The first question of every revolution is to determine our friends and our enemies.
This question is of vital importance because at the time of the revolution, and for a considerable amount of time afterwards (no one knows how long), our class enemies, the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, will remain stronger than the revolutionary forces, the proletariat, the working class. It is essential that we attack our enemies with absolute ferocity, while at the same time extending the hand of friendship to our allies.
We can thank the capitalists for making the situation ever so simple, at least here in North America. It used to be that we had a great abundance of peasants, called farmers, and small business owners, called middle class or petty bourgeois, although they tend to refer to themselves as entrepreneurs.
Of course, we still have the odd family farm, in which the owner works constantly, trying to make ends meet. The best such a hard working individual can hope to achieve is to break even, as the more crops the farmer raises, the more the agricultural companies, those who buy the crop, cut the rates. The children of the farmers tend to notice this, and as soon as they come of age, vacate the premises. The days of passing the farm off to the next generation are over.
In much the same way, the day of the small business owner has gone the way of the dodo bird. They simply cannot compete with the major corporations, the monopolies. They can testify to the fact that size matters, and in fact it matters a great deal. In business, size is about the only thing that matters. Countless former small business owners can testify to that, as they speak from bitter experience.
Lenin explained this quite clearly in his excellent work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. In the present revolutionary situation, it is of particular relevance.
As a result of this destruction of the class of farmers and middle class business owners, a great many former members of those classes have been impoverished, forced into the ranks of the working class, the proletarians. Then there are those who formerly worked for corporations in management positions and were laid off as a result of ”downsizing”, as they phrase it. Or possibly they were merely fired, at the whim of corporate executives, who fired them because they could.
Their history does not concern us. As long as they have nothing left to sell but their labor power, they are one of us. They are fellow workers, proletarians, and must be respected as such. We must extend to them the hand of friendship, welcome them into the struggle against our class enemies, the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say the war against our class enemies, rather than the struggle, as soon it will be open warfare.
As the revolution progresses, we can expect to see councils of workers established, as well as councils of soldiers, as happened in the 1917 Russian revolution. At that time these councils were referred to as soviets, which of course means council. The new members of the working class, our brothers and sisters, our comrades, may feel more comfortable as a member of a council of intellectuals, rather than workers or soldiers. Indeed, many of them have considerable education and training in various fields, such as management and organization, and these skill can be put to good use after the revolution. The last thing we want to do is drive them into the camp of the enemy, the capitalists.
There are also a great many other people who will soon be joining the revolution, although they may not be aware of this. Of course I am referring to the people in various American prisons. Such prisons, or ”correctional institutions”, are jammed to capacity. As the revolution gains strength, we can expect these prisons to be emptied. The inmates must also be invited to join us, and those who choose to accept the offer must also be welcomed as brothers and sisters, as comrades.
Granted, there are people in prison who are career criminals. We must let them know, in advance, that we are not about to hold that against them. We are offering them a chance to start over again, with a clean state. Whatever happened in the past can stay in the past. They can choose to join us in building a new socialist society, out of the wreckage of capitalism, or they can choose to pursue their previous careers, as professional criminals. We should also let them know that under socialism, the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, those who choose to break the law will answer to a council of workers, and such workers tend not to be soft hearted, sentimental, starry eyed optimists. Further, those charged will not be allowed to hide behind lawyers. Those convicted of crimes against the socialist state can expect to atone for those crimes in the performance of useful, productive labor.
The immediate problem is one of communicating with these inmates. As no personal computers or any other hand held digital device is allowed in prison, it is no longer a simple matter of posting articles on the internet. That may work for workers and members of the military, or at least I so hope, but for the people in prison, it may be necessary to go ”old school” and send them books and leaflets. We owe them that much, and besides, I am sure they can play a valuable role in the coming revolution. No doubt, many of them have precisely the specialized skills that are needed in that situation.
The last thing we want is for these people to be put to work by our class enemies, the capitalists, in the goal of crushing the revolution. We can use all the friends we can get.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 