November 19, 2009 - No. 213
Twenty Years Since the Fall of the
Berlin Wall
The Demand of the People to Exercise
Control Over Their Lives Is Greater than Ever
• The Demand of
the People to Exercise Control Over Their Lives Is Greater than Ever
• Discussion with Party Secretaries in Montreal
• Discussion at the Workers' Centre in Toronto
From the Pages of the Party Press...
• There Is a Place for Theory -
Hardial Bains
Twenty Years Since the Fall of the Berlin
Wall
The Demand of the People to Exercise Control Over Their
Lives Is Greater than Ever
November 9 marked the twentieth anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall. Organizations of CPC(M-L) have been discussing the
significance of the events which took place 20 years ago with an
emphasis on what is going on in the world today. Comrade Sandra L.
Smith, First Secretary of the Party, led the
discussion at meetings of the secretaries of the Party in Montreal on
November 7 and of the Party youth and comrades linked to the Party
office in Gatineau on November 8. Discussion led by the Workers Centre
of CPC(M-L) took place in Toronto on November 9 and, since then,
meetings have continued across
the country at the provincial and local level.
What can be seen in the celebrations of the fall of the
Berlin Wall, in the speeches of various officials and in the reporting
of the mass-media is that the discussion on the real problems which
require democratic renewal is once again drowned in a false debate on
opposing dogmas, the dogmatic rendering of socialism
and the dogmatic rendering of capitalism. The celebrations and
speeches, including the concerts which were organized increasingly have
an air of absurdity and superficiality, of disconnection from the real
problems which required solutions twenty years ago and still need to be
addressed today. It cannot be otherwise,
because the tragedy of it is that what is being celebrated is the
usurpation of the movement of the workers and people to exercise
control over their lives, except it is not called that way. It is
called "freedom" and "democracy."
In the discussions initiated by the Party at various
levels, and through them in the work places, in the neighbourhoods and
amongst the youth and students, the comrades gave numerous examples of
how people have come to recognize that the promise of "freedom" has
turned into the further marginalization of
the people from the decision-making process. The media give the
examples of success stories such as that of the German Chancellor
Angela Merkel who was from East Germany and of various individuals who
have "made it" in a scenario that is all too familiar for those living
in the so-called advanced western democracies.
People from the former East Germany openly say that the freedom they
achieved is the "freedom to buy consumer goods" while their profound
desire to exercise control over their destiny is as remote as ever.
One of the themes raised in the discussion is that for
twenty years now, a deafening noise has been made about the failure of
communism, equating pseudo-socialism with communism. But nothing has
been said about the fact that the failure which took place there does
not belong to the countries of Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union alone but to the entire world. People are
demanding change all over the world; a broad disaffection exists
everywhere. This noise also does not speak about or discuss what needs
to be done. What is the content of democratic renewal which is the
fundamental demand of the peoples and
what form should it take? On the contrary, the entire propaganda is
still carried within the perspective of the Cold War that a "free
market economy" and ideological and political pluralism are superior to
communism. What is the reality on the world scale? What is such a
reality telling us? The aim of the diversion
that communism failed is to encourage those who either say that
communism is all wrong or those who claim that pseudo-socialism is all
right to get the people to side with one or the other. As is the case
in all other spheres, a diversion is created between two false
opposites.
Having gone through such a tumultuous period from the
thirties to the present time, the world has learnt that the problems in
the world are not a matter of a fight between dogmas. It is a matter of
what is happening in this world itself. What is the stage of its
development and what should be done about it? Democratic
renewal, the main content of this period, surpasses all other
considerations and it is this banner which is bringing the new forces
onto the centre-stage of history. Millions upon millions of people have
direct experience with their conditions of life and work and they
perceive their reality not through the eyes of some
dogma but by paying with their hides.
The diversionary discourse about the "victory of
democracy" over "communism" was 20 years ago and is today merely aimed
at
keeping the old forces and old content in power during the new
conditions. Since 1989, governments called both "radical" and
"conservative" have worked to sabotage democratic renewal in
the present period and lead their people right into the arms of the
world's greatest usurpers of the people's power. As if the German
people did not oppose U.S. military occupation of West Germany during
the entire post-war period, Angela Merkel told the U.S. Congress on
November 3: "We are happy to have American
soldiers in Germany, today and in the future. They are ambassadors of
their country in our country, just as many Americans with German roots
today act as ambassadors of my country here."
