WWP’s political program, education and recruitment

Following are excerpts from a talk given by Richard Kossally on Nov. 15 at the Workers World Party 50th anniversary national conference.

Workers World Party is not perfect, but where we are most perfect, I believe, is at our core: the party’s program. An important element of our program is that we always stand on the side of the oppressed. This is a simple, indisputable principle. Practicing it, however, is not as easy as it first seems, especially when the lines are blurred, which they often are. There were some blurry lines to navigate, for example, in the recent presidential elections in Iran.

Another element in our program is the importance we place on self-determination — the national question. We saw the hand of imperialism all over those student demonstrations in Iran [in the summer of 2009] and understood them to be an attempt to destabilize the government there. This is not to say that all the demonstrators were trying to destabilize Iran. We have no problem with genuinely progressive struggles, but that was not what was happening.

When there is a crisis like this, there is much confusion at first. The corporate media goes full throttle with their misinformation campaigns. Unfortunately they snare in their web many well-meaning leftists and numerous other victims. The enemy class has in its arsenal a weapon that it often uses during such times: the big lie. Wars have been started this way.

The suspicious shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan in Iran might have been such a big lie. We asked some tough questions about her assassination in an editorial in our newspaper. We correctly navigated the blurry lines in Zimbabwe, but those weren’t so blurry actually. Blurry lines can be overcome by wearing the correct lenses to examine them.

Program is the most important feature of a political party. Political education is also of utmost importance.

We must and we do avail ourselves of the great works and lessons from past struggles and the examples set by our working-class heroes. The world is not a static place; history has not ended. Following developments in our contemporary world and focusing our energy in the areas where we can best forward the needs of the working class is an obligation of a revolutionary party. This process must be continuous, the sources and modes various.

The sources will be the bourgeois press, progressive literature, government statistics, legislation, corporate statistics and information from any source that we find useful. Much of this education has to be by members pursuing and analyzing events or situations near or far and when necessary disseminating their findings through the various means of communication we employ so that we can better focus our energies. The richness of this is evident at every party discussion.

Our party also conducts classes, usually in a discussion-group format or a presentation followed by discussion. We call our school the Marxist School of Theory and Struggle. This name reflects our political line. Theory without struggle is solely an academic exercise and program without practice is no program. Internal education is invaluable, especially for newer members. The classes are also available online.

Another important resource of the party is FIST, the youth group of Workers World. Young people can actually become a member of FIST before joining the party. FIST now has a quarterly publication — Left Hook — and recently updated a 1971 Workers World pamphlet called “What Is Marxism All About?” FIST has started a blog radio show and has been doing great work on the campuses. If you are a young person — and we have a very liberal definition of youth — you should check them out.

Capitalism traditionally allows workers a big enough fraction of the value of their labor power so that they may reproduce future workers for exploitation. A working-class party like ours has to recruit new members, but our goal is not exploitation — it’s revolution. I believe Workers World is the party in the United States that best represent the interests of our class and can be of the best assistance in the struggles ahead.

That is why you should join us. We have for 50 years practiced our principled Marxist political program without dilution through all the struggles that you have heard about here at this conference, and so many more that were not touched on.