The world of capitalism is being rocked by twin crises. The corona virus is sweeping the world, causing wide spread sickness and death. The most highly developed countries have responded by declaring a state of emergency, closing their borders, placing their citizens under a ”lockdown”, in that most people are not allowed to leave their homes, unless it is for an emergency or to buy groceries. Even then, all must practice ”social distancing”, keeping a respectful distance from others. Only ”essential personnel” are allowed to keep working, such as hospital staff and ”first responders”. The idea is to contain the spread of the virus. The effectiveness of this policy varies from one country to another.
The countries which recognized the threat of the virus and immediately took steps to contain it, suffered the least amount of sickness and death. By contrast, the most highly industrialized countries were slow to respond to the crisis caused by the virus. The capitalists who are in charge of such countries were most reluctant to place their countries in ”lockdown mode”, as that is ”bad for business”, or as they are so fond of saying, ”harms the economy”. By that they mean their profits will suffer.
Naturally, of all countries, America was perhaps the slowest to respond. So now they are paying the price, with a half million people who have been confirmed to be infected with the virus, and twenty thousand dead. The vast majority of these fatalities have been seniors.
In addition, all capitalist countries are now entering a depression, although most bourgeois economists are denying this. As Lenin put it, ”it is in their interest to do so”. Such economists come out with glowing predictions, which are far removed from reality. The alternative is to tell the stock holders the facts, in which case their bosses, the corporate directors, will find some one who is more agreeable. The European Union is on the verge of collapse. None of the bourgeois economists are prepared to admit this, just as they deny that numerous countries are facing bankruptcy. Denial is the ”order of the day”.
A similar situation existed towards the end of the First World War, in that the most industrialized countries were in a state of crisis. As Lenin put it, ”Europe’s greatest misfortune and danger is that it has no revolutionary party. It has parties of traitors…and servile souls…But it has no revolutionary party.” (italics by Lenin) He goes on to say that ”a mighty, popular revolutionary movement may rectify this deficiency, but it is nevertheless a serious misfortune and a grave danger.”
At that time, the Marxists of the day fully expected the Russian revolution to spread to other countries of the world. May I suggest that one reason it did not, is that the ”grave danger”, the lack of a ”revolutionary party”, was at least partly responsible for this. May I also suggest that we suffer from a similar ”misfortune”, and not just in Europe.
The fact is that people need leaders. This is especially true of the working class, the proletariat, as members of that class are not aware of themselves as a class. This gives the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, a huge advantage. It is the duty of conscious people, Marxists, to bring this awareness to the working class. Further, the most advanced members of the working class must be raised to the level of Marxists.
This is a ”tall order”, but no where near as difficult as it used to be. The breakthrough in modern communications, that which I refer to as the internet -for lack of a better word- has given the working class a powerful tool. The members of the public are far better educated now than ever before. In particular, various popular television shows have exposed the inner workings of the political system. True, these are works of fiction, but based on fact. The writers of those shows know precisely what they are doing. We are grateful to them.
No doubt there are a great many working class people who are now politically active, as a result of the revolutionary motion. I write this article with those people in mind. Welcome, my brothers and sisters, my comrades!
It is very likely that most working class people are somewhat confused by the people on the Left, by which I mean those who claim to be socialists, independent socialists, Marxist-Leninists or Communists, among other things. But then it is confusing. Which is not to say that the ”revolutionary” theories they spout is new and original, because it is not. It is merely a rehash of the same old garbage which was blurted out many years ago, and Lenin had a few choice words for those who endorsed this revisionist nonsense.
During the time that Lenin worked, that which we refer to as Marxism or Communism was referred to as Social Democracy, as it was considered that those who strive for socialism also strive for democracy. That is quite clear and simple, yet there is nothing so simple that bourgeois intellectuals cannot complicate. Social Democracy is no exception.
At that time, a number of bourgeois intellectuals, those who claimed to be Marxists, but were in fact revisionists, which is to say that they were determined to revise the revolutionary theories of Marx, distinguished themselves by coming to the fore front of the revolutionary movement which was then sweeping the country. A similar situation is taking place today. Lenin had a few words for these imposters, those who claim to be Marxists, but are not. As that is the case, perhaps it is best to check in on the lad.
In fact, Lenin wrote What Is To Be Done? with those frauds in mind. As it is so important, I have decided to quote it at some length. The revisionists were of the opinion that ”Social Democracy must change from a party of the social revolution into a democratic party of social reforms…The possibility of putting socialism on a scientific basis and of proving that it is necessary and inevitable from the point of view of the materialist conception of history was denied, as also were the facts of growing impoverishment and proletarianization and the intensification of capitalist contradictions. The very conception, ‘ultimate aim‘ was declared to be unsound, and the idea of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat was absolutely rejected. It was denied that there is any difference in principle between liberalism and socialism. The theory of the class struggle was rejected on the grounds that it could not be applied to a strictly democratic society, governed according to the will of the majority, etc…Thus, the demand for a definite change from revolutionary Social Democracy to bourgeois social reformism was accompanied by a no less definite turn towards bourgeois criticism of all the fundamental ideas of Marxism” (italics by Lenin)
Lenin went on to say that this ”trend” in Social Democracy is nothing else than a ”new species of opportunism”. (italics by Lenin) For those who are new to the revolutionary movement, I should explain that the word means unprincipled. Further, it has been my experience that those who strive to revise the theories of Marx tend to be completely devoid of principle.
