Our Class Needs to Know the Truth
The revolutionary period we are in is real and profound. Nothing less than the fate of the planet is at stake. Can we expect to effect change without thoroughly understanding the battlefield we are on? Let’s examine this briefly here.
The ruling classes of the world are strategically weak. They have created their own gravediggers in the form of a new class of workers, brought into being by the introduction of labor-replacing technology. Capitalism is an economic system based on the exploitation of labor. Labor-replacing technology is destroying the capitalist system. That idea is a reality the enemy would rather not have disclosed.
The capitalist class touts all kinds of proposals, from job creation to a guaranteed income, but none of them could work even if the ruling class did intend to implement them. Already, production without human labor steadily increases as 24/7 technologies produce more products than can ever be sold. Everyone, especially the capitalists, are beginning to understand the problem here. Production without human labor demands distribution without money.
The capitalist class is preparing for social upheaval, while trying to use the current period to institute fascist control. If they are to maintain the private property rights they have now, they can only do it by force. They know full well a social upheaval is developing from among the growing number of people who can no longer feed, clothe, and shelter themselves under the existing economic system.
Ruling Class Aims to Deceive
The capitalist class has many means and methods of confusing and deceiving the movement for a society free from want. Fifty percent of the American people are living in poverty or are on the edge of it. The objective unity of a section of those workers, disenfranchised and made permanently redundant, is real, and there are strong signs those affected are recognizing this growing equality of poverty. It is a tie that binds them together. Such a consciousness would make real problems for the tiny capitalist class. Unity of the working class has always been their worst nightmare.
In their dilemma, the capitalists look for a way of disuniting and disorienting this tremendous historical movement of millions. This movement can only succeed by replacing corporate ownership and control of society with a collective public ownership and control of abundance. That abundance could eradicate poverty and want worldwide virtually overnight. The stakes could not be bigger. It is a race against time.
The ruling class is not stupid. They aim to retain private property at any cost and by any means. Owning both major political parties is a no-brainer, a relatively cheap thing they have great experience with. If the people begin to move independently of the Republican and Democrat corporate parties, it benefits the ruling class to herd them back in somehow. The seemingly unbreakable trap of the capitalist form of two-party rule confuses many sincere revolutionary people. It appears to be the only game in town.
But now there are spontaneous outbreaks everywhere that the ruling class does not fully control. They must pay attention because any one of them could become gargantuan pretty quickly. In the last few years we have seen nearly constant upsurges against the deteriorating conditions: Occupy Wall Street, the immigrant marches, the battles against police brutality, the nationwide Moral Monday protests, the battles for health care and recently the Women’s March. These are recent manifestations of both how volatile conditions are becoming and how determined the people are for change. The growing movement threatens the control of the rulers. The ruling class has a vested interest in controlling every aspect of these movements that they can.
Daily Reality Undermines Ruling Class Tactics
The ruling class is in a hard spot because the new class of workers has an objective unity, that is, they are increasingly equal in their economic conditions. The main way that the ruling class tries to prevent this new class from uniting against them is by pitting them against one another.
As an example of how they do this, let’s look at a hypothetical group of young workers. Let’s say they are united in the fact they are mostly working temporary or part time hours in retail. Let’s say they are a mix of cultures, races, nationalities, religions, genders, and sexual orientations.
To the ruling class, they appear as a potential threat. To neutralize the threat the ruling class must attempt to control the thinking of this highly energetic section of the population. Trouble is, most of them are not needed in production. They may get low-paying jobs, but their long term economic prospects are dim. Some might join the military in the hopes of a better life, only to re-emerge later, still largely unemployable because of the ever accelerating technological revolution. Some might go to college in the hopes of improving their outcomes in the future, but end up joining the ranks of those with crushing student loan debt. Some of them may drift into substance abuse, an always-plentiful means by which the ruling class can neutralize them. Some may be incarcerated, as the increases in the prison population mirror the steep drop in manufacturing jobs. Those who find work today have zero job security, long hours, no benefits and low pay. It is hard to convince people they are doing okay or have a future when their life experience tells them the opposite. Young workers are getting angry and frustrated and sensing the need to unite forces.
The ruling class has made preparations for this eventuality. It takes the form of a narrative that appeals to the young fledgling activist while simultaneously clipping his or her feathers. The narrative says, “Everything can be fixed under capitalist rule. We have democracy!” The presumption of democracy and a long list of “rights” under the system is taken as a given by many Americans. But things have changed, and are changing rapidly. The fact that open fascist rule is supplanting our so-called democracy is still not recognized.
The sophisticated use of billions of dollars paid into the movements for social justice and change is intended to guarantee people’s continued confusion and suppression. The CIA, for example, has a long history of doing this, and now this method is increasingly used domestically, often drawing in honest people and young leaders seeking real change. The ruling class has designed networks to mislead any opposition to the rule of the capitalist. They have funded an opposition, diverted it, and then crushed the various people’s movements, whenever they could.
Let go back to our hypothetical group of young adults. The unity they have in common is based on their objective position in society as marginal workers. If you desired to divide and conquer them you would try to do it by emphasizing the differences among them. You would suggest they organize themselves based on these differences, rather than what they have in common, their economic condition.
The ruling class benefits greatly from dividing and subdividing the movement. Unity, remember, is the only thing they fear. But let’s say our young people are wise to those tricks of the ruling class. Yet there are still lots of political divisions for the ruling class to exploit.
The single biggest lie that undermines the revolutionary movement is that the capitalist system can be reformed. Evidence that reforms were granted in the past is used to propagate the idea they will be granted today. This suggests that rather than educating people around the objective changes of labor-less production, people should be counseled (our youth included) to cry out louder for the changes they want, and caution them against revolutionary instruction. In this way, they are no threat to the ruling class, and will exhaust themselves trying to gain reform through a system from which reform is no longer possible. This is happening across all spectrums of the movement today.
Telling the Truth
When we tell our class they are in a revolutionary epoch and systematically begin to prove it, there are 15 funded agencies coming at them telling them, “No. It will be okay. We just need to be louder in our demands. We can make the system work for us!” Fifty years ago this might have been true, but today we no longer need to settle for crumbs from the capitalists’ table.
Our class needs to know the truth. The truth is that only by uniting on their common economic interests as a class, and in spite of various differences, will the people be able to defeat the schemes of the ruling class. The truth is that the knowledge of this revolutionary epoch we have entered into is the single idea the ruling class most wants to suppress. The truth is that the most revolutionary thing an individual can do is to propagate the knowledge of the situation from a clear class perspective. The truth is it’s us against them. The truth is this is a life or death struggle for a livable planet.
The truth is introduced as a revolutionary idea describing why the system of capitalism and its institutions are in terminal failure. The truth is that there are no reforms left under this system. The truth is we need, and can have, a new system that provides for all, compatible with the new technologies. The truth is there is an amazing abundance being kept from the people by a tiny capitalist class intent on preserving their control around the world.
The heroic task of revolutionaries is to understand and spread the revolutionary truth of our time. It is good news and enlightening news. Revolutionaries teach from inside the movement, and take as their task to raise the intellectual understanding and independent development of our class, by reaching those who are emerging to the forefront of the struggle.
The era of capitalism and its merciless exploitation is coming to an end. The era is giving birth to a society based on a sustainable distribution of abundance. There is nothing to go back to. We are going to secure a future worth having. Our shared vision is not only possible, it’s the only thing that makes sense.
November.December 2017 Vol27.Ed6
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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