Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 1

Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference: Issued on Authority of the Conference by the Left Wing National Council.

Published as “The Left Wing Manifesto” in The Revolutionary Age [New York], v. 2, no. 1 (July 5, 1919), pp. 6-8, 14-15.

The world is in crisis. Capitalism, the prevailing and the war was itself a direct product of Imperialism. system of society, is in process of disintegration and Industrial development under the profit system collapse. Out of its vitals is developing a new social of Capitalism is based upon the accumulation of capi- order, the system of Communist Socialism; and the tal, which depends upon the expropriation of values struggle between this new social order and the old is produced by the workers. This accumulation of capi- now the fundamental problem of international poli- tal promotes, and is itself promoted by, the concentra- tics. tion of industry. The competitive struggle compels each The predatory “war for democracy” dominated capitalist to secure the most efficient means of pro- the world. But now it is the revolutionary proletariat duction, or a group of capitalists to combine their capi- in action that dominates, conquering power in some tal in order to produce more efficiently. This process nations, mobilizing to conquer power in others, and of concentration of industry and the accumulation of calling upon the proletariat of all nations to prepare capital, while a product of competition, ultimately for the final struggle against Capitalism. denies and ends competition. The concentration of But Socialism itself is in crisis. Events are revo- industry and of capital develops monopoly. lutionizing Capitalism and Socialism — an indication Monopoly expresses itself through dictatorial that this is the historic epoch of the proletarian revo- control exercised by finance-capital over industry; and lution. Imperialism is the final stage of Capitalism; finance-capital unifies Capitalism for world exploita- and Imperialism means sterner reaction and new wars tion. Under Imperialism, the banks, whose control is of conquest — unless the revolutionary proletariat acts centralized in a clique of financial magnates, domi- for Socialism. Capitalism cannot reform itself; it can- nate the whole of industry directly, purely upon the not be reformed. Humanity can be saved from its last basis of investment exploitation, and not for purposes excesses only by the Communist Revolution. There of social production. The concentration of industry can now be only the Socialism which is one in temper implies that, to a large extent, industry within the na- and purpose with the proletarian revolutionary tion has reached its maturity, is unable to absorb all struggle. There can be only the Socialism which unites the surplus-capital that comes from the profits of in- the proletariat of the whole world in the general dustry. Capitalism, accordingly, must find means out- struggle against the desperately destructive Imperial- side the nation for the absorption of this surplus. The isms — the Imperialisms which array themselves as a older export trade was dominated by the export of single force against the onsweeping proletarian revo- consumable goods. American exports, particularly, lution. except for the war period, have been largely of cotton, foodstuffs, and raw materials. Under the conditions The War and Imperialism. of Imperialism it is capital which is exported, as by the use of concessions in backward territory to build rail- The prevailing conditions, in the world of Capi- roads, or to start native factories, as in India, or to talism and Socialism, are a direct product of the war; develop oil fields, as in Mexico. This means an export 1 2 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] of locomotives, heavy machinery, in short, predomi- While this division of the world solves, for the nantly a trade in iron goods. This export of capital, moment, the problems of power that produced the together with the struggle to monopolize the world’s war, the solution is temporary, since the Imperialism sources of raw materials and to control undeveloped of one nation can prosper only by limiting the eco- territory, produces Imperialism. nomic opportunity of another nation. New problems A fully developed capitalist nation is compelled of power must necessarily arise, producing new an- to accept Imperialism. Each nation seeks markets for tagonisms, new wars of aggression and conquest — the absorption of its surplus capital. Undeveloped ter- unless the revolutionary proletariat conquers in the ritory, possessing sources of raw material, the indus- struggle for Socialism. trial development of which will require the investment The concentration of industry produces mo- of capital and the purchase of machinery, becomes the nopoly, and monopoly produces Imperialism. In Im- objective of capitalistic competition between the im- perialism there is implied the socialization of indus- perialistic nations. try, the material basis of Socialism. Production more- Capitalism, in the epoch of Imperialism, comes over, becomes international; and the limits of the na- to rely for its “prosperity” and supremacy upon the tion, of national production, become a fetter upon the exploitation and enslavement of colonial peoples, ei- forces of production. The development of Capitalism ther in colonies, “spheres of influence,” “protectorates,” produces world economic problems that break down or “mandatories” — savagely oppressing hundreds of the old order. The forces of production revolt against millions of subject peoples in order to assure high profit the fetters Capitalism imposes upon production. The and interest rates for a few million people in the fa- answer of Capitalism is war; the answer of the prole- vored nations. tariat is the Social Revolution and Socialism. This struggle for undeveloped territory, raw materials, and investment markets, is carried on “peace- The Collapse of the International. fully” between groups of international finance-capital by means of “agreements,” and between the nations In 1912, at the time of the first Balkan war, Eu- by means of diplomacy; but a crisis comes, the com- rope was on the verge of a general imperialistic war. A petition becomes irreconcilable, antagonisms cannot Socialist International Congress was convened at Basle be solved peacefully, and the nations resort to war. [9th: Nov. 24-25, 1912] to act on the impending cri- The antagonisms between the European nations sis. The resolution adopted stigmatized the coming war were antagonisms as to who should control undevel- as an imperialistic and as unjustifiable on any pretext of oped territory, sources of raw materialism, and the in- national interest. The Basle resolution