The capitalists have managed to weather the Covid Virus epidemic, but are now facing an ‘’epidemic’’ of bank closures. The very few banks, which are considered ‘’Too Big To Fail’’, will be propped up, with tax payer money, of course. The remainder, which are ‘’Too Small To Succeed’’, will join the countless other small businesses, as well as so many individuals, in the ‘’shelter’’ of bankruptcy protection.
This is not terribly surprising, because as Lenin pointed out, in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, ‘’Crises of every kind -economic crises more frequently, but not only these- in their turn increase very considerably the tendency towards concentration and monopoly’’.
Even the most optimistic economists are predicting massive unemployment, as well as a ‘’Great Recession’’, at best. The American national debt, which currently stands at over 31 Trillion, is expected to reach 50 Trillion, within ten years. The country is further expected to ‘’go broke’’ within seven weeks, unless the politicians in Washington can come to an agreement, raising the debt ceiling, yet again.
Yet those same politicians are ‘’at each others throats’’. The leaders of the two parties are not even speaking to each other. Not that either has a great deal to say, because each party is deeply divided. Different factions within each party, want different things. Yet no one seems to know just what that is! It would appear that the one and only thing they can agree upon, is the upcoming federal election, still eighteen months away! They are focused on that election!
By contrast, the working people, the members of the public, are concerned with more mundane subjects. Such as survival! Unemployment is widespread. Homelessness is common place. Those who are able to live in a vehicle, are considered to be ‘’fortunate’’, to be ’’half homeless’’. Hunger is common place. Food banks are running out of food. Deaths from drug overdoses, are now at epidemic proportions. Mass shootings, in which four or more people are killed, are now almost a daily event. Criminal gangs now rule the neighbourhoods. In the city of San Francisco, drugs are now being sold, at ‘’open air markets’’. The police are powerless, in the face of criminal gangs!
Various cities are now considering calling in the National Guard, declaring martial law. And the American leaders are focused on the next federal election!
Without doubt, this is the very definition of a Revolutionary situation. As Lenin stated, the ‘’ruling class’’ can ‘’no longer rule in the old way’’, and the ‘’lower classes’’ are ‘’not content to live in the old way’’. We have all had enough!
But as yet, there is no true Communist Party, one which calls for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Such a Communist Party is necessary, in order to give direction, to the people taking part in this Revolution.
No doubt, as ever more middle class people are ruined, the intellectuals within that class, will take part in the creation of such a Communist Party. They will soon realize, that it is in their best interests to do so! Poverty is a great persuader! Those intellectuals -soon to be ruined!- have a bright future, but only under Socialism!
After the creation of that Communist Party, it will be up to the Party members to give direction, to those taking part in the Revolution. In the mean time, Communist Party or not, we have to prepare for Revolution, and the subsequent Dictatorship of the Proletariat. To paraphrase an old and worn out expression, ‘’time and Revolution wait for no one.’’
As I write this, the press is reporting that ‘’young people’’, in several American cities, most notably Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco, have been ‘’wilding’’. That is a word they ‘’created’’, as a means of describing teens running wild, out of control, chaotic, ‘’running amok’’, smashing windows and burning vehicles. But then these teens are tired of being shot, by the police, no less!
No doubt, the teens are taking action, out of a sense of deep anger and frustration. After all, they are living in poverty, and can see no way out! But only because there is no way out! Not under capitalism! Decent jobs are practically non existent. Even if they do manage to secure a proper education, that will get them no where! And they know it! They too are fed up!
This is to stress the point that the young people, in this case the teens, are no different from any other strata of the common people. They have got to be made aware of the Revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. They are not too young to understand these theories! Their anger and hatred must be redirected and focused, on their class enemies, the capitalists!
The fact that the teens are in motion, is an indication of the strength of the Revolutionary motion. It is clearly quite broad and deep.
As Lenin stated, under capitalism, it is the duty of Communists to overthrow the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. Our main task involves arousing hatred, of that class, among the working people. This involves raising the level of awareness, of the working class, making them aware of themselves, as a class, with their own class interests!
The young people, including the teens, comprise a particular strata of the working class. It is necessary for Communists to approach them, but in a slightly different manner, from that of most members of the working class. Bear in mind that the young people tend to be ‘’social media savvy’’, to use the expression of the journalists. Perhaps for that reason, the younger generation has proven themselves to be excellent organizers!
Several examples may be helpful.
On February 14, 2018, a gunman walked into Margory Stoneham Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, and killed 17 students, wounding 17 more.
