« American exceptionalism » and right-wing opportunism

The role of the petty-bourgeoisie in the degeneration of the working-class parties: downfall and breaking apart of the world communist movement

By Daniel Paquet, dpaquet1871@gmail.com

“In countries where modern civilization (USA and Canada for instance, - Eds) has become fully developed, a new class of petty-bourgeois has been formed, fluctuating between proletariat and bourgeoisie and ever renewing itself as a supplementary part of bourgeois society.  The individual members of this class, however, are being constantly hurled down into the proletariat by the action of competition, and, as modern industry develop, they even see the moment approaching when they will completely disappear as an independent section of modern society…” (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Washington Square Press, New York, 1977, p. 100).

This is the usual story of several participants involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement; most of them want a good, decent and well-paid job; they didn’t want to rock the boat.  However, some revolutionary organizations, in Europe for instance, such as the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Young Communist League of Germany (SDAJ) and several others, propose concrete, immediate and vanguard steps towards socialism in Europe.  In United States, the “Communist” Party USA, on the verge to liquidate itself, and the AFL-CIO (under the influence of the Democratic Party) are far away from radical measures; they are rather surfing on the spectacular showcase of the event (a way of saying that the US people was merely struggling only for jobs). So far, President Trump got himself very much involved in “talking”, but not much in “doing” from the viewpoint of the US working class and giving US imperialism freeway all around the world to resume its rule, with a new war in Syria, for example.

“In one way or another, all these petty-bourgeois groups penetrate into the Party and introduce into it the spirit of hesitancy and opportunism, the spirit of demoralization and uncertainty.  It is they, principally, that constitute the source of factionalism and disintegration, the source of disorganization and disruption of the Party from within.  To fight imperialism with such ‘allies’ in one’s rear means to put oneself in the position of being caught between two fires, from the front and from the rear.  Therefore, ruthless struggle against such elements, their expulsion from the Party, is a pre-requisite for the successful struggle against imperialism.”  (Joseph Stalin, Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, p.108).

The “visitors” inside the working-class party introduced social-democratic policies within the party and finally disbanded it.  Nowadays, it is no more than the shadow that what it was previously, a few decades back.  Further, a split occurred in Québec in the years 2000; the two factions of the Communist Party are now working within the new umbrella of the social-democratic movement, named Québec solidaire (which has a representative at the National Assembly, Amir Khadir).

       

The theory of ‘defeating’ opportunist elements by the ideological struggle within the Party, the theory of ‘overcoming’ these elements within the confines of a single party, is a rotten and dangerous theory, which threatens to condemn the Party to paralysis and chronic infirmity, threatens to leave the Party a prey to opportunism, threatens to leave the proletariat without a revolutionary party, threatens to deprive the proletariat of its main weapon in the fight against imperialism. “(Stalin, p. 108).

“The economic power in the hands of the proletarian state of Russia is quite adequate to ensure the transition to communism.  What then is lacking?  Obviously, what is lacking is culture among the stratum of the Communists who perform administrative functions.  If we take Moscow with its 4,700 Communists in responsible positions, and if we take that huge bureaucratic machine, that gigantic heap, we must ask:  who is directing whom?  I doubt very much whether it can truthfully be said that the Communists are directing that heap.  To tell the truth, they are not directing, they are being directed. (Lenin, Collected Works, volume 33, Progress Publishers, Moscow, p. 287-289).

Have the 4,700 Communists (nearly a whole army division and all of them the very best) come under the influence of an alien culture?  True, there may be the impression that the vanquished have a high level of culture.  But that is not the case at all.  Their culture is miserable, insignificant; but it is still at a higher level than ours.  Miserable and low as it is, it is higher than that of our responsible Communist administrators, for the latter lack administrative ability.  Communists who are put at the head of departments - and sometimes artful saboteurs deliberately put them in these positions in order to use them as a shield –are often fooled. (Lenin, p. 287-289).

The competition and rivalry that we have placed on the order of the day by proclaiming NEP is a serious business. It appears to be going on in all government offices; but as a matter of fact is one more form of the struggle between two irreconcilably hostile classes.” (Lenin, p. 287-289).

