Growing the Collective here ♦ Dialectical Materialism here ♦ Making Plans to Advance here ♦
Growing Communist Collective in South Africa: “Either We Perish, or We Fight for a Communist Future”
GQEBERHA (Port Elizabeth, South Africa), May 15 – The International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) hosted a dinner discussion here. Fifteen comrades attended, including four new comrades who had never been in our meetings.
Two of those new comrades were invited by one comrade who had attended a meeting for the first time seven days earlier. That comrade had been impressed with our ideas. He ended up inviting two more new comrades.
The discussions started with an old comrade asking all comrades, new and old, why they were in the meeting. It was almost a universal answer: they were there to learn more about communism and ICWP.
It was explained to comrades that ICWP is the International Communist Workers’ Party which aims to change the world by mobilizing for a communist revolution and building a communist society after the ashes of capitalism.
“How?” a new comrade asked.
Dialectical Materialism: Communist Philosophy of Change
One comrade asked comrades to list anything they can think of that goes through change and those things that do not change. No one was able to mention something that does not change, while everything seems to change. This means “changing the world is not an impossibility,” one comrade remarked.
Secondly, ICWP aims to change the world guided by its revolutionary philosophy Dialectical Materialism. Dialectics is a philosophy of change which we use to change the world in practice.
One comrade remarked that “in dialectical materialism there are laws: the law of unity and struggle of opposites, the law of transforming quantity into quality, and the law of negation of negation. These laws guide us and help us struggle with our challenges and contradictions and help us to grow.”
To take the second law, the comrade continued, “the law states that quantity can be changed or transformed to another quality. As we stand currently as ICWP we are not yet in a qualitative state to wage a revolution and thus change the world. But if we mobilize the masses, working-class, recruit the soldiers and students, our numbers will grow and eventually we will be in a position to unite the working-class and revolt against the capitalist exploiters.”
Comrades emphasized that as the working-class we have no choice but to fight and seize power from the capitalist class. This is because the capitalist class has no regard for our lives, family and well-being. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poor.
One comrade said, “If anyone had some thoughts that somehow the capitalists care, the corona virus has certainly showed that they don’t care. Over two million people have died. Capitalists are hoarding vaccines, producing them for profit, while the masses continue to suffer and die.”
It is either we perish, or we fight for our future. Our future is a communist future, a communist society.
New comrades wanted to know what is this communist society? One comrade answered, “In a communist society, there will be no bosses, no money, no crime since people commit crime because of money. But to reach that society we have to abolish the capitalist system. Capitalist system produces food to maximise profits even though there are people who die of hunger because they don’t have money to buy food.”
The party explained that we already live in a society where some workers work while some do not work. The communist society is not a far-fetched dream as these few workers that work already produce enough to feed the workers around the world. The only issue is how this production is organized.
Therefore, we have a job: to seize the means of production and organize society based on communist principles, where we produce for need, not profit. We have revolutionary historical experiences to learn from. And by sticking to our consistent internal struggle, having collective discussions and meetings, expanding party cells and networks, recruiting, inviting friends over to the party, we can win.
The party pledged to utilize all the platforms available, including social networks, to complement the distribution of the Red Flag in order to reach more masses and spread communist ideas. This is how we change quantity into revolutionary quality.
Questions about Dialectical Materialism and Writing for Red Flag
Dialectical materialism, or the science and philosophy of change, will become a material force when the masses grasp it. Primarily our practice will make it possible for the masses to grasp it and advance it. Therefore, it is essential that RF brings this to the forefront of our literature.
Each article should look at one aspect of how dialectics is used in our struggle. When we say, we distributed 100 papers and made 4 contacts, how do we understand it? Is it a qualitative change or quantitative change? For the collective? For the city collective? For the international working class? How are they related?
If it is a qualitative change, what will be required to cause that change? How do we know what is happening, how do we measure it?
The articles on the pandemic are full of examples of dialectical change. When we write about the communist future, what is the material basis, what contradictions are emerging now that illuminate what will happen in the future? What kind of struggle will link it to the future?
We can give many examples; the point is to make dialectics part of our everyday understanding of how things are changing. If we fail to carry out this struggle, it will lead to polemics, individualism and an ahistorical understanding.
A collective in South Africa
Young Comrades Make Plans to Advance the Party
Five comrades met over zoom to welcome new comrades and make plans. Several comrades gave a brief introduction and a history on how they got into politics and communism.
We mentioned the following points: Firstly, the political classes being run in the Eastern Cape. Those in the Western Cape are yet to develop these study groups in our areas in order to mobilize here. A comrade did an outstanding job in explaining how we can move forward in this regard. Especially by meeting the other comrades in the Western Cape.
Secondly, the history of the Red Flag, including its production and the distribution. We were interested in knowing more about that as well. A comrade clearly explained the process. Since we understand better, now plans are being made to get more Red Flags to Western Cape, as well as Mobilize the Masses for Communism, which is critical to educating the working class and enlightening the masses.
Finally, the International Zoom meeting for ICWP Youths, to get to know each other and also give reports on how we mobilize the youths in our communities and respective countries. The main problem is the timing. A roster will be drafted for scheduled meetings in order to get the members to meet without hindrances.
A comrade also mentioned hosting an event for June 16. A general meeting will be held in the Eastern Cape, followed by the distribution of Red Flag and a dinner. Plans will be made, finalised and discussed further.
We also want comrades from the US to participate in future meetings. It was a very useful meeting.
Collective in Cape Town, South Africa
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