from the real world, whose objective effect is
to perpetuate the established order much like its right variant does.<br />
Historically, right opportunism has been the primary danger within
the CPUSA. In its most extreme form, it led to the dissolution of the
Party under the leadership of Earl Browder in the 1940s. It also badly
split the Party in 1991 when a right-opportunist faction tried to
capture the leadership of the Party and transform it into a reformist,
social-democratic association.<br />
The right-opportunist affliction in our Party today is manifested in
several ways, most notably in a de-emphasizing of the class struggle.<br />
For example, instead of helping the working class understand that its
interests are irreconcilably opposed to the monopoly capitalist class,
and organizing to wage struggle on that basis, the right-opportunist
trend advocates all-class unity against political conservatives in a
classless “battle for democracy.”<br />
It places strategic emphasis on supporting more liberal or
“enlightened” elements of the ruling, capitalist class as the lesser of
two evils, particularly in the electoral arena, until such time as the
conservatives or the “ultra-right” are decisively defeated. What would
constitute such a decisive defeat is never spelled out, however. Even
now, with a Democratic president and strong Democratic majority in
Congress, advocates of this approach insist it must be retained.<br />
To justify its position, this trend invokes Georgi Dimitrov’s theory
of the popular front against fascism in the 1930s, and a variant of that
position developed by CPUSA leaders in the early 1980s, when Ronald
Reagan came to power. Yet this trend is quick to point out that we do
not have fascism today, nor does it appear to be imminent.<br />
In practice, this all-class strategy means that the Party refrains
from criticizing its would-be capitalist-class allies, mutes its
criticism of the big monopolies (e.g. refrains from calling for their
nationalization), exaggerates the significance of differences within the
ruling class, and plays down basic Marxist concepts like the class
character of the capitalist state.<br />
One result of this approach is a blunting of working-class
consciousness and socialist consciousness, and a weakening of the
Party’s fighting spirit.<br />
Among other right-opportunist ideas afflicting our Party are these:<br />
<em>The capitalist system is not moribund, as Lenin said, but is
relatively strong. It is not in general crisis. Therefore, the U.S.
party’s strategy should be solely to win attainable reforms within the
system rather than advocate capitalism’s revolutionary replacement with
socialism.</em><br />
<em>Anti-monopoly strategy, let alone anti-capitalist propaganda, is
too advanced for this stage of struggle, and the main focus should
instead be on rebuffing the most extreme right and the Republican Party.</em><br />
<em>Historically, socialism has shown itself to be unable to solve
economic and social problems. Central planning is a failure; a
market-oriented economy is the way to go. It’s not even clear anymore
what socialism is.<br />
The class struggle has ceased to be the central pivot around which all questions revolve.</em><br />
<em>Racism and national oppression are gradually receding. It is no longer necessary to aggressively push for affirmative action.</em><br />
<em>Issues of discrimination, anti-Semitism, and the struggle for the
full equality of African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans,
Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and Arab Americans, LGBT, women, and
youth no longer requires special attention. Party Commissions and
special demands on these questions are unnecessary.</em><br />
<em>The term “U.S. imperialism” is too simplistic. The U.S.
government, especially under President Obama, can play a positive and
humanitarian role in world politics. For this reason it is permissible
for the U.S. military and NATO forces to occupy other nations like Iraq
and Afghanistan, impose “democratic” reforms, and secure neoliberal
economic advantages. Peace and solidarity work is therefore not as
important as it once was.</em><br />
<em>Electoral politics should be limited to work within the
Democratic Party. Any attempt to go outside the two-party system is
sectarian and futile. Running candidates on the Communist Party ticket
is especially narrow and self-defeating.</em><br />
<em>The CPUSA is bogged down by dogmatism, sectarianism and rigidity.
Many of the stock slanders of the Party are indeed justified. It may
not survive unless it abandons its outdated dogmas, including the dogma
that it should play a leading, vanguard role.</em><br />
<em>The Party should emulate social democracy and seek to merge with
the broad left. The “Communist plus” should be given a quiet burial, and
Marxist-Leninist education and literature (including a printed news
paper) are relatively unimportant. Strong party organization is no
longer necessary.</em><br />
The basis for the growth and development of this negative,
right-opportunist trend in our Party consists of several elements,
including: (1) the relatively long period of the capitalist system’s
expansion, at least until the most recent crisis, and the resulting
ideological pressures of ruling-class ideology; (2) the continuing
ideological fallout from the demise of the USSR and the Eastern European
socialist countries, (3) the weak class composition of our own Party —
the insufficient number of workers in the leadership and membership (a
number being further reduced by the passing away of many working-class
Party veterans); (4) the inadequate theoretical training of the party
membership in the basics of Marxism-Leninism, a problem compounded by
the traditional U.S. baggage of “pragmatism” and “American
exceptionalism”; (5) the broader influence of reformism and opportunism
in the working-class movement; and (6) the corrosive influence of the
Party’s extensive private property holdings, particularly in real
estate, which now account for the vast majority of its operating
revenue.<br />
Defeating this retrograde trend within our Party is an absolutely
essential task. Without its defeat, there can be no successful struggle
for socialism.<br />
February 19, 2010<br />
<em>http://www.cpusa.org/convention-discussion-the-old-bug-of-opportunism-returns/</em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-10975140302815603862012-12-01T18:48:00.000-08:002012-12-01T18:48:17.225-08:00MLToday on the 29th Convention of the old CPUSA<em>The following article is being posted here not as a full
endorsement of the views expressed therein but rather to share some
insights on the </em><a href="http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/right-opportunism-in-the-cpusa/"><em>Right opportunist</em></a><em> line in the old Communist Party USA. It is originally from the website </em><a href="http://mltoday.com/en/subject-areas/communist-forum/impressions-of-the-cpusa-convention-914-2.html"><em>Marxism-Leninism Today</em></a><em>:</em><br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_6198" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/jarvisconvention322x250.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-6198 " height="232" src="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/jarvisconvention322x250.jpg?w=300&h=232" title="jarvisconvention322x250" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
CPUSA Executive Vice Chair Jarvis Tyner speaking in front of the flag of U.S. imperialism at the 29th CPUSA convention</div>
</div>
[ML Today editor's note: a number of delegates to the recent CPUSA
convention have forwarded to MLToday the following document, reflecting
their considered, collective opinion of <a href="http://www.cpusa.org/29th-national-convention/">the 29th CPUSA Convention</a>.]<br />
<br />
Many friends and comrades have asked us: what<em> really</em> happened at the CPUSA Convention on May 21-23, eleven weeks ago, at Party headquarters in New York City?<br />
So far, there are only the self-congratulatory appraisals, one by
Party chair Sam Webb and another by his supporter John Case. Both are
champions of the social reformist trend in the Party.<br />
<span id="more-6197"></span><br />
In the view of the <em>Communist</em> (that is, the Marxist-Leninist)
wing of the CPUSA, however, the May 21-23, 2010 convention was a
disaster. We see the Convention as a scandalous retreat from the US
Party’s honorable history of principled struggle. The Convention was a
retreat from socialism, class struggle, political independence, and
internationalism. The Convention gave up ground on the fight against
racism, imperialism, and monopoly. <br />
It was not a convention rich in substance. What little substance
there was, was objectionable, and came in the Main Report and the
Composite Resolutions, which are available in full at <a href="http://www.cpusa.org/a-way-out-of-the-deepening-crisis/">www.cpusa.org/a-way-out-of-the-deepening-crisis/</a> and <a href="http://www.cpusa.org/29th-national-convention/">http://www.cpusa.org/29th-national-convention/</a>.<br />
<strong>The Main Report </strong><br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_6202" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/samwebb.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-6202" height="176" src="http://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/samwebb.jpg?w=300&h=176" title="samwebb" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Sam Webb, leader of the old CPUSA, speaking at the 29th Convention</div>
</div>
Sam Webb’s report could have been written by any liberal. When his
followers dutifully referred to it as “brilliant,” many a delegate could
barely believe it.<br />
It is known that one or more members of the National Board (NB) urged
Sam Webb to take into account preconvention discussion critical of his
line. He refused, calling such criticism the outpouring of a “small
minority.” In the old days many ideas in preconvention discussion — even
if critical of the leadership — would have been taken into account and
discussed in the Main Report. That did not happen this time.<br />
His Main Report is full of Straw Men deployed against his left
critics in the Party. Skillful at writing opportunist double talk, Webb
can compose sentences that, to the unwary reader, sound like common
sense. Read more closely, however, his formulations throw open the door
through which have marched the reformism, tailism, and American
Exceptionalism that are aggravating the crisis in the CPUSA. For
example:<br />
<div>
<em>Enclosing him [Obama] in a narrowly defined, tightly sealed
political category – as many on the left and right do – is a mistake…it
also goes in the direction of pitting the president against the working
class and the people. That the right does this is no surprise. But when
left and progressive people do it, it is wrong strategically and thus
extremely harmful politically.</em></div>
<div>
<em>Our vision of socialism is a work in progress…</em></div>
<em>Our socialist vision should have a contemporary and dynamic feel;
it should be rooted in today’s conditions and our national
experience. If it has a “foreign” feel to it, people will reject it.</em><br />
<em>
What I want to do is correct one-sidedness in our thinking. A
transfer in class power — which will more likely be a series of
contested moments during which qualitative changes in power relations in
favor of the working-class and its allies take place…<br />
<strong><br />
Advances?</strong><br />
</em><em></em><br />
Webb began his report with a list of what he views as “advances”
since the last CP convention in 2005. Many of these he credits to the
Obama Administration which took office in January 2009.<br />
It’s a curious list. Much of his list is simply Obama’s promises or
hopes hailed as if they were achievements. The Administration talks
about “reining in Wall St.” It aspires to the abolition of nuclear
weapons. Global warming has been put “on the agenda.”<br />
Much of the list is less than earth-shaking in importance. For
example, the White House issued a proclamation on Workers’ Memorial Day.<br />
Some items are wholly imaginary: “The pendulum of power has
shifted.” He claims “progressives are on the offensive.” “Torture was
prohibited.”<br />
<strong>2005 versus 2010: Some Facts</strong><br />
His list of “advances,” of course, purports to be evidence justifying
the CPUSA policy of tailing Obama and the Democrats. Here is
counterevidence:<br />
In 2005 the US didn’t have 30,000 fresh troops in Afghanistan. Now
it has, all told, nearly 100,000 there, not counting mercenaries.<br />
In 2005 the US had a military budget of around $600 billion. Now it is $708 billion. <br />
In 2005 there was the blockade of Cuba. In 2010 there is a reauthorized blockade of Cuba.<br />
In 2005 Honduras had a constitutionally elected government. Now it
has a usurper government installed by the US and its Honduran allies.<br />
In 2005 Guantanamo was open. In 2010 Guantanamo is still open.<br />
In 2005 the Cuban Five were in prison. In 2010 the Cuban Five remain in prison.<br />
In 2005, in the housing bubble, predatory lenders targeted people of
color. In 2010 mortgage delinquencies, and foreclosure and evictions are
at an all-time high, and the victims are disproportionately people of
color.<br />
In 2005 the unemployment rate of Black workers was double the
unemployment rate of white workers. In 2010 Black workers’ unemployment
rate was still double the white unemployment rate, if not more.<br />
In 2005 we needed health care reform. In 2010 we got a new health
inurance “reform” law that entrenches the private, profit-making
insurance carriers, the most parasitic sector of finance capital.<br />
In 2005 with Bush in the White House and Republican control of
Congress, the war in Iraq wasn’t winding down. In 2010 with Democratic
control of Congress and a Democrat in the White House, the Iraq War is
still not winding down. It is being re-branded.<br />
In 2005 we had a president who had recently launched a war of
aggression in Iraq; in 2010 we have a president who escalated a war of
aggression in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br />
In 2005 before the housing bubble burst, investment bankers and other
lords of high finance were raking in billions by fraudulent means. In
2010, two years after the crash exposed them, the same lords of finance,
their bonuses fattened by taxpayer billions, walk in and out of
Congressional hearings fearing no one. They thumb their noses at the
Congress and the public.<br />
In 2005 the party had weekly newspaper we could give out at plant gates. Now it has a cyber newspaper.<br />
If there was anything new in Webb’s report it was the reaffirmation
of tailism, more emphatically than ever. Webb stated that for the CPUSA
there is only to be “independent politics inside the Democratic Party.”<br />
<strong>The Official “Composite” Resolutions</strong><br />
The content of the composite resolutions pushed through by the leadership illustrate vividly the political decay.<br />
Historically, in the US working class movement, the chief features of
right social democracy are 1) the defense of imperialism and 2) the
soft-peddling of the struggle against racism. This convention marks a
big shift in that direction.<br />
The original resolutions from the Party grassroots were combined with
similar resolutions and “edited” by the Resolutions Committee. But the
“editing” destroyed the original political thrust of the submitted
resolutions. It would be an exaggeration to say the Composite
Resolutions bore any resemblance to the original resolutions. No
original resolutions were read to or voted on by the Convention body.<br />
One hour was allowed for discussion of the resolutions. The
resolutions committee spent 45 minutes reading the edited resolutions,
word-for-word out loud. Discussion was cut off after 15 minutes, even
though many people were lined up to speak.<br />
“Composite” Resolution #5, the long resolution on Peace and
Solidarity is the most disgraceful and dangerous of all the resolutions.
It is the most removed from anti-imperialist principles. It defends the
Obama foreign policy against the facts. When facts don’t conform to the
tailist policy, it adjusts the facts, asserting, for example, that the
US withdrawal from Iraq is “on track.”<br />
The underlying fiction put forth by the leadership is: the Obama
Administration is never guilty of any crimes. The Obama Administration
only does bad things “under pressure from the right wing.”<br />
This Peace and Solidarity resolution will be of great interest to the
international Communist movement, which can only conclude that it no
longer has a Communist Party ally in the belly of the beast.<br />
This resolution means the CPUSA leadership is consciously choosing
alignment with Obama instead of the struggle against imperialism. The
CPUSA leaders do not want to struggle against imperialist war, which
Obama is waging and expanding.<br />
It is easier for the CPUSA to make common cause with the US
Administration on the basis of the golden words of his various speeches
calling for nuclear arms cuts. The CPUSA wants “a new peace movement,”
as Party peace leaders have stated, one that will dodge the issue of
imperialist aggression. It will, instead, support nuclear disarmament
and stress the wastefulness of military spending in terms of funds
unavailable for economic and social needs.<br />
This, then, is <em>the most shameful consequence </em>of this
opportunist leadership’s loss of its working-class and Marxist-Leninist
bearings. It is de facto acquiescing to the criminal U.S. imperialist
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.<br />
The Fight for Jobs, Resolution #1, was supposed to be showcased at
the Convention. It is little different from the AFL-CIO program. A
clear Marxist approach, for example, would entail the class-struggle
demand to cut the workweek with no cut in pay. Such a remedy would
expand jobs at the expense of corporate profits. This notion is nowhere
to be found. Worse, while the resolution takes note of the especially
high unemployment rates among Blacks, Latinos, women, youth, etc. it
opportunistically does not call for affirmative action in hiring and
re-hiring them, the classic CPUSA position for many decades.<br />
The Special Report on the Fight against Racism (Resolution # 2) True
to the key policy of Webb and his allies — Tail Obama and the Democrats —
this resolution sees the upsurge of racism (SB1070, the Arizona racial
profiling law, the wave of anti-Muslim discrimination and repression) as
a response from the ultra-right to the election of Obama. With this
resolution, the CPUSA fight against racism is no longer primarily
motivated by the necessity of building working class unity. Rather, the
CPUSA leaders fear the ultra right is trying to “disrupt” the workings
of the new Administration. In other words, the Obama Administration’s
political interests, not working-class unity, are the main
preoccupation. This resolution also dodges the question of affirmative
action.<br />
The Resolution on Political Action (Resolution # 3), equates the
ultra- right with the Republican Party and shuns a class analysis of the
Obama Administration. This resolution could have been written by the
Democratic National Committee. It pledges to “extend and defend” the
“victories” won in the November 2008 election. It is, simply put, more
tailism.<br />
The Resolution on Immigrant Rights (# 4) merely restates the AFL-CIO
position in favor of immigration reform. It leaves out the highly
relevant fact that deportations of undocumented workers have increased
under an Obama Administration eager to appease nativist sentiment.
According to figures from the federal immigration enforcement agency, in
2009 the Obama Administration deported 389,834 people, about 20,000
more than in 2008, the final year of the Bush Administration.<br />
Resolution # 6, on Party-building, manages to discuss the
“challenges” to Party growth without acknowledging that the Party
membership is in steep decline. An honest discussion of why recruitment
is failing was omitted.<br />
How many party members are there? In a report on Party Internet work
and Internet “recruiting,” one NB member inadvertently gave away the
real size of this declining party, a number often lied about. In 2005
the CPUSA had 2500 members, according to Sam Webb. At the 2010
convention the NB member in question declared “3 times a week a new
application comes by Internet, and at this rate the party could
double its size in three years.” Do the math. If there are 150 yearly
Internet applications, the current membership may be reckoned to be
around 450-500 at most.<br />
The present leaders would have us believe, of course, that the steep
decline has nothing to do with the politics of the leadership. Rather,
it is subtly implied that it is the members who must change their ways.
Members are to blame, and they must work differently.<br />
<strong><br />
More on the Character of the Convention </strong><br />
The grim reality we face is that, in the May 2010 convention, the
right-wing faction in the leadership led by Webb, for now, has
consolidated its hold over the party.<br />
The outcome was dreadful, but it was not entirely surprising.
Opportunism has been the increasingly assertive trend in this party for
years. This is the same right opportunist direction taken by some other
parties.<br />
In the pre-convention discussion, articles like “Save the Party,”
give chapter and verse of our critique of the Party’s political decline
(see www.mltoday.com), and what has to be done to turn matters around.<br />
The current Party leadership is a faction. Factions and factionalism
are not limited to oppositions to leaderships. In such cases, however,
official factionalism functions in the form of bureaucracy. Bureaucracy
stifles party democracy and membership criticism. It uses charges of
“disruption,” and, of course, “factionalism” against its left critics.
The present leaders have not — in so many words — repudiated democratic
centralism. They will enjoy the democracy. We may expect to be on the
receiving end of the centralism.<br />
In June 2009 the factional nature of the Webb leadership was most
clearly revealed when it rammed through a policy of ending the print
edition of the Party’s weekly paper, the People’s Weekly World. It also
withheld information at subsequent National Committee (NC) meetings on
the extent of leadership and membership opposition to the move. This is
one of a series of abuses for which they still have not been held
accountable.<br />
A notorious example from 2005, a CP convention year. The Illinois CP,
after adopting a resolution calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq,
forwarded it on to the national convention for adoption. Although
efforts were subsequently made by a clearly uncomfortable national Party
leadership to have the maker of the motion change it (“to reflect the
security interests of the Iraqi people” – i.e. to acknowledge the
legitimacy of the U.S. occupiers), the maker refused, pointing out that
even if he had wanted to do so (which he did not), it was already out of
his hands. The resolution ultimately came before the national
convention in a bundle of resolutions approved by the resolutions
committee. That bundle was adopted unanimously.<br />
Subsequently, that resolution was willfully disregarded by the
Party’s leadership and editors. Its content was never reflected in the
Party’s own newspaper. Efforts to have this position reflected in the
Party’s publications were repeatedly quashed. Nor was the resolution
implemented in the Party’s mass work, particularly on the national
level. It remains a dead letter to this day.<br />
The justification for this willful neglect was that Sam Webb, in his
report to the convention, suggested a “different approach” — one
acceptable to Democrats — calling for a “timetable” or an “exit
strategy” from Iraq. This approach was and essentially remains a
stalling tactic, an indefinite postponement of U.S. withdrawal that has
resulted in many thousands of additional Iraqi and U.S. deaths and the
continued presence of over 100,000 U.S. troops (and a similar number of
“contractors”) in Iraq up to this very day.<br />
Webb’s report, which was presented without any opportunity for
substantive amendment, was perfunctorily adopted. His report was then
used to invalidate the clear antiwar resolution.<br />
And this from a Party leadership that purports to champion democracy!<br />
<strong><br />
Stifling Convention Democracy </strong><br />
The convention, a caricature of democracy, was tightly controlled by the present leaders.<br />
It was small: only 158 delegates and 50 guests. Convention managers
filled the three days with ludicrous time wasters, such as a
bagpipe-playing session. They contrived delegate selection rules to give
regions with no clubs a vote, especially if they were reliably
pro-incumbent. For example, a defender of the right-wing line
represented the state of West Virginia.<br />
Unlike previous conventions, the mood of this convention showed
little sense of internationalism, and little sense of outrage against
the imperialist wars being waged by the US. The convention was stacked,
as much as possible, with people willing to go along to get along, as
well as the current leadership and its flatterers.<br />
What was the mood? One Party worker, a man in his 50s stated:<br />
<em>At the convention, I felt like an outsider. My “home in this rock,”
to quote Paul Robeson, seemed to be no longer my home. My political home
has been transformed without my consent or agreement. It has been
stolen. They have put an end to the necessary tools of our trade, so to
speak, the party paper and timely class-oriented pamphlets on the
important issues facing our working class. Tailing and nonsense analysis
replaced class-struggle analysis and leadership. In general, it seemed
to me that our misleadership has lost their class-conscious common
sense.</em><br />
Clearly, the goal, which conference organizers achieved, was to run a
top-down, stage-managed convention that would squelch free debate,
waste time, and run out the clock.<br />
There was little time devoted to face-to-face discussion at the
convention. People could not engage in discussion to collectively shape
an agenda on how to best move the organization forward.<br />
Most of the Convention’s time was squandered on self-congratulatory
speeches from the leadership that took credit for general political
trends way beyond any conceivable CPUSA influence. The “calls to action”
amounted to nothing more than calls for legislative lobbying and
electioneering for Democrats.<br />
Yet the rightists in leadership had been worried about loss of
control the convention, though, regrettably, their worries proved
unfounded. In a preconvention comment one of their supporters voiced the
worry:<br />
<em>A narrowly based, but very persistent campaign has been waged on
the Internet and in the comments sections of CP publications — by my
count nearly 20% of commenters and discussants and much more if you
count the number of words — with the sole effective purpose being to
distract the Left, and especially the CP, from working within the
broadly defined Obama coalition, or from focusing on a majority-based
agenda of reforms. </em><br />
The right had reason for anxiety. Most of the resolutions, like most
of the pre-convention discussion (available at the www. MLToday.com
website), opposed the reformist line of the present leadership. It
opposed the shutting down of the print edition of the People’s World. It
supported ending the fawning tailism of Obama and the Democrats. It
called for the Party to shed right opportunism and to return to its
anti-imperialist, class struggle, and anti-war principles.<br />
We believe the convention outcome does not reflect the political
balance in the Party membership as whole. The grassroots opposition
sentiment, which is substantial, was barely reflected. The convention
delegates were carefully chosen by procedures that guaranteed majority
support of the incumbents. In all organizations incumbents have certain
advantages. This was done by various means, quite a few of them
flagrantly dishonest, such as completely ignoring the content of
properly submitted resolutions from the Party grassroots. <br />
That the national convention would be a travesty of democracy was
predictable, perhaps, from the chicanery at the state conventions that
preceded it – the Illinois District convention being one of the worst
cases. In the Illinois convention, the organizers killed time by
watching videos and holding tutorials on how to send email. In Illinois
and elsewhere the Webb faction maneuvered to keep key, articulate
leaders opposed to the rightist trend away from the national convention.<br />
The national convention was held in a room small in size, allegedly
for economy reasons. The Webb faction has vacillated between 1)
declaring a financial crisis that rules out face-to-face meetings and 2)
denying any financial crisis exists if they are claiming that there is
no problem with their stewardship. The spin depends on needs of the
moment. Truth and consistency are not the guiding principles.<br />
They smothered debate not only by ignoring preconvention resolutions
and discussion, but also by making the convention smaller and less
representative. Rural areas of the country, even if there was only one
party member in a given state, got a voting delegate. But some
industrial clubs were completely unrepresented.<br />
They also isolated those critics of the Party line who were at the
convention. One of the strongest of their opponents, an NC member from
Kentucky, objected to adding to the NC a Midwesterner who evinced no
understanding of the role of clubs in Party structure. He also objected
to another candidate involved in questionable financial activity. He was
overruled and the two were added to the NC. For his pains, he himself
was dropped from the NC. Whenever he rose to speak, he was surrounded by
Webb loyalists.<br />
<strong><br />
An Air of Unreality</strong><br />
Most leadership speeches proclaimed a mad eagerness to work in an
imaginary coalition with the liberal wing of Big Business. In his Main
Report, Webb boasted, “Broadly speaking, our view of the general
conditions of struggle and the strategic path forward was and is on the
money.”<br />
A long-time Party peace movement leader made such delusional
statements as: “Obama is listening to us [e.g., Peace Action, Military
Families Speak Out]. He meets with us. We can’t close this door by
criticizing him.” “We need to help Obama resist being pushed to the
right.” “Obama’s sentiment on Afghanistan is shifting our way.” “Obama
has realistic assessment on the withdrawal of troops.”<br />
Thus, the content of the convention was remarkably unconnected to the
Party’s real mission – leading struggle. Such pressing issues as
climate change, one billion hungry people, a waning labor movement, a
health care system given over to major profiteering, populations
displaced and migrating, US militarization of the planet, and more
received little or no discussion.<br />
<strong><br />
A Dearth of Internationalism</strong><br />
In the Convention’s deliberations there was little discussion of
developments abroad: the multiplying wars, global economic crisis,
struggles like that of the Haitian people for survival against racism
and colonialism, resistance to US bases and militarization, popular
resistance to the coup government in Honduras, and a real push to end
the blockade and free the Cuban Five.<br />
As for our relations with other Communist parties, Convention
organizers minimized the number of observers from the international
Communist movement. When realistic comrades pointed out that, if
budgetary considerations were paramount, then inviting the UN or
consular staff resident in New York from such counties as China,
Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea was an option, for the price of a subway
ride. The Party leadership resisted that obvious solution.<br />
In the end, several parties did appear to give short greetings. The Vietnamese delegate spoke.<br />
Convention managers minimized delegates’ knowledge what the international Communist movement was saying to the CPUSA.<br />
For example, the Webb circle tried to suppress the full Greek
Communist Party (KKE) greetings, especially the paragraphs that dealt
with opportunism in the international Communist movement. When the full
KKE text was handed in writing to the delegates (thanks to the fact that
the KKE had speedily posted the greetings in English at its website)
Webb and his supporters were forced to issue a message of solidarity to
the KKE and eventually to post the whole KKE statement at the CPUSA web
site. Of course, now that it is there, they are making no effort to call
attention to it.<br />
<strong>Youth</strong><br />
One of the most active YCLers expressed alarm at the lack of young
delegates at the convention. There were, of course, YCL guests (and a
few delegates) but participation from youth was scant. A healthy and
vibrant Communist Party would give special attention to the training and
support of young leaders and cadre. The lack of youth participation is a
portent that the current political line of the leadership has no
future.<br />
The convention was stacked, as much as possible, with people willing
to “go along to get along,” as well as the current leaders and their
hangers-on. YCLers were given a code to register as guests, and when
some leaders of the YCL tried to register they were denied access to the
convention for the reason that “there was no room.” This was
systematically done for political reasons.<br />
<strong><br />
Resistance to the Line</strong><br />
With plenary sessions a choreographed sham, what rebellion there was
could only take place in skirmishes in the workshops and panels, not the
plenaries. There were good discussions in the workshops. However, there
were no minutes taken or reports given back to the larger body.<br />
In one workshop, for example, the information technology panacea was
challenged by an Arizona delegate who pointed out the reality of the
digital divide.<br />
In the “Club Life and Education” workshop the majority of
participants steered the discussion towards theory – i.e., the
leadership’s failure to incorporate and develop it and the need to focus
on the Marxist-Leninist theoretical education of existing and new
members. Indeed, the consensus of this workshop was that the leadership
needed to be told that the Party needs to pay more attention to theory.
The YCL co-convener of the workshop attempted to shift the discussion
and assert control a number of times, without much success<br />
<strong><br />
Two Controversies</strong><br />
Two controversies burst out into the open at the Convention. One was the censorship of the KKE greetings, mentioned above.<br />
The other was the treatment of the resolution on independence for
Puerto Rico. The Massachusetts District resolution on Puerto Rican
liberation was substantially the same as in the last convention.
However, the nervous chair, People’s World editor Terrie Albano,
perceived the resolution as an act of insurrection from rebel districts
(Massachusetts, Kentucky, Indiana). Afraid of debate, Albano shut down
discussion. This enraged Party members of Puerto Rican descent and other
backers of the Massachusetts resolution, several of whom walked out.<br />
One mendacious “special resolution” deserves a word. It emanated from
the national leadership, commending the New York District for helping
to re-launch May Day. New York trade union comrades familiar with the
facts pointed out that national Party leaders had done their best not to
participate in May Day on the grounds that “Obama need support; he
doesn’t need criticism.” Sam Webb and Scott Marshall, Party labor
secretary, had rejected early pleas for help from the trade unionists
and immigrant groups trying to relaunch it.<br />
<strong><br />
More Liquidation</strong><br />
The “Composite” resolutions represent<em> ideological </em>liquidation.
All the resolutions repudiate the idea that the CPUSA will seek to play
a leading role in anything or initiate anything. It will merely
“participate in,” “help,” “encourage,” “join in,” “give support to,” and
so on.<br />
But there was <em>physical</em> liquidation too. The convention
decided henceforth to hold only one National Committee meeting a year.
The other three meetings will be conference calls, which are, of course,
easier to manipulate.<br />
It was clear from the comments of Roberta Wood, Party
secretary-treasurer, that the Party will rent Winston-Unity Hall, a
floor of the New York City headquarters building, to finance a pay raise
for Party staff. It increasing appears that the paid staff is asserting
its group interests regardless of the consequences to the organization
or its rank and file members who were not present as delegates.<br />
The CPUSA leadership composition became more skewed with near total
removal of independent and critical voices from the NC. The leadership
is now quite inbred, both politically and otherwise. The daughter of Sam
and Sue Webb — a schoolteacher in Boston who plays little or no role in
Party life there — was put on the National Committee.<br />
There was an unsuccessful effort by Danny Rubin, an ideological ally
and mentor of Webb, to enhance the powers of the National Board (NB),
which has become really a rubber-stamp council of Webb loyalists. Rubin
wished to centralize power at the expense of the NC on matters of Party
constitutional change.<br />
The incoming NC’s size remains about the same, still 82 or 84. The
convention dropped 12 or 14 NC members, and added a like amount. Some
departing NC members were not removed, they resigned in disgust.<br />
Party veterans noted that the reports on local activity, customary at
such gatherings were not “what we are doing” They were “what’s going
on,” that is, what others are doing. It was another expression of the
Party’s loss of purpose.<br />
At the convention younger comrades barely spoke, most wondering what
to make of the proceedings. Veterans of many Party conventions saw no —
or at any rate few — new faces in key districts<br />
Forty-five minutes of Webb’s keynote remarks were taped for C-SPAN.
His supporters considered this to be of great importance. It seems to us
that inviting C-SPAN to tape Webb’s presentation demonstrated that his
intended audience is the TV-viewing public, not specifically Communists.
His generalizations and lack of analysis could only be directed to
non-Communists.<br />
<strong><br />
Conclusions</strong><br />
The Convention was undemocratic, scripted, non-Communist (in fact <em>anti-Communist </em>at
times), and devoid of Marxist analysis of present conditions. One
delegate, completely disgusted, predicted, “They won’t even bother to
hold another convention.”<br />
Validating our pessimistic analysis, since the convention, matters
have continued to slide down the slippery slope. The first NC conference
call took up the topic of “re-branding” the Party, as if the Party were
a tube of toothpaste requiring a more modern name, like changing
“Ipana” to “Aquafresh.” Reportedly, a consultant will be hired to
advise on re-branding, including re-naming.<br />
As one seasoned comrade who has subsequently resigned said privately
to us, the convention result shows “the political gangrene of
opportunism has spread very far indeed.”<br />
Gangrene looks like this: one of the most appalling moments in this
appalling convention came when Joel Wendland, editor of Political
Affairs, a “Journal of Marxist Thought,” stated: “Isn’t it great we can
have a CPUSA convention and not hear ‘Marx said this’ and ‘Lenin said
that’?!” “We need to shed old skin on theoretical level.”<br />
Evidently, Wendland is following his own advice. A few weeks back, he
abandoned any theory of imperialism. He posted without criticism a
proclamation from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Venezuelan
Independence Day, as if the US State Department were a champion of
Venezuelan independence. We believe the real State Department view is
expressed in the seven new US military bases in neighboring Colombia,
authorized by Obama and Clinton, aimed at strangling Venezuelan
independence and democracy.<br />
We view this convention as a hijacking of the Party by a faction of
the leadership. Many good Party members are wondering: Can this party be
saved?<br />
We don’t know. It will take a fierce struggle. But most of us intend to try.<br />
The present leadership is already in consultation with social
reformist groups (DSA, CCDS, the reformist Freedom Road). It’s obvious
that most of the present leaders don’t want a Communist Party. They view
Leninism and even the name CPUSA as “baggage.”<br />
As for us, a few voices among many, we are urging the healthy forces
in the Party not to quit, but to stay and fight. How many will leave we
do not yet know. Those who have left are honorable comrades who see
resignation as a matter of principle. We have resolved to stay close to
them and to work together closely. They have welcomed that.<br />
Matters are serious. Yet, there are factors on our side. Here are a
few: our opponents often miscalculate. For example, delaying the
convention for one year proved a miscalculation on their part, insofar
as it more easily enabled the left opposition in the Party to point out
how absurd the official CPUSA “analysis” of Obama and the Democrats is.
