U.S. society contains many contradictions which have arisen as a result of the fact that production has a social character under capitalism while ownership of the means of production is in private hands. While the struggle to resolve all of these contradictions is a part of the socialist revolution in this country, the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is the principal contradiction.
The others, like the contradictions between the oppressed nationalities and the bourgeoisie, between the petty bourgeoisie and monopoly bourgeoisie, between bourgeois democracy and bourgeois fascism and others, can only be resolved in the context of the class struggle to smash imperialist rule. The struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie plays the leading role in influencing and developing these other contradictions.
In essence, the revisionists view the principal contradiction as being between one section of monopoly and another. This lies at the basis of their theory of “peaceful transition to socialism.” Instead of reliance upon the proletariat and its allies, it relies on the “reasonableness” of the liberal imperialists.
The Trotskyists and other “left” opportunists one-sidedly pose the task of solving the principal contradiction in sharp opposition to solving all of the non-principal or secondary contradictions. This leaves the proletariat isolated from its allies and is at the basis of their sectarian, splitting and wrecking policies.
Communists must stand in the front ranks of all the day to day struggles of the people. In the course of these battles, they must sum up the experience of the masses and point out that the fundamental problems can only be solved with the complete overthrow of the imperialist system. But if the communists stand aloof from the mighty mass movements, their ideas cannot be translated into action and they will inevitably degenerate into an empty, propaganda-sect.
Along with this reformist view of “two stages” the modern revisionist CPUSA also pushes the criminal line of “the possibility of peaceful transition to socialism.” The U.S. imperialist bourgeoisie exercises complete dictatorship over the working class and people of the U.S. This dictatorship is based on the armed might of the state (army, police, prisons, bureaucracy, etc.) and they do not hesitate to use it against the people. While we must master all forms of struggle (for example, participation in elections), the only way that socialism can be established in the U.S. is through military insurrection, the smashing of the bourgeois state by the armed force of the masses and its replacement by a new proletarian state based on an army of the workers. This is a universal principal of Marxism-Leninism. To pose any other possibility is to create illusions and to disarm the people in their struggle.
The general strategic aim of the revolution in the U.S., where capitalism has reached its highest stage and where the principal contradiction is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, must be to replace bourgeois rule with proletarian rule – the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The phony “two-stage revolution” strategy of the CPUSA, which is embodied in the slogan “the stage is not set for socialism,” attempts to pose a stage of “radical anti-monopoly reform” as a prerequisite for advancing the revolution to the stage of socialism. While a strategy of two-stage revolution is necessary and correct in an oppressed nation, where the principal contradiction is between the broad masses of people on the one hand and imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism on the other, it is unnecessary and incorrect in the U.S.
The result of this view in the U.S. is the separation of the struggle for the immediate needs of the masses of people from the struggle to overthrow imperialism and establish socialism. It is a reformist theory which encourages the false idea that U.S. imperialism can be qualitatively transformed to the point where it can meet the needs of the masses, without being totally destroyed and replaced by socialism.
The U.S. is a multi-national state. That is, within the borders of the U.S. there exist several oppressed nations and national minorities. It is the resolute duty of the proletariat to support and unite with the struggles of these nations and national minorities, to resolutely uphold in practice the right of all oppressed nations to self-determination (including the right to secede and establish its own independent state), and to defend all other democratic rights.
Racial and national oppression in the U.S. is a product of the colonialist and imperialist system. Imperialism arose and throve upon the slave labor of Afro-American people. The domination by the U.S. monopolists of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, the Phillipines, etc., lays the basis for the severe oppression of minorities within its own borders. It is only through revolutionary struggle against U.S. imperialism that the national question can be resolved.
The alliance and merger of the movements of the oppressed nationalities and the general workers movement is the basic strategic alliance for revolution in the U.S.; a revolution that will accomplish, in one sweep, the liberation of the oppressed nationalities and the emancipation of the working class.
Among the various national struggles, the Afro-American struggle takes on special significance. Through 350 years of slavery and semi-slavery within the plantation area of the South, these people were forged into a nation. With the rise of industrialization, large numbers have been scattered throughout the U.S. to serve the bourgeoisie as cheap labor, and are forced to compete with white and other minority workers for jobs, driving down the cost of labor power. It is in this way that the imperialists drive out super profits, and foster divisions among the class, using mainly white chauvinism and secondly narrow nationalism as their ideological bulwarks.
The Afro-American struggle is not only a just and powerful struggle against the monopoly capitalist class, it is also a clarion call to all the oppressed and exploited people within the U.S. to struggle against the rule of the imperialists.
The national struggle of the masses of black people against the U.S. ruling class is, in the final analysis, a class contradiction. Black, Chicano, Puerto Rican and other national groupings can only win complete emancipation by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the imperialists through violent struggle in unity with the white workers.
