“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” — Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862
All history shows that change is impossible without new ideas. These new ideas arise from need because the old ideas no longer explain the world around us. The old ideas, and the forces that benefit from them, hold on and fight to stay alive. We see how the ruling class has sought to pit our class against itself, to set those with common interests on either side of a divide that is not of their own making against each other. The reality is this class — in all its chaos, disorientation and yes, sometimes ugliness — is the only force that can overturn the existing order. It is the only force that can show us how to “disenthrall ourselves” and “make the world anew.”
The demand for a new world is already being proclaimed and defended by millions throughout this country. They don’t see yet, that within their common demand for the basic necessities of life, a vision of a new America is emerging. It is a vision where cooperation and fulfilling the needs of humanity are the guiding principles. It is a vision that satisfies the deepest yearnings of the people for peace.
Our class must have political power to achieve these goals. The first step toward achieving these goals is the unity of those who share a common economic plight regardless of color, sex, faith or nationality.
“Revolutionary Change in America” provides a framework to examine the thorny question of class unity in America, and how this unity has now become possible. It shows the relationship between the development of the new technology of electronics and the creation of this new class of workers. The new technology was first applied to unskilled and semi-skilled workers, areas where, due to their historical oppression, Blacks were concentrated. Advancements in technology are now replacing skilled and professional work, affecting broader swathes of Black workers and white workers. Now millions of workers are joined together in their growing common equality of poverty and beginning to move to defend their right to the basic necessities of life.
The struggle being led by the Standing Rock Sioux has become an international banner to highlight the growing water struggles of the people against the powers of the corporate State. All of these water struggles express the growing will of the people to protect public property rights in the interests of the people. To secure the future of humankind demands that we protect our public welfare. This requires us to take over the private property of the corporations and make it public property, to be used to benefit human society as a whole.
The article “Defend Reverend Edward Pinkney” shows how the new conditions everywhere are creating a new type of uncompromising leader like Reverend Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Reverend Pinkney is in prison because of his resistance to the dismantling of democracy and the emergence of naked corporate rule in Michigan. His case cannot be separated from the ominous environment in Michigan, where the basic tenets of democracy are under severe attack by corporate power. Nor can it be separated from the growth of a powerful movement of workers fighting for democracy and life itself. Reverend Pinkney is the face of this opposition in Michigan. He is one of a wave of leaders who represent the new class of workers. We the people have to stand with and defend these leaders.
The articles “Abundance is Possible For All” and “The End of Money” show that fulfilling these demands, and more, are entirely possible today. The new technology provides the basis for a new society, in which we no longer have to fight for the daily bread of existence, where cooperation and fulfilling the needs of humanity can be the guiding principles.
Our cover article, “What Time is It” shows us how what seems to be the chaos and impossibility of events today, are in fact the moment in which we can “complete the leap” to a whole new epoch of human history, in which all the long-held dreams of humankind may at last be achieved. The article shows that this vision cannot be realized without the participation of the new class of workers, created by the new means of production. The article challenges us to take up our historical role and not only “thus save our country,” but all of humanity.
Take up that mantle.
Make history.
January/February 2017. Vol27.Ed1
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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