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THE SCIENCE of REVOLUTION on Introduction THE SCIENCE OF REVOLUTION on introduction by lenny wolff RCP Publicotions, Chicogo Copyright O 1983 by RCP Publications Cover Design by RCP Publications Art Group Cover Photo by Morton ShaPiro Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wolff, Lenny. The science of revolution. 1. Revolutions and socialism. 2. Communism' L Title. HX55o.R48W64 1983 321.09 80-51229 ISBN 0-898s1-035-X ISBN 0-8s851-036-8 (Pbk.) First Printing: 1983 Printed in U.S.A. Published by: RCP Publications, P.O. Box 3486 Merchandise Mart Chicago, IL U.S.A. 60654 This booh was made possible by the aid and efforts of the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist Party, U SA. L. Wolff Toble of Contents Introduction.... 11 1. PHILOSOPHY. 19 Dialectics 24 Marxist Materialism 60 2. POLITICALECONOMY., ..,...82 CommoditiesandCapital .... 94 TheAccumulationof Capital . ' ' '. ' '106 3. IMPERIALISM ..,,I27 BasicFeaturesof Imperialism .. '. ' '.130 The Fundamental Contradiction Under Imperialism ..'160 4. THESTATE.... ,..T76 Bourgeois Democracy and Capitalist Dictatorship.... .....182 The Dictatorship of the Proletariat . .197 5. THEPARTY... .,,.228 PoliticalRoleof theVanguard ......231 OrganizationalPrinciples... .......245 Below are abbreviations used for works commonly cited in the text. Anti-Dtihring- Anti-Dilhing, by Frederick Engels, FLP, Peking, t976. Basic Principles - Basic Principles for the Unity of Marxist' l,eninists and for the Line of the International Communist Move- ment. A Draft Position Paper for Discussion Prepared by Leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Chile and of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. January 1, 1981. Capital - Capital,3 Volumes, by Karl Marx, edited by Frederick Engels, International Publishers, New York, 1967 (pagination is identical to the hardcover edition, Foreign Languages Pub- lishing House, Moscow, 19611 Conqtrer the World? Conquer the World? The International Proletariat Must andWill,by Bob Avakian, Revolution, No. 50, Dec. 1981, RCP Publications, Chicago. Feuerbach - Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, by Frederick Engels, FLP, Peking, 1976. FLP - Foreign Languages Press, Peking. Immortal - Mao Tsetung's Immortal Contributions, by Bob Avakian, RCP Publications, Chicago, 1979. Imperialism - Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism, by V.I. Lenin, FLP, Peking, L973. LCW - Collected Worhs,45 Volumes, by V.I. Lenin, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965. Manifesto - Manifesto of the Communist Party, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, FLP, Peking, 1972. Materialism - Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, by V.I. Lenin, FLP, Peking, 1972. MEM - Marx Engels Marxism, by V.L Lenin, FLP, Peking, 1978. MESW - Selected Works,3 Volumes, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1970. MSR - Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tsetung, FLP, Peking, 1971. MSW - Selected Worhs, 4 Volumes, by Mao Tsetung, FLP, Peking, 1965. New Programme and New Constitution - New Programme and New Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, RCP Publications, Chicago, 1981. Origin - The Oigin of the Family, Private Property and the Sfate, by Frederick Engels, FLP, Peking, 1978. Renegade - The holetarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautshy, by V.I. Lenin, FLP, Peking, 1975. RW - Revolutionary Worher, newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, published weekly by RCP Publica- tions, Chicago. WITBD? - 'Nhat Is To Be Done?, by V.l. Lenin, FLP, Peking , 1975. The arrest of Karl Marx in Brussels, Belgium during the revolutionary upris' ings which swept Europe in 1848. INTRODUCTION "Oppression breeds resistance": this is a basic law of social development. Those who yearn for and dream of sornething higher, better, freer - those who want to fight for something more than the dog-eat-dog (and worse) world of today - know, or at least sense, that the key to "something better" Iies precis'ely in the resistance of the masses. And while the intensity of that resistance ebbs and flows, there do occur crucial junctures at which, in the words of Marx, "all society is sprung into the air," and dreams can be realized in the clear light of day. But resistance alone is not enough - not enough, at least, to carry through the truly fundamental change that is called for by the conditions of present-day society. For that to happen people must be armed with a scientific understanding of society, in- cluding a rigorous and critical grasp of the basic role of the resistance of the masses and the process of revolution itself. While this sort of understanding is hardly a prerequisite for mass resistance, the difference it can and does make lies in just what that resistance will accomplish: whether the slave chains will merely be rattled, or really shattered; whether the fortress of the old order will only be shaken, or new ground seized for the cause of emancipation; whether people will fight blindly (even if 11 12 The Science of Revolution fiercely, for a while), or with head up and eyes fixed on the fur- thest