Militancy and Leadership

When it comes to communist or socialist leadership, it’s a grave error to think militancy and leadership are in themselves separate entities. Militancy and leadership should be intertwined, and go hand and hand with each other, to work in accordance to one another. We have seen by examples of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Che, Castro, Tambo and other Marxist-Leninist leaders, that combine militancy and leadership. Unless these two are combined, change is ineffective. But when we talk about militancy and leadership, we do not simply mean leadership of a guerrilla group hiding in the woods ready to strike with guns blazing. We also mean knowing when to apply that militancy and how to use it effectively in leadership positions. Even something as basic as organizing a mass strike that is daring enough to keep a business from producing profits, forcing them to surrender to the demands of the striking masses takes a militant leader to take charge; someone who won't betray or sacrifice the interest of the people for self-interest. Militancy must be applied scientifically and strategically.

There is no point where leadership starts and militancy ends. The two must never separate. If militancy is replaced with pacifism or liberalism, pacifism and liberalism will take leadership from a revolutionary road to a revisionist road leading the struggle in the wrong direction. This leads to the next question, what secures militancy within leadership? Two things; 1) Marxist-Leninist theory, which is Dialectical and Historical Materialism. And 2) The building of a working-class leader.

From the J. Peter's book, The Communist Party Manual on Organization we quote the following:

Chapter IV: Party Membership and Cadres.

Subsection: What Kind of Forces Do We Need Most Now?

“We need proletarian forces who grow up from the masses, who are popular leaders of their fellow workers in a shop, union, block, town, or farm community, forces who are in close contact with the masses and reflect the feelings of the proletariat, who can best bring into life the correct fighting slogans of the Party. We need forces, first of all, from the native-born workers, from among the Negro proletariat, from among the women workers. The basic forces of the Party should come from the big factories. These members should be drawn into leadership, preparing them in the process of Party work for the actual carrying out of Party tasks, training them politically also.”

Subsection: Who are The Professional Revolutionists?

“A professional revolutionist is a highly developed comrade, trained in revolutionary theory and practice, tested in struggles, who gives his whole life to the fight for the interests of his own class. A professional revolutionist is ready to go whenever and wherever the Party sends him. Today he may be working in a mine, organizing the Party, the trade unions, leading struggles; tomorrow, if the Party so decides, he may be in a steel mill; the day after tomorrow, he may be a leader and organizer of the unemployed. Naturally, these professional revolutionists are supported by the Party organization if their assignment doesn't send them work in shops or mines. From these comrades the Party demands everything. They accept Party assignments – the matter of family associations and other personal problems are considered, but not decisive. If the class struggle demands it, he will leave his family for months, even years. The professional revolutionist cannot be demoralized; he is steeled, stable. Nothing can shake him. Our task is to make every Party member a professional revolutionist in this sense.”

Conclusion:

A working-class leader must be, as clearly described by the J. Peter's book, a natural born leader from among the working class and/or working-class bodies (unions and the like) and must be, in the political aspect of things, a professional revolutionist who will not only do what they know is needed of them for their class, but will do so with their leadership skills, and their effective practice of communist theory.

Capitalist Terror vs Communist Terror

Under capitalism all you ever hear about is the terror of communist movements and regimes. But the subject of capitalist terror is so heavily hidden that only the critical and the rebellious seek to know the truth. The capitalists are in no position of righteousness to complain about terror, especially since they are the dominant ones who commit the most of it in the name of profit and imperialism.

The capitalists have their own long list of terror they’ve committed for their interests, and we the working class are on the receiving end of their terror. In this article I will detail just some of the crimes against humanity capitalists have committed in the name of their interests.