declared: vestment markets of the world. The inevitable conse- 1. That the war would create an economic and quence was war. The issue being world power, other political crisis; nations, including the United States, while having no 2. That the workers would look upon participa- direct territorial interests in the war, was vitally con- tion in the war as a crime, which would arouse “indig- cerned since the issue was world power; and its Capi- nation and revulsion” among the masses; talism, having attained a position of financial world 3. That the crisis and the psychological condi- power, had a direct imperialistic interest at state. tion of the workers would create a situation that So- The imperialistic character of the war is climaxed cialism should use “to rouse the masses and hasten the by an imperialistic peace — a peace that strikes di- downfall of Capitalism”; rectly at the peace and liberty of the world, which or- 4. That the governments “fear a proletarian revo- ganizes the great imperialistic powers into a sort of lution” and should remember the Paris Commune and “trust of nations,” among whom the world is divided the revolution in Russia in 1905, that is, a civil war. financially and territorially. The League of Nations is The Basle resolution indicted the coming war as simply the screen for this division of the world, an imperialistic, a war necessarily to be opposed by So- instrument for joint domination of the world by a cialism, which should use the opportunity of war to particular group of Imperialism. wage the revolutionary struggle against Capitalism. The Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 3 policy of Socialism was comprised in the struggle to ditions of Imperialism is not directly counterrevolu- transform the imperialistic war into a civil war of the tionary! It justified the war as a war for national inde- oppressed against the oppressors, and for Socialism. pendence — as if Imperialism is not necessarily deter- The war that came in 1914 was the same impe- mined upon annihilating the independence of nations! rialistic war that might have come in 1912, or at the Nationalism, social-patriotism, and social-Impe- time of the Agadir crisis. But, upon the declaration of rialism determined the policy of the dominant Social- war, the dominant Socialism, contrary to the Basle reso- ism, and not the proletarian class struggle and Social- lution, accepted and justified the war. ism. The coming of Socialism was made dependent Great demonstrations were held. The govern- upon the predatory war and Imperialism, upon the ments and war were denounced. But, immediately international proletariat cutting each other’s throats upon the declaration of war, there was a change of in the struggles of the ruling class! front. The war credits were voted by Socialists in the The Second International on the whole merged parliaments. The dominant Socialism favored the war; in the opposed imperialistic ranks. This collapse of the a small minority adopted a policy of petty bourgeois International was not an accident, nor simply an ex- pacifism; and only the Left Wing groups adhered to pression of the betrayal of individuals. It was the in- the policy of revolutionary Socialism. evitable consequence of the whole tendency and policy It was not alone a problem of preventing the war. of the dominant Socialism as an organized movement. The fact that Socialism could not prevent the war was not a justification for accepting and idealizing the war. Moderate Socialism. Nor was it a problem of immediate revolution. The Basle Manifesto simply required opposition to the war The Socialism which developed as an organized and the fight to develop out of its circumstances the movement after the collapse of the revolutionary First revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against war International was moderate, petty bourgeois Social- and Capitalism. ism. It was a Socialism adapting itself to the condi- The dominant Socialism, in accepting and jus- tions of national development, abandoning in prac- tifying the war, abandoned the class struggle and be- tice the militant idea of revolutionizing the old world. trayed Socialism. The class struggle is the heart of So- This moderate Socialism initiated the era of “con- cialism. Without strict conformity to the class struggle, structive” social reforms. It accepted the bourgeois state in its revolutionary implications, Socialism becomes as the basis of its activity and strengthened that state. either sheer Utopianism, or a method of reaction. But Its goal became “constructive reforms” and cabinet the dominant Socialism accepted “civil peace,” the portfolios — the “cooperation of classes,” the policy “unity of all the classes and parties” in order to wage of openly or tacitly declaring that the coming of So- successfully the imperialistic war. The dominant So- cialism was the concern “of all the classes,” instead of cialism united with the governments against Social- emphasizing the Marxian policy that the construction ism and the proletariat. of the Socialist system is the task of the revolutionary The class struggle comes to a climax during war. proletariat alone. In accepting social reformism, the National struggles are a form of expression of the class “cooperation of classes,” and the bourgeois parliamen- struggle, whether they are revolutionary wars for lib- tary state as the basis of its action, moderate Socialism eration or imperialistic wars for spoilation. It is pre- was prepared to share responsibility with the bourgeoi- cisely during a war that material conditions provide sie in the control of the capitalist state, even to the the opportunity for waging the class struggle to a con- extent of defending the bourgeoisie against the work- clusion for the conquest of power. The war was a war ing class and its revolutionary mass movements. The for world power — a war of the capitalist class against counterrevolutionary tendency of the dominant So- the working class, since world power means power over cialism finally reveals itself in the open war against the proletariat. Socialism during the proletarian revolution, as in Rus- But the dominant Socialism accepted the war as sia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. a war for democracy — as if democracy under the con- The dominant moderate Socialism was initiated 4 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] by the formation of the Social-Democratic Party in But Imperialism exposed the final futility of this Germany. This party united on the basis of the Gotha policy. Imperialism unites the non-proletarian classes, Program, in which fundamental revolutionary Social- by means of State Capitalism, for international con- ism was abandoned. It evaded completely the task of quest and spoilation. The small capitalists, middle