horizon, prepared lo win. How is science key to that? And is there really such a thing as a "science" of revolution anyway? Or to take it from another angle, what is meant by saying that Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought is scientific - and what is the significance of saying so? To begin with, the method forged by Marxism - materialist dialectics - is the most systematic concentration of the scientific method ever achieved, the most accurate and critical tool of in- quiry into the world (indeed, the universe) and how it works. Marxism is materialist: it focuses on the material world for the ultimate causes and directions of every event and phenomenon in nature or society. And it is dialectical in that it comprehends all phenomena in their changingness and development and in their interaction with other phenomena, and because it studies the struggle of opposites within a thing or process as the underly- ing basis of its motion and change. Based on this method, Marxism penetrates through the mystification of social life promoted by the bourgeoisie (and reinforced by bourgeois social relations) to reveal the real dynamics of social development and the laws governing it. Human beings, after all, are a form of matter; their interaction with their environment and with each other is a natural process, albeit a highly complex one, with its own particularities and laws. These laws, as we shall see later, are not ironclad or im- mutable - but they are laws nonetheless, and must be mastered in order to consciously change human society. Some have attempted to deny the scientific character of Marxism because of the controversy surrounding it; but con- troversy alone cannot rule a theory unscientific. Darwin's theory of evolution, after all, touched off something of a cataclysm in the scientific community, as did Einstein's theory of relativity. Scientists, as well as much of the rest of society, divided into contending camps over these theories; in both cases the struggle and eventual triumph of the proponents of the radical new theories had profound social ramifications. Marx was correct to regard science as an "historically dynamic, revolutionary force" (Engels' "Speech At The Graveside of Karl Marx"), and if, of all the overarching scientific theories ever Introduction 13 developed, Marx's has most deeply divided sdciety - and most affected it - that alone cannot make it unscientific' That a scien- tific th he tenderest nerve of bourgeois society relations and its tendency toward proleti ses the most unprecedented and far-reaching controversy is hardly surprising! Marxism is a living science, and as such has found that many of its ideas once considered to be basic truths, or even fun- damental theses, have been proven by history to be either mistaken in certain aspects, or basically wrong' Marx and Engels, for example, believed that proletarian revolution would occur first in the most advanced countries, and - if the revolu- tion were to win - in several countries simultaneously' But with the development of imperialism at the turn of the century, the contradictions in the advanced countries were temporarily ameliorated; proletarian revolution broke out first in the more backward (though imperialist) country of Russia, and (some 30 years later) in China (and other oppressed nations) which as yet had not even fully consolidated capitalism. Further, the Soviet proletariat carried through the revolution and consolidated the iirst socialist state despite the fact that there were no other suc- cessful revolutionary attempts at the time. In this case the par- ticular thesis of Marx and Engels turned out wrong; but the Marxist method enabled Lenin to analyze how and why ccindi- tions had changed, what new factors accounted for this unfore- seen development and - most important - what it meant for present and future practical action. Such a process of development is quite consistent with gen- uine scientific character. To return to the example of Darwin, to- day some scientists - in light of new phenomena and data, and continuing struggle over Darwin's (and others') interpretations and theoretical framework - believe that certain of Darwin's points, the foundation and overall framework developed by Darwin' Likewise, the science of revolution has not been, and cannot remain, unchanged, unmodified, unchallenged - that is to say, it 14 The Science of Revolution cannot be stagnant and still be scientific. New challenges force its continual development and growth, the sharpening of its critical edge, the irreverent weeding out of what's been proven wrong (andior become stale) and the further development of its correct kernel. But all this has to proceed and build off of the foundation Iaid by Marx and Engels, and deepened since them. This book is intended as an introduction to this foundation, a bridge and a guide to the basic principles and body of Marxist theory. We are entering a time in which training in these prin- ciples is urgently required - a period when the imperialist system is being wracked by a severe crisis, one which may offer un- precedented opportunities and will surely pose tremendous chal- lenges.
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