FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
	International Communist Workers Party
To Contact ICWP, send an email to: icwp@anonymousspeech.com            Tweet

So sang ninety comrades attending the two-day International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) conference in South Africa. Eight comrades from outside the country came to help, living and working side-by-side with local organizers. Local comrades worked tirelessly to build the conference. Dozens joined the party: women and men, industrial workers and students, unemployed from the townships, all young and old lions.
Capitalism worldwide is making life impossible for the masses.  All around the world, including here in South Africa, millions are seeking new strategies for communist change. Mobilizing for democracy, national liberation or socialism has failed the masses. Today we mobilize directly for communism.  This historic conference helped prepare our Party for this pivotal moment in history.
An 82-year old comrade joined along with many in his family. “I dreamed last night that I was among a sea of workers — and they were all ICWP communists from around the world. In all the years I was in the African National Congress (ANC) which led the fight against apartheid, I never had a dream like that.”
A nurse came after working the night shift. “I really like the [party] literature,” she told another veteran comrade when we dropped her off at work the next night. “Yes, I want to join.”
A group of industrial workers and long-time activists from the South African Communist Party (SACP) were excited to hear about the different ideology that we presented.
The SACP abandoned the mobilization for communism to join a coalition with the ANC. Communist parties throughout the world have retreated from the fight for communism by focusing on socialism, national liberation or some other concession to capitalism. Millions are questioning this strategy. After all, it hasn’t worked despite mass bravery and sacrifice for over 150 years.
The ICWP won’t delay the fight for communism one more minute.
We will pull up capitalism by its roots by destroying the wage system and production for profit, and with them borders, racism, sexism and imperialist war.
Our strategy demands that we know even more about what we fight for than about what we fight against. That’s why so much of the conference was dedicated to answering the question, “What is communism?”

Workshops Discuss Communist Future
“How would you feel if the guy who sweeps the floor gets paid as much as you do?” a young woman asked a veteran comrade machinist.
“That floor sweeper would be me,” answered the comrade. “We’d all sweep floors in a communist factory and we’d all know how to run machines and much more.”
In communism, we’ll eliminate paychecks and money altogether.  The party will organize the masses to cooperatively produce and distribute what we need.
In another workshop, someone asked if there would be laws and rules. “We don’t need laws, we’ll run society on principles,” answered a young man who had joined the party three days earlier.
“How would we supply the world?” asked another. “Who would decide what was fair for this person or that person?”
A second new young recruit pointed to a bottle of water. “We’re not all going to go after that bottle. We would collect all these bottles on the table and the collective will decide how to distribute the water.”
How would a communist health care system work? A communist education system?  A communist Army?  ...And a dozen other practical questions were debated. The wisdom and enthusiasm of the masses, organized in an international communist party, showed how communism will succeed.

Hard Work; Pivotal Moment of History
What to do with all this potential? Within a day comrades from here and abroad planned how to keep the momentum from the conference going:  “We need study groups that discuss our manifesto Mobilize the Masses for Communism in every township, school, factory, and barracks.”
Whole new areas of work have been opened up this weekend. Leading comrades paired with new comrades to figure out how to organize them. This will materialize based on their growing confidence in collectively building the party.
All around the world in every concentration we must plan dinners and meetings to use this conference to mobilize for a communist May Day.
Comrades from South Africa concluded they could increase the circulation of Red Flag eightfold after asking members, friends and collectives how many papers each could distribute.
We must all do likewise.  The conference listened raptly as comrades form Mexico, El Salvador and the United States described how they mass-distribute the paper and raise money for it. We must redouble our efforts.
Harder work lies ahead. All indications are that millions are seeking a communist answer.  We live in a pivotal moment of history.  Workers worldwide must seize the opportunity to build the International Communist Workers’ Party.  Let the lions roar!

Next Article