Recently, it has been brought to my attention that over the years, numerous civilizations have come into existence. They all prospered, became ever more powerful, rose to a peak, and then fell into decline. In the western world, the Roman Empire is supremely well known. As the Roman Empire lasted for hundreds of years, people in those days were fond of saying that ”Rome is Eternal”.
Of course, nothing is ”eternal”, and the fate of the Roman Empire is well known. It went the ‘’way of all empires’’, so to speak.
Yet that does not mean that our civilization must ‘’follow suit’’, as so many ”philosophers” maintain. There is a huge difference between our our civilization and all previous civilizations. Our civilization is the one and only civilization to have experienced an industrial revolution!
Historians are agreed that the industrial revolution was the greatest thing to happen to humanity, since the domestication of plants and animals. In this, they are absolutely correct!
With that in mind, perhaps a little explanation is in order.
The industrial revolution first took place in Great Britain between the years of 1720 to 1760, for reasons which do not directly concern us. From there, it spread to other parts of the world, and in fact, is still spreading.
At that time, in Britain, there existed a small, rather unimportant class of people, merchants who lived in town and referred to themselves as ‘’burghers’’. They regarded the industrial revolution as an ‘’opportunity’’, a chance to become supremely wealthy. It was merely a matter of investing their money in factories, mill, mines and other ‘’means of production’’, as well as railroads, shipping lines and other ‘’means of transportation’’. In that way, the ‘’raw materials’’ can be taken to the ‘’point of production’’, and the ‘’finished product’’ can be ‘’taken to market’’. They also invested in banks and other ‘’financial institutions’’.
I believe those are the correct technical expressions of the capitalists.
As a result of this, the class of burghers became transformed into a class of capitalists. The name burgher became altered to that of ‘’bourgeois’’. Those who became supremely rich became known as the ‘’bourgeoisie’’.
Incidentally, some readers may find these technical terms to be tiresome, and perhaps they are. Yet it is important to become familiar with them, as otherwise, our class enemies will use our lack of knowledge against us.
For the purposes of this article, I am mainly concerned with the fact that the industrial revolution gave birth to two different classes, both revolutionary.
As Marx and Engels stated, quite clearly, in the Communist Manifesto:
‘’The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
‘’Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either of a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or of the common ruin of the contending classes.
‘’In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank. In ancient Rome, we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations’’.
It is clear that in the case of the Roman Empire, for example, the ‘’fight’’ of the ‘’contending classes’’ ended in the ‘’common ruin of the contending classes’’, as there was no ‘’revolutionary reconstitution of society at large’’. In short, the Roman Empire rose to a peak, fell into decline, and eventually rotted away. This is characteristic of most civilization.
It is also clear that our civilization has also passed its peak, and is now in decline. Our roads, bridges, railways and transportation network, as well as our buildings, that which is usually referred to as the ‘’super structure’’, is in desperate need of repair. Our books of science, which are taught in schools, are nothing less than a farce. The existence of classes, at least here in North America, is denied. Yet that does not mean that ‘’we are doomed!’’
The Communist Manifesto makes it quite clear that, as a result of the industrial revolution, radical changes were established in society:
‘’The modern bourgeois society that has sprung from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.
‘’Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses however, this one distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: bourgeois and proletariat.’’
This is especially true now, as around the beginning of the twentieth century, capitalism reached the stage of monopoly, technically referred to as ‘’imperialism’’.
The monopoly capitalists, the imperialists, are determined to crush any competition, no matter how insignificant. As a result of this, the small time capitalist, which is to say the middle class small business owner or ‘’petty bourgeois’’, has largely been wiped out, at least in the most highly industrialized countries of the world. The same is true of the family farmers, otherwise known as ‘’peasants’’.
That brings us to the ‘’intellectuals and salaried personnel’’ of the capitalists. Lenin says that they ‘’correspond to the middle class’’. They tend to lead lives of ‘’quiet desperation’’, waiting for the ‘’axe to fall’’. Regardless of how well they do their job, they are well aware of the fact that the capitalist may fire them at any time, for any reason, or for no reason. ‘’Because they can’’!
The Communist Manifesto goes on to state:
‘’Modern industry has established the world market…and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the middle ages.
‘’We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and exchange.
‘’Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class….
‘’The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part.
‘’The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man, than naked self interest, than callous ‘cash payment’. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy waters of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom – free trade. In one word, for exploitation,
‘’The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage labourers.