As if telling lies is not enough, Angela Merkel went
further in taking up Anglo-American Cold War propaganda about "values"
to find the basis of unity between the American and German ruling
class: "That which brings Europeans and Americans closer and keeps them
close is a common basis of shared values.
It is a common idea of the individual and his inviolable dignity. It is
a common understanding of freedom in responsibility. This is what we
stand for in the unique transatlantic partnership and in the community
of shared values that is NATO," Merkel said.
These are the values of the Charter of Paris
adopted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE), the U.S. and Canada in 1990 as the only democracy they would
accept in the world. Anyone who did not accept these definitions of
democracy was to be declared a pariah,
a rogue state to be isolated, occupied and forced to submit. The events
of the last twenty years have shown the content of the new world order
and, as the Party pointed out at that time, new forces consistent with
the aims of the new period of democratic renewal are coming to the fore.
Far from proving that the 19th century liberal democracy
is a "third way" -- a capitalism "with a human face," the events of
1989-1990 and of the last twenty years have shown the deep crisis in
which the capitalist system is mired, the utterly reactionary character
of its democracy and that the demand of the peoples
to exercise control over their lives as peoples and as individuals and
over their destiny as nations has been taken up anew. It is the
struggle for the right to be of individuals, collectives and entire
societies and nations, including oppressed nation-states, which we see
today. Since 1989 the consciousness of the peoples
worldwide rejects the abandonment of individuals and marginalization of
the peoples in decision-making and the suppression of the right of
nations to self-determination. It is a volcano preparing to erupt.
This is why people are able to point out so many
absurdities and paradoxes in the celebrations of the fall of the Berlin
Wall which promote nostalgia while claiming to celebrate a rupture with
a time past. The longing for that past itself is built on falsehoods,
the illusion of an illusion, an attempt to recapture feelings
of euphoria which take one further and further away from the reality of
that time and most importantly from the reality of this time and the
problems it presents to the world.
The new period that was irresistibly ushered in by the
changes which took place so rapidly at that time, has brought forth its
own agenda. It is the agenda for democratic renewal which has been put
on the table of the world for solution. This is the demand of millions
upon millions of people all over the world,
in developing countries but also and notably in the so-called advanced
economies which are mired in crisis and where the weight of the old
arrangements is exhausting the people as never before.
Discussion with Party Secretaries in Montreal
The secretaries of the Montreal Branch of CPC(M-L) held
a discussion with the Party's First Secretary, Sandra L. Smith on
November 7 on the significance of the 20th anniversary of the fall of
the Berlin Wall and on the work of the Party at this time. It was
pointed out that for the working class the anniversary
of the fall of the Berlin Wall is the occasion to ask: What has been
resolved? Has democracy been achieved? At the time, the people of the
two Germanies and of Eastern Europe aspired to something new. Today
German workers, just like workers in Canada and elsewhere, are being
made to pay for an economic
crisis and policies over which they have no control.
It is therefore not an issue of repeating ad nauseam
that what exists there is not democratic, or that it was better before,
and worse today or vice-versa. Neither is it a matter of declaring that
what is needed is a "return to socialism." For the working class and
people the issue of how to advance their society presents
itself in a very concrete way. For example, our Party in Canada
analyzed that the working class and people need to take up the work of
democratic renewal. Unless the working class places itself at the
centre of change to open the door to the progress of the society the
future will remain grim. The victory of renewal
will be an important step in solving the problems of how to vest
sovereignty in the people.
Today, for the working class to constitute itself the
nation it must vest sovereignty in the people. This is the democracy
consistent with the times, not attempts to resurrect 19th century
liberal democracy by covering up the fascist deeds carried out under
its auspices nor to resurrect the socialism established in
the 20th century. For us the issue of democracy is something living
where the problems of society are sorted out on a new, modern basis
consistent with the demands of today. This is what we call modern
communism -- it must be suitable to furnishing the outlook and the
guides to analysis and action required
by the working class and peoples of the world today.
Another theme addressed is the nature of "united
Germany" which has once again become a great power in Europe, competing
with its other European rivals and the United States for control over
Europe and to dominate Asia. The European peoples who suffered terribly
because of the hegemonic ambitions
of Germany under the Nazis have a great deal to fear from a big power
Germany over which they exercise no control. In like manner, the ruling
circles of Britain and France do not want their interests taken over by
the Germans, which is why in 1989 Margaret Thatcher was very opposed to
German reunification
and François Mitterand said at the time that he liked Germany so
much that he wanted two Germanies. Today, a reunited Germany is an
expression of old German chauvinism and militarism and poses renewed
dangers to the peoples of Europe and the world.