The international Communist movement is on our side. It is looking on
with dismay and alarm at the deterioration within the CPUSA leadership.
As the present US Administration moves steadily rightward, to justify
its policies becomes ever more difficult. Disgusted by a Party that sees
its sole mission the election of Democrats, people walk away or give
up. The membership dwindles, and the organizational crisis deepens. The
class struggle is sharpening in the US and around the world. Reformism
has no solutions for US working people.<br />
We doubt that there can be any recovery in the CPUSA until Sam Webb and his allies are removed from their present positions. <br />
The daunting immediate task ahead for Marxist-Leninists in the US is
to figure out how to move forward inside and outside the CPUSA.<br />
_____________________________________________<br />
August 18, 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-46737570399900763212012-11-24T16:39:00.001-08:002012-11-24T16:39:56.491-08:00Response to Sam Webb’s “Main report to the Communist Party USA National Committee, November 17, 2012″Reblogged from: http://houstoncommunistparty.com/response-to-sam-webbs-main-report-to-the-communist-party-usa-national-committee-november-17-2012/<br />
<br />
by James Thompson<br />
<br />
What is really significant about Chairperson Webb’s “report” is that
it is not a report at all. The document is written in vague generalities
with a great deal of bombast, pontification and posturing. Chairperson
Webb fails to specify what the CPUSA has been doing as an organized
party or what it intends to do in the future. He only makes vague
statements about how almost all of the members participated in the
election. By participation, does he mean managing campaigns, running
candidates, doing fundraising or working in a capitalist party’s
campaign? Perhaps he just means voting. This is unclear.<br />
<br />
It appears that Chairman Webb has forgotten Marx’ teaching that
“content precedes form.” This paper is all about form with little regard
to content.<br />
<br />
Let’s examine the title of the document “Defeat for the right,
victory for the people & democracy.” The first phrase “defeat for
the right” is hard to fathom. Although it must be conceded that
President Obama has taken a more progressive stance on a number of
issues when compared with his opponent, candidate Romney, this does not
mean that President Obama is a socialist or communist. He is a member of
one of the two ruling bourgeois parties in the United States. For this
reason, it can be expected that he will support the interests of the
wealthy classes more often than not. It should also be remembered that
he was elected with the endorsements of both Colin Powell and Michael
Bloomberg. His campaign received truckloads of money from the
ultra-wealthy and their corporate surrogates. These endorsements and
financial contributions must be remunerated by Mr. Obama and such
remuneration will dearly cost the people.<br />
<br />
The second phrase “victory for the people” is also hard to stomach.
To which people is Mr. Webb referring? Is he referring to the people of
Palestine and/or Iran? Is he referring to workers in this country who
are oppressed? Is he referring to labor union members who received no
support from the president on passing the Employee Free Choice Act? Is
he referring to maimed and deceased veterans returning from the endless
imperialist wars in the Middle East and elsewhere? Perhaps Mr. Webb is
referring to the people on Wall Street and in corporate offices across
the USA. If you look at Mr. Obama’s record, it is clear that he has
served those people well over the last four years.<br />
The third phrase “victory for… Democracy” also presents some
problems. To what kind of democracy is Mr. Webb referring? In the USA,
there is only one form of democracy and it is bourgeois democracy. This
form of democracy serves to protect the interests of the wealthy
classes. It protects the wealthy classes from the demands of working
people. It upholds the interests of imperialism, while simultaneously
creating an illusion among workers that they really have a voice in the
conduct of the business of the country. Although elections, even
bourgeois elections, are an important arena for struggle, we should not
harbor any illusions about their real purpose, which is to prop up the
wealthy classes. As Lenin said, “elections solve nothing.”<br />
Mr. Webb says “The better angels of the American people spread their
wings.” This phraseology would be appropriate if written by a Catholic
priest rather than the Chairperson of the Communist Party. Such
idealistic thinking should be anathema to a Communist Party based on
Marxism Leninism and dialectical materialism.<br />
<br />
It is interesting that Mr. Webb notes that “An African-American
president was reelected to the presidency, the Democrats unexpectedly
strengthened their hand in the Senate and House, new progressive voices,
like Elizabeth Warren, are coming to Washington, and victories,
including for marriage equality, occurred at the state level.” Although
it is a fact that an African-American was elected to the office of
presidency, what does this mean in terms of the progressive struggle? In
fact, the statement reflects some racist thinking. Martin Luther King,
Jr told us that people should be judged not by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character. It opens the question “What would
Mr. Webb suggest we do if Dennis Kucinich was running against Clarence
Thomas?” Mr. Webb’s reference to Elizabeth Warren “coming to Washington”
fails to recognize that also the right wing Tea Party extremist, Ted
Cruz, from Texas, will also be moving to Washington.<br />
Mr. Webb maintains “The Communist Party said a year ago that the 2012
elections would be the main front of the class and democratic struggle
and subsequent events have confirmed that fact.” To what events is Mr.
Webb referring? Many people agree that wages and benefits of workers are
always the front line of the class struggle. The fight for peace and
justice and the right to organize are also main fronts of the class
struggle. The fight against imperialism is also an important front in
the class struggle. Mr. Webb goes on “Indeed, we argued…that defeating
right-wing extremism was the key to moving the whole chain of democratic
struggle forward.” There is only one way to defeat right-wing extremism
once and for all and that will happen when socialism replaces
capitalism on a global level. Again, it must be asked that if Mr. Webb
believed that this election was crucial to the class struggle, what did
the CPUSA do to participate in that struggle? Mr. Webb makes note that
“a few weeks before the election, I attended a rally in Cleveland
organized by the Teamsters, where many labor leaders and members of
Congress spoke of the urgency of supporting President Obama.” Gus Hall
and William Foster must be spinning in their graves. They would
certainly ask why the chairperson of the CPUSA was merely attending a
labor rally but not speaking. They might also ask if the party attempted
to organize any activities of its own.<br />
<br />
Mr. Webb makes a good point when he says “Not least, President Obama
needs to hear from the tens of millions who reelected him.” However, he
goes on to confusing statements such as “The president is the most
popular politician in the country. Nobody has the political and moral
authority that he has. He isn’t a radical, but by the same token to
classify him as a run-of-the-mill capitalist politician doesn’t fit
either. Of the Democratic Party presidents of the 20th century, none had
the deep democratic sensibilities that he possesses. It is crucial that
he lead the struggle.” To what struggle is Mr. Webb referring? Is he
referring to the fact that Mr. Obama has deported more immigrants than
any other president? Is he referring to Mr. Obama’s use of drones to
assassinate foreign nationals? Is he referring to the struggle for the
Employee Free Choice Act? Mr. Webb also states “Which is where
communists, socialists and left and progressive people come into the
picture. Our main task is to build broad people’s unity, guarantee the
participation of the key social and class forces, counter the right-wing
narrative with a working-class and people’s narrative, and bring
forward an alternative program.” It would be helpful if Mr. Webb could
be specific about the concrete actions that need to happen to bring this
about.<br />
<br />
Mr. Webb writes “For some time now our party has recognized powerful
progressive trends in the labor movement. In this election, the actions
of labor brought those trends to a new level.” The question must be
asked “What is the party doing to build and support ‘progressive trends
in the labor movement’”?<br />
<br />
In his section on “foreign policy”, Mr. Webb takes some issue with
the Obama administration “There is some reappraisal of the conduct of
our foreign policy going on in the Obama administration and the national
security state.” Again, Mr. Webb needs to be more specific about this
“reappraisal.” He goes on “In all likelihood some changes will occur,
not necessarily unimportant ones, but at the same time don’t expect the
Obama administration or US ruling circles to give up their global
ambitions.” Without labeling administration policies as imperialist, he
does specify a number of global hotspots to which the Obama
administration has mimicked the positions of right wing extremists
including Iran, Palestine, Cuba, DPRK and Latin America among others.
However, he proposes no action to oppose imperialism.<br />
<br />
Mr. Webb seems to not have learned anything from Mr. Romney’s 47%
remark. Speaking of the CPUSA, he writes “Our main audience is not among
those who sat out the election struggle, but among those who were in
its front ranks.” Since reports indicate that only 60% of eligible
voters voted in the most recent election, he is dismissing the other 40%
who may have been disgruntled with the capitalist parties and their
policies. He is also dismissing people who are not eligible to vote.
This would include large segments of the population such as undocumented
immigrant workers, and people with felonies. He is also dismissing all
those who have failed to register to vote without any study of why they
failed to register. He notes that the CPUSA is too small. With such
myopic vision, one can only say “no wonder.”<br />
<br />
In response to his vague statements about building the party, the
question should be asked “What are the concrete steps the party will
take to build a larger party?”<br />
Another man by the name of Webb, Jack Webb, who played the part of
Sergeant Joe Friday, in the television series Dragnet many years ago
used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am.” This is important to remember when
discussing politics and economics. If we Communists are to have any
credibility at all, we must be scientific in our analyses, method and
program. We need leadership which meets those standards. The people of
this country don’t need any more talking heads. There is enough of that
on their TV.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-43723973403596557522012-11-03T12:03:00.001-07:002012-11-03T12:03:20.517-07:00Boycott the Elections! - Leaflet of the Communist Party of America, 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKCePYXvYqdQDiD5SFmSauWclkEzzrv7BOvDWprW5wcDPKNGiN9CBxFtD20IuAvMo1oa6ivSdG1-1kh6COlrMIX3eyfnhXeh_K7t9dXg_cLWkjQ8IO_QNWTgLqr7XK3kY_65CqyVDuqY/s1600/compartus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKCePYXvYqdQDiD5SFmSauWclkEzzrv7BOvDWprW5wcDPKNGiN9CBxFtD20IuAvMo1oa6ivSdG1-1kh6COlrMIX3eyfnhXeh_K7t9dXg_cLWkjQ8IO_QNWTgLqr7XK3kY_65CqyVDuqY/s200/compartus.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>
<br />
WORKERS:<br />
It is the duty of every class-conscious worker in America to boycott the coming elections. A worker’s vote cast for any of the parties or their candidates standing for election — is a vote for reaction or reform! Whether it be the Republican Party and Harding or the Democratic Party and Cox — whether it be the Farm Labor Party and Christensen, the Socialist Party and Debs, or the Socialist Labor and Cox — a worker’s vote cast for any of these parties or their candidates IS A VOTE TO PERPETUATE THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM BASED UPON WAGE SLAVERY and the ROBBERY OF YOUR CLASS. IT IS A VOTE TO STRENGTHEN THE CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT — BY MEANS OF WHICH THE WORKING CLASS IS KEPT IN SUBJECTION BY LIES, FRAUD, DECEPTION, FORCE, AND VIOLENCE.<br />
<br />
Do you workers want to perpetuate your own class slavery? Do you want to maintain and strengthen the capitalist government which has shown by its every act that it is nothing but the tool of the capitalist class and acts against the working class every time?<br />
Then cast your vote in the coming elections! If you believe in capitalist wars in which the workers are called upon to lay down their lives for the profit of the master class — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in the high cost of living — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in being LOCKED OUT BY the BOSS — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in being clubbed and shot by the police and soldiers of the capitalist government — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in lynching — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in deportation of radical workers — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in NATIONWIDE RAIDS UPON REVOLUTIONARY WORKING CLASS ORGANIZATION — vote in the coming elections! <br />
<br />
If you believe in DESTROYING SOVIET RUSSIA — vote in the coming elections!<br />
<br />
If you believe in supporting REACTIONARY POLAND against the free workers and peasants’ government of Russia — vote in the coming elections! If you believe in sending arms, ammunition, and supplies to the enemies of Soviet Russia — vote in the coming elections!<br />
<br />
If you believe in perpetuating prostitution, crime, child labor, and the thousand-and-one economic evils from which the masses in this country are suffering — vote in the coming elections!<br />
<br />
A vote cast in the coming elections for any political party now in the field — is a vote in favor of the capitalist class and against the working class! The Republican and Democratic parties stand openly for the capitalist class — whose economic interests they represent. The Farm Labor Party stands for Government Ownership and Reform — which leads to State Capitalism — strengthens the capitalist system and keeps the working class chained in wage-slavery. The Socialist Party and the Socialist Labor Party pretend they are for the abolition of capitalism and the emancipation of the workers from wage-slavery, but actually, by adopting wrong tactics support the lies and deception of capitalist “democracy” and help to fasten these lies upon the workers — thus aiding the capitalist class in preventing the workers from taking independent class action for their own emancipation. These reform parties fool the workers by telling them that the capitalist system can be abolished PEACEFULLY. This is a lie! AN OUTRAGEOUS, DAMNABLE LIE! The capitalist system cannot be abolished peacefully — whether by the ballot box or any other method.<br />
<br />
The present capitalist government is nothing but the concealed dictatorship of the capitalist class. Its army, navy, courts, police, bureaucracy, schools, press, church, etc. are the instruments through which the capitalist class perpetuate the lies of capitalist “democracy” and club and shoot you into submission when you wake up and attempt to resist their domination!<br />
Every intelligent worker knows that so long as the capitalist class owns and controls the organs of publicity, of teaching and moulding the minds of the workers — the workers cannot free themselves.<br />
<br />
Every intelligent worker also knows that no capitalist class ever gave up its power without a violent struggle. Look across at Europe and see how the ruling classes are striving by every possible means to keep the workers down! See how the German capitalist class combines with “yellow” Socialist to crush every uprising of the German workers! See how the Hungarian capitalist class, with the assistance of the “yellow” Socialist, destroys the workers organization, throws them into jails, places them against the wall to face firing squads, shoots, hangs, and slays without mercy!<br />
<br />
See how the French capitalist class tried to destroy the workers organizations! How they suppress the revolts of their soldiers who are called upon to fight in Russia, Siberia, and Africa and who refuse — see how they shoot the workers down in strikes or demonstrations! Look at bloody England! One hundred thousand troops, fully armed, are sent into Ireland to suppress the Irish revolt. Thousands of soldiers are busy shooting defenseless Indian natives whose only crime is that they desire freedom from the rule of Britain. In Arabia, Turkey, wherever English colonies are rising up against the merciless rule of England — the English capitalist class uses FORCE to crush them!<br />
And when the English workers themselves, who are beginning to think, act, make up their minds to destroy the capitalist government, the English capitalist class will use its troops and machine guns against them no less readily than it uses them against the natives of the colonies.<br />
In Japan, Italy, Finland, everywhere the same thing occurs. Do you American workers believe that the American capitalist class is more tenderhearted than the European capitalist class?<br />
Forget it! The American capitalist class is the richest, most powerful and reactionary class in the world. Just look at the history of the class struggle in the United States. At every step in the struggle of the workers to better their conditions the capitalist class and its government met them with persecution, repression, and oppression unequaled in all history. Homestead — Ludlow — Calumet — West Virginia — Paterson — Lawrence — McKees Rock — Seattle — Butte — these are only a few of the tragic milestones that mark the struggle of the American working class for BREAD — JUST BREAD! Or take the Longshoremen Strike — the Coal Strike — the Steel Strike — with its injunction, martial law, raids, deportations, and arrests — does this look as if the American capitalist class will ever give up its power without a bitter and violent struggle?<br />
<br />
FORGET THIS FOOLISH AND CRIMINAL IDEA OF A PEACEFUL CHANGE! AWAY WITH THESE REFORM PARTIES THAT PREACH SUCH RIDICULOUS IDEAS TO THE WORKERS!<br />
IT IS TIME THAT YOU AMERICAN WORKERS WAKE UP TO THE REAL FACTS!<br />
<br />
THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS OF RUSSIA ARE SHOWING THE WAY! THE EUROPEAN WORKERS ARE LEARNING FAST FROM SOVIET RUSSIA AND WILL SOON THROW THE WHOLE GANG OF ROBBERS WITH THEIR “YELLOW” Socialist apologists and their capitalist governments into the garbage-heap!<br />
<br />
Learn from your Russian and European brothers! The Communist Party of America — the only revolutionary working class political party — is the only party that stands for the emancipation for the working class from wage slavery! The Communist Party advocates mass action of the armed workers in an armed insurrection and civil war as the ONLY means of conquering political power for the workers, destroying the capitalist government, and establishing a Workers’ Government — A Soviet Government — the dictatorship of the Proletariat — as the ONLY MEANS OF ABOLISHING the capitalist system and emancipating the working class from WAGE SLAVERY. In order to bring this message before the masses of the American working class the Communist Party will utilize every weapon at its disposal for propaganda and agitation. It accepts participation in election campaigns and parliamentary activity as one of these weapons — but for revolutionary propaganda and agitation only. The Communist Party, however, will abstain from parliamentary activity whenever conditions make such a course necessary.<br />
<br />
The Communist Party will have to boycott the coming elections, for reasons which are familiar to every informed worker. The Communist Party has been outlawed by the capitalist government and declared illegal in capitalist courts. Its leaders are all under indictment or in jail. Thousands of its members are held for deportation or trial. Under such conditions the Communist Party could not participate in the coming election and carry its revolutionary propaganda and agitation directly to the workers at shop meetings and hall meetings or debates with the “yellow” Socialists before the workers and show them up as a bunch of vote-seeking reformers.<br />
<br />
The Communist Party will have to carry on its propaganda through its underground leaflets, literature, and press until the workers of America become class-conscious and compel the capitalist government to keep its hands off it. Therefore, because the Communist Party is the only revolutionary political working class party — and because this party has boycotted the coming elections — WE, YOUR FELLOW WORKERS AND COMRADES of the COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA CALL UPON YOU THE WORKERS OF AMERICA to boycott THE COMING ELECTIONS!<br />
- The Communist Party of America.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-72620232156618531972012-10-09T04:37:00.000-07:002012-10-09T04:37:01.166-07:00Reply to Sam Webb's Essay on A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What Will It Look Like?<pre>From: L.A. Metro Club
Los Angeles, CA. </pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>Let us begin by saying that we appreciate the work it took to produce the
essay. It was put together with honesty and I believe that Sam Webb truly
believes what he writes. That being said, we offer a different perspective.
We cannot afford to do away or retire the term, Marxism-Leninism. For one
thing, to say that “it has a negative connotation among ordinary Americans,
even in left and progressive circles” is running from the class struggle.
Our job as communists is to educate ordinary Americans about communism and
what it is all about. For instance, production and manufacturing in this
country are at an all time low. What little there is being produced is not
socially useful production. That is one reason why unemployment levels are
so high. To begin with, our party should review its industrial
concentration policy and call for a return of manufacturing jobs to the USA. We
should
use all legal means at our disposal to initiate unemployed councils, lobby
for legislation, work with industrial unions that are on the same page, and
put out information in our communities that says that the Communist Party
is for full employment and we have the science to prove it. The pamphlet, “
Feeling locked out of the American Dream?” is a good start. We should
return to our roots. The term Marxism-Leninism has served our party well for
ninety years. Running away from it gains us nothing.
As for Stalin, the main reason for using the term, Marxism-Leninism has to
do with his (and Lenin's) work on the national question. He was faced with
uniting a nation by protecting the rights of peoples that were not
Russian, fighting against great Russian chauvinism, while at the same time,
fighting against nationalism. Using the science of Marxism-Leninism this was
accomplished, culminating in the so-called Stalin constitution of 1936
which guaranteed the rights of all citizens in the U.S.S.R. Further, the
science of Marxism-Leninism corrected the error in the theory of Marx and Engels
that assumed that socialism would first come to the industrially advanced
countries of the world. As we now see, socialism first came to Russia (the
U.S.S.R.), the eastern bloc countries, and then China, and then Korea, and
then Cuba, and then Viet Nam and Laos. None of these countries were
industrially advanced. Stalin wrote volumes on the need to support national
liberation movements to bring about socialism in underdeveloped countries and
provided material support toward that end.
To say that Marxism-Leninism “took formal shape during the Stalin period
during which Soviet scholars, under Stalin's guidance, systematized and
simplified earlier Marxist writings-not to mention adapted ideology to the
needs of the Soviet state and party” does not mean that we can not do the same
in the United States. Of course Stalin and the Central Committee of the
party adapted ideology to the needs of the soviet state and party! That is
what every political party that takes power does. That is what we should do.
But that does not mean that the term Marxism-Leninism is foreign by any
means. Stalin learned from Lenin. Hence the term, Marxism-Leninism.
Where it is said, “Marxism is revolutionary in theory and practice, but it
doesn't consider “gradual” and “reform” to be dirty words,” no one is
suggesting that about Marxism-Leninism. Perú and their party led by
Secretaty General Roberto De La Cruz Huamán are leaders of large numbers of
masses. At a recent demonstration that was called by a “coalition” of left
parties of which the PCP is a part, along with the Confederación General de
Trabajadores de Perú (CGTP) the workers of Perú made minimum demands. It was a
huge legal demonstration against neo-liberalism and the selling off of
public entities (privatization). This demonstration is just part of the
effort by the five left parties that includes the PCP and the CGTP to win the
Presidency of the nation on April 10. There is a good chance. Of course, they
are using Marxist-Leninist tactics that work in their country, as the
Chinese party is fond of saying ,with their own “characteristics.”
Before we fight for the interests of the entire nation, we must fight for
the interests of the working class. When people see us fighting for the
workers, many will join us, including small business people and people from
other parties. To wait until the working class is destroyed “to fight for the
interests of the entire nation” is just wrong.
“The deterioration of infrastructure, the destruction of the social safety
net, the undermining of the public school system, the decay of urban and
rural communities, the privatization of public assets, the growth of poverty
and inequality, the hollowing out of manufacturing and cities, the
lowering of workers wages, and a faltering -now stagnant-domestic economy” are the
reasons why we should be fighting for the working class first.
It is no secret that pension funds in OECD countries lost $3.5 trillion
(US) in market value during the global financial crisis and are still unable
to fully restore savings to their 2008 levels. Defined benefit pension
funds are underfunded because of wild speculation throughout the world's
capitalist markets. The workers are punished through no fault of their own. This
is one area of the financial mess that needs to be properly explained. The
CPUSA should issue a position paper on the subject of pension funds,
noting first of all that workers take less money in wages with the expectation
that pension funds will be available when they reach retirement age.
This is not to say that there are problems that effect all of humanity,
like global warming, nuclear power and weapons, and natural disasters. Of
course we do all we can to identify these problems and make the struggle for
a better world part of our program.
“The struggle for socialism goes through phases and stages, probably more
than we allow for in our current writings and program.” Exactly! We have a
defeat and retreat strategy. The CPUSA seems to be afraid of the capitalist
system. Workers can sense this. They know when the party is weak. That is
one reason they don't join in greater numbers.
“A party of socialism understands that in any broad coalition of social
change, competing views are inevitable.” The role of the left is to express
its views candidly, but in a way that strengthens rather than fractures
broad unity, which is a prerequisite for social progress.” That is why Lenin
and the bolsheviks formed “a party of a new type.” A communist party.
They found that working with the social democrats was a defeatist policy.
Later they found that working with the Trotskyites was a bad idea. It depends
on how one defines left. We all know that the CIA works overtime since the
end of the cold war setting up left groups that are for the purpose of
discrediting the communist movements and parties. There is another very
important reason they form these groups. They finance them to fool workers who are
looking for solutions to their problems. A party of the 21st century must
be ideologically strong so as not to be enamored by the glitz and glamor of
capitalism. Now the social-democratic elites have cell phones and
blackberries, and laptops and they drink their Starbucks coffee in the morning
and they travel like kings while the majority of people in the world have
nothing to eat! We must have humility if we are to be real communists.
“Don't be surprised to see a movement back to class concepts and
historical materialsm -not to mention a new interest in the theoretical
contributions and political biography of Lenin. No one in this or the last century
can
match his theoretical body of work on questions of class, democracy,
alliance policy, nationality, power, and socialist revolution.” In fact in the
former Soviet Union, there is renewed interest in the lives of Lenin and
Stalin, and their popularity there is rising. The Communist Party of the
Russian Federation placed second in the regional elections, passing the Russia
United party. All the more reason not to change Marxism-Leninism to simply
Marxism.
“A party of socialism in the 21st century doesn't irrevocably lock social
forces, organizations and political personalities into tightly enclosed
social categories that allow no space for these same forces, organizations
and personalities to change under the impact of issues, events, and changing
correlations of power.” We seriously doubt that a party as small as the
CPUSA can have this kind of power. We had better grow first, before we assume
such things.
Regarding immigrants having a tradition of struggle, suggesting that their
spirit is militant and anti-capitalist while failing to mention the neo -
liberal policies in their countries of origin that caused them to emmigrate
makes the assumption that they were born that way and that all immigrants
are that way. They have to continue the fight in their own communities in
the United States which is why many immigrants don't join the party. We have
witnessed this with my own eyes. We work with immigrants every day. Immigr
ants work within their own community. We have worked many years in the
past within the Irish community and had to fight against nationalism and
anti-communism. Despite this, we were able to establish a party club of Irish
immigrants, and they were mainly concerned with problems back home. We are
not suggesting that all communities are the same, but we are patient, and we
observe how immigrants react to our party. Are we really interested in
their problems or are we just using them? It is something we should discuss
before assume that all immigrants will jump at the chance to join the party
because they are immigrants.
We have to ask, why take over the Democratic Party? What can be gained by
such talk? Are we organizing them or are they organizing us? Are we having
influence with them, or are they having influence with us? Who is leading
whom? Wouldn't it be better to work with workers' organizations directly,
that is to say, the unions and the union movement? Wouldn't it be better to
organize a coalition of parties and left forces into an electoral coalition
that can win real political power like they have done successfully in Perú
and El Salvador? A party with its own independence and it's own name, led
by labor and communists? That is what we see . And it is working. First we
tried to work with the old parties, and we were sold out. That is what the
Democratic Party is good at.
When we speak of Stalin, we need too speak of him in the continuum of
history. Before there was a Soviet Union there was Russia, with its culture,
tradition, and its brutality. Stalin acknowledged publicly that “the purges
and executions of hundreds of thousands of communists and other patriots
and the labor camps that incarcerated,
exploited and sent untold numbers of [innocent] Soviet people to early
deaths, and the removal of whole peoples from their homelands.” The most
precise number of deaths from purges and executions of innocent Soviet citizens
is 640,000. Most of this was done by Nicolai Eshov, a German spy working
under direct orders of the German SS. When he was discovered, he tried to
hide his crimes. He was promptly tried and executed. Others with authority
high in the Soviet government were also found to be murdering innocent Soviet
citizens. They were also double dealers working for the Germans. Following
Lenin's death, many intellectuals doubted that the Soviet Union would
continue. They joined the party, acted like loyal party members, worked their
way up into positions of authority and worked as spies Germany. The
assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934 was the first major provocation of the Bloc
of Rights and Trotskyites. There was sabotage including falsifying of grain
and cotton harvest reports, killing of livestock including horses,
destroying railroads, blowing up mines, and so on. In short, there was a fifth
column operating in Soviet Russia. The threat was real. And the man who was
charged with stopping the sabotage , Nicolai Eshov, was protecting the
spies, and conducting trials of innocent Soviet citizens, and lying to the
Central Committee of the CPSU the whole time. What do you do when people lie to
you? Do you take their testimony at face value? Can they be trusted? Are
they loyal comrades? Or are they lying and destroying the lives of innocent
people?
When Stalin acknowledged the atrocities, he did not call them a mistake.
He said that horrible crimes were committed that have nothing to do with
socialism, and those crimes were committed by Nicolai Eshov, a German spy.
When we speak of war crimes or crimes against humanity, we have to put the
blame where it belongs, not on the people who discovered the horrible crimes,
Stalin and Beria. There are many witnesses to Stalin's leadership of the
USSR. Firstly, there is the American ambassador to the USSR, Joseph E.
Davies, author of the book, Mission to Moscow. Then there is Anna Louise Strong,
who wrote, The Stalin Era, which is her account of her time in the USSR
under Stalin's leadership. There is also the book, Stalin, written by a
German biographer, Emil Ludwig. There is also The Red Archbishop, the Dean of
Canterbury, Hewlett Johnson and his book, The Soviet Power. There is plenty
to read on the subject of the soviet Union during WW II.
On the subject of war crimes and labor camps, it should be pointed that
the United States bombed Dresden and murdered hundreds of thousands of
German citizens, and later dropped not one but two atom bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese citizens.
These bombs were dropped on civilian targets where they would do the most
damage. The reason for these atrocities had nothing to do with winning the
war. The goal of the capitalism was to destroy the industrial capacity of
Germany and Japan so that the United States and United Kingdom would be
unchallenged superpowers in the world. The Soviet Union decided not to use
nuclear weapons and instead attacked the Japanese main land, liberated the
Sakhalin Islands, and kept the Japanese Army from valuable fuel to continue
the war. In short, the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary.
Before and during the war, there was no “forced” collectivization of
Soviet agriculture. It was entirely voluntary. “it was found that the voluntary
principle of forming collective farms was being violated, and that in a
number of districts the peasants were being forced into the collective farms
under threat of being disspossed, disfranchised, and so on.” (History of
the CPSU, p.307, International Publishers, 1939 ed.)This was in direct
violation of the order of the Central Committee of the CPSU which was “against
any attempts whatsoever to force the collective-farm movement by 'decrees'
from above, which might involve the danger of the substitution of
mock-collectivization for real Socialist emulation in the organization of collective
farms.” (Resolutions of the C.P.S.U.[B] russ. ed., Part II, page 662.)
What there was was a discontinuation of Lenin's New Economic Policy, which
had become outdated. Stalin needed to ramp up agricultural output so that
there would not be food shortages during and after the war. There was
nothing forced about it. In fact having received a number of alarming signals of
distortions of the Party line that might jeopardize collectivization, on
March 2, 1930 Stalin's article “dizzy With Success,” was published. This
article was a warning to all who had been carried away by the success of
collectivization.
When whole peoples were relocated from their homelands, this was done
because their homelands were under attack. In fact, Soviet troop trucks were
sent to Poland to relocate Jewish people behind the Ural mountains so that
they would be safe. Once again, the threat was real.
With regard to Stalin's so-called labor camps, we should consider that
most of the people in the camps were deserters from the armed forces that
were captured.
This has been researched and verified by the writer Geoffrey Roberts in
his book, Stalin's Wars.
Secondly, we had labor camps of our own. Japanese-Americans were
relocated from the major cities on the west coast into internment or concentration
camps. These people were American citizens, many of whom served in the
244th army regiment in Europe while their families stayed behind. This was a
great violation of civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Before
we find fault and throw stones at Stalin, who has been dead for more than 50
years, who led the USSR in the great patriotic war and saved socialism, th
e legacy of Lenin, we should first look at our own country's “mistakes.”
The United States also had a “cult of personality.” His name was Franklin
D. Roosevelt, and while he did many good things, internment of
Japanese-Americans wasn't one of them.
Regarding the statement that “The state isn't simply the instrument of the
ruling class – a monolithic and tightly integrated class bloc and weapon.
While the capitalist class is dominant, the state is filled with with
internal contradictions and is a site of class and democratic struggles – not
just any site though, but a crucial and decisive site.” What you fail to
mention is that Gorbachev and his social-democratic friends used this idea to
destroy socialism and the USSR. The history of social-democracy of one of
anti-communism and anti-Leninism. The social-democrats do not want
socialism. They want to reform capitalism. The communists on the other hand,
have always been guided by the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism.
In the new conditions of the era of imperialism, imperialist wars and
proletarian revolutions, its leaders further developed the teachings of Marx and
Engels and raised them to a new level. That is what the CPUSA must do if
we are to call ourselves “communist.”
regarding the statement. “Bureaucratic collectivism and a command economy
that reduce people to cogs, social relations into things, and culture to a
dull gray will be resisted by a 21st century party of socialism” who is
suggesting that a command economy has to reduce people to cogs? The command
economy will be run by the workers themselves, not the party. That is what
socialism is! Why assume that the party will run everything? It certainly
does not in Brazil or Venezuela, or Cuba.
As for the statement that “Our socialism will embrace a new humanist ethos
and value system, that is what Marxism-Leninism does. Marxism-Leninism is
synonymous with humanism. This has nothing to do with whether or not there
is a command economy under socialism. Furthermore, a command style economy
with bureaucratic collectivism could be construed as trade unionism,
something that will be replaced by socialism in the 21st century. The dream that
“the builders of socialism should put into place a dense network of worker
and community organizations that are politically and financially empowered
to govern” assumes that everyone will participate. Unless incentives are
put in place, this will not work.
As for dropping the term democratic centralism, this cannot be done in a
communist party. This is how we function. Democratic Centralism “is” force
of argument. That is how unions decide questions of major importance such
as the decision to strike. The conscience of the majority, by unity of will.
Remember that the Bolsheviks we busy in 1917 too. Workers worked more than
the customary 8 hours a day. What makes us any different. Membership in
our party is voluntary. If members can't follow what is in our constitution,
they shouldn't be members. That is what distinguishes us from other
political parties. We are disciplined. We make a plan and we stick with it. We are
not like the social-democratic parties that spend all their time in
endless debates.
Regarding the internet, the party should not abandon ground organizing if
favor of the internet. It should use both. Our clubs depend on literature
to reach people in our communities. We can't neglect this work. The internet
that we have seen is very limited. There isn't much there to see. There
has to be more on those pages like the CPUSA website. There should be a
direct link to International Publishers on the home page. We shouldn't have to
surf through endless links to find it. International Publications is a
party entity and should be treated as such. Currently there is no members
section. There is no on-line store to purchase party supplies or to order
pamphlets in print. We should have position papers on things effecting the
working class: a paper on the foreclosure crisis, a paper on homelessness, a
paper on war and peace, a paper on the struggle to reform labor law, a paper on
immigration and citizenship. If these were on the web page,in PDF format,
our clubs could download them and use them in our communities. If we are
concentrating on the web so much, we need to use it to our advantage. Right
now it looks like something of a command style bureaucracy.
Regarding the statement that, “No party , including ours, is mistake free;
we make mistakes and we make them in the present as well as the past.
