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This is the paper of the working class. We get no funding from the capitalists, their foundations or NGOs. This newspaper is not a commodity produced for sale. We are fighting to abolish commodity production. However, we have to pay for the costs of producing and distributing the paper, as well as for other expenses of building an international party. The box below includes a suggested donation of $20/year which is about the current cost of mailing a single copy to a U.S. address. We accept any donations, large and small. Please give generously.

A World without Money Needs a Mass Communist Party

Our party study group has talked a lot about how communist society could work without money.  About three years ago we wrote several Red Flag articles about this.  It’s great to read that Metro workers are talking about this too. 
In capitalism, money (“the market”) connects people to labor and its products.  Most of us work mainly for money.  We can only get things we need by paying money for them.  Money allows capitalists to steal, enjoy and stockpile the fruits of our labor. 
Without money, what will connect us?  We agreed that it would have to be a consensus around communist values. 
As a high school student said, “Before capitalism came, they used to share and help each other out.  Sooner or later we’ll come back to our senses.  People will do it because we have to do it.”
But that’s only part of the answer.  How will we organize ourselves?  How will we decide what’s most needed and how to produce it?  What’s the best use of scarce resources? 
“We need to work as collectives to produce and share what we need without money, and we need to link the collectives worldwide in some sort of process,” said an older friend.
To convince ourselves and others that we can have a world without money, we need to be clearer about that process. 
In a nutshell, the answer is a massive worldwide communist party – the ICWP that we are starting to build today.  Members agree to be part of a growing network of collectives.  Each collective has specific responsibilities for the work of mobilizing masses for communism.  Each collective also shares the general responsibility of helping to develop the political line of the whole party. 
The same is true for each individual within a collective.  We welcome everyone to join the Party, whatever they are willing or able to contribute to the work.  The collective’s job is to help them develop as communist leaders of the masses.  We ask our members to be open to this struggle.
The Party is what links the collectives worldwide.  That’s why we dedicate major resources to our international Party work and to Red Flag.
The process of mobilizing for communism today will prepare us for the process of building communist society.  When we agree to do something, we must follow up using constructive criticism and self-criticism to overcome any obstacles.    We must evaluate our work openly and honestly in order to figure out how to advance.
Many people want to believe that communism will work.  We need to develop our vision of a mass party in more detail.  We need to make it real by showing what communist values mean in practice today.   That’s the material basis for believing in a world without money.
--Proud Party Member

Opportunities or Not?

Reading the article in the last issue about Guatemala, I saw that the paragraph that mentioned that we can’t see these demonstrations as opportunities was changed.
A sentence was added saying “But when we take our ideas to these demonstrations, the working class can advance the struggle for communism.”
I think that this misses the point that the article intended to make. We cannot make a significant impact on these mobilizations (like those in Guatemala against the ex-President) when we don’t have a presence from the beginning and in the base of them.
In addition, not all mass mobilizations have interests that benefit the working class. The mobilizations in the Ukraine and Venezuela are proof of this.
I am not against having the articles edited, much less do I ask for rights as the author, but it seems important to me to note this point. Maybe I am wrong, and if so, I would like clarification.
Greetings to all.
--A comrade

Red Flag Responds:

The comment about “opportunities” did not refer to the idea that we will lead this movement for reforms or be part of this leadership, whether from the beginning or when they are at their peak.
Instead, the opportunity is to use communist ideas to analyze these movements and win the masses to join the party and fight for a communist revolution. Depending on the circumstances, we can win some, few or many.
For example, we don’t have members in the mobilizations in Guatemala or among the refugees in Europe.  But we have analyzed them. We have used this analysis to present massively the need for a communist world. And with the analysis of the refugees, the responses from many parts of the world have been very positive.
On the other hand, the mobilizations of the fmln or pro-immigrant groups or by the “Occupy” movement in essence are pro-capitalist, like the movements against Maduro in Venezuela. These are not pro-worker. However, we should take advantage of them to discuss them with our base and, when possible, to take our communist politics to them with Red Flag and other literature.
We ask other comrades and Red Flag readers to comment about this.

