In 1871, in the city of Paris, country of France, the workers rebelled against the ruling class, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, and established that which they referred to as the Paris Commune. This first attempt, by the working class, the proletariat, to seize state power, was short lived, as they first revolted on March 18, and the Commune was crushed on May 28, just over two months later. Yet Marx praised this as the ”first great uprising of the proletariat against the bourgeois oppressors”.
At that time, Marx was living in Britain, but was keenly watching the events, as they unfolded. He corresponded with the leaders of the Commune, yet his advice was largely ignored. The workers within the Commune, those who referred to themselves as Communards, paid a heavy price for this.
A few of the leaders were Jacobins, and they were determined to follow the French revolutionary tradition of 1793. Other leaders were Prondhonists, ”socialists” who supported a federation of Communes throughout the country. Still other leaders were Blanquists, also ”socialists” who demanded violent action. All were of the opinion that they knew more about revolution than Marx. They could not possibly have been more mistaken.
At the time of the uprising, the French government relocated to the nearby city of Versailles, and promptly plotted the overthrow of the upstart workers government, the Paris Commune. How dare the workers to challenge their betters! They needed to be put in their place! They needed to be taught a lesson they would never forget!
Marx was well aware of the attitude of the French bourgeois government, that which had relocated to Versailles, and encouraged the Communards to march on Versailles. He knew that it was their one and only chance to maintain power. Yet the leaders of the Commune preferred to ”live and let live”, so to speak. Rather than go on the offensive, they sat back and proceeded to build a new, proletarian state apparatus. It was a huge mistake, one for which the Communards paid dearly.
The capitalists are not about to share state power! As we live in a class society, the fact is that within any country, one class, and only one class, will hold state power. There can be no dual power! Either the slave owners will rule, or the slaves will rule. History has confirmed that any revolt by the slaves, has resulted in an immediate response by the slave owners, in that such a revolt is immediately crushed.
That was true at the time the first classes appeared, that of slaves and slave owners, and it is true now. The only difference is that the current crop of slave owners are the capitalists, the ”super rich”, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, and the current slaves are ”wage slaves”, workers, proletarians. The capitalists are in charge, they hold state power, and they certainly intend to maintain state power!
In the case of the Paris Commune, the French capitalists were able to raise a huge army and attack the Commune. After a week of heavy fighting, the Communards surrendered, as they ran out of ammunition. At that point, possibly twenty thousand prisoners, workers, both men and women, were murdered. This was the ”lesson they would never forget”. It is up to us to make sure that all workers never forget this!
The capitalists have not ”turned over a new leaf”. They have not ”changed their stripes”. The American capitalists, of the twenty first century, are no different from the French capitalists, of the nineteenth century! The American capitalists are not about to share state power! Any challenge to their authority will not be tolerated!
One of the latest uprisings, in Seattle, Washington, provides a clear cut example of this. During the first week of June, 2020, the American workers went on the offensive. The bourgeois press refers to these people as ”protesters”, and although the capitalists are trying to obscure the issue, it is clear that the workers were demanding an end to police brutality, especially as it applies to ”people of colour”, Black and Brown people. The organization Black Lives Matter, BLM, was intimately involved.
The ”protesters”, those who are really revolutionaries, achieved some remarkable success. A six block area of the city, as well as Cal Anderson Park, were occupied by the revolutionaries. As the result of extreme pressure, on June 8, the Seattle City Police abandoned the East Precinct.
At that time the situation was fluid, with no designated leaders. It is reported that the people within the zone favoured ”consensus decision making in the form of a general assembly, with daily meetings and discussion groups, as an alternative to designated leaders”. Other observers described this as ” a hybrid of other movements, part protest, part commune”, as a ”cross between a sit in, a protest and a summer festival”, a ”blend of Occupy Wall Street and a college dorm”. A large tent encampment was established, along with a community garden. Free food was available, as well as free health care and portable toilets. Observers were deeply impressed by the art work, in the form of murals, as well as the fact that the zone was absolutely clean.
There was also some slight confusion, in that there were people within the zone who protested that the zone was not an autonomous zone, but a Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP. This particular fellow, who was identified as a BLM organizer, was quoted as saying ”This is not an autonomous zone. We are not trying to secede from the United States. We are merely trying to have our rights upheld”. It is too bad that the capitalists do not see it that way!
This stands in contrast to a sign at the entrance to the zone, which stated ”You are entering Free Capitol Hill. You are now leaving the USA.” No doubt, that was merely the opinion of one person, but it was closer to the opinion of the capitalists.
Yet most of the people taking part in the protest, within the Zone, were of the opinion that the ”police should be defunded, more money should be spent on community based health and safety, and that all charges against protesters should be dropped.” Those were the three main demands put forward by the people within the Zone.
Of course Trump attacked these people as ”Domestic Terrorists” and ”Radical Left Democrats”. In fact, that was among the nicer things he said about them. The most right wing news outlet in the country joined in the offensive, accusing the protesters of shootings and acts of vandalism. Clearly a pack of lies, but considering the source, something of a compliment!
