Haiti Comrades Break Electoral Ideology

HAITI, September 10—Revolutionary struggles worldwide are encountering major challenges, specifically the illusions and false promises made by bourgeois politicians. In Haiti, in every election, activists who call themselves “left” or “revolutionary” and sometimes even “communist,” in fact have joined the ranks of these phony misleaders.
In the last century, the U.S. bosses’ occupation of Haiti brought mass racist terror to workers here. Per Herbert Seligman, writing for The Nation in 1920, said, “Military camps have been built throughout the island. The property of natives has been taken for military use. Haitians carrying a gun were for a time shot at sight. Many Haitians not carrying guns were also shot at sight.” Not only does Haiti’s extreme poverty stem from this occupation, but sexism also pervades working-class lives. A report from the Office of Internal Oversight Services found that U.N. “peacekeepers” have been sexually abusing young women and minors for years!
Politicians Penetrate Revolutionary Struggle
Today, local politicians try co-opting left-leaning workers still not won to communist struggle. This often leads the masses to become cynical and lose confidence in the words and actions of genuine revolutionary leaders. In turn, the bourgeois politicians use the leaders to gain the trust of the masses and maintain power.
The communist PLP fights this trend and combats these revisionist (phony leftist) and reactionary practices. PLP fights for an international communist party to take power by revolution, not by compromise and alliances (for crumbs) with the bosses’ puppets.
Election and Individualist Illusions
In the 2015 parliamentary elections, one of our comrades fell victim to bourgeois politicians. He believed he could co-opt the electoral process to help fellow workers and strengthen the class struggle. He tried convincing the Party his individualism was best. But he knows very well that PLP never collaborates with the bosses in any way, shape or form! Power is not a cake to divvy up! Rather, our aim is to organize the working class by working within mass organizations, putting forward our mass line of struggle against racism and sexism, exposing capitalism and imperialism, engaging in actions and ideological struggle, and finally winning workers and students to our revolutionary communist line, to smash capitalism by establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Lessons from the International Working Class
All the PLP comrades in Haiti were united in saying a clear NO to this comrade’s proposal. However, we will continue discussing places, such as Venezuela, Bolivia and others, where the so-called “left” took power through elections, and failed — nor did they aim — to transform the bosses’ electoral power into communist revolutionary power. By studying the lessons from the international working class, we can see that nothing short of a revolution will gain power for our class. Our Party is a revolutionary communist organization and will not make concessions to the bosses. We will fight to win the hearts and minds of workers, to get them en masse to join and lead our Party and win them to communist revolution. We know that the bosses’ elections are a farce, a game of compromise to trap the masses into supporting the bourgeois state.
Short-lived Campaign, Long Live PLP
Our Party has not followed this comrade’s wrong line. Now he seems to understand he was deceived by those who sought him out: the same bourgeois party that endorsed him for the elections financed his opponent’s campaign! He even says he understands the bold and criminal game bourgeois politicians play. Unfortunately he advocated for small advantages, which are not —  and won’t be — easily satisfied, since the bosses will not readily allow a new head at the table without such a head being shaped in their own image. By staying true to our principles and refusing to follow the former comrade, the Party emerged the winner and strengthened our line.
Build the Party
Following this logic, our PLP’ers have some influence among revolutionary-leaning comrades in a student organization, in part by putting them on guard to avoid falling into the same trap as our former comrade.  One of the presidential candidates in next October’s election has just written a letter trying to woo this student organization — one founded by several PLP members — asking it to discuss the country’s situation in the pre-election period. Obviously he wants to make promises and offer immediate benefits for the organization’s support. But this is just another illusion!
Again, PLP members have adopted a position consistent with our ideas and have won the student organization to it: no meeting and/or alliance with bourgeois politicians, no matter what their promises. We have seen that history records that alliances between left-wing parties and the bourgeois state and its politicians in the elections has only reinforced the capitalist state. PLP built its base among the masses — university and high school students, rural workers, teachers and the unemployed — over the course of several years, fighting side by side in the streets and engaging in ideological struggle.
Ultimately communism will be victorious, if we fight for our revolutionary line, if we are present giving leadership in the mobilizations against the evils of capitalism. We create confidence among the masses and build our base in the working class, building our international revolutionary Party little by little.
No compromise with bourgeois politicians and their state. Long live revolution and the PLP!