Letters of October 19

Mexico PL Project Inspires International Spirit

I had the chance to participate in the Summer Project in Mexico for a couple of weeks along with several other comrades. We stayed in the Federal District and in Mexico State. This was a very enriching and exceptional experience for me because I learned so much from the comrades there, about their struggles and the ways they expand the base of the Party in the places we visited.

We had “marathon” days, getting up very early in the morning and as a group we visited the homes of comrades, friends of the party and readers of CHALLENGE. In these visits, we had the opportunity to learn how whole families participated in the “discussions.” That way, we presented mostly the Party line, as well as whatever was relevant to the struggle we were then involved in. We also answered questions and doubts that were generally asked by people we visited.

I returned to New York very moved by this experience. I had the chance to spend time with very humble working people who have the same problems of the working class around the world: must confront poverty, the economic crisis, unemployment, exploitation, bosses’ abuses and politicians’ promises in their daily lives. In Mexico, I realized that we truly need a communist revolution to put an end to capitalism and its profit system.

A fighter

Anti-Wall Streeters Open to Red Ideas

I had the pleasure of attending the rally at One Police Plaza in NYC on Friday, September 30, called to protest police brutality against the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) demonstrators and to show solidarity with OWS. I arrived at 5:30 and soon there was a picket line of some 100 people in the plaza in front of NYPD headquarters. Most of the 100 protestors were from unions, such as the UAW, the UFT and my union, the PSC, representing CUNY faculty and staff. One of the demands of the protest is the firing of Deputy Inspector Bologna — the police official who pepper-sprayed a half dozen or more demonstrators — and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has authorized the arrest of hundreds of non-violent demonstrators. 

I hung out with some friends. A little after 6 PM, the OWS march arrived at the Plaza. It was an electrifying moment as about 2,500 marchers streamed into the Plaza with chants of “They Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out!” and “Whose Streets?, Our Streets!” The crowd surged toward the NYPD building as the police scurried to erect barricades in front, looking very nervous as they did. One of the popular chants was, “We Are All Sean Bell, NYPD Go to Hell!”

There is a mixture anti-capitalist radicalism and liberalism at these events. Two professors gave speeches that were largely civil libertarian, and one exclaimed that “concentrated wealth is corrupting our democracy” — as though U.S. in 1711, 1811, and 1911 was any more democratic than in 2011 — and implying that political corruption can be stemmed, or reversed, under capitalism. The reality is that the capitalists have always used, and always will use their great wealth to control government.

The large crowd was mostly college and graduate students, some from other parts of the country. Some of the protestors have come from other states and are sleeping in the park at night. They’ve come for weeks of political activity and have been willing to risk arrest (700 were arrested marching on the Brooklyn Bridge) and police assaults. I admire their convictions and willingness to act. Many of the OWS participants recognize that their own futures and those of others are dim under capitalism. The big divide is between those who think that capitalism needs to be abolished and those who think it can be reformed and “our democracy restored.”

Another issue is that of non-violence. Many of the OWS demonstrators believe that the movement must be non-violent, which expresses the admirable sentiment that disagreements among people be handled through discussion and example. Unfortunately, capitalists rule by force and their system is one of extreme violence: hunger, homelessness, disease and brutal wars for profit — all of which kill millions each year. It would actually save lives to overthrow such a system, and no matter how much we wish it were otherwise, that can’t be done without armed revolution.

Self-critically, when OWS began, I thought about going down and then didn’t, thinking it would be small and not attract many workers. I was wrong; it’s not so small, workers are beginning to show up, and many of the protestors are critical of capitalism and open to a revolutionary perspective.

Red teacher

Libya A U.S. Proxy War

CHALLENGE’S analysis (10/5) of the current situation is very good (“U.S. Rulers Still Need Greater Fascism, More War”). But the editorial fails to analyze the recent Libyan war in depth (Feb. 15 – Aug. 28). The war produced a re-division of Libya’s oil wealth, with China, Italy and Russia losing and France and the U.K. winning.

Most of the fighting was done by the French and British and their Libyan “rebel” allies. But the confidential 14-page Royal United Services Institute report on the war says victory depended on U.S. aerial intelligence, surveillance and support. And the report by U.S. General Abrial underlines the key role played by U.S. aerial tankers, drones and laser-guided bombs. (See Le Canard enchaîné, 9/28)

In short, the Libyan war is a perfect example of a U.S. proxy war fought to lock up hydrocarbon sources. The editorial would have been stronger had it analyzed the Libyan war in more detail.

A friend

‘Soviet Jargon’ Rhetoric or Class Concepts?

I’m reading your paper from time to time and, overall, I like it. Though I disagree with some of your opinions, I agree with many of your ideas and I’d like more people to hear about you and what you have to offer.

I think that part of your rhetoric is drawn from the Soviet jargon. While you criticise “communist” Russia, where the revolution turned into its opposite, you adopt its rhetoric. While it is possible that part of the expressions are drawn from the fathers of communism, such as Marx, the world associates these expressions to the negative legacy of the USSR. For example, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat reminds me of the totalitarian Soviet regime of the 1960’s, where many of its citizens were repressed or even murdered. Expressions such as the “Red Army,” and your red flag, immediately remind me of all that was wrong in the Soviet experience.

In my opinion you should dissociate yourselves from this rhetoric. After all, you want to convince new people of your ideas, and I feel that your rhetoric is, in many cases, an obstacle to this. Which is a shame, as you have a bright future to offer to the working class.

S.G., Kiryat Tivon, Israel

CHALLENGE comment — Thank you for your letter. We welcome you as a reader of our paper.

While the world’s media, virtually all controlled by capitalists, is viciously anti-communist and therefore attempts to distort and disparage communists and our ideas, expressions such as “Red Army” and “red flag” have historically been hailed by tens of millions of workers internationally. During World War II, the working class looked to the heroic Soviet Red Army as its savior in smashing the Nazis. The fact that the capitalist media has downplayed and/or ignored its role hasn’t prevented millions of workers from marching with the red flag (originally bed sheets with the blood of revolutionary workers) on May Day for over a century. So we look at “red,” the “red flag” and the Red Army as symbols of the best that our class has produced and don’t bow down to the rulers’ disparagement of it.

As for the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat,” as you intimate, it was first coined by Marx as the answer to the dictatorship of the capitalists. It expresses a class understanding of the role of the state and who controls it on whose behalf. We have often explained this when using the term. While the ruling class likens capitalism to “democracy,” and therefore contrasts it to dictatorship, the profit system does not express the will of the people, and is itself a vicious dictatorship of the capitalist class. A working-class dictatorship is a dictatorship over the former ruling class and is used to prevent it from returning to power and overturning a workers’ communist society.

We do not regard these words as “Soviet jargon,” nor do we shy away from using them just because the rulers strive mightily to lie about them. They have lied about the word “communism” for 160 years and tried to make it a dirty word (because they realize it means their end), but we would not omit that term from the masthead of our front page. It is a term deeply imbedded in the history of working-class struggle.

Again, thank you for your letter and hopefully we can continue our mutual exchanges through the pages of CHALLENGE.