I believe this is actually my first post on this forum so far, even though I've formally been a member for some time. Anyhow... So I was recently reading an article featuring a number of interesting remarks by Noam Chomsky on the present situation here in the US of A. Now the author's commentary aside, I'd like to point the very real similarities between Chomsky's emerging picture of the present situation and that which RCP, USA Chairman Bob Avakian has been putting out there for the last several years. I point this out because deeply grasping the objective situation is a crucial component of approaching the work of hastening while awaiting a revolutionary situation correctly. Both Avakian and Chomsky compare present-day America to the Weimar Republic. I think there definitely are real grounds for a comparison of the two. The difference between BA's analysis and that of Chomsky is of course that Chomsky's doesn't have a program attached to his: his is simply a collection of observations. I'd like us to all dig into this material here on this thread and, in this connection, to discuss the vital question of what is a correct revolutionary strategy for American communists. Now Avakian discusses the prospect of a new civil war erupting between these fascist forces on the one side and those of democratic imperialism on the other and, importantly, that we shouldn't try to steer clear of such a situation developing. Now what I'd like most to discuss on this thread in particular is what our position should be in regards to a hypothetical civil war situation in this country that may develop along these lines. I think we can look to the Spanish Civil War for a certain comparison on that and see that the whole "united front against fascism" orientation that "now is not the time for revolution" didn't work out well and should not be repeated. They held back real revolutionary struggles that were emerging that you should have been uniting with, methinks. What do you think?
If we had a civil war then I think the actual Communist elements would be small. For the most part it will be Fascists against pseudo-Fascists. I do not see a civil war happening anytime soon anyway. We will certainly reach full blown fascism long before that ever happens.
I think a civil war can occur in particular if a different, more radical polarization is brought forward. Would you argue that's impossible?
Should a civil war break out, we must take action. Of course, we would have no hopes of winning a civil war, but a united communist front would be able to carve out a small part of the country for the formation of a truly democratic socialist state. We would need to find allies of course and a good way of defending ourselves from what will surely be greater powers than us. If anything, our goal needn't be that of taking over the country, but opening up a haven for people who wish to escape fascism and pseudo-democracy. Rather than being a faction that is destroyed, we play the outsider, offering peace, freedom, and justice.
If a civil war broke out, assuming the collapse of the state, it would be communists organizing liberals against reactionaries. We're too small to go it alone and they're too timid to organize themselves. Most likely, however, it would be the reactionaries against the state. In this case, the heavy hand of the state would almost certainly come down on us as well. Because of the danger of the reactionaries, liberals would almost certainly cling to the state, so I'm not sure there's be much room for us to seek to divide the liberal leadership from its base.
If we define fascism as a system where Big Business controls government, then the US was fascist long before any political parties using that name came along. What you are really talking about is civil war BETWEEN fascist camps. Then, without a strong mass base, rooted in the homeless, poor, and unemployed, the left would get trodden in the malestrom that would ensue; and all the different left factions would blame one another for their defeat. (As an example, just look at the differring versions of the Spanish Civil War to be found in anarchist,Stalinist, and Trotskyist accounts).
I seriously doubt a civil war coming to the United States anytime soon. While people are divided in the U.S. largely between a highly conservative reactionary Christian right and the liberal secular "left", I don't see these people picking up arms anytime soon. They are "extremists" in both sections, but their number is minute and whenever one of them takes matters into their own hands, they are immediately condemned on a widespread level across the U.S.
I've always thought the idea of a US Civil War in the upcoming years was a highly likely situation, The United States of America is a violent and collapsing "Empire" that seems like it would split apart into multiple factions as soon as something hit the fan hard. It is likely that Leftist factions would emerge, though in the current times where the common man or woman views radical ideas much subscribed to on this site as "evil" or "just not possible" it creates a powerful quandary. All the Left would have to unite and stop bickering not to be crushed by the larger elements across the nation and I find it doubtful a Liberal like nation would come to "The Damn Commies" aid.
