The Masses Mobilized Worldwide for Communism Will Shred Them All to Pieces
U.S. imperialism in appearance is very powerful but in reality, it is a paper tiger.” Mao Zedong, Chinese communist leader, July 14, 1956.
This is true of all capitalists-imperialists. Although dangerous and genocidal, they can be destroyed. It applies to Chinese imperialists with a vengeance. The revolutionary history of the Chinese working class will assert itself.
Appearance Makes Them Seem All Powerful
The Chinese rulers’ unprecedented rise as an imperial power gives them an aura of invincibility. In 1978, their economy was 1/16 that of the US. By 2013, measured by purchasing power parity, it surpassed the USA’s to become the world’s largest.
They are the world’s largest manufacturers, merchandise traders, and holders of foreign exchange reserves. Their economic, political and military influence has expanded worldwide, making them the main challengers to USA’s world domination.
This inevitably leads to war. They are preparing for it at a breathtaking pace, modernizing their armed forces, focusing on their navy, already the world’s largest.
“The Chinese Navy Is Building an Incredible Number of Warships,” wrote Forbes magazine (Dec. 15, 2019). By this account, China will have 450 surface ships by 2030, including 6 to 10 aircraft carriers, and 110 submarines.
They will then be able to project power globally and challenge the US for mastery of the seas. The US won’t relinquish that position peacefully, because as US naval strategist Mahan wrote in 1890, “Whoever rules the waves rules the world.” He wrote this as the US was about to launch its empire by annexing Hawaii and defeating Spain to take possession of the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and Cuba.
Shenzhen, 2018: Young Chinese communists demand release of detained factory workers and punishment of corrupt police
Essence Shows They Are Weak
Dialectical materialism teaches us that appearance and essence are aspects of a process. They are determined by the internal contradictions of the process. Appearance defines the external and is secondary. Essence defines the internal, the character of the process, and is primary.
Capitalism-imperialism is defined by its internal contradictions: the working class and the capitalist class united in constant struggle: This struggle determines the essence of both classes. It shows the working class to be all-powerful, and all ruling classes to be paper tigers.
Historically, the capitalist class is the weakest ruling class. Their economic, military power and physical existence depend entirely on us, their wage slaves, whose historic task is to be their grave diggers.
If our class stops working – as Covid-19 pandemic showed – their economic empire crumbles. When working-class sailors and soldiers turn their guns around, these murderous paper tigers will be history.
Appearance Makes Our Class Seem Weak – Essence Shows the Opposite
We are the most powerful revolutionary force in history because of our size and our economic and military role in society. Most important, however, only our class can build a classless communist world without money, borders or nations.
Without us the capitalists are nothing, and without them we are everything. So how come they rule over us? The answer is twofold: we lack organization and ideological clarity.
Organizationally, we must forge the International Communist Workers’ Party into one worldwide massive Party to unite our class to fight as one army under the red flag of communist revolution.
Ideologically, we must fight for communism and nothing less. This will require that we smash all the poisonous ideologies class society’s rulers developed to divide and enslave us.
The Old International Communist Movement Failed to Do This
By 1956, the Soviet Union was an imperialist country. China then became the center of the international communist movement. Yet, China suffered from the same weaknesses that undermined revolutionary Russia. They both established socialist states – Russia in 1917, China in 1949.
By the 1940s, socialism – a form of state capitalism – had turned the Russian governing communists into capitalists. By early 1960s, Chinese socialism had also produced a Red Bourgeoisie.
In the mid-1960s, however, millions of rural and urban workers, led by young communists, launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) to overthrow these capitalists and move directly to communism. They organized huge communes where money was abolished. Although defeated because of their internal weaknesses, their heroic struggle inspired revolutionaries worldwide and helped develop our line: Mobilize the Masses for Communism!
History Still Haunts Chinese Imperialists
Millions who participated and lived during those historic events are still alive. Capitalism by any name can never meet the needs of the masses. The class struggle continues unrelenting and unstoppable. It can only be ended with communism’s victory worldwide.
The objective conditions are changing. Our class can’t live like before. Masses are in motion worldwide. Many are open to our Party’s call to Mobilize the Masses for Communism. Some are joining now; millions will join later.
As Lenin said, “Sometimes nothing happens in decades, and sometimes decades happen in weeks.” We are entering those times. The Chinese working class will rise again to reclaim its revolutionary tradition and take its place in the front lines of revolutionary class war: this time for communism and nothing less.