For many months, the working people of France have been protesting the plan of the French government, to raise the retirement age, from sixty two to sixty four. According to the bourgeois journalists, these protests have occasionally ‘’degenerated into riots’’, in that the ‘’protesters resorted to violence’’.
That situation changed, quite dramatically, on June 27. On that day, the French police pulled over a young motorist, for a routine traffic violation. That teen aged motorist was then shot dead.
Now the more astute members of the bourgeois press are reporting that ‘’France is one step away from revolution’’. They suspect that ‘’France has reached a tipping point’’, that this is ‘’merely the tip of a global iceburg’’, that the French police are ‘’overwhelmed’’, faced with ‘’armed and organized migrant rioters’’, those who are determined to ‘’burn and loot everything’’.
This statement, by the bourgeois journalists, is rather typical. It states the facts accurately, while giving an analysis which is as false as it is racist. It is also careful to avoid any class content!
In fact, countless vehicles have been burned. As well, numerous stores have been looted. Some of these stores have been ‘’burned and reduced to rubble’’. It is true that ‘’armed gangs are patrolling the streets’’, that Paris now ‘’feels like a war zone’’. As some of the people who are protesting are now in possession of ‘’military grade weapons’’, including automatic weapons, it is clear that this is not an exaggeration. The police are indeed ‘’overwhelmed’’, as they are faced with superior firepower.
Yet to say that these same protesters are ‘’migrant rioters’’, who are determined to ‘’burn and loot everything’’, is pure slander.
The country is in the midst of a revolution. The working people of France, the proletariat and the peasants, along with part of the middle class, are rising up, against the ruling class, the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie. That is a fact.
It is also a fact that during any revolution, criminal elements see this as merely an ‘’opportunity’’. They take advantage of the ‘’chaos’’, and proceed to loot and vandalize. This revolution is no exception.
In response, the French government has declared a curfew. That curfew is being widely ignored. So now they are considering the possibility of declaring martial law.
Strangely enough, the French government cannot claim that they were not warned. Two years ago, over one thousand retired military personnel, including twenty four generals, wrote an open letter to President Macron. In that letter, they expressed their ‘’deep concern’’, that the country of France was ‘’on the brink of civil war’’, that ‘’parts of the republic was given over to gangsters, Islamists and lawlessness.’’
It is not too surprising that this ‘’statement of concern’’, as expressed by some of the most devoted servants of the French monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie, is also completely devoid of class content!
They are absolutely correct when they state that the country is ‘’on the brink of civil war’’. Class war! Working class versus capitalist class! That is the fact which the bourgeois, and their most devoted servants, either will not -or can not!- bring themselves to face!
Instead, they blame ‘’gangsters, Islamists and lawlessness’’. Reality check, gentlemen! Capitalism gives rise to gangsters and lawlessness! As you are no doubt well aware! Yet you blame this on minorities, in an attempt to divide the working class, to divert the revolutionary motion, onto some harmless course -harmless to the bourgeoisie!- of racial conflict!
The bourgeois journalists also defend their lords and master, the monopoly capitalists, by merely parroting this racist ideology. They refer to the revolution as ‘’riots’’, and hold the ‘’immigrants’’, or at least those who are ‘’from Northern Africa and the Middle East’’, as being responsible for this ‘’chaos’’.
It is significant that even the finest of the bourgeois journalists are careful to avoid class terms! Regardless of the fact that the country is facing full scale revolution, class warfare, workers against capitalists, proletariat against bourgeoisie, they seem to be incapable of facing this fact!
This despite the fact that France has a proud history of numerous revolutions!
Yet there is at least one member of the bourgeois intelligentsia, who is able to face the truth. As he stated: ‘’You need a popular movement, a split in the ruling class, where one portion crosses over to the revolution and offers their leadership- otherwise, it is just a riot- and you also need a crisis in the state. If all of those elements are to be fulfilled, and it leads to regime change, then we can talk about a revolution’’.
Although this statement suffers from a few defects, which I will not go into, as they are somewhat incidental, the intent is clear. The significance of the statement lies in the fact that the writer is considering the distinct possibility that there is ‘’a split in the ruling class’’, by which he means the capitalist class, as a result of a ‘’crisis in the state’’. As that is the case, he is of the opinion that a few of the capitalists may ‘’cross over to the revolution and offer their leadership’’, which may lead to ‘’regime change’’.
The mere fact that he mentioned this, is a strong indication that many of them, or at least the intellectuals among them, are considering this ‘’cross over’’!
Perhaps it would be helpful to compare this statement, by one of the finer bourgeois intellectuals, to the views of Marx and Engels, in the Communist Manifesto:
‘’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 hold the future in its hands’’.
Without doubt, the situation in France has now reached a ‘’violent, glaring character’’. Further, it has spread to other countries, such as Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the United Kingdom. We are clearly ‘’near the decisive hour’’! Revolution!
Comparisons have even been made to the murder, in America, of George Floyd, and to the rise of Black Lives Matter. Not a coincidence! More revolutionary motion! Clearly, the journalists are correct when they state that the revolution is France is just the ‘’tip of a global iceburg’’!
The point to be stressed, is that the current situation is similar to that which existed immediately after the Great Russian Socialist October Revolution, of 1917. For that reason, it is perhaps best to consider the advice of Lenin, which he gave at the time of the Second Congress of the Communist International, in 1920:
‘’The finest representatives of the revolutionary proletariat in all capitalist countries have fully grasped the fundamental principles of … the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Soviet power’’.
Such is no longer the case! Yet that is no cause for despair on our part! We have got to face the fact that some of our finest Communist ancestors made mistakes! They were human! It is up to us to learn from their mistakes! To paraphrase an old expression, ‘’Any fool can learn from their own mistakes. A wise person learns from the mistakes of others!’’
