But in order to realize this long-cherished hope of the oppressed, in order for revolution to be thoroughgoing at this stage of the history of humanity and the development of society, it must be led by the one force in society that has no stake whatsoever in preserving the present order and compromising the basic interests of the masses of people. This force is the proletariat, the working class of society. Itself an exploited class, laboring collectively with highly developed means of production but deprived of all ownership of these means of production, having no means to live except to sell its ability to labor and at the bottom of society’s division of labor, the proletariat cannot abolish its own exploitation and oppression without abolishing them finally from society altogether; the revolution led by the proletariat and fulfilling its interests as a class has the historic mission not of replacing one group of exploiters with another, not bringing into being and fortifying a new system of degradation and plunder, but advancing society to a whole new epoch–communism–where class distinctions and their basis, as well as all the evils flowing from them, will be finally eliminated.
For several decades in the United States, on the basis of the outcome of World War 2 and the top-dog position that the U.S. assumed among the imperialists as a result, while revolutionary storms battered it from without and revolutionary upsurges erupted within the U.S. itself, reaching their peak in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the prospect of proletarian revolution has been delayed and even seemed a flickering dream of a handful at most. From the enormous wealth lashed out of the oppressed people in all parts of the world, and especially in the vast colonial countries brought under U.S. domination, the ruling class in this country was able not only to prop and puff up its high-priced political prostitutes and enforcers at the head of the labor movement but to pass some crumbs from the spoils along to significant sections of the workers, most importantly among the basic industrial proletariat, and to maintain a relative stability within the U.S. while securing its allied imperialists under its “protection.”
But where is it all ending up? Who today can fail to see or feel the vice of rampant inflation and rising unemployment, the intensified discrimination and attacks on oppressed peoples within the U.S., all accompanied by the overflow of social decay and flagrant political corruption? Who does not recognize that we are staring down the barrel of World War 3, held at the other end by the two superpowers and their respective junior partners? The 1970s, punctuated most dramatically by the recession of ’74-’75, the most severe since the 1930s Depression and occurring simultaneously throughout the imperialist countries of the U.S. bloc, has been marked by the gathering forces of crisis and war. The 1980s will witness the storm in all its fury. But this means not only the real and immediate prospect of a global showdown between the superpowers but also the prospect of a showdown between the imperialists and their gravediggers, including the possibility of proletarian revolution within the U.S. itself.
In these conditions, while there was in the late 1970s in the U.S. a brief lull in social upheaval and mass political struggle, already there is renewed resistance against the imperialist ruling class and its attempts to resolve the crisis at the expense of the masses of people, including especially its more and more blatant war preparations. At the same time, among even broader ranks of the people there is a restless agonizing and profound questioning about the future, about the source of and solution to the pressing problems confronting them. Periodically, and more and more frequently, major political events and episodes in world affairs jolt masses of people awake to broad and deep questions, and the ruling class, especially in such circumstances, is increasingly forced to drag the masses into political life, in the effort to enlist them, literally and politically, in preparation for its holy war to “keep America number one.”
Over the past decade and more, the working class within the U.S. has undergone significant changes. It has been influenced by and directly infused with the militancy of millions of Black people and other oppressed peoples, angry veterans of the Vietnam war, women no longer accepting their “place” and rebellious youth. It has seen crumbs shrivelling and its standard of living come under real, if not yet all-out, attack; and it was hit broadside by the 1974-75 recession, during which it began to stir to mass resistance. For several years following that recession, the ruling class made a conscious decision not to intensify direct attacks on the employment and wages of the workers, especially the basic industrial proletariat, as much as to resort to credit manipulations and inflationary policies. But this, and its economic and fiscal policies in general, have heightened the financial crisis within the U.S. and throughout its bloc. This has been accompanied by severe cutbacks in social services and the accumulation of tremendous and unprecedented debt on every level–national and international, at the level of local and state government and among families and individuals. And now, with no possible resolution of its overall crisis except through the waging and winning of world war, and therefore with the increasingly urgent need to shore up its bloc in preparation for this war, the ruling class in the U.S. must tighten the screws–on the financial structure nationally and internationally, on the overall economy and most especially on the masses of people, including the working class.