HONDURAS: Mobilize the Masses for Communism, Not Just to be Indignant

HONDURAS—It all got worse with the looting of $350 million from the funds of the Honduran Institute of Social Security (IHSS). Part of the stolen money was used for political propaganda for the National Party of Honduras, now in power.
The IHSS is responsible for providing health care to the working class, mainly in maternity, old age and for the dying.  The workers contribute by making monthly payments.  Because of the theft of IHSS funds, more than 3,200 people died for lack of needed medicines or timely medical attention.
This added to the many problems that confront the Honduran masses every day.  The unemployed and under-employed are over 50% of the labor force. There are more than 70 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest death rates in the world.
More than 40% of the population lives on a dollar a day. The levels of corruption are increasing every day to the detriment of the great majority. A great many youth emigrate to the north.  The majority of them are deported.
In response to these and other similar problems, the “Indignados” (Outraged) movement arose, like those in other countries such as “Ser” in Spain and the Indignados in Guatemala.
They have held massive demonstrations throughout the country.  University students, unemployed workers, city workers, farmworkers and the impoverished middle class participated.  The union leaders once again have abandoned their class.  They are incapable of strongly supporting this movement, much less organizing a national strike as a sharp blow to the ruling class bosses.
These mass mobilizations have already surpassed the individual leaders, organizations and political parties. They show that the masses can no longer tolerate the exploitive, discriminatory, corrupt and oppressive capitalist system. They also show that workers are willing to fight for a more just society that favors those who are now oppressed.  They must prepare politically for that.
The working class currently lacks the leader-ship which could guide and lead a big movement of class struggle that could take advantage of these mass movements.  So the movement’s direction remains under the leader-ship of right-wing, conservative people or groups. These do not allow the direct participation of popular leaders who could incite the masses to radical struggle against the capitalist system.
The slogans of the movement do not go beyond the demand for the resignation of the President of the Republic and prison for some officials. In no case do they directly attack the capitalist system as the cause of all the excesses and calamities that the society is suffering.
In the capitalist system, health care and other basic needs of society are not attended to according to the needs of the population.  Instead they are adapted to the budget priorities of the country which in no way are interested in the lives of the masses of people.
On the other hand, in the communist system, all health care will be free and timely. For this there will be mass health care:  the provision of enough hospitals, doctors and nurses to successfully serve the society.  Communism will eliminate or neutralize many illnesses and ultimately will cure many of the diseases that now kill millions of people.

Comrade in Honduras

Red Flag comments:
In these demonstrations there are always opportunities and dangers.
The opportunities: There are many people angry at the capitalist system. The question is how do we reach them with communist ideas? Is it possible to put out a communist leaflet or distribute the newspaper among the masses? Have study groups or Red Flag reading groups? Recruit new members to the Party and collectively carry out plans of struggle? For communist leadership to emerge and take advantage of these movements, we have to build this leadership ourselves, little by little. We need to start with our friends and the base of the Party.
The danger is in doing nothing. On the other hand we know that the unions and the popular mass organizations are fighting to reform capitalism. Even if the unions came to these demonstrations and they achieved their goal, the goal of this movement is to remove the President and put some politicians in jail. Then other similar or worse politicians will be put in office as is the case in Guatemala.
Perhaps it would be good to write another article about communist health care in contrast with capitalist health care. And another about the Indignados, showing who is really behind this movement and how we take advantage of the fact that the masses are in motion to win them to communist ideas.

 

I hate capitalism, but I have doubts about communism

“I feel really passionate about the fact that I can smell money.” These words were spoken by my boss, a sales director for a media company that I work for.  Her words stuck with me because they seem to encapsulate the whole ethos of not only my job but America and Corporate/Capitalist society as a whole.
I’ve been working for this company for almost a year now, specifically the marketing & sales side of the company. Our main objective is pretty simple- to bring in money. Without this, the company doesn’t run. Advertising dollars fund the whole operation. How is it done? We basically sell ad space through our websites and to a lesser extent now our print magazine. We sell ad space to companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nike, Adidas and Levi’s to name a few.
From what I can tell it doesn’t really matter where the money comes from, who my bosses have to lie to, how they have to get it or what affect this has on anyone but their own pockets. This is the culture that has been created and perpetuated. This is the society that we live in. This is a system and a way of thinking and living that is not only tolerated but glorified in the U.S. At the end of the day it leaves me feeling a bit empty and unfulfilled as I’m sure it does many, many other people with similar lines of work as mine.
Under communism it seems that there would be no need for advertising since there would be no money, thus no need to sell any products. Sometimes I worry/wonder however, probably due to the propaganda that I’ve been fed here in the U.S., that in a communist society everything would be homogenized. Everyone would wear the same clothes, eat the same food, drive the same cars...etc. but I’m guessing this isn’t the case? Would there be room for diversity? Room for style? Unique expression? These are just a few of the questions/concerns I have.
Thanks
--Red Flag Reader

Communist Videos

After a club meeting that we had in the eastern part of the country, we discussed how we can integrate theory and practice. We talked with some comrades with experience from past struggles and another youth from the fields about the problems in their community, and how they are problems of capitalist agriculture.
We recalled the presentation about food production that some comrades from Mexico made at an international meeting of the International Communist Workers’ Party.  The idea emerged to tape a small documentary showing the problems of his community to show that the cause of those problems is capitalism and at the same time to raise the solution, creating a communist world.
I spoke with the audiovisual collective that I am part of and they were excited about the idea. This is the way I intend to bring them
closer to the party and see how we can get them to join.
After making the video we will have a showing for farmworkers. There we will gather the inhabitants of the community and show them the video. After that we plan to have a discussion with all of them.
It would be really great if we could have the presentation of the comrades from Mexico as soon as possible.
Next week we will go with a member of this collective to stay a night to talk with the people in the community.
 --A Comrade in El Salvador

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