GREG BUTTERFIELD
'Why is a revolutionary party so important?
From a talk by Greg Butterfield Dec. 5 to the New York
conference on the "Communist Manifesto in
the Age of Imperialism."
The "Communist Manifesto" was originally called "The
Manifesto of the Communist Party." When Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels wrote their famous pamphlet, it was not just the world
view of two individuals. It was written as a program of action
for a revolutionary organization called the Communist League,
made up of German, French, English, Dutch and Spanish
workers.
You can't really understand the "Communist Manifesto" or the
Marxist political program if you separate it from the
revolutionary party.
Why is a revolutionary Marxist party so important?
The party takes in the big picture of the working-class
struggle. It's a bridge between the day-to-day struggles of the
workers, on one hand, and the Marxist perspective of worldwide
socialist revolution on the other. Marxism and the masses come
together through the party.
Lenin described this relationship in his book "What is to be
Done?"
He wrote: "Class political consciousness can be brought to
the workers only from without, that is, only outside of the
economic struggle, outside of the sphere of relations between
workers and employers. ... The sphere from which alone it is
possible to obtain this knowledge is the sphere of
relationships between all the various classes and strata and
the state and the government--the interrelations between all
the various classes."
Lenin went on to explain: "Communism represents the working
class, not in relation to a given group of employers, but in
its relation to all class forces in modern society, to the
state as an organized political force. We must actively take up
the political education of the working class and the
development of its political consciousness..."
I'll give two examples. During the carnage of the First
World War, the Russian working class made a revolution. In
March 1917, a strike by women garment workers set off an
uprising that overthrew the czar, who represented the old
feudal landowning class. A new government was formed
representing the capitalist class, the bosses and bankers. But
at the same time workers and soldiers had begun to create their
own bodies of self-government, which they called soviets.
The new capitalist government made many promises to the
people. They pro mised to end the war, to feed the hungry, to
give land to the peasants. Lenin and his communist
party--called the Bolsheviks--believed the government wouldn't
live up to its promises. They said the soviets of workers,
soldiers and peasants should take over and run things for
themselves. But most workers were not ready to take this step.
They wanted to see what the new government would do.
The communists proved right. The capitalist government did
not, and could not keep its promises. When the czarist General
Kornilov threatened a counter-revolution, it was the
Bolsheviks, not the government, that organized the workers to
defend the gains of the revolution.
Over the course of several months, the masses learned
through their own experiences--and with the guidance of the
Bolsheviks--that the government would not give them bread, land
or peace. So in November 1917, the working class, led by the
communists, rose up and threw out the capitalist
government.
The soviets took power and began a socialist transformation
in Russia.
Without the slogans, leadership and Marxist clarity of the
Bolsheviks, a successful working-class revolution would not
have been possible.
Now for a current example. Jan. 1, 1999, is the 40th
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Many of us are inspired by
the courage of the Cuban people, who are determined to maintain
their independence and their socialist system in the face of
continuing U.S. threats and blockade.
Many people wonder how the Cuban people have been able to
stay so united, so revolutionary, during a period of setbacks.
After counter-revolutions in the USSR and Eastern Europe took
away Cuba's main trading partners, the country's economy
dropped steeply. Any capitalist government in such a situation
would have fallen.
Cuba's secret weapon is the determined revolutionary
leadership of the Cuban Communist Party. Comrade Fidel Castro
and the CCP have kept the consciousness of the masses high
through this "Special Period" by explaining the phenomena that
affect their everyday lives in the context of the global class
struggle.
Every important economic and political decision is made with
the direct input of the Cuban people, who meet regularly to
discuss and debate how best to maintain the revolution in these
difficult times.
The vast majority of the Cuban people support the Communist
Party and the revolutionary government because the leadership
has maintained a high level of honesty about the crisis.
This is the power of a revolutionary Marxist party united
with the working class. It can stave off counter-revolution and
mobilize the people under the most trying circumstances--right
under the nose of U.S. imperialism.
Some radicals say we don't need a revolutionary party here.
They will admit that Marx and Engels made a good analysis of
capitalism. But they don't like the idea of a revolutionary
party. These forces will try to convince you that a Marxist
party is "undemocratic," that you don't need a disciplined,
united party in a "democratic" society like the U.S.
But the capitalist ruling class is highly centralized. Look
how they unite their politicians whenever they want to get
something done at our expense. Both Democrats and Republicans
lined up behind the racist "crime" bill, the repeal of welfare,
and the continuing genocide against Iraq. The ruling class has
the media, academia, the Pentagon, the CIA and huge armies of
cops and fascist thugs at its beck and call.
The working class needs its own centralized, revolutionary
leadership, a party that can see the bigger picture and can
give clarity and decisive leadership to the working-class
struggle. In the spirit of the Bolsheviks and our Cuban
comrades, Workers World Party is striving to be that party of
the working class.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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