Today few people can deny the ”growing impoverishment and proletarianization and the intensification of capitalist contradictions”. Certainly the millions of workers who are being laid off can testify to that! In addition to their jobs, they are about to lose their life savings, their houses, cars and everything else they have worked all their lives to attain.
By the same token, the small business owners, the middle class people, the petty bourgeois, are equally well aware of the fact of ”proletarianization”, as they are being ruined by this crisis in capitalism. Their businesses are closed, never to reopen. They have been forced into the ranks of the proletariat.
As for the ”intensification of capitalist contradictions”, it is clear for all to see that the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are thriving! Now more so than ever, they are indeed living in the ”lap of luxury”. Countless people are sick and dying, so the price of medical equipment has gone through the roof! Simple face masks are now selling for ten to twenty times the usual price! Medical personnel and first responders, those who are placing their health and even their lives on the line, are being gouged!
Not only are the capitalists reaping ”windfall profits” as a result of the virus, they are also stealing countless billions of tax payer dollars and giving it to themselves and the corporations which they own. They justify this with the rationale that such corporations are Too Big To Fail. Clearly the rest of us are Too Small To Succeed!
It is vitally important that true Communist parties be formed in all the industrialized countries of the world, and not just in Europe. The reason for this is quite simple: The success of the revolution depends upon this!
In the same work by Lenin, he went on to quote extensively from Engels. As he put it, ”Engels recognized not two forms of the great struggle Social Democracy is conducting (political and economic)…but three, adding to the first two the theoretical struggle.” (italics by Lenin)
We are now faced with a similar situation, in that the most industrialized countries of the world, including America, are suffering from the ”grave danger” and ”serious misfortune” of not having a proper Communist Party to give the working class the guidance it so desperately needs. It is absolutely essential that each and every country form its own Communist Party. As for those countries which are cursed with political parties which claim to be Marxist, but are in fact revisionist, may I suggest the name of the party be Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, or CP, DOP. In this way, the true Marxist parties can be distinguished from the revisionists, as no Marxist revisionist acknowledges the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
The Communist Party of each country can then focus on raising the level of awareness of the working class, the proletariat. The most advanced workers can be raised to the level of Communists. They in turn will lead the less advanced.
As Lenin pointed out, regardless of the strength of the revolutionary movement, it will not lead to Social Democratic, which is to say Marxist or Communist consciousness. ”This consciousness could only be brought to them from without. The history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own efforts, is able to develop only trade union consciousness…The theory of socialism, however, grew out of the philosophical, historical and economic theories that were elaborated by the educated representatives of the propertied classes, the intellectuals…the founders of modern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia.”
I should add that this ”trade union consciousness”, this awareness of the working class, or at least the more advanced members of the working class, that there is ”strength in numbers”, is as far as the working class can go, by itself. The political revisionist parties which demand only paltry reforms, such as an increase in wages and working conditions, are referred to by Lenin as ”Economists”. It is characteristic of such people that they ”worship” the spontaneous revolutionary movement, and oppose the non-labour ”socialist intelligentsia”, event though they claim to be members of the socialist intelligentsia! That is a marvel of intellectual gymnastics!
I have no doubt that each country will soon rectify the ”grave danger” and ”misfortune” of not having a true Communist Party. Just bear in mind that, as Lenin put it, ”all subservience to the spontaneity of the labour movement, all belittling of the role of the ‘conscious element’, of the role of Social Democracy, means, whether one likes it or not, the growth of influence of bourgeois ideology among the workers. All those who talk about ‘exaggerating the importance of ideology’, about exaggerating the importance of the conscious element, etc., imagine that the pure and simple labour movement can work out an independent ideology for itself, if only the workers ‘take the fate out of the hands of the leaders’. But this is a profound mistake…Since there can be no talk of an independent ideology being developed by the masses of the workers in the process of their movement, the only choice is: either bourgeois or socialist ideology. There is no middle course…to belittle socialist ideology in any way, to deviate from it in the slightest degree means strengthening bourgeois ideology.” (italics by Lenin)
It is my personal opinion that the Russian revolution could not have succeeded without the leadership provided by Lenin. It is further my personal opinion that the revolution did not spread beyond the borders of Russia, because of the ”grave danger” and ”misfortune” of the lack of a Communist Party in other countries.
No doubt skeptical readers will question why the spontaneous movement, the movement along the line of least resistance, lead to the domination of bourgeois ideology? As Lenin responded, ”For the simple reason that bourgeois ideology is far older in origin than Social Democratic ideology; because it is more fully developed and because it possesses immeasurably more opportunities for being distributed.”
There can be no doubt that the current crisis in capitalism has given birth to a truly revolutionary situation, not just in Europe but also in America. Or especially in America, as the tension is extreme. The revolution could break out any day, but without a Communist Party to provide direction, it is bound to fail! The current pack of imbecilic leaders would only be replaced by a new pack of thieves and liars. Capitalism would continue, despite the change of faces.
Under these circumstances, I am convinced that there is nothing more important now than the formation of a Communist Party, in each industrialized country. I consider this to be the ”key link” in the chain, as Lenin refers to it. With that in mind, as an answer to my question of Now What To Do?
Create a Communist Party
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 