Can We Have A Maoist Party Now?

Let's paint the west red!

Here lately I've felt very pessimistic about the left here in the US and so of course I started to wonder why I am having these feelings.


It didn't take me long to realize that it is because I don't have a party or group where I can participate/express myself with like minded revolutionaries to attempt to destroy US imperialism/capitalism.


I have attempted to look into multiple different parties and groups/ORGS etc. But nothing here in the states really comes close to the political line I believe in to take us through to socialism in the US. Simply we do not have a real Maoist party in the US, we have MTWist (they are actually Lin Piaoist), Kasama (sort of) and the RCP-USA which is not a real Maoist party as much as an Avakianist party.  


I recently was sent this link to a blog set up by fellow maoist but when I asked how I could help I got no response. Granted I am not going to join just because they call themselves Maoist but  I would love to see what they have to offer. Their documents seem to imply that they are ready to start the party building process.


I will pursue contacting them further. They posted an e-mail ncpocweblog@hotmail.com under their contact information if any Maoist in the states wish to contact the group.


I am getting off topic though. The fact of the matter is that all the Maoist living in the US need to come together under one banner. Rather you are a anti-revisionist, 100 flower, cultural revolutionary type of Maoist or any other kind of Maoist we should be uniting together into one party to struggle for socialism.


All the other socialist parties have shown themselves incapable of leading the masses in any meaningful way. Sure some groups are good at organizing peaceful protest where the same people come, yell, then go home with an undeserved sense of accomplishment. Some are good at labor organizing, some are good at organizing students, but in reality no party is capable of leading the toiling masses towards socialism.


We Maoist need an outlet for our ideas in a organization where we can practice free and open criticism/self-criticism in a comradly manor.


To put it plainly we need a unified Maoist party. made up of all the Maoist banners!
We need for revolutionaries to put aside petty individual "rivalries" with each other so we can do what we should be doing and that is fighting for socialism/communism.


I for one hope we can get our shit together soon so we can start to organize the fight for socialism. Only a true Maoist party based on the mass line, revolutionary democracy and based in the proletarian masses can lead to a socialist revolution. We will never achieve any progress on that front if we rely on petty bourgeois ideologist parties made up of academia elites. We need a real proletarian party made up of proletarians fighting for the only system capable of meeting every ones needs; socialism.  

Proletarian and Workers Language!

First of all it is important to point out that some one who is a proletarian is someone who is both oppressed in some form or another and that person is also exploited for his/her labor, meaning he/she creates more wealth for his/her bosses than he/she receives. Some one who works at say McDonald's as a cashier is a proletarian. They do not actually produce any wealth but they do collect it for their bosses. The person in a factory somewhere who is making the pre-made patties for the restaurant use would be a proletarian because he/she is creating a product to be sold at a profit higher than s/he is paid. So in short anyone who PRODUCES wealth and receives a lower wage than s/he creates is exploited for their labor and thus is a proletarian. The cashier, while not a proletarian (as in they do not produce any wealth) is still a member of the working class and is still exploited.


I tend to think that it is hypocritical when I hear communist say that "we shouldn't separate ourselves from the working class" and yet they insist on talking at people like they are ignorant and the communist try to use this superior language that makes themselves feel smarter. They repeat "we shouldn't separate ourselves from the working class" over and over and then go to the working class and TELL them what they should believe and how things really are and mainly they just come off sounding really condescending and turn people off of socialism.


If we are not to remove ourselves from the masses (I will be replacing the words "working class" with "the masses" from now on) then we must adapt their ideas to our own. Not try and force the masses to take on our ideas fully because that will never happen. What is more important? That the masses have Marxist principles? Or that the masses call it Marxism?

An example of adapting our ideas to theirs: In the US the masses see that there are multiple classes. So instead of applying dialect materialism to the situation and adapting and moving forward the communist would rather scream at the masses that they are wrong and only the communist are right that there are only two classes. But I tell you that we must adapt the ideas of the masses into our own rather we like it or not. If the masses believe there are multiple classes then we must say "okay, how do we go forward with this way of thinking." Of course we should attempt to slowly educate and advocate to the masses that there are two main class blocs but to refuse to listen to the masses is to refuse the masses support.


