“Young people have officially turned their backs on capitalism!” headlines Vice magazine. We in the International Marxist Tendency call on you: If you despise capitalism, you should join the communist the IMT today.
The vast majority of the youth hate capitalism. The reason for this is very simple: ever since we started to perceive the world consciously, we have only known capitalism in decline. Our whole lives are marked by crises, wars and climate catastrophes.
According to a study from Germany, only 8% (!) of young people believe that their children will be better off than they are. In the UK, seven or even eight out of ten young people say that capitalism is to blame for the climate crisis or the housing shortage. Today’s most radical young people are not interested anymore in tackling just this or that specific problem. The system as a whole has to go.
But capitalism will not simply collapse on its own. It needs to be consciously overthrown and consciously replaced with a new, humane society. This requires clear analysis, clear ideas and revolutionary organisation.
Those who despise capitalism must embrace three points: First, the necessity of communist revolution by the working class. Secondly, for this we need a revolutionary organisation, which we have to build today. And thirdly, we must arm ourselves with Marxist theory.
Capitalism has exhausted it’s historical potential. On the one hand, we are witnessing abundant production, and on the other hand, misery is spreading everywhere. Currently, 850 million people suffer from hunger, yet the world’s grain production would be enough to feed everyone in the world twice. One in ten people in the world is affected by poverty. At the same time, three trillion dollars were invested in cryptocurrencies and NFTs in 2021 alone, which only creates huge speculative profits for individuals but no social value. The technical conditions for a sustainable society would exist, but the destruction of the planet by the capitalists and their governments continues unchecked.
Capitalism stopped being a progressive and innovative system a long time ago. Instead of improving living conditions, it offers only uncertain futures to the masses. Such a system cannot be “reformed” but has to be overthrown in a revolutionary way. The working class – the overwhelming majority of the world’s population – must seize power. The bourgeois state must be smashed and replaced by a workers’ state in which the working people govern themselves in democratic bodies (such as councils) in the workplaces and neighbourhoods. The means of production must be wrested from the hands of the capitalists and placed under the control and direction of the real producers. The anarchic, profit-driven capitalist mode of production must be replaced by a socialist planned economy.
On the basis of a rational plan, we could provide everyone with the necessities of life. Through automation and technological innovation, we could reduce our workload, extend our leisure time and use it meaningfully. Science and culture would develop to unimaginable heights.
This socialist revolution is the first stage on the road to communism. That is, a classless society where for the first time:
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!”
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Communism is no utopian pipe dream, but the actual developmental tendency of human history. Communism is totally realistic because the material conditions for a good life for everyone exist today. And communism is totally realistic because the working class exists: That social force which can actually overthrow capitalism and actually build communism.
Capitalism is correctly identified by many political currents as the foundation of the world’s evil. But what distinguishes Marxists fundamentally from all other leftists is our unshakeable faith in the working class. Only the working class can wrest power from the capitalists, because only the workers hold the means of social production (machines, computers, etc.) in their hands every day.
But the greatest confidence in the working class we draw from its own history. Over the last 200 years, workers have proven over and over again that there comes a point when workers realise that “thave nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win” (Marx and Engels, Manifesto). From this point on, nothing can stop them, no police apparatus, no politics of division, no fear.
Anyone who seriously stands up for revolution must base himself on the working class! Of course, the great masses are not ready for revolutionary uprising at any given moment. On the contrary, humans are tend to be conservative beings who like to hold on to what they already know. But anyone who seriously studies the history of mankind and the working class cannot possibly fall into pessimism about the world socialist revolution.
Society, just like nature, knows long periods of very slow, hardly noticeable change. But at a certain point, when tensions have become charged, the slow phases are replaced by explosive, revolutionary developments. In fact, revolutions are the true engine of history.
The root cause of all revolutions in history is the fact that a specific system has exhausted itself historically. It is no longer capable of improving people’s living conditions. Systems reach a breaking point where the masses’ fear of having to continue living as before becomes greater than their fear of fighting for a new world against the seemingly all-powerful system.
Today, the working class is heading towards that moment. The revolutionary mass movement in Sri Lanka, the historic strike wave in Britain and also the enormous radicalisation of the youth worldwide are clear signs of this.
Anyone who seriously stands up for revolution must base himself on the working class! Of course, the great masses are not ready for revolutionary uprising at any given moment. On the contrary, humans are tend to be conservative beings who like to hold on to what they already know. But anyone who seriously studies the history of mankind and the working class cannot possibly fall into pessimism about the world socialist revolution.
Society, just like nature, knows long periods of very slow, hardly noticeable change. But at a certain point, when tensions have become charged, the slow phases are replaced by explosive, revolutionary developments. In fact, revolutions are the true engine of history.
The root cause of all revolutions in history is the fact that a specific system has exhausted itself historically. It is no longer capable of improving people’s living conditions. Systems reach a breaking point where the masses’ fear of having to continue living as before becomes greater than their fear of fighting for a new world against the seemingly all-powerful system.
Today, the working class is heading towards that moment. The revolutionary mass movement in Sri Lanka, the historic strike wave in Britain and also the enormous radicalisation of the youth worldwide are clear signs of this.
Revolutions take place, regardless of the communists. The crisis of capitalism forces the masses into struggle. In the 20th century there was at least one revolutionary movement in every decade. Right now, a revolution is taking place in Sri Lanka, marking the beginning of a veritable wave of revolutions in the years and decades to come.