The surviving students decided that they had been used for ‘’target practice’’ long enough! They responded by organizing rallies, protests and walk outs. They also marched, ‘’by the millions’’, according to the press, onto Washington, D.C., demanding gun control legislation.
A couple years earlier, in 2016, near Bismarck, North Dakota, a planned pipeline was rerouted, to pass by the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Such a pipeline was a threat to their clean drinking water, and would destroy their sacred lands. For that reason, Native Americans from all over the country, led by the Standing Rock Sioux, protested the pipeline.
It is significant that this protest gave birth to the International Indigenous Youth Council. Their stated goal is to ‘’organize and empower young activists on behalf of the environment’’.
It is also a fact that Black Lives Matter came into existence in 2013. But then Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man, was killed in August of 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. This gave rise to demonstrations and protests, mainly organized by young people, all across the country. At that point, BLM became a nation wide protest organization.
The point is that the younger generation has not only managed to organize, but also to establish national, and even international, networks. Excellent! Most impressive!
Now, it is the duty of Communists, to reach out to those networks, to establish connections, to give direction, to attempt to work together.
The young people of today, say that they ‘’have no future’’, they have ‘’nothing to look forward to’’. Even an education will not assure them of a job, because there are no jobs! True!
It is true that they have ‘’no future’’, under capitalism! On the other hand, they have a ‘’bright future’’, under Socialism! Now they have to be made aware of this! After all, they are not psychics!
Under Socialism, under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the young people will have their work cut out for them! We have plans for those youngsters! They are about to play a key role, after the Revolution, in building Socialism!
This calls for a little explanation.
After the Revolution, after the state apparatus of the capitalists is destroyed, after we establish Socialism, we will still have classes! The capitalists, the billionaires, and their devoted servants, will not just ‘’disappear’’! Nor will they ‘’resign themselves to their fate’’! They are not about to embrace their new life of manual labour! This I guarantee!
On the contrary, their hatred, their bitterness, their determination to regain their ‘’paradise lost’’ will increase ten fold! They will resort to any lie, any deceit, any promise, any subterfuge, in an attempt to regain ‘’that which is rightfully theirs’’!
Even after they are deprived of their ‘’ownership’’ of various businesses, as well as their ‘’paper fortune’’, in the form of ‘’stocks and bonds’’, they will still have a certain amount of wealth. This may take the form of gold or silver coins, as well as jewelry and art work, for example. Then there are the national and even international ‘’connections’’ they have. This makes them a force with which to be reckoned, even under Socialism!
For that reason, they must be suppressed! That is the reason for the working class state apparatus, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
The capitalists are not to be underestimated! They managed to return to power, in the Soviet Union, after the death of Stalin! They also managed to return to power, in China, after the death of Mao!
As I have covered this in other articles, there is no need to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that both Stalin and Mao were great Revolutionaries. That is a fact. It is also a fact that both were human. Both made mistakes. Those mistakes allowed the capitalists, in each country, to return to power. We are determined to learn from those mistakes. We will not repeat them. The capitalists, whom we are about to overthrow, will not be allowed to return to power!
That is where the young people come in handy! As a key part of the new working class state apparatus, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, they will make sure that the capitalists are crushed, wherever and whenever they try to hide!
With that in mind, I can only suggest that we ‘’take a page from the book’’ of the Chinese Communists, and in particular, the Central Committee.
After the death of Stalin, in the Soviet Union, in 1956, the Russian capitalists were able to return to power. In response, the Chinese Communists took action, in an attempt to prevent a similar occurrence in China.
In particular, the Central Committee, of the Chinese Communist Party, passed a resolution, which was unprecedented. They said that the young people of China, who were protesting, should be allowed to protest! No interference! Except in cases of murder, arson or rape, the police and army were ordered to stay out of this!
This day has gone down in history as the beginning of the Great Chinese Proletarian Cultural Revolution! For ten years, the young people of China were allowed to protest, without any police interference!
As is well known, it is my contention that the Cultural Revolution -which was magnificent!- did not go far enough! It was largely limited to culture! It only touched on science and education!
True, the capitalists who were hiding in culture, were exposed, humiliated, reeducated and either reformed, or removed from those particular areas of culture. That is a fact.
It is also a fact that other capitalists, who were hiding in various fields of science, remained largely unaffected! They remained hidden, biding their time, waiting for the ‘’proper opportunity’’ to emerge, and then attempt to seize power. That ‘’opportunity’’ came upon the death of Mao!
For that reason, I can only suggest that, at the time of the Revolution, on the very day the new proletarian government comes to power, that one of the first things the Central Committee should do, is issue a similar proclamation.
