Mexican student comrades said, in a recent letter to Red Flag, that we need to boldly “mobilize the masses for the construction of a Communist Party of a new kind.” Another letter said that the ICWP “has revived and revised the Bolshevik form of party.”
But neither tried to explain what the old (Bolshevik) communist party was like. Neither suggested how the ICWP was “new” or “revised.”
Briefly: The 20th century communist movement recognized two kinds of party: “mass” and “vanguard.” A mass party was open to everyone with even a minimal commitment. Usually it was a legal party that ran candidates in elections.
In contrast, the Bolsheviks built a “vanguard” (or “cadre”) party. It recruited relatively few but very dedicated full-time organizers. It was mainly illegal and worked secretly among the masses, though a few members were open as deputies in the “Duma” or parliament.
Bolshevik Party members were supposed to know the “vanguard line” (the full communist program). But they were supposed to put forward a “mass line” to the working class. They saw this as a partial program of reformism, nationalism and democracy.
The sad results of their heroic struggles show that this approach contradicted and soon undermined their long-term communist goals. Today our one line, for all situations, is “mobilize masses for communism.” We are trying to learn how to put that forward in many different particular situations and struggles.
A comrade asked in a conference report, “We want to build a mass party even as we consolidate recruits around a vanguard line?” Yes! That is what is “new” or “revised” about the ICWP. The comrade asked, “How do we resolve this contradiction?”
This would only be a contradiction if it’s impossible to win masses to fight for communism. But, as the comrade well knows, this is exactly what our illegal party needs to do.
What contradiction defines the process of Party-building?
Bolshevik-type communist parties described themselves as “democratic centralist.” They saw this as a contradiction between “democracy” (mass participation) and “centralism” (disciplined united action, decided by leaders).
We understand now that mobilizing masses to participate fully in decision-making should lead to more effective, committed and unified communist mass action. No contradiction, but much to think about!
Later, some correctly rejected “democracy” as a creation of liberal capitalism. They re-named the “main contradiction” as “communist centralism.” They said its two sides were “individualism” (doing your own thing) and “collectivity” (working in concert).
This is indeed a contradiction: individualism does interfere with working collectively. But it is only part of the story.
More accurately, the main contradiction defining a communist party is the struggle between capitalist ideas and practices (including individualism) versus communist ideas and practices (including collectivity). It is the struggle of communism against revisionism within the Party in a form particular to the situation. Revisionism means capitalist ideas within ourselves and our Party that hold back the fight for communism.
The old theory of “democratic centralism” (or even “communist centralism”) focused mechanically on process. It saw unity (in action) as primary over struggle (over the line).
This meant a top-down concept of Party discipline: individuals subordinate to the collective, the minority to the majority, lower bodies to higher bodies, everyone to the top leadership. No wonder these parties fell into a cult of the Party leader!
We need every member to develop as a leader! We see leadership as “central,” not “on top.”
The discipline to carry out collective decisions must come mainly from deep understanding of communist politics. And from long-term commitment to our shared goal.
These things come from political struggle and strong personal ties, not from “rules.” They are the core of the International Communist Workers’ Party that we want you to join and build. They are the core of the communist society we will win.
RF Editorial Collective: We hope this will initiate a discussion in our Party collectives. Please send comments and reports of discussions.