Letters: The line and practice of the ICWP

What is “the Party Line?” here ♦ Lenin on “The Line” here ♦ Communist Solidarity here ♦

What is “the Party Line?”

A comrade teacher said, “Younger comrades have real fear about being sanctioned for their articles.” They fear, he explained, that their contribution might be rejected if it doesn’t follow “the line.”

“The line” is our collective understanding of the political, economic, and societal landscape we currently live in. And what we have collectively agreed to do about it at this time.

This is based on a lot of thought and struggle. On the input of thousands of comrades based on decades of experience and study over many generations. The line is not going to change on a whim.

However, we should all know that the line is not made of stone. It’s a platform from which to launch communist ideas to test in practical struggle. It can and must be changed by new comrades and new ideas, as the world changes around us.

Billions of working-class people all have their own experiences and input to give. If we think that we have it all figured out, then we fail to acknowledge the contributions they could make to the line if they join the revolutionary communist struggle.

Some with much to contribute have been told by capitalist society that their experiences and expertise as workers are not important. They therefore lack the confidence to state their ideas and suggestions in a seemingly ‘academic’ forum like Red Flag, or even a study group. We have to actively work against this anti-working class feeling by respectfully and genuinely listening. We must acknowledge their contributions to our discussions and ultimately to the line.

We must keep this in mind when struggling with those who are willing to engage but disagree with parts of the line. Let’s acknowledge that we don’t know everything and that we may make mistakes. That does not mean that we have “lost the argument” or have “given in to capitalist ideas.”

It shows that we believe that the working class learns and grows through struggle. That we respect the experiences and ideas that the people we are talking to can bring to our collective understanding. Our gut reaction cannot be to “defend the line at all costs.” We must think very carefully about what they say and acknowledge how it can help us to grow.

The line is not a dogma but a guide to action. Dialectical materialist study reveals that even the main contradiction in the world changes over time. So do secondary contradictions. The idea that we wouldn’t change our line with the ever-changing world is undialectical.

Even in communism, collective work for our collective needs may develop a different view of “human nature.”

Dialectical materialism teaches that all knowledge begins with collective practice. When we engage in real-world struggles like strikes and work actions, our communist work among the masses opens the door to modifying our line. And sometimes to different ideas of what communism will look like. These struggles both nurture political and social relationships and test the soundness of our revolutionary ideas.

We must welcome these changes enthusiastically.

—Another Teacher

From What is to Be Done?

“When bricklayers lay bricks in various parts of an enormous, unprecedentedly large structure, is it ‘paper’ work to use a line to help them find the correct place for the bricklaying; to indicate to them the ultimate goal of the common work; to enable them to use, not only every brick, but even every piece of brick which, cemented to the bricks laid before and after it, forms a finished, continuous line?” – Lenin, What Is to Be Done?

Being There for Each Other – and for the  International Working Class

It’s a conversation I have with many people. A friend agrees that helping those in immediate need (for example, with food) is not enough. That all the different issues – hunger, climate change, inequality, war – are interconnected. That capitalism is the root. That we need system change, even revolution. They like the idea of communism.

But they worry that some “revolutionaries” don’t seem to care about people suffering now. (“Not you,” one added quickly.) Since it’s all connected, they would rather work on one piece.

“I think the key is how we connect what seem to be two different kinds of work,” I answered in a recent conversation. “Material solidarity on one hand, organizing for communist revolution on the other.”  I offered several examples from our party’s work.

In El Salvador, during the worst of Covid, factories shut down. Workers, including ICWP comrades, were isolated and hungry. “So the Party organized to make a bag of food for each member who is affected by this pandemic and this system,” they reported in Red Flag. “We explained that all this was thanks to an international collective group that showed us the practice of communism.”   When workers had to return to factories that were still unsafe, Red Flag explained carefully how Covid exposed the contradictions between workers and the bosses who exploit them.

In India around the same time, comrades in three cities distributed a poster (in multiple languages) “Break the Chain of Pandemic, Profit, War, Sexism, Casteism, Fascism.”  It asked workers to join the International Communist Workers’ Party. The back of the poster showed basic techniques to enhance oxygen levels.

“We practiced breathing techniques with families,” comrades reported in Red Flag. “We also said that, when possible, we should seize oxygen tanks and make them available to people in need. We provided comfort and support to many families we visit every day.

“The response from our neighbors was overwhelming,” they continued. “One said, in a barely audible voice, ‘I might be dying but I want to see these profiteers buried alive.’ We spent quality time with the neighbors. Some people were inconsolable. We were there for them.”

“Being there” for each other and workers everywhere – that’s the heart of how communism will be organized. We’ll all work, as we’re willing and able, to produce for the masses’ needs. Not for wages, but to be there for each other. And others will be there for us, providing what we need for a full and fulfilling life. No longer will we experience “helping those in need” as something opposed to (or even different from) conducting revolutionary work.

Meanwhile, I (and my party collective) have a lot to learn from examples like these about how to live our lives as communists. I’m sure other comrades do, too. Sharing our stories in Red Flag will help us all do that.

—Older comrade in the US

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