Spread ICWP to Focus On Fighting Directly for Communism
Detroit Rebellion, 1967
SEATTLE, USA — “When the revolution comes. That’s what we used to say in Detroit in the 60s and 70s,” said a Boeing worker who distributes Red Flag and promotes communism.
This was not idle talk. Everyone he knew, including most of his family, worked in the auto factories. These plants seethed with talk of revolution. In August 1973, Mack Avenue Chrysler autoworkers electrified masses when they followed communists to stage the first sit-in since the 30s.
This worker saw the Detroit rebellion break out when he was 13. At 14, he was arrested for the first time. His brother was shot multiple times by viciously racist Detroit cops during a demonstration.
His uncle was assassinated when he ran for president of a Detroit autoworkers union.
Today, this worker is inspired by the millions in the streets fighting racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
At the same time, he worries that they won’t have the staying power necessary to make a revolution. Meanwhile, union bigshots and national Democratic party operatives are trying to pull him back into useless reform. So far, they’ve failed.
He usually makes a sharp turn toward communism when the multi-racial group of students he works with gets active. Some distribute Red Flag to friends in three South End high schools, the most multi-racial in Seattle.
He longs for a revolutionary situation akin to his experiences in Detroit. And he believes it will come in a relatively short time.
Unlike many, he expects revolution in the US as well as in other countries. At the same time, he draws strength from the millions who have rebelled worldwide, particularly since the global crisis of overproduction hit in 2008.
Vietnam War Era: Massive Rebellions of US Troops
This worker asked me, his friend, what I was doing during the early 1970s. I was in the U.S. Army organizing for socialism, not for communism as I do now. We built a lot of mass struggles mainly against racism, but also against the Vietnam war. Thousands rebelled. I thought I was doing pretty good work.
I later learned that I was nothing special. In that period, close to half of US troops were involved in resistance or (more often) outright rebellion. GI leaders told the New York Times that “organized servicemen [in Germany] had moved to a revolutionary…stand because of continued racism in the armed forces.” The US Army chief of staff pleaded with President Nixon to pull the troops out of Vietnam. “We’re going to lose the Army!” he warned.
This exciting discussion took place last month, when this paper ran an article on Paris ’68. Virtually
every French industrial worker went on strike. Many took over their factories. Despite the bosses’ attempts to hide the fact, talk of revolution was widespread like in Detroit. So revolutionary situations were not alien to industrialized imperialist countries.
We talked about why we didn’t have a revolution with all this going on with soldiers and industrial workers. Winning students and the mass of workers are important to making any revolution, but winning soldiers and industrial workers are key to a communist one.
The decisive weakness was that we and the parties we belonged to were focused on militant anti-capitalist struggle rather than recruiting directly for communist revolution. We failed to make communism a topic of mass discussion.
What might a revolutionary situation look like today?
My friend and I see revolutionary situations as periods where there is a near-term potential for communist revolution. This can happen in different ways, but the crucial factor that turns potential into reality is always the preparation of the party.
Lenin, a leader of the 1917 Russian revolution, listed conditions that he thought defined a revolutionary situation: The ruling class can’t rule in the old way. The petty bourgeois vacillates and may come over to the side of the working class. The working class can’t live in the old way. The party is embedded in the working class and able and willing to lead a revolution.
We added to this list that the masses are fighting back on a massive scale.
But what is key? Everything on the list is beyond our control except the preparation of the party. Noting the other, external, factors only emphasizes the urgency of party building.
Spreading the reach of the ICWP is the vital link in the chain. We must grasp it and never release our grip. We need masses to join. Everyone can contribute. This time the party must focus on fighting directly for communism and nothing less.
Revolutionary situations are more common than many of us realize, everywhere around the world. Future articles will describe more revolutionary situations from the past, and the lessons they hold for us.
The main lesson is: Communist revolution is possible. When the revolution comes, it will be because we have prepared to make it happen.
Rebellious US Soldiers in Vietnam
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