9-20-07, 9:23 am
A better question that progressives should ask is how do we get to socialism from here? We know where we--the United States in the early years of the twenty-first century--are. Much has been written about the general nature of a future socialist society, though the outlines are usually quite vague because Marxism-Leninism is a guide to struggle, not a blueprint of the future.
Unlike Athena, who sprang from the head of Zeus full-grown and in armor, socialism will not emerge from the corpse of capitalism fully developed and ready to provide its benefits to a waiting populace. Human history does not work so neatly. The road to socialism is not an interstate highway whose entry point is capitalism and whose last exit is socialism. Social change is often a messy, chaotic, and confusing phenomenon. The conflict between the working class and the capitalist class will be the crucible in which the struggle for socialism will be forged. As such, it is the place of a Marxist not only to study the basic laws of social development, but to develop strategies and programs to confront capitalism's myriad problems prior to the introduction of socialism.
Any struggle for socialism must go hand-in-hand with the fight for democracy. Socialism without democracy will degenerate into authoritarianism. We live in a society that prides itself on its democratic system. A better description would be a bourgeois democracy. While we have rights protected by the Bill of Rights and we can vote and choose from different political parties, our democratic rights are limited. Capitalists run the show and protect their class interests. The best example in recent years were the controversial results of presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. These issues are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Our democracy and the democratic process are being eroded continuously.
At this point in the history of the United States, we have three major steps to take before we arrive at socialism. The first is to defeat the ultra-Right in the 2008 elections, the second is to institute a period of liberal reforms, and the third is to implement a people's democratic revolution that will lead to socialism. The process is very complex, but the main points can be outlined very generally in this article.
For the last 30 years the most conservative sections of the capitalist class dominated the political sphere. One need not have to recite the litany of anti-worker, racist, anti-environment, pro-war policies carried out since the Reagan Administration. Even in the Clinton years the right wing exercised great influence, most notably in the 1994 elections (the so-called 'Contract With America') and the impeachment of the president.
The first seven years of the George W. Bush Administration have seen even greater assaults against workers, people of color, immigrants, and the environment. The president and his advisors have used the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to attack civil liberties and fight wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush has tipped the balance on the Supreme Court to the conservatives, and they have issued numerous decisions that undermine the struggles for progress on many fronts.
The fightback against the Bush policies is well underway. Peace groups have been marching, writing, and organizing to end the war in Iraq. Others have protested the erosion of civil liberties under the Patriot Act, and other laws. Massive efforts led in 2006 to the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress. For the first time, the right-wing juggernaut has been blunted.
An immense job still needs to be done so that the people's movements can regain what has been lost. The main goal now is to create a left-center alliance and defeat the ultra-right.
Organized labor has emerged as the centerpiece of this movement. As impressive as its efforts were in the 2004 and 2006 elections, 2008 will be a year of even greater effort. Grassroots organizations will work ceaselessly to bring about a victory against the forces of darkness currently in power. Whichever Democratic candidate emerges as the winner will have a huge task in redirecting government policy. As we have seen since 2006, even though the Democrats control both houses of Congress, they have not yet successfully challenged the Bush Administration in many areas. Only consistent and persistent pressure will lead to pro-people policies. The next administration will be the focal point for these mass movements, with labor at the front.
The major areas calling out for reform include need for a national single-payer health insurance program, an end to a unilateral interventionist foreign policy (including an end to the economic blockade of Cuba), the passage of workers rights, tougher civil rights laws, and laws to protect the environment. The list is endless. The government will have to assert is role as regulator of big business and protector of the powerless.
We will to broaden and deepen the struggle for democracy. The working class and its allies will have to fight to level the political playing field, which now is tilted greatly in favor of big business and its two major political parties. Laws will be needed to limit the influence of money in campaigns, make sure every vote is counted, open ballot to third parties, open up the broadcast media by bringing back the equal time provisions of the Fairness Doctrine, and institute many other electoral reforms.
An important part of the struggle for democracy will be reigning in the domination of the public airwaves by big capital. One can forget that the airwaves used by broadcasters are owned by the people and hence should be controlled by their organizations. Recent laws on media concentration need to be reformed and the process of broadcast license renewal opened up.
After generations of struggle, the government's foreign policy must be changed from one where the United States is first among many counties to one where we are one among equals. The forces of peace will need to gain greater influence and demand that the government renounce its unilateral interventionist foreign policy which had its roots in the Cold War and led to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan in recent times. The defense budget will be slashed as our country resets its priorities. We will close foreign military bases and renounce the first use of nuclear weapons. Relics of the Cold War, such as NATO and nuclear weapons systems will be dismantled.
How long this period will take is unknown. What is known is that there will be an intense right-wing counter attack. The center and left forces will have to withstand this onslaught and work to stay united. It would be nice but unlikely that the road to reform will be smooth without potholes and setbacks. Any significant fragmentation or weakening of the people's movements will reopen the door to the ultra-right.