In the US there is a general understanding in the masses that there is a upper class, a upper middle class, a working middle class, Working class poor, and the lower class (poor, homeless etc). That is five classes, some may argue there is only four recognized by the masses and that is fine and can be applied as well. The most common way I hear to deal with this contradiction between the masses and the American communist is to simply "educate the working class about class consciousness" But as it was so well put by a successful revolutionary in a imperialist dominated country:
"Education requires money, people and instruments. In today's world money is entirely in the hands of the capitalists. Those who have charge of education are all either capitalists or wives of capitalists. In today's world the schools and the press, the two most important instruments of education are entirely under capitalist control. In short, education in today's world is capitalist education. If we teach capitalism to children, these children, when they grow up will in turn teach capitalism to a second generation of children. Education thus remains in the hands of the capitalists. Then the capitalists have 'parliaments' to pass laws protecting the capitalists and handicapping the proletariat; they have 'governments' to apply these laws and to enforce the advantages and the prohibitions that they contain; they have 'armies' and 'police' to defend the well-being of the capitalists and to repress the demands of the proletariat; they have 'banks' to serve as repositories in the circulation of their wealth ; they have ' factories', which are the instruments by which they monopolize the production of goods. Thus, if the communists do not seize political power, they will not be able to find any refuge in this world; how, under such circumstances, could they take charge of education? Thus, the capitalists will continue to control education and to praise their capitalism to the skies, so that the number of coverts to the proletariat's communist propaganda will diminish from day to day. Consequently, I believe that the method of education is unfeasible...."(1)


It is not the masses who should be parroting us, but it us who should lead them in the right direction while helping them help themselves. Only by putting "politics in command!" can we successfully move the masses forward to communism. But a big step is that we as revolutionaries have to put the peoples politics into consideration and stop thinking we know all the answers. We don't and we can't, they are always going to be contradictions that need to be met and all we can do is try to solve it for the betterment of the masses.


I for one see a huge connection between why there is a separation of the masses and communist and the communist condescending nature. Ive seen it too many times where some one will walk away because the communist "know everything" and aren't listening to the people. And that leaves an impression on that person that communist are all that way; controlling and condescending and unwilling to listen to other peoples theory's and ideas.


Ive said it many of times that we communist are the main reason why we are so unpopular. We are disorganized, over barring, constant in-fighting, some communist insult other people that don't share their ideas constantly (I have never changed my mind because I was called stupid or ignorant have you?), we talk tooooooo much about stuff that happened in Russia back in 1919 and while it is important to learn from the past it is also a waste to dwell on it.


So this is my call to all communist to start using the language of the proletarian or else stay on your sidelines and keep shouting cause no one is listening. And no one is going to start listening to you til you start listening to them also. I end this with a quote that addresses what I'm talking about:

"Twenty-four years of experience tell us that the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably strengthen our ties with the masses, and the wrong task, policy and style of work invariably disagree with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably alienate us from the masses. The reason why such evils as dogmatism, empiricism, commandism, tailism, sectarianism, bureaucracy and an arrogant attitude in work are definitely harmful and intolerable, and why anyone suffering from these maladies must overcome them, is that they alienate us from the masses."(2)


"Production by the masses, the interests of the masses, the experiences and feelings of the masses - to these the leading cadres should pay constant attention. "(2)


"We should pay close attention to the well being of the masses, from the problems of land and labour to those of fuel, rice, cooking oil and salt.... All such problems concerning the well being of the masses should be placed on our agenda. We should discuss them, adopt and carry out decisions and check up on the results. We should help the masses to realize that we represent their interests and that our lives are intimately bound up with theirs. We should help them to proceed from these things to an understanding of the higher tasks which we have put forward, the tasks of the revolutionary war, so that they will support the revolution and spread it throughout the country, respond to our political appeals and fight to the end for victory in the revolution. " (2)


Written by: Dustin Slagle

Resources:

(1) "Communism and Dictatorship" by Mao Tse Tung November 1920 January 1921 [Extracted from. two letters to Ts’ai Ho-sen, in November 1920 and January 1921.]

