With the foundation of their wealth and power crumbling before their eyes, the capitalist class finds itself historically on the defensive. They have conquered the world and there is nowhere for the system to expand.
Labor-replacing technology is destroying the market. They are forced on the offensive to protect what they have. They foment war and violence around the world, overturn governments, shore up the right and create new leaders from the left. Poverty, chaos and death follow in their wake.
Yet that same new technology that is destroying the capitalist system holds out the promise of a different future for the peoples of the world. These new technologies offer the possibility of building a society of peace, abundance and cooperation. But we cannot achieve our goals simply by fighting defensively, that is, trying to regain what is already lost. We must shift to the offensive – go after the economic system at its root, form our class politically into a force able to take political power, and prepare it to overturn the system and reconstruct society in the interests of our class.
The three interconnected reports under “Fascism Today and the Tasks of Revolutionaries” provide an estimate of the situation that our class is facing today. “The Objectivity of Fascism Today” shows that fascism is rooted in the qualitatively new technology and the resulting radical transformation of the economy. The capitalist class must preserve private property at any cost. They must go on the offensive.
In the “Culture of Fascism and the Role of History” we see how this offensive encompasses not only the changing form of the State and repressive legal changes. It also seeks to teach the American people to accept a fascist society and culture, to accept the violence, the degradation of human life and the suffering caused by the capitalist system and its rulers as normal and justifiable.
“Edging Toward a New Stage of Consciousness” shows how these attacks have also worked against the ruling class by revealing to the people the immorality and injustice of the system and the government that protects it. The workers are beginning to put forward programs in their own interests and in opposition to those of the ruling class. This means something fundamentally new for revolution in America and its significance cannot be overstated.
Two other articles show how this estimate is playing out in two key struggles, the environment and public education.
“Protect Planet Earth” shows how diverse the environmental struggle has become as a growing number of communities are affected by corporate pollution, especially fracking. The refusal of the government to protect the people against the corporate polluters or to do anything about deepening poverty is beginning to spark interest in third parties and in some cases a rejection of the capitalist system itself.
“Struggle for Public Education Hinges on New Ideas” shows how the attacks by the ruling class are forcing the movement out of its local battlefields and step-by-step into the national arena. This lays the foundation for a national movement, which can confront corporate capital and insist that the national government act to safeguard the funding and quality of public education across the land.
Revolutionaries cannot see what is developing in America and simply go on as before. With the “Call for the 8th National Convention of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America” the League is carrying out its revolutionary responsibilities to meet the demands projected by the estimate of the situation faced by our class. The National Convention will make the decisions that align the League with the rapid and dramatically changing political situation and organize the League as that situation dictates.
The article “No Victory Without New Ideas” shows why an organization of revolutionaries plays an indispensable role in helping our class shift from the defensive to the offensive. This means fighting for the world the new technology makes possible, and bringing together revolutionaries to fight on the basis of the demands of millions for a decent, stable and cultured life. It means laying out the path our class must take to secure its future, and taking the steps along that line so that every battle leads us to the final goal – the emancipation of humanity.
The League has dedicated itself to this historic task. Join with us.
January/February. Vol24.Ed1
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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