I've heard the term stagism used mainly in the context of the
position of the South Africa Communist Party position (at one point)
that first comes the national-democratic revolution and then comes
the socialist one. I'm not certain how prevalent this position still
is-- eg., whether it's still held in the context of the uniting of
white capital and emerging black capital in the new, enriched ANC.
Maybe Patrick can advise?
michael
Michael A. Lebowitz
According to the Japanese Communist Party, not only is Japan not ripe
for a socialist revolution but "the conditions for a democratic
revolution are not yet ripe"!!!
<blockquote>Engels's theory on revolution by the majority is premised
on a socialist revolution, but the JCP has developed the line of
democratic revolution, viz. the argument of revolution by the
majority in which a much wider range of people can be united. The JCP
is aiming to establish a national democratic united front to unite
all the people who oppose the above-mentioned two obstacles in the
development of Japanese society, including the working class, which
accounts for three fourths of the whole working population, farmers,
fishers, working citizens, intellectuals, women, youth, students and
small- and medium-sized company owners, and to realize changes by
democratic means through parliament.
From this position, the JCP is striving for establishing a democratic
government based on points agreed on by democratic forces, even
though the conditions for a democratic revolution are not yet ripe.
The JCP's 21st Congress in 1997 decided that the party will work hard
to establish in the early part of the 21st century a democratic
coalition government replacing the Liberal Democratic Party, and this
decision has had great repercussions. (Tadatoshi Tashiro, "Social
Science Institute Japanese Communist Party: The Japanese Communist
Party's Revolutionary Course and the "Manifesto of the Communist
Party,"
<http://www.jcp.or.jp/english/e-tasiro-0611.html>)</blockquote>
I actually like rank-and-file Communists in Japan -- they are the
nicest of the Japanese people, IMHO -- but that's really taking
stagism way too far!
--
Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
* "Proud of Britain": <http://www.proudofbritain.net/ > and
<http://www.proud-of-britain.org.uk/>