‘’The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation…It has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts and Gothic cathedrals; it has conducted expeditions that put in the shade all former exoduses of nations and crusades
‘’The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society…
‘’The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country…
‘’The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilization…
‘’The bourgeoisie.. has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together…
‘’We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society…the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces…they were burst asunder…
‘’Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted to it, and by the economical and political sway of the bourgeois class.’’
I have chosen to quote the Communist Manifesto at length, partly because it is so important, and partly to drive home the point that at one time, the bourgeoisie played a most revolutionary role!
Such is no longer the case! As soon as capitalism reached the stage of monopoly, which is technically referred to as ‘’imperialism’’, the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie, became completely counter revolutionary, referred to as ‘’reactionary’’. Lenin documented this supremely well in his book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.
These days, with the bourgeoisie so completely reactionary, we tend to lose sight of the fact that, at first, the capitalists were truly revolutionary! But to paraphrase an old and tired expression, ’’that was then and this is now’’!
The Communist Manifesto goes into this in more detail:
‘’Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society which has conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. …It is enough to mention the commercial crises that by their periodical return put on trial, each time more threateningly, the existence of the entire bourgeois society…an epidemic of over production…’’
The industrial revolution made possible, for the first time in history, the chance to provide for the well being of countless people. Everyone has a chance to benefit from this vast surplus! But as long as the monopoly capitalists are in charge, that is not about to happen! It would never occur to them to provide for the common good! They are completely focused on their ‘’bottom line’’, which is the very thing they call their sacred profit!
Yet under capitalism, a ‘’vast surplus’’ gives rise to ‘’an epidemic of over production’’, a ‘’crisis in capitalism’’. It threatens their profits! As a result, even less is available for the common people!
That is the ‘’one side of the coin’’, so to speak. Scientific socialists may say that this is but ‘’one aspect of the contradiction’’. The ‘’flip side of the coin’’, or the ‘’other aspect to the contradiction’’, is the fact which is stated quite clearly in the Communist Manifesto:
‘’The weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to the ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself
‘’But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons – the modern working class – the proletarians.’’
The fact of the matter is that as capitalism becomes ever more highly developed, so too does the modern working class, the proletariat. At least here in North America, and probably in most other highly developed countries, the proletariat is quite highly cultured. The vast majority are literate, and either own computers, or some other ‘’digital device’’, or at least have access to them. This makes it ever so much easier to raise their level of awareness. The capitalists have thoughtfully created the Internet. The least we can do is express our appreciation, by using it against them!
Those who have been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the news lately, are no doubt struck by the fact that women are now playing a vital role in the international working class movement.
In particular, a young woman in Iran was arrested and killed, by the ‘’morality police’’, for the crime of ‘’not wearing her hijab properly’’. Bear in mind that a ‘’hijab’’ is a head scarf. The protests against such violent repression have spread across Iran, to all cities and towns, and even to remote areas. Videos from Iran show women dancing in the streets, waving their head scarfs, burning those same scarfs and cutting their hair. These protests have spread to other countries, so that women in various countries are supporting their sisters in Iran.
The Communist Manifesto helps to explain this also:
‘’The more modern industry becomes developed, the more is the labour of men superseded by that of women.’’
As ever more women become drawn into the work force, becoming proletarians, the more they become revolutionary. After all, it is the proletariat which is the most revolutionary class!
This infusion of ‘’fresh blood’’ into the international working class movement is most welcome! No doubt many of these women have been ‘’watching from the sidelines’’, so to speak, perhaps ‘’marvelling at the stupidity of so many men’’. Or so I have been told!
Now those same women, those whom were formerly confined to the drudgery of housework, have ‘’come into the work force’’, have become proletarians, and therefore revolutionary, and are making their voices heard.
The fact is that a great many working men are supremely well aware that most of our leaders, including our union leaders, are ‘’in the pocket of the capitalists’’. Yet by and large, most men tolerate this.
By contrast, the women whom have recently entered the workforce, are not at all inclined to accept the ‘’status quo’’. Now that they are workers, proletarians, they are becoming ever more politically active. They are a most welcome edition to the working class, a ‘’breath of fresh air’’!
Without doubt, here in North America, they are in the forefront of the working class movement.
