FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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LOS ANGELES--“Here’s a story for you,” said an LA Metro bus operator.
The operator told a comrade about a recent union run-off election. The incumbent won by 8 votes out of 300.
“I didn’t vote,” said the operator. “One candidate is just a gangster and the other blew me off when I asked for a copy of the contract. But I got a piece of mail returned in the outer envelope used with ballots, with my name on it. Inside was a ballot marked for the gangster. And the same thing happened to other people I know.”
It seems that the widespread fraud has been exposed enough that the election may be nullified. As our friend said, that will make no real difference for most MTA bus operators, who are not part of either corrupt clique.
But, as the comrade told the Metro worker, the story raises interesting questions about leadership.
In the International Communist Workers’ Party, there are many opportunities to take leadership. We are not in competition with each other. All members (friends too) are encouraged to give communist leadership to co-workers and the masses.
Sometimes decisions must be made about who should take on a specific responsibility (like leading the Red Flag editorial collective). These decisions are made openly. Everyone involved gets to express opinions, including the “candidates.”
No secret ballots! Instead we struggle for consensus: an agreement that most support and that those who disagree can “live with.”
Today communist leadership brings responsibility but no privileges except the great privilege of serving the masses.
But we have seen examples in the 20th century where communists in power became personally corrupted much like union leaders today. Some say that the failure of socialism was due to these corrupt individuals. We disagree.
In hindsight we can see that socialism was another form of capitalism. It preserved the core of capitalism (money, wages, markets, commodity production) and with it privilege and the potential for corruption. Communists managed this system, thinking they could evolve it into communism. They were wrong. Instead, socialism corrupted them into capitalists.
In the future, when the masses hold and use power to build communist society, privilege will be flat-out unacceptable. There will be far fewer opportunities for comrades in responsible positions to use the positions for personal advantage. If someone does try to live better than the rest, it will quickly become obvious.
As today, the masses will hold ourselves and each other accountable, especially comrades in responsible positions. That means regular open discussion, criticism and self-criticism to help each other correct bad tendencies and improve our work.
There are many stories from revolutionary China in the 1950s and 1960s, especially during the Cultural Revolution, that show how masses were mobilized to try to fight corruption and abuse of power. But the material basis of their society was socialism, which made it impossible for them to succeed.
The process of developing more and better communist leadership is happening right now. Step up at Metro and everywhere!