Alf
23rd October 2006, 13:30
ICC public meeting:
Communism – what is it, and how do we get there?
“Communism? Ah yes, like Russia used to be. The state controls the whole economy. Except for a small number of apparatchiks, who make all the decisions, everybody is paid the same low wages. People weren’t free to leave the country”.
To which we reply: No! That’s not the communism of Marx, who looked forward to the abolition of the wages system, the disappearance of the state and of national frontiers. To a society of freely associated producers!
“Oh, that communism. A wonderful utopia. A nice idea, but it would never work…Better to do what we can to make capitalism more humane”.
To which we reply: what doesn’t work is capitalism, which has long outlived itself and is dragging humanity into a nightmare of economic collapse, war and ecological destruction. Communism is a necessity for the survival and future flowering of the human species. Furthermore, it is no utopia. It expresses the fundamental interests of the class which is exploited by capital, and whose real struggles have provided plenty of evidence of how capitalism can be opposed and overthrown.
Since 1990 and the collapse of the ‘Communist’ bloc – in reality a form of state capitalism – the International Communist Current has been publishing a series of articles around the theme ‘Communism is not a nice idea, it’s a material necessity’. This series aims to examine what the workers’ movement has really meant by communism and how it has progressively developed its understanding of how to achieve it. The first volume of the series begins with ‘primitive’ communism and goes on to explore the conception of communism in the writings of Marx, Engels and other revolutionaries during the 19th century. It is soon to be published in the form of a book. The second volume of the series deals with the period from the mass strikes of 1905 till the end of the first great revolutionary wave that followed the first world war. Both volumes have been summarised in three articles published in our International Review, as a prelude to the third volume.
In addition, we are holding a series of public meetings where we will discuss these questions. The first of these will be at Conway Hall from 2-5 pm on Saturday 25 November 2006. There will be a short presentation by the ICC but the emphasis at our meetings is to develop discussion as widely and openly as possible. All are welcome.
Communism – what is it, and how do we get there?
“Communism? Ah yes, like Russia used to be. The state controls the whole economy. Except for a small number of apparatchiks, who make all the decisions, everybody is paid the same low wages. People weren’t free to leave the country”.
To which we reply: No! That’s not the communism of Marx, who looked forward to the abolition of the wages system, the disappearance of the state and of national frontiers. To a society of freely associated producers!
“Oh, that communism. A wonderful utopia. A nice idea, but it would never work…Better to do what we can to make capitalism more humane”.
To which we reply: what doesn’t work is capitalism, which has long outlived itself and is dragging humanity into a nightmare of economic collapse, war and ecological destruction. Communism is a necessity for the survival and future flowering of the human species. Furthermore, it is no utopia. It expresses the fundamental interests of the class which is exploited by capital, and whose real struggles have provided plenty of evidence of how capitalism can be opposed and overthrown.
Since 1990 and the collapse of the ‘Communist’ bloc – in reality a form of state capitalism – the International Communist Current has been publishing a series of articles around the theme ‘Communism is not a nice idea, it’s a material necessity’. This series aims to examine what the workers’ movement has really meant by communism and how it has progressively developed its understanding of how to achieve it. The first volume of the series begins with ‘primitive’ communism and goes on to explore the conception of communism in the writings of Marx, Engels and other revolutionaries during the 19th century. It is soon to be published in the form of a book. The second volume of the series deals with the period from the mass strikes of 1905 till the end of the first great revolutionary wave that followed the first world war. Both volumes have been summarised in three articles published in our International Review, as a prelude to the third volume.
In addition, we are holding a series of public meetings where we will discuss these questions. The first of these will be at Conway Hall from 2-5 pm on Saturday 25 November 2006. There will be a short presentation by the ICC but the emphasis at our meetings is to develop discussion as widely and openly as possible. All are welcome.