Anarchist
thought is rooted in the formulas of the pre-Marxist utopian socialists. In the era of the bourgeois-democratic revolutions, egalitarianism
was a fervently held principle of the most intelligent philosophers and the most
passionate revolutionaries. However, since capitalism was too young to have yet created large-scale
industry, the class balance of forces was still in favor of the petty-bourgeoisie (rich
peasants, intellectuals, small business owners) - not the working class. As a result of
the individualism, subjectivism, and economic naivete this set of circumstances
engendered, these people approached the question of achieving equality in an unscientific
way.
Resources 
Marxism FAQ
Marxism FAQ
Marxism FAQ
Marxist theory is the bedrock upon which our political ideas, perspectives, and methods are built upon. It is our guide to action in an often confusing and chaotic world. Through the correct application of the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky to the current world situation, we can more effectively anticipate the most likely course of events and plan our work accordingly. Marxism is the collective, generalized experience of the world working class. By studying the past, we are able to learn from the innovations, mistakes, victories, and defeats of the working class as a whole. By studying theory, history, and the processes unfolding around us, we can, through a series of successive approximations, come to an ever-better understanding of the world and most importantly, we can change it.
This FAQ is intended as an introduction to some of the basic ideas and positions of the Workers International League. In general, we have provided short, concise answers, with plenty of suggestions for further reading, although in some cases we have provided a longer explanation. We also invite our readers to become acquainted with the more basic ideas of Marxism by going through the Marxism FAQ at www.newyouth.com. However, reading the classics of Marxism is the best way to understand these ideas. At first it may seem difficult, but every worker and young person knows that things worth having are worth working hard for! Patient and persistent study, discussion, and ultimately, the day to day application of these ideas over a lifetime are the key.
Trotsky gave some very good advice in his short article Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin. We recommend everyone interested in studying the ideas of Marxism start by reading it. We also suggest reading If America Should Go Communist by Leon Trotsky, The Principles of Communism by Frederick Engels, and Workshop Talks by James Connolly. We also offer a Marxist Education Plan which will help focus your studies of Marxist theory. Check out in particular the ABC of Communism by Nikolai Bukharin and Evgenii Preobrazhensky for an excellent overview of many of the basic concepts of Marxism and a look at some of the progress made during the early years of the Soviet Union.
Much has changed since this document was first produced, and we
have continually refined and updated our perspectives and analysis in subsequent books and
articles. However, the historical value of this document, especially those parts
concerning the history of the internationals, the rise of proletarian Bonapartism, and the
post-WWII period retain their full force and value.
The
following text is a very brief outline of the history of our tendency, in answer to
questions we have received from different people around the world.
In order to conduct an effective struggle against war, it is first necessary to
understand the causes of war, and this is only possible if we grasp the class interests
behind wars.
One of the most important points in the WIL program is the need for the
working class and its unions to break with the capitalist Democratic Party. The
Democratic Party will always defend the interests of big business before it does
anything to help the working class.
The United States is the richest and most powerful country on the planet. Yet despite
this, the poison of racism remains an integral part of America.
Many on the left today use the word Fascist very loosely. It has become more a term of
general abuse against reactionaries in general, without taking into consideration the
historical circumstances that brought fascism into being. Such an approach can only lead
to a lowering of the understanding of what fascism really is, and thus can lead to
mistakes in how to fight it.
When the mass of the workers enter the arena of struggle to change
society, they inevitably gravitate, in the first instance, to the traditional mass
organisations (trade unions, the labor, socialist, and
communist parties where they exist). The reason for this phenomenon is not difficult to
see.
A party is not just an organizational form, a name, a banner, a collection
of individuals, or an apparatus. A revolutionary party, for a Marxist, is in the first
place program, methods, ideas and traditions and only in the second place, an organization
and an apparatus (important as these undoubtedly are) in order to carry these ideas to the
broadest layers of the working people.
Marx explained that the executive branch of
the modern state is but a committee for managing the affairs of the ruling class. In other
words, the modern state is a tool of the ruling class, which it uses to defend its
interests as against the interests of the vast majority of society.
