{"id":17086,"date":"2026-07-23T04:21:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/?page_id=17086"},"modified":"2026-07-23T04:21:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:21:52","slug":"communism-versus-anarchism-part-ix","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/volume-17-number-10\/communism-versus-anarchism-part-ix\/","title":{"rendered":"Communism versus Anarchism (Part IX)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pictured: Chinese Red Army soldiers on the \u201cLong March\u201d (1934-36).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Workers Need a Mass International Communist Workers\u2019 Party, Not a Socialist State <\/span><\/h4>\n

\u201cAbsolute liberalism, anarchism, and even democracy are fine in theory, but not feasible in practice,\u201d Mao Zedong wrote in a 1920 letter. In contrast, \u201cthe proletarians are discontented, and a demand for communism has arisen and has already become a fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mao knew the problems facing revolutionary Russia. But he believed that \u201cthe Russian revolution, as well as the radical communists in every country, will daily grow more powerful and numerous and more tightly organized.\u201d He had \u201cdoubts about anarchism\u201d because he found \u201ca society without power or organization\u201d to be impossible.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) adopted the Bolshevik model of a disciplined, vanguard organization. It meant to lead the masses rather than relying on spontaneous worker uprisings. It recognized that \u201cthe proletariat has already become conscious of the fact that it too should possess wealth, and of the fact that its sufferings are unnecessary.\u201d (Mao)<\/p>\n

There were differences. The CCP concentrated on China\u2019s many impoverished rural wage laborers.<\/p>\n

The Bolsheviks only formed their Red Army after the revolution. But the CCP formed its in 1929-30. It was not (said Mao) only for fighting. \u201cFighting is only a means.” The People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) was responsible for educating, organizing, and mobilizing the masses.<\/p>\n

The PLA was \u201cdemocratic under centralized leadership.\u201d Officers and soldiers were considered equal. At first, soldiers elected their officers. For a longer time, a \u201csupply system\u201d was in place. Instead of salaries, soldiers received food, clothing, and other necessities. The PLA avoided \u201cextreme democracy or anarchism.\u201d (Mao)<\/p>\n

Over time, the Chinese Communist Party abandoned these principles. It instituted \u201cNew Democracy\u201d and later socialism. But PLA veterans would play a key role in fighting for communism despite the Party\u2019s revisionist retreats.<\/p>\n

The PLA \u201csupply system\u201d was critical to developing our understanding of \u201cmobilizing the masses for communism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communism, Nothing Less<\/p>\n

Communist movements have mostly believed they needed to fight for socialism. Later it would transition into communism. But socialism never transitioned into communism. Instead, it exposed itself as essentially state capitalism. It often transitioned into \u201cfree-market\u201d capitalism.<\/p>\n

Read our document Mobilize the Masses for Communism to learn more about why we broke from the old movement. We prepare ourselves and the masses now so that in a revolutionary situation we, and they, can begin to build communism directly. To organize production for need, without money or markets or even barter. Without wages or the \u201cwork points\u201d of Chinese socialism.<\/p>\n

Over a century ago, anarchists wanted immediate abolition of all administration, bureaucracy, and subordination. Lenin thought this meant postponing the socialist revolution indefinitely \u201cuntil people are different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d Lenin said, \u201cto smash the old bureaucratic machine at once and to begin immediately to construct a new one that will make possible the gradual abolition of all bureaucracy\u2013this is not a utopia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenin was right about so many things, but not about this. Socialism required a \u201cnew bureaucratic machine.\u201d But communism doesn\u2019t. People become \u201cdifferent\u201d in the struggle for a different world. That was a great lesson of the Chinese revolution and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.<\/p>\n

Communism is not a utopia.<\/p>\n

The main difference now between anarchism and communism is not whether we need a \u201cstate.\u201d We don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s whether we need one international communist workers\u2019 party. A party that unifies collectives to fight the capitalists\u2019 attacks on the working class. And against capitalist ideas that hold us back. A party that prepares for armed revolution to destroy capitalism everywhere.<\/p>\n

Autonomous anarchist collectives can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

Our party is open to all who want to act collectively to fight for and build a communist world. Doing that, we transform ourselves into a \u201cdifferent\u201d kind of people. Initiative, unselfishness, and inclusivity replace capitalism\u2019s passivity, individualism, and divisiveness.<\/p>\n

Capitalism\u2019s many interconnected crises impact masses everywhere. Mass migration, supply chains, and communication technologies bind us all more closely into one international working class.<\/p>\n

One international working class needs one International Communist Workers\u2019 Party to win one communist world without borders. We hope you\u2019ll become a member and help recruit others.<\/p>\n

Read previous articles in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part I here<\/a>, Part II here<\/a>, Part III here<\/a>, Part IV here<\/a>, Part V here<\/a>, Part VI here<\/a>, Part VII here, <\/a>Part VIII here.<\/a><\/strong>
\nRead Mobilize the Masses for Communism<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Much more can and should be written about anarchism and its limitations and errors. About the IWW (mainly in the United States). About the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), where communists also made grievous errors. In Rojava (Syria) in the present century. In Latin America.<\/p>\n

And there is still much more that we can learn from the limitations and errors \u2013 as well as achievements \u2013 of communist movements. Including our own, in real time.<\/p>\n

We ask readers to contribute to these important discussions. Send letters to Contact@ICWPRedFlag.org<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Front page of this issue<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers Need a Mass International Communist Workers\u2019 Party, Not a Socialist State \u201cAbsolute liberalism, anarchism, and even democracy are fine in theory, but not feasible in practice,\u201d Mao Zedong wrote in a 1920 letter. In contrast, \u201cthe proletarians are discontented, and a demand for communism has arisen and has already become a fact.\u201d Mao knew … Continue reading Communism versus Anarchism (Part IX)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":17047,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17086","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17088,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17086\/revisions\/17088"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}