Revolutionary Democracy and Unity and Struggle spring issues out

The spring issues of the Indian international communist journal Revolutionary Democracy ( www.revolutionarydemocracy.org ) and ICMLPO's Unity and Struggle ( cipoml.net/ ) have been published and can be ordered from George Gruenthal for $6 dollars, $10 for both, by check, money order, cash, or PayPal (contact him for the cost outside the USA; Revolutionary Democracy is available from a few bookstores and other sources outside the US and India).  The mailing address and more information about ordering:

Red Star Publishers
PO Box 1641
Manhattanville Station
New York, New York 10027

www.redstarpublishers.org

[Also, Red Star Publishers began offering a new reprint earlier this year, the two volume History of the Civil War in the USSR, covering WWI and the Russian Revolution (1914 - November 1917), rather than the war between the White and Red forces, along with interventions by foreign powers, including the USA, Japan, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Romania, Italy, and others, extending well into the 20's.  The volumes are available for free electronically and the lengthy print copies are $12 and $16.  Many other good quality reprints and original books are available from Red Star Publishers for a low cost, some free, and some Spanish and/or French editions are available.]  

Unity and Struggle #40 is available for free electronically at:  theredphoenixapl.org/2020/05/14/unity-and-struggle-journal-of-the-icmlpo-40/

Additional articles, some in languages other than English, are available on Revolutionary Democracy's website.

Table of Contents

Revolutionary Democracy:

It’s Not the Economy, It’s the Politics, Stupid, K.B. Saxena

Condition of Indian Labouring Masses: the Urban Labour­ing People, C.N. Subramaniam

Code on Wages: Universalising Rightlessness, Worker’s Connect

Statement on the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 and National Register of Citizens

Protesting CAA in Northeast India, Malem Ningthouja

The Internal Report of the Delhi Police on the ‘Riots’, IANS

The Supreme Court Judgement on the Babri Masjid Dispute

Lahore Industrialist Arranges for Firing on Factory Workers, Shaukat Ali Chaudhry

Founding of the Revolutionary Alliance of Labour in Serbia

The Question of the Balkan Federation, Nexhmije Hoxha

Tributes to Nexhmije Hoxha, (8 February 1921 - 26 February 2020) 

Vito Kapo Passed Away (9 November 1922 - 29 February 2020), Laver Stroka

Tufail Abbas: Tributes

Ecuador: The Indigenous and Popular Uprising, A Victory over Neo-Liberalism, Pablo Miranda

We are Not Only Fighting a Pandemic – But for a New and Better Future, ICMLPO

The Subversion and Disruption of a Writing of Lenin, Revolução e Democracia

Kautskyism in the Theory of Imperialism II, E. Leikin

Letter from Dange, Ghosh, Basavapunnaiah and Rao in Moscow to the CC CPSU (B), (1st March, 1951)

Speech at the September 1953 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, V.M. Molotov

Che-ism in Sri Lanka and India, Parimal Dasgupta

Unity and Struggle:

Bolivia

The Rise of the Fascist Oligarchy to the Government in Bolivia

Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR – Bolivia

Brazil

How to Advance Our Work with the Masses?

Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR – Brazil

Burkina Faso

The COVID 19 pandemic, an aggravating element of the crisis of the neocolonial system

Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta – PCRV

Dominican Republic

The fight against bureaucratic methods: An integral part of the ideological struggle.

Communist Party of Labor (PCT)

Ecuador

The indigenous and popular uprising of October, its lessons and the perspectives for the revolutionary struggle

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador – PCMLE

India

Condition of Indian Labouring Masses

Revolutionary Democracy

Iran

Imperialism: Enemy of the Peoples and States!

Party of Labor (Toufan)

Italy

The “New Silk Road” (OBOR) in Italy: inter-imperialist struggle, bourgeois interests and revisionist somersaults

Communist Platform

Mexico

The Economic Crisis and the Coronavirus in Mexico

Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)

Morocco

For a broad dialogue among Marxist militants, as a necessary step on the road to building the party of the Moroccan working class

Democratic Way

Spain

In the face of the coronavirus and economic crisis

Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCE(M-L)

Tunisia

About the Second Wave of Revolutionary Processes in the Arab World

Party of the Workers of Tunisia

Turkey

March 8 and the Oppression of Women

Party of Labour (EMEP) – Turkey

United States

The UAW and CTU Strikes, and Their Lessons

American Party of Labor – APL

Uruguay

The defeat of the Frente Amplio is the failure of the revisionist dogma

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Uruguay – PCMLU

Venezuela

The Capitalist Crisis, the Virus and the Class Struggle

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela – PCMLV

[ A new issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity came out at the end of June and will be posted on Red Star Publishers' website (along with the back issues):

Mass Rebellion in the US against Killer Cops................................................ 1

