First Published: The Guardian Sustainer, November 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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In all the mail and other forma of communication we have received from Sustainers this last year, the subject mat has received the moat prominence has been, that of party-building.
The overwhelming sentiment is that it is urgently necessary for independent Marxist-Leninists in the U.S. to develop some form of organizational expression.
The Guardian itself has declared repeatedly over the last years that party-building is the number one task of U.S. communists. A number of groups either formed parties or are about to during this period.
In our opinion these organizations are flawed by dogmatism and are incapable of developing into the kind of vanguard party required to lead the working class to its ultimate salvation.
Many, many thousands of people who share our understanding of the need for a party also share our critique of those organizations already taking form. Some of these people are associated with regional Marxist-Leninist groups or small collectives or are totally independent of any organization. The overwhelming majority of them are Guardian readers.
We feel it’s time for the Guardian to go beyond the stage of simply pointing out that a party is necessary. We’ve discussed the problem far a number of months inside and outside our staff and have come to the conclusion that the best contribution to party-building we can make at the moment would be to publish a special supplement of four or eight pages on the entire question, defining the problems and prospects of forming an antirevisionist antidogmatist Leninist party in the U.S.
We’ve set a tentative date supplement around the beginning of the new year. If the supplement contributes the way we think it will to giving the party-building movement a push in the correct direction, we plan to follow up by increasing oar coverage of the movement and possibly publishing periodic special supplements throughout the years.
It would be good to get your views about this soon.