This brings us to the current political situation, in which capitalism is definitely in a state of crisis. The capitalists can no longer rule in the old way, and the working people are no longer content to be ruled in the old way. Lenin refers to this as a revolutionary situation.
Inflation is spiralling out of control, to the point that even the bourgeois economists are worried of a ‘’repeat of the Weimar Republic’’, in which the value of the German mark depreciated, to the point that it was worthless. Those same economists are also openly speaking of a recession, while as yet, avoiding any mention of a depression.
Gun violence is so common, it is not even documented, unless four or more people are shot. Drug overdoses are now epidemic. The criminal gangs are in control of many neighbourhoods. Local police are reduced to documenting the crimes. A great many police officers are retiring or simply quitting. Very few people are even applying to join any police force, as ‘’no one wants to become a cop’’. There are calls for ‘’martial law’’ in some cities. It has been suggested that only the National Guard can ‘’restore law and order’’.
From the viewpoint of the capitalists, the ‘’cherry on the cake’’, is the fact that ‘’one of their own’’, by whom they of course mean the former president, Donald Trump, is causing them untold grief! They just do not know what to do with that boy! He just will not shut up!
Recently, the New York Attorney General, NYAG, issued a two hundred page report, the product of a three year investigation. In that report, she alleges that Trump, along with three of his adult children, over a ten year period, submitted ‘’fraudulent and misleading financial statements’’, on a regular basis. Accordingly, she is suing them for a minimum of 250 million dollars. Yet there are no criminal charges! The government is afraid of Trump!
In a very clear cut example of ‘’passing the buck’’, she mentioned that the case had been referred to ‘’federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service’’, the IRS, for ‘’possible federal crimes’’. By implication, all of those allegedly ‘’fraudulent and misleading financial statements’’ failed to break any state laws! Not likely! She just dares not charge Trump!
If any working class person was suspected of committing such acts, especially that of tax evasion, then that person would likely never again see the light of day! Without doubt, there is a double standard here!
In fact, a federal judge admitted as much. The opinion she gave is a masterpiece of legal jibberish: ‘’Based on the nature of this action, the principles of equity require the Court to consider the specific context at issue, and that consideration is inherently impacted by the position formerly held by the Plaintiff’’.
Now to put this in plain and simple English, she refers to herself as the Court, and to Trump as the Plaintiff. Her reference to her ‘’consideration’’ of the ‘’specific context at issue’’ which is ‘’inherently impacted by the position formerly held’’ by Trump, is a reference to the fact that he was formerly the president. For that reason, she favoured Trump! So much for the courts being fair and impartial!
Clearly, the laws do not apply to the capitalists, only to the working people. No kidding! Yet this federal judge broke the ‘’unwritten law’’ of all courts: Do not admit this!
Most members of the working class are well aware of the fact that the laws do not apply to the wealthy. Those who have enough money, are quite capable of buying themselves out of any criminal charges. There is no need to explain this to them!
By contrast, there is an urgent need to explain to the working people, the existence of classes. They must be advised, in terms they can understand, that those of us who work for wages are working class, ‘’proletarians’’. The billionaires, monopoly capitalists, those who own almost everything of any great value, are members of a different class, that of the ”bourgeoisie”. Further, we are class enemies. The capitalists must be overthrown, the existing state apparatus destroyed, and the capitalists must be crushed, under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Yet who is to bring them this awareness?
The Communist Manifesto provides us with the answer:
‘’Entire sections of the ruling classes are, by the advance of industry, precipitated into the proletariat, or at least threatened in their conditions of existence. These also supply the proletariat with fresh elements of enlightenment and progress.
‘’Finally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisive hour, the process of dissolution going on within the ruling class, in fact within the whole range of old society, assumes such a violent, glaring character, that a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class, the class that holds the future in its hands. Just as, therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to the bourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoise goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raises themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole.
‘’Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.’’
As I write this, the capitalists do not know ‘’which way to jump’’. They are currently ‘’counting down the days’’ to the midterm elections. Perhaps they think that a new Congress will solve all their problems!
The Democrats are fretting over losing control of the House or the Senate, while at the same time worrying that Trump will once again run for president, in the next federal election, two years from now. As for the revolutionary motion, they think perhaps the best way to divert it is with their ‘’brainstorm’’ of ‘’30×30’’. This is what Biden refers to as setting a goal of ‘’conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030’’. Naturally, he was careful to not specify precisely what he meant by ‘’conserve’’!
