We Need to Bring Back the Idea of an Alternative Society

In the article "Let us commit ourselves to revolutionise this brutal reality," which appeared in the March issue of Battaglia Comunista, we stressed that the war on terror, exploitation, poverty, environmental devastation, are inter-connected phenomena and manifestations of the economic and social crisis. The article we quoted concluded by stressing the need to engage in political terms to bring out the real sense of the alternative society. We will try now to deepen this conclusion a bit more.

It should first be said that when we speak of “alternative society" we mean a real alternative. Not simply a reformist improvement of the current economic and social system, but rather a different society that completely replaces that of today.

The basis of real change must be the transformation of the economic structure, i.e. the way of producing wealth which humanity needs (goods, services, etc.). Today, all over the world, production revolves around the profits of a few. The same tools to produce and distribute "wealth" are under the ownership and control of these exclusive few. Breaking the link between profit and production, abolishing the ownership of the means of production by the few masters ("public" or private), these are the basic steps upon which a real alternative must be based.

The tools to produce and manage wealth should not have "ownership", if anything, they will become ... collective property, placed at the service of the satisfaction of human needs. Only starting from such a transformation will all other aspects of our lives - as a result - really be improved. Any other proposal, which does not embrace these assumptions, is only a fake - and unenforceable - alternative.

We are not idealists, we do not imagine heaven on earth, we only think that there is a compelling need for a different society for all humanity, where profit and the exploitation of one person by another disappear, and with them all the brutality that is, in fact, a consequence of exploitation and profit. We are also aware that such a transformation will not fall from heaven, and will confront many obstacles and much resistance. For this reason, this alternative will only have the chance to come about through the conscious and disruptive action of the international working class, which will create its own decision-making bodies, in which there must be maximum participation of the exploited but from which industrialists, bankers, bosses of all kinds, and their servile politicians must be categorically excluded.

There can be no alternative to the mass action and consciousness of the working class. Of course, looking at the state of confusion in which the exploited class is immersed today, it becomes easy to realise how far we are from such a transformation at the moment. The proletariat, casual workers, all workers and their children are - except for a few individuals - completely under the control of the dominant ideology. The "most committed" are mainly lost following the various fake alternatives (the 5 Stars Movement, Salvini, Landini [1], etc.) and where such illusions are absent, discouragement and resignation dominate. But this is not surprising. The "few" masters of whom we spoke own and also influence the means of intellectual production: the TV, newspapers, schools, etc. Through these tools a distorted view of reality is propagated, different ideological forms that are the opiate of the exploited class.

Among the proletarians today the sense of real alternative society, the communist perspective, is at a record low. This is also due to the defeat suffered at the beginning of last century. The October Revolution should have been the beginning of an international process of transformation of society. But the political revolution in Russia remained isolated. Despite the proletarian turmoil present in different areas of the world, nowhere else were the workers able to defeat the boss class. Even in Russia, given the impossibility of "building socialism in one country", there was no economic transformation in the communist sense and a counter-revolutionary phase opened, from which arose a particular form of capitalism, "state capitalism".

That was a heavy defeat for the international proletariat. When fighting, any defeat must be examined, but the great damage was that defeat was passed off as a victory. For decades, "state capitalism" has been touted by the "Stalinist" ideology as "real socialism". One can also learn from defeats but that false ideology has contributed strongly to hinder any analysis of defeat, creating political confusion among proletarians and many sincere comrades. This is a confusion that is still preserved and recycled in the various "myths" of the left. The icing on the cake was then applied with the collapse of "real socialism” [2], a collapse touted as proof of the impossibility of building an alternative to capitalism, further destroying the meaning of the alternative itself, making capitalism appear to the eyes of all as the only "possible world", but of course subject to reform within certain limits.

Our small organisation was among the few who managed to critically analyse that defeat. Moreover, it remains active, not closing in on itself, always trying to measure itself against the events and struggles that concern the working class, and has made an important contribution over the years to the development of communist theory. But, frankly, we do not like living in the past. We believe we have an important political heritage that can be used, today, precisely to resurrect the idea of a social alternative. But for us this is not just a slogan, rather it is the political objective we place at the centre of all our activities. To the extent we can, we are active amongst other workers, supporting their struggles. We give make political propaganda on the ground. We carry out a job of training and debate internally, because we do not believe "myths", even ones about ourselves, and we have no dogmas. We publish newspapers, leaflets, books. We take part with our positions and our independence, in industrial actions and protests. We debate with other comrades. In all these activities we put political clarification at centre stage in the fight against the dominant ideology and we put forward the need for a communist alternative. We are aware of the difficulties. We know that we are far from the development of a process of the communist transformation of society, but we also believe that this alternative is the only possible one, the only one for which it is worth engaging.

In the absence of revolutionary conditions today, we must act by setting realistic goals, to help build the political conditions necessary to ensure that one day, that alternative is achieved. Today the major political objective remains the commitment to build the international communist party of the proletariat. Not a parliamentary party and not a party that claims to "make the revolution" on behalf of the class. Rather, an organisation able to connect to the rest of the proletariat, to guide, stimulate it, and at every turn making the meaning of an international communist alternative come alive in terms of a concrete political programme. We are making our contribution, if you are motivated to commit yourself to liberation from the chains of capitalism, then you should start to lend us a hand.

(NZ)

from Battaglia Comunista. April 2015

[1] The Cinque Stelle (Five Stars Movement) is led by the comedian (obvious qualification for a capitalist politician) Beppe Grillo which attracts voters disgruntled with all the main parties but has no programme. Salvini is new boss of the racist Lega Nord (Northern League) which he has positioned close to the Front National in France and Landini is boss of the metal workers union (FIOM) which recently went on strike against the so-called Jobs Act of the Government of Renzi (who is an admirer of Tony Blair and wants to make the Democratic Left into New Labour).

[2] "Real socialism" or "actually existing socialism" was the name given by the Stalinists to the system in the USSR which collapsed in 1990.