Politics is complex and fluid, and mistakes in theory, assessments and
practices are inevitable” it would be nice if the party of the first country of
socialism was afforded that same luxury! What gives us the right to judge
Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union in the great patriotic war? What right
do we have to distance ourselves from him? None. What was achieved until
1953, the year of Stalin's death could never be achieved by the CPUSA.
Never! The USSR saved the world from fascism and fought a war on two fronts. To
distance ourselves from Stalin is anti-communism at its worst. This is not
worthy of our party. Let us reunite ourselves with the legitimate
communist and workers parties of the world. It is ours to win in the 21st century.
</pre>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-9859052140587063472012-09-16T12:26:00.003-07:002012-09-16T12:26:57.267-07:00Communists and the so called “Socialism of the 21st century”<!--[if !mso]>
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<b>Reposted from the International Communist Review: http://www.iccr.gr/site/en/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Pável Blanco Cabrera</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Member of the central committee of the Communist Party of
México</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In memory of </i><b>Vladimir Ilich Lenin</b><i>, on the
occassion of the 140<sup>th</sup> anniversary of his birth.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world counterrevolution of the end of the 20th century
gave impulse on the ideological field to the thesis of the <b><i>end of the
history</i></b>, a campaign directed to affirm capitalism for all <i>eternity</i>,
centered on questioning the validity of Marxism-Leninism and to disarm to the
working class and the opressed people in their struggle for emancipation. Also
known as <b><i>deideologization</i></b> this pretension designed by thinkers in
service to imperialism had as premise to discredit the theory of communism and
the praxis of socialist construction using the effect of the crisis that
carried to the temporary retrogression of the working class in the USSR and
other countries of the socialist field in Europe, Asia and Africa. At the
same time, taking advantage of the confusion of the momment in the workers'
movement and in the communist parties – several of which renounced to their identity
and objectives in order to transform themselves into socialdemocrat parties-,
it cultivated the surge of new forms of dominant ideology, such as
postmodernism and other variants to influence not only in universities and
centers of formation, culture and art, but to permeate unions, popular
movements and organizations, left political forces, progressive intellectuals
and also to impact negatively in communist and workers parties.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The general objective of imperialist strategy was not
achieved, since reality cannot be holded to a straight jacket, and class
struggle did not stop for a single second, regardless of the fact that
counterrevolution, triumphant at that moment, presented with propaganda
historical events distorted to its favor. Today –two decades after the Berlin
Wall and all that volley of irrationality- capitalism at crisis has the working
class and the communist and anti-imperialist movements confronting it in all
continents. Nevertheless in a secondary way this served as breedign ground
for a series of approaches that today can become constraints to carrying the
struggle to new favorable levels for the international working class and the
peoples of the world. Various of these approaches converge in the so
called "Socialism of the 21st century".</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The so called "Socialism of the 21st century"
cannot be identified with the theoretical elaboration of a single political and
ideological current, since its the confluence of diverse currents identified by
their hostility to Marxism-Leninism and to the international communist
movement: for example various trotskyist groups; heirs of the <i>new left</i>; <i>latinoamericanist
marxists</i>; supporters of movementism and neo anarquist; intellectuals that
consider their contribution produced in the frameworks of the academy as
indispensable and essential for social processes. The paternity of such
concept can not be attributed to a single current, to a single author, although
they all have sought as platform the actual processes in Latin America,
particularly in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, but without renouncing to be
considered as universal and disqualifying like unfeasible all that can not be
grouped under its approaches. Another element of their positioning is
that they insist on the "new", “innovative”, "novel" character
of their proposal in front of which they consider the workers' movement of the
20th century and the ideas of Marxism-Leninism as old and out dated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In class struggle, since the conditions of social
development made possible the creation of the materialistic conception of
history, its not the first time that communists confront themselves with
currents that in the name of socialism present the positions of the petite
bourgeoisie, its not the first time that reform or revolution are placed face
to face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In <i>The German ideology</i> and in <i>The Manifesto of the
Communist Party</i>, just fot citing two works of Karl Marx and Friederich
Engels, adjustments are done with "true socialism", "reactionary
socialism" ("feudal", "petite bourgeois"), with
"reactionary or bourgeois socialism" and with
"critic-utopian communism and socialism". In another work,
result of the polemic of Marx and Engels with Düring (although the work as was
custom in the division of tasks of the teachers of the proletariat carried only
the sign of one of them) the following is affirmed: "Since the
capitalist mode of production has appeared in the arena of history there has
been individuals and entire sects who projected more or less vaguely, as a
future ideal, the appropriation of all means of production by society.
However, so that this was practical, so that it became a historical necessity,
the objective conditions for its execution were needed to be given first.<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftn1">[1]</a>”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A synthesis of the criticisms of Marx and Engels shows us
that not everything that is presented in the name of socialism has to do with
the historical role of the proletariat and of the communists:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The negation of socialism built in the 20th century.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the promoters of the so called "Socialism of the
21st century" there is a fundamental coincidence: the demarcation and
rejection to the socialist construction experience in the USSR and in other
countries of Europe and Asia. Some of them go further blaming the own
October Revolution assuming the old ideas of Kautsky and the opportunists of
the II International on the immaturity of the conditions for the conquest of
political power by the working class and the impossibility of socialism because
what corresponded was to develop capitalism, deriving from here the bases for
the alleged separation between democracy and communism; to explain that It was
all condemned beforehand to failure. However the generality is that
although they vindicate 1917 October the developers of "Socialism of the
21st century" assume the Trotskyist critics towards socialist construction
and to the role of the Bolshevik Party particularly, and to Marxism-Leninism in
general, in fundamental matters that we are going to examine further
ahead. In this they are can not be differentiated from for example the
theses assumed by the opportunistic group of Bertinotti for the V Congress of
the Refoundation Communist Party of Italy in the year 2002, that planted a
"radical interruption with regard to the experience of <i>socialism as it
was carried out</i>", something to which they also refer as to a
"radical break with stalinism".</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of those –really reactionary- ideas preached as
characteristics of the so called "socialism of the 21st century", is
argued, are not criticized in the name of tactics. In order not to
torpedo the process in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador that are in the center of
the anti-imperialis struggle of Latin America. There are even communist parties
that integrate such concept to its routine vocabulary, to propaganda and to the
programmatic question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not believe –upon setting our divergent and critical
point of view- to lack respect for those processes, which we support, of which
we are supportive. These processes were not born with the flag of
"socialism of the 21st century" and they have advanced a lot with
relation to their initial programs, but is necessary to add that they are not
consolidated processes and that the ideological confusion that is promoted with
the "socialism of the 21st century" can carry them to defeat.
With Marx we say that a step of the real movement is worth more than a thousand
programs, adding that an erroneous program as north of the movement can conduct
it off the cliff. It is a duty of the communists to place scientific
socialism as the road of the working class and of all the peoples, defending
Marxist-Leninist theory and the praxis of socialist construction in the USSR
and in other socialist countries.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before proceeding to a serious, scientific study of the
experience to extract the necessary lessons for overthrowing capitalism the
historical experience of the working class is condemned based on premises
elaborated by reaction or by opportunism, reformism and revisionism.
Communists reaffirm that in the same way in which the little more than 70 days
of the Comune of Paris provided extraordinary teachings that enriched the
revolutionary theory of the proletariat, the experience of socialist construction
that started with the Great Socialist Revolution of October constitutes a
valuable patrimony for the heritage of the proletariat in its fight for
socialism and communism and that it constitutes a serious error to reject or
avoid it. We coincide with what is expressed in the document of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece <i>On the 90<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the Great Socialist Revolution of October </i>"One of the
main tasks of communist ideological front is to restore to the eyes of the
working class the truth about socialism in the 20th century, without
idealizations, objectively, free of petite bourgeois slanders. The
defense of the laws of development of socialism and, at the same time, the
defense of the contribution of socialism in the 20th century suppose an answer
to the opportunistic theories that speak of "models" of socialism
adapted to "national" pecularities, they also respond to the
defeatist discussion about errors.<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftn2">[2]</a>”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Emerging subjects <i>versus</i> working class</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The developers of "Socialism of the 21st century"
coincide all in that the revolutionary role of the working class today is
occupied by other "subjects", calling inclusive to the construction
of new social agents; They resort to arguments of the <i>new left</i>, of
marcusianism, of t 60’s and 70’s, on the gentrification of the working class,
on their fragmentation, on the "end of labor". They call to
rethink the concept of "worker" and without performing that exercise
they pass to claim social movements, indigenous, the "multitude" as
the center of the transformation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A very important aspect of Marxism-Leninism is the
clarification of the role of the proletariat. Lenin express it
thus: "The fundamental thing in the doctrine of Marx is that it
emphasizes the historical international role of the proletariat as the builder
of socialist society" and further on the same work he expresses:
"All doctrines of socialism that have not a class character and of the
politics that are not of the class, showed to be a simple absurd<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftn3">[3]</a>”.
There have been changes that is true, but in no way they destroy the
contradiction in capitalism that is the one existing between the bourgeoisie
and the proletariat; in no way do they destroy the fact that the proletariat is
the only consistently revolutionary class to carry to the very end not only the
overthrow of bourgeois order, but the emancipation of the whole human
genre. They do not take into account that their role is determined by
their place in production, by their objective role in economy. The proletariat,
the working class, the workers, in function of acquiring class conscience
"for themselves" not only emancipate themselves, but all human kind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nobody will deny that in political struggle the working
class needs and should forge alliances with the opressed mass of the peoples.
But there exists a distance with that and the affirmations of those who search
for "new social actors" assigning them a liberating role above class
conflict when reality shows how passenger movements are.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Socialism without Revolution and… without party</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Socialism of the 21st century" claims that
neither the conquest of power or destruction of the State is necessary, but
with the conquest of government it is possible to initiate a new road. Because
of it all its developers do not speak of overthrowing, of breaking, of
Revolution, but jumping that vital need, they present post capitalism and they
devise already programs to transit to a new society. Because of it in the
speech of this political-ideological nonsense not the most minimum strategic
approach exists that conducts to the destruction of the State.
Consequently neither any worry regarding the construction of a revolutionary
party of the working class exists, a party of vanguard, a communist party.
What for? if it does not claim the working class as the interested in burying
the exploiters?, If Revolution is not claimed as the moment in which the
working class overthrows capitalism?, If the possibility of undertaking post
capitalist transformations is claimed in the framework of the old bourgeois
State?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let us take into account that besides planting that "in
the Socialism of the 21st century" private and social property are able to
and should coexist, inclusive the praise of a socialist market is done.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the programmatic approaches of "Socialism of the
21st century" are observed one can not stop from noting the similarity
with what was the democratic- bourgeois Revolution of 1910 in Mexico and the
period of greater radical nature in the developments that happened during the
government of Lazaro Cardenas in 1934-1940. During that six-year period
it was established that in schools, social organizations and in state
administrations along with the national anthem, The Marsellaise and The
Internationale were sung; an impressive distribution of lands was carried out,
a true agrarian reform; oil up till then in the hands of the American and
English monopolies was nationalized and in general a politics of
nationalizations was opened that conducted to the result that in the 80’s 70%
of the Mexican economy was nationalized; even a great aid to the Spanish
Republic was given. From this, under the influence exercised by
browderism illusions on the Mexican Revolution as way to socialism grew. Just
like the followers of today’s "Socialism of the 21st century" then
they spoke of a State placed above classes and of class struggle, as a lever
for development. For Marxists-Leninists the State is not a referee above
the classes in combat, its the apparatus of domination, of repression, in the
case of capitalism, of the class that has the property of the means of
production and of change, the bourgeoisie. Nationalizations are not by
themselves socialists, therefore in the case of Mexico they showed to be a
mechanism for centralization and concentration of capitalism.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>In stead of contradiction among capital and labor: north
against south, center against periphery.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another notion sustained by "Socialism of the 21st
century" notes as a fundamental problem to resolve the contradiction
between the rich North and the poor South, parting from deceitful statistics
and above all leaving sideways that both in the north and the south of the
Planet class struggle exists; the same thing is the harmful idea of the center
versus periphery that intends to ignore that we live in the monopolist phase of
capitalism, the higher phase of capitalism which is imperialism and that all
the countries are immersed in it, as well as with relations of interdependency.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>It is not a matter of minor differences but of different
roads.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are those who sustain that in reality such proposal
has come to bring up to date the debate on the alternative against capitalism
today in crisis; that that is its value and relevance and that besides its a
critical focus that with a similar ideological base than ours helps to
surpass the errors of socialist construction bringing fresh air.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We try to show here some questions in which the followers of
"Socialism of the 21st century" converge, however it is necessary to
affirm that we face a proposal that is not structured, but that results from a
mixture of positions, in some cases based on aspects of marxism, of
christianity, of the ideas of bolivarianism; eclecticism dominates.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They express that participatory democracy, cooperatives and
self-management will come to give answer to the "authoritarianism" of
the <b>Dictatorship of the proletariat</b>. And in short they throw
incoherent concepts with the purpose of torpedoing communist theory; but without
arguments; nowadays a position, tomorrow another; full confusion as the calling
to the construction of a "V International" with enemies of the
workers like the Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Contemporary struggle requires to advance firmly grouped
around the red flag of communism, for the transformation of the material
conditions of life, for the abolition of bourgeois relations of production by
the only possible way, the revolutionary way. Confusion helps In nothing, the
maelstrom of incoherent approaches that are raised with the debated concept and
that in last instance only are presented to retouch capitalism trying the
unrealizable operation of "humanizing it". For the working
class, and not only in Latin America, for the class-conscious forces and
revolutionary forces the duty is to fortify the communist parties that inscribe
in their principles and program, in their action the historic experience of the
workers of the world to overthrow capitalism and to build socialism, from the Paris
Comune to the October Revolution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is nevertheless necessary to conclude that “Socialism of
the 21<sup>st</sup> century” is an alien position and even opposed to
Marxism-Leninism and to the international communist movement in not only
questions of politics but ideological matters. It corresponds to the
communist parties to raise the red flag for the development of class
conscience, the organization in class of the proletariat and the assembly of
exploited and opressed workers, the construction of the necessary alliances
with all interested in overthrowing capitalism with an objective that since
1917 has full force and validity, Socialist Revolution. Its a task of the epoch
that we live at, that of imperialism and proletarian revolutions, and there is
no space left for "compromises" neither for confusion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Bibliography</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marx, K.; Engels, F.; Collected Works in two Tomes; Progress
Editorial; Moscow; 1971</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marx, K.; Engels, F.; The German ideology; Ediciones de
Cultura Popular; México; 1979</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lenin, V.I.; Collected works in three tomes; Progress
Editorial; Moscow; 1977.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<hr align="center" size="1" width="33%" />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftnref1">[1]</a>
Engels, F.; <i>From utopian to scientific socialism; </i>in Collected Works by
Marx & Engels in two Tomes; Tome II; Progress Editorial; Moscow; 1971; Pg.
149</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftnref2">[2]</a>
Communist Party of Greece; <i>On the 90th anniversary of the Great Socialist
Revolution of October</i>; in Propuesta Comunista number 51; Ediciones del
Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España; 2007; Pg. 48.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.iccr.gr/site/issue2/communist-and-the-so-called-socialism-of-the-21st-century.html#_ftnref3">[3]</a>
Lenin, Vladimir Ilich; <i>Historical destiny of K. Marx’s doctrine</i>; in
Marx, Engels, Marxism; Foreign Languages Editions; Moscow; 1950; Pág. 77 y 78.</div>
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Editor's Note: Compare this then to Sam Webb's "A Party of 21st Century Socialism: What it says and what it does"... - Koba</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-79794708157830274722012-09-16T11:52:00.001-07:002012-09-16T12:10:53.749-07:00Time to Change the Line<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JtKmvNkZjdVRDWBE_mKshv516cgrpX1iKqTdbK8jhS8IyguogRG9BHy90XIi_VT0ohE80cXWJeL_7vyBz_Jgo-OtN9hLHBXpuSRcklEpv0X2ecoyGuGjPjOluXnKeag77vTSOOe43_c/s1600/cartooncpusa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JtKmvNkZjdVRDWBE_mKshv516cgrpX1iKqTdbK8jhS8IyguogRG9BHy90XIi_VT0ohE80cXWJeL_7vyBz_Jgo-OtN9hLHBXpuSRcklEpv0X2ecoyGuGjPjOluXnKeag77vTSOOe43_c/s640/cartooncpusa.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Reblogged from Espresso Stalinist: http://espressostalinist.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/cpusa-job-interview/<br />
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<br /></div>
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To: Fellow CPUSA members<br />
From: Transit Club, New York City<br />
Subject: Time to Change the Line<br />
Date: April 12, 2012</div>
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<br /></div>
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Below are some facts for Party members to ponder before
again accepting the false and harmful “unity against the ultra right” line
stubbornly promoted by our top CPUSA leaders.</div>
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Our Party’s line, to be stressed at the April 21-23 national
meeting in New York means, objectively, CPUSA support for corrupt, reactionary
corporate Democrats in the White House, Congress, and in many state houses. Our
governor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, (D-NY) is an example. He is an instrument of Wall
Street power.</div>
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Anyone who thinks working for corporate Democrats is a stage
on the road to socialism, which is what our Party leaders claim, should study
the appalling record below.</div>
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Before anyone counters, “But the GOP is much worse!” a
notion which is, at best a half truth, there is another political line open to
our Party besides Lesser Evilism, the present policy.</div>
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It is this: Support progressives and independents in the two
major parties and elsewhere, whenever it still makes sense, i.e., when they
fight corporate power. But the CPUSA should devote its main strength to leading
the union movement — all the people’s movements — toward building an
independent political voice, divorced from both Democrats and Republicans.</div>
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This is our Party’s historic position. It is a longer,
harder road than Lesser Evilism. With some 16 million members across the US,
organized labor still represents a powerful political force that can criticize
or support a US Administration, as it sees fit.</div>
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Only the CPUSA has the history and theory to lead this
effort. The social reformists, the ultra left, the liberals, and the anarchists
are clueless or unwilling. About three months ago, AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka agreed to build an independent voice for labor. He conceded that is what
union members are asking for.</div>
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If the Party doesn’t act soon — if it leaves matters as they
are — our Party will continue to spiral downward.</div>
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In unity,<br />
Austin Hogan Transit Club, New York City<br />
(Signed, unanimously)<br />
__________________________________________<br />
Corporate Democrats in Power: a Select List of Misdeeds</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Politics<br />
• After the 2008 elections, Democrats squandered the people’s good will and
desire for change. They squandered the large Congressional majorities enjoyed
in the first two years, from January 2009 through January 2011.<br />
• After election, the Democratic White House appointed right-wing economists,
advisers, Cabinet members (Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Rahm Emmanuel,
and William Daley) to oversee policy. Many were the same people responsible for
the deregulation that made the crash more severe. Result: The people who
created the crisis were bailed out; and the working class has been forced to
pay the bill;<br />
• It refused to change direction after disastrous November 2010 elections, and
the early 2010 Massachusetts Senate special election. Results of the 2010
Congressional elections showed widespread anger in the Democratic mass base at
the direction of their Party;<br />
• Massachusetts’s special Senate election to replace Ted Kennedy should have
been a shoo-in. It resulted in a major Republican win, with blame placed on the
woman candidate, not where it belonged: the Administration’s insistence all
through 2009 on taxing union health benefits. Its betrayal was cited by union
activists and others for the refusal of Massachusetts union workers to vote for
or to campaign for the Democratic candidate.<br />
• In November 2010 Republicans took over the House of Representatives and in
effect the Senate. Further result: the Democratic drifted further to the right,
with more appointments and policies to appease corporate America, Wall Street,
and the Pentagon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Labor & Economy<br />
• On taxation, the Bush tax cuts for billionaires, the main cause of federal
deficits, are still in place.<br />
• In November 2010, to placate Republicans on the deficit issue, the US
Administration ordered a two-year wage freeze for federal civilian workers.
Many state governments followed its lead.<br />
• The White House continued Bush policy of bailing out the banks
unconditionally.<br />
• It abandoned promises on Employee Free Choice Act, the supreme priority of
organized labor and a matter of survival for private sector unions. This was
the centerpiece of the argument for unions to support Democrats and bring them
back into power. It was scuttled from Day 1.<br />
• In February 2012 the president signed a bill into law that will make it more
difficult for airline and other workers to join unions. The FAA Reauthorization
Act contains a provision that requires a union in order to succeed in a
representation election, to win not a majority of workers in a bargaining unit
but a majority of all potential worker voters. Worse, in order for an election
to be held, the union must submit signatures from a majority, not 35 percent as
formerly.<br />
• It offered little or no support for unionized public workers under all-out
assault in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere.<br />
• In almost four years, no significant worker safety and health regulations
were promulgated.<br />
• Its auto industry bailout approach was to slash auto workers wages in half;
to force workers to pay more for a diminishing health care benefits; and in
most cases to turn defined benefits pension plans into 401K plans (“defined
contributions”) a boon for Wall Street investment management companies; auto
industry “reorganization” amounted to forced plant shutdowns, large-scale
layoffs and major union givebacks.<br />
• On trade policy, the White House supported job-destroying free trade deals
with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, over organized labor’s strong
objections.<br />
• On Feb 22, 2012 Trumka denounced the White House “corporate tax reform”
proposal. While it contained a few progressive ideas (for example, making
leveraged buyouts more difficult) it failed to raise any revenue beyond what is
needed to pay for business tax breaks.<br />
• On international economic policy, through Treasury Department and the IMF
(controlled by the US Treasury Department) the US Administration, in league
with the German-dominated European Union and European Central Bank, has
toughened austerity against debt-ridden European peripheral states such as
Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Italy, hurting the working class of these
lands including their Communist Parties with whom we say we are in solidarity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Racism<br />
• There are sins of omission and commission. The US Administration boycotted
the UN’s International Conference on Racism in South Africa in 2009 and
actively worked to undermine any action coming out of it.<br />
• Domestic policies of action and inaction have dramatically increased
unemployment, poverty and inequality across the board; but by far joblessness
is worst in African-American working class and poor communities. Yet no special
measures to address mass unemployment among Black youth, near 50 percent in big
cities.<br />
• Even before the 2008 crash, Black religious leaders were protesting on Wall
Street that their congregations were special victims of predatory subprime
mortgage lending, but there have been few special measures from the
Administration to help them avoid foreclosure and eviction.<br />
• Increase in federal deportation of undocumented workers, mostly Latino, above
the level seen in the Bush era.<br />
• No concerted federal drive against racial profiling of Blacks and Muslims.
Local police departments are often out of control in this matter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Foreign and Military Policy; War and War Budget<br />
• The Administration reappointed Robert Gates, Bush’s defense secretary as its
own defense secretary.<br />
• It continues the 50-year blockade of socialist Cuba.<br />
• It has given the green light to Israeli aggression. Indifferent to
Palestinian suffering, it has no objection to Israeli bombing of Gaza and
seizure and detention of humanitarian relief ships to Gaza. It has cravenly
capitulated to the Israel Lobby. It renewed loan guarantees for Israel. It has
failed to come down firmly against continuing Israeli settlements.<br />
• It is threatening and encircling People’s China. It forced Australia to
accept a US base on its territory at its closest point to China; it began a
ten-year projected buildup of US forces in East Asia, aimed at China.<br />
• It committed aggression against Libya and Honduras. It overthrew both
legitimate governments. In the former, there was all-out US military and
political support for aggression by other NATO powers. It assassinated the
Libyan head of state. It gave at least tacit approval to the Honduras coup,
refusing to label it as such. It has recognized the elections run by the coup
government in Honduras.<br />
• It is now working on destabilizing Syria, in preparation for “regime change.”<br />
• It continues demonization, threats and military pressure against socialist
North Korea.<br />
• It continues the Bush-era policy aimed at internal subversion of and military
pressure on Venezuela and other progressive Latin American governments. It
continues Bush buildup of Fourth Fleet encircling Latin America.<br />
• It is building AFRICOM, a network of US military bases in Africa. US Navy is
increasing patrols off Somali coast.<br />
• Like Clinton and later, Bush, this White House has refused to sign the land
mine treaty<br />
• Its “departure” from Iraq is bogus. The US will keep at least 15,000 troops
and mercenaries indefinitely, not to mention a Baghdad embassy the size of a
small state.<br />
• It deployed tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. (the
“Surge”) Despite latest atrocities (premeditated mass murder of children,
Koran-burnings, desecration of the dead) US still committed to full-scale war
in Afghanistan.<br />
• It uses drones in Pakistan. Now such drones are allowed, with the agreement
of Congress, to be used within the U.S.<br />
• It talks the talk about a “nuclear-free world,” as did Ronald Reagan. On the
other hand, after intensifying economic warfare against Iran, it is joining
Israel in threatening Iran with bombing, for non-existent nuclear weapons
program. It carries out unofficial, un-declared wars by means of Special Forces
in Iran border areas.<br />
• It appointed Bill Clinton to be UN Special Representative to Haiti. As
president, Clinton consistently undermined Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the most
progressive elected Haitian leader in modern times.<br />
• It wages a “secret” border war, as well as a drone war in Pakistan and Yemen.
It expanded CIA and US Special Forces interventions in both countries.<br />
• It gave military support to Saudis to crush opposition in Bahrain, the seat
of the main US naval base in Persian Gulf.<br />
• It introduced the largest military budget in history, nearly $700 billion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Civil Liberties; Constitutional Rights; Repression</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• A provision of Defense Reauthorization Act, recently
signed by the President allows any US president to assassinate a US citizen
suspected of terrorism anywhere in the world, without due process of law.<br />
• The Administration expanded extrajudicial killings and assassinations by
drones and US Special Forces<br />
• Supported impunity for Bush era war criminals and torturers; refused to
release Bush-era military prison and torture photos; refused to release Bush
era documents on torture, mistreatment of prisoners and other illegal acts<br />
• Despite campaign promises and a signed Executive Order, White House has not
shut down Guantanamo<br />
• Continuing the build up of Baghram air base in Afghanistan as a second
Guantanamo. Civil liberties groups, US and international, believe
“extraordinary rendition” is going on there, despite Administration denials.<br />
• Seeking to extend the Patriot Act with all its repressive sections.<br />
• Dismantled the Occupy encampments in big cities, in cooperation with mayors,
most of them Democrats, with tactics suggested and coordinated by Homeland
Security Department</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Environment<br />
• In 2009 the international “global warming” conference at Copenhagen, supposed
to reverse Bush’s reactionary stance at Kyoto, was a fiasco. It merely cemented
the Bush direction on global warming and, in some ways, made it worse. White
House actively worked to undermine any effective outcome from the UN Climate
Change Summit.<br />
• Pushing thoroughly ineffective climate change legislation, which will be a
bonanza to Wall St.<br />
• White House has failed to stop mountain-top removal coal mining<br />
• OSHA regulations and EPA regulations have been stripped of original meaning;
and no new regulations of any note have been adopted;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Social Safety Net<br />
• Handpicked the Bowles-Simpson Commission whose report, accepting Wall St.
assumptions, favored cuts in social safety net, shrinkage of social insurance
systems and expansion of private insurance systems to give bigger role to Wall
Street.<br />
• In accordance with Bowles-Simpson recommendations, White House promised to
cut Medicare and Social Security in the 2011 “debate” on debt ceiling.<br />
• White House ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make
recommendations for ways to cut spending.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Health Care Policy<br />
• Accommodated corporate insistence that single-payer and any other progressive
proposals be rejected. Corrupt US Senators (e.g., Max Baucus, D-MT) ensured
such proposals were “off the table.”<br />
• The resulting Administration “reform” (ACA) entrenches private insurance
carriers and Big Pharma – which together are the main cause of the health care
cost crisis – in the system. ACA makes future real reform a heavier lift.<br />
• After promises that, in national health care reform law (ACA), no one would
lose what they have, in secret meetings with health industry lobbyists, White
House agreed to tax the health benefits of union workers which would a) force
employers to ante up 40% more in payment for existing benefits; or b) force
workers to accept 40% less in benefits, or c) force workers to pay the 40% out
of their pockets. After promises in campaign speeches that “single payer” would
get a fair hearing, but, in office, tossed out single payer approach as not
being insurance-carrier friendly and therefore not realistic. ACA forces
uninsured to buy their insurance from state-based, for-profit insurance
carriers, with benefits to patients still being highly questionable in terms of
their breadth and depth.<br />
• White House sold a national health reform as universal; when in fact, it is
not universal and it is a major bailout in the form of a guaranteed permanent
market) of already giant health insurance carriers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Women’s Equality<br />
• It has repeatedly caved in to the right on women’s equality</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Education<br />
• Education Secretary Arnie Duncan is the main proponent of charter schools, as
well as more standardized testing and “merit pay” for teachers. He is promoting
the privatization and corporatization of public schools and profit-making
schools. It threatens states with reduced federal support unless they privatize
more public schools.<br />
• It is threatening higher education in the USA, as in 2012 State of the Union
Address, with reduced federal support unless states reduce spending on higher
education; thus, objectively threatening the wages and benefits of faculty.<br />
• It has furthered the attack on public school teachers by continuing to agree
with the right wing ideologues that the problem in the schools is bad teachers.
There is little or no White House or US Senate effort to stop demonization of
teachers.<br />
Regulation<br />
• Administration’s mortgage rescue plan only helps banks and real estate
industry, despite campaign promises.<br />
• Despite campaign promises, it gave industry lobbyists positions in
governments. The private heath insurers essentially wrote the health care
“reform” law. Another example, White House appointed Cass Sunstein, a self
-described “libertarian paternalist,” to oversee regulatory policy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-79586141229712032712012-09-11T20:52:00.001-07:002012-09-11T20:52:45.885-07:00Pre Convention 2010: "Our struggles and arguments are defined by the interests of the working class, not the practical victories of the Democratic Party." Reposted from:http://cpusa.org/convention-discussion-summary-of-pre-convention-discussion/<br />
<br />
<i>This is part of the pre-convention documents circulated in 2010. One is forced to wonder, given the breakneck speed the Webb faction has been pushing the CPUSA down the path of revisionism, whether they even bothered reading this excellent document. [-Koba, Ed.]</i><br />
<br />
The Central Indiana Club sees the decline in our local manufacturing
sector and recognizes that the CPUSA needs more emphasis on service
industry organizing for the many reasons listed below. The local service
sector is essentially the only employment option for young people
coming out of Indianapolis Public Schools, if they're even able to get a
job. With education under attack for the purpose of creating a cheap
labor source for the service sector, it is essential that this sector of
labor receive the same attention that industrial unionization has in
the past. Furthermore, this sector of the workforce is comprised of the
most vulnerable members of the working class, especially those who are
undocumented workers. The service sector is also where young workers are
and the CPUSA and YCL can play an integral part in bringing the
Communist Plus to their organizing efforts.<br /> <br /> The Central Indiana
Club sees the priorities of the CPUSA as encumbered by the focus on
electoral struggle which seems to trump the focus on working class
issues and movements. Our Club is concerned about where working class
priorities come into conflict with a Democratic Party agenda and the
stifling of any criticism or critique of the Obama administration by
CPUSA leadership. Our club supports President Obama and worked alongside
with the campaign; however, Obama's agenda is not always the same as
the dire needs of working people. Electoral struggle is not to be
ignored, but it must not come at the expense of genuine working class
struggles.<br /> <br /> The Central Indiana Club recognizes the need for
more ideological discipline for the CPUSA. This is due to a disturbing
trend where the capitalist class is not seen as the enemy of working
class interests. The significant shift in the party line where "the
notion of only the capitalist class on the one side and the working
class on the other...isn't Marxist" is profoundly disturbing and
contradicts the very existence of our Party. The capitalist class is
indeed on the opposite side and works tirelessly at intimidating
workers, such as threatening picketing workers outside the Whirlpool
plant in Evansville where hundreds lost their jobs, or the outright
killing of union organizers in the nation of Colombia.<br /> <br /> In
Indiana, workers have been under extreme attack by the Daniels
administration since he took office on January 10, 2005. It began with
Daniels canceling collective bargaining contracts with public employees.
The attack got worse when Governor Daniels and the director of the
Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), Mr. Mitch Roob,
attempted to privatize FSSA. In the meantime, while Governor Daniels and
Mitch Roob worked their butts off to limit access to public assistance,
Governor Daniels and the Republican-controlled state senate privatized
the toll roads and looked the other way while industry closed down steel
mills and automotive plants. The once booming manufacturing towns of
Elkhart and Anderson are wastelands--visual proof of the class war waged
on workers in places like this throughout the nation. During the past
five years, Indiana has led the nation in the percentage of industrial
jobs lost. The governor has created the Indiana Economic Development
Corporation (IEDC) which has single-handedly given substantial property
tax abatements to lure corporations into the state and create jobs. The
result of the IEDC's efforts have been more burdens on the working class
homeowners to make up the losses in property taxes and no new jobs! In
Tipton County, a massive factory is empty and padlocked despite the
IEDC's claims of 1400 new jobs. Getrag Transmission Manufacturing
declared bankruptcy before it could hire a single Hoosier to assemble
dual clutch transmissions but still got the property tax abatement. <br /> <br />
Enter the mayor of Indianapolis, a Republican, who campaigned on
property tax reform in 2007. Mayor Ballard and those who elected him
have further worked to cap property taxes. The Mayor, in effect, cut the
funding to public schools and is attempting to sell off the water
utility without any safety or financial guarantees. Their plan is
simple, bankrupt the government (i.e., the people) and privatize
everything thereby transferring public assets into private hands. The
maniacal genius of this capitalist octopus knows no limits and can
achieve so many victories with this plan. Not only do the public schools
get underfunded, the children, primarily Latino and African-American,
receive little to no education, thereby creating a never-ending source
of cheap labor. The graduation rate for students in Indianapolis Public
Schools was around 68% in 2008, the second lowest in the nation behind
Detroit.<br /> <br /> Indianapolis is the host of the Super Bowl in 2012.