May I suggest the following: ‘’The young people who have been taking part in our successful Socialist Revolution, protesting against the capitalists, should be allowed to continue with their protests. Except in cases of murder, arson, rape or looting, the police and army are ordered not to interfere.’’
Those young protesters, Revolutionaries, should also be encouraged to attack their class enemies, the capitalists, in all fields, and not just business!
Of course, I am referring to various fields of culture and science. I use the word ‘’science’’ rather loosely, so as to include such fields as medicine and education.
For that matter, I also use the word ‘’culture’’ rather loosely. I rather doubt that young people consider ‘’adult entertainment’’ -pornography!- to fall within the field of ‘’culture’’, but I suspect that may have something to do with the gender outlook! I leave that within the capable hands of the youth!
This brings me to the subject of ‘’professional sports’’. This expression, I consider to be nothing less than an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms! Sports are sports, and professionals are professionals, and ‘’never the two shall meet’’, if you will excuse the terrible joke!
That which is politely referred to as ‘’professional sports’’, is a business, a big business, and as such, is home to countless capitalists!
It is the duty of Revolutionaries, Communists, to exercise complete and total Dictatorship over the capitalists! Half measures get us nowhere! We must root them out, wherever they are hiding! Give them no rest! Feel free to show them all the compassion and mercy, that they have shown us, under capitalism! None whatsoever! That is only what they deserve! It could not ‘’happen to a nicer bunch of people’’!
That is where the young people come in! They must be ‘’turned loose’’! They must be allowed -better yet, encouraged!- to seek out and destroy their class enemies, the capitalists! Yet that is after the Revolution.
For the moment, we live under capitalism, and now we must prepare for the Socialist Revolution, and the subsequent Dictatorship of the Proletariat. For that reason, it is now the duty of Communists, to establish contact with the young people, especially those who are protesting, taking part in the Revolution, and explain this to them. It is entirely possible that there will be an enthusiastic response. Further, the young people who are interested, should be encouraged to establish a Young Communist League, YCL.
As Lenin explained it, ‘’The Young Communist League must be a shock force, helping in every job and displaying initiative and enterprise. The League should be an organization enabling any worker to see that it consists of people whose teachings he perhaps does not understand, and whose teachings he may not immediately believe, but from whose practical work and activity he can see that they are really people who are showing him the right road.’’
It is also possible that the young people may want to form Soviets (Councils), as they are created by Revolution. That is entirely up to them.
Either way, may I suggest that, as soon as these take shape, the young people should start by explaining, to working class people, the meaning of the word Communist. After all, the capitalists have managed to persuade a great many people, that it means a ‘’terrorist dictatorship’’.
Basically, it just means ‘’common’’. Communist society is a society in which all things -the factories, mills, mines, railroads, airlines, shipping lines, and anything else of any considerable value- are owned in common, and the people work together, in common! Teamwork!
This is not to say that after the approaching Revolution, we will live in a Communist society. We most certainly will not! Even after the Revolution, classes will continue to exist. The capitalists will be ‘’down but not out’’! They will still be a force! We can count on them to make every effort to return to power!
This class society, immediately after the Revolution, is referred to as Socialism, or the ‘’lower stage’’ of Communism, according to Marx. Under Socialism, we need a state apparatus, in order to crush the resistance of the capitalists.
This state apparatus, of the working class, is known as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The young people, whether organized in Soviets or CYL, -or both!- will play a key role in this state apparatus, in the suppression of the capitalists. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat will be necessary as long as classes exist.
It will be only after the capitalists are completely wiped out, that society will enter the higher stage of Communism. At that point, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat will no longer be necessary, as there will no longer be a class to suppress.
That is going to take time and patience, as under Socialism, we want everyone to be useful. Indeed, many of these capitalists can be quite useful, as they have the skills required, in running a factory, for example. After all, this requires something other than manual labour!
No doubt, a certain amount of ‘’persuasion’’ will be required, in order to secure their cooperation. Equally without doubt, some of them will resist, vigorously. It may be necessary to make an example of those who are most ornery! This will no doubt have the effect of making so many others ‘’sweetly reasonable’’.
This is where the young people will prove to be so valuable! The young people of China proved themselves to be ‘’great persuaders’’ during the Cultural Revolution, and soon, other young people, in other parts of the world, will once again, ‘’rise to the occasion’’!
