How Workers World stands up to red-baiting
By Greg Butterfield
From a talk at the Sept. 21-22 Workers World Party
conference.
No left party or group in the United States is red-baited as
much as Workers World Party is. The reason is simple. No other
group that advocates socialist revolution does as much, is as
influential in the broad movement, or challenges the lies and
half-truths of the ruling class as consistently as we do.
We aren't afraid to be red-baited. We're proud to be reds.
We openly proclaim our views and aims, as Marx and Engels
instructed us to in the Communist Manifesto. And we fight for
our right to be part of every movement that responds to the
needs of the workers and oppressed.
We don't take red-baiting lightly. It's a form of class war
on the progressive movement. It can take the form of active
persecution by the state, like the witch-hunts of the McCarthy
era. Today the ruling class wants to publicly pretend that
communists don't exist for fear of drawing attention to us. So
red-baiting most often results from pressure on and through the
movement.
Looking over the history of the communist movement, we can
observe two bad ways to respond to red-baiting.
Some groups try to hide their true red color in hopes of
appearing more acceptable to people with anti-communist
prejudices. They may even hope to appear respectable in the
eyes of the bourgeoisie. But hiding your revolutionary
principles inevitably leads to compromising them. And the
ruling class isn't fooled. There's no such thing as bourgeois
respectability for those who advocate workers' revolution.
The other bad response is to turn inward into empty
revolutionary rhetoric and sectarianism. Some groups decide it
isn't worth reaching out to anyone who doesn't share their
perspective. They refuse to work with others or make tactical
compromises for the sake of building a broad movement.
In either case, the bourgeoisie achieves its goals of
discrediting or isolating communists.
Workers World Party has a different approach to red-baiting.
We patiently answer the political charges associated with these
attacks, while continuing to reach out to build the broadest
possible struggle against war, racism and all the evils of
capitalism. We can do this because we have confidence that our
communist program corresponds to the historic needs of the
workers and oppressed, and that they will respond to it.
By standing up for our right to be part of the movement, and
to give leadership to it, we also strengthen our allies and
help them stand up when they're criticized for working with
us.
The ruling class wants to keep communists isolated and apart
from the rest of the movement because they know that we are the
best organizers and the most consistent fighters against their
rule. If red-baiting is successful, it weakens the whole
progressive movement.
Think how different the last year would have been if we had
listened to our critics and changed our color, or disbanded our
party.
There would have been no immediate, strong, anti-imperialist
response after 9/11. The leaders of movements dominated by
social-democratic and anarchist ideology lacked a united
perspective and disciplined organization. They were paralyzed
and thrown into disarray by the war drive.
But WWP's political and organizational unity meant we could
swing into action immediately. While other groups called off
their demonstrations against the IMF, we urged our friends in
the International Action Center to turn Sept. 29, 2001, into a
bold protest against war, racism and repression. This spurred
the formation of the ANSWER coalition. Our bright red strength
gave confidence and direction to others in the movement, and
Sept. 29 showed that progressives could stand up to the
poisonous atmosphere.
Reprinted from the Oct. 24, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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