Capitalist terror:

One of the worst atrocities committed in the name of capitalist profit motive was the atrocities in Guatemala. A company called United Fruit, now called Chiquita Banana, was one of a few fruit companies in Latin America and Northern South America who was harvesting Bananas, Sugar, Pineapples, etc. The fruit companies soon grew in to monopolies in the region, dominating the economic market of nations. United Fruit dominating Guatemala’s economy. The fruit companies, with their overbearing economic power, soon started to practice some activities that was for their own interest. These companies, after either overthrowing governments to put puppets in their place or bribe off government officials to fight for their interest worked greatly to advancing their political domination over nations. The country Honduras came under a lot of debt which one fruit company, Cuyamel Fruit Company, offered to help build infrastructure in pay of lard land grants the company would use to harvest more and more produce for profit; United Fruit and others followed these same tactics. Cuyamel was bought out by United Fruit, but the owner of Cuyamel was placed in charge of United Fruit. But the subject of what happened to Guatemala was truly a terrifying situation, United Fruit dominated majority of all land mass and turned the country in to a slave colony. United Fruit being cozied up to from 1898 to 1920 by a U.S. backed dictator, Manuel Cabrera, they was given tax exemptions, land grants, and monopolistic control over all rail roads for transportation. The workers was forced to work on United Fruit land for low wages that was unable to be survived on. Cabrera, working for the interest of United Fruit, would often kill workers for striking against the unfair treatment of the company. Cabrera was soon removed for corruption, and he was succeeded by even more U.S. backed, corrupt puppets. From 1898 to 1944, it was just corrupt leader after corrupt leader licking the boots of America and United Fruit. In 1931, Jorge Ubico came in to power, he was one of the most brutal dictators in Latin America and he advanced not only the interests of United Fruit, but also his own as well. He set up the nation in to a corporate agrarian feudal system where United Fruit dominated majority of the economy, and as a measure of security for capitalist interests, set up U.S. military bases in the country. It was not till 1944 that a new president, Juan Arévalo, was elected who called for reforms such as minimum wage, literacy programs and universal suffrage. Labor unions soon started to form. Then Arévalo handed power over to Jacobo Arbenz, who continued the reforms. When he took office, 2% of the population owned 70% of the land. United Fruit, enraged at these reforms, and failing to overthrow Arévalo 25 times, reached out to the U.S. and the CIA for assistance. The CIA created a slander campaign stating that Guatemala was being taken over by communism, and what followed next was the creation of right-wing militias who went around the country slaughtering civil rights organizers, union organizers, and other progressive groups. They then overthrew the government and put in a new president, Carlos Castillo Armas that allowed United Fruit to carry out the most brutal exploitation imaginable. Carlos also dissolved the reforms, put in the secret police that was under Ubico, made illiterate people (who made up most of the population) unable to vote, purged the government of any and all officials with left-wing sympathies, and received 90 million dollars support from the U.S. government. After Armas a long period of brutal dictators controlled the country from 1954 to 1993. And systematic human rights violations continued as the nation remained a corporate slave colony under the boot of both United Fruit and the U.S.

Sources:
Top 10 US-Backed Atrocities and Authoritarian Regimes by Libertarian Socialist Rants.

Another case of capitalist terror brings the subject of the Coca-Cola industry to the table. Coca-Cola has been accused of conspiring with paramilitary death squads to torture and kill union activists in Colombia, and polluting and depleting water supplies in India. Coca-Cola also turned some of their factories in to sweatshop conditions, abusing their workers with an 83 cent minimum wage to work 12 hours a day.

Sources:http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2009/1027.html
https://www.thenation.com/article/case-against-coke/

It isn’t just outside the U.S. but inside the U.S. as well. The list of terror and crimes against workers is long and despicable.