The black masses and the working class share a common interest. They both suffer under the fascist policies of the U.S. rulers and can only throw off the yoke of capitalism together. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of black people are workers and the black and other minority workers make up a basic component part of the U.S. working class, and are setting a militant example for the people of the U.S. The emancipation of Afro-American people and other minorities within the U.S. is a general democratic task of the whole working class and is fully in accord with the interests of the entire working class. Despite the attempts of the capitalists and their lackeys to whip up race hatred and hysteria, more and more white workers are being won to support the Afro-American struggle. It is for these reasons that the “struggle of the black people in the U.S. is bound to merge with the American workers movement and will eventually end the criminal rule of the U.S. monopoly class.”
It has become fashionable for different opportunists or petit-bourgeois radicals, as well as many honest revolutionaries, to tell us that “the white workers are bought off” or that “the white workers cannot join the class struggle until they have repudiated their white skin privileges.” These ideas run counter to Marxism-Leninism and promote disunity and defeatism. While imperialism has bought off a small minority of workers (the labor aristocracy), these workers should never be confused with the masses of white working people or the class as a whole.
An end to national oppression can only come through violent revolutionary struggle. The revisionists of the CPUSA have a rotten record of trying to lead the oppressed nationality peoples down the road of reformism and pacifism. They have spread the illusion that national oppression can be ended under capitalism by relying on liberal capitalists.
There are Trotskyists and other so-called “leftists” (like the Progressive Labor Party) who liquidate the national question. They fail to distinguish between revolutionary nationalism (directed at imperialism) and reactionary nationalism (directed at the white workers) and generally push white chauvinist ideology to sharpen divisions and hold back the class struggle. They attack all and unite nobody. The proletariat must reject these left and right deviations on the national question.
Within the U.S., we must build a multi-national communist party which reflects the national make-up of the whole working class, and truly represents the interests of the whole class. This party must take on the responsibility of going among the white workers and fighting white chauvinism, (the main danger, and special duty of white communists), while also combatting narrow nationalism (the special responsibility of communists of the oppressed nationalities).
The oppression of women arose and developed with the division of early society into classes. The final emancipation of women will only be made possible with the revolutionary overthrow of the imperialist system.
The big imperialists are the ones who derive huge profits and maintain their power from the humiliating subjugation of women. They are the ones who benefit from the domestic slavery of women and from their consequential status as a vast reserve of cheap labor. Women are direct victims of the imperialist policies of war, aggression, and fascism around the world.
Historically, women have not accepted this lot, but have risen in struggle against imperialism and reaction. From the outset, women in the U.S. played a militant role in the working class movement. Today in Vietnam and other oppressed nations, women are entering the anti-imperialist struggle in large numbers, taking their place alongside men on all fronts, including the armed struggle. In China, Albania, and other socialist countries, women are making great strides towards total equality, helping construct socialism internally and opposing imperialism. All this is setting a shinning example for the people the world over and is helping to shatter the myths about the inherent passivity and inferiority of women.
In this country, the great majority of women are working women. In order for women to finally gain full equality and emancipation, the power of the imperialist reactionaries must be crushed and proletarian power established.
In order to carry out and perpetuate the subordinate position of women in society, the bourgeoisie promotes many reactionary male supremacist ideas among the masses. The proletariat stands against all such notions of male superiority. But among the masses, the contradiction between men and women is a contradiction among the people which should be resolved in a non-antagonistic manner.
The oppression of women in this society constitutes a special democratic question. The proletariat as a whole must unite with and lead the struggle of the masses of women for full equality.
Because of the attempts by the capitalists to exclude women from the mainstream of production and political life, communists must take on special tasks, such as the mass mobilization of working women into the revolutionary struggle and defense of the rights of all women. Communists must make a special effort to train and develop women into leaders of the class. On the one hand, the vanguard elements of the proletariat must oppose every manifestation of male supremacy and its ideology. On the other hand, they must stand firm against all notions of petit-bourgeois feminism which attempts to direct the main blow at men.
The working class and its party must maintain their political and organizational independence and initiative within the united front, by leading the day to day struggles, by promoting the fight for reforms in a revolutionary manner and by pointing out, in this context, the final aims of the movement.
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Imperialism and its policies of aggression, war and fascism have created sharp contradictions between the broad masses of American people and the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.
The U.S. proletariat, led by a genuine communist party, must unite around itself all those forces who can be united into a broad united front to oppose monopoly capital, defend democratic rights, oppose the menace of fascism, improve living conditions, oppose imperialist arms expansion and war, defend world peace and to actively support the oppressed nations and socialist countries.
TO MAKE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND ATTAIN ITS FINAL AIMS, THE U.S. WORKING CLASS MUST NARROW ITS TARGET (ISOLATING THE TINY HANDFUL OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISTS): BUILD AN IRON BOND OF UNITY WITH THE OPPRESSED NATIONS AND THE NATIONAL MINORITIES: AND MUST LINK ITSELF CLOSELY WITH THE BROAD MASSES OF PEOPLE IN THE STRUGGLE TO OVERTHROW IMPERIALISM.
To deny the need to win over non-proletarian forces to the side of the working class, as the Trotskyites and ultra-leftists do, is to turn over to the bourgeoisie the reserves of the proletarian revolution. While intellectuals and middle classes enter the revolutionary struggle with their own petty bourgeois prejudices and are vacillating elements, the proletariat must, through patient work, win these reserves to the side of the revolution by adopting specific policies to unite with them.