Since Trump was sworn in as president two years ago, we have been deluged with political hype, the most prominent one being ”wait until the midterms”. The idea was that the Democratic Party would sweep the House of Representatives, referred to as the Congress, and hopefully the Senate. The implication was that at that time, Trump would be stopped, the forces of democracy would prevail, and America would enter an age of peace and tranquility.
Well, now the midterms are over, the Democrats have control of the House, the Republicans still control the Senate, Trump is still president, and the country has yet to enter the Age of Aquarius. Harmony and understanding are hardly the order of the day. There are perhaps one million government workers who can testify to that, and their numbers are growing. Half of them are out of work, and the other half are expected to work without pay. The government shut down has now entered its fourth week and there is no end in sight. The people who are responsible for the shut down are not speaking to each other. Trump and the leaders of the Democratic party are not on speaking terms. The press is reporting that the shut down could last until the end of February.
Workers are not taking this lying down. They are demonstrating, demanding to be treated with the respect they deserve. Some are calling in sick, even though it could cost them their jobs. Others, such as the air traffic controllers, are suing the government. Their democratic rights, as are guaranteed in the constitution, are being violated. Many other workers are losing their jobs daily, as ever more government agencies are running out of money.
The only people who work for the government, with no fear of unemployment, are the politicians. In fact, they just gave themselves a raise. Further, the White House just hired more lawyers, at tax payer expense, so that they can protect the president. It is such details which must be driven home to the working class.
The level of awareness of the working class, the proletariat, must be raised. The only way in which this can be done is by using particular examples, taken from everyday life. The shut down is merely one example, to which all working people can relate. We can use this example, and numerous others, to drive home the point that the working class exists, and the interests of the working class are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capitalist class, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. It is only through such examples, and repetition, that the level of awareness of the working class can be raised to the level of a conscious person, a Marxist.
The current situation is similar to the situation which existed in Europe, immediately after the end of the First World War. As Lenin pointed out, its ”greatest misfortune and danger is that it has no revolutionary party. It has parties of traitors …and servile souls…but it has on revolutionary party.” But then he goes on to say ”a mighty popular revolutionary movement may rectify this deficiency, but it is nevertheless a serious misfortune and a grave danger”.
We are now in the midst of ”a mighty popular revolutionary movement” and it is up to us to ”rectify this deficiency” as it indeed presents a ”serious misfortune and a grave danger”. The Communist Party can be created, it must be created, and it will be created.
We must also be careful to distinguish ourselves from the ”parties of traitors and servile souls”, those who claim to be communist, or socialist, or Marxist Leninist or just plain left leaning. I think the best way to do this is by calling ourselves Communist Party,DOP, in that DOP stands for Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
I can think of no other way to distinguish ourselves from the ”independent socialists” and the parties of ”traitors and servile souls”, those who claim to be communist or socialist or Marxist Leninist, while at the same time repudiating revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Such people are merely social reformers.
As for those who object that giving a name to a political party which does not even exist is akin to putting the cart before the horse, I can only respond that we have not only to lead the revolution onto a proper course of scientific socialism, but we also have to form a party, at the same time. The party will be based upon the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, a basic tenet of Marxism. I consider the choice of a proper name the first step towards the formation of the party.
As we are in the midst of a ”mighty popular revolutionary movement”, this means that a great many people are currently politically active, or have ”woken up”, as they phrased it. They are demanding change, and most are not satisfied with petty reforms, even though such reforms are important in their own right. They are merely a step in the right direction. Such people tend to gravitate to ”leftist” political parties, which makes complete sense. They then find that these political parties are indeed filled with ”servile souls”, to use the rather accurate appellation of Lenin. Such people are determined to patch up the system. They are social reformers, not revolutionaries, not Marxists, even though many of them claim to be Marxists. Instead, they are loyal servants of the bourgeoisie, careful not to demand anything that is not acceptable to their masters, the billionaires, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie.
There are a few things which are not acceptable to the bourgeoisie, and the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat tops the list. That can only happen if the proletariat becomes aware of itself as a class, aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, and takes the appropriate action.
So now we have a very strong revolutionary motion, and the social reformers, those ”servile souls”, are determined to divert the revolution onto some harmless path of social reform, harmless in the sense that it is acceptable to the bourgeoisie. The people who have recently become politically active are not satisfied with this belly crawling behavior, and are looking for an alternative. That is the reason I am suggesting the Communist Party ,DOP.
No doubt many of these newly minted revolutionaries are interested in taking part in the formation of such a party. Using the electronic devices which are currently available, it should not be as difficult as it once was. The platform of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, at the time of Lenin, can be used as a guide. Not all of it applies, as for example, at that time, the majority of the Russian people were peasants. So such a platform must be adjusted to fit the current American situation.
This brings us back to the elections, and the non stop campaigning, which most people find to be quite tiresome, if for no other reason than that they are a bore. This is not to say that we should avoid running for office, just that we should avoid being a bore.