The bourgeoisie is trying to present the fall of the
Berlin Wall as the anniversary of the end of communism and the victory
of democracy, presenting things as either pro or con, good or bad, etc.
Polls from the countries in Eastern Europe reveal that many people
consider that their conditions were better before
the wall fell. What does this mean? That we should return to the past?
That there was good communism and bad communism? It shows that we must
look at how the problem poses itself today in 2009, within the
conditions of retreat of revolution, of the unprecedented offensive
against the peoples of the world to
impose the dictate of the bourgeoisie, aggression and war, and put the
movements of the people to change the situation at the centre of our
deliberations.
Discussion at the Workers' Centre in Toronto
In Toronto, an animated discussion regarding the 20th
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall took place at the Workers'
Centre of CPC(M-L) on November 8. The nature of the disinformation
which claims that the fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in a new age of
"freedom," reunification and smashing of the walls that separate
human beings from one another was discussed.
It was pointed out that the building of the Berlin Wall was an act of
pseudo-socialism, in the context of the overall anti-communist crusade
led by U.S. imperialism to wipe out the great developments made
possible by the victory of the peoples of the world against
Nazi-fascism. Falsely attributing the building of
the Berlin Wall to the Marxist-Leninists, the imperialists claimed its
fall signalled the defeat of Marxism-Leninism. These falsifications
were then used to undermine the aspirations and struggles of the
workers of all lands to try and convince them that the only way forward
is to conciliate with capitalism.
The fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in a period of
retreat of revolution. In Ontario, the workers have tasted the bitter
fruits of the "freedoms" imposed on them as part of the anti-social
offensive. Mike Harris' "Common Sense Revolution" declared that the
conception of freedom in a society that looks after the
well-being of its members is oppression of the individual, an enemy of
change which stifles human initiative, a regime of handouts and one
that kills jobs. The road was opened for this massive ideological
offensive by the social-democrats, the very same that had supported the
vicious anti-communists such as Lech
Walesa of Poland and so-called dissident intellectuals such as Vaclav
Havel of the then Czechoslovakia in their acts to re-establish
classical capitalism in their countries as acts of freedom and
democracy. These people today are parading as the greatest proponents
of restoring the Nazis and the Nazi collaborators to
their former glory. What do the social-democrats of today have to say
about such things? Some are in positions of power in Europe and to keep
their positions of power their collaboration knows no bounds including
putting themselves in the forefront of campaigns to restore the Nazis
to their former "glory" in the
name of compensating the "victims of communism." Others were pushed
aside by the capitalist crisis which provided no space for rivals and
third parties but champions monopoly right. They are fighting to get
back their old positions of privilege within tripartite state
arrangements. In political terms, the only future
for the social-democratic parties, and it is a sordid one at that, was
to become champions of neo-liberalism and a so-called third way, as the
Labour Party of Tony Blair succeeded in doing in Britain. This course
of action clearly revealed this third way to be neo-liberalism which
was in essence neo-conservatism and
has been condemned world-wide for representing aggression, war,
torture, renditions and all kind of crimes against humanity. Today
these forces are pinning their hopes on providing this third way in
another form -- a kind of fascism with an allegedly human face.
In Ontario, the social-democrats paved the way for
Harris' "Common Sense Revolution." According to the Harris government,
so-called shock therapy was necessary to restore "freedom" and this
took the form of a brutal anti-social offensive with massive
privatization of public services, assaults on the most
vulnerable, destruction of labour standards to the point where no
standards are to remain, etc. Ontarians were thus liberated and "free"
to fend for themselves.
Far from smashing the walls that separate human beings,
this conception of "freedom" means that the only claims that society
has to meet are those of the financial oligarchy, thus cementing more
than ever a wall of marginalization and criminalization of the people,
to exclude the people, from the most vulnerable
to the industrial workers of the big unionized sectors, to the point of
civil death. The discussion was enlivened with many examples from the
struggles for rights and the workers movement which illustrated the
situation facing the working class and people in Ontario, Canada and
abroad.
The Party organizations in Ontario are facing this
anti-communist assault and marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of
the Berlin Wall by professionalizing their work so that the Party plays
its role of enabling the workers to take the lead and bring about
democratic renewal. The thrust of this work is to elaborate
the independent politics of the working class, in which the working
class affirms its own identity as a class that has its own thinking,
its own agenda, its own press, its own organization and its own worker
politicians that are independent of the owners of capital.
