Concerning Class Content

In 1920, the Soviet Union was a Socialist country, and Lenin was the first and founding head of the government. Technically his title was the Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the Soviet Union.

As head of the Soviet Union, he invited some British workers to the country, so that they might ‘’become acquainted’’ with the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, under Socialism, in the Soviet Union. 

Those visiting workers then requested that he send a letter to the British Government. Lenin responded that it was not appropriate, but that he could, and did, send a letter to the British workers. His advice, to the British workers, is just as valid now, as when it was first written. 

In his letter, Lenin mentioned that he was ‘’not at all surprised’’, to find that several of his guests, working class members of the British delegation, held a standpoint ‘’not of the working class, but of the bourgeoisie, of the exploiting class’’. 

In particular, several of the visiting British workers, those who were under the influence of the bourgeoisie, were concerned with that which the bourgeois press referred to as a ‘’Red Terror’’. The British press claimed that in Russia, there was no freedom of press or assembly. As well, certain political parties and groups were being persecuted, by the dastardly Bolsheviks. (At that time the Communists were referred to as Bolsheviks -GM)

To this, Lenin replied that the ‘’real cause of the Terror is the British imperialists and their ‘allies’, who practiced and are still practicing a ’White Terror’ in Finland and in Hungary, in India and in Ireland, who have been supporting Yudenich, Kolchak, Denizen, Pilsudski and Wrangel’’. (Those were the leaders of the Counter Revolutionary armies which were at war with the Soviet Union -GM)

Lenin went on to state that: ‘’Our ’Red Terror’ is a defence of the working class against the exploiters, the crushing of the resistance from the exploiters with whom the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks and an insignificant number of pro Menshevik workers have sided. Freedom of the press and assembly under bourgeois democracy is freedom for the wealthy to conspire against the working people, freedom for the capitalists to bribe and buy up the press. I have explained this in newspaper articles so often that I have derived no pleasure in repeating myself.’’

(The Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were Counter Revolutionary political parties -GM)

He then went on to mention the names of working class leaders whom had just been arrested, including that of Sylvia Pankhurst, in Britain.

‘’This is the best possible reply the British Government could give to a question that the non Communist British labour ‘leaders’, who are captives to bourgeois prejudices, are afraid even to ask, namely, which class the terror is directed against -the oppressed and exploited, or the oppressors and exploiters? Is it a question of the ‘freedom’ of the capitalists to rob, deceive and dupe the working people, or of the ‘freedom’ of the toilers from the yoke of the capitalists, the speculators and the property owners. Comrade Sylvia Pankhurst represents the interests of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people that are oppressed by the British and other imperialists. That is why she is subjected to a White Terror, has been deprived of liberty, etc. The labour ‘leaders’ who pursue a non Communist policy are 99 percent representatives of the bourgeoisie, of its deceit, its prejudices.’’ (italics by GM)

That statement of Lenin, is just as true today, as it was in 1920!

The fact of the matter is that this ‘’Red Terror’’, after the Revolution and under Socialism, is merely an expression of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat! Even after the Revolution, classes will continue to exist, and the capitalist class will have to be crushed! Hence the ‘’Red Terror’’!

He went on to point out that there was an ‘’old ulcer’’, which he referred to as the ‘’desertion of the majority of the workers’ parliamentary and trade union leaders to the side of the bourgeoisie’’. As a result of this ‘’desertion’’ of the ‘’working class leaders’’, they ‘’entered into an alliance with the bourgeoisie, against the Revolutionary struggle of the proletariat; they covered up this treachery with sentimental petty bourgeois reformism and pacifist phrases about peaceful evolution, constitutional methods, democracy, etc.’’

Clearly nothing has changed!

The point to be stressed is that Lenin respected the ‘’rank and file’’ working people, those whom had been misled, not only by the capitalists, but also by their own labour leaders. Some of those misled workers were among the British contingent which visited the Soviet Union. 

Now we have a similar situation, in that so many working people, among the ‘’rank and file’’, have also been misled. They believe the lies of their own politicians and labour leaders, who speak for the capitalist class. Those working people are not at fault!

They have been deceived by the politicians and the labour leaders, those who are nothing but devoted servants of the class of monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie!

