Faced with chaos and barbarism, the responsibility of revolutionaries

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Gone are the days when, despite the reality of a world dominated by a system of exploitation that is leading humanity more and more explicitly to its doom, the media persisted in spreading a little optimism to lull the exploited to sleep by suggesting reasons to hope for a better capitalist world. Now, the accumulation of catastrophes of all kinds is such that it makes it much harder to see anything other than hell on earth. Adapting to this situation, propagandist intoxication more and more attempts to confine thinking to 'end of the world' doomsday scenarios and does everything to divert the exploited from the idea that another future is both indispensable and possible, that it is maturing in the bowels of society and that it will be the outcome of the class struggle of the proletariat, if it succeeds in overthrowing capitalism.

Unprecedented chaos and barbarity... is not an inevitability

The world situation, as dramatic and crushing as it is, is not inevitable and can be explained in ways other than by the lies of those who have a vested interest in the perpetuation of capitalism: exploiters of proletarian labour power, politicians of all stripes, democrats of the left and right, populists and those on the far left who are capital's last line of defence.

Capitalism, more than any other mode of production before it, has developed the productive forces that have made it possible, for the first time in human history, to build a society free of necessity, without social classes: communism. In this sense, it represented a progressive stage in the history of humanity. The First World War - with its millions of deaths and destruction the like of which history had never witnessed - signalled the entry of this system into irreversible decline, the perpetuation of which now increasingly threatens the very existence of humanity. With two world wars to its credit, and an uninterrupted succession of increasingly deadly local wars, since the collapse of the Eastern bloc in 1990 it has entered a new and final stage of its decadence, its final phase, that of the general decomposition of society, of it rotting on its feet. It is only through the materialist and historical framework of decomposition, as the ultimate phase of the decadence of capitalism, that it is really possible to apprehend the ‘end of the world’ phenomena that are invading society and to combat their cause: the persistence of the domination of capitalist relations of production that have become obsolete.

Society is in a state of decomposition across the board, with the development of a generalised mentality of ‘every man for himself’, the growing instability of international ‘regulatory’ structures and political apparatuses, but also an explosion in drug use, criminal activity, religious fanaticism, depression and suicide[1], and a turning away from rational thought. The wave of populism is itself a product of this decomposition, which is increasingly affecting the ability of sections of the bourgeoisie to manage capital ‘rationally’. Two articles in this issue of the International Review illustrate this[2]:  ”How the bourgeoisie organises itself" in particular the section "The rise of populism: the most spectacular expression of the bourgeoisie's loss of control over its political apparatus” and “The left of capital cannot save this dying system”.

In addition to the social irresponsibility of the bourgeoisie, this decomposition is contributing to the accelerated deterioration of the environment, motivated by the profits obtained by stealing natural resources, and thus to the worsening of climate change, as witnessed by the frequency and scale of climatic disasters around the world.

Clearly, the decomposition of society does not eliminate the fundamental contradictions of capitalism; on the contrary, it only aggravates them. The global economic crisis, back since the end of the 1960s, is inexorably and irreversibly worsening, with manifestations that will be deeper and more destabilising than the 2008 recession, and which will arguably break all the records of the great crisis of 1929 and 1930 (read “This crisis is going to be the most serious of the entire period of decadence” in this issue of the International Review). But at the same time, while inflicting further suffering on humanity, with in particular a considerable reinforcement of the exploitation of the working class, and openly revealing the bankruptcy of capitalism, the economic crisis will provide the ferment for new developments in the class struggle and in the consciousness of the working class.

At the same time, the barbarity of war is spreading uncontrollably and ever more dramatically across every continent. War is currently raging in Ukraine and in the Gaza Strip in the Middle East; the threat of a future confrontation between China and the United States is unabated...[3] The working class has no side to choose in all these wars, whether current or in the making, and must staunchly defend the banner of proletarian internationalism everywhere. For a whole period, the working class will not be able to stand up directly against war. On the other hand, the class struggle against exploitation will take on greater importance because it pushes the proletariat to politicise its struggle, with a view to overthrowing capitalism.