• July 21-22, 1877; 40 Pennsylvania railroad workers during a strike was killed by the state militia who sought to protect the roadhouse. 29 others injured.
• November 5, 1887; About 20 striking sugar workers was killed by the Louisiana battalion of national guardsmen.
• November 23, 1887; known as the Thibodaux Massacre, the Louisiana Militia, aided by bands of prominent citizens, shot at least 35 unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage and lynched two strike leaders. "No credible official count of the victims was ever made; bodies continued to turn up in shallow graves outside of town for weeks to come."
• April 7–July, 1905; Illinois Teamster workers on strike broke out in to riots on the 7^th, and carried on daily till mid-July. After it all, 21 people was killed and 416 injured.
• April 18, 1912–July 1913; Called the Paint Creek Mine War, in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Coal workers went on strike, the county sheriff’s posse attacked the Holly Grove miners’ camp with machine guns, killing striker Cesco Estep. Many more than 50 deaths among miners and their families were indirectly caused, as a result of starvation and malnutrition.
• August 25–Sept. 2, 1921; The Battle of Blair Mountain, the bloodiest battle between workers and capitalist lapdogs. The largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest organized armed uprising since the American Civil War. During an attempt by the miners to unionize, and following the murder of Sid Hatfield, 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3000 lawmen and Baldwin-Felts strikebreakers, who were backed by coal mine operators. In the summer of 1921 in Mingo County, hundreds of miners were arrested without habeas corpus and other basic legal rights. Talk spread of a march to free those confined miners, end martial law, and organize the county. The reviled anti-union sheriff of Logan County, Don Chafin set up defenses on Blair Mountain, with the nation's largest private armed force of 2000. By August 29, battle was fully joined. Chafin's men, though outnumbered, had the advantage of higher positions and better weaponry. Private hired planes dropped homemade bombs on the miners near the towns of Jeffery, Sharples and Blair. Army bombers were used for aerial surveillance. Sporadic gun battles continued for a week. Up to 30 deaths were reported by Chafin's side and 50–100 on the union miners' side, with hundreds more injured. On September 2, federal troops arrived by presidential order, and the miners started heading home the next day. About one million rounds were fired in the battle.

Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes

Communist Terror:

“We have no compassion and we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.” –Karl Marx.

The complaints by the capitalists about the terror communists inflicted on capitalists and their lapdogs is not only propaganda to make themselves appear as angels, but the largest form of hypocrisy imaginable. Communists have always represented the interests of the workers. We are their vanguard, and we will fight for them in all routes possible. The capitalists will maintain keeping us from political power and destroying any chance of liberation. They will undermine democracy in the interest of protecting their power, so thus the only option is to turn to the most radical enforcement to secure democracy of the workers. And once our people are liberated we will show no mercy nor compassion to those who abused, raped, killed, and enslaved our working people for entire generations. The capitalists and monarchs of Russia, Cuba and North Korea learned quickly what happened when they continued to abuse and kill working class people. Justice was served with the death of the Tsar, Batista, and the Japanese/American/and British invaders in Korea. If the capitalist seek to undermine the people’s democratic decision, and continue in the wage enslavement of them, the only option is revolutionary overthrow of the tyrants. They have committed crimes that only the workers can make them face justice for, and that justice is socialism. The democratic will of the workers, of the majority of the society, must be enforced and defended by the ballot or the bullet. When the first one fails, or is suppressed, the second must fight to succeed, and make the first be enforced.

Conclusion:

The liberals, conservatives, and other bootlickers for the capitalist class can make excuses for the bourgeoisie all they please, but if the decision must be made on capitalist terror vs communist terror; I will side with the worker carrying a red flag and toting a gun ready to kill and die for his cause.

On the Question of Authoritarianism

The term “authoritarian” is a word often utilized in slander campaigns against socialist states like the former USSR, the current DPRK, and Cuba. The term itself is often utilized in capitalist propaganda to oppose any move towards scientific socialism, it stems from liberalism.

In this same regard, it is to no surprise the “Anti-Authoritarian” anarchists and left-communists have sided with the capitalists in their slander against socialist states for authoritarianism.

Even Marx and Engels had to deal with these arguments of authoritarianism.

As Engels once said:

“Have these gentlemen ever seen a revolution? A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists. Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois? Should we not, on the contrary, reproach it for not having used it freely enough?

Therefore, either one of two things: either the anti-authoritarians don't know what they're talking about, in which case they are creating nothing but confusion; or they do know, and in that case, they are betraying the movement of the proletariat. In either case they serve the reaction.”

The workers realize that this authoritarian demand for revolution is a direct result of suppression by the capitalists. The capitalists, suppressing the democratic demands of the workers, who collectively call for socialism, will learn that, if democracy of the people is suppressed, then that democracy must be forced by authoritarian measures if needed. It is the workers who, out of this radical democratic consideration, have called for blood of those who suppressed and abused them.

