AnaRchic
10th February 2014, 16:54
We have now entered an era of global economic and social crisis not seen since the second world war. The meteoric rise of finance capital in conjunction with the rapid expansion of globalization has resulted in an epoch of unprecedented poverty, misery, war, austerity and debt. The Great Recession of 2008 revealed, on a global scale, the insurmountable contradictions of modern capitalism. The past few years have seen unprecedented explosions of popular unrest and class struggle across the globe. The stage is now set for social revolution and the mass reconstruction of society. What is missing from this equation is the existence of a mass revolutionary international organization, capable of providing a leadership of ideas for our class in the course of struggle.
The ideological dogmas of the 20th century are dead. The world has changed in unimaginable ways, and the balance of class forces are significantly different. Much can be learned from the struggles of our class throughout history, but repeating the methods of the past will not serve us in this age of post-industrial capitalism. What is needed now more than ever is a revolutionary new left synthesis, combining lessons of the past with a scientific analysis of the present situation, with the end goal of establishing participatory democratic socialism, and eventually, communism on a global scale in our lifetime.
This new synthesis will require us in the first place to abandon our adherence to 'revolutionary' dogmas. So long as we are fractured and isolated we will accomplish nothing. The forces of capitalism are highly organized and we must be likewise. We must recognize the value of all the ideological manifestations of the struggle of our class. Marxism for its materialist method of analyzing history and society, Anarchism for its relentless affirmation of human freedom and cooperative association, left communism for its understanding of the need for full, thorough-going communist revolution in opposition to reformism. We must embrace the positives, and discard the negatives, of all these various leftist philosophies so as to reach an agreeable synthesis. With this goal of unification in mind, I propose the following revolutionary principles as a basis for international revolutionary working class unity.
1. A commitment to the revolutionary self-emancipation of the working class and the total reconstruction of society.
2. A commitment to international socialism, broadly conceived as the social ownership of productive capital and the cooperative self-management of economics in the interest of satisfying human need.
3. A non-dogmatic approach to revolutionary politics, beyond all old dogmas, employing a systematic, practical, and scientific methodology to the tasks of social revolution. We come together as "revolutionary socialists" united by core convictions.
4. In our organization, our practice, and the socialist society we aim for, we operate within the guideline of "maximum democracy, minimal hierarchy".
5. We approach our revolutionary task with the utmost practicality and realism, so as to see the success of the social revolution as quickly as possible.
I think most of you can agree that a fragmented and sectarian left will never be able to do much of anything effective, let alone act as a leadership of ideas for the working class in struggle. This is my proposal of where we need to go, and I hope it rings true for everyone. It is my sincere hope that we could potentially all come to a position of unity, based on commitment to the above five principles. Any thoughts?
The ideological dogmas of the 20th century are dead. The world has changed in unimaginable ways, and the balance of class forces are significantly different. Much can be learned from the struggles of our class throughout history, but repeating the methods of the past will not serve us in this age of post-industrial capitalism. What is needed now more than ever is a revolutionary new left synthesis, combining lessons of the past with a scientific analysis of the present situation, with the end goal of establishing participatory democratic socialism, and eventually, communism on a global scale in our lifetime.
This new synthesis will require us in the first place to abandon our adherence to 'revolutionary' dogmas. So long as we are fractured and isolated we will accomplish nothing. The forces of capitalism are highly organized and we must be likewise. We must recognize the value of all the ideological manifestations of the struggle of our class. Marxism for its materialist method of analyzing history and society, Anarchism for its relentless affirmation of human freedom and cooperative association, left communism for its understanding of the need for full, thorough-going communist revolution in opposition to reformism. We must embrace the positives, and discard the negatives, of all these various leftist philosophies so as to reach an agreeable synthesis. With this goal of unification in mind, I propose the following revolutionary principles as a basis for international revolutionary working class unity.
1. A commitment to the revolutionary self-emancipation of the working class and the total reconstruction of society.
2. A commitment to international socialism, broadly conceived as the social ownership of productive capital and the cooperative self-management of economics in the interest of satisfying human need.
3. A non-dogmatic approach to revolutionary politics, beyond all old dogmas, employing a systematic, practical, and scientific methodology to the tasks of social revolution. We come together as "revolutionary socialists" united by core convictions.
4. In our organization, our practice, and the socialist society we aim for, we operate within the guideline of "maximum democracy, minimal hierarchy".
5. We approach our revolutionary task with the utmost practicality and realism, so as to see the success of the social revolution as quickly as possible.
I think most of you can agree that a fragmented and sectarian left will never be able to do much of anything effective, let alone act as a leadership of ideas for the working class in struggle. This is my proposal of where we need to go, and I hope it rings true for everyone. It is my sincere hope that we could potentially all come to a position of unity, based on commitment to the above five principles. Any thoughts?