This was pointed out in an excellent article of National Geographic. They provide an example of a farmer, a small time capitalist, who was quite happy to cooperate, to create’’70 acres permanent wetlands’’, in the interests of conservation. Of course, that came with a government grant of ‘’$350,000!’’ At taxpayer expense, of course! As the farmer stated, ‘’it has to pencil out’’. By that rather strange expression, he meant that he was not about to sacrifice profit for wildlife. As long as the taxpayers are prepared to hand over money to small time capitalists, they in turn are happy to cooperate!
So much for the Democrats plan for ‘’conservation’’!
The Republicans are also ‘’scratching their heads’’, trying to come up with something to counteract Trump and his ‘’Make American Great Again, or MAGA’’. It should be noted that the keystone of the MAGA policy is to hold immigrants responsible for the horrors of capitalism.
The fact is that even the journalists, those faithful flunkies of the capitalists, are openly mentioning the possibility of civil war. It does not help that Trump recently issued a ‘’thinly veiled threat’’ to that effect. He made it quite clear that if he is charged, his followers are prepared to take up arms!
The capitalists are taking him seriously! They are afraid of Trump! Each government agency is ‘’passing the buck’’! The state of New York is going after him for hundreds of millions which they say he owes them, while documenting countless instances of fraud and tax evasion, over the last ten years, but not filing charges!
It is clear that the capitalists are trying to discredit Trump, to expose him as a liar and fraud. That is by no means a ‘’tall order’’, as that is precisely the case! In other words, Trump is a typical capitalist! The more they expose Trump, the more they expose themselves!
The capitalists are trying to turn ‘’public opinion’’, as they phrase it, against Trump! Excellent! By a remarkable coincidence, we too are attempting to do the same thing! In this way, we can raise the level of awareness of the working class!
The capitalists are not about to face the fact – or are not capable of facing the fact? – that we are in the middle of a revolutionary situation. Yet even the journalists, those most devoted servants of the capitalists, now dare to mention this!
True, capitalism has reached a state of crisis. That is a fact. It is also a fact that the system will not collapse upon itself! So for those who think that the capitalists cannot find a way out of this mess, think again! As long as the proletariat does nothing, the capitalists will manage!
It is a fundamental tenet of Marxism, that all reactionaries are the same! They must be destroyed! They are not about to simply ‘’fade away!’’ The capitalists are reactionaries, right to the very core of their being, and must be crushed!
It is the working class, the proletariat, and only the proletariat, that is up to this task. After all, it is only the proletariat that is the consistently revolutionary class. Yet that is not enough. Their level of awareness has to be raised. They need to be made aware of the existence of classes, of the conflict between the classes. Above all, they must be made aware of the necessity of revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Contrary to what the demagogues may say, working people need leaders. Proper leaders! The only proper leaders are scientific socialists, Marxists, Communists!
The fact of the matter is that all classes have leaders, and that includes the capitalists. At the moment, one of the leaders of the capitalists is a fellow by the name of Donald Trump! He has quite a following, among the working people! But then, Trump is a first class demagogue!
Such people are not to be under estimated! Demagogues are the worst enemies of the working class! They have quite a following, among the proletariat, especially with the less advanced!
The less advanced workers are not to be blamed for this! They are under the influence of those who peddle the lies of the capitalists! They have been listening to such lies all their lives! Who can blame them for believing those lies?
These working people need to be told the truth. Further, it must be expressed in terms which they can understand. This is to say that we must use popular language, not ‘’High English’’! Feel free to use sports metaphors, but under no circumstances resort to vulgarity! Our goal it to raise their level of awareness, not to personally sink to a lower level. Also, avoid the use of the word ‘’backward’’. They may think that we are calling them ‘’stupid’’.
There is no time to lose. The revolutionary motion is becoming ever stronger. Civil war could break out at any day. Now is the time to become active. Take part in the emerging Councils. Join the mainstream political parties, as card carrying members. Run for office. Flood Washington with Leftist people. Prepare for revolution. Train in the use of weapons of all sorts. Give the capitalists no rest! Harass them in their homes, businesses, restaurants and resorts! Carry signs and banners which call for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Council Power!
Above all else, make every effort to raise the level of awareness of the proletariat. The working class must be made aware of itself as a class!
We will know we are being successful when working people are openly discussing Council Power and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 