As the liberal reform process develops, people will begin to see that it will have its limits. Workers will have greater rights to organize and strike, but there will still be private ownership across the bargaining table, and these owners will still follow the capitalist imperative, profits first. Environmentalists will win better laws to protect nature's fragile ecology, but again, they will constantly be butting heads with big business. In area after area reform will go only so far, and big business will fight back with its tremendous resources every step of the way.
As time passes and conditions change, social perceptions also change. Larger numbers of activists and rank-and-file workers will see that to continue the progress being made, that they will need to replace an anti-monopoly critique with an anti-capitalist one. General changes in capitalist production, which will siphon off ever greater wealth from those who produced it to those who own, it will bring many more people to the side of social change. There will be increased calls for stricter governmental controls over private capital or in various industries even public control.
Social change does not take place in the same way a person walks through a train, going from car to car, in a very clear and delineated manner. Therefore, at some point in history society will move from a period of liberal reform to the people's democratic revolution. At that time, we move towards what has been called 'Bill of Rights Socialism.' This means that we will use our basic rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and expand them to guarantee people's social and economic rights. We could add guarantees against racism, sexism, and homophobia. We could guarantee full employment, free health care, and education. In short, we could guarantee basic human rights in all areas of life.
Unlike many other, less-developed economies, the United States will start the transition to socialism at a highly advanced point. The material conditions for the next stage of economic development are already present.
Our government will break the mold of liberal reform and move in the direction of socialism. The working class and its organizations will be at the core of this movement, but it will include an alliance of other classes, including small business, and farmers. These organizations will draw in an increasingly larger number of people as part of a democratic movement to create a new society.
The peoples democratic revolution will unfold in all areas of society. As such, it will be beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the changes in total. Nor can we describe it in any detail. It would be useful, however, to highlight various concepts.
The last third of the twentieth century saw the de-industrialization of many areas of the United States. Factories, many the cornerstone of their communities, closed and their operations transferred abroad. The basic core industries or steel, auto, machinery, and electronics were downsized. Millions of workers lost their jobs, and either moved to places where there was work, or found employment at semi- or unskilled work at lower pay than before.
A modern nation needs its manufacturing base and under the people's democratic revolution the government will create conditions to re-establish worker-run, popularly-owned industrial enterprises. Economic decision-making in these areas will be taken out of the hands of big-business and given to the working class.
As time passed, the government would take the lead in the conversion of many industries to popular control. This will not be an easy task, needless to say. The capitalists will fight tooth and nail to maintain their ownership. But with the support of the vast majority of workers, the forces of popular power will have the strength to move forward.
A similar scenario will be repeated in many industries, including the energy complex, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and consumer goods. Again, the only way that the people overcome the capitalists will be through militancy and unity. At this point in our social development, the people will be convinced that socialism will be a superior system and will be motivated to pursue their goals, and defend their victories.
A whole panoply of laws and policies will follow. People will demand full employment, and the introduction of new technology will make work easier and more rewarding. As such, the work week will be shortened and vacation time will increase. People will have guaranteed pensions and as more productive forces are controlled by the state sector, the wealth created will lead to an earlier and more secure retirement. Work will become an honored part of our society.
The people in their social manifestation will become increasingly identified with the government as politics tips in favor of the working class and its allies. 'We, the people' will truly signify the relationship of the population to its government. As the economy evolves towards socialism, the underpinnings of racism will be broken down. Hand-in-hand with anti-racist education and a court system that protects the rights of African Americans and other people of color, real progress towards the end of racism will be made.
Women will tear down the laws and policies that oppress them and the economic climate of the people's democratic revolution guarantees gender equality. Among the changes will be equal pay, opportunity for education, low cost child care, and the right to choose an abortion.
In the political arena there will be many changes, while preserving and enhancing the democratic traditions of the United States. The money-dominated electoral system that exists today will be replaced by one where there will be greater access by workers and others who express a variety of ideas through a number of different political parties. As the working class gains in political strength, its confidence and maturity will increase. Those parties that support the revolutionary changes taking place will gain support, the others will fade away. The Communist Party, which under capitalism has been marginalized, will work to unify and strengthen the people's movement and with its program based on Marxism-Leninism will become an increasingly important contributor to the political discourse.
Our culture will destroy the commercial, racist, sexist, anti-human elements that make it up today. Society will support the arts, so that the image of the starving artist, dancer, or musician becomes a relic of the past. Themes that value the place of work, brotherhood, and peace will come to dominate. Here, the basic values of the new society will be nurtured so that people become used to living in a society that will be a prelude to socialism.
There are a myriad of changes that will take place during the people's democratic revolution, and it is impossible to discuss them all in a short article. What is important to understand is that an advanced industrial economy will need to undergo a transition from a capitalist dominated class structure to one led by the workers. All of the good and positive features of our current society will be carried over and improved in the new one.
The transition will not be simple or direct. The capitalists are a formidable obstacle, but short of them annihilating the human race in a nuclear war, a strong and united people's movement, with the working class at its core, will eventually emerge victorious. It is our responsibility to our descendants that we win the struggle.
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