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Georgian communists union
New Communism Alternative
Manifesto
I
Preamble
Humanity’s path on earth is a trajectory of its struggle for freedom, freedom not only from oppression and exploitation, but freedom as a basic condition for creative self-realization, a search for truth, for the enjoyment of life and eternity.
And looking back over the history of the struggle and those who fought it, we believe that a world of such freedom is possible. At the same time, if we look at the current condition of man, it will be evident that this possibility can be realised only through enormous efforts and the radical transformation of society.
The goal of transforming both the self and the social world is the primary and possibly the only important challenge to humanity ever, and one that determines all other aims.
Guided by this supreme aim, realizing that its approach is possible only by the direct practical efforts of each of us, resolving concrete current problems and realizing the existing potential and chances as an attempt to answer to the challenges relating to the local or global, current or visible perspectives, we have founded the Communist Alternative.
II
Capitalism today – the next crisis or the beginning of an end?
Today, the euphoria caused by the collapse of Soviet Union has finally subsided, a euphoria based on the belief that the “new world order” imposed by the West was providential, and that the so-called ‘Washington consensus’ and the free market economy were the only possible alternatives.
The current economic crisis is only a symptom pointing to a more important, dramatic event - the archaism, inadequacy and injustice of the existing political order. Today, we consider the attempt to maintain this order by any means to be a great danger and evil, at a time when the falseness of the belief in its invincibility and non-alternativeness are becoming evident to more and more people. All other social, political, economic, ecological and cultural problems are related to this falseness. The order that represents the primary enemy of man is called Capitalism.
III
Is the order we live in eternal? - or – Order we live in – is it eternal?
For all the progress they represent over the societies of the past, none of the social orders existing today have managed to create the conditions for meeting the interests of all people, all the desires and aspirations of humans as developing beings. All and have ended up reverting into a form of bondage for the majority. The evolution of social formations is a history of struggle for liberation from the old order and for the creation of a new, higher, all-embracing and just coexistence. No one denies that today’s order is progressive compared to the feudal one, in the same way that the latter was more progressive than slaveholding societies. But it is precisely the appropriateness of these processes makes it not only possible but necessary to liberate oneself from the ‘law’ available today, and form its resolution in higher order of logic.
IV
Bourgeoisie and proletariat
We define Capitalism as a contemporary symbolic order in which the control over property, means of production and resources and distribution are made in the interests of capitalists, who have grown rich by exploiting the labor of others, and which has divided the world into two fundamentally antagonistic classes which drive historical development - bourgeoisie and proletariat. Along with the capitalists themselves, the bourgeoisie comprises those hired, grafted or manipulated by them, including people in the government, the intelligentsia and the service sector elite whose commercial interests cause them to support the existence, maintenance and continuation of this order. And the proletariat is the class of workers that possess the potential to become revolutionary agents. This includes the great majority of the world’s population in both developed and developing countries who do not have direct control over the means of production, and who are forced to search for means of surviving within this order and – generally by exchanging their own labor and hope for future for the kind of ‘goods’ – often only bread and anaesthetics – offered by capitalism.
V
Global capitalism – challenge for all
The basic ‘value’ of this order, the logic of capital, determines the character of all political, social, cultural, and interpersonal relations in today’s reality. This means that all the persons representative of any stratum of society work more or less for the interests of one or the other of the two groups – directly or indirectly, voluntarily or forcefully, consciously or unconsciously. That part of the population which does not realize the need to take responsibility over its own life, as well as the fluctuating part which has not decided whether to stand on the side of change or on that of the bourgeoisie, which takes the position of the passive observer, or which considers itself apolitical, ignores the simple truth that any position that does not oppose capitalism, including denying having any position, has political weight and value and serves the interests of the system.
The final polarization of the world into two opposing classes also means that such ‘problems’ as ‘the issue of possibility of communism in one county’, in other words, whether there is a level of development in this or that country which should lead the social revolution or not, has become completely irrelevant. Today we live in one house, in which the capitalist order rules; we are in the final stage of its development and, despite the fact that its domination has continued for so long, it will inevitably be changed by the new order.
