First Published: Obreros En Marcha, Vol. 1, No. 5, April 15, 1975.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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During the week-end of Jan. 23-25 El Comite-MINP held its Formative Assembly, an event which culminated a long and difficult process of transformation. During this period of development we’ve experienced a process which began about five years ago when El Comite was formed as a community organization, as a product of the spontaneous struggles of the masses. Having little, if any, real consciousness we became involved in the Puerto Rican “community” struggle for decent housing, education, health services, etc.; in the process of this involvement we began to understand the inherent limitations of our work as well as our organizational form. In July of 1973 we published in our newspaper, Unidad Latina a complete history of our community organization giving ourselves a two year period of transformation to develop a “political” organization, clearly identified with Puerto Rico’s struggle for National Liberation.
In the process of working toward our stated objectives and coupled with a conscious attempt to study some aspects of Marxism-Leninism, we became integrated to the class struggle in the United States, although still dominated by our local view of things. Coming in contact with Marxism-Leninism and our constant involvement in practical work led us to confront difficult yet fundamental questions such as the Role of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and National Liberation; the class composition of the Puerto Ricans in the U.S.; the role of U.S. Marxist-Leninists and Puerto Rico struggle for National Liberation and our role within the class struggle in the U.S., etc. In July of 1974, we attempted to hold our first assembly with the objective of resolving these contradictions and developing a program that would complete our transformation from a local community organization into a political organization guided by the principles of Marxism-Leninism. The uneven development of the organization particularly in the theoretical aspects prevented us from meeting our objectives as dictated at the first assembly. As a result, the transformation had to be postponed and in the process we were to study fundamental questions that would facilitate the completion of the assembly, emphasis was given to the National Question as it pertains to Puerto Ricans in the U.S.; cadre building, and the need of a new Communist Party in the United States. In January 25, 1975 we completed our assembly which was recognized as our Formative Assembly.
In accepting Marxism-Leninism as our guiding science the Assembly crystallizes, more than ever, our firm commitment to the revolutionary struggle of the working class and our resoluteness to assume the tasks that will bring the proletariat to power and insure the victory of socialism. Furthermore, it was recognized that the proletarian revolution, the unification of the working class, could only come about under the theoretical and organizational leadership of a truly Communist Party. The building of the Communist Party in the U.S. will complement rather than hinder the National Liberation of Puerto Rico. In documents published by El Comite-MINP since the assembly point out that the present CPUSA has, in essence, betrayed the North-American working class and as a consequence the Puerto Rican people. Therefore, Marxists-Leninists in the U.S. are faced with the task of building such a party. With this understanding, as well as analyzing our own development, the Formative Assembly approved as its central task the formation of cadre’s free of the dogma and idealism which permeates our revolutionary organizations, recruited from those advanced elements committed to the struggle of the working class, trained theoretically and organizationally so as to transform them into revolutionary leaders of the class. The base of this formation is to be the conscious organized study of materialism, fundamental tool of a Marxist-Leninist cadre. In reaching this understanding the Assembly, as part of its analysis, emphasized the need of the revolutionary movement deepening its roots within the working class. Without this foundation the construction of the party would be an “idealist” goal, potentially dominated by dogmatism, revisionism and petty bourgeoisie ideology.
It was further understood by the Assembly that in the process of forming our cadre organization all forms of deviations must be combatted, including theoricism (study void of social practice) as well as practicism (social practice void of theoretical study).
These two deviations have been present within our organization and to a certain extent they are characteristics or our young revolutionary movement.
Other fundamental decisions reached at the Formative Assembly were: the need to develop a study of class composition in the U.S., recognizing that localism has led us to subjective analysis of the concrete conditions in this country. The magnitude of this task determines that this study be accomplished in unity with other Marxist-Leninists in the U.S. Furthermore, the assembly adopted a new organizational structure in order to implement the decisions reached, based on the principles of democratic-centralism, a central committee was elected with the responsibility of directing and coordinating the implementations of the tasks assigned by the organizations highest body: the assembly.
As far as our relations with other M-L organizations, the assembly recognized that we had to uphold our responsibilities toward fraternal M-L organizations in carrying out principled theoretical discussions in order to bring clarity to the many questions and obstacles that we confront. It was mandated that we must study the programs and positions of these organizations as well as evaluating their social practice, understanding that it is precisely through our social practice that our theory is tested.
Finally, the Assembly, held in the highest spirit of critical analysis, recognized our own limitations as an organization particularly those that characterize a local organization, a situation which in the past has affected our analysis and practice. Similarly, we recognize the potential and strength we have within our organization in so far as our commitment to resolve some of these contradictions as well as developing to overcome others. As revolutionaries guided by the science of Marxism-Leninism we look toward the future, learning from the past and concretely analyzing the present. Within this context we see the need to deepen our roots within the working class, to study and understand the dynamics of the U.S. Socialist revolution, in its general aspects as well as its particularities. Similarly we must strengthen our ties with Marxist-Leninists in Puerto Rico in the process of upholding the principles of Proletarian Internationalism.