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Fascicle 12 Today we present and diffuse the fascicle 12 that corresponds to the continuation of the part IV, "Proletarian Dictatorship & Proletarian Democracy" of the A.B.Razlatski's II Communist Manifesto. COMUNISTES de CATALUNYA January 18, 2000
(Diffuse this text among the proletarians, all the downtrodden and exploiteds and that sympathize with this cause, and translate it in other languages. Organize groups for study, discussion, support and diffusion of the II Communist Manifesto.)
THE SECOND COMMUNIST MANIFESTO A.B. RAZLATSKIPart IV-3Proletarian Dictatorship & Proletarian Democracy (...)
Just that. This does not mean a complete rupture but a radical restructuring of relations; thus totally excluding state interference in party affairs and the direct influence of state interests on party activity. The party must continue to monitor those of its members that have been promoted to administrative posts, it must understand their state concerns and must prove itself to be a direct help in organizing the masses for the support of state measures. But the party must do this, not under the diktat of the state, but only as it emerges from its own aims and tasks. It is completely natural that this support will be at its most energetic and powerful in the early period, when the leading ideas of the party and the state are almost completely convergent, when the state is being refunded and needs such support most of all. But even in this period the party must not bind itself with any promises. In detaching its better cadre and leading forces to state posts, the proletariat must clearly recognize that this will not resolve all the problems of social development. Sooner or later, the interests of the state apparatus come into contradiction with the developing interests of the proletariat. This becomes a burden on the formation of state structures, the point of some of whose functions will be lost. Then, a new revolution is needed which can raise to the state level those changes which have taken place in the consciousness of society. Only such an uninterrupted revolutionary development can lead to the foundation of a communist society. Having taken power from the bourgeoisie at the cost of the lives of its best fighters, the proletariat is obliged to take care that in the future, the revolution can be continued without bloody struggle. It must deprive the state of the possibility of creating any anti-proletarian organizations whatsoever. It must constitutionally consolidate for itself rights which secure for it paths for the democratic transformation of the state. These rights are as follows; the freedom of the self-directed organization of the proletariat and state guarantees of these freedoms through the granting of positions within the means of mass propaganda and so forth, the prohibition of the direct participation of the servants of the state apparatus in social and political organizations, limitations on the self-directed activity of non-proletarian strata. But most importantly, the proletariat must never forget, that even though enshrined in the constitution, such rights will provide no real guarantee without the preparedness of the proletariat itself to defend them in the most decisive manner. If the proletariat is unable to defend its freedoms, its privileges and its proletarian party, this means that its consciousness is still not ripe for socialism. Conversely, if the proletariat is able, without concessions, inflexibly, with arms in hand when this is unavoidable, to stand up for these rights, then this is precisely what will secure its freedom of movement toward communism. Socialism is possible only when the class consciousness of the proletariat and its organization have developed the readiness to seize power in its own hands at any moment. Only by securing the merger of its social and collective interests in the activity of the proletarian party, only by maintaining a minimum of organization, and this means in opposition to other social layers, will the proletariat be able to feel itself master of the situation, able to maintain the obedience of the entire state mechanism and able to restructure it to whatever extent is necessary. Being master of the situation means being in charge of the distribution of goods. And although many of the elaborations of this question will, unavoidably, be entrusted to the state apparatus, the proletariat must recognize that the last word always rests with it; for any state functionary, including the highest, may be dismissed from his post and deprived of his benefits by the will of the proletariat. Because of the availability to the workers of the proletarian party, organizing its mass activities, this right ceases to be a fiction and becomes a real means of directing the state. For its part, the party, even if it is presented with the opportunity, must refuse to take part in the distribution of goods, but must exert the most decisive efforts to bring all state activities in this sphere under the control of the whole class, the entire proletarian mass. For, if the distribution of goods is not controlled by the entire proletariat, it will become the booty of a new bourgeoisie, whatever form that might take. Thus, the state apparatus, at least its key parts, must be composed of people previously schooled in party organizational work. They must be monitored by the party in all their activities and must bear direct responsibility to the ruling class, the proletariat. The party too must be formed immediately out of the proletarian mass. And it must fulfill the following condition. The party is the highest form of the self-directed organization of the proletariat. Service to the proletariat must be for the party not just its leading idea, but also the sole requirement of its members, upon the satisfaction of which their continued membership depends. While the state serves the proletariat, being stimulated by the share of the goods allotted to it, for the party service to the proletariat is both the aim and the stimulus. Correspondingly, they serve it differently. Serving the proletariat, satisfying its present needs, conforming to its present interests and creating for it the conditions for its cultural and creative development, these are the obligations of the state. The party has other tasks. Tirelessly, both in word and in deed, it must clarify to the proletariat that its present interests are false interests; that they weigh it down with the ancient baggage of feudal and bourgeois history, and that they in no way correspond to the forward looking possibilities of society. It must clarify that what the proletariat justly demands from life, which they themselves can build, will be vastly better. It must help the proletariat to utilize the opportunities for cultural development which are available to it for real cultural development; that is for association, for decisive influence in the shaping, by humanity, of the general system for understanding the world and for the mastery of the enormous possibilities of human society. It must cultivate out of the proletariat's present interests its future interests. It must enrich the spirit of mutual trust and collectivism, ever more directly pointing out the dependence of the social situation on social and not economic factors. It must act as the organizer of the mass struggle for revolutionary social change, for the embodiment of what is new and advanced in state forms and for inculcation in the minds and opinions of the mass; that is for the transformation of future interests into the reality of today. In order to cope with these tasks, the party must be composed not of people who once demonstrated their ability to serve the proletariat, but rather of people who prove it with their every motion, each day of their lives. For this the party must not only be able to attract into its ranks the rich enthusiasm of youth, but must be able to free itself from individual, conservative encrustations. The party must cleanse itself, not only of those who live in bygone days, but also of those who are mired in the present. For them, the time has come to turn from ideological work to the practical implementation of their own ideas, and the party must push them on to state work, simultaneously liberating itself from their influence. True, in contemporary society, it is not everyone, even among workers, that is capable of dedicating their entire lives and all their efforts to unselfish service to the proletariat. But, in the life of almost everyone, there is a period when the social predominates over the personal, when their activities are dictated by collective interests and not by personal advantage. It is precisely in this period that their self-motivation must be united in the party, in the framework of resolving party problems. It is only then, when the consciousness of a human being has risen above its prejudices and biological instincts, only in the period of its highest spiritual elevation, it is only then that the individual is worthy of membership in the party, is suitable for party work, capable, together with the party, of placing before society the problems of the future. But the party cannot rely upon lifelong enthusiasm, and this is why no one can be guaranteed lifelong trust. Party work is not the sole capacity in which society may be served; the state presents the citizen with another form of service, one encouraged by the satisfaction of personal needs. Those who have outlived their elevation, in whom the individualistic has prevailed, the party must exile from its activities; exile without reproach but with respect and recognition of merit; pitiless exile, yet not a severing of all ties. And at the head of the list of those who must be exiled from party affairs, are those whose work is linked to the taking of state decisions, for in proletarian society there is not a single internal problem to which the party and the state would adopt a uniform solution. The development of social consciousness also includes the recognition that each individual resolves such contradictions for himself, in his own consciousness, and that no one may resolve them for him, at the state level. (...) |
