Depository of working-class knowledge
From a talk by Bob McCubbin at the
Dec. 2-3 Workers World Party conference.
Marx said, and I'm paraphrasing of course, "The dominant
ideas of any epoch are the ideas that serve the interests of
the ruling class of that epoch." One of the ideas I've been
hearing all my life is that socialism is a nice idea, but
it's utopian, it's impractical, it's unrealistic. In sum,
forget it. It'll never work.
How convenient for the ruling class! How self-serving!
The revolutionary party we are building has many facets.
The facet I'd like to focus on is the role of the party as a
depository, a keeper, a developer of the collective
experience, the knowledge, the wisdom, that our class has
gained in its struggle against the capitalists.
We call this body of knowledge Marxism-Leninism, to honor
two of the most important contributors, two of the greatest
minds that have participated in the collective development of
this body of knowledge.
Marxism is the application of the scientific method,
humanity's best instrument for understanding the world and
the evolution of human society. When we use the word
socialism, that's shorthand for what we really mean:
scientific socialism and a dialectical materialist
outlook.
What passes for Marxism in the hallowed halls of academia
is a crass distortion. When the educational elite of
capitalist society feel that each new generation has been
sufficiently inoculated against Marxism by years of what
passes for education in its grade schools and high schools,
they permit those who still show an interest in politics to
take a course in political theory, maybe even a course in
Marxism.
What they present, however, leaves out the heart of
Marxism, and what remains has the look and feel of dogma.
It's just another theory. Let's examine it. Let's explore it.
Let's move on to the next theory.
It's only in the revolutionary workers combat party that
Marxism, our guide to action, shows its power: the power of
the truth, the power of an objective assessment of the world,
a historical perspective based on the facts and a
philosophical understanding of the basics of change, which is
what dialectical materialism is.
The reactionary class, the obsolete class, the class that
is holding back the development of human society, must rely
on lies, the falsification of reality and the denial of the
inevitability of change to maintain its rule.
We workers and oppressed people, on the other hand, must
constantly work to strengthen our party. In the final
analysis, the party is the only insurance we have against
being overwhelmed by confusion and ignorance and the lies of
the ruling class.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS
:: SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page