class, the conquest of power, which Marx, in his Criticism and the aristocracy of labor, which previously acted of the Gotha Program, characterized as follows: against concentrated industry, now compromise and unite with concentrated industry and finance-capital “Between the capitalistic society and the communistic, in Imperialism. The small capitalists accept the domi- lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. This corresponds to a political transition period, nation of finance-capital, being allowed to participate in which the state cannot be anything else than the in the adventures and the fabulous profits of Imperial- revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.” ism, upon which now depends the whole of trade and industry; the middle class invests inn monopolistic Evading the actual problems of the revolution- enterprises, an income class whose income depends ary struggle, the dominant Socialism of the Second upon finance-capital, its members securing “positions International developed into a peaceful movement of of superintendence,” its technicians and intellectuals organization, of trades union struggles, of cooperation being exported to underdeveloped lands in process of with the middle class, of legislation and bourgeois State development; while the workers of the privileged Capitalism as means of introducing Socialism. unions are assured steady employment and compara- There was a joint movement that affected the tively high wages through the profits that come from thought and practice of Socialism; on the one hand, the savage exploitation of colonial peoples. All these the organization of the skilled workers into trade non-proletarian social groups accept Imperialism, their unions, which secured certain concessions and became “liberal and progressive” ideas becoming factors in the a semi-privileged caste; and, on the other, the decay of promotion of Imperialism, manufacturing the demo- the class of small producers, crushed under the iron cratic ideology of Imperialism with which to seduce tread of the concentration of industry and the accu- the masses. Imperialism requires the centralized state, mulation of capital. As one moved upward, and the capable of uniting all the forces of capital, of unifying other downward, they met, formed a juncture, and the industrial process through state control and regu- united to use the state to improve their conditions. The lation, of maintaining “class peace,” of mobilizing the dominant Socialism expressed this unity, developing a whole national power in the struggles of Imperialism. policy of legislative reforms and State Capitalism, State Capitalism is the form of expression of Imperial- making the revolutionary class struggle a parliamen- ism — precisely that State Capitalism promoted by tary process. moderate, petty bourgeois Socialism. What the par- This development meant, obviously, the aban- liamentary policy of the dominant moderate Social- donment of fundamental Socialism. It meant work- ism accomplished was to buttress the capitalist state, ing on the basis of the bourgeois parliamentary state, to promote State Capitalism — to strengthen Imperi- instead of the struggle to destroy that state; it meant alism! the “cooperation of classes” for State Capitalism, in- The dominant Socialism was part and parcel of stead of the uncompromising proletarian struggle for the national liberal movement — but this movement, Socialism. Government ownership, the objective of the under the compulsion of events, merged in Imperial- middle class, was the policy of moderate Socialism. ism. The dominant Socialism accepted capitalistic de- Instead of the revolutionary theory of the necessity of mocracy as the basis for the realization of Socialism conquering Capitalism, the official theory and prac- — but this democracy merges in Imperialism. The tice was not that of modifying Capitalism, of a gradual world war was waged by means of this democracy. The peaceful “growing into” Socialism by means of legisla- dominant Socialism based itself upon the middle class tive reforms. In the words of Jean Juares: “we shall carry and the aristocracy of labor — but these have com- on our reform work to a complete transformation of promised with Imperialism, being bribed by a “share” the existing order.” in the spoils of Imperialism. Upon the declaration of Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 5 war, accordingly, the dominant moderate Socialism against the proletarian revolution. It united with the accepted the war and united with the imperialistic state. Cadets, the party of bourgeois Imperialism, in a coali- Upon the advent of Imperialism, Capitalism tion government of bourgeois democracy. It placed its emerged into a new epoch — an epoch requiring new faith in the war “against German militarism,” in na- and more aggressive proletarian tactics. Tactical dif- tional ideals, in parliamentary democracy and the “co- ferences in the Socialist movement almost immedi- operation of classes.” ately came to a head. The concentration of industry, But the proletariat, urging on the poorer peas- together with the subserviency of parliaments to the antry, conquered power. It accomplished a proletarian imperialistic mandates and the transfer of their vital revolution by means of the Bolshevik policy of “all functions to the executive organ of government, de- power to the Soviets” — organizing the new transi- veloped the concept of individual unionism in the tional state of proletarian dictatorship. Moderate So- United States and the concept of mass action in Eu- cialism, even after its theory that a proletarian revolu- rope. The struggle against the dominant moderate tion was impossible had been shattered by life itself, Socialism became a struggle against its perversion of acted against the proletarian revolution, and mobilized parliamentarism, against its conception of the state, the counterrevolutionary forces against the Soviet Re- against its alliance with non-proletarian social groups, public — assisted by the moderate Socialism of Ger- and against its acceptance of State Capitalism. Impe- many and the Allies. rialism made mandatory a reconstruction of the So- Apologists maintained that the attitude of mod- cialist movement, the formulation of a practice in ac- erate Socialism in Russia was determined not by a fun- cord with its revolutionary fundamentals. But the rep- damental policy, but by its conception that, Russia not resentatives of moderate Socialism refused to broaden being a fully developed capitalist country, it was pre- their tactics, to adapt themselves to the new condi- mature to make a proletarian revolution and histori- tions. The consequence was a miserable collapse un- cally impossible to realize Socialism. der the test of the war and the proletarian