Soon after the Russian Revolution, communists founded the Gorky Colony. Young people, formerly on the streets, built a labor and education collective. They were able to see a different “human nature” through working and studying together.
Seattle, USA: Communist Struggle Will Change History— And “Human Nature” Too
SEATTLE (US), November 16— “We made history,” bragged the Boeing IAM union president. “The contract is a win. Now it’s up to us to restore this company to a respected American icon.” He declared that “we raised the bar for all workers in every corner of the world.”
H and B, a couple originally from Vietnam who recently retired from Boeing, were not buying the propaganda. Neither was L, who had joined comrades at the picket line with Red Flag.
Our friends didn’t want to waste time arguing about the union leaders’ fabrications. Instead, comrades and friends at a recent potluck debated for hours if and how the working-class is capable of winning, but this time with a communist revolution.
For years, B and an ICWP comrade coworker had long discussions on the way to and from work. She wanted to know more about fascism, among other topics.
H had actively protested when Trump separated families at the Mexico-US border. He had organized discussions with other immigrants in the Boeing plant. ICWP had been building collectives there that included friends and comrades. H made some progress attacking the government’s fascist policy. But he was disappointed when some of his immigrant friends were sure that they were better than the newer immigrants.
At the potluck, H compared Buddhism to communism. Neither ideology embraces God, nor sanctions attacks on fellow workers. But he and B are cynical about “human nature.” They think people are fundamentally selfish.
This cynicism holds them back from joining the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP). They referred to socialist Vietnam to prove their point. But socialism is still capitalism. It does not destroy wage slavery or production for profit. It cannot produce for the needs of the international working class.
H contended that the idea of communism is good, but people ruin it. Human nature means the leadership would give more power and material wealth to those close to them.
That, we answered, was not “human” nature but capitalist nature. The capitalist wage system requires competition for jobs. Every aspect of capitalism promotes competition. That is the material basis for selfishness.
The real win will be eliminating capitalism/socialism. In communism, collective production for needs of the masses provides the material basis to eliminate selfishness and divisive ideologies. Communist society opens the door to a completely new kind of “human nature.” The kind that unleashes the power of the international working class.
L comes to many party events. She is always eager to meet ICWP members. But she hesitates to join ICWP. She said that workers in the US were passive. They are wrapped up with life and their families.
It is harder to justify passivity as fascism spreads around the world. The new workforce at Boeing is aware of capitalism’s degeneration. Students and educators rely on Red Flag for communist answers to capitalism’s collapse and genocide. So do many at the Boeing gates.
We must increase our efforts to ensure that these younger Red Flag readers attend our meetings and social events, so we can benefit from their perspective. Many of these new forces are not party members (yet) but they are fighters and are open to communist ideas.
Comrades as well as friends have hesitancies. Confidence in the international proletariat is a must among party collectives everywhere. New friends and comrades help us all overcome our doubts and replace them with persistent communist work.
The only way to defeat trade union lies is to spread communist politics, building personal and political relationships amidst class struggle. This is not an individual endeavor. It is a campaign to build rock-solid party collectives to lead the fight for communist revolution.