Staying Relevant An Analysis of U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organizational Activities in a Post-Soviet Environment Kyle A. Johnson California State University of San Marcos Dr. Garry Rolison, Chair Dr. Sharon Elise Dr. Kristen Bates Johnson 1 “We stand as Lenin did prior to the revolution, with nothing but steel in our minds and passion in our hearts.” -Kyle A. Johnson Johnson 2 Acknowledgments • Dr. Garry Rolison: You have been a mentor, a professor, and a comrade. You have inspired me to become a better scholar and a better person. Your ability to make me answer my own questions has turned me into a person I would take seriously had I ever met me. I thank you for all you have done for me and showing me what an uncompromisingly principled and ethical teacher should be. I know you will continue to inspire countless students. • Dr. Sharon Elise: Knowing you over these years has changed my life forever. You have consistently challenged me and made me a much stronger, far more intellectual student. I cherish the time you have given to me and will never forget all the lessons you have imparted onto me. Whenever I had an idea that I couldn’t fully comprehend, I knew it was you that could take it and make sense of it. You will always be legend to me. • Dr. Kristen Bates: Since the day I met you, I knew that you were a supportive and creative teacher that would always encourage the best in her students. You have driven my creativity through the roof and have inspired to look at one idea from so many different angles. Thank you so much for all your help, this wouldn’t have been possible without your structure so early in the program. Thank you, thank you, thank you. • To my cohort: You have been some of the most interesting and accepting people I have ever met in my life. I have found friends, colleagues, and comrades. I hope to always keep in touch with you and will remember all of the perspectives you have shown me. Special shout outs to my comrade Yolanda, you have challenged me and pushed me to become a great student and a great leader. I am lucky to have a friend like you. • To my family and my lady: Thank you for helping me get through this process, a process which would have overwhelmed me without you. You have calmed me when I was stressed, brought me up when I was down, and gave me the strength to keep going when I thought I had no more. This thesis is a part of you as it is a part of me. I am forever grateful. I love you. Johnson 3 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4-5 Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………………………………………….5-7 Theory…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7-13 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13-19 Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…19-22 Results……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22-31 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………31-34 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..34-36 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...36-40 Johnson 4 Introduction “Write in such a way as that you can be readily understood by both the young and the old, by men as well as women, even by children.” --Ho Chi Minh Within the last two decades the world has seen a tremendous shift in the global environment with respects to economic, political, and social hegemony. These aspects have much to owe to a few events that have had a massive impact upon the world social setting. Two main paradigm shifting events that changed the course of uninterrupted globalized capitalism were the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. These two monumental events spawned two separate styles of world activity, each event bringing in a new era of world policy and power relationships. With the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc in 1991, many have thought the idea of socialism to be dead and the inevitable intrusion of capitalism restored. Along with the ever expanding global economy, dominated mainly by the sole remaining superpower, the United States, and its allies, the political landscape has looked singularly linear, with resistance coming from popular revolts and national attempts to resist global capitalist integration instead of previous endeavors to join the communist bloc. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the U.S.’s rival super power, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics aka the Soviet Union, the prospects of alternatives to Western style capitalism seems marginal to say the least. With the grip of global capitalism seizing the last remaining bastions of non-U.S. supported economic and political policies, what are activist organizations; specifically Marxist-Leninist activist organizations, to do to counter this newly unrivaled economic hegemony? Johnson 5 Marxist-Leninist organizations have been active in the United States for nearly one hundred years, with a history of being victims of government persecution and occupational blacklisting. Forced to recover from often devastating consequences, these organizations have continued to give a voice to the victims of crimes committed by the United States and to promote alternatives to the current capitalist economic policies that are in place right now. With the events mentioned above unfolding slightly over the last two decades, most hardline Marxist-Leninist nations have disappeared, forcing the remaining anti globalized capitalist countries to adopt some market reforms. In this time of near absolute domination of globalized capitalism and the near political impossibility of electoral change occurring in the United States, how will modern Marxist-Leninist organizations attempt to reach out to the public and mobilize for change? By critically analyzing the content promoted by these organizations and observing the activities of public outreach, the potential for movement building will be discovered. Statement of the problem “Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? These are the questions of primary importance for the revolution” --Mao Tse Tung Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the restoration of capitalism in formerly socialist nations, the U.S. dominated ideology of free market, globalized capitalism has portrayed itself the winner of the cold war and the rightful heir to the top of the global hierarchy. Alternatives to the U.S. dominated world system, especially alternatives that were communist sympathetic, were seen as fundamentally anti-American and worthy of political and social persecution. Whether the first red scare of 1919-1921, the second red scare of 1947-1954, the witch hunt that was McCarthyism, or the continual blacklisting from occupation for communist or Marxist- Johnson 6 Leninist supporters, the United States has made anti-communism a central pillar of its existence. While the USSR existed, many found strength in knowing there was a bulwark against Western imperialism and based their actions and parties off those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. That continued to last until the years of Soviet revisionism and ultimately, its dissolution. Without the presence of the Soviet Union and the isolation imposed on remaining socialist/communist nations, many Marxist-Leninist activists have had to adapt to the new environment of dominant, relentless, U.S. economic, political, and social power. Whereas defense of the Soviet Union, not wholly uncritical, was seen as a main pillar of Marxist-Leninist organizational activity, nowadays seems irrelevant to organizations hoping to enter the realm of mainstream political audiences. The need to reconstruct the foundation for these organizations has been the driving force behind their adaptations both internal and external. Now that defense of a now defunct nation is no longer a sound tactic to recruit new members to the Marxist-Leninist cause, activist organizations must now focus on new topics that they deem as fulfilling and necessary as the previous tactic was. Many of these new focus points have to deal with very hot social issues that have sharply divided U.S. politics and their impact on the U.S. economy. Issues such as immigration, workers rights, racism, healthcare, education, gentrification, imperialism, and their link to their main struggle against the capitalist economic system have further evolved the ideology of Marxism Leninism and the organizations following it. Many of these issues were debated in previous times, but, as a lot of organizations did at the time, they looked to the Soviet Union to guide them in their fight against the ills in American society and attempted to replicate Soviet social gains in the U.S. With that function Johnson 7 no longer existing, Marxist-Leninist organizations are being forced forge their own path, often mirroring the revolutionaries who faced similar situations prior to their nations revolution. With the eruption of popular revolts around the world and here in the United States, Marxist-Leninist organizations have had to adapt to movements which shelter large amounts of different ideologies. Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring have inspired mass mobilizations around the world, often finding themselves leaderless, splinted, and highly sectarian. (Greene & Kuswa 2012) Marxist-Leninist organizations attempting not only to incorporate themselves into these popular movements, but ultimately steer these movements through the idea of a vanguard party is a differentiating factor between Marxist-Leninist organizations and the myriad of organizations participating in often international popularized revolts. (Galia 1987) Internationalization, also a foundational pillar of Marxism-Leninism also has posed these organizations problems regarding the relationship their presence has in the United States with the popular revolts occurring in the Middle East. (Greene & Kuswa 2012) In addition to the mass mobilization of the Occupy and the Arab Spring movements, the increase in the use of mass media by the movements has spawned an ability to organize at a much quicker scale and react to the changing reality that is the world of protest and resistance.