revolution This was a typical nationalistic attitude, since — the betrayal of Socialism and the proletariat. the proletarian revolution in Russia could not persist as a national revolution, but was compelled by its very The Proletarian Revolution. conditions to struggle for the international revolution of the proletariat, the war having initiated the epoch The dominant Socialism justified its acceptance of the proletarian revolution. of the war on the plea that a revolution did not mate- The revolution in Germany decided the contro- rialize, that the masses abandoned Socialism. versy. The first revolution was made by the masses, This was conscious subterfuge. When the eco- against the protests of the dominant moderate Social- nomic and political crisis did develop potential revo- ism, represented by the Social-Democratic Party. As lutionary action in the proletariat, the dominant So- in Russia, the first stage of the Revolution realized a cialism immediately assumed an attitude against the bourgeois parliamentary republic, with power in the Revolution. The proletariat was urged not to make a hands of the Social-Democratic Party. Against this revolution. The dominant Socialism united with the bourgeois republic organized a new revolution, the capitalist governments to prevent a revolution. proletarian revolution directed by the Spartacan-Com- The Russian Revolution was the first act of the munists. And, precisely as in Russia, the dominant proletariat against the war and Imperialism. But while moderate Socialism opposed the proletarian revolution, the masses made the Revolution in Russia, the bour- opposed all power to the Soviets, accepted parliamen- geoisie usurped power and organized the regulation tary democracy and repudiated proletarian dictator- bourgeois-parliamentary republic. This was the first ship. stage of the Revolution. Against this bourgeois repub- The issue in Germany could not be obscured. lic organized the forces of the proletarian Revolution. Germany was a fully developed industrial nation, its Moderate Socialism in Russia, represented by the economic conditions mature for the introduction of Mensheviki and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, acted Socialism. In spite of dissimilar economic conditions 6 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] in Germany and Russia, the dominant moderate So- larger capitalists, the trusts, maintaining that all other cialism pursued a similar counterrevolutionary policy, divisions of society — including the lesser capitalists and revolutionary Socialism a common policy, indi- and the middle class, the petite bourgeoisie — are ma- cating the international character of revolutionary pro- terial for the Socialist struggle against Capitalism. The letarian tactics. moderate Socialism dominant in the Socialist Party There is, accordingly, a common policy that char- asserted, in substance: Socialism is a struggle of all the acterizes moderate Socialism, and that is its conception people against the trusts and big capital, making the of the state. Moderate Socialism affirms that the bour- realization of Socialism depend upon the unity of “the geois, democratic parliamentary state is the necessary people,” of the workers, the small capitalists, the small basis for the introduction of Socialism; accordingly, it investors, the professions — in short, the official So- conceived the task of the revolution, in Germany and cialist Party actually depended upon the petite bour- Russia, to be the construction of the democratic par- geoisie for the realization of Socialism. liamentary state, after which the process of introduc- The concentration of industry in the United ing Socialism by legislative reform measures could be States gradually eliminated the small producers, which initiated. Out of this conception of the state devel- initiated the movement for government ownership of oped the counterrevolutionary policy of moderate industry — and for other reforms proposed to check Socialism. the power of the plutocracy; and this bourgeois policy Revolutionary Socialism, on the contrary, insists was the animating impulse of the practice of the So- that the democratic parliamentary state can never be cialist Party. the basis for the introduction of Socialism; that it si This Party, moreover, developed into an expres- necessary to destroy the parliamentary state, and con- sion of the unions of the aristocracy of labor — of the struct a new state of the organized producers, which AF of L. The party refused to engage in the struggle will deprive the bourgeoisie of political power, and against the reactionary unions, to organize a new la- function as a revolutionary dictatorship of the prole- bor movement of the militant proletariat. tariat. While the concentration of industry and social The proletarian revolution in action has conclu- developments generally conservatized the skilled work- sively proven that moderate Socialism is incapable of ers, it developed the typical proletariat of unskilled realizing the objectives of Socialism. Revolutionary labor, massed in the basic industries. This proletariat, Socialism alone is capable of mobilizing the proletariat expropriated of all property, denied access to the AF for Socialism, for the conquest of the power of the of L unions, required a labor movement of its own. state, by means of revolutionary mass action and pro- This impulse produced the concept of industrial union- letarian dictatorship. ism, and the IWW. But the dominant Socialism re- jected industrial unionism and openly or covertly acted American Socialism. against the IWW. Revolutionary industrial unionism, moreover, The upsurge of revolutionary Socialism in the was a recognition of the fact that extra-parliamentary American Socialist Party, expressed in the Left Wing, action was necessary to accomplish the revolution, that is not a product simply of European conditions. It is, the political state should be destroyed and a new pro- in a fundamental sense, the product of the experience letarian state of the organized producers constructed of the American movement — the Left Wing tendency in order to realize Socialism. But the Socialist Party in the Party having been invigorated by the experi- not only repudiated the form of industrial unionism, ence of the proletarian revolutions in Europe. it still more emphatically repudiated its revolutionary The dominant moderate Socialism of the Inter- political implications, clinging to petty bourgeois par- national was equally the Socialism of the American liamentarism and reformism. Socialist Party. United with the aristocracy of labor and the The policy of moderate Socialism in the Social- middle class, the dominant Socialism in the Socialist ist Party comprised its policy in an attack upon the Party necessarily developed all