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Originally posted at:
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The Communist Party: A Work in Progress
in a Changing World
By Sam Webb
Editor's note: This is an excerpted version of a thinking about, and reshaping the world.
speech delivered to the Chautauqua Conference, Such an approach is consistent with and an
New York, July 21, 2009. imperative of Marxism. Otherwise, Marxism loses
its capacity to assist people in their desire to re-
N o organization or institution can long exist imagine and remake the world – not in some sort of
in a condition of stasis; organizations in utopian way, but rather in a way that meets the
general and political parties and social
movements in particular have to adjust to new
conditions.
expanding requirements of a good life at the
beginning of the 21st century.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, who
And the reason is simple: change is together developed an analytical structure and
constant and organizations and institutions must, if methodology that enabled the working class to
they want to remain relevant, change in the face of comprehend and change the world, never claimed
changing conditions. the “last word” on any subject; they never
Since the beginning of this decade, the shoehorned facts to fit a preconceived theory; they
Communist Party has been reconfiguring its theory, never allowed abstract theoretical constructions by
politics, structures of organization and, not least, themselves to determine political policies or action.
finances to the turbulent times in which we live. Near the end of his life, Engels, in an effort
We did so because we had no other choice. to counter a dogmatic interpretation of historical
Necessity was the mother of invention. materialism that was fashionable in the socialist
To be sure, not everything turned out as we movement of that time, wrote: “Our conception of
hoped and many things still have to be attended to. history is above all a guide to study … All history
On the whole, however, we challenged must be studied afresh.”
outdated notions and practices, adjusted our A decade or so later, Vladimir Lenin, the
policies and style of work to new conditions, and leader of the Russian revolution asserted, “A
gained experience. Marxist must take cognizance of real life, of the
Had we stood still, life would have left us in true facts of reality, and not cling to a theory of
the rear view mirror. A glance at history, after all, yesterday, which, like all theories, at best only
reveals that the political landscape is littered with outlines the main and the general, only comes near
political and social formations that didn’t adapt to to embracing life in all its complexity.”
new realities. In other words, Marxism, if properly
But to our credit we chose change. We understood and practiced, has no affinity for
eagerly searched for new angles of looking at, lifeless schemes that squeeze contingency,
contradictions, and novelty out of the process of structured world relations for nearly a half century,
social change. The repetition of timeless and China was emerging as the main rival to the global
abstract formulas, which the Communist dominance of US capitalism. It has been joined in
movement has been guilty of at times, is recent years by India, Brazil and Russia. And East
inconsistent with Marxism’s spirit and letter. and South Asia has been the most dynamic region
Only when Marxism takes into account of capital accumulation over the past decade or so.
concrete realities, absorbs new experience, and is I would further add that other regional
open-ended to new insights by Marxists and non- groupings, nations, international bodies, and
Marxist alike does its analytical and political power hundreds of millions of people are resisting US
reveal its full potential. The truth is concrete. tutelage too.
I belabor this point because it is this method When combined with the implosion of Wall
of inquiry that we are employing to the best of our Street and the Iraq disaster, it signals a terminal
ability to today’s world. crisis of US capitalism’s dominance of the world
system of states. Or to say it differently, a unipolar
New realities world is giving way to a multipolar world, which
T
presents both opportunities and dangers to the new
he impulse to look at the world afresh administration and humanity.
springs from the inescapable new realities In fact, an urgent question for the American
of the closing decades of the 20th and the people is the following: Will US capitalism adapt
first decade of this century that are reframing peacefully to new world realities or will it employ
politics, economics, culture and modes of thinking. massive force to maintain its standing? Bush tried
What were some of these realities? force, but abjectly failed.
To begin, the ascendancy of the extreme On the other hand, the new administration
right to political dominance signaled by the is going in a different direction. How far it will go
election of Ronald Reagan and continuing through is another question that can’t be answered yet.
the Bush years was a sobering and painful reality Suffice it to say that the redefinition of the
for anyone who favored peace, equality, fairness US role in the world is among the most compelling
and democracy. issues in the first part of the 21st century, ranking
The aim of this right wing grouping, of in importance to combating global warming.
which the Bush administration was the last and Unless both are attended to, they could endanger
most dangerous example, was to reestablish by any the survival of our species on Mother Earth.
means necessary the unchallengeable hegemony of
US capitalism, to restore profits and wealth of the Where is the sustained boom?
