Because of the position it occupies in production and society the proletariat
must act as the leader and organizer of all the oppressed and exploited in the
struggle for communism. In 1846 Marx wrote:
"We do not regard communism as a STATE OF AFFAIRS that has to be brought about;
nor as an ideal to which reality must conform. By communism we mean an ACTUAL
movement that will sweep away the present state of affairs. The conditions for
that movement arise out of already existing premises." (Marx's emphasis)
By these postulates Marx meant: the growth of the working-class, both in
numbers and in class consciousness; large-scale industry and socialized
production developed by capitalism. But private property in the means of
production - which is the very foundation of capitalism - hampers and fetter
the further development of the productive forces. The proletariat alone can
break those fetters; after it has established its dictatorship the proletariat
must smash the machinery of the bourgeois state; it must defind its own state
power in civil war and crush the opposition of the bourgeoisie; it must take
over large-scale industry and transform the means of production on socialist
lines, and, on the ruins of capitalism and using the material left over from
capitalism, give the widest possible development to socialist production with
all possible speed. The proletariat assumes the leadership of the
non-proletarian sections of society that are oppressed and
exploited by by capitalism. Under the guidance of the industrial proletariat,
and with the help of its dictatorship, a complete transformation of production
takes place and the small producers are turned into members of socialist
society. The proletariat thereby creates a new material basis for human
relationships. By means of the class struggle, and with the help of its
dictatorship, it abolishes classes and achieves a classless society. Such is
the historical mission of the proletariat throughout the whole world.
The destruction of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is more than just
"combat" but is in fact a "science of society" that must transform capitalist
society into socialist society which can only be accomplished by establishing
the dictatorship of the proletariat as it attempts to use the infrastructure
and means of production to develop socialism. This must be a transitory phase
in which the proletariat uses it power and authority - its dictatorship - over
the remaining elements of capitalist society to accomplish this transformation
as it must incorporate into this transformation remaining elements of the
bourgeoisie until the transformation is complete through training workers and
the eradication of bourgeois ideological influence. Only then can it be
possible to attain classless society or communism. To accomplish the "quality"
of communism it most certainly implies that one must develop and improve the
"science of society" as we know that
Lenin did.
You understand nothing about dialectical materialism obviously.
A Few words should be said in conclusion as to how to study the works of
Lenin. It should be borne in mind that Lenin was a leader of the proletariat.
A study of his literary works must be closely combined with a study of his
activities and of the conditions in which he worked. Only in this way will the
works of Lenin be properly understood and appreciated. This study, however,
must be linked with the present-day struggle of the proletariat. However, I
will reserve this part for another post since I was digressed into a defense of
Lenin and dialectical materialism. In this defense I have very extensively
used V. Adoratsky to refute the notion that Marxism is dead as far as it
relates to the "ancient writings" of great Marxists and that they somehow have
no relativity in our contemporary capitalist society and that these "ancient
writings" also somehow pose a contradiction in the continuance of the class
struggle which would require an "either
or" choice between responsibility to the working-class and the relevance of
these "ancient writings".
Fraternally
Mark Scott
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