Workers Must Lead here ♦ Reading, Discussing Red Flag Opens Our Eyes here ♦ How ICWP Differs from other Parties here ♦ Red Flag: Key to Party Growth here ♦
Workers Must Learn to Lead Communist Society
EL SALVADOR, June 19— “What I like about the ICWP is that they are not up for elections,” J said. Soon his parents (H and R) arrived. His wife and their small children also joined the meeting.
“I want my parents here because they have been my guide in the fight. I explained to them what the meeting is about, and they wanted to come. I want my son to continue the fight for a fair system, just as I follow the example of my father.”
Comrades started by explaining that we fight directly for communism. Our priority is the working class. That is why we organize internationally. At this moment, the crisis of capitalism is subjecting workers to inhumane conditions and, in general, to fascist repression, here and in many parts of the world.
It was inspiring that ICWP was entering a historical zone of struggle. Here is where the peasant uprising of 1932 took place, one of the most important revolutionary historical events in Latin America. During this struggle, 30,000 peasants were massacred for fighting against the theft of their lands and exploitation by the landowner bosses.
This uprising was led by the Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS), founded on March 30, 1930, by Abel Cuenca, Miguel Mármol, and Modesto Ramírez. Other prominent leaders were Farabundo Martí and the indigenous Feliciano Ama. Many were organized as part of International Red Aid.
J’s father said, “I was part of the Unión Comunal Salvadoreña farmworker organization. I was organized in the LP28 (Popular Leagues February 28). I fought in the paracentral zone during the civil war.
“Other organizations have visited us here,” he continued, “and then disappeared. I hope you don’t do that. At first, I thought that Communism was something bad, but then I read and understood that it was not, so here we are. My wife has always been in the struggle. That’s why she is here today.”
Worker comrades from two factories coordinated this meeting. One, E, led us on a tour of the area. He said, “There is a need to organize and mobilize for Communism. That is what we have to do.”
“I am glad that the family is here with the same ideals,” said P, another worker comrade. “This will allow us to create a collective here. I am glad that you are open to communist ideas. We hope that you will join us in ICWP activities.”
“We must set tasks for our next meeting,” pointed out Comrade R. “We must understand what meaning money has in the rotten system of capitalism and how in Communism it will disappear.
“We must study Dialectical Materialism, contradiction, criticism and self-criticism. For many years the leftist parties mistakenly thought that the working class lacked the capacity to learn and develop this theory and put communism into practice. The ICWP is interested in thousands of workers, farmers, and soldiers learning to lead society,” he concluded.
Everyone agreed to this plan of study.
More young people gathered later for chicken soup, tortillas, and anonas (a typical dessert), which the youngest girl present pronounced “shumi” in the Nahuatl dialect.
“Capitalism is repressing the working class,” said J in conclusion. “We must undermine it. With ones and twos who join the fight, we can break the chains.”
Reading and Discussing Red Flag Opens Our Eyes
Reading the latest Red Flag with some friends, we agreed that we liked it a lot. We saw that it reflected very important points that we are experiencing all over the world. Because the suffering is the same.
“I liked that many youths mobilize industrial workers and soldiers for communism,” commented reader R. “Although these articles report on problems in Africa, they are written in a way that (I don’t know how to explain it) kind of transports me to the reality they are living. I no longer want to live in inequality, seeing how they are enslaved. How can we get out of this annihilation that they do to us, the working class?
“I feel the article on inflation is also very important,” said reader B. “We should all open our eyes to the reality we are in. Otherwise this will undermine us more every day.”
We all agreed about the current situation. We want a stop to the imperialist capitalist system that only leads us to death and misery. We urgently need to rise in a communist revolution for a change in the system.
We will continue to meet to discuss Red Flag and, always, the fight for a communist revolution.
—Comrade in El Salvador
How Does ICWP Differ from Other Parties?
GQEBERHA (South Africa), June 8— “The leaders of the South African Communist Party now wear suits and are in Parliament and have no regard for the workers,” an industrial worker told comrades distributing Red Flag. He was once a member of SACP but no more. “Look at Education Minister ‘Blade’ Nzimande, involved in corruption. How can I be sure you won’t do as the likes of Blade”?
