from every one to there abilitys, to everone to there needs.
-Karl Marx
i have here a letter writen by a Comrade in kingston Ont. to myself so see what you think
when the revolution comes, we can expect to see what’s happening in
argentina now start to happen here. but we must realize that capitalism is
strongest here than anywhere else, so the revolution most likely wont begin
in the “first world”. the revolution has already begun in argentina, and if
it’s successful, it will spread. it begins with the emergence of the
toiling masses onto the political scene. now this just doesn’t happen
overnight, and it can’t happen purely by our efforts alone, we merely wish
to guide the revolution so that it will not crumble and revert back to some
sort of capitalistic despotism. we wish to ensure the revolution will be
successful and the power remains firmly in the hands of the working class.
but unfortunatly, the working class learns in a mannor that’s different than
we have. the working class, generally speaking, learns through trial and
error, in other words, it learns through experience. when people are
working 8 to 16 hours a day, they’re exhausted, mentally and physically. if
these people have children, that’s another fulltime job in itself and they
have no time off until their children reach an age where they can begin to
look after themselves. the last thing these people want to do after work is
go to a meeting or back to school or brush up on marxism, so they sit
infront of a tv, drink, take drugs, turn to religion, etc, basically they
try to escape, if only for a little while. this does not mean the working
class will forever be stuck in their rut. in bourgeois (capitalist)
democracies, the working class tests the policies of various cliques of the
ruling class by electing them. the trick for the capitalists is to make as
much money as possible while maintaing their order. because there is so
much wealth in the first world, this is somewhat easier for them to do.
it’s in the third world where there is little money and all the countries
are in debt to things like the IMF and World Bank that this process becomes
vital. the working class elects new cliques of the ruling class to try to
solve their problems, this is not possible on a capitalist basis. people
seek the path of least resistence to solve a problem, so when the course of
bourgeois politicians has run out and proved themselves impotant to solve
the crisises of the masses, the masses will and are turning to more radical
alternatives. in argentina, the working class has elected many people who
were supposidly to “solve” argentina’s problems, but the situation only got
worse. in a mass frenzy of rioting we saw the beginning of the argentinian
revolution. the masses entered the political scene, although not yet
knowing any form to express their views. in time, “neighbourhood
assemballies” began to form, and they’re continuing to form and are
currently entering a phase of duel power with the “legit” government.
“neighbourhood assemballies” are the beginnings of what we call soviets.
soviets are workers’ councils, the basis of government in a socialist
society. in argentina, the neighbourhood assemballies are linking up
nationally and have formed the National Workers’ Assembally. they’re
entering workplaces and popularizing the neighbourhood assemballies and
promoting the formation of workplace committees. what the state of a
socialist society would look like is basically this, only our form of the
“National Workers’ Assembally” would be the national representation of the
wishes of the soviets. it may not go by that name, but the name doesn’t
matter, it’s the content that counts. the soviets would be the form of
government. basically, how they operate is delegates from workplaces are
elected (and subject to recall at ANY time) to represent the workers of that
particluar workplace on the soviet. the practice would be that everyone has
the right to have their voice heard, unlike today where that only exists as
the rhetoric of the ruling class. in the workplaces, the committees would
be the management, and all who sit on the committees would be elected and
subject to recall at ANY time. now let me be clear that it is not marxists
who came up with the soviet as the form of government in a socialist
society. marxistrs are by no means responsible for the formation of
soviets. the working class almost has an instinct to form them in times of
crisis and revolution. marxists simply realized that the soviet is the most
democratic form of government ever devised and practiced, and we’ve realized
that it is the only way a planned economy can opperate successfully. in
russia the soviets were liquidated and the mismanagement of stalinism proved
disasterous. (if you wanna know more about what happened in russia, i
highly suggest you pick up a copy of “The Revolution Betrayed” by Leon
Trotsky, you can also find it online at http://www.marxists.org ) the planned
economy needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen, and the soviet is
the most democratic form of government. basically, when the revolution
happens here, canada will be in a constant state of popular control.
socialism can by no means be imposed. only the working class can cast off
the capitalist class. the argentinian working class, when they cast off
their capitalists, cannot cast off ours, that job is up to the canadian
working class. but when the revolution spreads in the third world, the
canadian working class will take notice, and this will help us. they will
see what we’ve been saying by example, and not just theory. now, i realize
i’ve written a lot, but don’t worry, i’m almost done!! to answer your
question of what would happen, basically, with a planned economy, we can cut
back the working week with increases in pay. this will create a shortage of
labour, in which the unemployed will find employment, thereby eliminating
unemployment. economically speaking, when people have more money and are
spending it, it stimulates growth. we’d see a durastic rise in our already
high standard of living. we’d also see an explosion of culture. as
aristotle said, the egyptians discovered mathematics because their priest
caste wasn’t subject to physical labour. they had idle time. in their idle
time, they persued intellectual interests. too further this, the entire
beginnings of human developement occured with the emergence of slave
society. slave labour freed up the time of their owners, thereby allowing
them to discover new technologies and techniques of going about doing
things. idle time would be the most important right under socialism.
socialism is international or it will fail. the USSR proved this, socialism
cannot exist soley in one country. when the revolution occurs here, we will
use our advanced technology and techniques of production to aid the people
in the “third world” we would teach them the better ways of production,
thereby raising their standard of living. as the revolution spreads to
every corner of the world, we’d increase international cooperation,
eliminating the need for national states, eventually creating a socialist
federation of the world. anyways, i’m all done typing this long rant out.
hope this helps.