For a Communist World Without Borders!
December 2018 – “Communism is going to come,” a new garment-worker comrade told the boss who was hassling him. “It is not going to come overnight. But it is like the flame of a candle burning brighter and brighter.”
This story was part of a report given by the growing maquila-worker collective in El Salvador at a recent communist conference in Central America.
In her opening speech, an ICWP leader spoke about the “world situation” and the deepening global crisis of capitalism. The reports that followed – especially from South Africa and El Salvador – showed that the modest growth of ICWP is a small but key element of that world situation.
Two comrades in South Africa joined the meeting by video-conference. The racist Air France authorities had not allowed them to board their flight. They electrified everyone with the news that there are now six Party collectives in three provinces. There are three groups of industrial workers, one of miners and two of students.
Even more impressive was the seriousness with which the South Africa comrades listened to criticisms and spoke of plans to improve their work. “We are too relaxed,” one said. “We need to push the boundaries.” (See article, page 3)
The maquila report was equally inspiring. Three clubs of industrial workers meet regularly, as does a leadership collective. All participate in monthly outings. These include fun and family as well as a two-hour meeting. Everything isn’t always smooth but “we don’t let rejection stop us,” as a comrade leader explained. (See her letter, page 1)
About half of the maquila comrades, including half of the leaders, are women. Like many other women, they shoulder heavy responsibilities for child care and homemaking after long hours of hard work. Their contributions to the Party reflect tremendous commitment to communism and the working class.
The maquila comrades regularly discuss international issues (like the migration crisis) and bring those conversations into the factory. These industrial workers can give leadership to broader masses, including relatives who are soldiers, students, construction workers, etc.
Others reported on work in aerospace (in the US), among students (Mexico), and among immigrants (Spain).
Improving Red Flag/Bandera Roja to Improve Our Work
There was a thorough discussion of Red Flag. Suggestions and comments included:
“Red Flag reflects how we will live in communism, but we also need to write about how we are living as communists today,” said a comrade from Mexico.
Red Flag needs to write more about dialectical materialism in opposition to religion, several comrades remarked. We would especially appreciate articles and letters about conversations on this topic, or from members and friends with personal experiences.
A student comrade reported criticisms from a collective in El Salvador. These centered on recent articles about migration that did not say enough about communism or why we need to eliminate borders.
“We are creating new forms every day for how workers take literature and get involved,” said a leader of the maquila work.
Disagreements surfaced over the relationship between theory and practice. This discussion will continue. We did agree that communist practice is primary: “People want to know what we do, not just what we think.”
Without revolutionary theory there can be no communist revolution. But we develop our theory mainly in relation to questions workers have about communism.
“We can’t underestimate the power of stories,” said another. “Stories about the work, like those we’ve heard here, are the basis for a better and more useful paper.”
“Our paper reflects very little of our collective experience,” concluded an experienced leader. “We need to do more and write more to learn more. Mainly, the paper must reflect our struggle for communism within the working class.”
The more we carry out this struggle, the more we advance theory and improve our work.
Defeat Fascism with Communist Revolution
As a comrade said, “the growth and intensification and rise of fascism worldwide creates the material basis for its own destruction. It’s here, and the solution is communism – and only communism.”
As the concentration of wealth increases, capitalism relies increasingly on extreme violence to repress the masses who have increasing reason to destroy it. The world today is in crisis. Seventy-six countries are at war, internally or externally. With or without war, the crisis of capitalism has created huge opportunities to mobilize for communism.
Many are thinking about the international migration crisis. Masses share our vision of a “world without borders.” Only communism can realize that goal. Our urgent task is to spread this struggle far and wide. We are preparing a new mini-pamphlet to help with this.
The conference gave us a taste of the communist world without borders that we are starting to create right now. There are no “borders” within our International Communist Workers’ Party. That is a break from the history of the old communist “International” which was a coalition of national parties.
We saw that we face the same obstacles everywhere, including nationalism, sexism and electoral politics. We struggled together about how to advance the work. We built and deepened personal ties across barriers of language and a racist travel ban.
Many heads nodded when a South African comrade said at the end, “This was a life-changing experience for me!”
For a world without borders tomorrow… join and build the International Communist Workers’ Party today!
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