The following Political Resolution was adopted by the Second Congress of the Communist Labor Party. It is a statement of political policy by our Party. As such, it reflects a further understanding of the international situation and the national political struggle and is a further clarification of the line of our Party since the First Party Congress.
The state of the USNA is a multinational, oppressive, militaristic, bureaucratic apparatus of violence that is securely in the hands of the monopoly capitalists. These imperialists use this organ of violence against the oppressed peoples within the USNA, against the Anglo-American working class, against the toiling strata of the colonial, neo-colonial and semi-colonial areas of the world. The USNA armed forces, the strike force of imperialism, are poised to hurl the earth into another imperialist war of aggression.
Our country and our diverse peoples are worth fighting for. Despite imperialist bribery, generations of imperialist ideological indoctrination and the wholesale sell-out of mass leaders, the peoples of the USNA have continued to believe in democracy, equality and fair play. Indeed, the imperialists have relied on this sense of decency to ensnare the people in their criminal imperialist wars. The people have lacked a strong proletarian Communist Party to guide them in their struggle and therefore they have fallen prey to such propaganda as “fighting for the right of self-determination of the Korean people” or “stopping communist aggression in Vietnam.” Historically, our Revolutionary and Civil Wars have been and are banners that rally the most profound sentiments of freedom and equality. Our Party inherits, defends and fights to broaden the revolutionary and democratic history of this country. The basis of our patriotic spirit is our proletarian internationalism. United action of the international proletariat is the condition for their emancipation. We look upon the handful of monopolists who control the economic, intellectual and cultural life of this country as its most immediate and dangerous enemy.
Capitalism in this country developed by the wholesale destruction of peoples, by slavery and the most brutal brigandage. Today, its concentration is almost complete. Less than 500 interlocking boards of corporate directors control or own all the productive forces that are worth while. The peoples of the USNA cannot and will not for long coexist with this rapacious war-making exploitative system.
The world is divided between two great economic and political camps. The socialist sector and the imperialist sector of the world are mutually exclusive and absolutely antagonistic. There is no interpenetration of capitalism within socialism, nor is there an interpenetration of socialism into capitalism. One cannot grow into the other. The sectors are mutually antagonistic and exclusive.
A section of the imperialist bourgeoisie of the world is consolidating. Capitalist financiers freely trade on one another’s stock markets and freely invest in one another’s countries and possessions. Representatives of Brazilian capitalists sit on the boards of directors of the transnational corporations that rape their country. These transnational corporations confirm Lenin’s brilliant work Imperialism.
The gigantic accumulation of idle financial capital–the almost indescribable revolutionization of the means of production, the shrinking consuming capabilities of the peoples in the imperialist sector of the world, the stirring of the masses–all point to the growing inevitability of another imperialist war. Such a war cannot be fought between imperialist blocs. Although there are some contradictions between the imperialist groups, no imperialist blocs exist. USNA imperialism cannot fight France or England for a redivision of the world. They are all part of the internationalized imperialist bourgeoisie. The socialist sector is the only possible target for such an imperialist adventure.
There are contradictions and important contradictions within the imperialist camp. The fact that today there is not a polarity within the imperialist orbit does not do away with the contradictions within and between the various bourgeoisies. However, the lack of polarity does do away with the possibility of an inner-imperialist war, and makes war against the socialist sector a political inevitability.
The socialist camp is rent with internal contradictions. These contradictions arise from the specifics of the various revolutions. In every socialist country the revolution had the character not only of a proletarian revolution, but also the character of a mighty upsurge of the masses against the ravages of war, for independence from the horrors of imperialist occupation, against the social and political restrictions of feudalism and for the completion of the bourgeois democratic revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In each of these countries, there was a temporary identity of interests of the antagonistic bourgeoisie and proletariat. Consequently, the dictatorship of the proletariat emerged as the most varied, stubborn and persistent form of the class struggle.
The struggle within the socialist camp is increasingly taking a national form–a form that makes ever more difficult the militant expressions of solidarity of the revolutionary proletariat within the socialist sector. The main danger within the communist movement and the socialist sector is the danger of right-wing revisionism. Revisionism is the counterrevolutionary motion within Marxism and cannot be properly struggled against if placed theoretically outside the Marxist movement–to do so removes the polarity within Marxism.
The growing danger of war against the socialist camp has the positive reaction of creating the conditions of unity within the socialist camp against the onslaught of imperialism. Although USNA imperialism has taken world-wide advantage of of the struggle within the socialist sector, the war danger compels all revolutionaries to understand that USNA imperialism with its horribly destructive military force is the main danger to the people of the earth.
Our Party, upholding Marxism-Leninism everywhere and everywhere uniting with the revolutionary Marxist-Leninists, does not choose national sides in this historically inevitable struggle that is taking place within the socialist camp. Our Party unconditionally supports revolution and conditionally supports states. Our proletarian internationalism, our contribution to the cause of peace, is described by our efforts to overthrow our own bourgeois apparatus. This is the concrete Leninist form of proletarian internationalism. The source of the war danger is world imperialism, headed by USNA imperialism. The struggle for peace is the struggle to disarm and overthrow this aggressive, war-making social power.