Petty-bourgeoisie in the capitalist society

On the other hand and dealing more specifically with the petty-bourgeoisie in capitalist countries, a close friend to Lenin, Maxim Gorky, wrote the following in his Collected Works:

 “The shopkeepers of all countries promote political adventurers to leadership, they resort to terror which is their only technique of self-defense, and they proclaim fascism the sole means of their salvation, which means organizing the dregs of humanity (crooks), hysterics, degenerates and people dazed by their fear of starving) into an army of cutthroats, under the command of the police, should wipe out the revolutionary proletariat – a healthy force capable of social creativity.  (Maxim Gorky, On Literature, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1982, p. 296).

The working masses are starved, and fascist gangs of murderers are formed from the petty bourgeoisie to eliminate the more energetic leaders of the proletariat. (Gorky, p. 297).

Hitler’s fascism is a manifestation of pessimism in the class struggle of the petty bourgeoisie for power which was slipping from its weakened but still tenacious hold.” (Gorky, p. 302).

Nevertheless, the bourgeoisie maintains its position resorting to all forms of maneuvers and divisions in the organized labour movement if it is more suitable.  In the 1920s, a few years after the founding of the Communist Party of Canada, sharp debates gave way to a deep crisis in the young party:

“… the Vaupass, the daily Finnish paper, and the Ukrainian Labour News came out carrying the text of an article by Jack MacDonald (still general-secretary of the Communist Party of Canada a few weeks back), explaining that he was convinced that the line of the Communist party until this time had been sectarian and wrong; that it chained us to the dogmas of Marxism of the last century as though we were chained to a chariot wheel; that we blundered along in spite of reality.  North American capitalism was fundamentally different to the capitalism that was studied by Marx and, while it was true that Marxism was applicable in Europe and perhaps even in some parts of Asia, it was no longer applicable to the U.S.  The influence of the U.S. in Canada, were such that undoubtedly this line applied in Canada also. (Tim Buck, Yours in the Struggle, Reminiscences of Tim Buck, NC Press Limited, Toronto, 1977, p. 139).

There was a lot of personal loyalty to Jack MacDonald, we were still in the midst of this battle and just beginning to win on purely ideological grounds (MacDonald’s following was declining, even to the extent that in Toronto, where he started out with a big following, he was now having a hard time getting enough people to justify holding a meeting) when the New York stock market slumped on October 29, 1929. “(Tim Buck, p. 139).

After the counter-revolution in USSR and the counter-revolution within  the European socialist system shaped up by imperialism,

“it will be the task of the communists […] to keep in mind the general solution of the working class and to make clear that it is urgently necessary to defend in a common and united manner the interests of the working people.  Furthermore we have to propagate with revolutionary patience the perception that the capitalist society, in which the profit is the ultimate benchmark, is the real problem. (Ali Ruckert, Luxembourg and the October Revolution, International Communist Review, # 2, Athens, September 2011, p. 57).

If we want to solve the present day problems in a way that at the same time the solution of the problems of the working class and all working people can be found, it will not be sufficient to demand a ‘more just’ redistribution of the produced added value, as it is practiced by  social-democratic or by new ‘left-wing’ parties.  In this case, we have to raise the question about the system, and to strive for a radical change in the correlation of ownership of the most important means of production as well as for the nationalization of big enterprises and banks.”  (Ali Ruckert, p. 57)

 The PAME 48 Hours General Strike in Greece

The capitalist way of development leads to wild measures against the people and further privileges for Capital. We are not fooled by the rivalry among governments and among imperialists. Those rivalries are not concerned by the interests of the working class; instead their purpose is to secure transnational corporations and business groups’ profits.

The experience of Greece and elsewhere makes it clear that the collaborationist forces within the labor movement following ITUC and ETUC, promote class collaboration and consensus calling for the adoption of unpopular measures.

La Nouvelle Vie Réelle, www.lnvr.blogspot.com

Communist News, www.dpaquet1871.blogspot.com

marxistas-leninistas latinas hojas, www.ma-llh.blogspot.com

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