First Published: May 1974.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Introduction
We held that the central task Marxist-Leninist is the formation of a communist party. The general principles which unite us and the tasks we have set ourselves follow.
1. Our Ideology is Marxism-Leninism
Marxism is the science of the revolutionary class struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie from capitalism to communism. This science, which was originally developed by Marx and Engels, has been defended and further developed through correct application to concrete conditions by Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Tsetung.
2. World Revolution
The strategy for world revolution is the world-wide united front against U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism, led by the Chinese Communist Party and the Albanian Party of Labor. The socialist countries are the reliable base area of the world revolution, while the movements for national liberation are the main battlefield. These struggles, combined with inter-imperialist competition, intensify the crisis of imperialist rule and sharpen the class contradictions inside each imperialist country. Linked with the national liberation movements and the socialist countries, the proletarian revolutionary movement in the imperialist countries will finally bring an end to imperialism. Without a doubt, revolution is the main trend in the world today.
3. Proletarian Internationalism
Proletarian internationalism means that the interests of the proletarian struggle in one country be subordinated to the interests of the struggle on a world scale. Workers in the imperialist countries must unite with and support the struggle for liberation in the oppressed countries. If the proletariat achieves victory over the bourgeoisie, it must be prepared to make national sacrifices for the sake of the overthrow of international capital. The main slogan of our time remains: “Workers and Oppressed Peoples, Unite!”
4. Strategic Task
The strategic task of the U.S. revolution is the overthrow of U.S. Imperialism (monopoly capital) and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat, which we understand to mean the complete destruction of the imperialist bourgeois state by armed force, carried out with the support and sympathy of the masses of people in our country. This is the first stage in the revolutionary process (socialism), leading to the elimination of all classes end all class differences (communism). We support the struggle of all minority peoples for full democratic rights and equality. We recognize that in certain cases (e.g. the “Negro” or “Afro-American” nation in the south, and Puerto Rico) the struggle is one of an oppressed nation end that the right to an independent state must be upheld. We recognise the special oppression of women under imperialism and support the struggle for economic, political, and social equality. Failure to support the just demands of the oppressed masses is a betrayal of the whole proletariat. In the final analysis, full democracy & equal rights, like the satisfaction of thousands of demands of the people for peace and for better working and living conditions, cannot be attained under the rule of the imperialist bourgeoisie.
5. Immediate Task: Build a Communist Party
Our immediate and most urgent task is the building of a revolutionary political party representing the proletariat, a vanguard party capable of leading the struggle against the bourgeoisie to victory. We reject the Communist Party-Soviet Union as the social-imperialist center of reaction within the world working class movement. We reject the Communist Party U.S.A., the Progressive Labor Party, end the various Trotskyite parties as agents of social-imperialist ideology in the working class movement. We reject the opportunism of the Revolutionary Union, the October League and the Guardian. We support the Call for a Congress of North American Marxist-Leninists to form a multi-national communist party.
6. Theory and Practice
We hold that in this period, in the contradiction between theory and practice, theory is the principal and decisive aspect. In this light, we are preparing for discussions of the party program and carrying out struggle against all forms of bourgeois ideology. Our practical work consists of a) the formation of study groups; b) propaganda to the advanced workers; c) basing ourselves and forming communist core groups among she moat oppressed end exploited workers in large scale industry.
7. Organization
In preparation for building a communist party, we adhere to the principles of communist organization (democratic centralism).