Unleash the communist potential of the masses by developing more communist leaders now!
Millions are marching in the streets. Millions more will follow in the months and years ahead.
*Over four million in the US and hundreds of thousands worldwide turned out for the January 21st Women’s Marches.
*Masses stormed US airports, demanding that immigrants be welcomed. Hundreds of thousands marched in Barcelona, Spain with the same message.
*Thousands marched and rebelled against the viciously racist Paris cops, recalling the mass anti-racist protests that swept France in 2005. Their slogans echoed similar protests against US killer cops.
These millions need communist revolution —and communist revolution needs them. Can that happen? Yes!
Communism will rely on masses of workers taking leadership in every aspect of society. In every situation, those with more experience will both teach and learn from those with less experience. We won’t look to “experts” (not even “red experts”) to solve problems. Instead we will unleash the creativity and enthusiasm of the masses.
Already today, as we build the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP), we begin to see this process develop. Newer members and even close friends can quickly become communist organizers.
*At a recent pro-immigrant march in Los Angeles, a woman comrade led a Party contingent (all immigrant workers) that carried communist signs and distributed 400 copies of Red Flag (see page 4). Three high school students couldn’t find the contingent, but they independently got out another 200 copies.
*In Seattle (USA) a Boeing worker friend brought eight students to the Women’s March from the high school women’s basketball team he coaches. They organized fifty more students to discuss racist cop killings. The coach grabbed a bunch of our literature to give to the student leaders. The next week he wanted more for the students’ friends at another high school.
The Boeing comrade who is closest to the coach says he (like many comrades) needs to change his style of work. He was ready to cut back the number of Red Flags he gives to our friend to the few he had been giving him before. Luckily, the comrade’s club wouldn’t allow this retreat!
*ICWP in El Salvador made its first contacts with garment workers in 2011. Today there are 20 members and hundreds more Red Flag readers in several factories.
*Our Party club at a Los Angeles transit division included mostly latino males. Now a new member, who is black, leads a Party study group on the job. He’s made it his responsibility to recruit a well-respected black female worker. Things are looking good for May Day!
*A South African metal worker gave ICWP t-shirts to fifteen Red Flag readers. They all wore the shirts to work the next day. Now 400 workers want the shirts. Six months ago, there were six active party clubs in South Africa. Today there are nine—and dozens more workers want to join.
Progress like this can happen worldwide. And it shows that communism is possible.
Learning to Be Communist Organizers by Doing It
The masses are in motion because today’s crisis of capitalism does not allow them to live in the old way. Fascism and the spreading flames of imperialist war are exposing the true nature of the bosses’ murderous dictatorship.
More and more workers see communism as the solution. “There is a constant barrage of gun fire,” reports a reader from Syria. “I shared the Red Flag with the comrades in Syria.”
People around us are changing. These new opportunities demand more from us. Our communist political work, now more than ever, requires an understanding that every small advance helps to make larger advances possible.
We must identify the people we know who are closest to becoming communist organizers. We must investigate what’s holding them back from joining the party and taking more leadership. Let’s ask them to join and listen to what they have to say.
And if you are one of those people, don’t wait for someone to ask!
May Day Plans: Recruit New Communist Organizers
Everyone thinks May Day this year can be much bigger. This creates even more opportunities. The most important is the opportunity to develop new communist members and leaders, especially young ones. The times allow this to happen and demand that it does.
A high school student who attended a recent Party leadership meeting plans to bring her friends to our communist contingent this May Day. We must have confidence in students, workers and soldiers like her. Our plans must focus on how to build on their strengths.
Comrades in South Africa are already doing this. They are relying on new Party members to help organize a communist march of hundreds under the red flags of the International Communist Workers’ Party.
As our Syrian comrade declared: “Long live communism! Communism and nothing but communism!”
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