The social process within the USNA is clearly more and more becoming an open collision of classes and class interests. The class struggle is a many sided social process, expressed in the motion of the minorities and the oppressed nations in their fight for emancipation, in the movement of the youth, the women, the aged and the other oppressed and exploited sections of our society.
The class struggle is reflected ever more sharply in the struggle of the organized union movement against the labor lieutenants, misleaders and goons. Although the labor movement is the totality of the struggle of the laboring class against its social and economic fetters, the union movement is the most comprehensive and unifying force. Our Party, while concentrating its main effort on factory work, and the building of plant nuclei, never fails to build and fight within the organized trade union movement.
The national liberation movements within the USNA are the firmest and most militant allies of the working class. The Party consistently organizes the mutual support and understanding of these two interdependent aspects of the proletarian revolution, the working class struggle and the national liberation movements.
The growing revolutionary energy of the country’s 30 million Negroes, the developing consciousness of the national character of the Negro people’s struggle has been and is a firm organizing force and inspiration to all of the movements of the oppressed and exploited within the USNA. The support and defense of the Negro people’s movement is basic to the unity of the working class and to the development of the Party.
As regards the military occupation and direct colonial rule of USNA imperialism in Puerto Rico, the slogan of the USNA working class and its leader can only be Immediate Independence. The slogan of the proletariat and its leader as regards the Negro question is Free the Negro Nation, so as to create the conditions for the erection of a national state that can determine the will of the people as to their future relationship with the Anglo-American state.
The proletariat and its leader demands and fights for a wide-ranging system of local and regional autonomy for the Mexican national minority, for the Indian peoples, the indigenous Hawaiians, the Eskimo, and all peoples conquered by USNA imperialism.
The proletariat and its leader demands that the USNA state renounce all the secret arrangements and unequal treaties imposed on the Philippine Islands and all peoples and countries that have been conquered and bullied by USNA imperialism.
A combination of historical, economic and social forces including the struggle of the oppressed people within the USNA state, the declining standard of living of the working class, the growing resistance against this reduction in living standards, the massive and growing resistance of the people to imperialist war, the quantitative and qualitative growth of the proletariat, the gigantic qualitative development of the productive forces and their growing under-utilization are creating an unprecedented political crisis in the USNA.
In response to the deepening struggle between the forces of progress (the working class, the national liberation movements, the youth and women movements), and the monopolists who control the state apparatus, the monopolists are attempting to transform the state from a reactionary bourgeois democratic form to a fascist form. Fascism, as a state form, is unbridled terror against the toiling strata. It is unbridled chauvinism, reaction and imperialist war. Fascism is the open terroristic dictatorship of the most reactionary, chauvinistic, militaristic, imperialistic sections of finance capital. Fascism’s narrow social base accounts for its violence. This social base of support is drawn from declassed and degenerate elements from all social classes. However, the thugs that uphold fascism should not be confused with the monopoly capitalists who are a section of the capitalist class. This capitalist group is the benefactor of and the class base of fascism. The fascists attempt to broaden this narrow class base by the creation of a labor front.
It is in the struggle against the growing fascist danger that we clearly see the necessity of concretely struggling against all forms of revisionism within the revolutionary movement. Our experience has already shown us that the revisionist tactic of calling for the masses to rely on the state apparatus to protect them from the Klan and Nazis, is extremely dangerous. We must lead the masses in a concrete struggle against this projection in order to carry out the struggle against the political gangs.
The struggle against the fascists is the struggle to defend the political, economic, social and cultural standards of the people. This is a many sided struggle and no aspect dare be overlooked. However, cultural, social and economic and political struggles are mobilizing forms to prepare the people for the struggle in the streets. The tactic of confrontation, a constantly escalating tit for tat struggle, prepares the masses for the socialist revolution. Such a revolution should not be looked upon as a single act. Revolution is an era of the masses battering the state apparatus, weakening and disorganizing it until an insurrectionary force can overthrow it.
The first step in our revolutionary preparation of the people is their united defense of their standard of life. Therefore, the United Front against War and Fascism is the cornerstone of our policy. There are two aspects to this struggle. The first and primary one is the United Front of the working class. The primary tactic is the formation of unity from below. We rely on the shop and union caucuses, the rank and file of the working class organizations, as a base to bring clarity and finally unity of action of the class in its struggle against the fascists. While struggling for the unity of action of the working class, our Party works to build a popular front against fascist reaction. Such a front is based on the struggle of the oppressed minorities and nations, upon the social struggle of the women, the youth, the intellectuals. We seek the widest possible unity of the masses in this struggle.
The deepening social and political crisis of this country has placed gigantic tasks on the shoulders of our Party. In order to discharge its historic duties, the Party must become the Vanguard of the Proletariat. That is to say, that the Party must recruit into its ranks the practical leaders of the proletariat, while remaining the conscious expression of the objective social process. Our proletariat is very large, consequently its vanguard is also very large. Hence, in order to carry out these tasks, we must build the Party. We must build it through the practical struggle. We must constantly improve the quality of the Party. Only in this way will the Party be able to significantly influence the working class struggle.
This period of history is filled with opportunities and with grave dangers. As the violent fascist nature of the capitalist class becomes clear, millions of proletarians will join us in the defense of our peoples, our class and our country. With a communist’s faith in the people and confidence in our future, we set out to rally the masses to carry out our correct program.