T
ruling elite, and to reconfigure the role and
functions of the government to the advantage of the he new dynamics of the US economy that
richest families and corporations. took shape in the late 1970s and structured
While achieving many of their aims over a the economy for the next three decades
30-year period, their political project is now in were another factor that compelled us to reexamine
shambles and its perpetrators have been our traditional wisdom.
discredited. While the present economic crisis was
Of course, in the meantime, a heavy price triggered by the collapse of housing markets, it is
was paid and working people and their allies were located first of all, in the outgrowth of longer-term
thrown on the defensive for that entire period. processes of capitalism that go back to the late
The changing structure and distribution of 1970s.
economic activity and power across global space Thirty years ago US capitalism was beset
was something we could not ignore in our by seemingly intractable and contradictory
calibrations and recalibrations either. problems – high inflation and unemployment,
As the Soviet Union was collapsing in declining confidence in the dollar as an
1991, thus removing one of the two states that international currency, new competitive rivals in
Europe and Asia, a slowing of economic growth the federal government and Federal Reserve over
and a falling profit rate. the past 15 years in internet technology, then in the
All of these problems occurred in the stock market, and most recently, in housing – the
context of progressively growing overproduction in performance of the US and world economy would
world commodity markets. have been far worse. But, as we are painfully
Faced with this unraveling, then-chairman learning, financialization is a two-edged sword.
of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker stepped into Not since the Great Depression has the
the breech and pushed up interest rates to record economy been in such bad shape. Forecasts that
levels. This spike in interest rates sent economic activity will resume at the end of this
unemployment rates soaring to double digit levels, year or early next year are problematic in the minds
forced the closing of scores of manufacturing of many economists. Don’t be surprised if the
plants and family farms, left communities of color economy’s cyclical path is L-shaped – that is, deep
in depression like conditions and negatively and prolonged.
impacted the global economy, particularly the While we don’t know exactly what the
developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin contours and trajectory of the economy will be
America. going forward, we do know the notion that
At the same time, the spiking of interests capitalism isn’t a self-correcting system and that
rates upward, redirected mobile capital abruptly lifts all boats.
and massively from hither and yon into US The notion that it is has its roots in the so-
financial channels where returns were now called “golden age” of US capitalism from 1945-
extremely high. 1973, during which economic growth rates,
Once in financial channels, banks, investment levels and living standards steadily
investment houses, hedge funds, private equity increased for broad sections of the American
firms and so on, intent on maximizing their profits people.
in a very competitive and increasingly permissive But there is a problem here. An era of stable
regulatory environment raced at breakneck speed and continuous growth is unlikely to occur in the
into a massive buying and selling and borrowing foreseeable future. Indeed, the conditions for US
and spending spree for the next three decades – all capitalism’s “golden age” no longer exist. They
of which led to bubble economics, the erosion of were specific to a historical moment – not
the real economy, instability and ultimately to universal and timeless features of US capitalism.
economic ruin. None of those conditions exist today;
If the cause of the ascendancy of finance indeed just the opposite is the case and the
lies in the contractions and decline of US economy is not poised either in the short or
capitalism domestically and internationally, its medium term to take off as it did in 1945; long-
lubricant was the production and reproduction, term stagnation is a real possibility unless the
seemingly without end, of staggering amounts of economy is radically restructured.
debt – corporate, consumer and government.
