Capitalism has had its day. Socialism is right around the corner.
As for those who doubt that statement, may I draw your attention to the revolutionary movement which is currently sweeping the world. It is nothing less than a tidal wave of political unrest which is destined to sweep away the capitalist system, which is based on the profit motive and replace it with a socialist system, which is based on the basic needs of all people.
These are the facts, and it is also a fact that people need leaders. Working class people need working class leaders. This is not to say that these leaders must be born into the working class, because that is not true. Some leaders are born into the working class, the proletariat, while others are not. Karl Marx was one of those people who was born into the middle class, the petty bourgeois, and yet devoted his life to the service of the working class. As a result of this, Marx lived a life of poverty. There is a price to be paid for doing the principled thing.
Those members of the working class who are prejudiced against middle class people would do well to bear this in mind.
The members of the middle class are supremely well aware of class distinctions, which is more than we can say about working class people. The conditions of working class life do not lead to that awareness. This awareness can only come from an outside source, and that outside source is the members of the middle class, or at least, former members of the middle class. There is no great shortage of former members of the middle class, as capitalism, in its current stage of monopoly, is doing a splendid job of ruining the middle class, driving ever more of them into bankruptcy, and consequently into the ranks of the proletariat, which is to say the working class. After all, once people lose all their money, then they are forced to get a job and earn a living.
Working people must welcome these former members of the middle class into their ranks, while rejecting any capitalist, or bourgeois mentality, as that is the correct scientific term, that they may harbour. At the same time we must encourage them to educate other workers concerning the capitalist mentality, and of the awareness of class distinctions. No doubt some of these former middle class people will assume leadership roles. As long as they have the proper proletarian mentality, this is to be welcomed. We must not hold their class background against them.
With that in mind, the working class of each country has to find leaders who will form a political party which will serve the working class. At present, at least here in North America, all existing political parties are in the service of the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, as that is their scientifically correct term.
No doubt there are countless people who will dispute that statement, yet I stand by it. The fact is that the right wing parties, such as the Conservative party of Canada and the Republican party of America, openly admit to be in the service of the capitalists, the billionaires, while the centrist parties, such as the Liberal party, the New Democratic Party, the Green Party of Canada and the Democratic party of America, claim to represent the middle class. Neither party acknowledges the existence of a working class, which they refer to as a lower class.
They conveniently ignore the fact that the middle class, or petty bourgeois, are those who own small businesses and have a few people working for them. Under the current state of affairs, here in North America, in which we are living under monopoly capitalism or imperialism, the small business owner has been pretty well wiped out. The few middle class people who still survive are exceptional and are living on borrowed time. It is just a matter of time before the billionaires get around to ruining them. They have already ruined the peasantry, those who are referred to as farmers in North America, although there still remain remnants of that class. By this I mean that there is still the odd family farmer in North America. Most farmers have long since been ruined, and are now members of the working class, which is to say that they are now proletarians.
This does not stop the capitalists from confusing the issue by referring to those of us who work for a living, and are even capable of making ends meet, as middle class. We are not. We are working class, proletarians, which means we have nothing to sell but our labor power. We are nothing more than slaves to the capitalists, wage slaves, and we are forced to sell ourselves to those capitalists by the hour.
Those of us who are poverty stricken, have lost everything and are living on the street, are simply ignored by the capitalists. They prefer to pretend that the homeless do not exist.
This brings us to the left leaning parties, including those which claim to be socialist or communist or Marxist Leninist.
There is no shortage of such parties or individuals, and one of the most commendable is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He makes no claim to be a Marxist, and his honesty is most refreshing. He is truly a rare gem. This in no way changes the fact that he too is in the service of the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. It is doubtful that he is aware of this.
By contrast, there is no shortage of individuals and political parties which claim to be Marxist but are not. They have decided to revise Marx, and deny the necessity of revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. Some of them admit that they are revisionist, while others do not admit this. Both types are in the service of the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie.