As Lenin said:

“Revolutions are festivals of the oppressed and exploited”

The anti-authoritarians, these opportunists who understand not the reality of the people, but instead stick to slandering the will of the people who built their ideal socialist state against all odds and aggression of their enemies.

Reformists, often the most loudest anti-authoritarians and biggest bootlickers of the capitalist system, participate alongside the anarchists and left-communists in the slander of the workers who united and partook in the destruction of the capitalist state and brought from its ashes their own state. The anti-authoritarians with their arguments of “But what about the dictatorship” or “The bureaucracy” or “Gulags and executions” are the same people who would in turn lick the boots of the capitalist bureaucracy/dictatorship, or build a bureaucracy of their own and would put in place gulags of their own vision and execute those who stood in their way. The socialist revolution and building of the socialist state stems from its very root the subject of democracy, for it was a collective majority of working people who demanded socialism, just to be suppressed by the capitalists, and in turn from that democratic demand, revolted to protect their demand.

Anti-Authoritarians call themselves the true revolutionaries, but they are anything but. Revolutionaries are those willing to guide, to unite, to push to the outcome of scientific socialism at all costs. However, these anti-authoritarians have done nothing but try to hinder it, it distracting the workers from revolutionary activities, to argue for bourgeoisie “democratic” measures in reaching socialism, or, act in a way that destroys the revolutionaries. Such examples are Fanya Kaplan, who tried to kill Lenin because she seen him as a traitor to the revolution. This was her statement to the Cheka:

“My name is Fanya Kaplan. Today I shot at Lenin. I did it on my own. I will not say whom I obtained my revolver. I will give no details. I had resolved to kill Lenin long ago. I consider him a traitor to the Revolution. I was exiled to Akatoi for participating in an assassination attempt against a Tsarist official in Kiev. I spent eleven years at hard labour. After the Revolution I was freed. I favoured the Constituent Assembly and am still for it.”

http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/09/03/1918-fanya-kaplan-lenins-would-be-assassin/

These anti-authoritarians will slander actual revolutionaries and successful socialist states, or, if the revolutionaries are growing, will act in the interest of the bourgeoisie, and try to kill them.

The fact is, authoritarianism is nothing more than a slur by our enemies, who seek to distract the workers with mindless rhetoric, to keep them questioning the call of radical democracy; for socialism. With the understanding of authoritarianism, there can be no peaceful road to the socialist goal, for the enemies of socialism will deploy all extremes to crush it, thus, the extreme to enforce the will of the people, the socialist goal, must be taken; this extreme is revolution and the suppression of capitalist bootlickers and foot soldiers. It is either radical proletarian democracy or death.

The Characteristics of a Revolutionary

When we talk about a revolutionary, we mean the scientific socialist and communist revolutionary, those who are guided by theory and fight for progress. Not counter-revolutionaries or bourgeoisie revolutionaries, who are focused on taking the establishment toward a reactionary and/or regressive government.

The character of a revolutionary can be defined in a few ways. It must, at first, start with the revolutionization of oneself that creates the will to act. What this means is to understand the current power structure and how it maintains its monopoly of violence in the interests of a specific class, but also, of course, to purge from their own upbringing all reactionary behavior that such an oppressive structure has forced upon them. Then, and only then can a revolutionary be dedicated to the advance of society and advance the new revolutionary culture, to crush the reactionary culture, and build a vanguard to fight the oppressive capitalist state currently in place.

Molding of Oneself as a Revolutionary:

Why is it important for a revolutionary to purge reactionary behavior from themselves, in a process of revolutionization within their own personalities, to become a revolutionary? The answer is relatively simple to understand. For only those who can change themselves from years of reactionary influence dumped upon them by the oppressors, can fight for the new society they envision. They will not side with their enemies in reactionary influence or let it slow down their ability to proceed forward towards progress.