This city is also a major convention destination for various
organizations and entities. Hotel construction is booming and with the
addition of Lucas Oil Stadium, the time is ripe for organizing. As of
this point in time, there are no organized hotels in Indianapolis, but
UNITE is working to change that. Indianapolis Jobs with Justice and our
club have been engaged in struggle alongside the hotel workers and
janitors. The goal of that struggle is to ensure that all the new
service industry jobs created in the midst of this economic crisis are
union jobs. Indianapolis library workers and school bus drivers were
successful in their efforts and this has set an example that service
sector employees and public workers can be represented by a union in
Indianapolis.<br /> <br /> This governor's administration is very dangerous
to workers' interests, especially African-Americans, Latino immigrants,
women, and young workers, those sections of the working class that are
most vulnerable. The governor and his attorney general, Mr. Greg
Zoeller, are, as this is being written, mounting a legal challenge to
the health care bill that just passed congress. During every legislative
session there are right-to-work initiatives introduced. There is no end
to the Capitalist efforts to destroy working people in every way
imaginable. <br /> <br /> The people in Anderson and Elkhart voted for Obama
because of the hope he represented and the need for universal health
care, a living wage, jobs and an end to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Those people are still waiting on those promises to be
fulfilled, and the CPUSA needs to fight for those demands, not just
those that are "winnable" in the short term because, as Communists, our
Party rejects the limits of bourgeois democracy and advances the
struggle beyond the confines of Capitalist political boundaries. Our
Party's, and Communist Parties' struggles around the globe, are actually
defined by the level of working class unity, organization, and class
consciousness, as well as material conditions. Communists utilize our
organizing efforts as well as Marxist/Leninist theory to illuminate
today's struggles and guide our work. Our struggles and arguments are
defined by the interests of the working class, not the practical
victories of the Democratic Party.<br /> <br /> The Central Indiana Club
submits this document as part of the pre-convention discussion and looks
forward to being a part of the debate to shape our party and our
future.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-35433924374956045972012-09-10T19:41:00.002-07:002012-09-10T19:41:45.230-07:00They Don't Care About Us...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWACnaLIRtI2GljRr3NlFxJNkkZA-z2f1tyL_yLdTX9v1m_9Mkdrx3JqDM4SIMk2WWpwGK5SdyboFo2FjqVw-HwjMLUOhgHoQQ4eFf16Xe2jPjyDKrRhA_QrJnEchESojAum-kzRuxgM/s1600/break+chains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWACnaLIRtI2GljRr3NlFxJNkkZA-z2f1tyL_yLdTX9v1m_9Mkdrx3JqDM4SIMk2WWpwGK5SdyboFo2FjqVw-HwjMLUOhgHoQQ4eFf16Xe2jPjyDKrRhA_QrJnEchESojAum-kzRuxgM/s640/break+chains.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-46164093776285785362012-09-08T06:17:00.003-07:002012-09-08T06:17:44.791-07:00Zoltan Zigedy responds to Sam Webb (from 2009)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Reposted from: http://willamettereds.blogspot.com/2009/10/zoltan-zigedy-responds-to-us-and-sam.html</div>
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It’s a curious thing about revisionism: once it takes root,
it continues unabated - inexorably towards further compromise and dilution -
even in the face of stubborn, contrary facts. This was the case with Earl
Browder who devised a new “Communist” strategy in the midst of an all-class war
against fascism, a strategy that he doggedly and dogmatically clung to even
when alarming signs of a new ruling class offensive were apparent to all at the
end of World War II.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, Sam Webb
has dug his heels in, defending and even expanding, his class-compromising
views on the path that Communists should take. Maybe its now time to anoint
this path with its own name: Webbism.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Webb sees the Obama
election, as Browder saw the World War II anti-fascist alliance, as a historic
marker, a qualitative turning point. “It constituted”, he maintains, “a serious
setback for neoliberalism in both its conservative and liberal skin.” It did
nothing of the sort.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Webb confuses,
willingly or not, a rejection of Bush’s rule on the part of the US electorate
with a sea change in the dominant ideology. Given that both Parties have
thoroughly absorbed the basics of neo-liberalism – free markets, the primacy of
the private sector, and minimal regulation – the notion that a regime change
counts as “a serious setback” for the reigning ideology is pure fantasy.
Certainly Obama’s election creates more favorable conditions for waging a
concerted struggle against neo-liberalism. But Webb doesn’t want to lead or
even join that struggle. With nearly a decade of railing against the rule of
the “ultra-right”, Webb treads water when the tide begins to turn, clinging to
the leaky vessels of the Democratic Party and mainstream trade union leadership.
He is content to not only defer to their course, but defend that course against
any more challenging alternative.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The notion of the
capitalist class on the one side and the working class on the other may sound
‘radical’,” he asserts, “but it is neither Marxist, nor found in life and
politics.” This surprising remark stands glaringly at odds with the words of
the first Marxists, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, who wrote in the opening to
the Communist Manifesto: “Freeman and slave, lord and serf, guildmaster and
journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in a constant opposition
to one another… Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie possesses, however,
this distinctive feature: It has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a
whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two
great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat.” This
is the Marxism of the Communist tradition, but not the “Marxism” of Sam Webb.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Webb’s quotes of
Lenin’s work are telling. He attempts to bolster his argument for collaborating
uncritically with capitalist forces by noting that Lenin urged the exploitation
of differences within the ruling class and the necessity of compromise with
allies: “to refuse beforehand to maneuver, to utilize the conflict of interests
(even though only temporary) among one's enemies, to refuse to temporize and
compromise with possible (even though transitory, unstable, vacillating and
conditional) allies - is this not ridiculous in the extreme?” It is important
to distinguish between exploiting differences between enemies and compromising
with allies – a distinction that Webb seems not to grasp. Monopoly capital and
its henchmen are not allies, but enemies. The progressive wing of the
Democratic Party (those who support single-payer, oppose the war, etc), most
African-American leaders, some small business groups, etc. are potential
allies, “though transitory, unstable, vacillating and conditional”.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Webb fails to reveal the target of Lenin’s polemic in this
quote from “Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder: it is not principled
Communists who recognize “the absolute necessity of a separate, independent,
strictly class party”, as Lenin wrote, but those who refuse to work in
“reactionary” trade unions or participate in parliamentary activities.</div>
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Lenin closes his pamphlet with the following emphatic
statement: “The immediate task that confronts the class-conscious vanguard of
the international labour movement, i.e., the Communist Parties… is to lead the
broad masses (now, for the most part, slumbering, apathetic, hidebound, inert
and dormant) to their new position, or, rather, to be able to lead not only
their own party, but also these masses in their approach, their transition to
the new position.”[Lenin’s emphasis].</div>
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In the context of warning about left-wing excesses, Lenin,
calculatedly and deliberately, reminds the reader of “the first historic task”
of Communist Parties. Sam Webb, willfully or inadvertently, retreats from this
imperative, consigning a subordinate role to the CPUSA, a role of subservience
and apology for the lesser of two evils.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zoltan Zigedy</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-72602755700828641742012-09-07T15:42:00.002-07:002012-09-07T15:42:36.731-07:00The road to socialism can’t be ridden on the wrong horse.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
From CPUSA New Hampshire's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/notes/cpusa-new-hampshire/the-road-to-socialism-cant-be-ridden-on-the-wrong-horse/501714323190647</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I
prayed with my legs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here we are in the midst of another national election cycle.
Here we are once again jostling for place and relevancy among the various
single issue campaigns and fringe groups, trying to get our voice heard in the chaos
and doing what we can to make money and members aka: surviving. And here we
are, pushing the same failed position of the “united front” against the fringe
right, and oddly enough supporting a party and candidate which, by any
standard, qualifies as “ultra right” in and of itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Make no mistake, despite wishful thinking to the
contrary in America we basically have a one party system- the capitalist party-
having two wings. The liberal wing is called the Democratic Party and the
conservative wing is called the Republican Party. Neither party is capable of
change on a systematic level but only of granting miniscule, expedient, and
convenient concessions easily taken back once no longer convenient. It’s not a
recent development, the American political system was designed to be largely
reactionary and ineffective, passing the least amount of concessions it can
bear and only at the behest of their capitalist masters like good little
puppets. But what can giveth can be taketh away just as easily. This is why
discussing the elimination of social security is on the table these days,
because Wall Street needs new blood and they sense a tasty new morsel with all
that potential investment money to squander and profit from. It’s why they’ve
even been discussing the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid. It’s why they’ve
already eliminated so many social programs. It’s because they are only
supported when convenient. They never would have dared to consider these
extreme ideas in the past, but things have escalated due to the loss of two
factors, the conditions which led to their creations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These programs were created and supported on two
conditions- our competition with a functioning socialist alternative and
massive grassroots support for their creation and continuation. Neither
of these exists anymore, and in the case of grassroots support it is unlikely
it would even affect the election of either party without an electoral
alternative to threaten them with, and when they both agree on something we are
stuck with it. They have the chance to eliminate the programs and we have no
way to stop them. We have a government that can now act with complete impunity.
But how did it get this way?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the last 30 years the entire political compass
has shifted, and the Democrats are headed on one direction, my friends, and it
isn’t leftward. Starting in the mid 70’s the Democrats have been moving
rightward, being pulled in that direction by fanatics on the right who kept
trying to move the entire map right-ward, which is why the political “center”
is still objectively right-wing. The move to the right in the national sphere
started with Clinton, who would have been considered a Republican 30 years
prior, and that it is both an accident of history, and a booming economy that helps
people forget that Clinton presided over the wholesale destruction of nearly
the entire social welfare system in America. He’s also responsible for the
massive deregulation of the banking system that has brought us the last two
recessions and which, in time, may signal the beginning of the end of Democracy
here in America. Clinton not only deregulated like a champ, but there was also
his little adventure in Bosnia, where we intervened in a religious war between
Muslims and Catholics that was killing people on both sides. Not something
leftist would do. And let’s not forget the literally millions of Iraqi children
whose blood are staining his hands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was almost 20 years ago, so where does the
present Democratic Party stand now? They’ve illegally assassinated American
citizens; they’re contributed to massive military adventures and humanitarian
crisis illegally and unconstitutionally. They’ve invaded sovereign countries
illegally. How does that make them any different than the Republicans? We’re
also still fighting two wars that are still technically illegal by the
constitution, still torturing people, Gitmo is still open, and whistleblowers
are being prosecuted at a record pace. And what about ACTA, a secret treaty
that the Obama administration refuses to divulge any parts of, illegally,
despite multiple FOIA requests they refuse to tell us about it. And this is
Obama, folks, not the republican boogeyman we had 10 years ago.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact of the matter is, things are worse now than under
either Bush or Clinton. We’ve got massive political suppression of votes with
voter ID and with the Department of Homeland Security orchestrating the local
police responses to the occupy movement. We’ve got massive invasion of privacy
issues, we’ve got illegal secret treaties that will destroy the internet as we
know it. We’ve got massive unemployment and their only idea is to make
construction jobs or give money to banks. We’ve got record deficits caused
largely by Bush era tax cuts that the democrats can’t even summon the courage
to fight with any energy. We’ve got the largest instance of political graft
ever with the Affordable Healthcare act, in which the government will now force
every American to buy private, for profit healthcare or be taxed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite these facts, there are still some who argue that the
Democrats pose an alternative, that they are capable of real progression, that
their revolution by baby steps can eventually (in a couple of lifetimes of
wishful thinking I suppose), take us to the end goal of socialism in America;
and that the Democrats are somehow not to be included in the ranks of the
“ultra right”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s a brief glimpse into some of their so-called
accomplishments according to the CPUSA so-called “Political Action Commission”:</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i>Affordable
Health Care Act extends coverage to 35 million uninsured people, outlaws
denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions and extends until age 26
the coverage of children under their parents’ plans.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Better to be called “Insurance company subsidy/
life support bill”, mandates that everybody help keep our broken,
for-profit system going by making sure we all stay enslaved to it for life, and
punishes us for not having insurance by raising our taxes. The problem isn’t
that we don’t have insurance, insurance agents don’t give our one pill. The
problem is access to healthcare, and the only acceptable response by the party
should be an unequivocal and resolute demand for single payer. It is an utter
disgrace that the party continues to support the bill, even upon the flimsiest
of arguments. Golden chains are still chains, and for-profit corporations are
still the enemy, or are we no longer communists? </i></b></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i>Stabilized
the economy with $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that
saved or created 3 million jobs. Invested billions in clean energy jobs,
saved the auto industry.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Stabilized? Hardly. We’re still in the hole,
unemployment is still over 10%, we’re still bleeding jobs, and zero necessary
banking regulations are in place for when the next inevitable and identical
crash. Keynesian solutions to market problems need to be done with cash on
hand, not debt. What will happen is that our national debt will become larger
than our budget, and we’ll eventually have to either raise taxes (impossible
these days) or start cutting vital services. This bill is likely going to be
the death knell to all the Great Society programs, and possibly even the New
Deal ones. </i></b></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i>Appointed
two women to the U.S. Supreme Court, including the first Latina woman, who
supports the rights of working people.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Race has nothing to do with political allegiance. What
he did is appoint another ant-abortion catholic who has a history of ruling
against a woman’s right to choose, and an inexperienced law professor who
opposes same sex marriage. They seem pretty status quo to me.</i></b></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i>Ended
the war in Iraq and moved toward ending the war in Afghanistan.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Really? When did that happen? Quick, somebody tell the
tens of thousands of contractors and private security operatives that still
operate in Iraq fighting now in proxy and without the constraints of
international law. Also, hate to break it to you, but to-date the war in
Afghanistan is still booming, with over 80,000 troops still operating in
country. Obama only removed a token number of troops to make some of his
democratic supporters, who obviously don’t pay attention, happy.</i></b><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perpetual war? Illegal invasions? Invasions of
privacy? Secret treaties? Funneling taxpayer money away from social programs to
fund tax breaks to billionaires and bail out obsolete companies? Corruption,
inefficiency, theft, murder, torture, kidnapping, oppression, and brutality-
and all under the leadership of the promised candidate promising hope,
transparency, and a new beginning- is this what we want more of?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My friends this isn’t the road to socialism, it’s the road
to fascism, and the democrats are pushing the horses faster than the
republicans ever were.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s my solution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We need to break the two-party monopoly. However, in many
states it’s easier to just run as an independent than as a declared third
party. So run as a socialist independent. Do whatever it takes. We need
to get people used to real socialists in local elections, and running the
governments competently and effectively. Make the issue about the economy and
be reasonable. Sound like a moderate (because even a center left is closer to
the middle than a far right). In debates be the adult in the room. Once
socialists are in office they can run for re-election under a declared
socialist party of some type. This will put us on the map.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other states we may need to challenge laws that keep
third parties off the ballots. An alliance with other third parties can help us
do this; make it about breaking the hegemony and expanding democracy. Organize
third party debates. Don’t run from the tea party, they’re in the same boat
with the Republicans as you are with the Democrats- sick of being used for
votes and then ignored once elected.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember in 1968, when the people wanted to end the Vietnam
War? The argument was whether a democrat, being more or less liberal, would end
the war. In the end it was a Republican, Nixon, who finally ended it. And it
wasn’t the ballot box that persuaded him to do so- it was the people on the
streets. And they weren’t getting permits to march or put up with police
oppression back then like we do now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point is to get to socialism- that is our end goal. This
will never happen utilizing the slavish strategy whereby we beg for concessions
bit by bit, and hope our overlords are in a giving mood. It will only ever be
accomplished if we stand up on our two feet, and we lead by example. We must be
the change we want to see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Socialism will never arrive via the Democratic Party,
and it is foolish to try. We tried to end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by
voting, and that didn’t even work. The DNC money poured into anti-war
organizations between 2003 and 2008 and our ranks were swelled and our coffers
were full. As a result the leadership of these organizations was filled with
people who bought the idea that, if only we had the right party in charge the
wars could be over and everything would be ok. So what happened? Obama won in
2008, the money dried up, and we’re still at war. Nothing has changed for the
better, and in some ways its gotten much worse.</div>
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Their dirty little secret is this: they need our votes
to validate themselves, but your vote does not obligate them to actually do
what you voted them to do. And once you do what they need you for, they drop you.
Which is why we are not only ignored now, but the leadership of these
organizations are still very weary to retain people critical of the Democrats.
Their job isn’t to lead these organizations, it’s to keep them in line with
mainstream politics, and to keep people who may be interested in an alternative
out of mainstream politics, or too frustrated to stay in activism. Their job is
to prevent change, not create it. Every time the leadership of an
organization puts party before principle the whole organization suffers.</div>
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On a personal note, it didn’t occur to me how bad the
problem was until 2007. I gave an anti-war speech in NH, and the video
ended up on YouTube. What I discovered, however, was that the main punch of my
speech was removed. My final statement was that if the democrats won’t end the
war, we’d find a party that did. Removed from my speech, it sounds like I was
supporting the election of a democrat out of principle, or that I was anti-war
because I was a democrat. Later, I discovered that following Obama’s election
the organization I belonged to saw their national budget shrink to almost
nothing.</div>
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It’s the little things that does much to
discredit an organization to its membership and makes it a slave to electoral
politics rather than principal. And a party that doesn’t stand for anything
really isn’t a party anymore.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-54899946796603260812012-09-07T05:44:00.002-07:002012-09-07T05:44:52.485-07:00Revisionism, racism, and anti-labor "progressivism" <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Reposted from: http://theminnesotaproblem.blogspot.com/2007/11/revisionism-racism-and-anti-labor.html</div>
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<span>November 18, 2007</span></div>
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Friends and comrades,</div>
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I got another e-mail from Alan Maki today.</div>
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I won't print that e-mail here but you can read it for
yourself on his blog. I think Alan's blog points out one of the most important
problems in progressive circles today--- the failure to confront racist,
anti-woman, anti-youth, anti-labor bias and bigotry:</div>
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<a href="http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/">http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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I would encourage everyone to read Alan's blog. Alan raises
an important issue. I think we need to probe more deeply into this issue.</div>
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Alan touches on an important issue I think needs to be
expanded on: Revisionism in our Party, the Communist Party USA, and how this
revisionism undermines the struggles against racism and sexism and the struggle
for labor rights and for the rights of young workers.</div>
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I don't think it is coincidental Alan has pointed out that
Sam Webb stands in silence on this issue involving casino workers along with
those he views as his "coalition partners." These "coalition
partners" Webb has referred to are the upper echelons of organized labor
and the business interests dominant in the Democratic Party.</div>
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I had been a big supporter of Dennis Kucinich until I heard
Alan speak to this issue a few weeks ago at our union meeting. Alan was asked
by the president of our local why he made disparaging remarks about Kucinich
and refused to join the ranks of progressives in supporting Kucinich. His
answer was pretty much what he has written in his blog interspersed with a
personal experience concerning the struggle to achieve integration in the
public schools another issue Webb remained silent on until the United States
Supreme Court came down with its recent adverse ruling. Webb never brought our
Party into struggle to try and stop the United States Supreme Court from making
this terrible ruling that undermines years of struggles for civil rights
including our Party's very distinguished and honorable role in this struggle
against racism for human rights.</div>
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You see there is a pattern that has developed here.</div>
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The "pattern" is one created by revisionism.</div>
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The pattern involves refusing to engage in struggles at a time
when this engagement can determine the outcome over an issue. Webb comments
solely on regressive and reactionary things once these decisions have been
made. Making him sound like the most revolutionary of voices in denouncing
these things. The problem is the denouncements take place after-the-fact not in
time to organize united struggles.</div>
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The recent auto negotiations provide a classic example of
this. We didn't hear from Webb about the auto negotiations until his
"Report" to the National Committee of our Party was posted on the
CPUSA Web site after it had all become "a done deal." Alan has
impressed this "done deal" malarchy aspect of revisionism on us I
think. Sam Webb and Scott Marshall proclaimed auto an important component of
what our Party sees as key to industrial concentration. Both Sam Webb and Scott
Marshal went on vacations when they should have been working to bring the
issues forward in the months leading into the negotiating process. These were
the key months when our Party's initiative and activity was needed and this
involvement and activity never materialized.</div>
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Back to the casino issues.</div>
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Among the primary weaknesses of organized labor preventing
organizing the unorganized has been the complete and universal failure of the
labor movement to address: anti-communism, racism, sexism, and the rights of
young workers and their specific problems.</div>
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The rights of young workers and their specific problems.</div>
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This is a biggie here folks so pay attention to this. One of
the first jobs working people will have today as they enter the labor market is
working in casinos. Does it bode well for organized labor or those engaged in
"progressive" politics to remain silent as these young workers are
forced to, as Alan Maki has been almost alone in publicly pointing out, that
they go to work in these smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any
rights under state or federal labor laws.</div>
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Not only has Alan Maki been the foremost advocate of the
rights of casino workers he just about "owns" this issue with a
copyright stamped on it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As everyone knows Alan Maki has been under constant attack
from Sam Webb who fronts for the Democratic Party like the Indian Tribes front
for organized crime with these casinos. Not coincidentally the issues are so
related they can't be separated. Webb refuses to address these issues of casino
workers as the problems they are in the labor movement and the Democratic
Party. Not once has he addressed these issues because he does not want to
offend his "coalition partners."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can read Sam Webb's vicious attacks without any
substance to back up the malicious accusations against Alan Maki. I find Alan
Maki to be one of the most principled and articulate voices in the working
class movement and on the left today:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=189196788">http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=189196788</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How does this attack by Sam Webb on Alan Maki stand up in
reality when Alan Maki's very public, transparent and open activity on an
entire range of issues including defending the rights of casino workers is
examined? Webb, forgive my French here, but Webb comes out looking and smelling
like a complete asshole. No wonder Alan has made fun of Webb and encouraged Webb
to circulate his attack widely.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sam Webb has never addressed the problems of casino workers.
Alan Maki is actively engaged working on this issue in a way most of us have
never seen a union organizing drive conducted. A rank and file organizing
effort without precedent since the 1930's before most of us were born.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have one of these casinos right here in Duluth. Several
of my friends work in this casino. What they tell me about the way they get
treated is terrible. They also tell me Alan Maki is viewed by casino workers as
a folk hero of sorts. How do casino workers view Sam Webb? Chances are they
have never met him and don't even know his name.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sam Webb's manner in using the Young Communist League blog
for his viciously racist and anti-labor attack on Alan Maki really underlines
how corrupting an influence revisionism has become in our Party that the head
of the Communist Party USA would be involved in attacking a leader of the labor
movement in the midst of an important union organizing campaign.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The attack on Alan Maki posted on the YCL blog really
demonstrates how revisionism blinds us to the real issues. Alan Maki doesn't
care about what Sam Webb or these revisionists say about him anymore than what
he cares about what leaders of the Minnesota and Michigan Democratic Parties
have to say about him. Why should he? If these kinds of insults could be
intimidating factors it wouldn't make him much of an advocate for the rights of
casino workers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Alan doesn't care, there is ample reason why the rest of
us sould care about Sam Webb's vicious attacks on Alan Maki because others are
now Webb's target, too- for many of the same reasons- including myself. Most of
the members of the Communist Party USA in Minnesota and Michigan have sided
with Alan Maki in this struggle against revisionism. One writer suggests that
revisionism already has our Party on the road to liquidation. A charge I agree
with completely observing the destruction of the Communist Party here in
Minnesota. Because of Webb's longstanding feud with Alan Maki it is difficult
trying to convince many working people to work with us now. I would point out
that Alan Maki has been the voice of the Communist Party on just about every
issue of importance to working people. He took up the struggle against home
foreclosures long before any politician would acknowledge the issue. He was out
fighting to prevent this dirty war from starting as he traveled to every corner
of this state and was attacked by every right-wing, warmongering creep around.
Alan Maki stood up and organized the opposition to peat mining in the Big Bog
and he stood up to United States Steel's intent to continue polluting the
waters of northern Minnesota.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I ask a very simple question: Where has Sam Webb and his
revisionist friends been through all of this? Nary any sight of them. They
wouldn't even step forward as those working in the iron ore mines and taconite
industry were faced with the threat from Cleveland Cliffs to bring in scabs!
Alan went onto Cleveland Cliff's property risking arrest to photograph the
mobile homes Cleveland Cliffs brought in to house the scabs exposing this to
the world. Now they decry, "The Minnesota Problem." "he
Minnesota Problem.""The Minnesota Problem" is a problem of
revisionism and betrayal of the working class by Sam Webb who pretended to be
working in league with Gus Hall then like a Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell he
trashed Hall's books after he died... what Webb didn't sell off through
liquidations for pennies he tossed into the dumpster. Again, who brought this
issue forward for all of us to hear about? Alan Maki. Not a peep of protest
from these perverted leaders of the Young Communist League. As far as I can see
they are as perverted in their personal lifestyles which dictate their
political morals as they are in their thinking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consider this:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main victims of racist discrimination in the casino
industry are young workers of color. Many are young women workers. Like my
friends who work in the Fond-Du-Luth Casino here in Duluth, Minnesota many are
young Native American single mothers having a very difficult time making ends
meet even as they work fourteen and sixteen hour days. I used to have to put in
these kinds of hours myself as a single-mom trying to care for my five children
as they were growing... let me assure Webb this kind of life is no picnic and
the heck if I am going to stand for Webb using these kinds of conditions as
something less than a footnote in his report to the National Committee. Webb
told some big-business publication he has problems purchasing pajamas for his
daughter. We are talking about working people not being able to afford to feed
their kids who don't even know what it is like to wear a pajamas which weren't
purchased from a rummage sale. Let Webb and his daughters go to work in one of
these casinos. Better yet, let Webb's daughters ship off to Iraq since he
thinks its alright for congress to keep funding this war as the Democrats use
this war to play their little games. I have never heard of a Communist Party
leader siding with the voices of business and imperialism the way Webb does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep in mind Sam Webb attacks Alan Maki using the Young
Communist League's blog not the CPUSA web site. I think we need to ask why?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This blog of the Young Communist League has never addressed
the issues of casino workers! Many of whom are young workers! Many of these
casino workers are young women workers. Many have small babies. Most of these
young workers are working for the first time in their lives. This is their
first experience working in the real world. This is their first experience with
human exploitation. What an experience it is!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Young workers:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working in
smoke-filled casinos</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working without
any rights</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a mention of
this by Communist Party USA Chair Sam Webb or the leaders of the YCL.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Communists we should all be hanging our heads in
embarrassment such a creep heads up our Party.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his revisionist outlook of the world Webb talks about
"the old stage" and "the new stage" of the class struggle
when working people are fighting to keep their heads above water and a roof
over their heads under the same old rotten capitalist system that is just as
rotten at any stage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alan Maki was fighting for peace and social justice and was
helping to found the Young Workers Liberation League paving the way for the
creation of the Young Communist League when Sam Webb was out partying at St.
Francis Xavier University as people were having cluster bombs dropped on them
and being napalmed in Vietnam.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, by his own admission, Sam Webb was hiding out from
the draft behind getting a university education in Canada. You call this a
"Communist leader?"</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alan Maki stood up to the war machine of Richard Nixon when
he was drafted to fight what Gus Hall called, "this dirty imperialist
war."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Webb's attack on Alan Maki isn't the pinnacle of typical
perverted, cowardly revisionism, I don't know what is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Webb represents the embodiment of a hypocritical racist and
bigot parading around under the guise of being progressive. Webb certainly is
no Communist.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alan Maki is too nice of a guy to say these things as they
need to be said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sam Webb is referring to me as "that bitch from
Duluth."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am just a "bitch" with two sons the military
recruiters are constantly pestering to join their mercenary army. A mother with
three children who can't find jobs and two children still in school. I am going
to say what is on my mind I don't give a darn who cares. I certainly don't care
what a revisionist puke like Sam Webb has to say about me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Peace, Love and Solidarity-</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rita (the bitch from Duluth)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-23511405200376632312012-09-07T05:13:00.002-07:002012-09-09T19:39:16.331-07:00Email: Censorship of the KKE Greetings to the CPUSA 29th National Convention<div style="background-color: black; color: white;">
<span style="background-color: black;">Originally posted at: </span><a href="http://www.focusonsocialism.ca/random.asp?ID=471">http://www.focusonsocialism.ca/random.asp?ID=471</a></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;">May 26, 2010</span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
Posted on MySpace Gus Hall Discussion Club by the
<a href="http://gushallactionclub.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: underline;">Gus Hall Action Club</a>:</span></div>
<hr color="#C80000" size="1" style="background-color: black; color: white;" />
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
May 22, 2010 6:48 PM:</span></div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<a href="http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=75721078&groupID=106565315" style="text-decoration: underline;">
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=75721078&groupID=106565315</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I
just recently received this important e-mail: "Please give this the widest circulation and distribution possible. Make into
leaflets and distribute widely. Post to blogs and on list serves, FaceBook,
MySpace, etc. Discuss at Club meetings and union meetings. Please distribute to
your e-mail lists. Everyone has a right to read and discuss this most important
message from the KKE. Those delegates in attendance at the CPUSA National Convention now in progress
in New York should use Robert’s Rules of Order and call for the suspension of
the rules of the convention for the purpose of discussing this Message from the
KKE. Note: This is the link to PAME, the All Workers’ Militant Front, as mentioned
below.:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<a href="http://www.pamehellas.gr/main.php?lang=2" style="text-decoration: underline;">
http://www.pamehellas.gr/main.php?lang=2</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
The CPUSA should be fulfilling its responsibility for international solidarity
and working class unity by bringing a delegation from the KKE and PAME on tour
in the United States in order to build support against our common enemies on
Wall Street and the other centers of capital. We need to know why Sam Webb and the National Board of the CPUSA have been
suppressing this message which they received on May 15, 2010. This Message from
the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) should have been released to the entire
membership of the CPUSA, the trade union movement and the public at the time it
was received. It should have been available on the CPUSA website, in the
People’s Weekly World and Political Affairs as well as made available to the
media--- including to C-Span listeners as part of Sam Webb’s “Main Report” to
the Convention which would have been more appropriate than his stupid jokes that
were nothing but a distraction from important issues affecting working peoples’
lives. There needs to be a thorough discussion as part of the CPUSA National Convention
as to what is going to be done here in the United States in the way of
solidarity with the Greek working class fighting to maintain their rights and
livelihoods and how the austerity measures capital is trying to shove down the
throats of Greek workers is part of capital’s drive to undermine living
standards of working people here in the United States and workers all over the
world. Now is the time to vigorously speak up against Sam Webb and the revisionists who
have hi-jacked our Party in the name of “new” and “change” and of all things, in
the name of “democracy” as they suppress this Message from the KKE and refuse to
distribute this Message to all Party members, friends and the trade union
movement here in the United States--- what kind of “democracy” is this? Alan L. Maki, Co-Chair, Lake-of-the-Woods Communist Club</span><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"> View the Greetings read out at the
CPUSA Convention to see the sections of the <a href="http://www.focusonsocialism.ca/random.asp?ID=470">KKE
greetings</a> which was omitted when read to the convention delegates (Start Video at 46min
mark) - FOS e-Bulletin Editor </span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white;">
...
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<br /><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" style="padding: 2px 0px 4px; width: 400px; background: #ffffff; display: block; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Video streaming by Ustream</a>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<b>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Message to the National Committee of CPUSA on the Occasion of the
CPUSA 29th National Convention</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<b>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Communist Party of Greece (KKE)</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<b>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">May 13, 2010</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<b>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="http://www.inter.kke.gr/">www.inter.kke.gr</a> ,
<a href="mailto:cpg@int.kke.gr">cpg@int.kke.gr</a> </span></b></div>
<hr color="#C80000" size="1" style="background-color: black; color: white;" />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify;">
<b>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Communist Party USA,</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">National Committee,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">New York</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Athens, Thursday, 13 May 2010</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Dear comrades</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We would like to thank you for the information regarding your
29th party convention and to extend our greetings to the delegates. Our parties
have met in the past in common struggles for workers’ rights, in the struggle
against anti-communism, for the defense of socialism and the Soviet Union, for
the unity of the communist movement on the basis of our revolutionary principles
and traditions.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We are following as closely as we can the developments in the
USA, the escalation of the aggression of US imperialism which lately has become
quite obvious. The US is striving to respond to the trend of losing ground
within the framework of the imperialist system by inciting regional tensions and
conflicts, so that it can take advantage of its political and military supremacy
in order to safeguard its interests and maintain its spheres of influence.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In Greece, the working class and the popular strata are facing a
barbaric attack, on the pretext of the economic crisis; an attack which has been
jointly unleashed by the social democratic PASOK government, the EU and the IMF,
with the assistance of the conservative ND party and the open support of the
nationalist LAOS party.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The remarkable resistance presented by the labor and popular
movement is spearheaded by KKE which continually strives to reveal the real
cause of the crisis, the sharpening of the basic contradictions of capitalism.
