The present struggle over party building line is a crucial struggle which is objectively part of the rectification movement. One’s line on party building actually draws out the question of what is one’s conception of the Marxist-Leninist party itself. Is the party to be a lifeless robot, repeater of formulas and general laws divorced from the real conditions of life? Is the party to be a slave to bourgeois ideology, always tailing after the spontaneous movement? Such are the objective implications of the left opportunist or the fusion perspectives. Marxist-Leninists must reject these erroneous lines, and build a party guided by the science of Marxism-Leninism, as concretized in a correct general line, a party able to fulfill its responsibilities as a vanguard because it grasps the decisive character of the subjective factor in the making of history.
Developing unity in the communist movement on a correct party building line is presently the key link in the rectification movement, the crucial breakthrough that must be made if we are to be able to take up the complex and challenging tasks of line rectification in a united and enthusiastic way. All anti-theoretical prejudices, all attempts to minimize or circumscribe the role of communist leadership, all tendencies to “underrate the importance of the conscious element” must be eliminated so that our movement can “grow up faster” and build its party.
If unity on party building line can be achieved, the concentrated efforts of the U.S. communist movement will certainly lead to breakthroughs in our theoretical work and the development of a correct general line. Of course, such a line will never be fully “complete.” But to be a sound basis to re-establish a party, the line must be “sufficient” to guide the Marxist-Leninists in our first steps toward the seizure of state power. This assessment of whether or not a line is “sufficient” must be based on an assessment of concrete historical factors–the level of the class struggle, the level of development and unity of the Marxist-Leninists, the relative influence of Marxism-Leninism vs. other ideological trends in the working class, the danger of fascism and war, etc. The assessment is not one relative to some “ideal model line.” Yet only a line “sufficient” to guide the Marxist-Leninists in the concrete class struggle can be the basis for a party.
Of course there is no guarantee that the line developed will be completely correct. The general line of our future party will go through many tests and stages, where aspects can be proven correct and strengthened, or incorrect and refined. In the final analysis, it must be demonstrated in its ability to lead us to the successful conclusion of its ultimate objective.
But with a correct line on party building, we are certain to re-establish our party, and thereby lay the foundation for leading the working class and its allies in the seizure of state power, and eventually building socialism and communism in the United States.