There is no other realistic perspective for humanity. Not only are we confronted with each of the capitalist calamities we have mentioned - decomposition, crisis, war, destruction of the environment - but all these scourges interweave and interact in a kind of ‘whirlwind effect’ with more destructive effects than the simple addition of the scourges considered in isolation from each other.

The class struggle resurfaces on the world stage

While the aspects of society which represent the prospect of the destruction of humanity occupies all the media space, there is another factor at work, in relation to which the bourgeoisie is very discreet: the resumption of the class struggle on a global scale, the development of which represents the only possible future for humanity. Thus, after the considerable difficulties encountered by the class struggle following the political exploitation by the bourgeoisie of the collapse of the Eastern bloc, the proletariat is making its return to the social scene. It took the proletariat three decades, from the 1990s onwards, to digest the disgusting ideological campaign which hammered home, in every possible tone and through the media on every continent, that the collapse of the Stalinist regimes - falsely identified with the future communist society which is its antithesis - signalled the end of the project to build a communist society on a global scale. These campaigns even went so far as to decree the end of the class struggle, of the working class and of history itself. Even if the working class tried to raise its head through certain struggles over the last thirty years, these were considerably limited by the fact that the workers no longer recognised themselves as a class distinct from society, the main exploited class in society, with a project of its own. Yet it was the working class's gradual recovery of its class identity that made possible the emergence of struggles in the United Kingdom, the “Summer of Anger” in 2022, the biggest wave of strikes in that country since 1979. This revival of class struggle carries within it the proletariat's recovery of its own political project, the overthrow of capitalism and the building of a communist society[4].

Articles in the ICC press have illustrated, followed and commented on the most striking expressions of this renewal of class struggle[5]. Since the publication of issue 171 of the International Review alone, major struggles have taken place in Quebec, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Turkey and Northern Ireland. Such struggles are obviously the result of the growing refusal of the working class to put up with worsening exploitation and miserable conditions that go with it (the slogan ‘enough is enough’ voiced by the workers in Britain). Even beyond the immediate awareness of workers in struggle, these movements constitute the beginning of a response to the hell on earth to which capitalism condemns humanity.

The intervention of revolutionaries must be in the vanguard at every level of the struggle of the working class and its awakening to consciousness.

As a product of the historic struggle of the world proletariat, the activity and intervention of revolutionaries are indispensable. This is true at every period in the life of society, from the birth of the workers’ movement to the present day, both in the rise of capitalism and the development of the workers’ movement and in its decline; whether it is by being in the vanguard of the working class struggle to give it direction, during revolutionary periods, or in the worst moments of retreat, resisting politically and being very much in the minority, in order to save and maintain the heritage to be handed down. But it’s also true in all ‘intermediate’ situations, such as the one we are currently experiencing, when there is no possibility of a real influence within the working class and where the function of revolutionaries cannot be that of a party, revolutionary activity is nevertheless essential and indispensable on many levels, in particular with regard to the preparation of the conditions for the emergence of the future party.

In fact, in all circumstances, the activity of revolutionaries is far from being limited to the production of a press or leaflets and their distribution, even if these tasks are indeed essential and very demanding. Thus, as a condition for producing the press, the organisation must have the capacity to comprehend the evolution of the world situation at all levels, which presupposes a permanent collective effort of analysis, which may require a return to the basics, to update and enrich the framework of analysis. As “there can be no revolutionary movement without a revolutionary theory”’ (Lenin), and because the world is not static, revolutionaries must bring their political positions to life in the light of reality. This is how, for example, Lenin, aware that the moment favourable to revolution was approaching, undertook to write The State and Revolution[6], which was a continuation and clarification of marxist theory on the question of the state. It was a similar consideration which, in a completely different context, led our organisation to make an analytical effort to understand, at the end of the 1980s, the significance of the accumulation of phenomena of social decomposition, and to show that this was by no means something fortuitous or normal in the life of capitalism, but corresponded to a new phase in the decadence of capitalism, that of its decomposition.