As Marx said:

“Both for the production on a mass scale of this communist consciousness, and for the success of the cause itself, the alteration of men on a mass scale is, necessary, an alteration which can only take place in a practical movement, a revolution; this revolution is necessary, therefore, not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revolution succeed in ridding itself of all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society anew.”

                    -Karl Marx, German Ideology

Marx detailing in clear English shown the need for a change of consciousness for a new society to arise. It is clear to see the importance of this change of consciousness

for a revolutionary, who leads the masses, to go through this revolutionization of oneself to make themselves a properly prepared fighter for this new society. But not only should the revolutionary purge reactionary muck from his own thinking and personality, but he must build the movement to do the same. And this is where the rise of a new culture comes to wage a war against the reactionary culture.

Waging a Revolutionary Cultural War:

Culture is war, a battle of ideas where revolutionary culture and reactionary culture each fight to dominate the other. A struggle to change the thought process of the masses. To lead them to progress or hold them back. The end goal is to win this war for the revolutionary culture, led by the revolutionaries. The revolutionary, who truly has devoted themselves to the progress of society, must take charge in helping this revolutionary culture develop and advance to victory.

What is this revolutionary culture and how can the revolutionary push it forward?

This culture is one that challenges everything reactionary and toxic of the already established culture, and promotes a culture of people's power, equality of all workers, justice by the demands of the people, respect of all oppressed people's, and so on. The revolutionary can only push this culture forward by understanding it, first and foremost, and then find the effective ways to push this way of thinking, along with rally the rest of society to support it. But how, in the most effective way, can this culture advance forward? The answer is simple; with the leadership of the communist vanguard pushing it forward.

The Will to Act:

What makes the revolutionary act? What drives them? As Che Guevara said:

“The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love”

What does he mean by this? This love that guided the revolutionary is a love for humanity, a love for those who are oppressed and exploited. This will to act is the burning fire inside all those who refuse to sit by as their capitalist oppressors continue to abuse and kill us with ease. A burning rage of acknowledging the crimes of the oppressors, a burning rage turned in to revolutionary anger, which extends in to real life action.

In short, the revolutionary's will to act, is a love of the oppressed, and burning anger against the oppressors.

Difference Between the Revolutionary and the Martyr:

What makes a revolutionary different from a martyr? And vice versa? While they share similarities, the two are opposites when it comes to the motivation for each.

The martyr, guided by the same passion as a revolutionary, will die for their cause like a revolutionary. The revolutionary, knowing violence is the final means to end oppression, is a principled fighter for his movements during times of peace and violence, when the time calls for one or the other. A revolutionary has the wisdom to know this important distinction. A martyr sees violence as the only means to their end, and they act upon this fatalistic world view at times that call for peace and legal activity.

The martyr unlike the revolutionary, is not guided by scientific study of revolutionary strategy and tactics. Of course, there are exceptions to this general description of martyrdom. Assassination is one such case. Comrade Chris Hani, the great South African revolutionary, was assassinated at a very early age by a racist, pro-Apartheid sympathizer. This means that he is both a revolutionary and a martyr throughout the entire world. It is not the job of Communists to glorify and romanticize violence and death. Unfortunately, given the nature of our class enemies who are fueled by hatred and capitalist barbarity, there are times when we must defend ourselves and the working class we represent.

With that said, it is unavoidable to acknowledge that the conditions of capitalism, and the conditions of revolution, breeds both martyrs and revolutionaries. However, it is the revolutionaries who brought the people to revolution, while the traditional martyr takes the chance of revolution to fulfill their wants of fighting, to be remembered for fighting, not for organizing the people and bringing them to the fight. Martyrdom is not the end to strive for. The communist revolutionary ideal is.

The Endless Goal of a Revolutionary:

The goal of the true revolutionary is to continue fighting till either they meet their death, or the oppression of our class has come to its end. That’s why, to be a revolutionary, you must acknowledge that you are hated, and that as an individual you are the target of our oppressors. The revolutionary must let this knowledge not breed defeatism, but instead be fuel for the burning fire inside themselves that makes them act for the people. Let the awareness of the hate that the capitalist oppressors have for you fuel the revolutionary fire inside of you.