This ‘’show of force’’ is necessary, under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, as long as we have classes. In due time, as all people become accustomed to working together, as a team, in the interests of the common good, there will no longer be a need for such methods. In other words, as the capitalists are gradually eradicated, the need to suppress them will also be gradually eliminated. Engels referred to this as the ‘’withering away’’ of the state apparatus.
Such a society, without classes, is knows as Communism, a classless society, in which all work together, for the common good.
But first, we have to overthrow the capitalists, which requires a Revolution. This, in turn, will give rise to that which we refer to as Socialism, in that classes still exist, but the working class, the proletariat, will be in charge.
No doubt, a great many people are wondering, just how long can we expect this transition time, that of Socialism, to last?
Lenin estimated that those of us who are over fifty, will not live to see Communism. On the other hand, he was of the opinion that ‘’the generation of those who are fifteen will see a Communist society’’.
This is to say that the teen agers can expect to see the day when classes no longer exist! No more capitalists! A true Communist Society!
The reasons this failed to happen, at the time of Lenin, I have covered, in a different article. There is no need to repeat it. As previously mentioned, we are determined not to repeat the mistakes of our great Revolutionary ancestors. We must learn from those mistakes!
Now to return to the present moment, one of capitalism, and the duty of the young people. After all, there is no need to wait for the Revolution! As previously mentioned, now is the time to prepare for Revolution! There is an urgent need to raise the level of awareness of the working class. They must become class conscious, aware of the existence of classes.
Stress, to the members of the working class, the fact that those of us who work for wages, are technically referred to as ‘’proletarians’’. We sell ourselves, by the hour, for the very fine reason that we have nothing else to sell! We are wage slaves!
By contrast, those who own the factories, mills, mines, railroads, shipping lines, airlines, internet and everything else of any considerable value, are capitalists, billionaires, technically referred to as the ‘’bourgeoisie’’. They make their profit, off of our labour power. They are members of a different class.
It is in the interest of the capitalists to pay us, their workers, as little as possible, in order to make as much profit as possible. It is in our interest to get paid as much as possible, in order to survive!
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that our interests are completely opposite, or ‘’diametrically opposed’’, to use the technical term. In fact, the workers and the capitalists, are class enemies!
Now the young people can do a great service, for the working class, by making the working class aware of that fact! As well, let workers know that Revolution is necessary, as is the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The capitalists must be overthrown, and then crushed!
There are a few other things which must be explained to working class people, as the capitalists have managed to confuse a great deal.
For one thing, the capitalists have managed to confuse the words ‘’democracy’’ and ‘’capitalism’’. They would have us believe that capitalism is democracy! At the same time, they would have us believe that Communism is a dictatorship! The confusion must be straightened out!
Perhaps the young people can help to explain, to the working class people, that under capitalism, democracy exists, but only for the capitalists! For the working class, there is no democracy! Capitalism is a dictatorship! Over the working class!
By contrast, Socialism is a democracy, but only for the working class. For the capitalists, Socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, is just that, a Dictatorship!
The youth can further explain that our goal, the goal of Communists, is to establish a democratic republic, called Socialism, for the working class. The only way we can accomplish this, is by overthrowing the capitalists, through Revolution, smashing the existing state apparatus, and setting up the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Democracy for the working class, a Dictatorship for the capitalists!
It is note worthy that the capitalists are reluctant to even use the word capitalism! They prefer the expression ‘’private free enterprise’’, while referring to themselves as ‘’entrepreneurs’’ or ‘’business people’’. They are capitalists!
As all working people are well aware, the select few, the billionaires, live in the ‘’lap of luxury’’. The rest of us, common people, are constantly struggling to survive. Even that is becoming ever more difficult!
The young people must stress the fact that the capitalists have to be overthrown. That requires a Revolution, as no capitalist is ‘’sweetly reasonable’’! They are not at all anxious to part with their hard stolen wealth! They would sooner crawl on their bellies over broken glass!
Further stress the fact, that after the Revolution, the existing state apparatus, which has been set up to crush the working class, must be smashed! It must be replaced with the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Feel free to use the example of so many young people being clubbed, tear gassed and even shot, by the members of that state apparatus, as an example!
After the Revolution, under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the ‘’shoe will be on the other foot’’! The capitalists will have no rights! The former billionaires will be forced to work for a living! We will see how they like it!
For the moment, the young people have no hope, under capitalism. Rest assured, after the Revolution, under Socialism, they will have a bright future. We will see to that! And not just in crushing the capitalists! Training will be made available, for highly skilled jobs! Building a Socialist society is going to take a great deal of work!
In summary, we can state the task of youth today:
Prepare for Revolution!
Prepare for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 