It is this approach that enables the ICC to understand the current dynamics of imperialist conflict, not as a confrontation between two rival imperialist blocs - as was the case in the period 1945 to 1989 - but first and foremost as an expression of every imperialist country's quest for survival in the global arena. As the United States battles for world leadership, it has not hesitated to push Russia into invading Ukraine in order to weaken it considerably and prevent it from supporting China against the United States.

It is also this kind of analysis which enables the ICC to understand and defend the fact that, since the disappearance of the imperialist blocs, the historical alternative is no longer ‘World Revolution or World War’, the two terms being mutually exclusive, in particular because a proletariat which is not defeated globally is an obstacle to its recruitment for war. The two antagonistic dynamics in the present situation are not mutually exclusive: on the one hand, the sinking of society into decomposition, with the disappearance of society and all human life on earth at stake, and on the other, the development of the world class struggle until the proletariat takes power. However, the final outcome of these two dynamics is indeed exclusive to one or the other.

In the proletarian milieu, and certainly among those seeking class positions, there are divergences or questions as to the way in which the historical alternative is posed in the present situation. Some of these divergences have to do with whether or not we recognise the current phase of decomposition of capitalism. The ICC has developed a critique of the ‘vulgar materialist’ approach which underlies the rejection of the notion of the decomposition of capitalism (see the section “The marxist method, an indispensable tool for understanding the present world” in the “Update of the Theses on Decomposition, 2023” in International Review 170 ) and we can only encourage its critics, as well as its defenders, to engage in debate on this question. But it is not the only issue that needs to be clarified as a matter of priority. Indeed, the development of war tensions requires the utmost clarity and firmness regarding our attitude and intervention in the face of this situation.

The defence of proletarian internationalism as set out in the Communist Manifesto is irrevocable: “Proletarians have no country; proletarians of all countries unite”. However, in the face of the current conflicts, in particular the one in the Gaza Strip, there is a tendency among groups of the Communist Left (the Bordigists) but also within a fringe that shares a certain proximity to class positions, to set aside the intransigent position ‘Proletarians of all countries unite’ in favour of dubious formulas that ‘forget’ the proletariat of the Gaza Strip, dissolving it into the ‘Palestinian people’. Such confusions, which must be discussed and fought against, are very damaging insofar as they open a breach in the principles which the working class must defend to be able to face up to the development of military conflicts which will increase throughout the world[7].

Since its inception, the Communist Left has assumed a leading responsibility in the fight against war at various key moments in history by denouncing the two imperialist camps present: during the Spanish war in 1936, the Republicans on one side and the fascists on the other; during the Second World War: Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States on one side and Germany and Italy on the other, while Trotskyism betrayed the proletariat by defending the democratic camp in Spain and then the camp of Russia and the Allies[8]. But since then, the main groups of the Communist Left have rejected the various requests from the ICC to take a common position on the various conflicts that have bloodied the world since the end of the 1970s. This refusal arises out of sectarianism or opportunism, as was the case with the war in Ukraine, faced with which the International Communist Tendency (ICT), rejected the approach proposed by the ICC, which was totally in line with that of the Communist Left, instead taking the opposite tack, a broad approach blurring the demarcation that should exist between the Communist Left that is effectively fighting against war in general and a whole milieu made up of those who are circumstantially opposed to this or that war[9]. In these circumstances, it is only a small number of groups on the Communist Left who have assumed this internationalist responsibility[10].

Sylunken (20/07/2024)

 

[1] Read our article “Theses on Decomposition”, International Review 107

[5] For example, International Review 169 “The return of the combativity of the world proletariat”, and International Review 170 “Report on class struggle for the 25th ICC congress”.

[6] On this subject, read our article “Lenin's ‘State and Revolution’: Striking Validation of Marxism”, in International Review 91

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International Review 172 Editorial