This is the second in a series of commentaries on the Fighting Program for the Revolutionary Communists of America. In this article, originally published in issue 8 of The Communist, we discuss the program’s final point, “Workers of the World, Unite!”
During every election, the ruling class’s candidates claim to be the true defenders of “American interests.” But, like any capitalist society, America is divided into two warring sides: the capitalist class and the working class.
For the capitalist class, “American interests” means the interests of American imperialism—the ability to continue plundering semi-colonial countries, while exploiting workers at home as much as possible.
For the working class, there are no separate “American interests.” Workers in every country face the same enemy, and the real interests of American workers are no different than those of the international working class: the overthrow of capitalism in the US and around the world.
In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels described capitalism’s rise as a global economic system:
The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.
Through this process, the bourgeoisie forcefully pulled every corner of the world into their system:
It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.
This expansion of capitalism was carried out through conquests, genocides, slavery, and the export of commodities and capital from a handful of powerful imperialist nations to the rest of the world.
This expansion of capitalism was carried out through conquests, genocides, slavery, and the export of commodities and capital from a handful of powerful imperialist nations to the rest of the world. / Image: Diego Rivera, Wikimedia Commons
Imperialist domination
By the late 19th century, a few major imperialist powers had carved up the entire world into colonies and “spheres of influence,” giving them access to markets, raw materials, and cheap labor. With nowhere new to conquer, they fought two world wars to redivide the spoils.
After the colonial revolutions following World War II, imperialist domination took on a different character in much of the world. Rather than through direct colonial rule, the imperialists now dominate the semi-colonial world through more indirect but at the same time more powerful economic control.
They extract super-profits and keep the semi-colonial countries subjugated through unequal trade agreements, “aid” packages consisting of massive loans with high interest rates, and ownership of factories, mines, etc., that pay extremely low wages. The dominated countries are left unable to invest in basic infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
The imperialist powers’ relative strengths and specific spheres of influence are ever-changing and look different today than they did 100 years ago, but the overall picture of ruthless exploitation and oppression remains the same.
The governments of imperialist countries will do whatever is necessary to maintain their ruling class’s spheres of influence and weaken the influence of competing powers, including orchestrating coups, supporting reactionary regimes, and funding or engaging in military conflict and all-out war. This is what it really means for Democratic and Republican politicians to “protect American interests.”
Communist parties are needed in every country to sharpen class consciousness and organize the working class to take political and economic power into our own hands. / Image: RCA
Limitations of capitalism
The development of modern industry’s productive techniques and access to the entire world’s resources means that there is now the potential to provide food, housing, education, healthcare, and employment to every person on the planet.
But under capitalism, this potential is wasted. Production is based on what is most profitable for capitalists, not what is actually needed by society, due to the private ownership of the means of production.
Competition between capitalists of different countries results in massive amounts of money wasted on wars and military spending in preparation for potential future wars. Competition stifles the development of the productive forces and causes an anarchic scramble for access to raw materials.
Under socialism, the resources of the entire world would be integrated into a global economy, democratically planned by the working class on the basis of human need, without the profit motive or artificial national borders.
A worldwide communist revolution is required to make this a reality.
Capitalism itself has forged the force that will carry out this revolution: the international working class.
As capitalism spread across the world, more and more people were pulled from small-scale farming and artisanal production into large-scale industrial production concentrated in the cities. This has created a massive proletariat, which has power over production at its fingertips. Once the working class becomes conscious of this, no force on earth can stop it from taking power. Communist parties are needed in every country to sharpen this class consciousness and organize the working class to take political and economic power into our own hands.
A worldwide communist revolution will replace competition between nations with international cooperation and coordination. Eventually, artificial borders will cease to exist altogether.
Through pooling the resources of the entire globe and democratically planning production and distribution of the goods produced with those resources, we can create a world of abundance for all.
The closing words of The Communist Manifesto, written by Marx and Engels in 1848, remain just as relevant today:
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Working men of all countries, unite!