Let’s Organize a Revolution for Communism
“This is a communist newspaper. We need a revolution to get rid of racist capitalism and to build a communist world that meets our needs.”
“Yes, we need a revolution. I want that paper. Thank you!”
This is a common response of protesters in the streets. Revolution is in the air.
The goal of the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) is to mobilize these masses to fight for and build a communist world that meets the needs of the masses everywhere.
But revolution won’t happen spontaneously. It needs to be planned and organized.
One friend says that first we should dismantle the police. Then we should dismantle landlords and abolish rent. Then tackle having good healthcare for all.
These are goals that capitalism will never allow. The capitalists’ goal is to maximize their profit on our backs— above all else. Their luxurious life style depends on the profits they extract from our labor. The police and the judicial system legalize and enforce this exploitation. Capitalism won’t allow being dismantled piece by piece. It needs to be destroyed all together.
A communist revolution will overthrow the capitalists and put the working masses in power. It will abolish the capitalist state, its courts, jails, police, and factories. In its place, the communist masses, organized in inter-connected ICWP collectives, will build production and agricultural centers to produce and distribute everything needed by the masses. It will be a struggle that will involve millions worldwide.
It will take an armed struggle to destroy capitalism so that we can build a communist world to meet our needs. It will take a mass ICWP of millions of leaders – who are both thinkers and doers – to organize and lead these efforts. Our communist goal should be clear: no capitalists, money or exploitation. We will build a world free of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, borders or nations.
We will get there by spreading Red Flag newspaper and building collectives of ICWP. As capitalism attacks on our class intensify, more people are opening up to revolution. They need organization and the vision of a communist world.
We won’t have a state bureaucracy but instead Party collectives that plan, produce and distribute what the masses need. These collectives will guarantee the masses’ security and safety through a mass ICWP and Red Army.
Join us! Let’s mobilize for communist revolution!
—A comrade
Contradictions are resolved by sharpening them
“Can I give you a copy of Red Flag…” began a comrade.
“Is that something about Latinos only?” interrupted a Black protester at a Black Lives Matter demonstration condemning the murder of Andres Guardado.
Andres was an 18-year-old community-college student murdered by a Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy. He was shot six times in the back, while kneeling with his hands up in the air.
“No. It is an international communist newspaper.”
“What do you mean international? Latinos in other countries?”
“No. About workers worldwide organizing a communist revolution to get rid of racist capitalism that oppresses and exploit us all.”
Understanding that the protester might be referring to Chicano nationalist movements (now or in the 1970s) our comrade said:
“It is not a question of race. It is a question of class. The capitalists in Haiti and South Africa are Black. Yet, they oppress, exploit and kill our working-class brothers and sisters there just like the capitalists do here and everywhere else. We need a world without racism, nations or borders. We need a communist world without capitalists or money.”
We discussed and agreed that there was only one race: the human race, which first developed in Africa.
“Racism is a class question,” our comrade added. “Racists come in all genders, skin colors and national origin. Their ideology is capitalist. Anti-racists come in all genders, colors and national origin. Their ideology is pro-working class. We fight to make it anti-capitalist and pro-communist”.
Taking a copy of Red Flag, the protester said, ““Thank you. I learned something today. It is a question of class, not race.”
—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)
PASADENA (USA), June 19 – Comrades and friends join hundreds in two Juneteenth rallies, a car caravan and a march, distributing about 100 copies of Red Flag.
Juneteenth: Opportunity to Promote Communist Ideas About Racism
Some friends have noticed that there was no mention of Juneteenth in the last RF. Now, we don’t usually pay much attention to holidays in the paper, because most all of them (except May Day) are religious or patriotic. But this holiday is different, because it is a part of a long -term struggle against racism in the US.
Juneteenth has been celebrated for many years in the African American community because it marks the date that enslaved people in Texas found out that chattel slavery had been abolished, two years after they were legally freed.
Of course, slavery still exists…wage slavery. And racism and inequality.
Communists have always been in the forefront of this battle because we know that capitalism cannot be defeated by a working class divided by racism. The struggle for the most part has been around institutionalized racism, as it should be. Recognizing that our entire society is founded on racism and inequality and that must be defeated and replaced with communism.
The movement that is growing now has emphasized the personal, one-on-one racism that exists within our own class and the activist community. Some of the demands are divisive, not helping to build a mass movement. Their answer is to make Juneteenth a national holiday, or to elect more people of color and women to office, or defund the police or demand reparations.
From my own experiences (and other comrades’), most Black workers know that all this has been tried before and it won’t make things better for them or any workers.
We have to struggle harder with ourselves and our friends and family to defeat the racism within ourselves and others. We cannot withdraw from a discussion on racism if we are white.
Young people are especially angry and impatient with this system, and they have a right to be! At the Juneteenth demonstration we attended, we got a lot of positive feedback about Red Flag from many young people, who were interested in learning more about communism.
Communist ideas are embraced all over the world by people of every ethnicity and gender. So let’s get our ideas out there because so many people are looking for something to believe in and fight for.
—Seattle comrade
Front page of this issue