The reality of the economic crisis is showing that the
workers must urgently remove the obstructions erected by the owners of
capital and those who conciliate with them. Doing so will open
society's path to progress, to the building of a human-centred
alternative capable of resolving the crisis in a way that is
beneficial to the people. The Party and the working class cannot solve
the crisis without challenging the premises of the ruling class, that
there is no alternative, that the crisis was "unforeseen," that the
monopolies should be supported in times of crisis to the detriment of
the people ("everybody must share the burden"),
that the workers as the producers of all the wealth in the society
should not be the decision makers who sort out the cause and solution
of the crisis but confine themselves to the social niche of "keeping
the feet of the politicians to the fire."
From the Pages of the Party Press...
There Is a Place for Theory
- Hardial Bains -
The retreat of revolution was necessarily preceded by
broad and violent attacks on theory. The Soviet Union was not the only
place where this took place. It took place on the world scale. These
attacks were strictly class-motivated. Fearing revolution and the
socialist and communist society, the obsolescent classes
had to begin by launching attacks on theory. Europe, which was the
centre of theory even after the Second World War, was soon to become
the great champion of pragmatism, the U.S. outlook fundamentally
opposed to theory.
Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroike published in
1986 was a complete retreat from theory. His open declaration that
there was no theory was the eve of the revolution going into retreat.
The summation of the developments in the spheres of nature and society
was reduced to attacks on theory.
It was argued that all developments prove that there is no need for
theory. Everyone was supposed to be relieved that, finally, there is no
theory. Theory seems to have caused such problems during the period of
the "cold war" it was considered an advance to no longer have a fight
on the problems relating to theory.
Theory has a place in life because life is nothing
other than human beings struggling with nature and society. Theory
establishes that vital relationship between human beings and nature and
between themselves such that, in its absence, it is not possible to
carry on modern life. It is being observed that
all over the world, there is a gravitation towards religion, reflecting
the period during which theory comes under violent attack. All forms of
ideas are being brought into play to fill the space which belonged to
theory.
Theory belongs to a rising class during the period of
class society and it serves its interests. On the other hand, theory
goes against the declining class or classes. The working class is the
rising class both in terms of its numbers and its place in the society.
It is not accidental that in Canada, the U.S.
and elsewhere, countries in which the modern industrial proletariat
abounds, theory is banished from the organized labour movement and it
is feared that if organized labour begins to broaden its base and takes
up a position to establish the working class as the leader of the
society, then theory will be extremely dangerous
to the existing order. Organized labour as it exists at this time
prides itself for having no theory whatsoever. Those who deny that they
need theory are necessarily giving vent to a bourgeois outlook.
[...] Theory occupies a central position in the work of
CPC(M-L). How such a theory and its different attributes are defined
and how they are elaborated play an important role in the life of the
Party. This theory is developed along the lines of Karl Marx's social
science. It takes what is warranted from
every period, including the period of the Party from the seventies to
the present. It starts with the present and goes into the past, in
order to ensure the all-round development of the theory for the future.
Theory at the Present Time
Theory deals with the causes of change, development and
motion. As was the case in the past, today too, it is theory which
elucidates the path of practice. It sheds light on the fact that the
retreat of revolution is only a temporary stage and may not last for
too long. It
also tells that a free market economy cannot overcome the ills of
society nor can political pluralism and a multi-party system end the
political chaos. It is theory which tells us that there is a future for
society different and distinct from capitalism, a future without the
exploitation of persons by persons. Where does
such a theory come from?
Taking into consideration that the society has evolved
from the past to the present and that the entire natural world is in
motion, it is impossible not to come to the conclusion that there is a
future for society. What kind of future will it be? Past, present and
future, in this context, has to be qualitatively
differentiated. By present is meant the existence of class privileges
and classes within the conditions of modern capitalist development. By
past is meant the existence of class privileges and classes within the
conditions of feudalism. By future is meant the abolition of class
privileges within capitalism and the abolition
of classes themselves within the conditions of socialism and communism.
Feudalism was known for the existence of feudal
privilege and the hierarchical rule on this basis. Capitalism abolished
such a political rule but it did not abolish class privileges and
classes. For a political rule to become fully democratic, it must
necessarily end all class privileges within the present
situation. This, it can be said, will be the highest development of
democratic rule within the conditions of modern capitalism, while its
opposite will be the political rule based on class privileges. The
conditions of modern capitalism, with its large-scale production,
favour the elimination of class privileges. The achievement
of universal franchise is one advance made to abolish the position of
privilege but to guarantee the rights of all human beings is the
logical conclusion of this movement which has its origin in the
movement to oppose feudal absolutism. The democratic system as
established by the modern capitalist class is no longer
operational as can be seen in countries across the world, where working
people are demanding empowerment by ending class privileges.