The national question is crucial to the
Middle East, above all the Palestinian question. After decades of national oppression at
the hands of the Israeli imperialists, the Palestinian masses have a burning sense of
injustice, expressed in the desire for their own homeland. That is their inalienable
right, which Marxists will uphold and fight for. However, the experience of the last
thirty years should provide us with some necessary lessons.
Marxists must energetically take up the cause of women,
fighting against inequality and all manifestations of oppression, discrimination and
injustice. But we must always do this from a class point of view. While fighting
consistently for each and every reform that represents a real advance for women, we must
explain that the only way to really achieve the full emancipation of women--and all other
oppressed layers of society--is through the abolition of the capitalist system.
It is a fundamental stance for socialists to oppose the subjugation of
women in any form. We oppose their being viewed socially, politically, and economically as
lesser than their male counter-parts. One basic precept of this attitude is the
unconditional right to reproductive services, whatever they be, including abortion.
In his work Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin explained that in the modern epoch, there is a merging of finance and industrial capital - with finance capital assuming a greater predominance. The rise of colossal monopolies and the interconnections between the owners and leaders of the banking sector and the industrial sector become more and more absolute. There is also an almost total fusion of the magnates of capital with the bourgeois state machine.
It is not in the tradition of Marxism to support a
movement of peasant war separate and apart from the movement of the working
class, which is decisive. The efforts and work of Marxists should be largely
concentrated in the cities and among the proletariat. Always of course, under all
conditions, the struggle of other oppressed classes must be supported by Marxists.
To fully understand the situation in China, North Korea, Vietnam, and other Stalinist states, it is important to study the ideas of the Permanent Revolution, the Marxist theory of the State, and the phenomenon of Proletarian Bonapartism. It was precisely the impasse of capitalism in these countries and the pressing need of the masses for a way forward which gave rise of Stalinist states in the image of the USSR.
Marxism has always waged a struggle against the
methods of individual terrorism (hijackings, bombings) as well as against state terrorism
(the imperialist bombing of Iraq, Yugoslavia, etc.). Acts of individual terror do little
but alienate the mass of the people from the cause you are supposed to be promoting.
We wholeheartedly welcome the participation in the struggle of every progressive person,
irrespective of nationality, the colour of their skin, or their religious beliefs.
However, in order to fight effectively, it is necessary to work out a serious program,
policy and perspective that can guarantee success. We believe that only Marxism
(scientific socialism) provides such a perspective.
Undoubtedly, the Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the greatest events that shaped the modern world.
In order to understand the conditions which led to the rise of Stalinism,
it is necessary first to understand the Marxist theory of the state,
and to understand the conditions under which the world's first real workers' state emerged. There are many distortions on this
subject, which attempt to "prove" that the Soviet State under Lenin and Trotsky
was the same state which Stalin headed a few years later.
The integration of the economies of the Republics under a common plan was beneficial to
all the peoples of the USSR. The advantages were particularly evident in the formerly
backward Republics of Central Asia... But this was only one side of the picture. The Stalinist regime created a whole series
of miniature bureaucracies in the Republics which accurately reproduced all the negative
features of the original from which they were copied. The national bureaucracies in the
Republics gathered increasing power into their hands thanks to the successive measures of
decentralisation pursued under Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Decentralisation without the check
of workers' democracy led to a flowering of unprecedented corruption.
The theory of the permanent revolution was
first developed by Trotsky as early as 1904. The permanent revolution, while accepting
that the objective tasks facing the Russian workers were those of the bourgeois democratic
revolution, nevertheless explained how in a backward country in the epoch of imperialism,
the "national bourgeoisie" was inseparably linked to the remains of feudalism on
the one hand and to imperialist capital on the other and was therefore completely unable
to carry through any of its historical tasks.
In our work of raising the
class-consciousness of the workers, we raise certain demands which workers can relate to.
These demands are designed to bridge the gap between the current conditions of life under
capitalism, and the need for a socialist revolution in order to genuinely improve the
lives of working people.
The history of the workers’ movement
begins with the unions, the basic organisation of the class which were “not only a
natural, but also an essential phenomenon under capitalism and… an extremely
important means for organising the working class in its daily struggle against capital and
for the abolition of wage-labour”. But once established, the trade unions cannot
confine their sphere of activity to economic demands, but inevitably tend to move into the
political plane.
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