We are preparing for the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. So far our preparation has been going tremendously well. We’ve invited miners and others—twenty to thirty people so far, with the potential to invite many more. We still have to go into colleges and other places where we can reach more young people.
The main reason we are taking this route is to try to inspire young people so that we can draw strength from the young people of 1917 and the following years. Even though people like Lenin have contributed to the revolution of 1917, nevertheless it was the tireless work of young people who were on the ground on a daily basis distributing socialist material then who made the difference.
So if young people, especially us in ICWP, can actually do what those young people at that time were able to do, we will able to prevail, because of the superiority of our line to the one that the Soviets were mobilizing for then.
This week we will be going to colleges so that we can make this day as big as possible. The important message we have to tell young people is that just because something is strong, or is bigger, doesn’t necessarily mean that they can win. We can look at the capitalists today and their mighty militaries, mighty police, that can simply disappear if we can convince those mighty armies to join the masses of workers.
This example of 1917 is an important one that we need to take to the masses so that they can see that for the Russian Revolution to win, they needed to win soldiers and sailors to the workers’ side.
We can view the capitalist states like the US and China as powerful states, but they are vulnerable; they can easily fall just as the Czar did in Russia. And there’s the example of Paris, France, where the workers also prevailed for a short time.
This is the message we need to emphasize to people: that things change. Nothing stays the same, even though sometimes change is not visible. It doesn’t necessarily mean that change is not happening. We are setting in motion plans for the masses of workers mobilized for communism to destroy capitalism.
Fight Sexism—Recruit Women Comrades
As we are preparing this commemoration, we have been talking about the need to recruit more female comrades in our collective.
In our last collective meeting, a comrade remarked that we are like a gentlemen’s club. There’s not a single active female member. We do have women comrades here in South Africa, but not in our collective. It’s a situation that needs to be remedied because women bring an important and different perspective. We can’t say that we’re against sexism, that we are fighting sexism, and yet we are all men. So that needs to be reflected—we need women who can take leadership roles in mobilizing the masses for Communism.
That’s why we are emphasizing this struggle so that by the conference there can be at least 10 women. Since we are expecting about 30 people, at a minimum 10 can be women. Comrades have already made plans to carry out this goal. There are ten of us in our collective; we tasked each one of us to bring one woman—a friend, a relative, a neighbor.
The comrades have made a meaningful self criticism about some of the things we are not doing right; we can come up with solutions to tackle this problem.
As we approach the Russian Revolution event, as we visit colleges and industrial areas, we should approach more women so that we can intensify our efforts to recruit them into our movement.
The Party Unites the Working Class for Communism
We wish the comrades elsewhere who are having events to celebrate the Russian Revolution that you have successful events and that the events help more masses be able to join our movement. You do not stand alone in this. We are with you in our thoughts and struggle, even though we are far from you. The work you do has a direct positive influence on us here in South Africa. It is an inspiration for us to want to do more in order for the party to grow.
We are having this event to show the masses what they can achieve when we are united. We can’t be united without a mass party. That’s why it is important for ICWP to serve as a glue for the working class. We’ve seen many examples that the bosses are trying to divide us, through using their many tools, like sexism and racism. But if we have a party with the right political line, we can achieve our goals.
“I refuse to throw my mother under the bus!” said a young person who is fighting to legalize all undocumented immigrants. The bosses, however, are promoting a “Clean Dream Act,” which will only legalize the status of young people who came to the US as children, as long as they go to college or join the Army. ICWP fights for communism—an end to all borders. Join us!
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