Because our Unity Statement is the basis for membership in the United Communists of Europe, we provide a short summary here that highlights the main points of unity of our organisation. This document is meant to help those who are interested clearly identify the primary political positions of the United Communists of Europe.
Necessity of a socialist revolution. The contradictions of capitalism have made all attempts to reform capitalist society impossible. Instead of participating in campaigns–whether electoral or social–to improve existing conditions, our organisation unites revolutionaries and prepares the subjective forces for socialist revolution. If workers manage to win higher wages through strike actions, we will not oppose them. Rather, we will point out that such victories do nothing to abolish the contradiction between capital and labour, which can only be overcome through a socialist revolution. Workers need to make a socialist revolution if they are really going to transform society and put an end to capitalism. Thus, our organisation is revolutionary and opposes reformism.
There is no parliamentary or peaceful road to socialist revolution. A socialist revolution will never occur through bourgeois parliaments, which are instruments of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. While it is permissible to use elections to spread communist propaganda in certain instances, in most cases electoral participation just results in opportunism and parliamentary illusions. Our organisation does not waste its time with elections or any of the fetishisms of liberal bourgeois democracy. A socialist revolution is a radical political act that the bourgeoisie will never allow and cannot be peaceful. History has shown that revolutionaries can use democratic rights to their advantage, but actual change will require a revolution led by a disciplined communist party. Without such an organisation, large social movements and even general strikes may occur, but they will not succeed in going beyond a certain stage.
The working class as the leading force of socialist revolution. The working class is the only social force that is capable of leading a revolutionary movement for socialist revolution. This is not because there is anything special about people who work, but because of the specific social position of the worker, which is to be deprived of the means of production and the necessity to sell their labour-power, while producing the surplus-value that enables capitalists to accumulate capital. The social position of the working class is such that they have the capacity to put an end to capitalism by seizing state-power, establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat, and fighting for international socialist revolution. While workers have many things that can divide them–race, nation, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.--they can unite internationally on the basis of class. Through class unity, the proletariat develops class consciousness and can act as a historical subject and transform society. Thus, the working class–not the petty-bourgeoisie, not students, not left-wing nationalists–is the only social force capable of making a socialist revolution and ending capitalism everywhere.
Socialist revolution involves the passage of state-power from the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. A socialist revolution always involves the seizure of state-power by the working class. When the working class takes state-power, it deprives the bourgeoisie of all political power and establishes a proletarian dictatorship. It rules through workers councils, which are organised locally, regionally, and nationally in order to enable workers to take socialist measures and establish a planned socialist economy. Such a socialist state is necessary, as the bourgeoisie will fight tooth and nail to gain back its power. Only the dictatorship of the proletariat can crush the resistance of the bourgeoisie and retain proletarian power. We do not view the state as a neutral ground in which different parties compete for influence. Rather, the state is always the dictatorship of a single class and is composed of police, military and the judiciary. Thus, whereas we currently live under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, we wish to make a socialist revolution and create the dictatorship of the proletariat. In such a state, the proletariat uses the police and military to protect its gains, while creating a new system of socialist legislation to create the institutions of the socialist state.
A socialist revolution requires a revolutionary communist party. A socialist revolution is a radical political act that requires a highly centralised, disciplined revolutionary party that can provide revolutionary leadership to the working class. Through the Party, the working class ceases to be a mere economic statistic and becomes a revolutionary subject to transform History. Such a party has very strict membership rules, admitting only those who have acquired a knowledge of Marxism, experience within the class struggle, and do not suffer from any form of opportunism. Such a party will create its own independent media organs to communicate with the working class, and operate through front organisations, trade unions and mass parties. While it will utilize whatever means enable it to spread its propaganda, a revolutionary communist party will use primarily revolutionary means to make a socialist revolution. As history has shown, without such a party, large social movements will not be capable of going beyond reforms to the capitalist system. Our organisation wishes to be the nucleus of such a revolutionary communist party in Europe, which exists nowhere on the continent. At the moment, we are only in the first stage, which involves uniting revolutionaries into a single organisation by promoting our politics at events, rallies, and Marxist reading groups. Only at a later stage will it be possible to unite communist collectives and organise them into communist parties. We wish to organise communist parties across Europe in order to give the working people of Europe the ability to fight for socialist revolution in their country and create a United Socialist Federation of Europe. We focus on the European continent, as that is where we are based, not for any other particular reason. Although it is unlikely a revolution will begin within Europe, revolutionaries are integral to organising solidarity with revolutionary movements in the global South. When a revolutionary wave that began in the South spreads to the global North, revolutionaries in the imperialist centres will be integral to organising the proletariat to become a revolutionary subject and overthrow the imperialist bourgeoisies.
