The Line of March to
a New Society
Continuation of presentation given by a representative of
the Central Committee at the release of the Political Report to the Third
Congress of RCPB(ML) on the Work of the Central Committee. Part 1 appeared in
Workers’ Daily Internet Edition No.6, dated
January 17, 2000.
So for us this is the issue of settling scores with the old
philosophic conscience. The bourgeoisie has so steeped the working class
movement in Britain with social democracy that it is afraid to overcome the
very divisions that social democracy has created because of the fear that to do
so would divide the workers from the Labour Party. Even if it were true that
the Labour Party could be considered as a workers’ party, would that debar
they working class from having and fighting for its independent programme? This
is not the case. But what we are talking about is the necessity to organise for
revolution, to insist on the necessity for change and to actually organise to
bring this change about. Furthermore, because of the gathering of the retreat
of revolution and the fact that the world is going through an historic turning
point, a defining moment, it is the case that no force can act in the old way.
It simply does not meet the demands of the times. The old communism, in the
sense of taking sides and not continually renovating society and the
workers’ organisations including the communist party, is dead. There is no
longer a division of the world into a socialist camp and a capitalist camp.
This does not mean that socialism failed, that communism failed. The opposite
is true. It was capitalism that failed and pseudo-socialism that collapsed. But
the issue is not to resurrect this old communism and use it as a model. It is
not, for instance, to speak of Stalin’s time and call for the world’s
people to uphold Stalin and his system. This is not to say that we should not
draw lessons from the Soviet Union and what in its change and development
contained the seeds of its later collapse. Again the opposite is true. But,
without going into the question in any detail, the lessons from the collapse
are of the necessity for the human factor/social consciousness to be brought on
a par with the requirements of the times. And this is the case today. The times
are demanding that we move forward on the basis of modern definitions. These
modern definitions are not new definitions, in the sense of changing the
principles of Marxism-Leninism. But they are precisely to breathe life into
these principles in line with present day conditions and requirements, to give
content to our words. This is the issue again of settling scores with the old
philosophic conscience, that our deeds must be consistent with our words. When
we talk about a socialist Britain, or when we talk about preparing the
subjective conditions for revolution, these cannot be left on the level of
phrases or dogmas. As the Report to the 3rd Congress points out, when Tony
Blair transformed Labour into New Labour and distanced the Labour Party from
anything socialist, this so-called "socialist" space was occupied by
others who have reduced socialism to merely a phrase. So the issue is that
one’s deeds, the way the Party organises, has actually got to be along the
line of march that brings close in concrete reality the establishment of a
socialist Britain. This means organising the working class here and now to
occupy the space for change. Not to complain of the ills of capitalism on the
one hand and make socialism a distant dream on the other, while one’s
actual actions only contribute to the deepening of the crisis, the kind of
reforms that divert the working class fighting here and now for its independent
political programme. That is to say, that the workers must be organised right
now to fight battles with the bourgeoisie on particular fronts. These struggles
should by no means be confined to the economic or industrial fronts. In fact
the political battles are of supreme importance, the workers must themselves
become political, they must end their marginalisation, they must set their
agenda. This is precisely the task we have taken up so that both the Party and
the class end their marginalisation from the political affairs of society. This
is a practical political programme, which is not practicalist in the sense that
it is a question of what "works" which must be followed. In fact the
development of revolutionary theory is of the utmost importance, especially in
Britain. The working class movement here is old and has been very strong, but
it has not achieved the goal of the revolutionary transformation of society.
Without a revolutionary theory the movement constantly gets diverted pacified,
divided by social democracy. We, our Party, must give pride of place to this
revolutionary theory, and this also is a matter of settling scores with the old
philosophic conscience. At the same time, a revolutionary theory is only
formed, can only be fully developed, in the course of a genuinely revolutionary
movement. The point here is that when all is said and done, theory is the
summation of the development of the actual movement. But unless the theoretical
work is done and analysis takes place, the actual movement is not summed up.
Imbued with that revolutionary theory the working class movement becomes
invincible. Without that revolutionary theory it is prey to the diversions and
incoherence that the bourgeoisie throws at it.
Crucially, what the Report to the Congress highlights in
this connection is the thesis of the Congress. It points out that the 3rd
Congress was historic because it was based on and is giving rise to the quality
of the new historical basis that is decisive for preparing the subjective
conditions for revolution, for preparing for the coming revolutionary storms.