Without the consistent exposure of the compromised and discredited in the eyes
of the workers trade union leaderships of GSEE and ADEDY (the national
confederations of the private and public sector respectively), without the
decisive contribution of PAME (All Workers’ Militant Front), the national trade
union front comprised of class oriented Federations, trade unions, labor centers
and trade unionists, the labor movement in our country would have been disarmed,
unprepared, and unable to fight back.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">KKE</span><span style="font-size: small;"> calls upon the working class, the
self-employed, the poor farmers, and the youth to engage in even stronger, more
massive and organized actions in order to stave off the onslaught and pave the
way for a different path of development. There can be no way other than the
nationalization of the monopolies. The working class must take possession of the
concentrated means of production and mobilize them with central planning and
popular participation. This presupposes a struggle aiming for people’s power,
for socialism-communism.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fightback against anti-communism, the adamant defense of the
historical contribution of the Soviet Union and socialist construction in the
20th century, of the identity and revolutionary traditions of the communist
movement, take on particular importance today.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As long as the crisis of the international communist movement
persists, as long as the situation does not improve and retreats from
ideological and theoretical principles are not resolutely confronted, as long as
the front against opportunist views that hinder the formation of a single
revolutionary strategy against imperialism does not become strengthened, the
situation will harbor the danger of an even greater backslide.</span></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The existence of strong Communist Parties steadfast to the
principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, with a
revolutionary program for the overthrow of the rule of monopolies, for building
socialism - communism, is the foremost demand of our times.</span></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
We look forward to learning the conclusions and the resolutions of your
convention.</span></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">With comradely greetings</span></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Central Committee of KKE</span></span></h2>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-7107199334107763382012-08-28T19:23:00.003-07:002012-08-28T19:24:19.583-07:00Save the Party<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->[This Document was part of the 2010 pre-convention papers submitted, which was, incidentally buried and forgotten in the comments section of Political Affairs. It's insightful analysis was apparently not considered important enough to include in the list of pre-convention documents in the article: <a href="http://cpusa.org/convention-discussion-2010/">http://cpusa.org/convention-discussion-2010/</a> -Ed.]<br />
<br />
By Dean Christ, Kevin Kyle, and Joan Phillips<br />
<pre></pre>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We think the CPUSA convention, postponed several times,
cannot come soon enough. We believe the Party has been heading in a wrong
direction in far too many ways. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What has happened the Party<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span>s
tradition of class struggle, anti-racism,anti-monopoly, anti-imperialism,
political independence, international solidarity, and indeed Marxism-Leninism? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead of building the Party, the current top leaders (no
matter what they think or claim they are doing) have been dismantling the Party
piece by piece: eliminating the print versions of the People<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span>s Weekly World and Political Affairs, giving away the
Reference Center for Marxist Studies, keeping bookstores shut, abolishing the national
Organization Department and several clubs in New York, not to mention cutting
YCL funding instead of prioritizing it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The June 2009 move to end the print edition of the PWW sent
shock waves through the Party. Moreover, for top leaders to sweep under the rug
the many letters of protest from individuals, clubs, and districts, constituted
factionalism and a violation of democracy, for which there should be
accountability. With some top officers of the Party now advising against the
use of the word "Leninism" as "foreign," the word liquidation
used by some comrades seems no longer an exaggeration. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Build the
Party </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While those of us opposed to the current direction may not
wholly agree on the way forward, many would agree on the broad outlines: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Put the class struggle at the center of our thinking and
work. Organize the people's rage at Wall Street bailouts and mass joblessness
by calling for nationalization and democratic control of the banks and basic
industry, and by putting the Anti-Monopoly Coalition back at the center of our
revolutionary strategy to win socialism. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Put forth an anti-crisis program centered on job creation
and call attention to the special suffering of youth, immigrants, and African
Americans. Work in union rank-and-file movements, building unity, militancy and
class-struggle policies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Organize the unemployed into a political force to be
reckoned with by the ruling class. We need Unemployed Councils to fight
politically for jobs at living wages. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Resume our historically second-to-none role as a leading
opponent of racism, national oppression and all forms of discrimination, and as
an advocate and exemplar of Black-white unity. The conditions facing African
Americans, Latinos and other nationally oppressed people are disproportionately
bad and getting worse. Symbolic of the top leadership<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s
tone-deafness on national oppression, it was an affront to Latino workers, an
increasingly important group of the specially oppressed, to dismiss the
Spanish-language editor of the PWW.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Build political independence ideologically and organizationally.
Support progressive Democrats when they take the side of the people, and oppose
them when they take the side of corporate and military interests. Support
progressive independents. Run Communist candidates where possible and
appropriate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Oppose in principle the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan as predatory, unjust wars that must end at once. Oppose U.S.
imperialism in all its manifestations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Build mass people<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s movements
with renewed energy, including the anti-war movement, the movement for women<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s equality and movements against racist and political
repression. Rebuild Party-related left organizations, including in the labor
movement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Revive Marxist-Leninist inner Party education to enhance
members' political development. Its neglect is evident in the party
leadership's opportunistic collapseon so many issues under the ideological
pressure of monopoly capital. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Join unequivocally the fight against the impending
catastrophe of climate change and link this cause to the class struggle. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Heighten solidarity with the Cubans, Palestinians, and
other peoples besieged by imperialism. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Work with other Communist Parties, such as the Greeks and
Portuguese, who have been confronting opportunism and promoting international
Communist cooperation in recent years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of us recognize that the Party<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span>s
practice in the recent period, sadly, has fallen far short of these
aspirations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The blame belongs squarely with the Party's general political
and ideological line, and not, as some say, member lethargy. The political
line, rendering us indistinguishable from the Democrats, makes recruitment
hard, saps Party morale, and leads to chronic financial crisis. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All clear-headed Communists acknowledge that, in response to
the greatest capitalist crisis in 70 years, President Obama has opened up some
policy debates around health care, job creation, workers<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span>
rights, environmental protection and nuclear disarmament. These issues were not
-- and are not -- even on the agenda of the Republican Party. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet these positive openings do not cancel out the
Administration<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s role in the growing death and
destruction in Afghanistan, the billions of dollars pouring into Wall Street
banks and the corporations, the re-authorization of the blockade of socialist
Cuba, or the refusal to reverse Bush<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s policies
of rendition and the abridgement of civil liberties. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These openings do not justify exaggerating the possibilities
opened up by the Obama presidency or warrant fantasies about a social movement
led by Obama. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More and more, the Party line subordinates everything to
Democratic Party electoral work. It fails to grasp the centrality the sheer
gravity and scope of this world capitalist economic crisis and the hardships
the crisis is inflicting on the working class, and the corresponding need for a
militant fight-back. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The line wildly exaggerates Obama<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s
progressive side and sows illusions about the Democratic Party as a vehicle for
social change. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Iraq War rages on. The President recently signed an
all-time high $680 billion war budget, an obscenity, yet the Party voice is
muffled. The line since the last convention has weakened our ties to the
international Communist movement. Too many joint statements by the world
movement on the Middle East and other burning issues go unsigned by the CPUSA.
Our Party<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s rosy "analysis" of the Obama
Administration is rejected by the rest of a world Communist movement which is
mobilizing against U.S. imperialism's current crimes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some top leaders push technological panaceas. Yet the
over-reliance on technology is creating a party of people sitting alone in
front of a computer screen. The Internet cannot substitute for direct mass contact
with workers through print publications.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It cannot replace struggle in the streets, shops, and
communities. Militant tactics measuring up to the desperate conditions created
by this economic crisis are not pushed by the CPUSA. In practice, the current
political line ignores the lessons of the 1930s and our Party’s finest legacies:
the CIO, and the building of all mass movements from the grass roots. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our Party publications have lost working-class common sense.
Their pages lavish undeserved praise on the Administration, and downplay what
really matters such as: an immediate end to the U.S. aggressions in the Middle
East; a jobs program which is not a carbon copy of the AFL-CIO program, and which
puts forth advanced demands such as a cut in the workweek with no cut in pay;
equality for all nationally oppressed groups; an end to the blockade of Cuba
and freedom for the Cuban Five; and health care reform worthy of the name. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The gap between reality and the current political line has
rarely been greater. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need a change.
We want to restore a fighting Communist Party organization that leads struggle.
Let’s make the most of our pre-convention discussion.</div>
<pre></pre>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-73056540693536132242012-08-26T12:52:00.000-07:002012-08-26T12:52:42.658-07:00From the Communist Party of Canada: Lessons from Our History: Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada.<span style="color: black; font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Aug. 27-28, 2011</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div style="color: white;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This
year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of
Canada. From its founding convention held in a barn in Guelph, Ontario
in 1921 until today, we have striven to remain true to our guiding
principles and theory, and to realize them in our daily activities and
struggles as a revolutionary party of the working class of Canada,
based firmly on MarxismLeninism and proletarian internationalism.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">As
we celebrate this anniversary, we remember the many contributions and
achievements of our Party over those ninety years. Whether it was in
organizing the unorganized, forging most of the industrial and public
sector unions which exist today in our country; building and leading the
farmers' movements for survival and dignity; organizing the ranks of
Canada's unemployed during the Great Depression, launching the famous
OntoOttawa Trek; mobilizing thousands of young volunteers to fight
against fascism in Spain and later across Europe during WWII; building
the peace & disarmament movement in the postwar years; leading the
historic struggle within the labor movement in Englishspeaking Canada to
recognize the national rights of Quebec; helping to forge the
panCanadian student movement in the 1970s; helping to build broad
movements for civic reforms, universal health care, and defense of
Canadian sovereignty; all of these and many other episodes in our
history we remember with pride.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">And
we remember too that our revolutionary activities were carried out in
circumstances of unrelenting hostility and attacks from Canada's ruling
capitalist class and its state. The periods when our Party was forced to
work under conditions of illegality; when Tim Buck and other Party
leaders and members were convicted and imprisoned; the McCarthystyle
witch hunts which targeted our members and supporters and Communistled
unions; the secret ProFunc plans of the Canadian State to round up and
incarcerate thousands of Communists and their families; the constant
ideological, propaganda and physical attacks against our Party (from
both the right and 'left') because it refused to succumb to
antiSovietism we remember all of those difficult days, and honor the
memory of those comrades who endured such outrages with courage and
resolve. We came to understand both at a theoretical level and through
those reallife experiences as a Party that the class purpose of those
political and ideological attacks was not only to weaken and diminish
our ranks, and to isolate the Communists from our living ties to the
working class; it was also done in the hope of shaking Communists from
our class bearings and pressuring the Party to abandon its revolutionary
theory.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It
is in this context that we mark another anniversary of sorts this year
it has been two decades since the innerparty struggle that almost
liquidated our Party. In the late 1980s, George Hewison assumed the
Party leadership and shortly thereafter a motley group of right
opportunists, careerists and Trotskyists gradually gained ascendency
within the Central Committee of the CPC. They were able to do so by
concealing their liquidationist agenda and by taking advantage of
confusion and disorientation within Party ranks due to developments in
the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) where under
Gorbachev's stewardship the clouds of counterrevolution were gathering.
In due course, the Hewison clique set about dismantling our Party piece
by piece, starting with the dissolution of the Young Communist League
and layoffs of Party cadre, and then the closure of the party's print
shop and publishing house, and progressive bookstores across the
country.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">As
their liquidationist project gained momentum, this group began to
openly break with the ideological principles and political line of our
Party. They began negating the history of our Party (and that of the
international communist movement in general) as having been "sectarian",
"vanguardist" and "doctrinaire". They advanced reformist ideas about
"incremental change" in place of, and as a substitute for, the concept
of revolutionary transformation from capitalism to socialismcommunism.
They decreed that "imperialism" was an outdated concept (!), which no
longer characterized "post industrial capitalism". And they attacked
democratic centralism, the organizational principle of our Party, and
set about dismantling Party clubs and other organizational structures.
Over time, their denunciations of "Stalinism" led to attacks on Leninist
ideas, and ultimately to a refutation of the postulates of Marxism
itself. And they proposed that the Party change its name, dropping all
reference to 'communist' from our banner.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Behind
the scenes, this liquidationist faction began holding secret meetings
with social democrats and 'independent leftists' to dissolve the
Communist Party with the goal of forming a new 'united party of the
socialist left', using party assets to finance their new venture.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Following
the 1990 Convention, opposition to the increasingly obvious abandonment
of Marxist theory and practice by the Hewison leadership grew across
the country. When detailed evidence surfaced of their secret plans to
dissolve the Party and steal its assets, and as expulsions of members
began, the majority of the party membership demanded an emergency
Canadawide convention to resolve the issue. But the liquidators refused
and instead set about dissolving party clubs and provincial committees
that opposed their conspiracy. Members were told to sign loyalty oaths
to Hewison et al or else face a refusal to renew their memberships.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Ultimately
however the membership defeated their plans and saved the Communist
Party from destruction, but at a heavy political, organizational and
financial cost.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Ours
was not the only Communist Party to go through such a convulsive
experience; other parties around the world went through similar and
sometimes worse trials during those difficult years. To our south, a
liquidationist faction attempted to gain control of our sister party the
Communist Party USA, but were successfully beaten back.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
lessons drawn from that painful episode in our history are important
for the Communists in Canada veterans and new members alike. But they
are lessons which can also be useful to Communists internationally, in
our common struggle for social emancipation, for an end to class
exploitation and oppression for socialism.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It
is in this context that we now comment on recent developments and
debates which have been taking place in our neighboring party, the
CPUSA. For several years now, our Central Committee has received
inquiries from many concerned members about political and organizational
changes in that party, and the renunciation by leading cadres of such
fundamental Marxist concepts as "the dictatorship of the proletariat",
"democratic centralism" and "proletarian internationalism." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
concerns raised have dealt with a number of interrelated issues, such
as various statements issued by the CPUSA dealing with international
questions, especially on the Palestinian struggle, and on the U.S. wars
of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan; on trade union policy which many
feel is insufficiently critical of class collaborationism in the
leadership of the AFLCIO (which has a direct bearing on Canada given the
large presence of AFLCIO affiliates in the Canadian Labor Congress); on
the assessment of the role and class position of the Obama
Administration and the Democratic Party and the absence of any
independent electoral presence of the CPUSA in its own name; on various
pronouncements by leading figures of the CPUSA on changing the party
name, in describing the multitrillion dollar government bailouts as "a
dose of socialism", etc.; and in organizational decisions to cease the
print editions of People's Weekly World and Political Affairs, the
layoffs of Party and YCL organizing staff, the internetbased 'open door'
approach to party recruitment, etc.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Although
deeply concerned about many of these developments, our Central
Committee has until now refrained from comment. However, in light of the
publication earlier this year of the article "A Party of Socialism in
the 21st Century" by CPUSA Chair Sam Webb, our Central Committee finds
it necessary to clarify our Party's views on certain critical questions
which have been raised. Although the various theses presented in this
article refer, in the first place, to a proposed reorientation of the
CPUSA itself, its title and text read as if these ideas should form the
'template' of the political approach of Communist parties in general, or
certainly at least in other advanced capitalist countries such as
Canada. This assumption was confirmed when comments from other fraternal
parties were actively solicited by the CPUSA, a highly unusual
practice.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We
are aware of the formal responses given to this article by the
Communist Parties of Greece (KKE) and Mexico. Our Party is in
substantive agreement with the main criticisms of this document
expressed by these two parties. We consider that the political line
advanced in "A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century" constitutes a
fundamental departure from MarxistLeninist theory and practice. The
pursuit of such an approach will objectively lead to the liquidation of
the CPUSA as a revolutionary party of the working class in that country.
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Based
on our 90 years of struggle, on our Party program "The Road to
Socialism", our Constitution, and on the decisions reached our
conventions, the Communist Party of Canada understands its nature and
role, and undertakes its political activities, as guided by the
following general considerations and conclusions (among others):<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that the main contradiction underlying capitalism in Canada today
remains the class contradiction, reflecting in the class struggle
between the two main classes the ruling capitalist class (especially
its core, monopoly capital) and the working class of our country, a
contradiction which can only be resolved through the revolutionary
transformation of our society from capitalism to socialism.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
therefore that as a revolutionary party, the main task of the CPC is to
defend and advance the longterm interests of the working class in
pursuit of this ultimate objective, and "strives to be the leading
political party of the working class, of all who labor by hand and
brain... [a party which] arises out of the working class and is an
organized political detachment of that class... [and which] has no
interests separate and apart from those of the working class as a
whole."<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that our Party supports the struggle for immediate reforms to improve
the conditions of the working class and the people under capitalism, and
seeks unity with all other forces which support and will fight for such
advances; at the same time, our Party never loses sight of the ultimate
goal of socialism nor the fact that there can be no other course to
socialism other than through the revolutionary overthrow of the existing
order. In this regard, we consider a correct understanding of the
dialectical relationship between reform and revolution to be of
paramount importance;<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that in pursuing the broadest possible unity with other class and
social forces to achieve immediate advances, it is absolutely imperative
for our Party to studiously safeguard its independent role as a
revolutionary party of the working class and oppose tendencies or
pressures either from within or without our ranks to efface or
submerge our independent role. The CPC considers it vital that it speak
directly, visibly and openly in our own name, and engage in ideological
struggle the 'battle of ideas' against bourgeois, reformist and class
collaborationist concepts that weaken, disarm and divide the movement;<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that the "world outlook of [our] Party is based on Marxism-Leninism,
which embodies the theory of scientific socialism first developed by
Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and V.I. Lenin. Marxism-Leninism is not a
dogma; it is a living, developing theory, tool of analysis and guide to
action. It incorporates the concentrated experience of all the struggles
of the working class, both in Canada and around the world" [from
Chapter 8 of our Party Program "Canada's Future is Socialism"]; <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that the CPC is imbued with a proletarian internationalist outlook,
reflected in both our struggle to achieve socialism in Canada, and in
our active solidarity with antiimperialist and revolutionary struggles,
and efforts to build socialism around the world. A critical aspect of
our internationalist responsibility is the ideological struggle against
bourgeois slanders and distortions of the history of the international
working class movement and its efforts to forge socialism, both in the
past and in the present day; and<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">*
that in terms of our organizational principles as a Communist Party,
these "are determined by its political aims... to guide the working
class to the achievement of these aims, and to lead the people's
struggle, the Party must be founded on firm ideological, political and
organizational unity, and on the continuous organized activity of its
members in close contact with the working people, knowing their views
and needs, and able to explain Party policy. Democratic centralism is
the organizational principle which ensures this." [from our Party
Constitution]<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This is where we stand, and these are the principles which we unwaveringly defend.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
-End-</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-74673876338116077772012-08-26T12:25:00.000-07:002012-08-26T12:25:50.256-07:00Article from the German Communist Party: Of Saviors and Liquidators: V. I. Lenin, Alvaro Cunhal, Sam Webb Hans-Peter Brenner, German Communist Party<span style="color: black; font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><strong>
<span style="color: white;">July 9, 2011</span></strong><br style="color: white;" />
<br style="color: white;" />
<b style="color: white;">On a “Feature” of Coping with a Political Defeat </b><br style="color: white;" />
</span>
<br />
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Certain
Features of the Historical Development of Marxism is a work of Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin. In it he dealt with the consequences of the defeat of the
first Russian revolution of 1905. At that time, many party members
(including many recently enrolled intellectuals) left the revolutionary
party in droves. Soon after that, the farewell to Marxism, which we too
experienced in 1989-1991, became the fashion. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">As
a reflection of this change there occurred profound disintegration,
confusion, shaking and swaying of all sorts - in a word, there appeared a
very serious internal crisis of Marxism. The resolute defense against
this decay, the determined and persistent struggle for the basics of
Marxism, again came on the agenda. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">That was Lenin's diagnosis. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It
was -- and still is -- important for us German Communists to examine
what conclusions other Communist parties later drew from the defeat of
socialism in Europe and the USSR. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">First
of all, I think about the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba,
which had already adjusted to this disaster before the shameful end of
Mikhail Gorbachev who drove to ruin Soviet socialism, his country, and
his party. Cuba -- the country and the Communist Party – understood
this: the harsh “drought” of the Special Period would govern the 1990s
and early 2000s. Without its revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist character,
the Communist Party of Cuba would have given up its socialist goal. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Self-awareness or Self-doubt? </b><br />
I recall one Communist leader, prominent but, unfortunately, less noted
in Germany, Alvaro Cunhal (1913-2005), the longtime general secretary of
the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). At the time of the fascist
Salazar dictatorship, Cunhal’s underground struggle, his inspiring and
mobilizing role during and after the 1974 victory of the "Carnation
Revolution,” as well as his shrewd leadership, are legendary. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
advance of the socialist stage of the revolutionary upheaval in
Portugal was stopped by the united and coordinated actions of U.S.
imperialism, NATO, the EU, the main European imperialist states,
international social democracy, and domestic reaction. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Thanks
to his personal resourcefulness, Cunhal embarked upon a strategic
retreat. With a party united by a Marxist-Leninist program, he achieved
the preservation of the PCP and its mass influence. He developed its
clear profile, which it keeps today, as a revolutionary party of the
working class, peasants and other working people. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">To
this day, his conclusions about the character of a Communist Party at
the beginning of the 21st century are well worth reading. In his 2001
work, As Seis de Caracteristicas Fundamentais do Partido Comunista (The
Six Basic Features of a Communist Party) Cunhal goes into the internal
situation of the Communist movement at the beginning of the 21st
century. He writes: The international Communist movement, and the
parties from which it is made up, were subject to profound changes as a
the result of the collapse of the USSR and other socialist countries and
capitalism's success in its rivalry with socialism. There were parties
who denied their militant past, their class nature, the goal of a
socialist society, and revolutionary theory. In some cases, they were
transformed into system-integrated parties, and they eventually
disappeared from the scene. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In 2011 as well, this finding is relevant and correct. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Features of a Communist Party </b><br />
The Communist movement as a whole - Cunhal went on – has achieved
flexibility in its composition and reached new limits. Admittedly,
though there is no model of a Communist Party, nonetheless "six basic
features can reveal a Communist party, regardless of whether the party
bears that name or another. <br />
Briefly, their traits could include: <br />
1. To be a party completely independent of the interests, ideology, pressure and threats of capitalist forces; <br />
2. To be a party of the working class, the working people, in general, the exploited and oppressed; <br />
3. To be a party with a democratic internal life and a unified central leadership; <br />
4. To be a party which is both internationalist and which defends the interests of its country; <br />
5. To be a party that defines its goal as the building of a society
which knows neither exploited nor exploiters, a socialist society; <br />
6. To be the bearer of a revolutionary theory, the theory of
Marxism-Leninism, which not only makes the explanation of the world
possible, but also shows the way to change it. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
its simplicity and plainness, the last point sounds like it is of
little interest, just as the other five points appear to include too
little that is new. And yet these "self-evident truths" are not
self-evident truths - not even for Communists. But more of that later. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Classics Taken at their Word <br />
Cunhal made available to us the following explanation for his six
points. It is cited here, in more detail, because of its uniqueness and
distinctiveness: <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<em><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">All
the slanderous, punishing, anti-Communist campaigns are lies.
Marxism-Leninism is a living, anti-dogmatic, dialectical, creative
theory, which is further enriched by practice and by its responses to
new situations and phenomena, which is its job. It drives the practice
of enrichment and development, dynamically and creatively using the
lessons of practice. <br />
</span></em>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<em><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Marx
in Capital, and Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto, analyzed
and defined the basic elements and characteristics of capitalism. <br />
</span></em>
</div>
<em style="color: white;">
</em>
<div style="color: white;">
<em>
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
the second half of the 19th century, however, the development of
capitalism underwent an important amendment. Competition led to
concentration and monopoly. We owe to Lenin and his work Imperialism,
the Highest Stage of Capitalism the definition of capitalism at the end
of the 19th century. These theoretical developments are of exceptional
value. And the value of research and systematization of theoretical
knowledge is rated as high. <br />
</span></em>
</div>
<em style="color: white;">
</em>
<div style="color: white;">
<em>
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
a synthesis of extraordinary clarity and rigor, a famous article by
Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism explains
it. In the philosophy of dialectical materialism, historical materialism
is its application to society. Political economy is the analysis and
explanation of capitalism and exploitation, and the theory of surplus
value is the cornerstone for understanding exploitation. The theory of
socialism is the definition of the new society, the abolition of
exploitation of man by man. <br />
</span></em>
</div>
<em style="color: white;">
</em>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><em>During
the 20th century and the social transformations accompanying it, much
new theoretical thinking was added. However, there also was scattered
and contradictory thinking which made it difficult to distinguish what
is theoretical development and where it is a question of revisionist
deviation from principles. Hence the urgent need for debate without
preconceptions and without making truths absolute. It's not about the
search for conclusions deemed to be final, but rather the
intensification of joint reflection." Quoted from: www.kommunisten.ch </em><br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Cunhal
is now dead six years. His party, the PCP, however, considers him not
an idol on a pedestal, a "historical figure" whose thoughts and ideas
slowly but gradually have been forgotten. Today, his theoretical and
programmatic conclusions determine the path and self-understanding of
the PCP. But, unfortunately, it is quite different elsewhere. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">On Slippery Ground <br />
</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
current example of this is the thinking of the chairman of the CPUSA,
Sam Webb. Political Affairs, the theoretical organ of his party,
published in February this year under the title: "A Party of Socialism
in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It
Does." It has now appeared in German on the news portal of the German
Communist Party's website, www.kommunisten.de <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Why are Webb's theses of interest beyond the CPUSA? <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">For
example, why did the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), despite the
demands of the controversies and class struggles raging in that country,
to which it devotes so much energy and combativeneness, send a really
dramatic appeal To the members and cadres of the Communist Party USA! To
U.S. militant workers! It was also addressed to all the Communist and
Workers' Parties, "in order to protest against these theses." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">And now, why do German Communists deal with the Webb theses too? <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Sam
Webb stressed at the beginning of his 29 theses, each different in
detail and very different in theoretical significance, that he was on
slippery ground. The publisher of the theoretical journal of the CPUSA,
Political Affairs, also knew well what he was getting involved with by
posting it. The preface that introduces the article makes this clear. </span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">"The
following article represents only the views of its author. It doesn't
necessarily reflect the official views of any organization or
collective... </span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">"<br />
</span></strong>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">And
Sam Webb, too, seemed to suspect, that there would be some critics
reading his theses who would be reminded of the old proverb whereby the
overconfident donkey will go out onto the ice and dance, i.e., take
unreasonable risks.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">At
least this would apply to those who judge mental capers not by their
intricate originality and self-circling conclusions, but rather by the
donkey’s ability to keep its balance and pursue a course that will give
meaning to its (political) acrobatics. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Apparently,
to avoid such criticisms, Webb emphasized in the introduction that it
was a "draft," an unfinished manuscript, and that "readers will surely
note inconsistencies, contradictions, silences and unfinished ideas." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This
is all too ostentatious modesty, and the ensuing fishing for
compliments belies the altogether clear and complete implications of the
theses</span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">. <br />
</span></strong>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Communists without Lenin <br />
</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
the end Sam Webb delivers a very consistent idea, although it is not
original. A letter in the German Communist Party weekly Unsere Zeit has
already pointed out: <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">What
is so exciting, new and important for us in these theses of Comrade
Webb...? I cannot see it. Readers of Marxistische Blaetter already read
and evaluated the core of his "Reflections on Socialism" in mid-2008 (In
Focus: International Marxism, March 2008). And in our party, since the
mid to late 1980s, we have discussed other theories (for example, the
reduction of Marxism to a mere method, or the orientation to”Marxism
without Lenin." Not only did we do this thoroughly, but we developed
collective responses crowned with a new party program'. Lothar Geisler,
"Theses Not New," Unsere Zeit, July 1, 2011, p. 12) <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
fact, most of the 29 theses do not contain much that is new. Though he
writes of merely one in the article mentioned in Marxistische Blaetter
from 2008, in its approaches, the quixotic intellectual journey already
discernible in 2008 continues, but it now ends as a break with central
points of Communist theory — socialism, and the doctrine of the Party.
He runs aground on the shoals of a left–pluralist Marxism; or the
earlier "Eurocommunism," or the current democratic socialism of the
German Left Party, European Left, respectively. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">I
mention particularly the rejection of the theory of Marx, Engels and
Lenin as a unified, revolutionary theory of the working class. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">What is original here is a hitherto less well-known chauvinistic undertone. As noted in his Thesis #2: <br />
As for "Marxism-Leninism," the term should be retired in favor of simply
"Marxism." For one thing, it has a negative connotation among ordinary
Americans, even in left and progressive circles. Depending on whom you
ask, it either sounds foreign or dogmatic or undemocratic or all of
these together. <br />
Granted, Lenin was no Russian exile finding safety in the U.S., taking
out U.S. citizenship, and Americanizing his first or last name - perhaps
to Sam Cook or Sam Smith. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">But do ordinary Americans deem Karl Marx to be a fellow American? <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">And
does Marxism really sound so terrifically American, that perhaps Sarah
Palin herself, the icon of ordinary Americans, understands by Marxism a
sweetness and innocence, causing her patriotic sentiment to peal like a
church bell? </span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></strong>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Webbism? <br />
</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">So the real test awaits Jim and Jane, ordinary Americans. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Shakespeare's Macbeth comes to my mind, with its sigh, almost a curse: <br />
<em>"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." </em></span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">But the meaning of Webb's theses is more than noisy fury. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We
long-suffering European Communists are quite accustomed to this
counterposing of Marx and Lenin, and the elimination of the latter from
what is coyly called "Marxism" or - even more subtly - "scientific
socialism." </span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></strong>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">A Diminished Picture of History <br />
</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
the early 1980s, the German Communist Party grappled intensively with a
forerunner of today's "Webbism," the idea of a Western "plural"
Marxism, and a Marxism without Leninism. It arose in the study and
seminar rooms of the West Berlin professor Wolfgang Fritz Haug. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">At
the same time, the highly relevant Marxist journal Argument was being
published (compare Marxism. Ideology. Politics. Crisis of Marxism, or
Crisis of the Argument? Frankfurt am Main, 1984. Editors: Hans Heinz
Holz, Thomas Metscher, Joseph Schleifstein, and Robert Steigerwald.) <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
second argument pushed by Webb for the amputation of Marxism-Leninism
is even less original. And it is no less wrong. Back then it was also
formulated by the Haug school. Allegedly, Marxism-Leninism is not
"classical Marxism." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Sam
Webb's allegation of "simplification" of the ideas of Marx, Engels,
Lenin and other early Marxists in the form of "Marxism-Leninism" in the
Stalin era is simply wrong. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
the Soviet Communist Party and the Communist International, after the
death of Lenin and long before the nonsensical enthronement of Stalin as
the "one true disciple of Lenin," acknowledgement began of Lenin as the
third classical author of Marxism. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
careful processing, safeguarding and development of Lenin's theoretical
legacy by many CPSU and Comintern theorists are hidden by the Webb
theses in a way that ignores history. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
general assertion that "Soviet scientists under Stalin's leadership
systematized and simplified earlier Marxist writing," not to mention
adapting it to the needs of Soviet state ideology, is nothing more than
repetition of the old anti-Soviet slogans. </span><strong><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></strong>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">T</span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">here
were, in the course of seventy years of Soviet party history and
scientific history, numerous introductions to the academic and
theoretical papers of Marx, Engels and Lenin. They were simplifications,
just as in any scientific discipline there is simplification in all
introductions, compendia, and so forth. They are merely introductions. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
no way was there systematic falsification of the inheritance. Even in
the post-socialist era, the collected works of classical authors have
still not finally emerged. This does not change the fact that, in a few
texts of Lenin, there also was one or another politically motivated
"editorial reworking" or omission, although this was justified and made
transparent. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It is not true that Marxism-Leninism was — or is — an impoverished, simplified version of the true Marxism. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Certainly
there was and is, in every theory and in all science, phases of greater
or lesser creativity and development. And undoubtedly there was and
will be future phases, just as in any scientific doctrine, in which
revolutionary Marxists/Communists do not evaluate promptly new social
and/or natural scientific phenomena. Or they do so too late. Or in a way
that is only partly correct. In general, it is the nature of science
that it moves in a contradictory manner between faster and slower stages
of development. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Webb's more far-reaching conclusion is that even what he designates as his new "Marxism" is only a "scientific method." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">He
thinks his altogether limited and schematic scientific-theoretical view
surpasses the comprehensive legacy of the three classic founders of
Marxism-Leninism. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">A
"method" which brings to light no apparent content, is worthless. And
in the thesis of Sam Webb, the method goes straight to this "new-old"
distinction and the rejection of content. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><strong> </strong></span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><strong>A German Version of Webb? </strong><br />
After the defeat of real socialism, the Left could not fail to weigh its
previous relationship with Lenin and Leninism. The PDS [Party of
Democratic Socialism] originating in a Marxist-Leninist party did this
too. It broke with its Leninist heritage. In May 1990 at a closed
meeting of the former PDS Executive Board, Gregor Gysi spoke about the
new theoretical basis of his reform-socialism-turned-political-party. In
this context, he explained both the departure from Marxism-Leninism and
the move to an "ideologically pluralistic" party in which the Communist
component would enjoy only a marginal existence, tolerated and allowed.
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Thus
far the statements by Sam Webb are nothing new. The same applies to his
"new" concepts of organizational theory. They are in theory 27 ideas
presented to remodel the party structure into an informal communication
network, mainly Internet-based, whose members interact with each other
primarily via e-mail. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Abolition
of the unity principle and the commitment to the party program and
decisions amounts to a vote for the open liquidation of the Communist
Party. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Reassuring
evidence that the huge distances between widely scattered individual
U.S. Communists absolutely requires use of modern means of
communication, in this context, is not completely convincing. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It's clear Webb doesn't mean to modernize the lines of communication. Such modernization, of course, is useful and necessary. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This
is about something entirely different: the liquidation of a strong
organizational structure, clear criteria for party membership, a common
collectively developed program, binding revolutionary strategy and
tactics, and in general decisions grounding the party in the working
class, in working people, in the revolutionary youth and among oppressed
women, in production enterprises and scientific institutions, and in
the intelligentsia worn out by capital. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">He
also thinks joining this structure existing only in cyberspace should
be slapdash - "no more difficult than joining other social
organizations." This is a logical consequence of the destruction of a
party once in political struggle against the capitalist system – a party
consisting of real, like-minded people coordinated with each other. The
party is downgraded to a loose, small electoral force primarily
concentrating on the support of the election campaigns of the Democratic
Party. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Sam Webb has still provided the remnants of a party. "Teams" will be traveling around as "meet and greet" and support groups. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This is nothing more than window dressing. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Does the U.S. workers' movement need such a party? I doubt it very much. But it has to decide for itself. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
any case, German Communists do not need it. Nor do we need an
"open-ended and interesting" discussion of this plea for the end of
Marxism-Leninism and the Communist Party. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We have better and more important things to do. <br />
<br />
<em>Dr. Hans-Peter Brenner, a psychologist and psychotherapist, is a
member of the national leadership of the German Communist Party and
co-editor of Marxistische Blaetter. This article appeared July 9, 2011
in Junge Welt, a Marxist daily newspaper published in Berlin. </em></span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><www.jungewelt.de/2011/07-09/001.php?sstr=HansPeterBrenner>>.<br />
Translation by Bill Miller.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-89406242054634685022012-08-26T12:06:00.002-07:002012-08-26T12:08:11.105-07:00Letter from the CPM (Communist Party of Mexico) Regarding the Liquidationist Theses of a “Party of Socialism in the 21st Century” by Sam Webb<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">At the invitation of Joel Wendland, editor of Political Affairs, who
made us aware of the essay by Sam Webb "A Party of Socialism or the 21st
Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It Does," we state
some opinions. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It seems to us that, in any rounded evaluation, this is not only an
internal matter of the Communist Party of the USA, but poses questions
of interest to the whole of the Communist movement.</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We
express our surprise at the unusual procedure of an "unofficial
position," since leading cadres have responsibilities that cannot be
avoided, much less the General Secretary or in this case the Chairman.
