First Published: The Call, Vol. 6, No. 15, April 18, 1977.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
What is the real nature of imperialism? With help from the liberal politicians, trade union misleaders and the revisionists and opportunists of all stripes, it is often hidden behind pretty words like “democracy” and “freedom.”
The Draft Program of the Communist Party (M-L) is a scientific Marxist-Leninist document precisely because it accurately exposes imperialism and social-imperialism for what they are and points the direction forward in destroying this system of oppression.
Lenin pointed out: “Imperialism is the epoch of finance capital and of monopolies, which introduce everywhere the striving for domination, not freedom. The of these tendencies is reaction all along the line ... ” (Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism).
The new Draft Program of our Party takes this Leninist stand in examining the history and role of imperialism today and U.S. imperialism in particular. Although U.S. imperialism is, as the Program points out, “a declining superpower in heightened stagnation and decay” and has suffered major setbacks at the hands of the third world peoples, it has in no way changed its reactionary character.
The feature of “reaction all along the line” can be seen in viewing U. S. history in its development from its early progressive, pre-monopoly stage into its highest stage, monopoly capitalism. The Program outlines the course of this history, including the oppression of the Afro-American people as a nation; the robbery of Mexican and Indian lands; the bloody conquest of the Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba and Puerto Rico, to name a few; the forced migration of millions of workers from their homelands; the long history of bloody world wars and scores of local wars; and the unrelenting series of economic and political crises.
The meaning of this history has been covered up, not only by the imperialists themselves in their school textbooks and cultural works, but by the opportunist and revisionist misleaders of the working class as well.
The program of the revisionist Communist Party USA, for example, depicts the history of class struggle under imperialism as a “struggle for detente.” Like their ideological predecessor, the opportunist Kautsky, the modern revisionists promote the theory of “ultra-imperialism,” which states that the superpowers can “peacefully” divide the world up among themselves. To them, the various wars, such as the war in Vietnam, were the product of “mistakes” made by reactionary leaders rather than the product of the laws of imperialism.
All the ideologues of imperialism work to cover up the truth that wars, national oppression, exploitation and crisis of all types are inherent features of imperialism. While certain reforms can be won through militant class struggle of the masses, no amount of concessions by the imperialists can change the reactionary nature of the system.
The revisionists propose the strategy of an “anti-monopoly coalition” and a series of “radical reforms,” which they claim can make imperialism more peaceful and democratic.
Our program, on the other hand, shows that “imperialism is the last stage of capitalist development and is the eve of proletarian revolution.” This Marxist-Leninist stand flies in the face of the reformists and revisionists. It points to the strategic role of the proletariat as the leader of the anti-imperialist struggle and to the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism as the only possible resolution of the struggle against imperialism.
Our program attacks the revisionist view of U.S. history, which blurs over the differences between the bourgeois revolution and the proletarian revolution. The CPUSA’s “Bicentennial Celebration”; their hero-worship of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln and other bourgeois democrats; and their all-round social-patriotism are not only used to give them legitimacy in the eyes of the ruling class, but also to misdirect the working-class movement from its strategic tasks.
The revisionists promote such reformist schemes as “nationalization” and other forms of state-monopoly similar to those in the Soviet Union, which leave the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie intact. They even go so far as to claim that the dictatorship of the proletariat is an “outdated concept” and have stricken it from their publications.
But, as the Draft Program points out: “The bourgeois-democratic revolution ended more than 100 years ago. There can be no ’democratic’ or two-stage revolution in this country, but rather the socialist revolution of the working class in one stage.”
Other opportunists mistake U.S. imperialism’s weakened position in the world as a sign that it has changed its character. This was the thinking of the revisionist swindler Martin Nicolaus, who nestled in our ranks for some time and promoted an alliance with U.S. imperialism against the Soviet social-imperialists.
These sentiments are now echoed by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). This band of chauvinists and reformists claim that: “The U.S., an older imperialist power, has the advantage of widespread developed contacts as well as a heftier economic clout to make use of and therefore can use more ’peaceful’ methods in expanding its tentacles of exploitation. The U.S. relies on military power more as a final resort .... ” (Revolution, April, p. (3).
But reactionary violence is an inherent feature of imperialism. Without the power of the police, the military and its nuclear arsenal, neither U.S. imperialism nor any other imperialist power can last. RCP and Nicolaus have bought the lies of imperialism about a system that rules by its “craftiness” and by “democratic” means, just as Kautsky bought them 60 years ago.
No matter what position U.S. imperialism holds in the world in relation to the other imperialist powers, it will remain the enemy and target of the U.S. working class in its revolutionary struggle.
As for social-imperialism, it, too, cannot cover up its imperialist essence simply by using the name “socialist.” Social-imperialism is also “reaction down the line.” It is in fact more dangerous to the world’s peoples because its aggression and expansion are carried out under this disguise. It is no wonder then that the revisionists and opportunists combine their overall enthusiasm for imperialism with a special and particular defense of the Soviet Union.
It is for this reason that our program points but that it is necessary to combine the struggle against imperialism with the struggle against revisionism arid opportunism. Without one, the other falls flat. Our Draft Program is a powerful weapon against imperialism in the hands of the working class. It dispels all myths about the working class “benefiting” from imperialism.
The program boldly proclaims: “The international working class has nothing to lose but its chains and a world to win. Through its own emancipation, it will smash the chains of imperialism which bind the oppressed people of the whole world. The victory of the proletariat is inevitable.”