Debt is as old as capitalism. But what was Environment reeling under stress
different in this period of financialization is that the
production of debt and accompanying speculative
excesses and bubbles were not simply passing
moments at the end of a cyclical upswing, but A nother factor nudging us to reexamine our
policies is the potential catastrophe of
global warming and environmental
essential to ginning up and sustaining investment degradation. Almost daily we hear of species
and especially consumer demand in every phase of extinction, global warming, resource depletion,
the cycle. Indeed, financialization grew to the point deforestation and on and on to the point where we
where it became the main determinant shaping the are nearly immune to its ominous possibilities.
contours, structure, interrelations, evolution and Our planet cannot indefinitely absorb the
dynamism of the national and world economy. impact of profit-driven, growth-without-limits
Without speculative bubbles, generated by capitalism. Many scientists say that unless we
radically change our methods of production and neither big enough nor influential enough. Even
consumption patterns in the near term, we will before the collapse of the Soviet Union we were
reach the point where damage to the environment small, not much more than 4,000 members.
will become irreversible. But with the split that occurred in 1991 our
Despite this, even the most modest membership fell by a third, thus making our growth
measures of environmental protection are resisted in size even more imperative.
by sections of the transnational corporations and
their right-wing extremists in Congress and in the Fresh look
media.
Embedded inequalities
N ow that I mentioned to you some of the
framing elements that weighed into our
reconfiguration process, let me tell out you
S till another consideration that caused us to about the results of so far.
think afresh is the deep and persistent racial, We are employing a methodology free of
gender, and regional inequalities that exist rigid and enclosed notions that resist new
across the planet. experience and discourage fresh thinking. Our
The evidence of these inequalities is catch phrase is to get in the mix, to join with
obvious: massive hunger and malnutrition, dire others, to give priority to those struggles and issues
poverty, pandemic diseases, daily and that are impelling others into action.
institutionalized brutality against peoples of color, We are giving greater coherence and
systemic abuse and oppression of women, elasticity to our strategic and tactical concepts and
explosion of slums around mega-cities, massive accenting the struggle for broad unity, and
migrations of workers and peasants in search of a especially multi-racial and working class unity.
better life and the decay of whole communities and New emphasis is being attached to the
regions. popular character of the coalition, while at the
While these conditions exist worldwide and same time giving prominence to the special role of
within our own borders, the countries of the the working class and labor movement as an
southern hemisphere experience the worst forms of emerging leader of this coalition.
deprivation and inequality. And they won’t tolerate We are taking a fresh look at the labor
this condition for another century. movement, noting the new positive developments,
Another framing element for our even asking ourselves whether quantitative changes
reevaluation is the new communications were reaching a qualitative turning point in terms
technologies. These technologies are changing the of labor’s outlook and practical activity.
way that we receive our news, work, do business, The Internet is being utilized in a full
live, play, interact and think. They are compressing blooded way to communicate our message and
time and distance. And their penetration into every organize our work. At the end of this year we are
aspect of life can only grow as time goes by. phasing out our print paper that goes back nearly
The emergence of new social movements of 90 years and going over to daily online news.
considerable scope and the new vigor of the labor We are shedding, what I call, a “mentality
movement also challenged our received wisdom of marginalization.” Because of McCarthyism, the
and actions. Over the past three decades old and Cold War, the long economic expansion following
new oppositional forces, including a revitalizing WW II, and a resistance to thinking anew, the left,
(it’s a process and thus uneven and developing) of which we are a part, found itself on the edges of
labor movement have entered politics to challenge politics for more than a half century. During this
right wing domination, culminating in a many- time, our ability to impact on broader political
layered coalition that was instrumental in the processes in the country has been narrowly
victory of Barack Obama. circumscribed – nothing like the 1930s, nothing
Finally, we were nudged to change because like the left in many other countries.
the Communist Party (and the left generally) was While the left stubbornly fought the good
fight and made undeniable contributions over the century. What are some of its main elements?
past half-century, it was not a major player; it Our vision is of a society that is peaceful,
didn’t set the agenda or frame the debate; it didn’t democratic, economically just and efficient, and
determine the political direction of the country; it ecologically sustainable. Our socialist goal
wasn’t a decider. privileges social solidarity, economic security and
But the past doesn't have to be prelude to sustainability, equality, cooperation, respect for
the future. Because of the new political landscape, difference and peace.
the left has an opportunity to step from the edges In our view, socialism is not simply a good
into the mainstream of US politics. It has a chance idea, but an overriding necessity for humankind to
to become a player of consequence; a player whose find timely solutions to problems that threatens its
voice is seriously considered in the debates bearing very future – massive inequality and poverty,
on the future of the country; a player that is able to global warming, war and nuclear proliferation,
mobilize and influence the thinking and actions of energy and resource depletion, pandemic diseases
millions. and so forth.