Leading cadres have a responsibility for the development of the party,
for the history of struggle of the same organization, for the
principles and the party program. They have a duty toward their
comrades, although in this case is obvious that, beyond the fact that it
is presented as an individual reflection, what Sam Webb brings is a set
of theses that have as a goal the liquidation of the Communist Party of
the USA (CPUSA).<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
***</span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
An explanation is necessary before getting down to the matter at hand.
Historically, the CPUSA and the Communist Party of Mexico (CPM) have had
tight links, and not only because of the geographical closeness.<br />
<br />
Since its foundation the Mexican section of the Communist International
included the cooperation of its US counterpart. This was an organizing
and ideological collaboration that bore fruit, above all, in the years
the workers' movement in our country was on the rise, in the 30's and
40's of the 20th century.<br />
<br />
To a great extent, the opinions of the American Communists contributed
positively. However, the influence of Browderism was deeply negative.
Its reception in the CPM fed, just as in the USA, an opportunistic and
liquidating course. The letter of Jacques Duclos helped the American
comrades, and also the Mexican comrades in those years. The effects and
consequence [of Browderism] were nevertheless of long duration. In the
CPM, for example, the cells among the working class and trade unions
were affected. Instead of prompting the building of the party, to
maintain its class independence and autonomy, efforts alien to a
Communist party were supported, such as the Socialist League and a
multi-class party.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless both parties made efforts to overcome such deviations, although elements remained under the surface.<br />
<br />
Collaboration continued under McCarthyism; the CPUSA always counted on the determined solidarity of the Communists of Mexico.<br />
<br />
In 1981 the CPM dissolved itself. Since 1994 work to organize the party
of the working class, the Communist party, began again in our country.
In the difficult years of the counterrevolution a focal point to
maintain the Communist perspective, along with other Marxists-Leninists,
was for us Gus Hall and, of course, his party. Gus Hall, like William
Foster before, and other comrades of the CPUSA are for us exemplars of
the Communist militant.<br />
<br />
We followed closely the debate in the CPUSA in the years of the
counterrevolution. The position that seemed to us erroneous was that of
the group that splintered forming the Committees of Correspondence. The
correct one was the defense -- by the majority of CPUSA militants --
of the class-oriented nature of the organization, of the struggle for
socialism based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">***</span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
<br />
With grave concern we have come to learn of activities that gradually
have been dismantling the CPUSA, like the decision not to rely anymore
on a printed press, the closing of bookstores, the delivery of party
historical files to a bourgeois institution, the abandonment of spaces
that were built along the years of struggle for peace, etc., etc.
Politically, we never understood how can one defeat monopoly
capitalism's aggression against the American working class and the
working class and peoples of other countries by supporting, in name of
isolating the "ultra right," Democratic Party candidates, another
facade of exploitation, war and militarism. But now we find a proposal
of Sam Webb to finally modify the nature, the character of the CPUSA,
transforming it into a new political party alien to the organizational
and ideological basis of Communist parties.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">First,
the notion of "Socialism of the 21st Century" entails a position
against the socialist construction in the 20th century, a rejection of
the experience of the working class in power. For us this is a matter of
an opportunistic notion, a source of confusion; but beyond that, it is
important what Sam Webb configures as "A Party of the Socialism in the
21st century."<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Relinquishing of the ideological basis, <i>What does a Party of Socialism in the 21st century think?</i></b><i><br />
</i>
<br />
It is stated that Marxism-Leninism should be abandoned. The arguments
are not new. They have been refuted time and again. "Dogmatic",
"foreign-sounding," “formulaic,” “state ideology." We do not forget the
brilliant pages written by American Communists to unmask those
condemnations, as much in theoretical works, as in the courts used
against them by McCarthyism. They are the same arguments that, in other
moments, were raised against Marxism-Leninism by Trotskyism, by the New
Left and by organizations and individuals that in their day were
financed by the State Department. Why is it today that the Chair of the
CPUSA ends by giving in to the rationale of the House Un-American
Activities Committee?<br />
<br />
The universal character of the ideology of the working class, since it
was outlined by Marx and Engels, as well as the fundamental development
by Lenin upon entering the monopoly phase of capitalism and upon being
initiating the epoch of proletarian revolutions, cannot be refuted with
the worthless claim that it is a “foreign,” “alien,” “antidemocratic” or
“dogmatic” notion. As is outlined in other parts of his essay, his
discomfort with the concept comes from the renunciation of the
revolution and of the revolutionary road, the party of a new type, of
class analysis, with the renunciation of anti-imperialist struggle.<br />
<br />
Sam Webb insists on the anti-Communist notions to justify his criticism
of Marxism-Leninism and of socialist construction. He has no doubts
about taking up the discourse that criminalizes the role of Stalin, just
as the distorters of history that today intend to rewrite history by
likening the role of the USSR with that of Nazi Germany.<br />
<br />
And why is all this done? To please the non-governmental organizations,
the liberal sectors of the Democratic Party. That is to say, not in
service to the interests of the working class, but to those of the
petty bourgeoisie class.<br />
<br />
Webb quotes various works of Marxists and, on that basis, puts forth
such a judgment. But Marxism-Leninism is not reduced to some selected
works, but covers a lot more.<br />
<br />
The renunciation of theory is the source of other erroneous ideological
statements such as the proposal of "socialist regulated market," of a
peaceful transition [to socialism], the renunciation of revolution, as
well as deep distortions of the Marxist-Leninist theory of the state.<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Programmatic matter, <i>What does a Party of Socialism in the 21st century do?</i> </b>The
questioning and intent to replace the ideology of the CPUSA is
consistent with the objective to alter its political aim. Upon depriving
the party of its revolutionary theory in favor of an eclectic mixture
of petty bourgeois ideology, it prevents any revolutionary action. In
fact he does not intend anything else. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Despite
the fact that he affirms that his reflection has, as starting point
that "...the reproduction of the conditions for exploitation of labor
and nature appears to be reaching its limits" socialism remains a
distant objective to be arrived only after passing an infinity of
transition phases. The breaking point, the destruction of capitalist
state, the seizure of power by the working class, in a word, the
strategy, remains subordinated to tactics, to the alliance with sections
of the bourgeoisie for, "it makes little sense to take on the entire
capitalist class when it is not necessary", "...it is boneheaded to
artificially hurry the political process along when pursuing such an
option would likely result in defeat", because we can "...clear the
ground for democratic, social, socialist transformations," etc. <br />
<br />
Under any circumstances, at all stages, it is said, the way forward will
be within the framework of bourgeois institutions, not by a challenge
to them. Inasmuch as for reformists it is a matter of stages overtaken
by changes in the correlation of forces and alliances, what follows for
them to define the current stage. And this stage is summarized in
propping up Obama Administration on behalf of a "more worker-friendly
environment" and with the goal of "defeating the ultra right."<br />
<br />
And this, despite the fact that the Obama Administration not only
continues and reinforces the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, but unleashes
the intervention in Africa, despite the fact that all the measures
adopted to manage the crisis have been in favor of the monopolies,
despite the fact that the anti-immigrant policies continue, despite the
fact that the same backwardness in social well-being continues for
Latinos and African-American workers, despite the fact that our own
class shows signs of disenchantment with the government, etc. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">All
this does not prepare the Communist Party for the ideological struggle.
Rather, it prepares the Party to divert the working class, to turn it
into the "left wing" of the Democrat Party. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">His
harshest condemning words are not for the enemies of the working class
that represent the most frightening barbarism. No, they are for the
followers of the revolution and those of who defend the experience of
socialist construction in the 20th century. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">All
these ideas are neither new nor adequate. It is impossible to affirm
that they have been born by reading and rereading Marx, Engels, Lenin
and other classics. They are theses that have been raised in their time
by the opportunists of the Second International, by the Eurocommunists
and at present by the so called "New Left parties." Sam Webb already
proposed to abandon the term "Leninism." He would have been more candid
in regard to his program to ask also the abandon the term "revolution." <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
allusions to a New Green Deal do not express only a yearning for a
return to Roosevelt. They suggest, above all, praise of capitalist
regulation, that is to say, to provide a capitalist way out of the deep
crisis of the capitalist system. The New Green Deal of which he speaks
in fact already forms part of the agenda of monopoly capitalist circles
in the US. It not only justifies, ideologically, capitalism by endowing
it with a green mask, by presenting new sacrifices for the working class
as “done for the planet” and not for the maintenance of a parasitic
stockholder class, that is to say, by assuring the general conditions
for capitalist accumulation. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It
also involves practical functions. It will give a way out to surplus
capital in new areas of the market. In fact already economic movements
exist by means of which the monopolies come to occupy these market
segments, ousting small and medium capital. It will extract resources
from the peoples by means of loans and taxes to be delivered to the
monopolies in name of ecology. It will despoil the peasants, the native
communities, the oppressed nationalities of their lands and of their
resources, etc. Monopolies are seen to need to conjoin their crisis
management with an industrial reconversion. All this industrial
reconversion is a matter of extracting more surplus labor from the
working class and of using more, and in a greater measure, the natural
resources for the preservation of monopolies. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This
programmatic bankruptcy, setting aside its desertion of the distinctive
characteristics of a Communist party, resembles what was done by the
Second International in its period of decomposition: gradualism,
renunciation of the revolution on behalf of reform, and justification
of the capitalist mode of production.<br />
<b><br />
Organization matter, <i>What does a Party of socialism in the 21st century look like? </i></b><br />
To this completely different objective corresponds a completely different type of organization. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Inasmuch
as the question is not to oust a state but to win positions in it, not
to attack the political forces of the bourgeoisie but to fortify one of
its sections, since it is a matter of reformism, the revolutionary
organization can be fully abandoned. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Consistent
with the idea that it is a "party that fights for the interests of the
entire nation" the class-conscious composition of the party is attacked.
Anyone can enter the party with a mere application procedure.
Discipline is relaxed and its place comes to be occupied by liberalism.
The Party is transformed into a NGO. Since the reforms and the
participation in the capitalist state are not a means but the goal and
the reason for being of this “Party of Socialism in the 21st century,”
its efforts are not directed to the point of production to regroup an
offensive of the workers against their oppressors, but to clubs of only
virtual existence. <br />
<b><br />
On the objective base for such approaches, <i>Why is this proposal made? </i></b><br />
One cannot compromise with this effort to liquidate the Communist Party
of the United States. Saying that "it is only a mistake" would be a
mistake and a crime, yes, a crime. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
opportunistic turn of the leadership of the CPUSA is not an exception
to the theses of historical materialism, it has an objective basis.
This type of turn and deviation is to be expected in moments of growing
difficulties for the bourgeoisie. They are moments of sharpening of the
capitalist crisis of overaccumulation and overproduction; the periods of
recovery are brief and weak, while the periods of stagnation and
recession are long and deep. Capital can only manage to survive as
capital by attacking ruthlessly the living and labor conditions of the
working class. This sustained attack weakens and endangers the
domination apparatus of the bourgeoisie, for which an objective basis
exists to exercise ideological pressure on the working class and
especially on its vanguard parties. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Already
Lenin upon treating the theme of the working class aristocracy explains
how the monopolies manage to corrupt and to bribe sections of the
working class. Besides buying and bribing, monopolies resort to
ideological pressure, to blackmail, to the distortion of reality, to the
forgery of history, to demoralization. They try to isolate and to drown
the revolutionary processes. If necessary they will resort to violence.
This is the class struggle. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">But
at the same time that the imperialism puts in practice this ideological
attack, the crisis also generates the contrary phenomenon. The events
of recent years have put again the working class in the center of the
class struggle. They have shown the need for the Communist Party and the
validity and timelessness of Marxism-Leninism. The workers' and
Communist international movement is fortified. A clear pole of
class-conscious forces is being regrouped. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Those
who oppose this intent of liquidation of the CPUSA will not be found
alone. We, in the Communist Party of Mexico, have complete confidence
that the American Communists will defend their historic party, the
CPUSA, that they will act to rescue it as they did in the postwar period
from the false liquidationist theses of Earl Browder; as it was
defended during the counterrevolution against the partisans of <i>perestroika</i>.
What is more, in this task they will not struggle in solitude, for it
is a duty of the Communists of other countries to undertake such a task.
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">One
more point: the self-liquidation of the CPM left a void in the struggle
for more than one decade. But politically that void will last longer,
meaning the working class will confront its class adversary.in worse
conditions . Such negative experience should not be repeated in the US.<br />
<br />
Contrary to Sam Webb’s forecast, turbulent periods in the international
class struggle, interimperialist contradictions, suggest on the horizon
social revolutions led by the working class, as in the Paris Commune, as
during the Great Socialist Revolution of October.<br />
<br />
<br />
Workers of the world, unite!<br />
<br />
For the Communist Party of Mexico<br />
<br />
Pável Blanco, First Secretary<br />
<br />
Diego Torres, International Relations Secretary<br />
_____________________________________________________________<br />
<b><br />
A propósito de las tesis liquidadoras del Partido del Socialismo en el Siglo XXI de Sam Webb</b><br />
<br />
Atendiendo a la invitación de Joel Wendland, Editor de Political
Affairs, quien hizo de nuestro conocimiento el ensayo de Sam Webb A
Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It
Says, and What It Does, expresamos algunas opiniones, porque nos parece
que en una evaluación global no se trata de un asunto interno del
Partido Comunista de los EEUU, sino que aborda cuestiones que interesan
al conjunto del movimiento comunista.<br />
<br />
Expresamos nuestra sorpresa ante el procedimiento inusual de una
"posición no oficial" ya que los cuadros de dirección tiene
responsabilidades que no pueden eludir, mucho menos el Secretario
General o en este caso el Presidente. Los cuadros de dirección tienen
una responsabilidad con el desarrollo del partido, con la historia de
lucha de la misma organización; con los principios y el programa; tienen
un deber con sus camaradas; aunque en este caso es obvio que más allá
de ser presentada como una reflexión individual lo que Sam Webb presenta
es un conjunto de tesis que tienen por objetivo liquidar al Partido
Comunista de los EEUU.<br />
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
*** </span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
Antes de entrar en materia una aclaración es necesaria. Históricamente
el Partido Comunista de los EEUU y el Partido Comunista de México
tuvieron vínculos estrechos, y no solo por la vecindad geográfica.<br />
<br />
Desde su fundación la Sección Mexicana de la Internacional Comunista
conto con la cooperación de su par norteamericana. Esta era una
colaboración ideológica y organizativa que rindió frutos sobre todo en
los años de acenso del movimiento obrero en nuestro país, en los años 30
y 40 del siglo XX.<br />
<br />
Mucho contribuyeron positivamente las opiniones de los comunistas
norteamericanos, más también fue negativa la influencia del browderismo,
cuya recepción en el PCM alimento, al igual que en los EEUU, un rumbo
oportunista y liquidador. La carta de J. Duclos ayudo a los camaradas
norteamericanos, más también a los camaradas mexicanos en esos años. Los
efectos y la secuela fueron sin embargo de duración; en el PCM por
ejemplo, fueron afectadas las células entre la clase obrera y los
sindicatos; en lugar de impulsar la construcción del partido, mantener
su independencia de clase, y su autonomía, se apoyaron esfuerzos ajenos
al partido comunista, tales como la Liga Socialista y un partido
pluriclasista.<br />
<br />
Ambos partidos sin embargo hicieron esfuerzos por superar tal desviación, aunque elementos de ella permanecieron latentes.<br />
<br />
La colaboración continuo bajo el macartismo; el PC de los EEUU conto
siempre con la decidida solidaridad de los comunistas de México.<br />
<br />
En 1981 fue autodisuelto el PCM; desde 1994 se reinicio un trabajo por
organizar al partido de la clase obrera, al partido comunista en nuestro
país. En los difíciles años de la contrarrevolución un referente para
mantener la perspectiva comunista, al lado de otros
marxistas-leninistas, fue para nosotros Gus Hall y por supuesto su
partido. Gus Hall, como antes William Foster, y otros camaradas del PC
de los EEUU son para nosotros ejemplo del militante comunista.<br />
<br />
Con mucha atención seguimos el debate en los años de la
contrarrevolución de lo que ocurría en el PC de los EEUU, las posiciones
que nos parecían erróneas del grupo que se escindió formando los
Comités de Correspondencia y la defensa correcta de la mayoría de los
militantes del PC de los EEUU de la naturaleza de clase de la
organización, de la lucha por el socialismo basada en los principios del
marxismo-leninismo.<br />
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
*** </span></div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
Con mucha preocupación tomamos conocimiento de actividades que
gradualmente van desmantelando al PC de los EEUU, como la decisión de no
contar ya con prensa impresa, el cierre de sus librerías, la entrega de
sus archivos históricos a una institución burguesa, el abandono a su
suerte de espacios que fueron construidos a lo largo de los años para
luchar por la paz, etc, etc. Políticamente jamás comprendimos como se
puede derrotar la agresión del capitalismo monopolista a la clase obrera
norteamericana y contra los trabajadores y pueblos de otros países
apoyando, en nombre de aislar a la "ultraderecha", a los candidatos
demócratas, otra fachada de la explotación, de la guerra y el
militarismo.<br />
<br />
Pero ahora nos encontramos con una propuesta de Sam Webb para modificar
definitivamente la naturaleza, el carácter del PC de los EEUU
transformándolo en una nueva formación política ajena a las bases
ideológicas y organizativas de los partidos comunistas.<br />
<br />
En primer lugar la noción del "socialismo del siglo XXI" encierra una
postura contra la construcción socialista en el siglo XX, un rechazo a
la experiencia en el poder de la clase obrera. En lo que ha nosotros
respecta se trata de una noción oportunista, fuente de confusiones; pero
más allá, es importante lo que Sam Webb configura como "Partido del
Socialismo en el siglo XXI".<br />
<b><br />
Renuncia a las bases ideológicas, ¿Qué Piensa un Partido del socialismo en el siglo 21?</b><br />
<br />
Se expresa que marxismo-leninismo debe ser abandonado. Los argumentos no
son nuevos y han sido refutados una y otra vez. "Dogmatico",
"extranjerizante" de formulas acartonadas, ideología estatal; no
olvidamos brillantes páginas de los comunistas norteamericanos para
desenmascarar esas descalificaciones, tanto en trabajos teóricos, como
en los tribunales frente al macartismo; mismos argumentos que en otros
momentos fueron levantados en contra del marxismo-leninismo, por el
trotskismo, la nueva izquierda y por organizaciones e individuos en su
día fueron financiados por el Departamento de Estado. ¿Por qué hoy el
Presidente del PC de los EEUU termina por dar la razón al Comité de
Actividades Antiamericanas?<br />
<br />
El carácter universal de la ideología de la clase obrera desde que fue
esbozada por Marx y Engels, así como los fundamentales desarrollos de
Lenin, al entrar el capitalismo en la fase monopolista y al iniciarse la
época de las revoluciones proletarias no pueden refutarse con la
futilidad de que es una noción ajena, extranjera, antidemocrática o
dogmatica. Como esboza en otras partes de su ensayo la incomodidad del
concepto deviene de la renuncia a la revolución y al camino
revolucionario, al partido de nuevo tipo, al análisis de clase, a la
renuncia a la lucha antiimperialista.<br />
<br />
Sam Webb insiste en las nociones anticomunistas para justificar su
crítica al marxismo-leninismo y la construcción socialista. No duda en
asumir el discurso que criminaliza el papel de Stalin, al igual que los
deformadores de la historia que hoy pretenden reescribirla equiparando
el papel de la URSS con el de la Alemania nazi.<br />
<br />
¿Y todo para qué? Para agradar a las organizaciones no gubernamentales, a
los sectores liberales del Partido Demócrata, es decir, no en función
de los intereses de la clase obrera, sino de los de la pequeña
burguesía.<br />
<br />
Webb mismo cita varios trabajos marxistas y sobre ellos emite tal
juicio; pero el marxismo-leninismo no se reduce a unas cuantas obras
seleccionadas, sino que abarca mucho más.<br />
<br />
La renuncia a la teoría está en la fuente de otras afirmaciones
ideológicas erróneas como la propuesta del "mercado socialista
regulado", de la transición pacífica, y la renuncia a la Revolución. Así
como profundas deformaciones sobre la teoría marxista-leninista del
Estado.<br />
<b><br />
El tema programático, ¿Qué hace un Partido del socialismo en el siglo 21? </b><br />
El cuestionamiento e intento de substituir la ideología del CPUSA es
consistente con el objetivo de alterar su objetivo político. Al despojar
al partido de su teoría revolucionaria, a favor de una mezcla ecléctica
con ideología burguesa, imposibilita cualquier actuación
revolucionaria. De hecho no pretende otra cosa. Pese a que afirma que su
reflexión tiene como punto de partida el que "las condiciones para la
reproducción de la explotación del trabajo y la naturaleza están
agotadas" el socialismo queda como un objetivo lejano al cual se llega
por una infinidad de etapas de transición. La ruptura, la destrucción
del Estado burgués, la toma del poder por la clase obrera, en una
palabra la estrategia, quedan subordinadas a la táctica, a la alianza
con secciones de la burguesía pues "no tiene caso confrontarse con su
totalidad cuando no hay perspectivas de triunfo", "es de cabezas duras
querer acelerar el proceso", "una nueva apertura democrática tiene lugar
en la actualidad", etc. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Bajo
cualquier circunstancia, en todas las etapas se dice, la vía para
avanzar será en el marco de las instituciones burguesas y no sobre su
cuestionamiento. En tanto se trata para los reformistas de etapas que
son superadas por cambios en la correlación de fuerzas y alianzas lo que
sigue para ellos es definir la etapa actual. Y la etapa actual se
resume en apuntalar la administración de Obama en nombre de un "ambiente
más amigable para la organización obrera" y con el objetivo de
"derrotar a la ultraderecha". <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Y
esto lo dicen pese a que la administración Obama no solo continúa y
refuerza las guerras de Afganistán e Iraq, sino que desata la
intervención en África, pese a que todas las medidas adoptadas frente a
la crisis han sido a favor de los monopolios, pese a que continúan las
medidas anti inmigrante, pese a que continúa el mismo rezago en la
seguridad social, para los trabajadores de origen latino,
afroamericanos, etc., pese a que la propia clase tiene muestras de
desencanto con el régimen, etc. No se prepara para la lucha ideológica
al Partido Comunista con esta propuesta, sino se le prepara para desviar
a la clase obrera, para volverse el "ala izquierda" del Partido
Demócrata. Sus condenas más duras no son para los enemigos de la clase
obrera que representan la más espantosa barbarie, no, para los
partidarios de la revolución y defendemos la experiencia de construcción
socialista en el siglo XX. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Todas
estas ideas no son ni nuevas ni adecuadas. Tampoco es posible que se
diga que surgen de la relectura de Marx, Engels, Lenin y otros clásicos.
Son tesis levantadas en su momento por los oportunistas de la II
internacional, por los Eurocomunistas y actualmente por los llamados
"partidos de nueva izquierda". Sam Webb ya propuso abandonar el término
"Leninismo", hubiese sido más transparente en cuanto al programa pedir
también el abandono del término "revolución". <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Las
alusiones sobre un Nuevo Trato Verde no expresan solo el anhelo a que
regrese Roosevelt, indican sobre todo la apología de la regulación
capitalista, es decir de dar salida capitalista a la crisis profunda del
sistema capitalista. El New Deal verde del cual se habla, y que de
hecho forma parte ya de la agenda de los círculos del capital
monopolista de los EEUU no solo justifica ideológicamente al capitalismo
al dotarle de una careta verde, al presentar nuevos sacrificios para la
clase obrera como hechos para el planeta y no para el mantenimiento de
una clase parasitaria de rentistas, es decir asegurar las condiciones
generales para la acumulación capitalista, sino que cumple funciones
prácticas. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Le
dará salida a capitales excedentes en nuevas áreas del mercado, de
hecho ya existen movimientos económicos mediante los cuales los
monopolios pasan a ocupar estas franjas del mercado, desalojando a los
pequeños y medianos capitales. Les extraerá recursos a los pueblos
mediante los empréstitos y los impuestos para ser entregados a los
monopolios en nombre de la ecología. Despojará a los campesinos, las
comunidades indígenas, las nacionalidades oprimidas de sus tierras y de
sus recursos, etc. Los monopolios se ven en la necesidad de acompañar la
gestión de la crisis con un reconversión industrial. Toda esta
reconversión industrial se trata de extraer más trabajo excedente a la
clase obrera y de disponer en mayor medida de los recursos naturales
para la preservación de los intereses monopolistas. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Esta
bancarrota programática, exclusiva de la deserción de las
características distintivas de un partido comunista, se asemeja a lo
preconizado por la II Internacional en su periodo de descomposición:
gradualismo, renuncia a la revolución en pro de la reforma y
justificación del modo de producción capitalista. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b>El tema organizativo, ¿Cómo es un Partido del socialismo en el siglo 21? </b><br />
A este objetivo totalmente distinto corresponde un tipo distinto de
organización. Como se trata no de derrocar un estado sino de ganar
posiciones en el, no de atacar a las fuerzas políticas de la burguesía
sino de fortalecer a una de sus secciones, como se trata de reformismo
bien puede abandonarse la organización revolucionaria. En concordancia
con la idea de que es un "partido que lucha por los intereses de la
nación entera" se atenta contra la composición clasista del partido,
cualquiera puede ingresar a la organización con un mero trámite. La
disciplina se relaja y su lugar viene a ser ocupado por el liberalismo.
El Partido se transforma en una ONG. Siendo las reformas y la
participación en el Estado burgués no un medio sino el objetivo y la
razón de ser de este Partido del Socialismo en el siglo XXI sus
esfuerzos no se dirigen a los centros de producción para reagrupar una
ofensiva de los trabajadores contra sus explotadores sino en clubes de
existencia meramente virtuales. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Sobre la base objetiva para tales planteamientos, ¿Por qué se lanza esta propuesta? </b><br />
No se puede transigir con este intento de liquidar al Partido Comunista
de los Estados Unidos. Decir que se trata solamente de un error sería un
error, y uno criminal, si criminal. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">El
viraje oportunista de la dirección del PC de los EEUU no es una
excepción a las tesis del materialismo histórico, tienen una base
objetiva. Es de esperarse este tipo de virajes en momentos de crecientes
dificultades para la burguesía. Son momentos de agudización de la
crisis capitalista de sobreacumulación y sobreproducción, sus periodos
de recuperación son breves y débiles mientras los periodos de
estancamiento y recesión son largos y profundos. El capital solo logra
sobrevivir como capital atacando despiadadamente las condiciones de vida
y laborales de la clase obrera. Este ataque sostenido pone en peligro
el aparato de dominación burgués, por lo cual existe una base objetiva
para ejercer presión ideológica sobre la clase obrera y especialmente
sobre sus destacamentos de vanguardia. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Ya
Lenin al tratar el tema de la aristocracia obrera explica como los
monopolios logran corromper y sobornar a secciones de la clase obrera.
Además de la compra y el soborno, los monopolios recurren a la presión
ideológica, al chantaje, a la deformación de la realidad, a la
falsificación de la historia, a la desmoralización, intentan aislar y
ahogar a los procesos revolucionarios, inclusive de ser necesario
recurrirán a la violencia. Esto es la lucha de clases. <br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Pero
al mismo tiempo que el imperialismo pone en práctica su ataque
ideológico la crisis también genera el fenómeno contrario. Los
acontecimientos de los últimos años han vuelto a poner en el centro de
la lucha de clases a la clase obrera, muestran la necesidad del Partido
Comunista y la vigencia y actualidad del Marxismo-Leninismo. El
movimiento obrero y comunista internacional se fortalece, un claro polo
de fuerzas clasistas está reagrupándose. Quienes se opongan a este
intento de liquidación del PC de los EEUU no se encontrarán solos.
Nosotros, en el Partido Comunista de México, tenemos confianza en que
los comunistas norteamericanos defenderán su partido histórico, el PC de
los EEUU, que sabrán rescatarlo como en la posguerra lo hicieron de las
ilusorias tesis liquidacionstas de Earl Browder; como fue defendido
durante la contrarrevolución frente a los partidarios de la perestroika;
más aún que esa tarea no la enfrenaran en soledad, pues es deber de los
comunistas de otros países comprometerse en tal tarea.<br />
<br />
Una cuestión más: la autoliquidación del PCM dejo un vacio en la lucha
de más de una década pero que políticamente se extenderá por un tiempo
mayor, permitiendo que la clase obrera enfrente en peores condiciones a
su adversario de clase; tal experiencia negativa no debe repetirse en
los EEUU.<br />
<br />
Al contrario de la previsión de Sam Webb, periodos agitados en la lucha
de clases internacional, contradicciones interimperialistas, esbozan en
el horizonte a revoluciones sociales dirigidas por la clase obrera, como
en la Comuna de Paris, como durante la Gran Revolución Socialista de
Octubre.<br />
<br />
¡Proletarios de todos los países, uníos!<br />
<br />
Por el Partido Comunista de México </span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Partido Comunista de México Comité Central </span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<a href="http://www.comunistas-mexicanos.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=617:pcm-sobre-articulo-del-presidente-del-pc-de-los-eeuu&catid=3:partido-comunista-de-mexico" target="_self"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><i>http://www.comunistas-mexicanos.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=617:pcm-sobre-articulo-del-presidente-del-pc-de-los-eeuu&catid=3:partido-comunista-de-mexico
</i></span></a>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
April 16, 2011
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-69796818569377664832012-08-26T11:30:00.000-07:002012-08-26T11:31:54.168-07:00Decision Time for the CPUSA <table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" valign="top" width="70%"><span class="small">Written by Edward A. Drummond </span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" valign="top"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><i></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: x-small;">I welcome the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: x-small;">mounting calls in the CPUSA to replace Sam Webb in order to restore and revive the Communist Party.</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">I urge that he resign now, and spare us a messy internal fight. </span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">It is now <i>necessary</i>
to remove him. Not to remove him is not an option. His job is a
political post, and he doesn’t have the appropriate politics. How do we
know that? He says so in his new 10,000-word think piece “A Party of
Socialism in the 21st Century.” [1]<br />
<br />
It’s not personal. He simply doesn’t do what we pay him to do. He isn’t
doing his real job. Evidently, he does not intend to do it. He has made
gigantic mistakes. He has presided over organizational decline. But he
shuns accountability. Self-criticism is rare, whispered, and tucked away
in paragraph 17. He conceals information from us. He has a pattern of
dissembling.[2] He has become an ideological émigré from the Communist
movement. But he beckons us to follow him. <br />
<br />
It's time to reassign him to other work where he can do less damage.
With this outrageous essay he has thrown down the gauntlet. If we don’t
move him out as national chair, how can we say we have any self–respect?<br />
<br />
I concede: Sam Webb has the right to change his politics and become a
non-Communist. That he has exercised that right in the article under
discussion is evident. Webb, however, does not have the right to be a
non-Communist <i>and at same time</i> be chair of our party, the CPUSA. Nobody has such a right.<br />
<br />
I will grant, also, that Sam Webb is an accomplished speechwriter.
Moving words around on a page, he can produce "truthiness," a useful
term invented by comedian Stephen Colbert. Webb can make apostasy seem
like common sense. For example, he throws out Lenin’s revolutionary
party of a new type -- in favor of an opportunist party of the old type
-- with these sentences: <br />
<br />
<i>A party of socialism in the 21st century will construct its own
organizational model in line with its own material conditions and needs.
It shouldn't be hatched out of thin air or imported from another
country. </i><br />
<br />
A more accurate title for his confessional essay would have been “How I
Became a Social Democrat, and Why You Should Too.” Most of its ideas he
has expressed before, but here they are more boldly expressed. Various
writers, including me, have critiqued them on this web site.[3] A tenth
of the article is devoted to his personal political evolution away from
Communism. Sadly, all Party members will not read a ten thousand-word
think piece. If they do not, the damage inflicted will be all the
greater. <br />
<br />
<b>
Top Ten Reasons to Remove Him</b><br />
<br />
<i>On the basis of this document alone,</i> Comrade Webb should be
required by the NC to vacate his post. Its most egregious disclosure is
this: he doesn’t believe any longer in the goals of the CPUSA. It took
him ten years to confess to this. Those paying attention had deduced it
years ago. Webb declares:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Lenin and Leninism are Out</b>. <i>“As for "Marxism-Leninism," the term should be retired in favor of simply "Marxism."</i> No wonder the CPUSA opposition to US imperialist wars -- Iraq, Afghanistan -- has been enfeebled. <br />
<br />
Marxism? He says he is for it. However, there are few more fundamental
Marxist ideas than historical inevitability, and the class character of
the state. Having dumped Leninism, it turns out he’s not really in favor
of Marxism either. Historical inevitability? Out. “<i>After all, there is no direct or inevitable path to socialism.”</i> Class character of the state? Out. <i>“Struggle within the state is no less important than struggle against the state.”</i><br />
<br />
The core principle of Party organization -- democratic centralism -- is
out. There is a remaining prohibition against factionalism that he
applies to others, but not to his own faction. I will return to this.<br />
<br />
Leadership of mass movements, i.e. a struggle for a CPUSA vanguard role
in people’s movements? Out. He says he is for it. But not when you read
the fine print. [4]<br />
<br />
The Party Program is out. His socialism is <i>“a work in progress.” </i>The CPUSA Program says Marxism-Leninism is the ideological guidance of the Party. He says no. <br />
<br />
<b>2. Fake internationalism</b>. He says he is for
internationalism, but rails against “foreign-sounding” words.[5] He is
quite selective about foreign-ness. Leninism is foreign-sounding;
Marxism is not foreign-sounding. This is deceitful hogwash rooted in
reformism and national chauvinism.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Sophistry and double talk.</b> A document so rife with
bunkum surely says something about its author’s character. His version
of “dialectics” is mumbo jumbo.[6] He is clueless about real dialectics.