(2) "The Little Red Book" (Quotations from Chairman Mao), Chapter:"The Mass Line", Published 1966. Quotes taken from; http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/

Proletarians! Walking Like Capitalist?

Most anyone living in the United States has a friend or family member in retail. If not then you have at least had someone try to sell you something you don't need for way too much money.


One thing I have noticed about my proletarian brothers in sisters in my personal experience is that at work and even after work they seem to pride themselves on how much they know about the money of the business they work for. For example one of my friends who made minimum wage would always brag about knowing how much money the restaurant made in a night, week etc. Because the bosses told him this small bit of information he would bend over backwards for the bosses no matter what. He would call people in for them do inventory for them and never asked for a raise in wages because he was their "friend" (aka a worker who did everything except ask for a raise). But because his bosses would tell him stupid information about the company and let him eat sword fish when he would work fifty plus hours a week he felt important to the company. I say felt because he was threatened at work by a co-worker and the bosses told him to deal with it. So he had to quit.


Another friend of mine was bragging to me that she had sold people some things they didn't need and got them to buy three hundred dollars worth of shit they didn't need. She was saying this like it was some kind of accomplishment. You would have thought she got all of the three hundred dollars. But she doesn't even make commission, she gets paid seventy cents over minimum wage. But yet she is proud and happy to have exploited these average everyday people for the mass benefit of her bosses and exploiters.


It drives me crazy to see this behavior specially by the poorest class in the USA. In the first example I gave you, the person is now homeless because he did the same thing at his new job and started drinking 12 year old scotch and smoking seven dollar cigars and just generally acting like he was of a higher class. But we see how much his capitalist friends helped him when after two years of breaking his back for them and never getting one raise they fired him.


What I have the hardest time understanding is where this behavior comes from. I don't understand why so many workers care about the business side of the company they work for let alone want to act like they have a steak in it. I'll never understand why someone in sales who doesn't make commission would care about selling people things they don't need. In fact I'm sure that makes them a horrible person.


The last thing I would like to rant about is the poor proletarians who complain about the Unions. That same guy Ive mentioned said on many occasions "why should one person get paid a days work everyday for three days for a job that takes one day""a non-union could probably do all three jobs on one day for one days pay." This baffled me and led to almost a strangle match. But the serious question is; why are proletarians feeling this way? Why are they acting and talking/walking this way? What has labor, communist etc failed to do so much that the proletarians of this nation think they are some mystical "middle class" and aspire to be the new bosses? Maybe it is time to do some self reflecting in the movement and make a huge change.

The Red Guard Pledge!

From the moment I became a communist I had always been inspired by the Black Panther Party. They did something that most groups do not do and that was that they made their members take a pledge. I think it is sad when you meet someone from a party and you know their party line better than they do. In the BPP you had to recite the main ideas and points of the BPP platform. I think all communist need to take a pledge! Not just for their parties but specifically for their selves and for the good of the communist movement as a whole. I plan on writing two pledges, one for the die hard dedicated communist that is willing to make the greatest sacrifices and the second one will be for the less dedicated but still determined revolutionary.


I as a communist do swear:


1) To eradicate all selfish elements of my personality for the greater good of my people


2) That I will never take anything away from a proletarian except experiences to use in the struggle against the bourgeoisie exploiter class.

I will never steal so much as a piece of thread from any one belonging to the proletarian class. Nor will I commit any crime against any proletariat. Everything I steal from the bourgeoisie and the capitalist class I will give to the proletarians who need it most. I will not selfishly keep anything taken from the bourgeoisie, if I steal so much as a loaf of bread I will give 3/4 of that loaf to the needy proletarians.


3) That I will uphold equality of all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation and will militantly defend all people's rights to equality.


