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.

(TML Daily, November 16, 1992 -- extracts)

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