the vices of the domi- Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 7 nant Socialism of Europe — and, particularly, aban- proletarian ideas; materially, the coming constriction doning the immediate revolutionary task of recon- of world markets upon the resumption of competi- structing unionism, on the basis of which alone a mili- tion. Now almighty and supreme, Capitalism in the tant mass Socialism could emerge. United States must meet crises in the days to come. It stultified working class political action, by lim- These conditions modify our immediate task, but do iting political action to elections and participation in not alter its general character; this is not the moment legislative reform activity. In every single case where of revolution, but it is the moment of revolutionary the Socialist Party has elected public officials they have struggle. American Capitalism is developing a brutal pursued a consistent petty bourgeois policy, abandon- campaign of terrorism against the militant proletariat. ing Socialism. American Capitalism is utterly incompetent on the This was the official policy of the Party. Its rep- problems of reconstruction that press down upon so- resentatives were petty bourgeois, moderate, hesitant, ciety. Its “reconstruction” program is simply to develop oblivious of the class struggle in its fundamental po- its power for aggression, to aggrandize itself in the litical and industrial implications. But the compulsion markets of the world. of life itself drew more and more proletarian masses in These conditions of Imperialism and of multi- the party, who required simply the opportunity to ini- plied aggression will necessarily produce proletarian tiate a revolutionary proletarian policy. action against Capitalism. Strikes are developing which The war and the proletarian revolution in Rus- verge on revolutionary action, and in which the sug- sian provided the opportunity. The Socialist Party, gestion of proletarian dictatorship is apparent, the under the impulse of its membership, adopted a mili- striker-workers trying to usurp functions of munici- tant declaration against the war. But the officials of pal government, as in Seattle and Winnipeg. The mass the party sabotaged this declaration. The official policy struggle of the proletariat is coming into being. of the party on the war was a policy of petty bourgeois A minor phase of the awakening of labor is the pacifism. The bureaucracy of the party was united with trades unions organizing a Labor Party in an effort to the bourgeois People’s Council, which accepted a Wil- conserve what they have secured as a privileged caste. son Peace and betrayed those who rallied to the Council A Labor Party is not the instrument for the emancipa- in opposition to the war. tion of the working class; its policy would in general This policy necessarily developed into a repu- be what is now the official policy of the Socialist Party diation of the revolutionary Socialist position. When — reforming Capitalism on the basis of the bourgeois events developed the test of accepting or rejecting the parliamentary state. Laborism is as much a danger to revolutionary implications of the declaration against the revolutionary proletariat as moderate, petty bour- the war, the party bureaucracy immediately exposed geois Socialism — the two being expressions of an iden- its reactionary policy, by repudiating the policy of the tical tendency and policy. There can be no compro- Russian and German Communists, and refusing mise either with Laborism or the dominant moderate affiliation with the Communist International of revo- Socialism. lutionary Socialism. But there is a more vital tendency — the ten- dency of the workers to initiate mass strikes — strikes Problems of American Socialism. which are equally a revolt against the bureaucracy in the unions and against the employers. These strikes Imperialism is dominant in the United States, will constitute the determining feature of proletarian which is now a world power. It is developing a central- action in the days to come. Revolutionary Socialism ized, autocratic federal government, acquiring the must use these mass industrial revolts to broaden the financial and military reserves for aggression and wars strike, to make it general and militant; use the strike of conquest. The war has aggrandized American Capi- for political objectives, and, finally, develop the mass talism, instead of weakening it as in Europe. But world political strike against Capitalism and the state. events will play upon and influence conditions in this Revolutionary Socialism must base itself on the country — dynamically, the sweep of revolutionary mass struggles of the proletariat, engage directly in these 8 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] struggles while emphasizing the revolutionary purposes Political Action. of Socialism and the proletarian movement. The mass strikes of the American proletariat provide the mate- The class struggle is a political struggle. It is a rial basis out of which to develop the concepts and political struggle in the sense that its objective is po- action of revolutionary Socialism. litical — the overthrow of the political organization Our task is to encourage the militant mass move- upon which capitalistic exploitation depends, and the ments in the AF of L to split the old unions, to break introduction of a new social system. The direct objec- the power of unions which are corrupted by Imperial- tive is the conquest by the proletariat of the power of ism and betray the militant proletariat. The AF of L, the state. in its dominant expression, is united with Imperial- Revolutionary Socialism does not propose to ism. A bulwark of reaction — it must be exposed and “capture” the bourgeois parliamentary state, but to its power for evil broken. conquer and destroy it. Revolutionary Socialism, ac- Our task, moreover, is to articulate and organize cordingly, repudiates the policy of introducing Social- the mass of the unorganized industrial proletariat, ism by means of legislative measures on the basis of which constitutes the basis for a militant Socialism. the bourgeois state. This state is a bourgeois state, the The struggle for the revolutionary industrial union- organ for the coercion of the proletarian by the capi- ism of the proletariat becomes an indispensable phase talist: how, then, can it introduce Socialism? As long of revolutionary Socialism, on the basis of which to as the bourgeois parliamentary state prevails, the capi- broaden and deepen the action of the militant prole- talist class can baffle the will of the proletariat, since tariat, developing reserves for the ultimate conquest all the political power, the army and the police, indus- of power. try and the press, are in the hands of the capitalists, Imperialism