Black and white Oklahomans march to defend Second Amendment............. 3

American Museum of Natural History Finally Decides to Take Down Racist Statue 4

NYC Labor Leaders Call on Governor, Mayor, and Police Commissioner to Put a Stop to Police Brutality................ 5

Statement by Ship Clerk’s Association, Local 34, ILWU....... 7

Reform the Police?........ 8

Black Lives Matter cashes in with $100 million from liberal foundations.......... 9

Jail Killer Cops for Life!............. 10

Why Grand Juries Almost Never Indict Cops?................. 11

Further thoughts on the consequences of the coronavirus.............. 12

AP count: Over 4,500 virus patients sent to NY nursing homes..................... 13

Absentee Ballots Are Not Secret Ballots....................................... 15

What Makes a Country Socialist?..... 16

Reply: What Makes a Country Socialist?.............................. 17

Red Herrings are Not Red or Working-Class Issues................................. 18

The Mythology of American Democracy Came Crashing Down Last Night..... 19

Declaration Against Racism, Fascism and Capitalism........22

Social Outbreak at the Heart of the Capitalist Imperialist System....... 24

In Memory of Anatoly Pyzhkov.. 25

Sección en español

Rebelión masiva en la EEUU contra policías asesinos...... 26

¡La mitología de la democracia estadounidense se vino abajo!....... 27

Declaración Contra el racismo, el fascismo y el capitalismo....................... 30

Estallido social en el corazón del sistema capitalista imperialista      32

ICMLPO statement for International Workers' Day/May Day

From the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations ( www.cipoml.net/ ):

 

A STEP FORWARD ON THE WORKING CLASS’ INTERNATIONAL DAY OF UNITY, STRUGGLE AND SOLIDARITY!

 

The working class of the world is approaching May Day, the international day of unity, struggle and solidarity under extraordinary conditions this year.

 

In the recent period, many countries have been swept into the maelstrom of capitalist crisis and toiling peoples whose working and living conditions [have] become unbearable had been steering towards standing up against growing joblessness, poverty and misery. And for the last year, the capitalist world economy had entered a period of stagnation. Alongside dismissals, shorter working hours, the proliferation of flexible working methods involving only the partial or non-payment of wages and unwaged leave as well as poverty had already become the problem of almost all the workers of the world. Moreover, with primarily between the USA and China, the contradictions between major imperialist countries and in general, between the world bourgeoisie has been intensifying, with surging conflicts.

 

Working and living conditions compounded by the crisis approaching with a tendency to generalise, are trying the bounds of tolerance with the Coronavirus pandemic today. As for the pandemic, having led to the contraction of markets and restriction of production, it is reinforcing the factors for crisis.

 

The bourgeois propaganda is either tying the Corona pandemic to the virus produced in laboratory conditions or is mostly presenting it as the “invisible enemy” of the humanity with no connections with capitalism. This is despite the warnings from scientists 8 to 10 years ago that pandemics will emerge due to the destruction of nature and climate change. However, with primarily the USA bourgeoisie which withdrew from all treaties, the international bourgeoisie, consumed with greed for profit and having no regard for safeguarding humanity and life, did not flinch from progressing the destruction of nature. Capitalism and imperialism are driving humanity to calamity with pandemics and wars as much as with unemployment, misery and hunger.

It was not enough for the bourgeoisie to be the main culprit of the pandemic in the first degree. It has been rendering public health systems ineffective with its greed for excess profit. And in the aftermath of the pandemic, at first, getting rid of the jobless alongside the aged and the sick as it would reduce “unnecessary expenses”; especially in countries like the USA, Britain and Brazil, the bourgeoisie did not move a muscle against the pandemic. As the pandemic reached levels they did not anticipate and began to disrupt processes of production and capital accumulation, and swept them towards crisis, they resorted to interventions to save not humans but capitalism. They were unprepared. They cannot test health workers or even distribute masks to them; we can all see their shortcomings in fighting the pandemic.

 

The working class is experiencing the Coronavirus pandemic, spreading easily from worker to worker in factories and hospitals as well as in mail, transport, local services, the commercial field and the streets. The international bourgeoisie which has destroyed health institutions and facilities through cuts it has been implementing for decades, in almost all countries, is not going beyond making calls “to stay at home” against the pandemic. However, with primarily health workers, the workers of sectors in which production and services regarded as necessary such as food, energy, transport and cleaning, and workers from all sectors in many countries are forced to work, face to face with the risk of death and continuing to reproduce life under extraordinary conditions.

 

The continuation of production and the appropriation of the surplus value produced by the workers and the survival of capitalism is the fundamental priority for the bourgeoisie. Countries like China, the USA which has become the centre of the pandemic, Germany and even France and Spain began to relax pandemic measures and are getting the workers to start working on a large scale. This means that there will be a significant increase in worker deaths.