We need a true workers party in each country, one based on the theories of Marx and Lenin, as that is the only way to lead the revolution to a proper socialist society, which is to say, the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. It is important to distinguish that party from the phoney socialist parties, and the name of the party should reflect that difference.
As those who fail to embrace the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat are not true Marxists, may I suggest the name of the party be American Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, or ACP,DOP.
As for those who object that the name is not entirely accurate, I can only respond that you are correct, but then no name is entirely accurate. We just have to choose a name which will distinguish us from the phoney socialists.
As countless workers have spontaneously gravitated to socialism, it is natural to expect a certain confusion on their part. They may well wonder how it is that we, who claim to be socialists, do not get along and work together.
That is a good question, and the answer is that we, who are true Marxists, are determined to stand on principle, that there is one way and one way only to socialism, and that is through the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. There can be no peaceful transition to socialism, at least not in highly developed capitalist countries, those countries which have embraced imperialism. The billionaires have the wealth and power and fully intend to hang onto both. They are the enemy of working class people, and there can be no peace between the classes. The revisionists claim that the two classes can live in peace.
These same revisionists, who claim to be Marxists, are opposed to revolution. They favour peace with the billionaires, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, the class of people who crush and exploit us. As if we can ever live in peace with the class of people who are parasites, do not work for a living but live in luxury at our expense! Such people have to be overthrown and crushed under the iron rule of the working class, the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. This can only be accomplished through revolution.
With that in mind, I can further suggest adopting a platform which is similar to the platform of the Social Democratic Party of Russia in the years before the revolution of 1917.
Among other things, it should be made clear that:
the revolutionary movement of each country is part of the international Social Democratic movement of the workers of all countries
its aim is to assist the struggle of the working class by developing the class consciousness of the workers, by promoting their organization, and by indicating the aims and objects of the struggle
the emancipation of the working class must be an act of the working class itself
our aim is to abolish the private ownership of all factories, mill, mines and banks, as well as any and all other instruments of labor, to be placed at the service of the whole society, production to be directed by the workers themselves
this can only be accomplished by overthrowing the rule of the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, smashing the existing state machine which has been set up to crush the working people, and replacing it with a workers state machine in order to crush the desperate and determined effort of the capitalists to return to power, this state machine of the workers to be called the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
At present, the working class of America is focused upon the midterm elections. They are determined to register as many people to vote as possible, and to get as many people into Washington who are not Republican as possible.
We can only support them in this worth cause, while suggesting that perhaps a better idea is to encourage as many Americans as possible join the two parties, as card carrying members of both parties, to become party bosses and not just registered members of the parties.
Those of us who are class conscious, which is to say Marxist, should assist them in these efforts. The posters and banners of the people who are working on these voter registration drives should make it clear that women were not put on Gods green earth to be groped by billionaires, and students go to school in order to get an education, not to be used as target practice.
At the same time we should make it clear that Trump is merely a figure head. The capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are in charge and no change of personnel in Washington or any other capital is going to change that. The members of the working class will learn, through their own bitter experience, the correctness of this theory.
The recent events which were so well organized by the women and students have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that they need no assistance in the area of organization. For those of us who are in our declining years and not too familiar with computers and the internet, this is a relief.
Of course, this is only a guide line and I am mainly focused on the situation in North America, partly because Americans are in the vanguard of the international working class revolutionary movement. Of course, this American revolution is being led by women, and for this they deserve full credit. Then too, I have little information concerning the working class socialist political parties in other parts of the world. The little I do have is not terribly impressive.
If there are any truly revolutionary, Marxist political parties in other countries, they are maintaining a low profile, possibly of necessity, or possibly out of shyness.
Shyness is one problem that I do not have. With that in mind, I can only suggest that the best way to raise the level of awareness of the vast majority of working people is with slogans:
Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!
Scientific Socialism!
Workers of the World, Unite!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 