Democratic centralism is our organisational method. The United Communists discusses and debates its programmatic positions and perspectives. Comrades contribute to discussion through our reading groups, seminars, and through articles. We also try to integrate the feedback from workers into our programme, which we get through discussions at strikes, demonstrations, and other events. All programmatic documents are first discussed. Once comrades have given their opinion and the document has been agreed, we publish it and all comrades try to defend the perspectives contained in the document. We defend these perspectives in discussions with others, at conferences, at demonstrations, on our social media, and in personal conversations with our friends. When the political line is centralised, the entire organisation can put its politics into practice and evaluate whether it was correct. The United Communists of Europe thinks that democratic centralism is integral to building a revolutionary communist party, without which it will degenerate into a debate club characterised by factionalism. When democratic centralism is correctly applied, it allows a true spirit of comradeship, trust, and collectivism to emerge, creating the foundation of revolutionary unity. Without it, factionalism destroys an organisation, leading to splits, backstabbing, gossiping, bureaucratic deformation, and other harmful practices. Factions are generally an indication that democratic centralism has been incorrectly applied, and a sign that something is horribly wrong in the organisation. We avoid factionalism through a correct application of democratic centralism, which enables all comrades to participate and involve workers in the production of our programme, while centralising our programme in practice and offering central leadership to all the comrades.
We operate through mass organisations, such as trade unions, mass parties, and civil rights organisations. The trade union has historically been linked to the first moments of independent worker organisation. By organising themselves on the basis of trade, occupation and the industrial sector, workers have discovered their collective abilities in their fight against the bourgeoisie. With the growth of the trade union movement, a large union bureaucracy has grown within the unions, which is an expression of bourgeois ideology within the workers movement. Instead of militant class struggle, the union leaders call for achievable reforms such as higher wages, better terms and conditions, and workplace democracy. While we do not oppose these things when workers win them through struggle, the union bureaucrats oppose all talk of revolutionary politics and prefer to collaborate with the bosses. Our comrades work within the unions to fight against the union bureaucrats in order to place them on a class struggle basis. Instead of fighting for reforms, we agitate workers directly against the bourgeoisie and call for the organisation of militant rank-and-file bodies. We prefer to use not just strikes, but factory occupations defended by armed workers and militant class action in order to directly confront capital. Through such struggles, we call for the organisation of workers councils, which is the foundation of workers power and the elementary unit of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Within the unions, but also mass parties and civil rights organisations, the United Communists of Europe raise the class struggle and the necessity to fight the bourgeoisie rather than collaborate with the bosses, as the bourgeois leaders prefer.
A socialist revolution begins in one country, but can only succeed if it is international and occurs in multiple countries. The working class must always deal with the bourgeoisie within its national borders, making the class struggle national in form, but international in content. After a socialist revolution, it uses the power of the proletarian state to promote revolutionary movements abroad. Although the dictatorship of the proletariat can succeed for an extended period in a single country, it will be very difficult to proceed in the face of hostile imperialist encirclement. With aggressive capitalist countries at its borders, the proletarian state will need to promote revolution through military, political and ideological support. The experience of twentieth century socialist states–the USSR, the GDR, etc.--shows that a workers state will progressively degenerate and eventually be overthrown if revolutions do not occur beyond its borders.