But a successful socialist revolution is only possible if the revolutionary fighting force of the working class is directed towards the overthrow of capitalism and the building of communism. The bourgeoisie needs to be overthrown, a workers’ state needs to be built and a socialist planned economy needs to be established.
The example of Sri Lanka (see editorial) proves clearly that the absence of revolutionary leadership always leads to capitalism being able to rebuild itself after every crisis and revolution.
The only time in history when the working class succeeded in seizing and holding power was the Russian Revolution of 1917. The decisive factor was the presence of the Marxist Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik Party neither proclaimed nor triggered the revolutionary movement. But the revolutionary, communist organisation of Lenin and Trotsky showed the struggling Russian masses the way forward. The only realistic way out of the crisis of capitalism was and is towards communism. The task of the revolutionary leadership is to make the unconscious will of the working class conscious.
At the beginning of 1917, the Bolsheviks had barely 8,000 members, by July there were 177,000 and by October, with the revolutionary seizure of power by the working class, the Bolshevik Party had grown to an overwhelming 650,000 members.
This was possible because the Bolsheviks trained themselves ceaselessly in Marxism over years and decades. As a result, they were able to guide the next steps of the working class in its struggle against capitalism in a highly flexible manner at any time during an extremely turbulent period in 1917. As Victor Hugo said, «Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”
Today we are headed straight for a prolonged period of wars, revolutions and counter-revolutions. It is becoming increasingly clear that the ideas of Marxism are the only way forward. Those who are serious about revolution must draw on the rich experience of the Bolsheviks. For their methods are the only ones that have proved efficient and successful.
This is precisely what we do in the International Marxist Tendency: We are training ourselves to be Bolsheviks, specialists in revolution, so to speak. Join us!
There are no shortcuts for building a Bolshevik party. We cannot limit ourselves to taking to the streets and shouting “anti-capitalism”. We need a deep scientific understanding of the “molecular process of revolution” (Trotsky), of human history, the working class and communism.
We cannot succumb to hyperactivism trying to solve every capitalist problem (or a particularly bad one) single-handedly. We must patiently educate ourselves to become Bolsheviks. For this is the greatest service we can provide to the working class in its struggle against capitalism.
It is Marxism that makes communism a science. That theory is what allows us to understand how humanity got to where it is today. And above all, to understand how humanity can get out of the impasse of capitalism. Therefore, Marxism is not just an interesting idea among many others. Marxism is precisely the theory we need to overthrow capitalism and build communism.
Today, in the deepest crisis of capitalism, Marxism is the most cutting-edge theory of all. We have here, unfortunately, only the space for one example from Karl Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party:
“And how does the bourgeoisie get over these crises? (…) By paving the way for more extensive and more destructive crises, and by diminishing the means whereby crises are prevented.” This is truer today than ever. The historic crisis of 2020 was preceded only recently by the equally historic crisis of 2008. And the current crisis – marked by the Ukraine war, inflation and energy shortages – followed even more quickly. Crises are no a “once in a century event” anymore, but are becoming more frequent and worse. Capitalism is in its tough and protracted death throes.
This is just one example. All who want to fight capitalism today should study the Communist Manifesto and Marxism in general. The best way to do this is to discuss it with the Communists of the IMT. It is simply staggering how many points and tendencies are much truer today than they already were in 1848.
This is because Marxism provides a deep insight into the internal tendencies of capitalism and human history in general. Marxism is not a dogma, a recipe to be memorised and repeated. Rather, it is a dynamic method that must be constantly reapplied to a changing world.
This also means that Marxism can never be learned from a cosy armchair at the university as a pure academic theory. It is a guide to action. Marxism means understanding the world so that we can change it.
It is not possible to learn Marxism and Bolshevism alone at home or on the internet. This can only be done as part of a communist organisation, where together we apply Marxism to the real world. What is true for the working class is also true for communists: alone we are only a cog, but together we are a machine – a fighting machine for a world worth living in.
You need us Marxists to really fight to overthrow the system. But we also need you. The coming years will offer many opportunities for communists. But to seize them, it is imperative that we become more revolutionary activists.
For those who have officially “turned their backs” capitalism, the most important task today is to build a Bolshevik organisation in Switzerland and worldwide. This means tireless theoretical education and constant linking with the working class and youth.
No one will take this absolutely crucial task from us. If YOU want to overthrow capitalism, YOU must join the International Marxist Tendency today. Only in this way can we bring the ideas of Marxism to wider layers.
We must be completely honest: No one is born a Marxist and no one is trained to be a Bolshevik in a day. “Being a communist” is not a hobby, it is not a lifestyle choice. It is a commitment to fight for the liberation of the hitherto suppressed vast human potential.
The colour your skin, the language you speak, the gender you identify with, they doesn’t matter with regards to joinging us. As Marxists, we are fighting with all our might against any divisions based on identity politics. The only thing we ask is: are you ready to seriously engage with the ideas of Marxism – the most powerful weapon of the working class in its struggle against capitalism?
All our lives will be marked by crises, wars and catastrophes. Humanity today faces the choice of “communism or barbarism”. It is not predetermined which it will be. It depends on whether the Bolsheviks will be able to help the working class to victory.
Suisse — ✏ la scintilla svizzera — 29. 01. 2024
Movimento operaio — ✏ Nadia Giandeini, Lugano — 17. 04. 2024
Medio Oriente — ✏ Alan Woods, marxist.com — 15. 04. 2024
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