It is a self-evident truth that any lasting movement in
history has a human aim. It is an integral part of humanizing the
social and natural environment, of the great cause of civilization. The
aim reflects the possibilities the conditions have created for
development. Ending all class privileges has so far
eluded this aim. It is human to demand such a thing as, in its absence,
too many major problems remain unresolved. The pressure of this on the
human mind is such that it gives rise to spiritual and other forms of
degradation. One of the finest moments for human beings is when the aim
set within history is achieved.
It brings forth that which was missing in the past, that which was so
sorely needed. The future is awaiting such a moment when class
privileges will be abolished and the people are empowered and able to
deal with the major problems in the sphere of the economy, politics and
the relations between themselves.
During the referendum campaign [in 1992 — ed.]
one of the constant complaints of the people was that they wanted to
have information so that they could vote in a responsible manner. The
government started mass distribution of the Consensus Report on
the Constitution but
even after receiving it the electors did not feel they were informed.
They needed that theory which could illuminate what the problems are at
this time. Theory is being denied for the explicit purpose of making
sure that the electorate does not put two and two together. It is not
possible to cognize without theory which
reveals the under-pinnings and the extenuating circumstances of the
motion in society and nature.
Theory -- Not a Dogma
Dogma and theory are not one and the same thing. When
the revolution is in retreat dogma more and more replaces theory. Such
is the case in the treatment of one of the most vital problems of our
time, the attitude towards socialism and communism. The dogmatic
rendering
of socialism and communism, whether for or against, does not reveal the
fact that the present conditions are calling for those deep-going
transformations which would empower the working people to deal with
their problems. On the contrary, dogmatists merely debate the merits or
demerits of socialism and communism
from their own pre-conceived notions, ignoring the reality that it is
the working class which is going to decide in the final analysis
whether socialism and communism will win or not. It is not
pre-determined that socialism and communism will win, even though
society has a future which can only be envisioned as
socialist and communist. But this does not prove that there is no need
to bring forth the content of the struggle at this time which will
contribute to the advance of the society from one stage to the next.
[...]
Only That Which Is New Is Invincible
Superficiality and degeneration, corruption and other
behaviour consistent with a society which is going down the drain are
some of the features which are quite pronounced during this period of
the retreat of revolution. It would be harmful to draw the conclusion
that these are permanent manifestations of the society. Disintegration
does not point to disintegration alone; it also points to its opposite
which the future has in store. Those who constitute the progressive and
advanced force put the positive factors in the first place and on this
basis work to create a new situation.
As can be seen from the entire evolutionary process which is based on
sudden and intermittent revolutionary changes, the disintegrating
factors are merely incidental to the advance of the society. They are
mere episodes whereas what is invincible is progress and advance. There
is a place for setbacks in evolution
as well, but this does not eliminate the general course of evolution.
It only delays the sudden changes, the radical breaks. But the
conception that evolution itself can suffer a setback, that progress
can be turned permanently into retrogression, that human beings can
evolve backwards into a species which precedes homo sapiens,
is not possible in the strict sense.
Certain behaviour which exhibits itself may be reminiscent of the past.
The manner in which class privileges exhibit themselves today is
reminiscent of absolutism under feudalism, but it is not possible that
human society will regress to feudalism, or that
evolution, whether social or natural, will revert to a previous stage.
What can happen is that the contending classes may mutually destroy
themselves and the destruction may be of such a character that it could
set the wheel of history back. Nonetheless, the events which will
unfold in history will indicate the forward
march.
The No Vote on October 26, 1992 still raises the
question in the minds of many about how it could happen. They are
amused to see the entire establishment defeated. But they should go
further. They will be able to see how even far stronger forces can be
defeated when the moment comes in history.
The moment in history has now arrived for making changes. It is not
necessarily true that the changes will be abrupt; that they will come
into effect today or the day after. But the historical tomorrow
necessarily has the prospect of ending that retreat of revolution and
turning it into its flow. There is a need for a
theory which would illuminate the path when such moments arise. The
time is to disregard all dogmas. At the same time, one must pay utmost
attention to the character of different forces and not just what comes
out of their mouths. The time is to put theory in the place which
belongs to it. The place of theory is
in the democratic renewal of the society, in the ending of class
privileges and, in the long run, in the abolition of classes themselves.
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