is dominant in the United States. It whose economic power gives them complete domina- controls all the factors of social action. Imperialism is tion. The revolutionary proletariat must expropriate uniting all non-proletarian social groups in a brutal all these by the conquest of the power of the state, by State Capitalism, for reaction and spoilation. Against annihilating the political power of the bourgeoisie, this, revolutionary Socialism must mobilize the mass before it can begin the task of introducing Socialism. struggle of the industrial proletariat. Revolutionary Socialism, accordingly, proposes Moderate Socialism is compromising, vacillat- to conquer the power of the state. It proposes to con- ing, treacherous, because the social elements it depends quer by means of political action — political action in upon — the petite bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of the revolutionary Marxian sense, which does not sim- labor — are not a fundamental factor in society; they ply mean parliamentarism, but the class action of the vacillate between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, proletariat in any form having as its objective the con- their social instability produces political instability; quest of the power of the state. and, moreover, they have been seduced by Imperial- Parliamentary action is necessary. In the parlia- ism and are now united with Imperialism. ment, the revolutionary representatives of the prole- Revolutionary Socialism is resolute, uncompro- tariat meet Capitalism on all general issues in the class mising, revolutionary, because it builds upon a funda- struggle. The proletariat must fight the capitalist class mental social factor, the industrial proletariat, which on all fronts, in the process of developing the final is an actual producing class, expropriated of all prop- action that will conquer the power of the state and erty, in whose consciousness the machine process has overthrow Capitalism. Parliamentary action which developed the concepts of industrial unionism and emphasizes the implacable character of the class mass action. Revolutionary Socialism adheres to the struggle is an indispensable means of agitation. Its task class struggle because through the class struggle alone is to expose through political campaigns and the fo- — the mass struggle — can the industrial proletariat rum of parliament, the class character of the state and secure immediate concessions and finally conquer the reactionary purposes of Capitalism, to meet Capi- power by organizing the industrial government of the talism on all issues, to rally the proletariat for the working class. struggle against Capitalism. Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 9

But parliamentarism cannot conquer the power and not into militant organs of the proletarian struggle; of the state for the proletariat. The conquest of the until today the dominant unions are actual bulwarks power of the state is an extra-parliamentary act. It is of Capitalism, merging in Imperialism and accepting accomplished, not by the legislative representatives of State Capitalism. The trades unions, being organized the proletariat, but by the mass power of the proletariat on craft divisions, did not and could not unite the in action. The supreme power of the proletariat in- workers as a class, nor are they actual class organiza- heres in the political mass strike, in using the industrial tions. mass power of the proletariat for political objectives. The concentration of industry, developing the Revolutionary Socialism, accordingly, recognizes machine process, expropriated large elements of the that the supreme form of proletarian political action skilled workers of their skill, but the unions still main- is the political mass strike. Parliamentarism may become tained their older ideology of property contract and a factor in developing the mass strike; parliamentar- caste. Deprived of actual power, the dominant union- ism, if it is revolutionary and adheres to the class ism resorts to dickers with the bourgeois state and an struggle, performs a necessary service in mobilizing acceptance of imperialistic State Capitalism to main- the proletariat against Capitalism. tain its privileges, as against the industrial proletariat. Moderate Socialism refuses to recognize and ac- The concentration of industry produced the in- cept this supreme form of proletarian political action, dustrial proletariat of unskilled workers, of the ma- limits and stultifies political action into legislative rou- chine proletariat. This proletariat, massed in the basic tine and non-Socialist parliamentarism. This is a de- industry, constitutes the militant basis of the class nial of the mass character of the proletarian struggle, struggle against Capitalism; and, deprived of skill and an evasion of the tasks of the Revolution. craft divisions, it turns naturally to mass unionism, to The power of the proletariat lies fundamentally an industrial unionism in accord with the integrated in its control of the industrial process. The mobiliza- industry of imperialistic Capitalism. tion of this control in action against the bourgeois state Under the impact of industrial concentration, and Capitalism means the end of Capitalism, the ini- the proletariat developed its own dynamic tactics — tial form of the revolutionary mass action that will mass action. conquer the power of the state. Mass action is the proletarian response to the facts of modern industry, and the forms it imposes Unionism and Mass Action. upon the proletarian class struggle. Mass action starts as the spontaneous activity of unorganized workers Revolutionary Socialism and the actual facts of massed in the basic industry; its initial form is the mass the class struggle make the realization of Socialism strike of the unorganized proletariat. The mass move- depend upon the industrial proletariat. The class ments of the proletariat developing out of this mass struggle of revolutionary Socialism mobilizes the in- response to the tyranny of concentrated industry an- dustrial proletariat against Capitalism — that prole- tagonized the dominant moderate Socialism, which tariat which is united and disciplined by the machine tried to compress and stultify these militant impulses process, and which actually controls the basic indus- within the limits of parliamentarism. try of the nation. In this instinctive mass action there was not sim- The coming to consciousness of this proletariat ply a response to the facts of industry, but the implicit produces a revolt against the older unionism, devel- means for action against the dominant parliamentar- oping the concepts of industrial unionism and mass ism. Mass action is industrial in its origin: but its de- action. velopment imposes upon it a political