Communist Party of Britain Scottish Committee Tutor’s Notes

Political Struggle and Revolution

Introduction: The Laws of Social Development

At school we were taught a history of mankind that depicted all social change as the product of individual actions and ambitions. Monarchs, generals, statesmen litter the pages of history and their ambitions to conquer new territories, defend their nation’s honour, advance religious causes, etc seek to explain the human story of social change. Individual personality traits loom large with the morality of the "great man" being the decisive factor.

Marxism rejects such an approach, and as set out in our first class in our series, looks not at individuals but at peoples to explain the process of historical change .And when it does this (after the stage of primitive society) it finds that there different sections of people, some pulling one way and some another, not as individuals, but as classes.

Marx showed that class conflict was the driving force in history and social change. That there is a permanent struggle between the exploited (those who do the work and the exploiters (those who own the means of production). At all times, the cause of the exploited represents a progressive force in history and that of the exploiters one of reaction.

Discussion Point:

Capitalist theorists would reject such a statement: has capitalism not heralded the most staggering technical and scientific advances in mankind’s history?

Response:

So much for strikes wrecking the economy!!

The Basic Forms of the Class/Political Struggle

*Economic*Ideological*Political

The Economic Struggle

All those who sell their labour power are involved in the economic struggle .The struggle around wages, working hours, conditions of service is central to the working lives of all wage earners.

Every worker, even the least politically developed, realises the need to protect his immediate economic interests.

It is therefore with the economic struggle that the workers’ movement begins.

Hence the growth of trade unionism.

Discussion Point: What are the strengths and likely limitations of trade unionism in advancing the class interests of working people?

(b)The Ideological Struggle.

The economic struggle has definite limitations .In its self it does not affect the foundations of the capitalist system. It does not free working people from exploitation.

Economic gains are frequently transient. If not reinforced by political gains they can all too easily be reversed—as was all too obvious during the Thatcher years.

The genuine class struggle of working people begins when the economic struggle goes beyond the narrow limits of defence of the workers immediate interests and develops into a political struggle.

• To do this working people must challenge and confront the ideology of capitalism.
• This is far from easy. The ruling class wages a ceaseless battle in defence of capitalism. The media, culture, the education system are massively mobilised in defence of capitalisms’ values and against the ideas and forces of socialism.
• Not surprisingly, their principal focus of attack has always been the communists, precisely because that is where the real challenge to the system comes from.

Discussion Points, consider:

• Examples of how the philosophy of capitalism grips the minds of working people.
• How the economic struggle is constrained by such ideas.
• How the ideology of capitalism infiltrates the organised working class movement.

(c)Class Consciousness and Political Struggle.

Only when decisive sections of the working population develop a class consciousness, and embrace the leadership of a political party capable of leading them to power will capitalism in Britain be ended. The key question of course is ---how is this to be done?

The Need for a Marxist-Leninist Party

(a)Class consciousness does not develop spontaneously.

• The economic struggles of working people no matter how intense does not automatically lead to class consciousness

It is the function of the Marxist-Leninist Party to build on the day to day struggles of the working people to help them develop a fully rounded class consciousness.

• First and foremost, that Reformism is the enemy of socialism.
• The struggle for social reform is a vital part of the fight not just to improve the people’s lot in the short term, but has the potential to be vital stepping stones on the path to socialism.
• The danger is when such reforms are seen as an end in themselves: Reformism. This has been the major barrier to the advance to socialism in Britain in which Right- wing Social Democracy has been the principal player.
• Promoting an understanding that only the organised working class can be the leading force in the fight for revolutionary change.
• While the organised working class must constitute the leading force in the fight for revolutionary change, it must seek to unite the widest sections of society against the forces of monopoly capitalism

It follows that the organised working class movement should wage the staunchest and most consistent fight against all forms of oppression, thereby promoting unity within and beyond its own ranks, developing its own political consciousness and enabling it to build and lead a democratic alliance against state-monopoly capitalism.

Central to the development of a revolutionary consciousness among working people is an understanding of The Role of the State.

From a Marxist standpoint, the State is the most important, the central issue in the struggle for the emancipation of working people and the winning of political power.

Right-wing Social Democrats believe the State to be neutral and above classes—a loyal servant of whatever political party is voted into office.

Marx: with the emergence of classes, the affairs of society could no longer be settled on the agreed will of the whole or the majority of the people: required instruments of coercion, control and domination. For this a special apparatus was required: army; police; courts; prisons; etc, controlled and staffed by those loyal to the exploiting minority.

