The party & the national question

Deirdre Griswold WW photo

[The imperialist war drive] comes from the inner workings of capitalism itself, its need to expand or die. But the United States evolved into a particularly aggressive and brutal imperialist power around the world because of its history right here: its suppression of Native peoples to occupy their land, its super-exploitation of African peoples dragged here in chains, its oppression of Chicano/Mexicano people in territory it seized from Mexico.

The profits from the oppression and super-exploitation of its internal colonies helped the U.S. capitalist class rapidly develop into a world power. But the struggle of the oppressed nations at home for their liberation can also be the Achilles heel of imperialism. It can be a decisive factor in the worldwide struggle against imperialism—as it was during the Vietnam War—and also in the class struggle of all workers to end capitalist wage slavery and build socialism.

I say it can be because much depends on how the workers who are part of the oppressing nation understand their interests and responsibilities in relation to the struggle of the nationally oppressed. Will they be passive? Will they lack direction and be used against the oppressed peoples? Or will they understand that their own class interests, their success in fighting the exploiters, in resisting being cannon fodder for their endless wars, lie in supporting the right of self-determination here at home too?

When we talk about building a revolutionary party in this country, the question immediately comes up: Where does such a party stand in relation to the liberation organizations of the oppressed that already exist or may arise in the future? This question has been raised many times before by our party leaders, especially by Sam Marcy, our founder and ideological leader, who died in 1998. He wrote and spoke on literally hundreds of occasions on this very subject, because he considered it key to the building of a revolutionary Marxist and Leninist party in this country.

I’d like to read to you a few paragraphs from just one of the many documents he wrote on the national question. This was written in September 1971, when the government was doing everything it could to break up the Black Panther Party and other liberation organizations.

Sam wrote: “Is there an inherent contradiction between the right of nations to self-determination and the building of a united working-class Party to attract to itself workers of all nationalities from the oppressing nations as well as from the oppressed nations? The answer is no!

“The need of the workers to organize themselves into a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party and to unite them in the struggle against capitalism is an indispensable necessity for a victorious proletarian revolution. ...

“[Some] say that each nation within the confines of the U.S. should build their own Party and that since the workers of the oppressing nation and the workers of the oppressed nation have different problems arising from the nature of the oppression, it is impossible, at least for now, to have a single united Party.

“The logical conclusion of this thinking is that the whites should have one organization, Blacks another, Puerto Ricans another, etc. Assume that political evolution in this country favored such a development. The result then would be that we would have several Marxist-Leninist organizations. And if each had a generally Marxist-Leninist program, it would evolve from a loose alliance of these Marxist-Leninist organizations into a federation and finally into a unified multi-national political Party. ...

“When Lenin added to the slogan ‘Workers of the world unite’ to make it ‘Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite,’ he summarized the historical needs of the international working class to make the right of oppressed nations to self-determination a basic part of the revolutionary working-class program. The working class cannot emancipate itself without at the same time destroying, root and branch, every form of national oppression.

“Nor can there be any unity between the workers of the oppressed and oppressing nations as long as the workers of the oppressing nation do not recognize and do not advocate the right of the oppressed nations to self-determination. The right of self-determination can take the form of secession, federation, a variety of forms of amalgamation, or any other form, depending on concrete historical circumstances. ...

“The right to self-determination is a political right which oppressed nations may use in whatever form they may ultimately decide as a nation. We must advocate and support that right. But we do not advocate separation, secession, federation or amalgamation. That is for the oppressed nation to decide. ...

“For a considerable period it appeared that a coalition of liberation organizations which were oriented to Marxism might develop into a federation in which we could participate as a constituent part. But this does not seem a likely variant of development for a considerable period ahead.

“The heavy repression against liberation organizations in this country, splits within the organizations and considerable confusion resulting from all this has made such a desirable prospect more remote. Nevertheless, it remains a hopeful variant of development.

“In the meantime, the task of organizing the workers from both the oppressed and oppressing nations into a revolutionary workers’ party remains more urgent than ever.”

What Sam Marcy wrote showed us that, even as we do all we can to build up this party as the revolutionary party for socialism, we must be flexible in our outlook and constantly revisit the question of what organizational forms will facilitate the greatest unity of all the workers and oppressed in order to wage a victorious struggle against capitalism.

This conference has been a milestone for us because it represents the development of an honest dialog with serious leaders from organizations of the oppressed, many of them Marxists, on a wide variety of subjects having to do with where the struggle is at today and what needs to be done. They have raised issues and posed questions that will enrich the Party’s discussion and political education.

Such a dialog is absolutely necessary if we all are to strengthen ourselves for what I think we agree is going to be a tempestuous period ahead.

This dialog with other leaders and organizations would be impossible without the excellent leadership of the Black and Latin@ comrades in our Party. They have taken the initiative in moving us from the concept of a truly multinational revolutionary party at all levels into an actual work in progress.

—Deirdre Griswold, editor in chief, Workers World, Secretariat, WWP