A study of the conditions as they prevail on the world scale shows
that the main content of the present counter-revolution is the all-
sided pressure to "liquidate" i.e. get rid of, whatever positive
achievements have been made by modern society. This attack takes
the form of the anti-social offensive and is, essentially, all-
sided wrecking activity on the part of imperialism and the
bourgeoisie to undermine and destroy whatever positive achievements
have been made by humankind during the twentieth century.
These achievements exist in all fields, at various levels of
development. Besides straightforward advances made in the fields of
science and technology, the most important achievements exist in
the form of modern arrangements between people and their
collectives to guarantee that society progresses in a way which
serves the needs of its members. Just as the bourgeoisie fought for
and succeeded in putting new arrangements in place when it came to
power during the period from the 14th to the 19th centuries by
tearing down the old feudal arrangements, so too during the
twentieth century the workers and peoples of the world have fought
for and succeeded in putting new arrangements in place. The work to
build and defend the edifice of communism and the communist parties
has been pivotal to the successes achieved, just as for imperialism
and the bourgeoisie attacking communism and the communist party has
been pivotal to ensuring that these successes are not consolidated
and turned into lasting victory, but are actually torn down and
destroyed.
The essence of these new arrangements was and continues to be
to affirm the rights of the workers, women, youth, students and all
members of society and of society itself as the overall collective
of its members, as opposed to the right of private property which
is the essence of the arrangements brought into being by the
bourgeoisie and its system. It is because people involved in
making and defending these new arrangements will necessarily give
rise to solutions to new problems as they arise in the course of
new developments, as well as defend whatever arrangements they
bring forth, that the bourgeoisie makes them and their
organizations, the targets of its most vicious and pernicious
attacks.
This is where the task of the bourgeoisie to undermine the
edifice of communism and demean the communist party comes into
being, just as the mandate for all progressive forces to contribute
to building the edifice of communism and the communist party also
comes into being. This issue is so important that it is integrally
bound up with the progress of society. In other words, the issue of
communism does not pertain to communists alone, even though it is
the communists who make it their raison d'etre by devoting all
their energies to this task. It is an issue for all enlightened
forces, all forces which stand for progress. For instance, why does
the bourgeoisie do everything in its power to make sure that people
are kept away from making the new arrangements as required by the
society? It is so that they cannot find their bearings or
contribute to providing these problems with solutions. But what has
to be also recognized is that the ideological and political
confusion which arises is such that people are extremely vulnerable
to any hype and hysteria which the bourgeoisie sees fit to create.
This creates an extremely dangerous situation for the people and
their society.
Opposition to the wrecking activity of the bourgeoisie is
therefore the common cause of all members of society, not of the
communists alone. The role the communists must play is to
single-mindedly concentrate all their efforts in involving the
workers, women, youth, students and others in taking up the tasks
set by the communist party to bring the new arrangements into
being. Only in this way can the successes achieved by the workers
and peoples during the twentieth century be consolidated and turned
into lasting victories.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