The State therefore in a class divided society, whatever the democratic window-dressing, will always constitute "the Dictatorship of the Ruling Class".

It follows, that in order to win and hold power, the capitalist State would have to be totally dismantled and reconstituted staffed by people loyal to the socialist revolution.

Discussion Point: Do you think that Marx’s definition of the capitalist State as a "Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie" still holds good in today’s "western democracies"? Justify your answer by reference to political structures and practices in Britain today.

Winning the Battle of Ideas - the Case for Socialism.

In class-divided societies, the exploiting class ultimately relies on force and the threat of force to sustain its rule. But for the most part in "western democracies" rule is maintained by the ideological corruption of the working people .During the past several decades, the left and progressive forces have suffered serious reverses across the globe, most particularly the collapse the collapse of the Soviet Union.

• Capitalism and its theorists were quick to proclaim "the end of history" and unfurl the flag of triumphalism in the onward march of free markets.

But they rejoiced too soon. The mighty peace movement, the anti- globalisation and Make Poverty History campaigns bear witness to a deep stirring for a fundamental change to a world disfigured by oppression, exploitation and war.

We are today in the new, emerging third phase of imperialism. This is characterised by sharpening rivalry between the leading imperial powers and blocks of states, including their struggle to exploit the developing and former socialist countries.

• Most alarmingly, and unconstrained by the former Soviet Union, this involves a greater willingness to use military force to impose pro-imperialist settlements on countries that don’t bow to their pro-imperialist diktat.
• What is happening in the world today makes the case for socialism more relevant than it has ever been.
• The tragedy is that most of the protest movements don’t have a developed socialist agenda, and frequently no socialist agenda at all. Yet, only socialism can solve the problems that blight our planet.

In Britain despite widespread hostility to new Labour, we are impeded in the struggle by the splits and schisms that cripple the Left in the labour movement .And above all we are hugely handicapped by the smallness of the Communist Party.

It became fashionable after the collapse of the Soviet Union to characterise socialism as a failed experiment. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The reasons behind the collapse of the Soviet Union were many and complex, and the analysis continues.

But despite the problems, the achievements were magnificent. To attempt to build the first socialist state in backward, illiterate peasant Russia, surrounded by the most active global capitalist hostility and intervention was a Herculean task.

Despite all the odds, the Soviet Communist Party transformed backward Russia into a formidable industrial power, wiped out illiteracy, provided universal free health care, put an end to extremes of poverty, and brought culture to the masses.

And the odds against were incredible. The fledgling socialist state right at the outset faced armed intervention from 14 capitalist nations. Then, only 14 years into its existence, the USSR faced the full onslaught of Hitler barbarism. The cost was horrendous: 26 million dead, and its cities, industries and infrastructure devastated. This was the global class war fought out in all its brutality.

Then came the cold war. Overnight the erstwhile ally became the target of the most bitter hostility with, over time, dire economic consequences for the Soviet Union.

With hindsight, we may well pose the question - not why did the Soviet Union collapse, but how did it survive so long?

In today’s world, communist parties continue in government in a number of countries, not least in Cuba which is an inspiration to progressive peoples everywhere.
In China, with a quarter of the world’s population, the Communist Party has been in power for 56 years. They freely admit to their mistakes as well as their achievements. But with the world’s fastest growing economy and a broadly socialist agenda, China has the potential to pose a serious challenge to global imperialism.

Defeat New Labour - Unite the Labour Movement Around a Left Agenda.

This is the task which confronts British Communists. It is a huge and challenging one, but one which Communists, armed with the analytical tools of Marxism-Leninism are uniquely placed to perform.

This presupposes of course that we are students of Marxism-Leninism

Group Work, Discussion Points

Lenin set out three essential conditions which determine whether a revolutionary situation exists (see Griffiths’ pamphlet pp 17-18). Discuss and consider the implications of this.

Lenin described politics as "the most concentrated expression of economics". What did he mean by this? (See Griffiths’ pamphlet p16).

Why do you think it is possible for a working class to combine a high level of trade union consciousness with a much lower level of revolutionary consciousness?

What can be done to transform trade union consciousness into revolutionary political consciousness?

Which forces are potential allies of the working class today-and what are the opportunities and dangers presented by such alliances?

What should be the strategic priorities for the political work of socialists and communists in Britain?