Writing for Red Flag
What Red Flag should do:
Red Flag should help us organize and
help us struggle with each other. Articles
should intensify internal contradictions
so as to pull the reader to the left
to develop more communists. Living
under capitalism, we are bombarded
with capitalist ways of being and thinking
that sometimes go unnoticed. We
must be in constant struggle with ourselves
and others to live by communist
principles.
Communist Principles:
Communists are committed to transforming
the world by eliminating slavery
once and for all (wage slavery); humans
and the environment should not be exploited
and degraded to commodities.
Communists believe in living with humility,
self-discipline, and acceptance of
personal responsibility. Communists disapprove
of arrogance, greed, selfishness,
or self-centeredness and
encourage others to do the same. Communists
recognize the value of being of
service and of treating others with respect.
These principles are not unique
to communists, but communists dedicate
their life to creating a world-wide
communist system that promotes these
principles.
These principles and values mean little
on paper or in our minds. How we live
our daily lives is what matters. We need
to be honest in self evaluation and in our
struggles with others to help with development.
For example, a comrade received compliments
for speaking in a large group
and found herself thinking, "People
really like what I have to contribute."
She did not hesitate to raise her hand
again, thinking, "I hope I get picked to
speak…what I have to say is better." At
one point she received spontaneous applause
when she declared herself a communist;
however, she realized too late
that while she was thinking of what to
say next, she did not listen to others'
contributions or learn others' names. By
the end of the weekend she'd met over
150 people, all of whom wore name
tags, but only recalled two individuals'
names, one being the instructor.
This young communist failed to do the
most important work of a communist—
build the party to mobilize the
masses for communism. She did not
take time to get to know more people as
selfishness, pride, and self-centeredness
got in the way. She makes a commitment
to being more self-critical and not
think she is immune from capitalist
ideology simply because she calls herself
a communist. Living by communist principles
in all aspects of life is our task
under capitalism and will be under communism
as well. Red Flag needs to help
us continually develop as communists.
MOCKINGJAY
Our youth collective read Mockingjay,
the third installment of the Hunger
Games trilogy.
"I liked the first two," said Nikki, "but I
didn't like this one—the whole thing is
like a suicidal, PTSD, drugged-out nightmare.
She's not the girl hero everybody
wanted to be like in the beginning."
"But that's where the author was taking
you all along," said Amy. "The first two
books were to hook you in so she could
make her political points."
"The media is always manipulating you—
that's one way that this trilogy is like
real life," said Johnny. "Look how the
Capital used TV to control the whole
country during the hunger games.
Everything that happened was developed
on TV, real or fake. And the rebels
did the same thing when they had control
of the media—staging the Mockingjay
in battle. It was all too fake."
"The way they used Mockingjay as a
symbol relates to the weakness of
movements for change throughout history,"
said Carlos. "They always have
one person as the face of the rebellion
or revolution—Mandela, Chávez, Ché,
King, you name it. People are won to follow
the leader, rather than knowing what
they are fighting for."
"You can't get to communism that way,"
said Amber. "We have to know what
we're fighting for."
"But the point of the movie is just that,"
said Johnny. "They don't want you to
get to communism. The message of
Mockingjay is a lot like Animal Farm.
District 13 is a stereotype of a communist
society: everybody wearing the
same clothes, eating the same food,
with a daily schedule in ink on your
arm."
"They say it clearly at the end," said
Carlos, "when Plutarch says that collective
thinking is short-lived and that
human beings are fickle and stupid with
poor memories and a great gift for selfdestruction.
He's saying that society is
what it is because of human nature, and
we shouldn't fight to change it."
"Yeah," said Amber, "And if you fight, you
turn into the enemy. Alma Coin, the one
who is masterminding the rebellion, is as
evil as President Snow. What's worse is
that Gale, who in Catching Fire was willing
to rally miners to rebel, begins to resemble
the Capital when he decides to
target the first responders—and blame
the Capital—and kills Katniss' sister,
Prim, in the process."
"You leave with the idea that you can't
trust anybody," said Johnny. "And the
epilogue is just fake."
"I liked it," said Cathy. "I think it ends up
showing that even though Peeta and Katniss
are scarred for life, at least their kids
don't have to worry about the Hunger
Games."
"But what's really changed?" asked Carlos.
"They went from gladiators to wage
slaves. There's a new factory in District
12 to make medicine. People in District
11 are, no doubt, still picking cotton.
People in District 7 are still cutting wood
and in District 4 they're still fishing. People
still have to struggle to survive under
a capitalist system."
"And we're supposed to be happy," said
Amy, "because they got rid of the Hunger
Games. But we don't have Hunger
Games, and we're not happy. We want to
get rid of wage slavery. And when we
rebel, we'll know what we're fighting
for—a communist world, where there are
no bosses, and no money, and we work
together and share what we produce. You
can't get that following the Mockingjay."
Q & A About Life Under Communism
A young comrade wrote to Red Flag asking
questions and another young comrade responded...
Question: If communism were to prevail,
how would international trade and commerce
work out without money?
Answer: Under Communism there would
NOT be international trade and commerce,
but distribution systems. We will all produce
for the masses. For example, wood for houses
would be a necessity so we would coordinate
how to get wood to all areas without money.
Who would figure out distribution? Everyone
will have a duty in society and will also figure
out how to distribute what is produced to
everyone.
Q: Has there been any public speaking communist
in the 21st century? If so, who?
A: Everyone and anyone can be a public
speaker. The goal of ICWP is that each person
sees themselves as a leader for communism.
It is a capitalist idea that there are a
few "important" people that speak for everyone,
but in reality no one works on his/her
own.
Q: How different are socialists, compared to
communists?
A: The ultimate goal for socialists was to go
through socialism first then reach communism.
They believed in a "stage" before communism
so they could prepare to move on to
communism. This "stage" was a time period
to prepare the masses and create abundance
before going on. However, present-day communists
discovered that this did not work because
socialism kept money, wages, and
exchange (all capitalist practices). Communists
doing the work of capitalists created
new capitalists. It did not remove capitalism.
Q: What more will it take for this revolution
to begin?
A: BECOME A MEMBER OF ICWP. For
this revolution to begin more people must
realize and believe that communism is worth
fighting for.
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