All these things are combining to rouse the working class from its relative passivity, political dormancy and even slavishness. And beyond that, the proletariat in this country has among its ranks and at the head of its class-conscious section its own revolutionary political party, the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, which is armed with the revolutionary outlook of the international proletariat, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought and is applying it concretely to develop the analysis, strategy and policies capable of leading the working class and its allies in preparing for and finally seizing the opportunity to make revolution, whenever the conditions for this become ripe, including very possibly within the decade of the 1980s.
None of this, of course, can or will proceed in a straight line. While world war represents an extreme concentration of the crisis of imperialism, the preparation for war and the war itself strengthen in some ways and for a time the desperate efforts of the imperialists to tighten their hold over society economically, politically and ideologically. But, on the other hand, the very real horror of the prospect of such a war, and still more of the war itself, and the fact that U.S. imperialism must throw its strength onto the front lines of this war from the very beginning, with no prospect of quick or easy victory and the certainty of suffering many defeats whatever the final outcome of the war–all this will greatly weaken and expose the imperialists. If the all-around preparation has been carried out among the working class and the masses, and especially among the increasing numbers of class-conscious workers, with the Party at the head, the situation may well arise within the next few years in which a mass uprising can be launched to overthrow the imperialists and resolve the crisis in the interests of the proletariat and the great majority of humanity.
Such a revolution, in an advanced, powerful capitalist country, will represent an unprecedented breakthrough for the international proletariat in its world-wide struggle to abolish capitalism and all forms of exploitation and advance to communism. It will strike a devastating blow against the imperialist system and reaction everywhere, demolishing one of their most powerful bulwarks and greatly assisting and accelerating the revolutionary struggle of the people of all countries. It will change the face of the world and hasten the final emancipation of all humanity.
Weighed against such momentous potential opportunities, as well as the unparalleled suffering looming directly before the masses, the presently still low level of political consciousness and struggle among the broad ranks of the working class and masses of people in this country stands out sharply, but more than that poses a tremendous challenge to all class-conscious workers and others who recognize or are awakening to not only the historic goal but the urgent necessity of proletarian revolution in the U.S. This emphasizes all the more the responsibility of such advanced, politically aware forces, however much they may be a minority right now, to unite their ranks around the line and leadership of the Party and march powerfully onto the political stage, holding aloft the banner of the international proletariat and actively rallying broader ranks of the working class and masses in this country to its revolutionary movement.
In the years ahead, as millions and tens of millions are drawn into political life, into sharpening debate and struggle, what road they take–and whether they fight and sacrifice in the cause of preserving their own enslavement and that of the world’s people or in the historic battle to abolish that enslavement–will depend not only on the objective conditions but also to a significant degree on the stand and actions of the class-conscious workers, all along the way as well as at the decisive hour. The banner of the working class will be increasingly claimed and contested for by both the class-conscious proletariat and the labor lieutenants of the capitalist class, for both the representatives of the proletariat and those of the imperialists recognize, with opposite viewpoints and opposite aims, the potential role of the working class to cripple and ultimately overthrow imperialism. Within the working class two camps, representing two roads, will be increasingly shaping up and facing off: those, a privileged aristocratic minority, who cling to the bribes imperialism affords them and fight to keep U.S. imperialism supreme in order to ensure the bloodsoaked spoils; and those, representing the great majority, who lead the masses in fighting for their real interests–to forge a revolutionary way forward out of this outmoded and barbarous system.
The outcome of this battle and the overall class struggle of which it is a crucial part will affect the future of not only this country but the entire world for years, perhaps even decades, to come. This future must be wrested from the hands of those who, at the cost of unspeakable misery and destruction for the people of the world, are determined to preserve–and chain humanity to–the past!