{"id":18421,"date":"2021-03-10T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=18421"},"modified":"2021-08-22T16:16:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T16:16:37","slug":"what-we-have-learned-up-to-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/10\/what-we-have-learned-up-to-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"What we have learned up to 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

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1) Another world is possible \u2013 a joyful, creative, new world communism which emancipates us all from oppression and frees us all from exploitation, and which forms a new sustainable relationship between humanity and the environment.<\/p>\n

2) \u201cThe history of all hitherto existing class society is the history of class struggles.\u201d The enforcement of patriarchy over women marked the beginning of a whole series of class societies, culminating in the current global capitalist order. We are subject, in varying degrees, to exploitation by the dominant class, to state oppression designed to maintain ruling class control, and to alienation resulting from the lack of control over key aspects of our lives.<\/p>\n

3) Capitalism is a global system based on wage slavery, but still resorts to other forms of exploitative labour to maximize profits.\u00a0The capitalist state, whatever form it takes, is organised to maintain our exploitation. Capitalism has massively contributed to environmental degradation.\u00a0This now threatens many vital life-giving natural circuits, e.g. air, water and nitrogen (in the soil), as well as biodiversity and unique natural habitats.\u00a0Reversing this situation necessitates a global-scale response.<\/p>\n

4) Capitalism is a system that can only renew itself through ever more destructive crises. It will either take all of us down with it or the working class and oppressed of the world will build a new society. Only a revolutionary transformation of society can provide the basis for the change we need.<\/p>\n

5) Against exploitation we raise the banner of emancipation. Against oppression we raise the banner of liberation. Against alienation we raise the banner of self-determination. The end of class society comes through revolutionary change with the abolition of wage and domestic slavery, in a society based on the principle, \u201cfrom each according to their ability; to each according their needs\u201d.\u00a0The state gives way to communal self-administration, where \u201cthe government of persons is replaced by the administration of things and the direction of the processes of production\u201d. Our social and individual self-determination is based on the principle that \u201cthe freedom of each is the condition of the freedom of all.\u201d Communism is the society based on these principals.<\/p>\n

6) We champion \u2018being\u2019 over \u2018having\u2019 in our struggle for social and individual self-determination. The ruling classes attempt to control us by stifling both individuality and cooperation through the creation and marketing of false needs.\u00a0A culture of consumerism represses our collective attempts to assert ourselves and gain control of our lives.\u00a0Nevertheless, alternatives to this are constantly being explored, for example in the sphere of the creative arts. As a source of pleasure and power, they are a vital part of our struggle to help build a new society.<\/p>\n

7) We value both individuality and collectivity. We come from various political backgrounds and have distinct personalities and styles of communication.\u00a0Through acceptance of these differences, we have found our commonalities.\u00a0In both our internal and external work, we encourage comradely, respectful, debate as the norm for our organisations and the broader republican-socialist-communist movement.\u00a0This means being committed to sharing information, skills, and leadership roles; and being prepared to engage with and listen to different points of view.\u00a0We oppose all attempts to promote sectarian organisational advantage above socialist and working class unity of the exploited and oppressed.\u00a0Organisations and coalitions that are democratic, transparent, and accountable are ones that can learn and grow.<\/p>\n

8) We recognise that all forms of slavery \u2013 wage, domestic, sex, chattel (one person owning another), and debt \u2013 still exist and are linked under patriarchy and capitalism.\u00a0We need to overcome patriarchy as we act to break the rule of the capitalist class.\u00a0We seek to integrate the most advanced thinking from feminist and queer studies. We also need to overcome the divisions caused by imperialism. Migrants and asylum seekers are key parts of the international working class and we support the free movement of people.\u00a0We seek to integrate the most advanced thinking from anti-imperialist and post-colonial studies.\u00a0We bring a global, systemic scientific analysis to the major issues of the day.\u00a0We support the solidarity of the exploited and oppressed based on the principle of unity in diversity.\u00a0It is through popular struggles and liberation movements that the scourges of bigotry and violence based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, age, or physical ability can be eradicated.<\/p>\n

9) We engage in economic and social struggles against exploitation and democratic struggles against oppression, viewing these as schools of struggle. It is through these experiences that we can build independent, democratic, grassroots class organisations, which gain the confidence to create a revolutionary transformation of society.\u00a0In addition, cultural struggles against alienation can contribute to the development of \u2018communities of resistance\u2019.<\/p>\n

10) We are revolutionary democrats. A new society can only be built by a profound and militant extension of democracy. The fight for wider democracy and complete equality is the key to building support for a total transformation of society through continuous mass participation. Top down revolutionary changes have only led to new ruling elites and new repressive regimes.\u00a0The economy, when planned, must not just be for the people, but it must be by the people.<\/p>\n

11) We fight for the democratic sovereignty of the rank and file in the organisations of the exploited and oppressed against the state, employers and bureaucrats. Today, few trade unions have any vision beyond making deals with the bosses and the state.\u00a0Under conditions of capitalist crisis, they are no longer\u00a0fit for purpose. They need to be reclaimed by the membership or, where this is no longer possible, new organisations built. Neither corporate nor state funded and controlled political parties, e.g. the SNP and the Labour Party are able to challenge global capitalism.\u00a0We need independent political action to achieve our goals.<\/p>\n

12) Until we, as the exploited and oppressed, have asserted our full sovereignty over our own class struggle organisations, we fight for an Immediate Programme<\/strong>[1]<\/sup><\/a>An Immediate Programme is not a Minimum Programme. The idea of a Minimum Programme was developed in the Second International. Those national states, e.g. the UK<\/acronym> and France, which had developed parliamentary systems, were seen to be ripe for Socialism, and hence in theory no longer required a Minimum Programme addressing the economy.\u00a0Prussia\/Germany was also seen to have a sufficient level of capitalist development to be ripe for Socialism, but still had a more antiquated political system. This led to the of retention of elements of a Minimum Programme with democratic demands. However, many Social Democrats, in states like the UK<\/acronym> and France, began to believe that their existing states provided an adequate basis for a transition to Socialism.\u00a0They tacitly adopted a new Minimum Programme, largely based on increasing top-down state control of capitalism to provide reforms for the working class. The consequences of such thinking became apparent in the outbreak of the First World War, where the main parties of the Second International supported their states in the war.
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And this was still a time when most areas of the world had yet to be fully subordinated to capitalist relation. They had many elements of older social and political orders, with tributary or semi-feudal states. e.g.\u00a0the Ottoman Empire or China.\u00a0Social Democrats have argued to this day that national Minimum Programmes to bring about full capitalist development are still required in such states<\/span><\/span>