character, since The older unionism was implicit in the skill of the more general and conscious mass action becomes the individual craftsmen, who united in craft unions. the more it antagonizes the bourgeois state, becomes These unions organized primarily to protect the skill political mass action. of the skilled workers, which is in itself a form of prop- Another development of this tendency was Syn- erty. The trades unions developed into “job trusts,” dicalism. In its mass impulse Syndicalism was a direct 10 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] protest against the futility of the dominant Socialist proletariat, organized and unorganized; it acts equally parliamentarism. But Syndicalism was either uncon- against the bourgeois state and the conservative orga- scious of the theoretical basis of the new movement; nizations of the working class. The revolution starts or where there was an articulate theory, it was a de- with strikes of protest, developing into mass political rivative of Anarchism, making the proletarian revolu- strikes and then into revolutionary mass action for the tion an immediate and direct seizure of industry, in- conquest of the power of the state. Mass action be- stead of the conquest of the power of the state. Anar- comes political action in purpose while extra-parlia- cho-Syndicalism is a departure from Marxism. The mentary in form; it is equally a process of revolution theory of mass action and of industrial unionism, how- and the revolution itself in operation. ever, are in absolute accord with Marxism — revolu- The final objective of mass action is the con- tionary Socialism in action. quest of the power of the state, the annihilation of the Industrial unionism recognizes that the prole- bourgeois parliamentary state and the introduction of tariat cannot conquer power by means of the bour- the transition proletarian state, functioning as a revo- geois parliamentary state; it recognizes, moreover, that lutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. the proletariat cannot use this state to introduce So- cialism, but that it must organize a new “state” — the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. “state” of organized producers. Industrial unionism, accordingly, proposes to construct the forms of the The attitude toward the state divides the Anar- government of Communist Socialism — the govern- chist (and Anarcho-Syndicalist), the moderate Social- ment of the producers. The revolutionary proletariat ist, and the revolutionary Socialist. Eager to abolish cannot adapt the bourgeois organs of government to the state (which is the ultimate purpose of revolution- its own use: it must develop its own organs. The larger, ary Socialism), the Anarchist (and Anarcho-Syndical- more definite and general the conscious industrial ist) fails to realize that the state is necessary in the tran- unions, the easier becomes the transition to Social- sition period from Capitalism to Socialism. The mod- ism, since the revolutionary state of the proletariat must erate Socialist proposes to use the bourgeois state, with reorganize society on the basis of union control and its fraudulent democracy, its illusory theory of the management of industry. Industrial unionism, accord- “unity of all the classes,” its standing army, police, and ingly, is a necessary phase of revolutionary Socialist bureaucracy oppressing and baffling the masses. The agitation and action. revolutionary Socialist maintains that the bourgeois But industrial unionism alone cannot conquer parliamentary state must be completely destroyed, and the power of the state. Potentially, industrial union- proposes the organization of a new state, the dictator- ism may construct the forms of the new society; but ship of the proletariat. only potentially. Actually the forms of the new society The state is an organ of coercion. The bourgeois are constructed under the protection of a revolution- parliamentary state is the organ of the bourgeoisie for ary proletarian government; the industrial unions be- the coercion of the proletariat. The revolutionary pro- come simply the starting point of the Socialist recon- letariat must, accordingly, destroy this state. But the struction of society. Under the conditions of Capital- conquest of political power by the proletariat does not ism, it is impossible to organize the whole working immediately end Capitalism, or the power of the capi- class into industrial unions; the concept of organizing talists, or immediately socialize industry. It is there- the working class industrially before the conquest of fore necessary that the proletariat organize its own state power is as utopian as the moderate Socialist concep- for the coercion and suppression of the bourgeoisie. tion of the gradual conquest of the parliamentary state. Capitalism is bourgeois dictatorship. Parliamen- The proletarian revolution comes at the moment tary government is the expression of bourgeois su- of crisis in Capitalism, of a collapse of the old order. premacy, the form of authority of the capitalist over Under the impulse of the crisis, the proletariat acts for the worker. The bourgeois state is organized to coerce the conquest of power, by means of mass action. Mass the proletariat, to baffle the will of the masses. In form action concentrates and mobilizes the forces of the a democracy, the bourgeois parliamentary state, is in Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] 11 fact an autocracy, the dictatorship of capital over the of the bourgeoisie economically, the scope of these proletariat. measures being determined by industrial development Bourgeois democracy promotes this dictatorship and the maturity of the proletariat. These measures, at of capital, assisted by the pulpit, the army, and the first, include: police. Bourgeois democracy seeks to reconcile all the a) Workmen’s control of industry, to be exercised classes; realizing, however, simply the reconciliation by the industrial organizations of the workers, operat- of the proletariat to the supremacy of Capitalism. Bour- ing by means of the industrial vote. geois democracy is political in character, historically b) Expropriation and nationalization of the necessary, on the one hand, to break the power of feu- banks, as a necessary preliminary measure for the com- dalism, and, on the other, to maintain the proletariat plete expropriation of capital. in subjection. It is precisely this democracy that is now c) Expropriation and nationalization of the large the instrument of Imperialism, since the middle class, (trust) organizations of capital. Expropriation proceeds the traditional carrier of democracy, accepts and pro- without compensation, as “buying out” the capitalists motes Imperialism. is a repudiation of the tasks of the revolution. The proletarian