He claims that a <i>“party of socialism in the 21st century"</i> is <i>“steeped in class struggle.”</i>
Class struggle is what he is running away from. His top political
principle is support for the Democrats, not class struggle. His labored,
fake modesty is repellent. He declares that these are just a few
exploratory ideas…which I humbly submit… knowing we all make mistakes
...it’s a work in progress. In 2005, he sprang his “Reflections on
Socialism” on the Party convention on its last day. It was similarly
billed as a personal viewpoint, just a few tentative ideas. It has been
on the Party web site as a canonical text ever since. <br />
<br />
If he were really modest he would acknowledge the complete failure of
his analysis. Recall how wrong – and how haughty – his opinions were,
when he chastised domestic and foreign skeptics as “ostriches.” <br />
<i><br />
Labor and its allies now have a friend, a people's advocate in the White
House. ... it is obvious that the Obama administration represents a
qualitative break with rightwing extremism and free-market
fundamentalism. Not to see this, not to acknowledge this, not to welcome
this, no matter whether you live in or outside U.S. borders, is to act
like the ostrich that sticks its head in the sand and misses what is
happening on the ground. [7]</i><br />
<br />
<b>4. Misleading the members. </b>Good leaders don’t make big
mistakes, and they revise mistakes promptly. As he now admits openly,
Webb’s theories and policies are not “mistakes.” The decision to hollow
out the CPUSA as a genuine Communist Party, to make it merely a pressure
group inside the Democratic Party <i>came first. </i> Sam Webb
changed his politics in the 1990s.[8] But he also decided to keep his
job (and the perks and assets that go with it), and try by stealth and
by guile to remake CPUSA as a social democratic or perhaps a liberal
Democratic organization. The two, in practice, are little different.
Since coming into office in 2000, he has been tiptoeing and wordsmithing
his way toward this end. So far, he has largely succeeded. <br />
<br />
<b>5. Anti-Communism.</b> A full answer to his obsession with
Stalin would require a book. Suffice it to say anti-Stalinism is the
antechamber to all-out anti-Communism. For one so preoccupied with the
“ultra right,” he uses the bitterest anti-Communist rhetoric of the
ultra right in his plea for more anti-Stalinism in the CPUSA. [9]<br />
<br />
<b>6. Harmful impact on mass movements.</b> With Communists
playing a smaller role in it, the antiwar movement is floundering. When
was the last big antiwar demonstration in Washington? The trade unions
-- without a Communist critique, Communist skill at building left-center
coalitions and Communist strategic understanding -- have no idea what
to do now that Obama Administration is attacking working people almost
daily. Their plan was to elect Obama and pass the Employee Free Choice
Act. What’s the plan now?<br />
<br />
<b>7. Harmful impact on the Party.</b> A falling, aging
membership. Dwindling CPUSA influence on the left and people’s
movements. Internal Party morale at rock bottom. Clubs drifting. <br />
<br />
<b>8. Incompetence.</b> His stewardship of the organization is
in itself a sufficient basis to remove him. Webb’s self–described
“flexible and non-dogmatic Marxism,”[10] has led to a trail of errors.
In 2008-2010 we were treated to delirious rhapsodies about the
President’s alleged “community organizer” background. A chimerical
"Obama Movement" was claimed to exist, thereby conflating a movement
with 1) a campaign email list of small donors, or else 2) a transient
moment in November 2008 when new forces entered the voting booth. A
progressive “Obama Agenda,” to which we were required to rally our new
Democratic Party contacts, was said to exist. When his right-wing
Cabinet appointments were made, we heard, "Don't go bananas," such
appointments need not imply future policy direction. <br />
<br />
For two years -- facts be damned -- Webb and Co. continued to swoon.
Obama became the leader of the people's movements, a "friend." Early
2009 was the "springtime of possibility." He was "brilliant," a
"transformational" politician. The country was coming "out of the
crisis," into "an era of democratic reform." Members were advised to
attend the Inaugural festivities. Some Party leaders actually predicted
that Obama would shift leftward after the Inauguration. We heard the
"Impossible has become Possible." A mountain of evidence that Obama, not
McCain, was the main recipient of Wall Street donations was dismissed.
[11]<br />
<br />
<b>9. Webb doesn’t do his job. </b>He is mainly responsible
for carrying out the line of the Party as expressed in the Party
Program.[12] Openly, he is declaring that his present political
convictions lead him in another direction. A self-respecting
organization cannot tolerate such behavior.<br />
<br />
<b>10. Webb’s ideas amount to Browderism for the 21st Century. </b>"The
historic error of social democracy is trailing behind the big
bourgeoisie," wrote William Z. Foster in 1946. [13] The ghost of
Browder haunts the CPUSA today. The present course of the CPUSA is <i>precisely </i>the
Browder error: trailing an illusory liberal monopoly bourgeoisie whose
political expression is said to be the Obama Administration<br />
<br />
Browder wrongly projected that Big Three (US-UK-USSR) wartime unity
would continue after the defeat of the Axis, with the consent of US
monopoly capitalists, all “intelligent men.” Browder then tried to ally
the CPUSA with his imaginary “liberal” big bourgeoisie. In fact, the
Truman government was becoming less liberal by the day, as it became the
instrument of US ruling circles’ desire to launch the Cold War and
McCarthyism. <br />
<br />
Similarly, today, the leadership circle around Webb hitched its wagon to
Obama in 2008, as it had earlier hitched its wagon to Congressional
Democrats. Obama and the Democrats are – we are supposed to believe –
the voice of the “liberal” big bourgeoisie, our rampart against the
“ultra right.” Reality just won’t conform to Webb’s predictions. The US
Administration is moving rightward as fast as it can. <br />
<br />
Other objectionable, dishonest features, such as the use of Straw Men, are everywhere. No Communist, <i>ever, </i>has said “reform is a dirty word,” as he implies.
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><i>Marxism
is revolutionary in theory and practice, but it doesn't consider
"gradual" and "reform" to be dirty words. nor does it believe that every
political moment at the level of concrete reality is actually or
potentially radical and revolutionary.</i><br />
<br />
<b>
Conclusion </b><br />
<br />
If the Webb line is Browderism for the 21st Century, its end, sooner or
later, will be the same. The ship is already foundering on the sharp
rocks of reality. But will its end be in time to save the Party?<br />
<br />
Ousting him in an internal fight will not be easy. On his side, for
example, is the abysmally low standard of Party ideological education
which he has done so much to lower. This fact works in favor of his
desired transformation of the Party into a gelatinous association of
liberal Democrats.<br />
<br />
I beseech Party members, still holding back, to re-think the
“factionalism” issue. That democratic centralism is already a dead
letter is clear from the open advocacy by his surrogates of a Party name
change, even ending the CPUSA as a party. Webb’s Twenty-Nine Theses
tell us he is no longer a Communist. <i>He </i>is not binding himself by democratic centralism. <i>You </i>should
not be either, if it impedes the fight to save the Party. If and when
we restore the Party, then we can restore disciplined, democratic unity,
that is to say, restore democratic centralism.<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">If
other leaders of the National Committee (NC) and National Board (NB)
have neither the wit nor common sense to understand what’s at stake --
if they cannot grasp that Webb’s stated politics make him unsuitable for
the post he is in -- then we must go to the Districts and clubs. He
holds the most important post in the Party. He sets the line. He sets
the leadership agenda and priorities. He makes assignments. He hires
and fires. He has the last word on the assets.<br />
<br />
So far, many Party leaders have hardly covered themselves in glory. Some
still stay silent. Like Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield, they hope
that “something will turn up.” Some confine their opposition to sharing
derisive comments about his inane ideas only among their friends, who
already agree with them. This is opportunism. The result is that
nothing changes, and nothing will change. The Party is in a tailspin.
This is perhaps their last chance to redeem themselves. <br />
<br />
If his new document stands unchallenged, Webb will have ample reason to
think the way is clear to do what he pleases. He has surrounded himself,
mostly, with toadies on the NB. One hopes that not all on the NB are
toadies. The NC, though purged of many of its independent thinkers,
still has healthy forces.<br />
<br />
It is unacceptable for a Communist party, a revolutionary party, to be
headed by a person who does not share its beliefs. Would it be
acceptable for a union leader openly to take the side of the employers?<br />
<br />
Some say, “Ignore him; we can do good work without him.” To believe that
is a big mistake. Stealthily for ten years, more or less openly for
five years, he has been nudging the Party rightward. Most ignored his
“class is too stiff” essay of 2000. Some ignored his speech to the Left
Forum in 2004. They ignored his “Reflections on Socialism” in 2005. They
ignored the dismantling process. Physical dismantling included the
bookstores, Party archives, the print PWW, and on and on. Some, truly
dead from the neck up, want to ignore <i>even this document. </i><br />
<br />
Fence-sitting is no longer possible.
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Removing him from office and changing the line would start a recovery process. <br />
<br />
When US imperialism was pushing deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam
War, Pete Seeger wrote about LBJ’s criminal folly in a famous antiwar
ballad. He likened the escalation of the war to a US platoon commander
who pushed his unit into the murky jungle river. The ballad’s
unforgettable refrain was, “We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy, and the
Big Fool says to push on.”<br />
<br />
Today, the CPUSA is “Waist deep in the Big Muddy.” Its members must act before the waters rise over our heads. Time is short.<br />
<br />
</span>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
-End-</span><br />
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">
________________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
<b>Endnotes</b></span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
[1] http://www.politicalaffairs.net/a-party-of-socialism-in-the-21st-century-what-it-looks-like-what-it-says-and-what-it-does/<br />
<br />
[2] It took him more than ten years to own up to the fact that he
changed his politics in the 1990s. He says he has re-thought his
decision in the 1991 CPUSA versus Committees of Correspondence battle,
but he won’t tell us why or how.Here is his idea of self-criticism: “<i>Unfortunately, the "movement" of these broad social forces was not sustained in the post-election period.” </i>
It takes gall to write such words, when one was advocating that the
movement adjust itself to the politics of the Obama Administration, not <i>vice versa.</i> He goes on to be agnostic about what is responsible for this “unfortunate” development. <br />
<br />
[3] “Reflections on Revisionism" (2005); ”From Revisionism to Party
Liquidation"( 2008); “the Crisis of the CPUSA” (2009). All available at
<<www.mltoday.com>><br />
<br />
[4]<i> “The task of a party of socialism in the 21st century is to give
leadership to the movement as a whole, to be a force for broad working
class and people's unity, to interconnect the particular and general
demands of a multilayered social movement, to articulate a socialist
vision and values – a challenge to be sure. We have no illusions that we
can meet this challenge through our efforts alone.” </i><br />
<br />
[5] <i>”A party of socialism in the 21st century is internationalist in outlook and practice. And well it should be.” </i> But then he also writes: <i>“As
for "Marxism-Leninism," the term should be retired in favor of simply
"Marxism." ….it has a negative connotation among ordinary Americans,
even in left and progressive circles. Depending on whom you ask, it
either sounds foreign or dogmatic or undemocratic or all of these
together. ”<br />
</i>
<br />
[6] In Thesis #11 he declares: <i>“I would strongly argue that the
relationship between the two – class and democracy – is dialectical.
Each interpenetrates and influences the other. Neither one can be fully
realized apart from the other. And both interact in the context of a
social process of capital accumulation. ”</i> Clear?<br />
<br />
[7] Note that the process doesn’t work in reverse. In 2008-10 when the
Democrats held, so to speak, two and one-half branches (the House, the
Senate, a 5-4 balance on the US Supreme Court), there was no discussion
that the political emergency was over and the ultra right was fading as
the main danger. Webb has stealthily shifted the line. The mere
existence of the ultra right, not its power, actual or potential, is the
justification of the permanent CPUSA embrace of the Democratic Party.</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">[8] <i>“If
I were asked to sum up what conclusions I reached it would be this: our
theoretical structure – Marxism-Leninism – was too rigid and formulaic,
our analysis too loaded with questionable assumptions, our methodology
too undialectical, our structure too centralized, and our politics
drifting from political realities. “</i><br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">[9] <i>”...
a party of socialism should make an unequivocal break with Stalin and
his associates, not to please the enemies or critics of socialism, but
to acknowledge to millions that the forced and violent collectivization
of agriculture, the purges and executions of hundreds of thousands of
communists and other patriots, the labor camps that incarcerated,
exploited and sent untold numbers of Soviet people to early deaths, and
the removal of whole peoples from their homelands can't be justified on
the grounds of historical necessity or in the name of defending
socialism. They were crimes against humanity. To describe these
atrocities as a mistake is a mistake – criminal: yes, a horror: yes, a
terrible stain on the values and ideals of socialism: definitely. To
make matters worse, the practices of the Stalin regime set in place
theoretical notions, structures and relations of governance, laws of
socialist economy, justifications for concentrated power, and a
great-leader syndrome that in the end weakened socialism in the USSR and
other socialist countries. I can't speak for other parties, and have
no desire to, but our party should be unequivocal in its condemnation of
the Stalin regime.” </i><br />
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">[10] A phrase directly borrowed from Browder, by the way.<br />
<br />
[11] The donations bestowed on Obama by Wall Street were public information. See <<www.Opensecrets .org.>><br />
<br />
[12] I was tempted to write “the line of the Party Convention.” The May
2010 convention was, as one comrade who attended declared, “more an
exercise in crowd control than a Communist convention.“ See
“Impressions of the CPUSA Convention” at www.mltoday.com.<br />
<br />
[13] “Marxism-Leninism versus Revisionism,” Foster, Duclos, Dennis, Williamson, ed. by Weiss. 1946 </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-69701859113111699972012-08-26T10:35:00.000-07:002012-08-26T10:35:09.218-07:00Position of KKE on the Webb's platform and the developments in the CPUSA<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 14px;"></span></span><br />
<h1 class="documentFirstHeading" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(178, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #606060; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3em; margin-left: 0.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 1.2em; padding-top: 0.5em; text-shadow: rgb(153, 153, 153) 0.2em 0.2em 3px;">
Position of KKE on the Webb's platform and the developments in the CPUSA</h1>
<div class="documentActions" style="margin-bottom: 6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -4.58em;">
<ul style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="display: inline; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><a href="http://inter.kke.gr/News/news2011/2011-04-13-kke-to-cpusa/sendto_form" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #436976; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 14px;"></span></span></a><br /></li>
<li style="display: inline; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3416455435893073677" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #436976; text-decoration: none;"><br /></a></li>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>
<li style="display: inline; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><br /></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Athens, 13 April 2011</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">To the members and cadre of the CPUSA,<br />To the workers that struggle in the USA<br />To the communist and workers parties</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Dear comrades,</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">In
February 2011 the chairperson of the CPUSA, Sam Webb, published an
article in Political Affairs, the electronic publication of the CPUSA,
entitled “<b style="color: #555555;"><i>A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It Does”</i></b>. Even if the specific article is accompanied by an editorial note which claims that “<i>The
following article represents the views of its author alone. It doesn't
necessarily reflect the official views of any organization or
collective.”,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>it is obvious to us that the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">public position of the head of a Communist Party concerning such an important issue requires special attention.</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">On the 16<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of February we received a letter from the editorial team of Political Affairs<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">which invited us to send in our opinion.</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Our
party, after studying this article and the reactions it has provoked
within the ranks of communists both in the USA and internationally,
considers it necessary to take a public position through this letter, as
is required by its responsibility as a part of the international
communist movement.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Our assessment is that we are dealing with a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">comprehensive liquidationist platform</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of
29 theses which has been placed before the international communist
movement and proposes the total revision of the principles and
revolutionary traditions of the communist movement.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">The KKE</b>, as a section of the international communist movement,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">considers
as its duty the refutation of this platform, which questions the need
for the existence of a party of the working class in the USA, and in
general is directed against the revolutionary and anti-imperialist
movement internationally.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The 18<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Congress of our party stressed that “<i>The
battle against social-democratisation tendencies in Communist Parties –
through the intervention of imperialist mechanisms, anti-communism and
the bourgeois media – must be fought firmly and consistently by
defending the historic role of the working class and its organised
vanguard, the principles of Marxism-Leninism and of socialism. This task
takes on even greater significance in face of the growing
anti-communist offensive in the EU and internationally.”</i></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Dear comrades,</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The platform that has been presented today, through the article of the chairperson of the CPUSA, constitutes the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">culmination</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of
a course of “adjustment” in the last decade as the author himself
points out. There have already been developments in this intervening
period which communists in Greece, as well as in the USA and other
countries have monitored with concern, such as:</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The handing over of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">Party’s archives</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to the imperialists, the bourgeois state of the USA in 2007.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">closure</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of
the print publication of the newspaper (People’s Weekly World) and the
journal Political Affairs, with the simultaneous alteration of its
character.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">organizational shrinkage<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>and dislocation of the party.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">political “tailing”,</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>behind one of the two pillars of the bourgeois political system of the USA, that is to say behind the Democratic Party.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">stance</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in relation to the ambitions of US imperialism ( e.g. rejection of the demand for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The<b style="color: #555555;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>blocking</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of
the Joint Statement of the Emergency Meeting of the Communist and
Workers’ Parties in Damascus, because in the final text there was the
position for the withdrawal of the imperialist occupation forces from
Iraq.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">These elements intensified after the 29<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Congress of the CPUSA. It was not by chance that immediately after the congress, an<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">article</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was
published in Political Affairs which called into question not only the
need to maintain the name of the party, but the possibility and even the
necessity of a Communist Party’s existence in the USA today.</span></li>
</ul>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Today the Webb platform comes as the culmination of this course and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">openly
propagandises the abandonment of the Marxist-Leninist worldview, the
abolition of democratic centralism, and the undermining of the
principles of the party of a new type</b>.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">We would like to draw your attention to the following basic aspects of this platform:</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">ON THE QUESTION OF THE THEORY OF THE PARTY</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">It
proposes the replacement of our theory by an eclectic hotchpotch which
does not go beyond the limits of liberal bourgeois ideology</b>. It
attacks Marxism-Leninism directly, which constitutes one of the central
laws of the existence and activity of the party of the new type, as
V.I.Lenin pointed out “Without revolutionary theory there can be no
revolutionary movement… role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only
by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory<i>.</i>” In this
specific platform various extremely old opportunist positions are
promoted as new (e.g. Marxism-Leninism is foreign, anti-democratic, it
is a distortion of Marxism by Stalin etc.), these are positions which
disarm the labour movement and surrender it, without theoretical tools,
to the claws of the exploitative system.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">ON THE QUESTION OF THE POLITICAL PROPOSAL OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY:</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">It promotes the view that there can be solutions in favour of the working class within the framework of capitalism.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>In
this way, it promotes as an alternative solution the line of the
so-called “green” capitalist restructurings. In addition, the Webb
platform considers the characterisation of the crisis as a capitalist
crisis of overproduction insufficient. It distorts the essence of the
over-accumulation of capital as it associates it with…. A lack of
investment opportunities. It states characteristically: “<i>Short of a
new New Green Deal on a global level, it is hard to see where the
dynamism for a sustained upswing, let alone a long boom, is going to
come from.</i>”</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">These
views recycle social-democratic and opportunist theories on economic
recession and development which whitewash capitalism and conceal its
class essence, leading the Communist Party to give up on its strategic
goal and support political proposals, which have as their goal the
acquisition of new super-profits by the capitalists, in the name of
“ecology”, at the same time when they are turning nature and natural
wealth into commodities, and destroying the planet in various ways.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">THE QUESTION OF THE SOCIALIST PERSPECTIVE:</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">It renounces the struggle for socialism.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The
notion of revolution is entirely absent. It proposes an endless process
of successive stages, in which the alliances will be formed not on the
basis of the criterion of the era and the class interests of the working
class. Webb proposes working for “-<i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the balance of forces is to shift in a progressive direction</i>”.
This view condemns the party to submit itself to the temporary
circumstances and not to work with a strategy for the overthrow of
capitalism through the concentration of forces.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Nevertheless,
it is obvious to us, that the tactics of a Communist Party must serve
its strategy, which is the overthrow of capitalism and the construction
of a socialist-communist society. The position of Webb in practice
abolishes the strategic goal of the Communist Party, and finally aims to
shake the very character of the Communist Party. Socialism is in any
case on the agenda, from the moment that we live in the era of
imperialism, the highest and final stage of capitalism. The timeliness
and necessity of socialism-communism is projected by the impasses of
capitalism, the imperialist wars, the economic crises, the huge social,
economic, environmental, ecological and other problems which capitalist
society gives rise to. A Communist Party must form tactics and alliances
which facilitate the concentration of forces, the class unity of the
working class and the social alliance with the popular strata, with the
aim of maturing the subjective factor for the acquisition of power by
the working class, and not to be trapped in alliances and stages, which
will lead it to struggle under a “foreign flag” in the logic of managing
capitalism.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">-ON THE QUESTION OF THE FORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">The Webb platform proposes moving beyond the Communist Parties.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It says that “<i>A
party of socialism in the 21st century embraces Marxism, understood as a
broad theoretical tradition that reaches beyond the communist movement</i>.” A party that does not struggle for the interests of the working class but “<i>fights for the interests of the entire nation</i>.”</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">This
position denies the necessity of the existence of the Communist Party
in the USA and indeed in the entire world. The KKE successfully dealt
with similar views, when they emerged in our party 20 years ago under
the influence of “Gorbachevist” theories. The communists of Greece
fought hard to repel these opportunist views, for the preservation of
the KKE, for the preservation and strengthening of its revolutionary,
class and internationalist character. Today, 20 years later, the
communists not only in Greece but all over the world can judge the
positive results that the outcome of this battle had for the KKE. The
KKE was able to stand on its feet, to elaborate serious theoretical and
political issues, without deviating from the principles of
Marxism-Leninism. It approved its new programme and came to important
conclusions concerning the causes of the overthrow of socialism,
enriching its conception of socialism. It has taken significant
initiatives for the unity of the communist movement at a regional and
international level. It strengthened its bonds with the working class
and the other popular strata. The influence of its positions and its
prestige has been strengthened as it plays the leading role in the
regrouping and development of the class-oriented labour-trade union
movement and in the tough strike mobilizations of the workers in our
country.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">None
of the above would have been achieved, if opportunism had prevailed 20
years ago in the KKE. The KKE would have gone down the road of
dissolution and the labour-popular movement would have lost its basic
pillar of support.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">-ON IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">The Webb platform renounces the struggle against bourgeois ideology and opportunism.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The party which Webb describes surrenders from the ideological struggle. He writes “<i>A
party of socialism in the 21st century doesn’t turn – liberals,
advocates of identity politics, single issue movements, centrist and
progressive leaders of major social organizations, social democrats,
community based non-profits, NGOs, unreliable allies, and the “people”
(according to some, a classless category concealing class, racial, and
gender oppression) – into enemies</i>.”</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">But
can a Communist Party enlighten the working class, the other popular
strata, if it does not have an ideological front against views which
present capitalism as the only way, which simply promote different types
of management of the exploitative system? The answer of the KKE to this
is that it is impossible for the struggle of the people to develop
without a firm and consistent ideological front against unscientific
bourgeois and opportunist theories. This is especially true in today’s
conditions, when the role of the various NGOs has become obvious, which
are connected financially and in other ways with the imperialist
organizations. In conditions when social-democracy has been in
government and has demonstrated in practice that is a pillar of support
for the bourgeois political system. In these conditions the communists
not only must not give up on ideological work and struggle, but they
must intensify the struggle even further against these forces.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">-ORGANIZATIONAL OPPORTUNISM</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Webb
rejects the Leninist organization, the organization of the vanguard of
the working class which corresponds to the needs of the class struggle
for the abolition of exploitation. He rejects the Leninist organization
because he rejects the struggle for socialism and has taken sides with
the bourgeois class for the perpetuation of capitalism.</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">And
so, a state machine which is both experienced and powerful will be
opposed by a “party”, according to him, based on the Internet, with an
open door policy for new members as an organizational principle: “<i>Joining should be no more difficult than joining other social organizations”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Thus
we can see that not only does he reject the tried and tested
organizational principles of the Communist Party of a new type, which
were established in the era of Lenin, but he promotes the idea of a
party of an NGO type, which corresponds to the content which he himself
proposes and is in the direction of a “Communist Party” assimilated into
the bourgeois system, which will work for the salvation and
“correction” of capitalism and not for its overthrow.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">-A PARTY OF REVOLUTION OR REFORM?</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Reform
is the answer given by Webb to this fundamental question, which was
posed a hundred years ago. His view denies that the party is the
vanguard of the working class</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and subordinates its activity to the lowest level of class consciousness (“<i>A
party of socialism in the 21st century takes as its point of departure
the issues that masses (relative term) are ready to fight for</i>”). Of course a reformist line is proposed as well as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">the prioritization of the intervention in the institutions</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of
the bourgeois state. The struggle for reforms within imperialism is
acclaimed not only as a “means” buts an end for this “new” party.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">In
reality, when has the path of reforming the capitalist system ever led
to the abolition of the exploitation of man by man and the vindication
of the workers’ desires? The “recipe” of reforms has been tested by the
peoples through various social-democratic and centre-left governments,
which in practice have been proved to be the main vehicles for the
imposition of anti-people and anti-worker measures, and as pillars of
support for the imperialist organizations and wars.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">-“MARXISM”…WITHOUT MARX</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Webb calls<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">the class nature of bourgeois democracy into question</b>. As he writes: “<i>What I’m challenging is the notion that everything is subordinate to class and class struggle no matter what the circumstances.</i>” He questions the class nature of the bourgeois state, that is to say the dictatorship of the US monopolies and claims that “<i>Thus
the nature of the struggle isn’t simply the people against the state,
but the people winning positions and influence in the state and then
utilizing them to make changes (within and outside of the state)”</i>.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">This
is an old opportunist position which Marx had already rejected in his
era, and was revived by the bankrupt eurocommunist current. And this
alone would be enough for us to come to the conclusion that the
“Marxism”, which is mentioned as being the theoretical basis of the
“party of the 21<sup>st</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>century”,
has nothing to do with Marx and his theoretical contribution but aims
at its vulgar distortion, the burying of revolutionary theory, and the
deception of the workers.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">ILLUSIONS CONCERNING THE ROLE OF THE US GOVERNMENT AND THE MONOPOLIES:</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">The Webb platform fosters illusions and works for the submission of the people to the government of the USA</b>, that is to say the world’s leading imperialist power:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>“The
point isn’t for the U.S. government to simply to crawl into a national
shell, but to reinsert itself into world affairs on the basis of
cooperation, peace, equality, and mutual benefits…”</i></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">At the same time he<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="color: #555555;">fosters illusions concerning a “ humanized” version of the monopolies</b>: “<i>big
sections of the transnational corporate class have pulled the plug on
the American people, economy, and state…the commitment of major sections
of the transnational elite to a people-friendly public sector, a
vibrant domestic economy and a modern society has waned…”</i></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">As
the Chairperson of the CPUSA has given up on a class approach to
society, the abovementioned positions are to be expected. These are
positions which not only have nothing to do with the history and
struggles of the party he represents, but they bear no relation to
reality either. The continuing occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the
new imperialist war in Libya demonstrate what kind of activity the US
government has developed outside its “national shell”. And it conducts
similar anti-people activity for the defence of the interests of the
monopolies inside its own country.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">ESCALATING THE LINE OF “TAILING” CAPITAL AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The
strengthening of political reaction which is intrinsic to imperialism
and is intensifying in the conditions of crisis is interpreted as
“ultra-right extremism”. This leads to conclusions which violate the
truth and reality, such as “<i>we say too definitively that the
independent forces stand no chance whatsoever of taking over the
Democratic Party. That still may be the case, but it is a mistake to
rule it out completely at this point.</i>” The equation of the working
class and its movement with the trade union bureaucracy of the AFL-CIO
is consistent with the political line of alliance with sections of
capital.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://inter.kke.gr/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" type="DISC">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">TURNING TO ANTICOMMUNISM</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Webb’s article marks an overt siding with the class enemy and a complete alignment with contemporary state-level anticommunism.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It calls for “<i>an unequivocal break with Stalin</i>”
and lines up with the slanderous assault on socialist construction
which offered so much to the Soviet peoples and played the decisive role
in the anti-fascist victory of the peoples. In essence, these positions
attempt to conceal the reality, the complex problems of the class
struggle in the USSR and the tough confrontation of working class power
with the bourgeois class in the countryside, the kulaks.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">It
adopts, in essence, every kind of slanderous simplification of complex
problems, such as the sharpening of the class struggle in the USSR. The
article goes a step further and joins up with Havel, Walesa and all the
reactionary anticommunists of the EU who talk of “crimes against
humanity”. It lines up with the tendency that attempts to criminalise
the Communist Parties and the defence of socialism: “<i>τo describe these atrocities as a mistake is a mistake – criminal</i><b style="color: #555555;">”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">As
is well known the opportunist current in Europe that forms the so
called Party of the European Left (ELP) holds a similar anti-historical
position.</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Dear comrades of the CPUSA,</b></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Members, friends and cadre of the CPUSA,</b></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Conscious Workers of the US,</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">At
this very critical moment for your party the KKE calls on you to take
into account that the ideological attack against the Party of a New Type
focusing on its identity, its character and its organisational
principles was unleashed from the very first moment of its existence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>The
revisionists have always supported the dissolution of the party of the
working class; they have always been a pillar of support for the
bourgeoisie. The bourgeois class and its supporters understood from the
very first moment the role of the party in the political emancipation of
the working class and its movement. The ideological attack which was
unleashed continues up to the present day as is demonstrated by Webb’s
article.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">We call on you to take into account the fact that the party can only fulfil the role of the proletarian vanguard</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on
the condition that it is equipped with unity of will, unity of action,
and unity of strict discipline. Its internationalist character stems
from its nature; it constitutes an integral part of the world communist
movement.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Experience
confirms and practice which is the yardstick of truth proves that the
revolutionary line of struggle not only does not restrict mass work but
it reinforces it.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It
strengthens the expectations of the working people, it provides a
way-out and a perspective, it contributes to the change of the
correlation of forces. The independent action of the party is a
prerequisite for the formation of a policy of alliances that will be
subordinated to and serve the strategy for the overthrow of capitalism.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">In
addition, we consider it necessary to take into account that the
necessity of the socialist revolution and the construction of the new
communist socio-economic formation</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is
not determined by the correlation of forces, which is shaped at the
various historical junctures, but by the historical need to resolve the
basic contradiction between capital and labour. The counterrevolutions
in the USSR and the other socialist countries have not altered the
character of our era which is an era of transition from capitalism to
socialism which is timely and necessary as shown by the tragedy of the
millions of workers and unemployed who suffer from exploitation and the
intensification of the problems that the exploitative system causes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">We believe that the replacement of the principles of Marxism Leninism</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by
revisionist approaches in the name of national peculiarities caused a
great deal of damage to the communist movement and continues to do so.