It points out that what is necessary to lift society out of the crisis and open
the door to a socialist Britain is that the Party must be consolidated on the
new historical basis. Now is the time for this consolidation and the issue is
that the consolidation of the Party on this basis is to consolidate it as the
most important subjective force in the preparation for the coming revolutionary
storms.
The Report points out that this issue of preparation is
fundamental. What is meant by preparation for the coming revolutionary storms?
What is meant is precisely that the subjective conditions for revolution should
be prepared. The issue is not just that there are great upheavals coming in the
21st century and we should be prepared to sway them one way or another. This in
essence would be to say that the spontaneous movement is the primary thing. As
a communist party, a modern communist party, we work according to a plan. Our
participation in the working class movement is precisely to prepare the
subjective conditions for revolution, while the fact that revolution is in ebb
or in flow is largely an objective consideration. This is one reason we prize
the work with Workers’ Weekly so highly. Precisely by organising
with and around the newspaper, improving its content and extending its
readership, building groups of workers or other sections who write for and
disseminate the paper, this is a fundamental way of ending the workers’
marginalisation and ensuring that they themselves take up politics and write
for their peers from their own experience on this basis. This is why we are
developing the Workers and Politics section of Workers’ Weekly and
are ensuring that the paper speaks with the voice of the workers. It is not a
case of organising with the perspective of organising little groups but of
organising with the aim of waging the class struggle.
The Report stresses that the consolidation of RCPB(ML) as
the most decisive conscious force, the building of the unity of the
Marxist-Leninists on the new historical basis, ensures that the work to take
Britain forward into the 21st century on a new basis can be accomplished and
takes place in the course of the elaboration and implementation of this work.
The thesis of the Congress which the Report presents is
that the consolidation of RCPB(ML) on the new historical basis is what will
characterise this period of the Party’s work up until the next Congress.
It is the foremost aim of the Party in this period. It points out that, as the
vanguard of the working class, the communist party must fight to place the
working class as the leader of society, take hold of what belongs to it and
place itself in the positions of political power, as well as placing the
resources of society in its own hands. The Marxist-Leninist party is both in
theoretical and practical terms the most decisive subjective factor in bringing
about this revolutionary transformation of society in Britain to socialism, as
well as contributing to this same cause internationally. Furthermore, when
Britain leads the world in backwardness and the contention about what is
progressive and what is reactionary is particularly being fought out in this
country, this strategic objective assumes unparalleled importance. It is a
trial of strength whether the door to progress and a socialist society is
opened up or kept shut.
In focusing on building and consolidating the Party,
stressing that this task can never be downgraded, besides highlighting that the
whole Party is organised in and around the work to strengthen Workers’
Weekly, the Report also raises that it is also a question of gearing all
one’s thoughts and actions to serving the movement of the working class
for its emancipation. A communist party cannot have members whose life is
compartmentalised into a section dedicated to social revolution and a section
dedicated to the pursuit of individual interests. The communist party cannot
realise its tasks if it has members who live their lives with their social
culture being detached from their politics or with their ideological culture
which is not revolutionary. The force must arise which is capable of working to
ensure the victory of the pro-social programme and opening the door to
society’s progress, and people must arise who are capable of carrying that
line organisationally.
These are also the characteristics of a modern communist
party, and RCPB(ML) is becoming consolidated as such a communist party and this
is the defining characteristic of its work. Once again, this is the unity of
word and deed, that the Party’s word is its deed, and the members and
activists of the Party reject that there should be a hiatus, this gap between
the word and deed, which is characteristic of the bourgeoisie and their
parties. In a sense, this is characteristic also of social democracy and the
Third Way, that they say one thing and do another. The Third Way turns progress
into reaction and vice versa, while social democracy keeps everything, all its
good intentions, as policy objectives. In striving to turn its words into deeds
and working that the independent programme of the working class itself –
Stop Paying The Rich – Increase Investments In Social Programmes!
– is not turned into a series of policy objectives, this is also a
question of settling scores with the old conscience, of consolidating the Party
on the new historic basis, so that in concrete practical steps the subjective
conditions for revolution are prepared and the line of march to a new society
is carried. In other words, the task of preparing the subjective conditions for
revolution is one of taking into account the revolutionary class battles that
will inevitably break out, the necessity to prepare for going on the offensive
when the conditions for launching an assault exist, as well as the fact that
such conditions may come into being soon rather than later.
(To be continued)