Our final goal is communism, which is a classless, stateless, moneyless society. While our primary activity is organising for socialist revolution, our final goal is communism. There are three stages through which society must pass before it can proceed to communism. First, the working class must conquer state-power in multiple countries through socialist revolution, which is not a peaceful act but a revolutionary one that the bourgeoisie will always try to repress with the state. Second, a large socialist federation must emerge, which creates an integrated socialist bloc that can enable further revolutionary struggle. Third, capitalism must be defeated internationally, which results in developed socialism and results in the disappearance of the commodity-form and all its contradictions. Only when the productive forces have been fully developed and classes have been destroyed internationally, will communism emerge as an international system. A major result of communism is that the state withers away, leaving only its administrative remnants. While we support existing transitional socialist countries such as Cuba, this is only for strategic purposes and not as a model for the future society we want. We wish to learn from former socialist countries like the USSR, but want to go beyond them so that we can reach communism.
We offer critical support to existing transitional socialist states, criticising all forms of capitalist restoration and bureaucratic practices, and unite with revolutionaries who want to further advance the transition to socialism. The last remaining transitional socialist states are Cuba, North Korea, Laos, and Vietnam. They are transitional in character, as they are non-capitalist but have only made small steps towards socialism. As a social formation, they contain elements of both the capitalist and socialist mode production, which are permanently in conflict with each other and struggle for dominance over the social formation. After the end of socialism in the USSR, these countries suffered severe shortages and were forced to institute market reforms in order to survive. In these countries, the petty-bourgeoisie plays a very prominent role, gaining particularly influential positions in the socialist state. This is especially true in North Korea, which has a massive petty-bourgeoisie bureaucracy and Juche, a left-wing nationalist ideology. North Korea experienced a severe famine in the 90s, and created a state in which the military played a very prominent role. In Cuba, the Communist Party created workers parliaments and mobilised the proletariat to ensure the survival of the Cuban transitional socialist state. Vietnam established capitalist reforms in the 90s, although on a scale smaller than in China and retained socialist planning institutions. We defend what is progressive in these countries–nationalised state-property, socialist planning, and anti-imperialism–while supporting leftists who wish to restore revolutionary Marxism and put their country back on the socialist road. For us, this means uniting with the left-wing of the Communist Party, militant worker activists in the trade unions, and communist oppositional figures (whether Maoist or Trotskyist). While these countries are not models of socialism, they remain a progressive force in the world and their defeat would harm the international working class. We recognise that the conditions of these countries are an effect of the post-Soviet situation and hostile encirclement by imperialist countries. Major revolutionary uprisings in the region will ensure that Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea return to the socialist road. Until imperialism is entirely defeated in Asia and Latin America, these countries will be limited and only be capable of carrying out partial socialist measures.
The Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries were transitional socialist states until 1991. After the October Revolution of 1917, the working people of Russia and its peripheries created the Soviet Union, the first ever transitional socialist state. Although Stalinism significantly weakened the USSR in the thirties, neither Stalin nor his successors–Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov–managed to destroy the socialist economic system of the Soviet Union. We recognise that the USSR and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe were transitional social formations. Although the state was socialist, these transitional social formations were marked by multiple modes of production–capitalist, socialist, small-commodity production. There was a perpetual conflict between the capitalist and socialist mode of production, preventing either of them from being fully dominant. The isolation of these countries and their hostile encirclement by imperialist nations resulted in the growth of a large, petty-bourgeois bureaucracy. While these countries drastically improved the lives of working people, providing free housing, good employment, and a high quality of life, workers had very little actual power in them. After the ascension of Stalinism in the thirties, the instruments of workers power–the workers council and inner-party democracy–were gradually replaced with bureaucratic institutions dominated by the petty-bourgeoisie. Although there were some attempts to restore workers' power, such as during the Cultural Revolution in China, hostile imperialist encirclement prevented these countries from transitioning to socialism. Eventually, they were overthrown by petty-bourgeois and capitalist forces, resulting in the restoration of capitalism in all the former Soviet states and Eastern Europe. Our organisation fully defends the legacy of the USSR and other transitional socialist countries of Eastern Europe, as they contain the elementary forms of socialist planning and have many important lessons for revolutionaries. We do not want to repeat the experience of these countries, as our primary goal is not socialism but communism.