revolution disrupts bourgeois d) Repudiation of all national debts and the democracy. It disrupts this democracy in order to end financial obligations of the old system. class divisions and class rule, to realize that industrial e) The nationalization of foreign trade. self-government of the workers which alone can as- f) Measures for the socialization of agriculture. sure peace and liberty to the peoples. Proletarian dictatorship is a recognition of the These measures centralize the basic means of necessity for a revolutionary state to coerce and sup- production in the proletarian state, nationalizing in- press the bourgeoisie; it is equally a recognition of the dustry; and their partial character ceases as reconstruc- fact that, in the Communist reconstruction of society, tion proceeds. Socialization of industry becomes ac- the proletariat as a class alone counts. The new society tual and complete only after the dictatorship of the organizes as a communistic federation of producers. proletariat has accomplished its task of suppressing the The proletariat alone counts in the revolution, and in bourgeoisie. the reconstruction of society on a Communist basis. The state of proletarian dictatorship is political The old machinery of the state cannot be used in character, since it represents a ruling class, the prole- by the revolutionary proletariat. It must be destroyed. tariat, which is now supreme; and it uses coercion The proletariat creates a new state, based directly upon against the old bourgeois class. But the task of this the industrially organized producers, upon the indus- dictatorship is to render itself unnecessary; and it be- trial unions or Soviets, or a combination of both. It is comes unnecessary the moment the full conditions of this state alone, functioning as a dictatorship of the Communist Socialism materialize. While the dictator- proletariat, that can realize Socialism. ship of the proletariat performs its negative task of The tasks of the dictatorship of the proletariat crushing the old order, it performs the positive task of are: constructing the new. Together with the government a) To completely expropriate the bourgeoisie of the proletarian dictatorship, there is developed a politically, and crush its powers of resistance; new “government,” which is no longer government in b) To expropriate the bourgeoisie economically, the old sense, since it concerns itself with the manage- and introduce the forms of Communist Socialism. ment of production and not with the government of persons. Out of workers’ control of industry, intro- Breaking the political power of the capitalists is duced by the proletarian dictatorship, there develops the most important task of the revolutionary dictator- the complete structure of Communist Socialism — ship of the proletariat, since upon this depends that industrial self-government of the communistically or- economic and social reconstruction of society. ganized producers. When this structure is completed, But this political expropriation proceeds simul- which implies the complete expropriation of the bour- taneously with an immediate, if partial, expropriation geoisie economically and politically, the dictatorship 12 Manifesto of the Left Wing National Conference [July 1919] of the proletariat ends, in its place coming the full and press down upon the world. The Communist Inter- free social and individual autonomy of the Commu- national issues its challenge to the conscious, virile el- nist order. ements of the proletariat, calling them to the final struggle against Capitalism on the basis of the revolu- The Communist International. tionary epoch of Imperialism. The acceptance of the Communist International means accepting the fun- The Communist International, issuing directly damentals of revolutionary Socialism as decisive in our out of the proletarian revolution in action and in pro- activity. cess of development, is the organ of the international The Communist International, moreover, issues revolutionary proletariat; just as the League of Nations its call to the subject peoples of the world, crushed is the organ of the joint aggression and resistance of under the murderous mastery of Imperialism. The re- the dominant Imperialism. volt of these colonial and subject peoples is a neces- The attempt to resurrect the Second Interna- sary phase of the world struggle against capitalist Im- tional, at Berne, was a ghastly failure. It rallied the perialism; their revolt must unite itself with the struggle counterrevolutionary forces of Europe, which were of the conscious proletariat in the imperialistic nations. actually struggling against the proletarian revolution. The Communist International, accordingly, offers an In this “International” are united all the elements trea- organization and a policy that may unify all the revo- sonable to Socialism, and the wavering “center” ele- lutionary forces of the world for the conquest of power, ments whose policy of miserable compromise is more and for Socialism. dangerous than open treason. It represents the old It is not a problem of immediate revolution. It is dominant moderate Socialism; it based affiliation on a problem of the immediate revolutionary struggle. acceptance of “labor” parliamentary action, admitting The revolutionary epoch of the final struggle against trades unions accepting “political action.” The old In- Capitalism may last for years and tens of years; but ternational abandoned the earlier conception of So- the Communist International offers a policy and pro- cialism as the politics of the Social Revolution — the gram immediate and ultimate in scope, that provides politics of the class struggle in its revolutionary impli- for the immediate class struggle against Capitalism, in cations — admitting directly reactionary organizations its revolutionary implications, and for the final act of of Laborism, such as the British Labour Party. the conquest of power. The Communist International, on the contrary, The old order is in decay. Civilization is in col- represents a Socialism in complete accord with the revo- lapse. The proletarian revolution and the Communist lutionary character of the class struggle. It unites all reconstruction of society — the struggle for these — the consciously revolutionary forces. It wages war is now indispensable. This is the message of the Com- equally against the dominant moderate Socialism and munist International to the workers of the world. Imperialism — each of which has demonstrated its The Communist International calls the prole- complete incompetence on the problems that now tariat of the world to the final struggle!

Edited by Tim Davenport. Published by 1000 Flowers Publishing, Corvallis, OR, 2006. • Non-commercial reproduction permitted.

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