We Need a Revolutionary Communist Party in the United States
It’s an exciting time. Later this month, we will found our party, the Revolutionary Communists of America, in Philadelphia. The largest gathering of communists in the United States in decades. Truly, a historic moment for communism in the heart of the empire.
I’ve always known something was wrong. My parents raised me as a Jehovah’s Witness. We would go door to door and talk to people about the real problems we face: an ever growing cost of living, constant war, and the harm that has been done to our planet. I was raised to believe that a government from God would fix these issues.
As Karl Marx puts it, religion is the “opium of the people.” And it certainly was for me. It soothed this deep pain I felt for our human condition, but ultimately left me powerless to change it. Always hoping that this savior would find it within his grace to take action during my lifetime. It ended up being an unsatisfying answer for the crises we face.
The masses recognize this, as we see a decline in membership, attendance, and importance of the church. Its only task is holding up the status quo, and promising the working class rewards in the after life. A convenient tool of the ruling class.
Our national politics are also a complete disaster. The Republican and Democratic parties in the US have nothing to offer. They’re two sides of the capitalist coin, who collaborate to fuck us over. Their only disagreements come in the form of petty culture war issues and identity politics that serve to divide the working masses.
Both parties consistently appropriate more funds for the police and endless war, while we drown in debt, our wages stagnate, and we see our fellow humans criminalized for not having a place to sleep. The effects of the climate crisis are being felt everywhere to varying degrees. Our streets are pot-hole ridden, our bridges collapse, ecological disasters go completely unchecked.
These parties produced a con-man and a demented old man who doesn’t know where he is half the time. The capitalist ruling class fought tooth and nail to prevent Bernie Sanders from coming to power, who has proven to be inept and feckless. Bernie in reality was trying to help them, to prevent a revolution to overthrow capitalism as a system.
People have had it. The working class isn’t stupid. Bernie and AOC recently did a rally and no one showed up. The people want real change, not some reformist lipstick on the pig. We need class fighters, not class traitors.
A communist party is needed. A Bolshevik party that serves as the living memory of the working class. A party armed with cadres that understand how our world works, think for themselves, and can come to correct political conclusions. A party that will prove to the working class that communism is the key to our collective liberation.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. The holocaust of the second world war would never have happened had the working class taken power in Germany. The genocide occurring in Gaza wouldn’t be happening if the working class had won in the United States. Who knows what untold crime against humanity will be committed in the name of capital next?
As Fiona Lali likes to say, “We have a world to win.” It’s not just about the things we’re fighting against: war, oppression, poverty; it’s about what we’re fighting for! A society planned around the needs of people rather than profit; a life of dignity. Housing, healthcare, jobs, education—for all. A future where the human race will make advancements in art, technology, science, medicine, and culture unfathomable today. A true step forward for the human race.