One journalist correctly assessed the situation, when he stated ”the Left is pretty much setting up a parallel country, a parallel system of law and order, and parallel media”. That was precisely what they were doing, even though it is likely that most of them were not aware of this. It may help to think of such ”Autonomous Zones” as the American equivalent of the Paris Commune.
As is characteristic of a revolutionary situation, as the police abandoned their precinct, they left behind ”barricades and walls, which provided the protesters the resources they need…Barriers have been placed in a zig zag maze” as a means of preventing people from speeding through the zone. All too often, radical right wing fanatics have used vehicles as weapons, attempting to drive over peaceful protesters.
As the capitalists are not entirely stupid, they quite correctly feared that such an Autonomous Zone, as small and weak as it was, could ”metastasize across the country”, as stated by one of the most ardent supporters of the capitalists, a truly right wing outlet. They went on to bewail the fact that the city council ”has handed over an entire portion of the city to domestic terrorists”. They went on to say that this ”group of rogue protesters” is attempting to ”get a stranglehold on the city”. This radical ”army” of ”Conquistadors” has ”rolled over the police like Cortez rolling over the Aztecs”.
They certainly do have a way with words!
A more moderate news outlet expressed it in somewhat different terms. ”The fluid protests, spearheaded by BLM but involving a wide spectrum of activists and ordinary citizens, coalesced with surprising rapidity into something like a provisional government, one which shook the world.”
That is perhaps less poetic than the view of the right wing journalists, but far more accurate.
Just as the French capitalists could not tolerate the Paris workers setting up a provisional government, the Paris Commune, so too the American capitalists could not tolerate any Autonomous Zone. On July 1, the police responded in force, tore down the tents, reclaimed their East Precinct detachment, cleared the area of ”protesters”, and restored ”law and order”.
If they thought that was the end of the Autonomous Zone, they were sadly mistaken. The protesters were perhaps dispersed, but not silenced. On July 25, several thousand protesters gathered in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood for demonstrations in solidarity with Portland, Oregon. The worst fear of the capitalists, that of the Autonomous Zones ”metastasizing across the country”, had by that time, already taken place.
In the case of Portland, on June 18, another Autonomous Zone appeared. It was declared the Patrick Kimmons Autonomous Zone, in honour of a 27 year old Black man who was killed by Portland police in September of 2018. This particular Zone lasted merely a few hours.
On June 22, in Washington, DC, in an area just north of Lafayette Square, another Autonomous Zone was established. This zone was named the Black House Autonomous Zone, in contrast to the White House. This choice of names was probably chosen in an attempt to infuriate the federal officials, and was almost certainly successful. It was quickly dismantled, by the police.
Later that week, on June 27, in Philadelphia, a crowd marched to an abandoned hospital, in a predominantly Black and low income neighbourhood, and reopened the hospital. Nurses began to treat patients ”on the spot”. The occupation was led by a coalition of health care workers and community members called ”Care Not Cops”. They call for funding, which currently goes to the local police force, to be reinvested in preventative public services, such as health care and community centres.
The city of Seattle remains a flash point for the revolution, as later that year, on December 10, protesters gathered once again and set up barricades, this time to prevent the eviction of a Black family from their home. The federal government responded by sending in federal agents, dressed in plain clothes and driving in unmarked vans, to quell the ”rebellion”. This despite the opposition of local authorities, both city and state, so that the appearance of federal officials was very likely illegal. Not that the capitalists care. This is their idea of ”law and order”. They make the law and they give the order!
The protest movement, a truly revolutionary motion, has spread across the country, and common people are responding. They are spontaneously coming together, supporting the protesters. Other examples of this include groups such as Wall of Moms and Wall of Vets. These protests are not limited to Autonomous Zones.
The strength of the movement is reflected in the fact that certain government officials, such as city officials, have joined the protesters. It was Marx who pointed out that, as the revolution ”approaches the decisive hour, a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class”. It is clear that the ”decisive hour” is fast approaching.
The problem now is to raise the level of awareness of the working class, the proletariat, to bring together the various groups and organizations, those which have formed spontaneously. This is to say that we need a true Communist Party, one which calls for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. Lenin refers to this Dictatorship as the ”touchstone” of a true Marxist. Without a proper Party to provide the direction, the working class will continue to flounder, striking out blindly in all directions, without coordination. It is only the American Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, which can manage this.
As the working class is not class conscious, not aware of itself as a class, it is up to class conscious people, mainly middle class intellectuals, to take part in the creation of such a Party. This may not be as difficult as it once was, because the various crises in capitalism have caused the ”lower stratum of the middle class to sink gradually into the proletariat”, as Marx phrased it. He went on to say that these ”supply the proletariat with fresh elements of enlightenment and progress”. The very people we need to help create a true Communist Party!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 