4) To always be polite to people of the proletarian class. I understand that not all people will share my views of the world or of the future, but I will still be polite and keep from yell, insulting or cursing at the people even if they disagree with my ideas.

I will always calmly explain myself and my ideas to the masses and will never curse, physically threaten and certainly not ever cause physical harm to a proletariat. I am here to serve the proletarian masses and would never commit any action that would bring harm to the proletariat.


5) That I will never use opportunism in my political work. The masses will not trust people who are not genuine. I will not join any group that uses the masses for its personal gain and I will leave my current ORG if they practice opportunism. I will not lie to the masses.


6) That I will militantly demand full employment for all proletarians, cheap or free QUALITY housing for the proletarian masses (housing is a right), free and quality health care for all people, free education from pre-school through collage!, Free clothing for the poor!, Food is a necessity not a luxury and should be free to people who need it. These will be my major political objectives and I will advocate for them militantly.


7) I am a proletariat and will not conspire with my class enemy or their hired thugs. Police, (while not paid well) do not represent the proletarian class. They represent and protect bourgeoisie/capitalist ideology and way of life, thus they are my class enemy. I will not give any information to the police that jeopardizes fellow comrades or any proletariat. I will (if arrested) only give the bare minimum amount of information (name, ID card etc) but will never give any information to the police to tip them to who my friends/comrades/cadre are. Police/FBI/CIA are the enemy of the proletariat around the world as well as in US, thus are my enemy and should be treated accordingly.


8) I will learn how to operate and service weapons correctly. I will learn how to accurately shoot a fire arm and will share my knowledge with my comrades so that if the situation should arise we are capable of defending the proletarians from a capitalist assault. I also swear to be responsible with fire arms and to never use them unless absolutely needed to defend my proletarian brothers and sisters.


9) I will represent the most radical/militant wing at any party congress/reading groups/discussion groups/protest/workshop or any other event I attend.


10) I will not carry and advance liberal slogans as they set back advances for the socialist cause and pacify the movement. Only in rare situations will I advance liberal slogans in which it is for sure to help the living standards of the proletariat or cause harm to the capitalist class.


11) I will read for no less than one and a half hours everyday and will exercise for at lest 30 minutes everyday to keep my mind and my body sharp.




Signed X

My Views on Maoist Third Worldism.

There are many reasons why I am inspired to write a blog post about Maoist Third Worldism (MTWist). One main reason is the high amount of chauvinism and xenophobia shown by first worldist communist toward the MTW movement. Another few reasons is their theory of what a proletariat is, their ideas of international proletarian revolution, and their attitude towards the present conditions in imperialist countries and finally just the heavy amount of myths that surround this ideology are some reasons why I am writing this blog post.


Let me start by saying as a Marxist it is important to take a scientific approach to all ideas, situations and circumstances. Please keep this in mind while reading this. This post is not meant a promotion nor a condemnation of Maoist Third Worldism (MTW).


One thing I find very interesting about MTW is their idea that not everyone who is part of the working class is a proletariat. While most communist refer to all workers or anyone who sells their labor as a proletarian the MTWist see this as incorrect as did Marx. The proletarian is someone who has nothing to lose but their chains, who has nothing to sell but his labor. The proletarian is also someone who produces value or engages in productive labor. Now this hardly applies to many people in the united states let alone anyone in the first world. As the LLCO correctly point out in one of their blogs "This effect is magnified even more by the relative ease with which First World peoples gain access to large amounts of credit. Significantly, First World workers also receive a share of imperialist super profits extracted from the Third World–just because they are from the First World. Furthermore, First World workers are generally not involved in productive labor as Marx’s model proletarian is. Rather, First World people are employed in non-value-creating positions such as management, merchant capital enterprises, white-collar work, distribution, the service industry, etc. They are often employed in positions that are purely parasitic and drain value. Also, they are often employed in work that may be necessary to realize value, but is not itself value creating."(1)


"global median is about $2.50 a day. There are more people in India earning less than $0.80 a day than people living in the USA." These are staggering numbers that knock me to the floor. It is hard to believe that anyone thinks a revolution will happen in a place where the minimum wage is $5.50 higher then what the average worker in the rest of the world makes. A person making $10,000 a year is in the top 13.3% of the worlds wealthiest people annual income wise. The average American home brings in around $50,000 dollars a year that would put you in the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the world. Now try to imagine you were given only $3,000 dollars to live off of for a whole year, just $3,000 you would still be in the top 15% of wealthiest people on earth annual income wise. The MTWist actually make more sense the more of the ideas I explore.



