A Fighting Program for the Revolutionary Communists of America

Without organization, workers are mere raw material for exploitation. Only class-struggle unionism, which starts from the premise that our interests and the bosses’ are diametrically opposed, can reverse decades of decline and put labor back on the offensive.

We oppose all anti-union laws and fight for every worker’s right to strike and join a union. We reject multi-tier contracts, concessions, and give-backs, and call on labor leaders to launch an all-out drive to unionize the unorganized.

We fight for trade union democracy on the basis of one member, one vote. To combat bureaucracy and corruption, all union officials should be elected by the membership with the right of immediate recall, and be paid no more than the average wage of the workers they represent.

Communists built the American labor movement and formed the backbone of industrial unionism—it’s time we returned to our fighting roots! The best way to prepare for an all-out general strike is to successfully organize millions of workers in a wave of industrial strikes, demonstrating the colossal power of the working class in action.

However, trade union organization and struggle are not enough. Workers need a class-independent political expression to coordinate their common struggle against the capitalist class as a whole.

American workers have no party of our own. The left is nonexistent, and the labor leaders embrace class collaboration and compromise. In this vacuum, the Democratic and Republican Parties have succeeded in dividing and duping millions into voting for them as the “lesser evil.”

Those who argue that these and other institutions of capitalist and imperialist rule can be made to serve two masters are deceiving the workers and leading them into the dead-end of class collaboration and reformism.

Communists stand for uncompromising class independence and reject the false dichotomy of liberalism versus Trumpism, two sides of the same capitalist coin. To combat the distorted polarization of the culture war, we stand for class polarization and the class war.

We support any reform or struggle that improves workers’ lives and raises class consciousness, confidence, and unity. But capitalism cannot be gradually reformed out of existence—there is no solution within the limits of the system.

The only way out of the impasse is a workers’ government and a democratically planned economy that can guide society’s transition through socialism to classless, stateless, moneyless communism.

Far from the gray, totalitarian caricature portrayed by our class enemies, the proletarian revolution will usher in a system of workers’ democracy based on the direct participation of the masses in government and the economy.

To achieve this, the working class needs a revolutionary party armed with Marxist theory to fight the capitalists in every workplace and campus, on the streets, and at the ballot box.

Based on the momentous events that lie ahead, the class issues will come to the fore, and the united working class will settle accounts with those who oppress and exploit us.

Just 500 companies account for two-thirds of US GDP. To break with the irrational chaos of the capitalist free market, a workers’ government would expropriate the essential levers of the economy.

All nationalized companies would be run under democratic workers’ control and management, integrated into a socialist plan of production to meet society’s needs.

The banking sector would be transformed into a unified, publicly owned and administered entity to protect workers’ savings and guarantee affordable loans to all.

Communists reject austerity, privatization, and corporate handouts. We think the billionaires should pay for the crisis of their system, not the working class.

Socialism is not only a good idea; it is objectively possible now, not in the distant future.

Thanks to human ingenuity and technological advances, labor productivity is higher than ever, and we can produce enough wealth to guarantee everyone a phenomenal quality of life. Yet millions suffer from hunger, homelessness, unemployment, and disease.

This is because capitalism is based on private ownership of the means of production and private appropriation of the wealth produced collectively by the working class. The socialist revolution will resolve this contradiction through social ownership, production, and distribution of society’s collective wealth.

Under a workers’ government, what we produce and who has access to it will be democratically determined based on human needs. Any industry or company deemed “too big to fail” or otherwise essential for the functioning of society will be brought into public ownership and integrated into a rational economic plan.

Eliminating the profit motive will unleash our species’ vast creative and productive potential and raise living standards to unimaginable levels on an environmentally sustainable basis. For the first time in history, all humans will enjoy true equality of life, not merely formal equality before the law.

Jobs

Under capitalism, some are forced to work 60 or more hours a week to make ends meet, while others languish on the sidelines because there’s no room for them in the market economy.

We fight for a full-time job or a place in education for all. To combat unemployment, the workers and their unions—not the bosses—should have control over hiring and firing. Job training and hiring halls should be established in areas with high unemployment, with jobless benefits paid at full wages.

A workers’ government would launch an extensive program of useful public works to create millions of quality jobs and upgrade public infrastructure, transportation, and housing, with accommodation for those with disabilities.

A twenty-hour workweek and a national minimum wage of $5,000 per month, adjusted to keep pace with inflation, would allow everyone to contribute to the economy while allowing plenty of time for leisure, individual development, travel, art, science, sports, and more.

Voluntary retirement with full wages at age 50 would make way for new generations of workers, and allow retirees to enjoy their lives and enrich society in other ways.

Housing

Under capitalism, housing is a constant crisis of skyrocketing rents, homelessness, overcrowding, urban sprawl, and gentrification. Buying a house is unaffordable in 99% of the country.

A workers’ government would establish a socialized plan for safe, quality housing for all, with rent fixed at no more than 10% of wages. Evictions would be a thing of the past.