Whether we do depends on many factors, There are neither universal paths to nor
one of which is our ability to shake off this universal models of socialism. Socialism has to
“mentality of marginalization.” grow out of the soil of a particular country, at a
How does this mentality express itself? In a particular time, and in particular set of
number of ways – in spending too much time circumstances. Our country will be no exception.
agitating each other; in dismissing new political We will follow our own distinct nationally specific
openings; in thinking that moderate reforms are at path.
loggerheads with radical reforms; in seeing the Socialism must settle the “property
glass as always half empty; in acting as if our question” (from capitalist to socialist property
outlook is identical with the outlook of millions; in relations or to put it differently, from a capitalist to
turning the danger of cooptation into a rationale to a socialist mode of production) to be sure. Every
keep a distance from reform struggles; in enclosing revolution must accomplish this essential task, and
ourselves in narrow Left forms; in damning ours will be no different.
victories with faint praise; and in having nothing But how this is done and the pace by which
good to say about our country. it proceeds largely depends on concrete
In this peculiar mindset, politics has few circumstances. At socialism’s dawn in any country
complexities. Change is driven only from the and then long into the transition to socialism I
ground up. Winning broad majorities is not expect that a mixed economy, operating in a
essential. There are no stages of struggle, no social regulated socialist market and combining different
forces that possess strategic social power, and no forms of socialist, cooperative, and private
divisions worth noting. And distinctions between property, will prevail, albeit with tensions,
the Democratic and Republican parties are either of contradictions, and dangers.
little consequence or disdainfully dismissed. Such ownership relations and market
Unless the left – and I include communists mechanisms by no means preclude economic
first of all – sheds this mentality, it will miss a planning and democratic control. It is hard, in fact,
golden opportunity at this moment to engage and to imagine how the transformation of the economy
influence a far bigger audience than it has in the can be successfully tackled without democratic
past six decades. planning.
While political supremacy of the working
Path to socialism class and its allies is an imperative, once acquired
its task isn’t to smash the state into so many pieces,
W e are re-envisioning the path to but rather to transform the class content of state
socialism and socialist society, based on structures; extend democratic rights into the
present day challenges and a critical economic, social and cultural spheres; enact new
examination of the socialist experience in the 20th democratic forms of participation; and finish the
democratic tasks left unfinished by capitalism – state structures, including the military, have
especially the elimination of racial and gender isolated elites, dislodged neo-liberal governments
inequality. from power, and cleared the ground, so far
I stress this because in the American mind, peacefully, for social and socialist transformations.
the idea that socialism and democracy are We believe that such an outcome is possible
incompatible has widespread currency. And this here too. In fact, it is hard to imagine a non-
perception can’t be ascribed solely to ruling-class peaceful path to socialism in our country.
propaganda. Socialist societies have had Obviously, socialism isn’t imminent. As I
democratic shortcomings, too often major ones. see it, we aren’t living in an era of revolution, but
The path to socialism in our country will be rather an era of reform, including possibly radical
long, laced at every turn with massive struggles on reform, marked at its beginning by the election of
many levels and involve a wide array of class and the first African American president.
social forces. It will proceed – not Six months into the Obama presidency, I
straightforwardly, not smoothly, not without would say without hesitation that the landscape,
reversals, but through stages and at each stage of atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have
struggle the balance of power will hopefully tip to strikingly changed compared to the previous eight
the advantage of the working class and people. years.
Rather than one final conflict triggered by a
generalized economic breakdown, I envision a Obama’s role
series of connected political, economic, and social
crises compressed in time and large in scale that
result in a crises of confidence and legitimacy in
capitalism and its institutional forms on the part of
millions.