Their idea of international revolution is easy to follow and makes a lot of sense. They basically follow the ideas of Lin Biao set out in the book "Long Live the Victory of People's War". In the book Lin Biao puts forward that in an international revolution the smaller third world countries would act as the rural areas and that imperialist first world countries would be the cities, and in order to win the international revolution the proletarian army would have to first gain control of the rural country sides (poor, third world countries). After they gained control of the international country sides then the people's army would have to encircle and take over the cities of the world (the first world imperialist nations).



This takes me into one of the myths Ive heard over and over not just about MTWist but Maoist in general. That they are nationalist. I have no clue where this notion came from and I don't care. As a Maoist I can say that not only are we not nationalist but we are the strongest internationalist in the world ideologically. Every Maoist has called for international proletarian revolution. From Mao in China to Fred Hampton in the US we have always called for the start of an international revolution. MTW are no different in fact they are more internationalist than most people claiming to be communist because those who even live in the first world call for the freedom and empowerment of the third world before focusing on their own-selves. That is real internationalism, they call on themselves to uphold the need to lower their living standards so that the people of the world can live more equally. In my opinion that is about as far away from nationalism as possible.



Ive heard so many myths swirling around this ideology that it is hard to chose one to talk about. One time some one said they had heard that MTWist want to "enslave the first world workers" not only is this silly but this is a case of one "socialist" party trying to cause xenophobia towards MTWism. After reading through the LLCO/MSH material I think where the idea of this came from is that the LLCO (correctly) asserts that in order for socialist redistribution to work the workers in the first world imperialist nations would have to lower their standards of living in order for the standards of living in the third world to go up. I agree because we can not pull random nonexistent value from no where. The earth can only produce so much value at a time and in order for everyone on earth to live up to the living standards of the US we would need like 2-3 earths.


Last thing I wanna touch on is what the MTWist mean by "first worldist". A first worldist is someone who thinks that workers in the first world imperialist nations are more advanced than workers in the second and third worlds. Advanced meaning they think the first world workers have more revolutionary potential and that the first world worker is more class conscious. This is mainly just childish chauvinism but where it is dangerous is that it is anti-dialectal. It instills a false sense into the "communist" of the first world that a revolution is not only possible in their country but that if one happens that it will happen in a advanced first world nation. Now lets be clear that with Russia being the one exception (and it is debated rather they were even a first world nation during 1917) there has never been a successful proletarian/communist revolution in a first world country. All great proletarian revolutions took place in third world countries. So it is anti-dialects if a leader of you party/ORG tells you otherwise.


Other times they refer to FWist as people who fight for gains for the first world workers but the MTWist warn that these gains are not free and that the gains won by these struggles come on the backs of third world proletarians. And the MTWist claim that first world worker gain from their nations imperialist exploitation. The counter argument Ive heard to this is that "No imperialist CORP is going to share its profits with the people of their nation" on this issue I am torn. I think we in the first world do slightly benefit from the exploitation of the third world by our government. But I also think that most of the profits stolen from the third world end up in the banks or the big CORP's pockets for the most part.



I think MTWism is something that is a hint of fresh air to a rather stale and old movement. They have a lot to contribute to the movement and I believe their use of Marxism as a science is as good as anybodies. I would encourage my reader to check out their site and read some for themselves before turning their nose up at the Maoist third worldist. You can find the link to the Leading Light Communist Organization at the side of this page I invite you to go and read their material you might like what you see.


By: Dustin Slagle










(1)http://llco.org/archives/4911, FEB, 1, 2010