Foreclosed and vacant homes and land owned by the banks, private equity, and real-estate monopolies would be expropriated and integrated into a rational plan. Current homeowners would be invited to participate on a voluntary basis.

Healthcare

Capitalist healthcare is a nightmare. Millions have no access, and those who do must pay extortionate amounts for sub-par care. Access to certain kinds of healthcare is limited, then granted, then rescinded again through cynical political games.

We fight for a socialized health care system free at the point of service. A workers’ government would abolish health insurance. It would nationalize the pharmaceutical and medical industries, hospital networks, and related clinics and integrate them into a democratically administered public health provider offering world-class services to all.

Personal healthcare decisions would no longer be the business of corporations and career politicians. They would instead be made in private collaboration between patients and healthcare professionals, including decisions about reproductive, gender-affirming, mental health, and palliative care.

Freeing scientific research from the profit motive would ensure everyone access to the latest medical technologies and treatments and allow us to combat epidemics and diseases effectively.

Education

Under capitalism, most children receive only the minimum education needed to turn them into productive wage laborers for the capitalists. A handful of others attend elite universities and are trained to administer the institutions of capitalist rule.

Communists fight for the best possible education for all, tailored to our individual interests and abilities, to maximize our contribution to society as a whole. We reject means testing, vouchers, charter schools, privatization, and corporate influence in the classroom, which exacerbate inequality and are used to attack teachers and their unions.

A workers’ government would nationalize private educational institutions and merge them with public entities into a unified system. Tuition and fees would be abolished, and student debt would be written off. Students in higher education would receive grants and paid internships equivalent to the minimum wage of $5,000 per month.

After-school programs and community centers would be robustly funded to engage the youth and enhance their physical, intellectual, and emotional development beyond the classroom.

The working class makes up the overwhelming majority of society, and the repressive apparatus of the capitalist state is not enough to keep us down. The only way they can keep us from turning against them is by turning us against each other.

Fight division with class struggle and unity

Communists stand on the front lines of the fight against all forms of bigotry. We reject discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation and demand equal pay for work of equal value.

Racism, sexism, transphobia, and xenophobia are poison in the workers’ movement and must be driven out! We stand for socialist internationalism and fight against the imperialist policies that compel people to emigrate from their homes and loved ones.

Fighting against every kind of oppression is not only a moral imperative, it is a precondition for forging the class unity needed to ensure a successful revolution.

A workers’ government would end mass incarceration and release all political prisoners. Border walls, deportation centers, and surveillance would be relics of the capitalist past. Equal rights would be granted to all, no matter where they were born.

The tribal sovereignty of American Indian Nations and the right to self-determination of US territories would be recognized in deeds, not only in words, as we fight shoulder to shoulder against our common class enemies.

Genuine reparations for centuries of slavery and colonialism will finally be achieved once we expropriate the capitalists and begin building socialism.

Fight women’s oppression

We stand unconditionally for full reproductive rights, up to and including abortion, as part of a socialized health care system.

The burden of raising the next generation falls heavily on parents, and especially on mothers. With generous parental leave and accessible, full-time childcare facilities, parenthood would be radically transformed. Women would be freed from domestic servitude through an extensive public network of quality, affordable restaurants, laundry, and other socialized services.

Defend our rights

Bourgeois democracy is in crisis, and our civil rights and liberties are under constant attack. We defend basic freedoms such as assembly and expression, not as ends in themselves, but as means for broadening the class struggle and preparing for power.

A workers’ government would nationalize the means of communication and democratize access to the media and meeting spaces.

The planet is burning, and millions of people face displacement and death. The capitalist climate accords are a cynical smokescreen to cover up the criminal squandering of our habitat, driven by the short-term pursuit of profit.

Communists have an entirely different attitude toward the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.

A workers’ government would immediately begin the transition to clean energy by retooling the international economy in collaboration with workers across the world. Displaced workers would receive paid retraining and guaranteed employment with no reduction in wages or benefits. Billions would be invested to develop mitigation strategies and new production techniques. It would institute a socialized plan of production that measures human progress in generations, not fiscal quarters.

You cannot plan what you do not control, or control what you do not own. A workers’ government would nationalize mining, logging, transport, oil, gas, and other energy production and resource extraction industries. The food production and distribution giants would be nationalized and integrated into a rational plan while protecting small farmers and agricultural workers’ job security.

On this basis, a massive expansion of the world economy could be realized in complete harmony with the environment.

The market economy and nation-state are antiquated fetters on the further flourishing of humanity. Communists fight for world revolution and an end to artificial borders. Socialism is international or it is nothing!

We oppose imperialist intervention anywhere—no war but the class war!

A workers’ government would abolish all capitalist trade and bankers’ agreements and write off the debts imposed by imperialism. It would slash the military budget and invest in social needs.

In unity with our class sisters and brothers worldwide, our historic mission is to overthrow global capitalism, imperialism, and landlordism and to build a World Socialist Federation based on genuine equality, cooperation, and solidarity.