No national peculiarity can negate the necessity for the revolutionary
overthrow of capitalism, the necessity for the conquest of political
power by the working class, for the socialisation of production and
central planning. The economic crisis that broke out in the capitalist
world and the intensification of the inter-imperialist contradictions
further highlight the timeliness of socialism. Under these conditions
the driving back of the new wave of state anticommunism, the defence of
the socialism we knew, of its great contribution to the world working
class, of the identity and the revolutionary traditions of the communist
movement acquire a special importance.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">Dear comrades,</b></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">Historical
experience, the developments themselves have refuted the views that
spoke of “the end of history”, the “obsolescence of Marxism-Leninism”
and the “end of the Communist Parties”. On the contrary, today there is a
stronger need for the existence of Communist Parties that have roots in
the working class and the workplaces, which believe in Marxism-Leninism
and proletarian internationalism. The labour movement must consciously
act and rise to the challenge to ensure the existence of a revolutionary
party of the working class. This is a crucial duty and a challenge for
the most advanced workers and for communists in all the countries of the
world and of course above all in the USA.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;">The
consistent confrontation with and rejection of this
opportunist-liquidationist platform is a requirement which springs from
the historical traditions the labour and communist movement in the USA,
it is a condition for the revival of revolutionary communist ideals in
the US labour movement and society.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div align="justify" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 85%;"><b style="color: #555555;">The International Relations Section of the CC of KKE</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-11366387800661739672012-08-26T08:46:00.000-07:002012-08-26T08:50:36.978-07:00(Houston Purge Part 2) This is what democracy looks like! in the CPUSABy James Thompson<br />
As many people know, I have been “dropped” from membership in the
CPUSA. This article will present the exact exchange between me and
various characters in the national leadership who have corresponded with
me over this issue. It is important for the working class to be well
aware of how their party treats their membership. Through education,
this author hopes that an informed working class will fight for control
of the party that historically has best represented them in this country
and around the world.<br />
<br />
Here is a letter sent to Sam Webb and Jarvis Tyner as well as a
number of party officials requesting an appeal of the decision to “drop”
me.<br />
<br />
This letter was sent on 7/29/12 at 8:10pm.<br />
<br />
Dear Sam and Jarvis –<br />
I would like to appeal the decision by the National Board to “drop”
me from membership in the CPUSA. I want to exercise my right under
Article VII, Section 6 of the CPUSA constitution to appeal the decision
to “drop” me from membership to the National Committee.<br />
This letter is being submitted not just on my behalf, but on behalf
of the members of the original Houston club who have discussed it at a
club meeting and agreed that I submit it as well. I came to the
realization that I have a duty to defend myself as well as the members
of our club who have elected me through democratic process to be their
club chair.<br />
<br />
In the July 8, 2012 e-mail from John Bachtell to me, the party
informed me that I have been “dropped from membership.” Here is the
exact letter:<br />
<br />
“Hi Pat,<br />
We are sending this email after numerous attempts to speak with you in person and by phone, without response.<br />
It is clear your continued actions are incompatible with membership
in the Communist Party USA. Therefore, based on a discussion in the
National Board you have been dropped from membership.<br />
Please turn over all Party records and finances in your possession to
the newly organized and officially recognized Houston club.<br />
If you have any questions about this action please feel free to call me at ……..<br />
John Bachtell<br />
CPUSA<br />
July 8, 2012”<br />
<br />
I don’t have the power to hand over the money or anything else
without the democratic consent of the club. The original Houston club
voted on July 4, 2012 not to hand over the money or anything else to the
new club by 9-0.<br />
By this letter I appeal to the National Committee to reverse this
decision to drop me. There have been no charges made against me, only
that my “continued actions are incompatible with membership in the
Communist Party USA.”<br />
<br />
What “continued actions?” The national leadership has not asked me to discontinue any actions.<br />
<br />
I assert that the CPUSA constitution has been egregiously violated by this letter to me from John Bachtell.<br />
<br />
Bachtell’s e-mail letter does not adhere to the provisions of the
Party’s Constitution under Article VII (Disciplinary Procedures and
Appeals). His e-mail violates Section 1 since I have never been informed
of the charges against me. Section 3 was violated in that no charges
were made against me to the original Houston club. Also, no trial
committee was elected and did not hear charges, or make recommendations.
Section 4 was violated in that I was never notified of the charges
against me. Section 5 was violated in that there was no trial committee
and no votes were taken. Disciplinary measures have not been reported to
the original Houston club, i.e. the club of which I am not only a
member, but am the duly democratically elected club chair. There has not
been an automatic review of my expulsion (let’s not mince words since
that is what happened) by any bodies within the CPUSA.<br />
When I heard in mid June that there was a possibility that Bachtell
might visit Houston, I sent an email to him (June 13th) inviting him to
meet with the Houston Club. I received no reply to my email and heard
nothing from the Texas district leadership. My wife and I left for a
pre-scheduled weekend getaway in San Antonio on Friday June 29th with a
plan to return on Sunday evening July 1st. I had a prearranged
conference call scheduled for the evening of July 1st. Monday, July 2nd
was a workday for me (and for many others). I had a full schedule of
appointments. Bachtell’s first email to me came on Sat., June 30th after
he had already arrived in Houston.<br />
Why was it not possible for him to correspond with me to work out his
schedule in Houston before he arrived either by e-mail or phone? Am I
being “dropped” because I was out of town or at work and could not make a
meeting?<br />
Here is the exact sequence of e-mails between John Bachtell and me
leading up to the letter dropping me from membership. First you will
note my e-mail to John Bachtell inviting him to meet with the whole
Houston club issued on June 13. I sent this e-mail because I was hearing
rumors that they were coming to Houston. I had not received any
official notice from district or national leadership about the visit at
this point.<br />
<br />
“On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 9:09 PM, Paul wrote:<br />
Dear John -<br />
We have talked over the phone in the past.<br />
We understand that you are likely to come to Houston in the near
future. We certainly would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and
discuss our points of common ground as well as differences. Some members
have already expressed interest in such a meeting. We want to work
together to build maximum unity and resolve differences in a mutually
respectful and beneficial manner.<br />
However, we don’t know the details of your visit. Please let us know
if you would be available to meet with us and if you need us to make
arrangements for a meeting place, etc.<br />
We look forward to welcoming you to Houston.<br />
Peace & solidarity<br />
Pat Thompson<br />
Club Chair, Houston Communist Party”<br />
<br />
I received no response to my e-mail until June 30 at which time I was
vacationing in San Antonio with my wife. Here is the first response I
received from John Bachtell:<br />
<br />
“From: John Bachtell<br />
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:21:50 -0500<br />
To: Paul Subject: Re: Meeting in Houston<br />
Hi Pat,<br />
As you know Juan and I are in Houston. We along with Bernard would
like to meet with you while we are here. We propose 7 pm Sunday at the
Kim Son restaurant (downtown at 59th and Jefferson)<br />
Please let me know if this is good for you.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
John”<br />
<br />
I responded with the following e-mail:<br />
<br />
On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 6:51 PM, wrote:<br />
My wife and I are in San Antonio now. I asked Bernard about the meeting
last Sunday at our monthly meeting and he said he didn’t know anything
about the meeting with you and Juan.<br />
We will return to Houston tomorrow, however I have scheduled a phone call with a Union brother from NY at the time you propose.<br />
I would be happy to meet with you the next time you are in Houston.
Please show us the courtesy of giving us advance notice so that we can
gather the whole club together to meet with you. We feel that informing
us at the last minute is disrespectful.<br />
Pat ”<br />
<br />
John responded to my e-mail at 10:54am on July 1, 2012 with the following e-mail:<br />
<br />
“Hi Pat,<br />
Thanks for returning my email. We have also made several attempts to
reach you by phone and have left messages to schedule a meeting with
you. We have not gotten a response yet.<br />
We would be happy to meet with you anytime and anyplace at your convenience Sunday or Monday until midafternoon when we depart.<br />
Looking forward to hearing from you.<br />
John Bachtell”<br />
<br />
As you can see from the sequence of e-mails, Bachtell proposed a
meeting with me individually at the end of their visit. Since I had not
been given the opportunity to plan this meeting, it was impossible for
me to meet with John and Juan at the end of their visit. You can see
from my e-mail that I offered to meet with them in the future if they
give me the opportunity to plan and schedule a meeting with them. This
offer still stands.<br />
<br />
I should point out that I have been a loyal member of the CPUSA since
2003. I have written hundreds of articles for the People’s Weekly World
and People’s World using the names James Thompson and Paul Hill. I
attended the 2005 convention in Chicago as a delegate from Texas and
wrote the article covering the convention’s solidarity action with the
staff on strike at the Congress Hotel. I have attended party meetings in
St. Louis on African American equality. I have attended state
conventions in Texas in Austin. I have attended district meetings in El
Paso and in Oakland. I participated in the march on Wall Street and
marched alongside Jarvis Tyner and Libero della Piana in 2009. In fact, I
made up the slogans and hand printed the posters for that march. I
attended the march on Washington for Jobs on 10/2/10 and helped Bill
Davis and others organize the party presence there. I attended an
anti-war march in Washington, DC and marched with the party contingent,
distributed PWWs and helped set up the party table and helped clean up. I
wrote the first article for the PWW after Hurricane Katrina covering
the survivors in Houston. I wrote many articles for the PWW that were
printed on the front page including an article on an AFL-CIO action in
Little Rock, Arkansas. I wrote many centerpiece articles, including one
on waterboarding and one on immigration and detention of undocumented
workers. I covered the BP disaster in Texas City in which many workers
died. I covered the Essence music festival in Houston and went to an
anti-war march in New Orleans where I distributed PWWs and wrote up the
event for the paper. I covered two AFL-CIO Martin Luther King day
celebrations, one in Houston and one in New Orleans. Most recently, I
have launched a campaign to overturn the anti-Communist law in Texas
which prohibits Communists from running for public office or holding
state government jobs. All of this has been done on a volunteer basis
and I have received no remuneration from the party for any of these
activities. I have participated in fundraising for Democratic Party
candidates for U.S. House of Representatives candidates in Houston and
informed Jarvis Tyner and district leadership of this effort. I have
participated in the Labor Neighbor program through the AFL-CIO and have
been a regular supporter of the Justice for Janitors effort by SEIU in
Houston. I have written numerous articles supporting both. I attended
the Jobs with Justice conference in Providence, R.I. with Texas district
leadership. I attended the Texas state AFL-CIO convention in Corpus
Christi when state district leadership could not due to illness. I
attended and voted for the endorsement of Single Payer Health Care which
was ultimately endorsed by the Texas state AFL-CIO convention in Corpus
Christi. I have worked for Democratic Party candidates dating back to
George McGovern. I was a delegate to the Texas state Democratic Party
convention for Jesse Jackson in 1988. I was a delegate to the Texas
state Democratic Party convention in 2004 for Dennis Kucinich. I was a
delegate to the Texas state Democratic Party convention in Fort Worth
and attended with Texas CPUSA district leadership.<br />
It is not easy living in Houston, home of George H. W. Bush and Tom
DeLay (I worked very hard on the AFL-CIO effort to replace Tom DeLay
with Democrat Nick Lampson, which was successful). It is even more
difficult to organize a CPUSA club here in the deep South. In fact, from
2003 until 2009, there was no Houston club of the CPUSA. I changed that
and built a vibrant, thriving club.<br />
Some comrades have asked the question, “Why can’t there be two CPUSA
clubs in the fourth largest city in the United States of America?” Our
original club recognizes the right of the new club to form and we wish
it every success in building the party. On the other hand, the new club
and the national leadership have attempted to impose the dissolution of
our original club on us. Our club is perplexed by these maneuvers and we
don’t understand how dropping my membership and dissolving our club
will help build the party and how this will help build working class
power.<br />
We are requesting clarification and are appealing the decision to “drop” me from membership in the CPUSA.<br />
I am requesting that copies of this letter be distributed to all
members of the national committee as well as the national board.<br />
Peace & solidarity<br />
James Thompson<br />
Club Chair, Houston Communist Party<br />
<a href="mailto:PHill1917@comcast.net">PHill1917@comcast.net</a><br />
<br />
To my knowledge, the CPUSA leadership ignored my request that my
letter be distributed to all the members of the National Committee.
Instead, they sent this letter to the National Committee:<br />
“To: National Committee<br />
From: National Board<br />
Dear comrades,<br />
Many of you are aware we have been dealing with a destructive factional
situation in the Houston club for the past several years. National and
district leaders have made many attempts to resolve this situation to no
avail.<br />
The club leader, Pat Thompson, had established a website which
consistently carried out anti-Party attacks on our democratically
arrived at policy, national convention decisions and personal attacks on
our leaders.<br />
We had repeatedly asked Thompson to cease the public attacks and remove
anti-Party material from the website. Because he refused to comply, the
CPUSA issued a statement late last year which publicly disassociated the
Party from the website.<br />
Thompson had also reposted numerous articles from the Marxism-Leninism
Today website, another source of anti-party attacks generated by former
members.<br />
Additionally, Thompson invited a former leader of the CPUSA to a club
meeting with the expressed purpose of aligning the club with an
opposition network and, failing to change Party policy, to form a new
communist party.<br />
This May we received a communication from members of the club seeking
intervention. They explained they were not in agreement with the
attacks on the Party and had been waging a struggle against the
factionalism. They had hoped to solve the problem internally but this
proved not possible. The factional activity led to a paralysis of the
club and the acrimony drove away members.<br />
The National Board with the agreement of the TX district leadership,
asked John Bachtell and Juan Lopez to visit Houston at the end of June
with the purpose of responding to the request for help, including
establishing a new party club if necessary and meeting with as many
members, new and old, as possible.<br />
John and Juan made repeated efforts to meet with Thompson, but were rebuffed. They concluded Thompson was unwilling to meet.<br />
They held numerous meetings with members and friends and assisted in
the establishment of a new club of comrades who support the party policy
and seek to be integrated into the national and state organization. As
it turned out over 70% of the membership supported this direction.<br />
Since its establishment the new club has fully immersed itself in
activity, including the rolling janitor’s strike turning Houston upside
down, built a website and Facebook page, begun fundraising and building a
treasury, written several articles for the People’s World, sought to
renew its mass ties and continued outreach to new members.<br />
On July 5, Juan and John reported the results of their visit to the
National Board. The NB decided to officially recognize the new club as
the sole representative of the Communist Party in Houston and drop Pat
Thompson from Party membership for his egregious acts of factionalism in
open violation of the CPUSA constitution.<br />
The NB informed Thompson of this in a letter. Thompson appealed the
decision on the basis that he had not been informed of the charges and
asked for a hearing. Meanwhile, the website he operates that claims to
speak for the Communist Party of Houston continued to attack Party
policy and leaders.<br />
The National Board, with the agreement of the Texas District leadership adopted the following;<br />
To allow someone so openly and clearly anti-party to exploit the
democratic provisions in our constitution to continue to attack the
Party and embroil us in a prolonged internal dispute is not in the
interests of the Party.<br />
Given Thompson’s history, proceedings would no doubt be trumpeted widely
on the Internet and social media. To publicly engage the Party in a
fight that will consume vast amounts of time and energy would only serve
his interests and anti-Party factional elements around him.<br />
Therefore, on August 2 the National Board rejected Thompson’s appeal.”<br />
<br />
John Bachtell “just followed orders” when he sent a letter to me on 8/9/12 rejecting my appeal of the decision to “drop me”:<br />
<br />
Hi Pat,<br />
We received your appeal of the July 5 decision to drop you from
membership in the Communist Party USA for egregious acts of factionalism
in violation of the CPUSA constitution.<br />
Even after your appeal, the website that you operate, which claims to
speak for the Communist Party of Houston, continues to attack Party
policy and leaders.<br />
To allow anyone so openly and clearly anti-party to exploit the
democratic provisions in our constitution to continue to attack the
Party and embroil us in a prolonged internal dispute is not in our
interests.<br />
On August 2, the National Board, vested according to the CPUSA
constitution with the authority to act for the good and welfare of the
entire Party, rejected your appeal.<br />
National Board<br />
CPUSA”<br />
<br />
Comrades, brothers and sisters, people of the working class:<br />
It is time that we stand up for our interests and fight for a better
world, not for better imperialism. Don’t sit at home, do nothing and
“just follow orders”. It is time for working people to fight for their
party, the CPUSA.<br />
Although I have been expelled from the party, I still consider myself
to be a member of the party. I am just one person. The people on the
National Board seem to have been elevated to a superior position as
compared with the National Committee and certainly the National
Convention. The National Board is made up of just a few people. If you
add the entire National Board and myself together it does not make up
even a recognizable fraction of the working people in the USA. It is
time for working people to step up to the plate and demand respect for
the membership of our party and demand respect for the working people
from our party, the CPUSA.<br />
Furthermore, the Houston club (original) rejects its expulsion and
attempt at dissolution by the national leadership of the CPUSA. It
rejects the expulsion of its duly democratically elected chair. It
demands that the leadership of the CPUSA stop its unconstitutional
activity and return to the proud tradition of the party in opposing
imperialism and anti-working class activities in all its forms. We must
fight for the working class, not against it.<br />
<br />
Comrades, brothers and sisters, people of the working class:<br />
Don’t tell yourselves, “it can’t happen here.” If it can happen in Houston, it can happen anywhere.<br />
Stand up for your rights! Unite and fight for a better world through
socialism and democracy! “Don’t cling so hard to your possessions,
because you’ve got nothing if you’ve got no rights!”<br />
<a href="mailto:PHill1917@comcast.net">PHill1917@comcast.net</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-29176822085632176702012-08-26T08:39:00.000-07:002012-08-26T08:45:29.437-07:00(Houston Purge Part 1) Will The Real Communist Party Please Stand Up? <table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody>
<tr style="color: white;"><td align="left" colspan="2" valign="top" width="70%"><span class="small">Written by James Thompson </span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="color: white;">
<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">As the CPUSA slides off into ideological, philosophical and political
obscurity and isolation, we in Houston have been privileged to witness
the party in action, no pun intended. CPUSA leadership has received
sharp criticism from Houston as well as around the country and across
the globe. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">There has been no detectable response from leadership to the
sharp criticism. However, there has been a recent flurry of
self-destructive activity rather than any kind of logical, reasonable
advocacy of their untenable positions or any attempts to engage in fair
and open dialogue and debate.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
CPUSA, under the leadership of Sam Webb, has embarked upon tactics to
deal with their local clubs which might be characterized as similar to
the mindless game shows that people watch on TV. The script goes like
this: anointed party leaders arrive unannounced in cities where there
are clubs which challenge the political line of the leadership. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">At
this point, they start the game show which might be called “Will the
real Communist Party please stand up?” They typically meet with the most
troubled and troublesome members of the club they are trying to
dissolve. They also contact people who have contacted the party website
recently. They meet with these people individually, not as a group. The
attempt is to isolate the members of the original club and split off the
weaker and newer members. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">As
they meet with these individuals, the fun starts. They denounce the
original club as not being recognized as a legitimate club of the CPUSA.
They announce the formation of a new club which is fully recognized and
anointed by CPUSA leadership. They attempt to peel off the members of
the original club and fold them into the new club. They also seek to
swallow the club’s resources with one gulp and attempt to slander the
original club’s leadership. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
end of the game show is always disappointing because only the most
craven sycophants of the party leadership win the kiss of death from the
CPUSA leadership. And kiss of death they do get. Once the fun is over,
the new club is left to fend for itself without any support from
leadership. Typically, these new clubs fade out quickly and cease to
function.<br />
<br />
In Houston, the story follows the rigid script as discussed in an
earlier article by A. Shaw posted on this website
[<<www.houstoncommunists.com>>].<br />
<br />
This script has been played out in many cities and is currently playing
in Houston and the Northeast and the West. It is probably playing in
other areas of the country as well.<br />
<br />
In Houston, I am the elected chair of the Houston Communist Party.
Leadership arrived in Houston on June 29, 2012 and started meeting
individually with club members. They did not respond to an invitation
issued by me on June 13, 2012 to plan and organize a meeting with all
the members of the club. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Instead,
they contacted me by phone and e-mail on June 30, 2012 and proposed to
meet with me individually and immediately. At the time they contacted
me, I was in San Antonio on vacation with my wife. I responded that I
was not available and that they should show me courtesy and respect when
they request a meeting with me. I told them I would be happy to
organize a meeting of the entire club to hold a reasonable and
respectful dialogue with them, but needed advance notice in order to
plan such a meeting. They persisted in only requesting an individual
meeting with me. They made no mention of any charges against me in this
contact. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">On
July 10, 2012, one of the party leaders sent me an e-mail informing me
that I had been “dropped” from membership in the CPUSA. In doing so,
they clearly violated Article VII of the party constitution which reads:<br />
<br />
ARTICLE VII – Disciplinary Procedures and Appeals<br />
<br />
SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of this Article, any member or
officer of the Party may be reprimanded, put on probation, suspended for
a specified period, removed from office, dropped or expelled from the
Party for actions detrimental to the interests of the Party and the
working class, for factionalism, for making false statements in an
application for membership, for financial irregularities, or for
advocacy or practice of racial, national or religious discrimination, or
discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation.<br />
<br />
No action, including dropping, may be taken against a member without
notifying him or her of the action and the reason for it. Assistance
should be given to help comrades to overcome weaknesses and
shortcomings, when possible.<br />
<br />
SECTION 2. Subject to the provisions of this Article, any member shall
be expelled from the Party who is a strikebreaker, a provocateur,
engaged in espionage, an informer, or who advocates force and violence
or terrorism, or who participates in the activities of any group which
acts to undermine or overthrow any democratic institutions through which
the majority of the American people can express their right to
determine their destiny.<br />
<br />
SECTION 3. Charges against individual members or committees may be made
by any member or Party committee to the club of which the accused is a
member or to the appropriate higher committee having jurisdiction.<br />
<br />
All such charges shall be handled expeditiously by an elected trial
committee of the club or appropriate higher body. The trial committee
shall hear charges, make recommendations and then disband.<br />
<br />
SECTION 4. All accused persons concerned in disciplinary cases, except
publicly self-admitted informers and provocateurs, must be notified of
the charges against them, shall have the right to appear, to bring
witnesses, including non-members if agreed to by the trial committee,
and to testify. The burden of proof shall be on the accusers.<br />
<br />
SECTION 5. After hearing the report of the trial committee, the club or
leading committee having jurisdiction shall have the right to decide by a
two-thirds vote upon any disciplinary measure, including expulsion.
Disciplinary measures taken by leading committees shall be reported to
the club of each accused member. Higher bodies must be informed of all
disciplinary actions above a reprimand. There shall be an automatic
review of all expulsions by the next higher body.<br />
<br />
SECTION 6. Any member or committee that has been subject to disciplinary
action has the right to appeal to the next higher body up to the
National Convention, whose decision shall be final. The National, State
(or District) or other leading committee shall set a hearing within 60
days from the date of receipt of the appeal and notify the appellant of
the hearing date. When, however, the appeal is to a State, District or
National Convention, the appeal shall be acted upon by the Convention
following the filing of the appeal, provided that such appeal is made at
least 30 days prior to the convention.<br />
<br />
So, in Houston, the game show evolved into a new twist. The new twist is
“Will the real Communist please stand up?” It should be noted that the
leader of the new, officially recognized club of the CPUSA, according to
reports from party members in other parts of the country, is a former
member of the Spartacist league in California. He has a history of
campaigning against the United Farmworkers and called for workers to
break the strike of the farmworkers because Cesar Chavez was a
“bourgeois sellout.” This individual has not written a single article
for the party press. I, on the other hand, have a history of writing
hundreds of articles for the party press to include the People’s Weekly
World and People’s World. Many of these articles were reproduced on the
Texas Communist Party website. More recently, I have published articles
in the Morning Star, People’s Voice and Unity, the paper of the Irish
Communist Party.<br />
<br />
The leader of the newly christened club in Houston has attacked me for
not following “Democratic Centralism.” It should be remembered that
Democratic Centralism refers to “diversity of opinion and unity of
action.” Currently, the CPUSA viciously quashes any diversity of opinion
and proposes no action which might unify the party. Indeed, leadership
turned up its nose at an effort to overturn anti-Communist laws in Texas
proposed by this writer. Instead of supporting this effort, they
dropped me from membership in the party. Which side are they on?<br />
<br />
One of the prominent members of the newly christened club contributed to
the article posted on the Houston website entitled “Sam Webb: which
side are you on?” Indeed, all club members fully supported the article
at the time it was posted including the new leader of the split off
sycophantic club. The treachery and hypocrisy of this new club created
in the image of CPUSA leadership is obvious.<br />
<br />
People in Houston are perplexed by the heavy-handed party process. They
are having a hard time believing that national leadership can blow into
town unannounced and collude with the sneakiest and most negative
elements of the club to split and divide a functioning and growing club.
They are not used to being robbed of their basic democratic rights and
being subjected to the dictates of an Imperial CPUSA.<br />
<br />
Although the party leadership has proposed the abandonment of basic
party concepts such as the vanguard role of the party, class struggle,
Leninism, democratic centralism and seeks to censor any discussion of
party policy, a few individuals can always be enlisted in an attempt to
undermine a truly working class organization. Indeed, people like me who
disagree with the policy of supporting uncritically the imperialist
Obama administration are quickly dropped from party membership without
regard to the constitutional process. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">This
says nothing about the destruction of the party press and publications
and the failure to fight against anti-Communist laws across the country.
This says nothing about the delivery of important party documents and
artifacts to a bourgeois university for safekeeping. This says nothing
about the failure of the party to run candidates for public office since
the 1980s. This says nothing about the proposal of party leadership to
drop the words “Communist” and “party.” This says nothing about the four
international Communist Parties (Greece, Mexico, Canada and Germany)
who have sharply, publicly and openly criticized the political line of
the CPUSA.<br />
<br />
The Houston Communist Party has been attacked from the left by
anarchists and Trotskyites who have sought to demoralize us. We have
been attacked by CPUSA national leadership. We have been attacked by
right wing ideologues such as Glenn Beck. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We view these attacks as confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">We
are here to stay. We are growing. We will not back down. We will
continue to stand up for the working class because we are of, by and for
the working class. It is clear which side our attackers and detractors
are on. It is clear which side we are on. Our interests and the
interests of the CPUSA leadership are irreconcilable.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">July 11, 2012</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;"> http://houstoncommunistparty.com/will-the-real-communist-party-please-stand-up/</span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-56515711275772220832012-08-26T08:37:00.001-07:002012-08-26T08:39:54.323-07:00Tired Old So-Called Leftists Give Same Old Excuses For Supporting Obama in 2012<table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody>
<tr style="color: white;"><td align="left" colspan="2" valign="top" width="70%"><span class="small">Written by Bruce A. Dixon </span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="color: white;">
<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">For more than
four years now, we at Black Agenda Report have chronicled the
self-silencing and growing irrelevance of black America and what calls
itself "the left" in the age of Obama. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Black
America has arrayed itself as a veritable wall around the First Black
President. But it's not a wall that protects him from racists or Wall
Street predators or Pentagon warmongers. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The truth has always been that
when we stifle our own tongues and circle the wagons trying to silence
critics of the White House we only protect the president and his party
from accountability to their supposed base: us. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Some African Americans and self-identified leftists relish their irrelevance so much they feel called to preach it. </span>
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Early
this week Carl Davidson and Bill Fletcher published a 5,900 word screed
at Alternet.Org with the clumsy and contradictory title <b>The 2012 Elections Have Little To Do With Obama's Record ... Which Is Why We Are Voting For Him. </b>5,900 words is pretty long. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Out
of respect for our readers' precious time we here summarize its tired,
recycled and profoundly un-original arguments in the order they were
made, as 12 one-sentence bullet points. Some are repeated in whole or in
part, because that's what Davidson and Fletcher did, for who knows what
reason. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Here they are:<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">1.
The electoral system is pretty much broken. Give the authors credit
for this brilliant observation. From standards of who can vote varying
from state to state and county to county, with the US Senate giving
disproportionate representation to states with lower population, with
the Supreme Court affirming that corporations are people who get to vote
with their money, and electronic voting which makes it audits
impossible, it's hard to argue that US elections aren't a rigged game.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">2.
Historically, progressives either tail the Democrats, become
anarchists, or use elections to expose the bad guys by attacking Dems as
well as Repubs, all 3 of which they say "miss the point. " Tailing the
Democrats is tailing the Democrats, period. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Your
votes and those you persuade and hustle count just the same, whether
they are cast while holding your nose in a spirit of "critical support"
or as a craven, tongue-wagging Al Sharpton-style bootlicker. And if the
electoral processes are profoundly broken, what's wrong with using the
election to expose the difference between what people want and deserve
and what's actually being offered? </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Why
is it better to let a Democrat cut Medicare and social security and
privatize public education just because the Democrat isn't a white
racist?</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">3.
Elections are about power, and the left not only has none, but
possesses not even a plan to get any. The power of elections is
symbolic — they symbolize the will of the people. Elections, even
manifestly crooked ones, give a veneer of legitimacy to the "winners."
And Fletcher & Davidson must be leftists themselves, because they
don't have power or a plan to get any either.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">4. The Republican right is racist, irrational and often militantly ignorant. Wow. These guys don't miss much, do they?<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">5.
The 2008 Obama campaign was "movement-like" and some kind of "mass
revolt", while Obama was always "a corporate liberal." Many like Carl
and Bill who supported him were "measured skeptics." Back in 2008,
Fletcher's term for "measured skeptic" was "critical support." Being a
"measured skeptic" is sort of like being only slightly pregnant. Unless
you believe the slogan on their poster, the Obama campaign was never a
"movement." It was an marketing campaign, and won Advertising Age's 2008
award for the best brand of the year. Obama IS a "corporate liberal"
but in the context of his campaign being a marketing effort masquerading
as a movement, it's more precise to call him that — a brand,
deliberately manufactured as objects to which folks can attach imaginary
and desirable qualities like compassion, opposition to wars, and so on.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">6.
Fletcher & Davidson credit Obama with taking the troops out of
Iraq. This is an outright lie, as more than a hundred thousand
US–financed mercenaries remain in Iraq indefinitely, and the Obama White
House fought till the last minute to get its Iraqi client state to set
aside the Status of Forces agreement negotiated under the Bush
administration which required all official US forces to leave the
country.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">7.
The Republican right is attacking Obama cause they're irrational,
misogynist and racist and because he's black. Same as point number 4.
Keen and savvy observers, Davidson and Fletcher are, to have noticed
this.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">8.
Fletcher and Davis say "this is not a referendum on the 'America of
Empire'", instead it's one that pits "'the America of Popular
Democracy'... the changing demographics of the US... against the forces
of... far right irrationalism..." so Obama's actual record is beside the
point. This is almost too weak and shabby to poke fun at. If the
discussion is about empire, Fletcher and Davidson can't win. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
First Black President invaded and overthrew an African country, Libya,
is launching daily drone strikes into the horn of Africa, possibly Mali,
and certainly Pakistan and Yemen, and has carried out military
adventures Bush and Cheney could only dream of doing without massive
upheaval at home. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
notion that Obama, the president who coordinated military-style
assaults against the occupy movement nationwide last year is on the side
of "popular democracy" is also laughable. Obama supporters desperately
need his actual record in office excluded from any discussion, or they
know they cannot win.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">9.
Davidson & Fletcher say that progressive forces are too weak "to
supersede or bypass the electoral arena altogether," don't have
candidates that can "outshine" the two corporate parties, so voting for
the lesser evil is a practical necessity. Such original insights. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Who
knows what it means to "supersede... the electoral arena," or what it
means for a lefty candidate to "outshine" those of the two parties? If
the "shine" is a function of corporate media attention, that's a done
deal. Corporate media are key players in choosing the establishment
candidates and building the narratives that say what the one-percenters
want said and keep what they don't want said off the table.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">10.
The Republican right is trying to turn back the "demographic and
political clock," which electing Obama presumably advances. Davidson
& Fletcher makes this "demographic" argument twice, so they must
think it's really important. We're supposed to picture Repubs as foes of
even arithmetic and the forward flow of time, which maybe they are.
Can't have that, can we?<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">11.
They say that this really important election is about defending
ourselves from the Republican right. Ever notice how every darn election
is the most important one yet? Or how every election is about defending
us from the Republican right. None of them are about defending
ourselves from the equally if not more dangerous Democratic right. More
Democrats than Republicans in Congress voted for the Bush bailout of
September 29. When it lost, Bush called in Barack off the campaign
trail. Obama worked the phones and whipped Democratic votes into line so
that the Black Caucus for instance, which voted 34 to 8 against the
Wall Street bailout on September 29 endorsed it 32 to 10 on October 3.
That Bush bailout was only for $3 trillion. Once in office, Barack,
according to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, handed out $15
or 16 trillion more.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">12.
Fletcher and Davidson claim progressives will have more room to operate
under Obama, so again, complaining about what the Obama administration
has or hasn't done is "of little help at this point." </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Again,
they cannot win discussions about Obama's actual four year record, so
Obama supporters have to either lie about that record or rule such
discussions off the table. As for the notion that progressives have
more "room to maneuver and organize" under a Democrat than under
Republicans, the last four years should disabuse us of that. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Carl's
and Bill's nonsense about supporting "the America of Popular Democracy"
by organizing independently on the ground while supporting Obama and
presumably Congressional Dems as well didn't pass the smell test four
years ago and stinks even worse today. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">To
cite just one glaring example, in just about every state in the union
there are pro-privatization, anti-teacher, anti-public education
referendums, often binding or tied to state constitutional amendments on
the November 2012 ballot that will enable the proliferation of charter
schools despite the wishes of local communities. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">These
are not abstract questions — they have immediate and far-reaching local
and national implications for public education, for the cause of
privatization, for the stabilization of communities and much else. The
Obama administration, and usually Republicans as well as corporate
Democrats on the ground are aggressive supporters of this stuff. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Bill
and Carl would have us organize to defend public education, at the same
time that we get out the vote for a president and Democrats down the
ticket to state legislators, county boards and city halls leading the
attacks against teachers and public schools. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">You
could make similar arguments that support for Obama actively directly
undermines, subverts and contradicts local organizing against nuclear
power, which Obama is a big fan of, or reining in the telecoms, or
opposing wars in Asia and Africa, or standing up for the rights of
prisoners or Palestinians or the immigrants who Obama has deported in
record-breaking numbers, or the work to keep homeowners in their homes. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">How
do Bill and Carl expect people on the ground to further any of this
work while they make excuses for Obama who directly opposes them on all
these fronts and more? </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">In
the end, Fletcher and Davidson are just saying the Republicans are
racists and white supremacists, so we're obligated to circle the wagons
around Obama, and this simply trumps everything else. Some of us don't
really buy this. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">Economist
Michael Hudson a couple years ago opined that the duty of corporate
politicians is to deliver their voting constituencies to their campaign
contributors, and this was why Republicans and Democrats sounded
different when campaigning but governed in substantially the same way. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">The
only good thing about Fletcher and Davidson's piece is that they didn't
call names, like esteemed elder Amiri Baraka did when he said blacks
who didn't support Obama four years ago were "rascals", or like cranky
old Ishmael Reed when Jared Ball waved a microphone near him a little
while back. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">So
apart from calling them old and tired, which some of us here at Black
Agenda Report confess to as well, we won't play the dozens here. But
their excuses for supporting Obama are shallow, specious and profoundly
un-original, the essence of lesser-evilism and tailing behind Democrats.
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">They ought to, and might well be, ashamed to have to make them.<br />
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: 10pt;">August 15, 2012 </span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06955257548366190408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3416455435893073677.post-2033944096348575632012-08-25T22:21:00.003-07:002012-08-26T09:04:14.077-07:00Save the CPUSA AgitProp<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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