Now it is up to intellectuals, those who are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, to bring this awareness of the ‘’fundamental principles of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Soviet power’’ to the working people, especially the proletariat and the family farmers, as well as the lower strata of the middle class.
These ‘’common people’’, as they refer to themselves, must be made aware that, at the time of the revolution, it is not enough to simply overthrow the ruling class, the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie. The existing state apparatus, which has been set up to crush the working class, the proletariat, must be smashed! It must then be replaced by a new state apparatus, in order to crush the desperate and determined resistance of the capitalists, as they try to restore their ‘’paradise lost’’. This new state apparatus is referred to as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
The importance of smashing the existing state apparatus, and establishing the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, cannot be over stated. If the existing state apparatus is not destroyed, a different group of people will merely take over that state apparatus, and set themselves up as the new rulers.
Incidentally, that was precisely one of the mistakes made by the workers of Paris, those whom revolted in 1871. They established the first socialist republic, and referred to it as the Paris Commune. Yet they failed to smash the existing state apparatus! A huge mistake!
To the modern day revolutionaries of France, I can only say: Honour your heroic ancestors, the Communards, by following in their footsteps, while not repeating their mistakes! Learn from their mistakes! At the time of the next French Revolution, smash the existing state apparatus, and replace it with a new state apparatus, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
This brings us to Soviet power.
Almost all revolutions give birth to a proletarian creation, an organization called a Soviet, or Council, in English, or Sovietique, in French. As the revolution gains strength, these Soviets become ever more powerful.
In Russia, at the time of the February Revolution of 1917, the Soviets were almost as powerful as the Russian government, under Kerensky. In fact, the Soviets were so powerful, that the government agents were afraid to arrest Lenin, at the time he returned from exile in April, of that year.
Now it is up to conscious people, those who are aware of the scientific theories of Marx and Lenin, Communists, to bring to the working class the awareness of those theories.
At that same International, Lenin went on to state the tasks laid out for us. As it is to important, I have decided to quote it at length:
‘’The victory of socialism (as the first stage of communism) over capitalism requires that the proletariat, as the only really revolutionary class, shall accomplish the following three tasks. First -overthrow the exploiters, and first and foremost the bourgeoisie, as their principle economic and political representative; utterly rout them; crush their resistance; absolutely preclude any attempt on their part to restore the yoke of capital and wage-slavery. Second- win over and bring under the leadership of the Communist Party, the revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat, not only the entire proletariat, or its vast majority, but all who labour and are exploited by capital; educate, organize, train and discipline them in the actual course of a supremely bold and ruthlessly firm struggle against the exploiters; wrest this vast majority of the population in all the capitalist countries from dependence on the bourgeoisie; imbue it, through its own practical experience, with confidence in the leading role of the proletariat and of its revolutionary vanguard. Third- neutralize, or render harmless, the inevitable vacillation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, between bourgeois democracy and Soviet power, to be seen in the class of petty proprietors in agriculture, industry and commerce – a class which is still fairly numerous in nearly all advanced countries, although comprising only a minority of the population- as well as in the stratum of intellectuals, salary owners, etc., which correspond to this class.’’
Without doubt, that is indeed a ‘’tall order’’! Equally without doubt, that is clearly beyond the ability of an individual, or a number of individuals working separately. An organization is required, a gathering of intellectuals, conscious people, Communists, with a common goal. Of course, such an organization is referred to as a Communist Party. The only true Communist Party is one which calls for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the ‘’touchstone of a true Marxist’’, according to Lenin.
Now that we have the internet, the task of raising the level of awareness of the working people is much easier than it was, many years ago. The vast majority of workers are now cultured, complete with access to various digital devices. Instead of passing out leaflets, we can now send emails!
Further, it is most encouraging that key works of Lenin, such as State and Revolution, and Left Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder, are now available in audio form. They can be downloaded from the internet. This is most useful, as a person can listen to those revolutionary writings of Lenin, perhaps while driving, running a machine, doing house work, or simply relaxing at home.
The fact that conscious people have gone to the trouble of making these works of Lenin available, in audio form, is an indication of the strength of the revolutionary motion.
Now it is of vital importance to form a true Communist Party, Dictatorship of the Proletariat, in all countries, and not just France. The French are currently leading the revolution, which is spreading to western Europe and possibly beyond.
It is only after the revolution is successful in France, and at least several other highly industrialized countries, that we can form a true International Communist Party.
By and large, it is only middle class intellectuals who are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. For that reason, the onus is on them to form a true Communist Party, perhaps with the assistance of working class intellectuals.
Be discreet! Use the internet! Do not use the telephone! All such conversations are monitored! Do not meet in person! Do not make it easy for the government agencies! Be vocal but anonymous!
It is only a matter of time -probably a short time!- before the working people become class conscious. No doubt powerful Soviets will also be created. These Soviets will then challenge the existing bourgeois governments for state power. Only then will it be safe for true Communist Parties to go public.
At that point, Lenin let us know what to expect.
In 1920, at the Second Congress of the Communist International, Lenin stated that:
‘’World imperialism shall fall when the revolutionary onslaught of the exploited and oppressed workers in each country, overcoming resistance from petty bourgeois elements and the influence of the small upper crust of labour aristocrats, merges with the revolutionary onslaught of hundreds of millions of people who have hitherto stood beyond the pale of history, and have been regarded merely as the object of history’’.
With that in mind, consider the fact that we are very close to that point. This is bound to give rise to that which Lenin foresaw:
‘’If our comrades in all lands help us now to organize a united army, no shortcomings will prevent us from accomplishing our task. That task is the world proletariat revolution, the creation of a world Soviet republic.’’
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 