 

The reason for all this is clear: the main condition for high profit and accumulation of capital is the condemnation of the working class to produce an extremely high amount of surplus value in extremely severe working and living conditions!

 

Having declared humanity’s war against Coronavirus, “the invisible enemy”, the bourgeoisie is attempting to conceal the irreconcilable contradiction between labour and capital, and the class war it wages against the working class it ruthlessly exploits and those who live selling their labour.

 

In fact, the international bourgeoisie has been on a ruthless offensive against the working class with neoliberal policies for decades. Health, into which almost no investment has been made, has been rendered accessible in so far as the ability to pay. Now it is intensifying its offensive.

 

In the so called “packages of measures against Coronavirus” there is almost nothing for workers. All the measures seek to support and save the monopoly bourgeoisie and its companies. Not even a tenth of the support is apportioned to workers, with primarily those left jobless despite their size in terms of population.

 

Health workers, without being able to be tested, bereft of equipment and sacrificing many victims from amongst themselves, are working heroically.

 

Without coming to terms with the need to struggle against the bourgeoisie which has been imposing intolerable conditions and against its extensions like the trade union bureaucracy that has been using workers’ dues on the bourgeoisie’s behalf, nothing has changed or will change.

 

What is needed for success is united organised struggle. And the prerequisite of the struggle against the pandemic is the mobilisation of all means possible for measures to be taken to safeguard workers and labourers amongst whom the pandemic has spread first and with most ease, starting with health workers. The bourgeoisie never wished anything good upon workers. The taking of measures safeguarding labourers can only be possible by the unity and struggle of workers and labourers to defend their rights against the rule of monopolies and finance capital and bourgeois states. Organising as committees in workplaces, forming connections with other factories and aiming to lead trade unions to end their function as a means of reconciliation with capital has become necessary and crucial.

 

“Nothing will ever be the way it was,” it is said. Yet nothing changes by itself. Moreover, if we do not intervene, it is inevitable for everything to become worse! The capital and capitalism do not change by themselves; exploitation and repression do not end on their own. The law of value which is the basis of commodity production and the law of surplus value which is the basis of capitalism are each laws of the jungle! In the world of the bourgeoisie, the workers only have freedoms of work and death and for the sole purpose of adding to capital!

 

The prerequisite for being rid of the rule of the monopolies; of the brutal impositions of the bourgeois state, the protector and guardian of the conditions of exploitation which is a dictatorship over the workers and labourers; of the unfair and negative results of capitalism such as joblessness, being forced to work long hours for low pay, poverty and social injustice; and of the threat of pandemics, is revolution and the organisation of the working class as the ruling class.

 

We, those who create life with our labour, can realise social transformation.

 

We can achieve this. The pandemic has once again lain bare that life cannot continue if workers and labourers do not produce. We have the power in our hands and tested this again with the pandemic.

 

Many things have been rendered utterly visible with the pandemic. We have begun to feel and perceive the bourgeoisie’s attitude towards us more clearly than in the past. What we lack is uniting and organising against capitalism which is the source of all the ills we experience.

 

This year, we are going to celebrate May Day, owning up our urgent issues, in a way which will serve to develop the struggle against Coronavirus and its culprit, capitalism, and for working peoples to be safeguarded against the pandemic. Our means of celebration will accord with this. We call on all workers and all those exploited to observe May Day with slogans and marches in their workplaces if they are working or at home if they are not, and to read out statements where possible.

 

• The administration and control of all health enterprises including all private health institutions, factories and workplaces producing medical equipment and medicine should be transferred to the representatives of trade unions, professional organisations, associations and health workers in the health field.

• Health cannot be subject of commerce or profit. The privatisation of health services should come to an end, people’s access to quality and free health services should be secured.

• Production and services during the pandemic except those necessary such as health facilities, food and energy should be stopped. Workers should be given paid leave.

• In sectors where work is necessary, transport services should be provided for workers to be safeguarded against pandemic. Protected working conditions should be provided in factories and workplaces.

• Comprehensive testing should be carried out in all risk areas with primarily factories, workplaces and living spaces where the pandemic is detected, masks, gloves and disinfectant should be distributed free of charge.

• Health workers should be provided with the necessary protective equipment. Their tests should be carried out as a priority.

• Dismissals from work throughout the pandemic should be proscribed.

• An end to the practise of unpaid and low paid leave.

• Necessary financial support should be provided to families of workers left jobless who have inadequate or no income to address their essentials. Rent payments, electricity, water, gas bills should be undertaken by the state. The debts of workers in this situation and of the small producers and business owners should be written off.

• Unity, struggle and solidarity against the pandemic and exploitation, and for a humane life.

• Long live May Day. Long Live Socialism.
  
  
  International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations (ICMLPO)