--Boundary (ID uieuzoOyuFxtYmNFIr+Wow)
The question of the "withering away of the state" is not dependent on
this or that belief. The state is a feature of class society. Its
withering away is a feature of the classless society. The way forward for
the U.S. to achieve this is to defeat the anti-social offensive so as to
guarantee the victory of the pro-social program, the building of
socialism and the creation of conditions for the complete emancipation of
the working class and the entire humanity, that is, the creation of the
conditions of modern communism.
During the immediate struggle against the anti-social offensive and
for the victory of the pro-social program, the working class must
fight to establish a direction for society whereby it is the people
who begin to benefit from it. This struggle will be most complicated
and violent, as the ruling class, the financial oligarchy, will never
agree to permit a peaceful change in the direction of society from the
anti-social offensive to the pro-social program. It will use the
violence of the state to stop it from happening.
The question which arises is this: Can the same state that guarantees
through violence the anti-social offensive also, secure the pro-social
program? The answer obviously is no but this is beside the point.
Whether the state guarantees the pro-social program or not, the aim of
the struggle against the anti-social offensive is to establish the
reality that it is the will of the people which counts in society. In
order to establish the people's will for a pro-social program, the
working class has to smash the old state machine. This old state
machine is consistent with the will of the financial oligarchy not the
people's, and must be replaced with a new one consistent with the
aspirations and will of the people.
At this time in the U.S., it is the will of the financial oligarchy that
prevails. It takes the form of a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. It
does not matter how many arguments are given or briefs presented to
convince the bourgeoisie that its anti-social offensive is hurting the
people and damaging the economy, the bourgeoisie does not listen and
does not want to listen to those things that go against its will and
interests. It is exercising its dictate over the people. The people
can only establish their own pro-social program if they establish
their dictate over the rule of the financial oligarchy. In order for
the working class to lead the people to impose their dictate over the
bourgeoisie, they will have to smash the old state machine and create
a new one.
The new state will proceed by changing the direction of the economy by
expropriating the bourgeoisie, and creating a socialist society. As
the socialist society strengthens itself and develops, and the
exploitation of persons by persons is eliminated, and the
international situation changes dramatically with the elimination of
all imperialism and imperialist superpowers and any danger coming from
other capitalist or imperialist states, the new state that was
established by the people will no longer be needed. Such a state will
wither away.
It is extremely important not to speak of "dictatorship" in general.
In a class society, the class in power establishes its dictatorship
and exercises its rule. The entire history of class society is a
history of class dictatorships. There was the dictatorship of the
slave owning class, followed by the rule of the feudal aristocracy
which was overthrown and replaced by the rule of the capitalists,
which is the situation at present. The working class is the first
class that has come into existence whose aim is to establish its own
dictatorship with the express aim of eliminating all dictatorships
including its own. Its aim is to "negate the negation."
When the bourgeoisie speaks of the "dictatorship of the proletariat"
it does so with bad conscience. It uses words glibly and creates the
impression as if its own rule is "democracy" and that "democracy" is
neutral and above classes, while the rule of the working class is a
"dictatorship," which is, in turn, brutal and blood-thirsty. To be
scientific and to use words in good conscience the working class
places words such as "democracy" in very specific historical and
actual circumstances. Democracy describes a definite system of class
rule. Depending on the class in power, it can either be a bourgeois
democracy - dictatorship of the bourgeoisie - or a proletarian
democracy - a dictatorship of the proletariat. Either kind of
democracy holds elections but the role of elections should also be
discussed concretely. The role of elections under the dictatorship of
the bourgeoisie is to sort out contradictions among the capitalists
themselves to see which section will govern for the coming period. It
is also to provide the institutions of government with credibility. In
other words by permitting the people the right to vote, people are
supposed to be fooled into believing that the state and its
institutions are "neutral," "above classes" and serve everyone in
society equally. When the elections do not sort out the serious
contradictions in the ranks of the bourgeoisie or they fail to restore
the faith of the people in the system, the political crisis deepens.
The electorate is merely used as voting cattle to decide which set of
exploiters will rule over them.
The role of elections under the dictatorship of the proletariat is to
make it possible for the people to come to power themselves. As this
direct democracy develops and matures and the people become
experienced in managing their economic, social, cultural and political
affairs and, as the exploiting classes are eliminated altogether, the
need for the state as an instrument of compulsion will disappear and
it will wither away.
The characteristic feature of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is
that it will never permit the people to come to power through
elections or otherwise. The struggle of the people for power leads to
the overthrow of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Force is
exercised against the bourgeoisie at the will of the people, by the
people themselves led by the working class. The overthrow of the
bougeoisie is the most popular thing there is. To suggest that there
are some people who force themselves upon others is to speak of
bourgeois dictatorships engineered through military coups d'etat. The
aim of the overthrow of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is not the
installation of an individual as a dictator. It is the people who
become sovereign and they establish a system in which the legislative
and executive power is subordinate to the people.
There is no difference of opinion between Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin on
the question of the manner in which the dictatorship of the
proletariat is to be established. Whether the revolution is peaceful
or violent, the aim remains to overthrow the dictatorship of the
bourgeoisie. The new state must compel the bourgeoisie to submit to
the wishes of the people, and submit to the profound revolutionary
reforms whose aim is to eliminate all exploitation of persons by
persons. To speculate on the forms of the struggle and to suggest that
differences exist between the opinions of Marx and Lenin diverts
attention from the task at hand, which is to analyze the concrete
conditions of the present and deal with the contemporary problems of
the current struggle, the aim of this struggle and how this aim can be
achieved.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--Boundary (ID uieuzoOyuFxtYmNFIr+Wow)--
