First Published: The Call, Vol. 5, No. 21, September 27, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
We represent a group of Marxist-Leninists who have formed the Boston Unity Collective in order to fully participate in the struggle to build a new communist Party. As individuals, our political understanding developed out of the mass upsurge of the 1960s–the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement and the women’s movement. Being a part of these struggles taught us about imperialism and its oppression of working people the world over. It also taught us that we need a Marxist-Leninist party to defeat the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the ruling class, and to replace it with the dictatorship of the proletariat.
We shall defeat the bourgeois state, but in order to do so, we have to overcome the spontaneous, individual, and amateur forms that our fightback against the system presently takes. It is an illusion to believe that any work we do that strikes a minor and disorganized blow against the state is enough. We must unify our forces under the leadership of a new communist party and strike a concentrated blow at the ruling class. The time to build this party is now.
The new party must be firmly rooted in the masses of working people and the oppressed nationalities.
This is a time of great upheaval in the world. As the struggle between the two superpowers sharpens, the danger of imperialist war grows closer. With the deepening crisis of imperialism, political and economic attacks on the working class and national minorities are on the rise. The party is our weapon against both superpowers.
The statement of the Organizing Committee has sharpened political struggle within the communist movement. We unite with the principles of this call for unity. “Marxist-Leninists Unite” lays the foundation for building unity in the communist movement. This statement draws the line between Marxism-Leninism, which will lead us to the dictatorship of the proletariat and a bright future, and revisionism, which will keep us bogged down in capitalism.
Revisionism is a powerful enemy. The revisionists hold state power in the Soviet Union. Here in the United States, the forces of revisionism are led by the Communist Party USA. Our experience in trade unions and mass work has taught us the complete bankruptcy of the CPUSA and all those who practice a revisionist line. Time and time again, they have sold out the working class. The revisionists have abandoned the principles of Marxism-Leninism, even the dictatorship of the proletariat. They have abandoned the principle of self-determination for oppressed nationalities in the United States. Therefore, we say “No United Action with Revisionists.” They are an enemy of the working class.
The centrists, like the Guardian newspaper, think they can keep a middle ground between Marxism-Leninism and revisionism. But they consistently ally with the revisionists, giving credibility and support to this enemy of the working class. The centrists aim their main criticism at Marxist-Leninists who have broken with revisionism. The centrists’ political line contains all the elements of right-opportunism: economism in their trade union work, a chauvinist line on the Afro-American nation, and a refusal to admit the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union.
The lines between Marxism-Leninism and revisionism have been clearly drawn. It is the responsibility of all Marxist-Leninists to take a stand. This means struggling for unity with the party-building effort, putting forth their views on the main questions, and concretely working to unite all Marxist-Leninists.
In the spirit of unity-struggle-unity, we urge all who agree with the statement “Marxist-Leninists Unite” to come forward and join in the effort to build a new communist party.