The astute reader may well wonder, just what the afore mentioned has to do, with the title of this chapter? The short answer is everything!

The fact is that Lenin respected the beliefs of all working people, and in response to their legitimate questions, drew their attention to the existence of classes!  And to class conflict! So too, we must now draw the attention of working people to the existence of classes! As well as the war between the classes!

As working people are concerned with a possible government default, on ‘’X-Day’’ -as the press has labelled it- so too we must use this crisis to raise their level of awareness. We must refer to this crisis in class terms!

Stress the fact that there are ‘’negotiations’’ going on between the White House staff, and the staff of the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. Behind ‘’closed doors’’, of course. Yet both ‘’sides’’ represent the same class! Neither side represents the working class!

The ‘’staffs’’ of both the White House and the Speaker of the House, are agreed that it is necessary to cut spending. They are also agreed that this must not be directed against the military. All ‘’spending cuts’’ must be directed against ‘’social safety net programs’’. There is no mention of raising taxes on the billionaires! This despite the fact that many of those billionaires pay little or no taxes! 

The politicians justify this by saying that they do not want to ‘’raise taxes’’. This statement has no class content! They are careful to avoid class terms! They are determined to not raise taxes on the capitalists!

There is a big difference between taxing the working class, the proletariat, and taxing the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie!

Instead, the ‘’negotiators’’ for the ‘’two sides’’, the White House and the House of Representatives, are haggling over the particular ‘’social programs’’ to be cut! According to the press, these cuts include ‘’food stamps, student debt relief, renewable energy, Veterans Affairs and medicaid’’. The military is strictly ‘’off limits’’!

It is significant that even the military veterans, those who should be respected and rewarded, for the fact that they served their country, are instead being punished! Their benefits are to be cut!

The plan of the ‘’negotiators’’ is to drastically cut the ‘’social programs’’, to reduce the ‘’safety net’’. This will have the effect of dramatically reducing the living standards of the working class. Ever more hunger, unemployment and homelessness, with medical services denied.

If negotiations should ‘’fail’’, if the ‘’two sides’’ cannot agree on  the amount of additional suffering of the working class, then the country will go into ‘’default’’, possibly on June 1. 

In that case, all government officials agree that ‘’priorities must be established’’. The ‘’first priority’’ is to pay the interest on the national debt! The capitalists must be paid!

The economists are openly speculating on the chances that the senior citizens, those who are on fixed incomes, dependent on their old age pensions, their Social Security checks, may be cut off! For that matter, government workers may not be paid! Even the members of the military may not be paid!

It is clear that the economists are so far removed from reality, that they actually expect workers to continue to work, without getting paid! Not likely! Possibly the officers in the military, those who are of middle class background, may agree to this, as they tend to be so patriotic. But not the enlisted personnel! And certainly not the government workers!

Yet just as Lenin respected the beliefs of all working class people, so too it is up to us, to also respect their beliefs. Further, just as Lenin drew the attention of all working class people, to the existence of classes, and to class conflict, so too we should do the same thing!

Patience is required. After all, it is only natural to expect working people, those whom have been misled all their lives, to believe the lies of the capitalists. Especially as workers are not aware of the existence of classes! The conditions of life, of the proletariat, do not lead to that awareness!

Yet working people are not stupid! Faced with the facts, which are that classes exist, and that the capitalists are concerned only with themselves, then those workers can be expected to become ‘’sweetly reasonable’’. Revolutionary! That is in their best interests!

There is no time to lose! One way or another, through government default or deep cuts to ‘’social safety net programs’’, the suffering of the working people is about to become more intense!

For that reason, there is an urgent need to raise the level of awareness of the working class. Those who are aware of the Revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, whether working class or middle class, must become active. 

Feel free to use the internet. Flood social media outlets with political articles, with class content, with calls for Revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The capitalists have to be overthrown and then crushed! 

Allow me to once again stress the importance of using the words of the capitalists, against them! That is certain to persuade the working people of the existence of classes, and of the war between our classes!

I can think of no better way of concluding this article, than by my usual closure. May the airways of social media, as well as the posters and banners of protests proclaim:

Scientific Socialism! 

Workers of the World, Unite!

Dictatorship of the Proletariat!