Now that the midterms are a thing of the past, the bourgeois politicians are focusing on the 2020 elections, as they refer to them. Several people have already ”thrown their hats into the ring”, as they phrase it, determined to run for president, at least for the Democratic party. There is talk that members of the Republican party may also run for president, against Trump. This sort of talk is referred to as a ”trial balloon”, and is just as boring as any other balloon. Then there are the races for the governors, House of Representatives, Senate and numerous local offices, such as mayor and city council. The list is endless.
Rather than ignore these political races, perhaps it would be best to embrace them. To ignore these political platforms is to surrender the field to the bourgeoisie, as the only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is in the spelling. Both serve the same class, with equal enthusiasm. All are devoted servants, lackeys, belly crawling boot lickers. All serve at the pleasure of the bourgeoisie. The trouble is that many working class people are not aware of this. They think the democrats are fine, progressive soul, who are anxious to set things straight.
The only exception is the odd ”independent socialist”, as that is the words they use to describe themselves. They are utopian socialists, and although mistaken, as the system cannot be changed from within, they must be respected. They are not the enemy, and no Marxist should run in any political campaign against them.
Instead, we should call for an alliance with any and all self styled independent socialist, or a socialist by any other name. All should be encouraged to join the two mainstream political parties, as card carrying members. In fact, we want all members of all Leftist parties and groups to join the Republican Party, as well as the Democratic Party. If enough Leftist people join the two parties, we may have not only Democratic Socialists but also Republican Socialists. Bear in mind that the card carrying members of the parties are the party bosses, and they select the individuals to run for any and all political office. If both parties have the same party bosses, then one socialist candidate could conceivably run for office, on behalf of both parties. The only thing required is that a majority of card carrying members be Leftist people.
That is where the members of the public come into the picture. No doubt the seniors, students, union members and working people of all walks of life will be interested in taking part in the democratic process. We just have to present them with the opportunity. Then it is a matter of working together to elect honest people, those who may or may not be socialists, to any and all political offices. At the very least, we can reasonably expect to send a great many people to Washington who are at least sympathetic to the idea of socialism.
The number of seats in Congress or any place else is of no concern to us, as we are not interested in seats. Our goal is to carry our message, to raise the level of awareness of the working class, to make the working class aware of itself as a class, aware of the necessity and inevitability of revolution and of the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. At the same time, we want to prepare workers for that dictatorship.
In short, our goal is to transform workers, or at least the most advanced workers, into Marxists. At the same time, having such people in Washington, at the time of the revolution, can only work to our advantage.
The election will give us an opportunity to explain to voters, the working people, that scientific socialism is far superior to capitalism, that the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat is far superior to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, whether it is in the form of Trump or anyone else. Further, to place the democrats in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives will change nothing. The sooner this happens, the sooner the workers will see that we are right.
We must keep upper most in mind that our goal is to further the revolution, to raise the level of awareness of the working class, not to win political office and seize political power. We can use the campaign to make the point that capitalism is the problem, and the one and only solution lies in scientific socialism, achieved through revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
The next federal election is still almost two years away, but that could change as the bourgeoisie, the ruling class, is forced to change their method of rule. The revolutionary motion is growing ever stronger, so that full scale armed revolt could break out any day, not only in America but anywhere else in the world. In fact, I am surprised it has not happened already. In case it does break out, then the option of running for political office is ruled out.
We must also avoid becoming a crashing bore, as most people who run for political office are just that. We must point out current instances of abuse, of which there is no shortage. Current such examples include the shut down, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the recent article in the NYT which allege that Trump is a Russian agent, the even more recent article in the Washington Post which allege that Trump concealed the substance of his meetings with the President Putin of Russia. We may also point out to workers that one of the strongest supporters of Trump, Fox News, straight out asked Trump if he was a Russian agent. Trump responded for two minutes without once using the word ”no”.
It is details such as these which concern working people. Most of them are avid readers, and pay attention to such things. Granted, their vocabulary may be somewhat limited, so it is necessary to explain things in rather popular language, even very popular language for those who are much less advanced, although such popular language must certainly not be vulgar. Then from the particular it is necessary to proceed to the general, to stress the fact that paltry reforms are merely a stop gap measure, that a revolution is necessary.
Another fine current example is the ”yellow vest” movement in France. It started as a protest against high fuel prices, was attacked quite fiercely by the government, appeared to die down, but is now stronger than ever, and is now reported as a protest against ”social injustice”. The bourgeois press is careful not to refer to it as a revolutionary movement. They do not want to give workers any bright ideas.
In fact, and this should be explained to all workers, the uprising in France is similar to the uprising in America. It is all part of an international revolutionary movement. We are not alone.
We are on the eve of a socialist revolution, one which can be expected to spread around the world. Now, more than ever, it is imperative to make the working class aware of the slogans:
Workers of the World, Unite!
Scientific Socialism!
Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 