Many workers and new comrades want an answer to this question.
We differ from SACP, first, because we believe in the fight for communism directly. Joining forces with the African National Congress in Parliament and fighting for positions inevitably leads to corruption and people forgetting the workers. It doesn’t lead to workers’ emancipation and the end of exploitation.
We also differ from them because we see the system is global. Even the workplace we visited has international clients and customers. This capitalist system is international. Hence, we must fight it internationally, not only here in South Africa. That’s why we are called the International Communist Workers’ Party.
In a meeting later, we started with this question. Naturally another question arose: What is this communism we fight for? The answer is: a society without money and exploitation and private property, the material bases for capitalism. We fight for this by organising collectives of comrades who are committed to this fight, who seek to understand the party’s line of communism.
Capitalism breeds poverty, unemployment, corruption, crime, wage slavery, drug and alcohol abuse, deaths, and more. Hence, we must abolish it.
The key to doing this is utilizing the Red Flag, not only distributing it but reading it as individuals and as collectives. This will enhance our understanding of the party and communism. It also enhances our writing.
That is not all we must do. We must also actively recruit our neighbours, relatives, and working class as whole, using the Red Flag. Inviting someone to a meeting is not enough. It is only the first step. We should talk about communism with them, and about the party and the role they can play in building it into a mass party with hundreds and thousands of members.
We must encourage each other and keep communicating with each other to strengthen the collective and build solid communist relationships. We use our WhatsApp group for that.
We have started translating Red Flag and Mobilise the Masses for Communism into isiXhosa and making recordings for those who don’t read much. We are compiling a list of questions that new comrades have and short answers to them in a bullet format and recordings.
We are renewing contacts with old comrades and taking the initiative to visit them and bring them to the collective.
Red Flag: Key to Party Growth in South Africa
GQEBERHA (South Africa), June 12—Our work has picked up over the last few months, after a few years when it was rather less than impressive. More comrades are distributing the Red Flag and coming to meetings. New and some “oldish” comrades are leading the party and recruiting new members. The new comrades have taken communism and the ICWP collective here to a qualitatively new stage.
Their understanding of the party’s line is improving every day. Their eagerness to do more is growing as they voluntarily take more responsibility. When we don’t have meetings, we distribute the Red Flag. New comrades see themselves as party leaders as we move towards a mass party.
This happened because of a constant daily struggle about and for communism using the Red Flag.
At every meeting, we discuss Red Flag articles. This has been key in this new positive dynamic work. In these discussions, we put forward communism as the only solution to end working-class exploitation and usher in a new society. Comrades ask questions and offer communist solutions to the ills of capitalism.
The simplicity and relatively short length of the articles help better explain communism to the new comrades. There have been complaints in the past that sometimes new comrades feel bombarded with big concepts they don’t understand. However, the constant discussions help simplify communism. They help comrades understand the practical work of other comrades around the world. They connect with them and their struggle.
Comrades use the Red Flag to introduce concepts that some think too complicated. Articles explain dialectics, political economy, and philosophy. One comrade explains, “I always knew the RF was important but now that we have conducted our political classes around it, it has opened my eyes even wider. I see that it is our weapon to fight against capitalism and its ideology”.
Another said, “The discussions stemming from RF articles are lively. Every day we learn new things in a very easy-to-understand way”.
“I read the inflation article alone and I thought I understood it,” said a third, “but when we did it as a collective, I gained a new perspective. I thought I wouldn’t know anything about economics but now I know a lot, just from that collective discussion”.
Another remarked that “my writing has become simple from the few classes we hosted. The summaries of each meeting certainly help in this regard”.
This highlights the value of regular meetings and of the Red Flag as the tool to recruit more masses and advance communist ideas.
The Red Flag has taken the struggle against sexism in South Africa to new heights. As the female comrades have taken a leading role in the work of the party, their confidence in communism has increased, their understanding increased, and they take more responsibility.
Comrades want to read even more, something in the past they thought was boring. Every comrade is keen to keep learning and advancing communism using the Red Flag. We will continue with this path and momentum. We are positive that even greater advances will be made.
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