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Take Sides--Become a Communist
Every morning at 5:30 a.m., at the beginning of our shift, there is a meeting in which the supervisors, the manager or sometimes the union representative communicate new instructions or comments about the work.
One morning, a couple of coworkers were talking when one of them, who works on the night shift, saw me. He greeted me and then asked, “Are you going to the meeting of the
capitalists?” referring to the previously mentioned meeting. 
Afterwards he said, “I am not a capitalist, nor am I a communist. But my son is becoming a communist since his girlfriend is one. But this doesn’t bother me, because in this country everyone has the right to think as they please.”
After listening to him, I walked away thinking about the inner content of his words, because this mechanic is not foreign to politics. He is a regular reader of Red Flag. We have written several very political articles for Red Flag with him. He is militant and has a lot of class consciousness. He attended a Party meeting and left greatly impressed by the knowledge and application of communist ideas to life and daily struggle.
I have heard him invite other workers to meetings of the Party, saying that the communists are very intelligent. After thinking about all this I returned to him and told him, “You know what? I’m going to write about what you said, that you are neither a capitalist nor a communist.” He answered me that this was good, that he would like to read it.
What this worker says is not capitalist, I understand this very well. But although he says he is not a communist, he has many aspects that are communist. He himself makes me think that there still exists a little individualism in him, as he also assures me that in this country, everyone has the right to think as they want. This also shows me that there are still illusions in democracy.
I want to tell him that in this society, no one is just for himself.  This is so because there are two great opposing philosophical currents, idealism and materialism. The idealist way of thinking represents a determinist conception of nature and its development. Its ideas are used by the bourgeoisie to justify their exploitation of the workers and to keep us politically ignorant.
The other philosophy is materialism: not the vulgar materialism of accumulating things or properties, but dialectical materialism which studies nature in general in its movement and development. Its ideology is the guide so that the working class can one day be free, not only from physical chains but, even better, from ideological chains.
In this context, every human being, boss or worker, is part of one of these ideologies and in many cases, of both. No one can remain outside these areas or this struggle.
Individualism is the bosses’ ideology. Communism is the ideology of workers’ collectivity. I am sure that the assertion of this mechanic, about what he is, about his own being, is superficial.
Even though it is true that he is a person who is not afraid to confront a supervisor or a manager, he must understand that the struggle is much bigger. It is about confronting a whole system of exploitation, with its racist laws, its
killer cops, the KKK, the Nazis, etc. This struggle can only be carried out collectively and armed with communist ideas.
It has been my fault, my political weakness, my ideological passivity which is the main reason that this co-worker didn’t say, “I am not a capitalist, I am a communist.” I will correct my mistake and will ask this comrade if he wants to join our Party, which is the force that will lead the unstoppable approach of a new red dawn.
—Los Angeles MTA transit worker

Fighting Revisionism
If anyone suggests that in communism, we will still have racism, pan-Africanism, patriotism, black nationalism and all other social ills, this is in fact naked revisionism. And it is anti-working class.
I want to suggest that this is nothing new. These tendencies must be defeated. They must be struggled against and be exposed wherever they exist. These tendencies are defeatist and reactionary. They have the potential of weakening and dividing the working class.
One can trace these centuries-old tendencies from, amongst others, Germany’s Bernstein, the renegade Karl Kautsky, etc. These tendencies are a danger to the working class. They are in fact bourgeois tendencies. Once the working class begins to doubt its ability to change society, to change the world, then we are doomed.
But, no, the working class all over the world has woken up. Even in the remotest areas, the working class is taking up the fight against the bosses’ tyranny. The working class as the motive force for change has a powerful engine to eliminate racism, sexism, and nationalism once and for all, never to come back, never to be seen again.
But these are not going to be wished away; they must be struggled against and be overcome. We urge all workers and the poor all over the world to join the International Communist Workers Party (ICWP) in building that society. We have a programme of mobilizing the masses for communism, not socialism which can be reversed to capitalism. Communist revolution will crush and sweep away all the remnants of capitalism.
There can never be a smooth transition from one system to the next. History abounds with these illusions, where we have seen the working class has been butchered by these capitalist schemes. Only the line practiced and struggled for by our party can guarantee the future of the international working class.
We must not deviate from our line but advance it to deeper understanding by putting it in practice now. This means recruiting to the party, leading struggle against our class enemy and spreading the Red Flag.
---Comrade in South Africa

Dear South Africa Comrade,
Thank you for your letter. It is a very helpful contribution to our discussion about the fight against racism and racist ideas, now and after we take power.
We fight directly for communism, not social-ism with its wage-slavery half-way house, which history has proven is fatal to the revolutionary process. Our predecessors’ lack of confidence that the working class can fight for communism was indeed defeatist and reactionary—the essence of revisionism.
We agree with your emphatic declaration that after a communist revolution there must be no concessions, and no compromise with racism, nationalism, or patriotism.
We also agree that racist, sexist, and nation-alist ideas will not be wished away, but must be struggled against and overcome. It will take a protracted and principled struggle to sweep away all the remnants of capitalism. The sharper the struggle before the revolution, the
clearer will be the path of building a new communist society without classes or privilege.
We must be clear that we will eliminate, immediately and permanently, all social institutions based on racism, nationalism, or sexism, and will brook no compromise on this question. We will wage unceasing struggle against the remnants of racist, nationalist and sexist ideas and behavior. None of this will happen spontaneously.
--Red Flag Editorial Collective

Freeing Us from the Racism and Sexism of Professionalism

Twice a week I am confronted with undeniable proof that racism and sexism will be challenges even after the revolution.
I teach a math course for engineers, with over two hundred students. Two of them are black. There are not many women either – fortunately the international students provide some diversity.
Obviously revolution alone will not change this situation – it won’t result in minorities or women getting engineering training. We are going to inherit a society with, among other problems, highly segregated professions. What will we do about it?
I suggest we can start by abolishing professions as such. Some professions (lawyers, investment bankers, stock brokers) will simply disappear because they do nothing that, under communism, is useful or even makes sense any more. Those that are still useful (engineers, doctors, professors) will be kept but de-professionalized. This means that the former professionals will still have their skills recognized but they won’t be part of an elite, exclusive clique (such as “Professional Engineers”). And they will spend a significant part of their time working like everyone else – including physical labor.
And, most importantly, the work done by engineers, doctors, professors, etc., will be opened up to workers in general and especially to minorities and women. Yes, affirmative action!
Affirmative action under communism will be very different from affirmative action under capitalism. It will mean unleashing the existing skills and willingness to learn of millions of workers.
Affirmative action under communism will not pit men against women, whites against minorities etc. Under communism we will no longer have any incentive to keep staffing to a minimum. So just the fact that, say, a woman gets to do engineering does not mean some man has to give up his dream of doing engineering. Communism will abolish capitalism’s bizarre phenomenon of work itself being “scarce.”
The other objection to affirmative action is that the new people being brought in will be untrained and therefore incompetent. It’s true they won’t have the formal certificates - but we’ll abolish them anyway. In fact, as anyone who has worked in a factory, hospital, or university knows, there are plenty of workers, nurses, or grad students who are already at some tasks better than their more “qualified” “superiors.”
We can build on this and bring in programs to further train these people (and others). In fact one of the main purposes of professional societies is to prevent people from learning and practicing the skills on which the profession is based. Communism will smash these artificial barriers and make integration possible within a relatively short time.
But none of this will happen spontaneously. Racism and sexism are tough weeds that will, even after the revolution, have to be ripped out by their roots. Only the masses can do this.
 – Red Professor

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