China is a capitalist country, although it remains semi-peripheral within the global capitalist system. During the Chinese Revolution, the working people of China made huge steps forward and radically transformed Chinese society. From 1949, the Communist Party of China led the transitional socialist state of the People's Republic of China, which involved the nationalisation of all land, the organisation of People's Committees, and socialist planning. A unique feature of the Chinese Revolution was that it enabled China to delink from imperialism and carve its own independent path of development. In the 1960's, China broke from the Soviet Union and the bloc of countries aligned with it. Although the Sino-Soviet Split alienated socialist China from the international communist movement, it enabled it to experiment with revolutionary democracy during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Despite its highly sectarian character, the Cultural Revolution did result in collectivised agriculture, the restoration of workers power in the factories, and a highly politicised population. In 1976, Mao Zedong died and a rightist group around Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping took command of the Communist Party of China. During the 80s, they undid the collective farms and restored private farming, while in the 90s, they privatised many state-owned companies. In the 2000s, billionaires were admitted to the Communist Party of China, which had now adopted the theory of a socialist market economy that imagines capitalism can be used to build socialism. Under Xi Jinping's leadership, the CPC has renationalised many companies, increased centralisation, and strengthened the state sector, which is a positive development. Despite this, the capitalist mode of production is fully dominant in China, which is gradually eroding the last remnants of socialism and taking China to the full restoration of capitalism. We oppose China's capitalist path, which is summarised in the theory of 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics', and unite with revolutionaries in China who want to put China back on its socialist path. This includes leftists in the Communist Party of China, dissidents–Trotskyists, Maoists, independent Marxists–militant trade unionists and progressive social activists. We oppose all attempts by imperialism to take advantage of the contradictions of Chinese capitalism and plant a pro-Western regime in China. While we are critical of the current leadership of the Communist Party of China, we oppose anti-China propaganda and leave it up to the Chinese working class to deal with pro-capitalist leaders of Communist party of China. They have an epic history to take inspiration from–the May Fourth Movement, the Long March, and the Cultural Revolution–which is full of lessons for how to put China back on its correct revolutionary socialist path.
The principal contradiction today is between the imperialist bourgeoisie and the working class of the periphery. The majority of surplus-value is produced by working people in the peripheral nations of the global South. In countries such as India, Bangladesh, Mexico, and Sri-Lanka, workers produce the majority of the world's surplus-value, which is appropriated by oligopolies through unequal exchange. This has resulted in a massive transfer of value from the global South to the bourgeoisies of the global North. The United Communists of Europe thinks that the workers of the peripheral nations are the vanguard of the international socialist revolution. We think it is unlikely that socialist revolution will begin in the imperialist centres, although it is not impossible. Rather, a socialist revolution is much more likely to break out in peripheral nations where capitalist exploitation and imperialist domination is greatest. In the periphery, workers who face brutal imperialist exploitation are often more open to revolutionary politics, as evidenced by revolutionary movements in India and Nepal. Whatever their limitations, revolutionary movements in the global South have the capacity to weaken imperialism and thereby strengthen the international working class. Unlike Maoists, who tend to only focus on the South, we think that the continued success of a socialist revolution in the peripheries depends on a revolution in the imperialist centres–the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Thus, our organisation calls for the unity of workers in the imperialist centre with the exploited workers and peasants in the periphery. We call for the strategic alliance of the international working class with the oppressed nations as part of a united front against imperialism. Our internationalism seeks to unite workers across the value chain rather than narrowly focusing on a particular nation-state. When workers in the North and South unite, they become a mighty force that can take down the entire capitalist system and create an international communist world.
