Published: The Workers’ Advocate, Vol. 4, No. 3, April 23, 1973.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The number one problem facing the American working class is the U.S. monopoly capitalist class. Besides carrying out vicious super-exploitation of the working class, the monopoly capitalists are unleashing fascism against the entire working class and people and preparing for further wars of aggression against the people of the whole world.
The dictatorship of the monopoly capitalist class which supervises the basic contradiction between labor and capital in favor of the bourgeoisie is being strengthened and consolidated in every cell of society through unleashing of fascist rules and regulations, build up of police and the military arm of the state, organizing of fascist committees in the universities, communities and places of work, propagation of rabid chauvinist and fascist ideology, etc. Already large-scale, MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES led by communist cadre have broken out in universities, communities and work places across the country. The DECISIVE QUESTION IN COMBATTING THIS GROWING FASCISM is the BUILDING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY to serve and lead the anti-fascist struggles and develop them stepwise towards proletarian revolution, The AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) firmly holds that the party is the head and the revolutionary MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES are the backbone of the impending proletarian revolution.
As well as developing the basic and over-all revolutionary movement for the DISSEMINATION OF MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT and for PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION, toe ACWM(ML) has initiated and participated in struggles of the working class to politically organize in the communities and places of work, the over-all resistance movement against fascism and social fascism, struggles of working class against capitalist exploitation and wage slavery, struggles of Afro-Americans and other national liberation movements against national-class exploitation and oppression and for full emancipation, struggles against imperialist wars of aggression, struggles of youth and students against fascist culture and the decadent bourgeois education system and many other struggles. Our entire experience and the whole history of the international working class and communist movement shows that the PRESSING TASK is to BUILD THE INSTRUMENTS OF WORKING CLASS PROPAGANDA in the MIDST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (that is, to build the basic communist units and national leadership, the communist mass organizations and the Marxist-Leninist propaganda and agitational newspapers of the working class).
Without the dissemination of the proletarian revolutionary line and proletarian ideology of Marxiam-Leninist Mao Tsetung Thought it is impossible for advanced elements to come forward and take up the task of building the party. Thus building the instruments of WORKING CLASS PROPAGANDA IS OUR PRIMARY TASK and we can only fulfill this task by releasing the initiative of the working class through MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES.
Our basic method of work is to BUILD THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTY AND TO BUILD THE BASIC COMMUNIST UNITS under the general guidelines: ALL RIGHTS TO THE CENTER TO PUT FORWARD THE POLITICAL LINE, ALL RIGHTS TO THE BASIC UNITS TO IMPLEMENT THE POLITICAL LINE, BE EYES AND EARS OF THE CENTER and constitute the stable leading-group in their respective local areas.
The entire organization is involved in building ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS at the university, in the community and at the place of work. The ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS constitute the firm foundation and material base for building the Party and the Party centralized leadership. An ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT comes into being only through a long-period of mass struggles led by communist cadres in a given locality. First a DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT is sent by the center to begin work in a certain locality.
The DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT’S immediate task is to begin revolutionary political work at a very low level, begin propagation of proletarian ideology and do thorough-going investigation and study by going deep among the masses and learning from their history. After completing the first stage of investigation and study of the concrete conditions, the DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT decides on a practical program for implementing the over-all proletarian revolutionary line of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) and arousing the masses in the local area. The communist cadre, in implementing the basic program, must follow the revolutionary methods of work: 1. SEEK TRUTH FROM FACTS TO SERVE PEOPLE 2. UNITE WITH THE PEOPLE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY 3. STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY TO UNITE THE PEOPLE. The basic program is aimed at uniting the advanced, mobilizing the middle elements and arousing the maximum majority of the people around the revolutionary political line in order to isolate the principal enemy, wage revolutionary political struggles on various fronts and contribute to the over-all work of building the Party and advancing the mass democratic, anti-fascist revolution. SEEKING TRUTH FROM FACTS TO SERVE PEOPLE means doing detailed investigation and study amongst the masses, guided by MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT, for the purpose of grasping the dominant aspect of the contradiction in the area and releasing the masses initiative to change the situation. UNITING THE PEOPLE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY means doing constant, protracted and painstaking ideological work among the cadres and among the masses around the Marxist-Leninist political line and in favor of the concrete revolutionary struggles developing amongst the masses and doing it in time. NOT TO ORGANIZE IN TIME AND NOT TO ORGANIZE STEP-BY-STEP IS NOT TO ORGANIZE AT ALL. STRUGGLING AGAINST THE ENEMY TO UNITE THE PEOPLE means initiating and leading actual mass struggles against the principal enemy.
Right from the start the communist cadres must strive to build the revolutionary committee around themselves, even in embryonic form, by mobilizing the middle elements on the basis of principled opposition to fascism. The communist cadres constantly share the weal and woe of the masses and participate in the manifold struggles of the masses with the main motive of strengthening the Marxist-Leninist political line amongst the masses and creating conditions for the overthrow of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and the seizure of state power by the proletariat. The communist cadres must persist in doing ideological and political work in the open and under the supervision of the masses while keeping all organizational work secret. Cadres must use the weapon of criticism and self-criticism to strengthen the organization and raise the political level of the masses, persisting in doing self-criticism in the open and under the supervision of the masses. Only through a long period of mass struggles can a DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT become an ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT by creating a material base for revolution amongst the masses, steeling and training new cadres who come forward out of the mass struggles and who have won the support of the masses, and consolidating itself within the centralized leadership of ACWM(ML). Through this process a basic unit which is steeled in the fire of class struggle, united, disciplined and self-moving, resolute and fearless in defense of Marxism-Leninism Mao always adhering to revolutionary principle and employing flexible revolutionary tactics will come into being. The ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT expands, divides and cadres are sent to begin work in a new area. It is through building the ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS that the organization becomes one with the masse and it is on this firm foundation that the revolutionary Party must be built.
THE TASKS OF THE BASIC UNITS OF ACWM(ML) ARE:
1. Disseminate widely Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought.
2. Uphold the proletarian revolutionary line of the ACWM(ML) and implement all centralized guidelines and directives with maximum initiative locally.
3. Organize regular study sessions amongst the masses on Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought
to deal with the actual problems facing them.
4. Organize mass democratic ideological struggles amongst the masses for the purpose of raising the political level of the masses by dealing with concrete problems facing them.
5. Do constant study and investigation amongst the masses and summing up.
6. Initiate and lead actual political struggles.
7. Resist all attacks by the enemy by boldly mobilizing the masses against the enemy and waging tit-for-tat struggle.
8. Constitute the core of the revolutionary committee.
9. Wage class struggle inside the basic unit and inside the ACWM(ML) against all erroneous political and ideological trends.