S o far Obama’s presidency has both broken
from the right-wing extremist policies of the
Bush administration and taken steps
domestically and internationally that go in a
Such a rupture of power won’t settle progressive direction.
everything once and for all, but it will constitute a At the same time, the administration hasn’t
decisive turn in a transitional process toward gone as far as we would have liked on a number of
socialism. issues. He is neither a socialist nor a revolutionary
Decades ago socialist revolutions grew out despite the incessant claims of the far right.
of economic catastrophes and major wars. But All and all, however, the new President in
communists, going back to the 19th century, never deeds and words – and words do matter – has
believed that armed struggle and civil war were the created new democratic space for peace, equality,
only nor the preferred avenue to socialism. and economic justice struggles. Whether this
“The worker,” Marx said in a speech in continues and takes on a consistently progressive,
Amsterdam in 1872, “must one day conquer pro-people, radical reform direction depends in
political supremacy in order … But we do not large measure on whether the movement that
assert that the attainment of this end requires elected him fills and expands this space.
identical means. We know that one has to take into The struggle going forward, much like the
consideration the institutions, mores, and traditions New Deal, will be the outcome of a contested and
of the different countries, and we do not deny that fluid process involving broad class and social
there are countries like England and America and if constituencies, taking multiple forms, and working
I am familiar with your institutions, Holland, where out over time.
labor may attain its new goal by peaceful means.” It will pivot on the expansion of social and
I would add that in recent years radical economic rights, the reconfiguring of the functions
social transformations in relatively peaceful of government to the advantage of working people,
circumstances have occurred in Latin America. and the embedding of a new economic architecture
There the force of an active, organized, and and developmental path into the nation’s political
overwhelming majority of the working class and its economy.
allies combined with the winning of bridgeheads in No less importantly, it will also entail the
recasting of the role of the US in the global people can’t be the only change agents and will be
community along egalitarian and non-imperial change agents only up to a point. Our responsibility
lines. is to support them, prod them, and constructively
“What’s all this talk about reform?” you take issue with them when we have differing
may be asking. “Aren’t you a communist? Isn’t views.
socialism your objective?” But more importantly – and this is the heart
Yes, socialism is the objective of the of the matter – we have to reach, activate, unite,
Communist Party and, according to recent public educate and turn millions of Americans into
opinion polls, it is increasingly attractive to the “change agents” who can make the political
American people. But clearly it is not on the difference in upcoming struggles.
immediate political agenda. Neither the current Our parents and grandparents were such
balance of forces nor the thinking of millions of bottom-up change agents in the Depression years
Americans – the starting point in any serious and the sixties. The American people today would
discussion of strategy and tactics – has reached that do well to follow their example.
point. Likewise, communists of our generation
That socialism isn’t on the people’s action would do well to follow the example of our
agenda, however, doesn’t mean that communists Depression-era comrades. Without giving up their
will zip our lips. Quite the contrary! We will talk it longer-term vision of socialism, they were guided
up and bring our modern, deeply democratic 21st- by a sound strategy that accented struggles for
century vision of US socialism to the American reforms and broad unity; they employed flexible
people. And with the use of the Internet we can tactics; and they didn’t conflate their mood and
reach an exponentially bigger audience than we temper with the mood and temper of the American
could in the past. people. As a result, they were a vital part of the
As for our radical disposition, we are as political process of the Depression era.
radical as reality itself. And reality tells us that our Our nation faces great challenges as we
main task is to assist in bringing the weight of the plunge forward into this new century. But I am
working class and other democratic forces to convinced that the people of this great land – and
impress their interests on the struggle for reforms. communists among them – will meet them as
earlier generations met challenges on their watch.
Current phase of struggle
T he road to socialism is neither direct nor
unencumbered. It will be complex,
contradictory, roundabout and go through
different phases/stages of struggle.
It will only be reached in the course of
struggles for reforms, including radical reforms and
then only if tens of millions of American people
embrace and fight for socialism.
If it only took the enthusiasm and energy of
the left we would had socialism long ago. Active
majorities make history and social change, not
militant minorities.
The left can help re-bend the arc of history
in the direction of justice, equality, and peace. But
only if we, and millions like us, pursue a sound
strategy that unifies broad sections of the American
people. --Sam Webb chairs the Communist Party USA.
President Obama and progressive Congress