Every movement that weakens imperialism, strengthens the international proletariat. The United Communists of Europe is an anti-imperialist organisation, although our anti-imperialism is critical. We do not support a country or organisation just because it is anti-imperialist–the Iranian regime, Hezbollah or the Taliban to give a few examples. These are political organisations of the national bourgeoisie, which are extremely reactionary despite claiming to be 'anti-imperialist'. Using misogyny, extreme nationalism, and anti-communism, they promote the interests of their national bourgeoisie to independently develop free from imperialism. Our anti-imperialism is critical, meaning that we only unite with anti-imperialist movements that have the capacity to strengthen the proletariat and enable revolutionary internationalism. In some cases, we will unite with anti-imperialist movements led by the petty-bourgeoisie, offering them critical support while calling for the working class to take up leadership of them. For example, we support an independent binational Palestinian state, a movement currently led by non-proletarian forces. In doing so, we oppose Hamas, which we view as a reactionary Islamist organisation representing a section of the Palestinian national bourgeoisie. We criticise the bourgeois leaders of the PLO, who prefer diplomatic negotiations with bourgeois Arab regimes and capitalist countries. Our approach to Palestine is to call for the unity of Palestinian and Jewish workers, as well as the unity of all working people in the region, as the key to the fight for a socialist federation of the Middle East. We think an independent binational Palestinian state is the first stage in the long struggle for socialism in the region.
Revolutionary Marxism is our ideology. The United Communists of Europe is not Trotskyist, Maoist, left-communist, or Marxist-Leninist. Rather, we take the best experiences of Trotskyism, Maoism, Left-Communism and Marxism-Leninism in order to integrate them into a revolutionary Marxism for the twenty-first century. The founders of Marxism are Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. We are thus both Marxists and Leninists, though we prefer to avoid the term Marxism-Leninism due to its association with Stalinism. Our approach enables us to build on the great teachers of Marxism while learning from those who have attempted to put their ideas into practice: Leon Trotsky and Mao Zedong. Unlike Trotskyists and Maoists, we do not have a specific adherence to any of these figures. In some cases, Trotsky is more helpful than Mao, while in others, Mao might be more suited to our purposes. Our group builds on the work of both Trotsky and Mao, developing a revolutionary Marxism that integrates their best experiences. Additionally, we also have learned a lot from Nicos Poulantzas, Amadeo Bordiga, Albert Szymanski, Charles Bettelheim, John Maclean, and socialist feminists such as Angela Davis. Our organisation actively engages with debates within Marxist theory, enabling us to be a vibrant organisation that learns from the best Marxism has to offer.
We support the worldwide fight against racism, misogyny, anti-trans bigotry, and all forms of oppression. Racism is a tool to divide the working class, putting one section of the workers against another. In addition to being morally reprehensible, racism significantly weakens the working class' ability to fight against the bourgeoisie. Our organisation unites with movements against racism, such as the Black Liberation Movement in the United States, which is an integral aspect of every revolutionary movement. Misogyny and sexism are equally harmful tactics of capital to attack the working class. Our organisation supports the Women's Liberation Movement, and socialist campaigns to industrialise housework and free women from the bondage of patriarchal slavery. While we think the liberation of women is dependent on the liberation of the working class, we support independent initiatives of women to organise themselves against the capitalist system. Transphobia and anti-trans policies are a current tactic that capital uses in its war on the working class. Our organisation calls on non-trans workers to unite with trans workers, and sees the liberation of trans people as bound up with the fight for socialist revolution. In a socialist society, it becomes possible to drastically improve the lives of trans people by creating easy access to whatever is needed to live as one's preferred gender. We reject all bourgeois attempts to transform anti-racism, feminism, and trans activism into a reformist campaign centred around one's identity. Instead, we support movements against racism, womens and trans liberation, while calling on them to unite with the working class and fight for socialist revolution as the key to ending all forms of oppression.
Membership: If you find yourself agreeing with the perspectives contained in this document, then the United Communists of Europe might be the right group for you. Those who are currently involved in socialist mass parties or social movements are more than welcome to join. Joining our group is a process that involves participating in theoretical discussions, promoting our perspectives within mass organisations and trade unions, and taking part in actions together. A new member will have the opportunity to read texts related to each point in the Unity Statement, learn perspectives opposed to our own, and have many discussions. This way, a prospective candidate can decide whether the United Communists of Europe is the right organisation for them. Once a new member has been admitted to our group, they will have full voting rights and the ability to influence all matters related to the development of our organisation.
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