Generally a lurker, and obviously not as erudite as many on this list. But
I'm struck by the simultaneous specificity and concreteness of the
scientific discussions, and the ethereal abstraction of the discussions
related to actual action to overthrow capitalism. A couple of things seem
fairly apparent to me, having spent most of my own adult life as an
instrument of US Imperialism--a member of the Special Operations community
of the US military (now retired).
Any project as vast as the overthrow of capitalism necessarily implies
certain things.
A clear understanding of the system as it currently functions to identify
strategic priorities.
A clear understanding of who WE are and what WE are currently capable of.
A clear understanding based on our assessments of who OUR allies might be
for WHICH stage of our developed strategies.
An educated guess about what various social sectors around the world are
likely to choose as courses of action given the direction that current
trends are carrying us.
Some articualtion of what it is we are driving at, a compass.
I certainly believe that the linchpin right now is US Imperialism. Without
the capture of that particular citadel, there is little opportunity to
begin dismantling the whole global system.
It doesn't get dismantled by sheer will, either. It has to become weak
through the development of its own contradictions--some of which are being
possibly identified here--until a conjuncture occurs where strategic
pressure by organized masses can bring it down.
There currently exists no conjuncture in the US of an economic, political,
and military crisis deep enough to mobilze a revolution there, and no
coherent left leadership there to see it through in any case. NOr is there
any credible alternative capable of confronting it (as there was with the
Soviet Union, which I miss terribly, warts and all).
This implies a strategy directed at undercutting the sources of US
imperialist strength by a number of means, which the old-fashioned, much
maligned commies seemed to understand better than some people on this list:
National liberation/anti-post-colonial struggles
"Stretching the lines" of the hegemon through proliferation of well-led
struggles against it around the world--and they can't all be directly for
socialism, because socialism is not a decree but a method of production
which requires a material basis... the development of which is the historic
role of capitalism, or in socialist led countries "state capitalism."
(We are learning that externalities can distort this process, but it is
still workable, as Cuba is showing today, and far more workable than plain
old captialism.)
When these peripheral crises sharpen the economic, social, political
contradictions at the core, and particualrly in the US, to the point that
certain sectors increase their militancy and begin to assert themselves in
organized ways, there needs to be firm (you can use pointless, undefinable
words like totalitarian if you wish) leadership both to maintain strategic
focus and to make "despotic inroads" against the ruling classes. (Yes, I
am a Marxist, and I do beleive the class dictatorship of the proletariat is
an absolute necessity. It is one of the basic formualtions of Marxism, and
anyone who tries to escape from it should cease calling her or himslef a
marxist.)
Does anyone really think our rulers are going to roll over for us? They
will resort to violence, and we will either employ violence in our own
defense or we will be eradicated. I don't like it any better than anyone
else, but I don't relish my mortality either. It's just one of those
things we have to face up to.
Along the way, we have to organize among sectors that are at teachable
moments. Sometimes that's the petit bourgeoisie, but it's never the
bourgeoisie, so we needn't waste our time. It's always workers, sometimes
patiently for limited goals during periods of relative comfort, and other
times aggressively when the exploitative nature of their condition is most
glaring. In the developing world, it is also among peasants, but don't
talk to them about socialism. They want to hear about land.
Is there any shortcut? I don't think so. Does this mean we may head into
the catastrophe this list is about, unprepared? Yes. Might we have that
catastrophe even with a social upheaval leading to the construction of
socialism? Yes, we may have passed some points of no return. Is there any
chance at all of stopping it without socialism? Not a chance in hell.
Captialism is not about the moral failure or short sightedness of
individuals. It's a set of social relations predicated on commodity
production--a system. That system requires short-sightedness. It's part
of every ruling class job description. Convincing people will not do the
job to get rid of it. People don't want to be convinced. That's reality.
They want to know if you are with them in their struggles. Once we
demonstrate that, we might get a hearing, because people do not learn from
our lectures, but in the struggle itself.
Just a few random reactions. Fire away.
"If insurrection is an art, its main content is to know how to give the
struggle the form appropriate to the political situation."
-Vo Nguyen Giap
"Rather than seeking comparabilities in statistical terms among what are
all too often superficial features of different situations, comparabilities
must be sought at the level of determinate mechanisms, at the level of
processes that are generally hidden from easy view."
-Eleanor Burke Leacock
"Every day one has to struggle that this love to a living humanity
transform itself into concrete acts, in acts that serve as examples, as
motivation."
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara
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