In April 1984, communist activists from around the country gathered together and successfully held the Second Congress of the U.S. League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist).
This meeting concluded a year-long process of discussion and debate throughout the League. The Congress passed several important documents concerning our general line and tasks. We are printing here the Program, and, from another paper, Some Points on Strategy and Tactics.
A high level of unity, determination and spirit marked the Congress and reflected the progress in forging the League as a truly multinational, nationwide communist organization. A majority of the delegates were from the working class and three-quarters were oppressed nationalities, including Afro-Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos, Hawaiians, Latinos and Native Americans. Men and women were equally represented. The Congress conveyed enthusiasm, as well as urgency, and faced the challenge of the tremendous amount of work needed to advance the struggle for socialism.
We hope that the documents printed here will contribute to developing the struggles of the working class, oppressed nationalities, and all people who wish for a better life. We invite all interested people to comment on our views and join with us in common effort to end the rule of monopoly capitalism.
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The U.S. League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L) is a nationwide multinational organization. We are workers, students, unemployed, professionals and others, united by a common commitment to socialism and communism. Some of us are young, while others have had years of experience in the people’s struggles.
The League itself is a relatively new organization. Many of us became revolutionaries through the struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. We were active in the oppressed peoples’ movements, especially those of the Afro-American, Asian, Chicano and Latino peoples. We were also active in the trade union and workers’ struggles. Others of us gained experience in the student or women’s movements.
The League formed in 1978 primarily through the mergers of a number of revolutionary organizations, such as the August Twenty-ninth Movement (M-L), East Wind, I Wor Kuen, the New York Collective, the Revolutionary Communist League, and Seize the Time, among others. These organizations in turn trace their roots to the Congress of Afrikan Peoples, La Raza Unida Party and other oppressed nationality organizations of the 1960s.
We formed a new communist organization because we believed that the existing "communist party" was not playing a leading role. In fact, it had abandoned the need for revolution and degenerated into a misleading and reactionary group which promoted and still promotes the interests of the imperialist Soviet Union. A genuine communist party is needed that truly represents and fights for the interests of the working people, oppressed nationalities and socialism. Our central task is to work with others to form this new communist party.
Our guiding theory is Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. This outlook is derived from the work of communists and other revolutionary people of the past one hundred years and more, the most well-known and important of them being Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, and Mao Zedong. Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought is a weapon that will help advance the socialist revolution. We use it as a guide to action and not as a dogma.
We base ourselves on the struggles of the working class, oppressed nationalities and masses of people generally, recognizing that the transformation of U.S. society must be achieved by the people themselves. The overthrow of monopoly capitalism and the construction of socialism cannot be accomplished by a small group of individuals, nor imposed from outside the country. Rather, the U.S. revolution is solely the responsibility and the act of the people of the U.S.
The U.S. League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L) fights with the people for the improvement of the conditions of the working class and the masses, for democracy and justice, and for world peace. We seek to unite with all who want social progress, and encourage all to fight for the goal of socialism, which alone can bring fundamental and lasting change.
– Amiri Baraka
– William Gallegos
– Mae Ngai
(April 1984)