But, again, this order will not be brought about without determination, hard work and struggle. Capitalism will not abandon its positions without a fight. Just as no social project implemented so far has been carried out without the effort of large numbers of human beings, so communist transformation will not be carried out without the conscious struggle of people. Any process which has been left to take its course heads inevitably towards degeneration, decay, and destruction. These days it is very easy to imagine such an alternative: either we ourselves determine our lives, our present and our future, or – out of inactivity, fear, ignorance, laziness or whatever – we shall inherit a dystopian reality, in which, given existing circumstances, the worst of all outcomes – injustice, hunger, poverty, diseases, ecological catastrophes, wars and so on – will come to pass.
VI
Anti-capitalism and its goals
More and more people are realizing the need to struggle to change the existing order. The growing anti-capitalist movement is varicolored and formless. Perhaps from a tactical point of view this is a merit, not a defect. But, although its basic motto –‘another world is possible!’ – fills everybody with enthusiasm, its effort is mainly based on the negation, the criticism of the existing order, and of anger caused by the evils of capitalism. There is no agreed opinion about a positive alternative, not even a very general one; no final order, which we could see from our present position. What we offer these forces, with whom solidarity and cooperation would be necessary, as well as with other communist movements in what we might call the final order, is the broadest perspective possible today, in which the conditions of resolving the current problems, be it political, economic, ecological, gender and so on, should be realized as communism.
Thus, our political goal is a movement from capitalism to communism, participation in the preparation and implementation of global communist revolution!
Precisely this perspective should define our attitude towards both local and global problems, as well as the ways and means of carrying out these positions.
But what is communism?
VII
Communism
It is clear that the greater the distance a perspective takes on its subject, the more general its description of it will be. The formation of a communist society is the constant process of a multitude of different opinions, of comparing ideas and compromises, of criticism and invention. There is no precise and detailed plan of implementing communism, and any project that declares itself as the only, universal and true doctrine deserves to be treated with scepticism. However, there are general features that should undoubtedly characterize communism as an order, and which should ensure just, peaceful and deserved coexistence.
Firstly, it is obviously a mode of production and form of ownership. Today, under capitalism, private ownership is declared the eternal cornerstone of the existing order, despite the fact that as an institution it is a product of history created at a definite stage of our evolution. Capitalism is in fact just the most recent form that the historical development of human societies has taken, and just as it came into existence, so it will one day pass out of existence. Capitalism has not responded convincingly to the oldest question – that of why all property, means of production and resources should be under the control of a single class of private owners, when they are product of the labor of many hundreds or thousands, and why the capitalist who appropriates the lion’s share of the wealth created by the exploitation of others’ labor should own more material goods, while the actual creators of these goods receive only enough to keep them dying from hunger, just so they can go on creating more wealth for the capitalist. And many people are deprived even of this, because capitalist production requires fewer workers than there actually are, consigning many to the ‘excess’ part of the workforce.
We ask: is it possible to establish an order in which property, the means of production and resources are managed not by capitalists, but by the whole of society, expressing its interests through democratic procedures, and ensuring that:
- The entrepreneur, who has a mind for creative organization, receives enough of the social product to carry out his work and realise himself through it.
- People who are ready to join in this work receive enough to be able to live a worthwhile and valuable life;
- Those who do not wish to work this way receive enough to be able to live normal lives and not die of hunger or poverty caused by disease.
In addition, to ensure that all have the time and opportunity to care for the full-fledged realization of their own interests and creative potential.
Based on the analyses of the resources available today, a great number of scientific studies conducted on this issue and the projects created on their basis, we consider that the answer to the question to be yes, it is possible.
VIII
Utopia, or the project of the coming reality
If we try to imagine the kind of global order that could exist based on such principles, other features of communist society become clear. Today the resources already exist to enable a just distribution of the world’s social product, one which would ensure that no one dies of hunger and disease – phenomena which are already forgotten in the richest parts of the world. As humanity, we are a single society and it is the responsibility of each of us to make our contribution towards creating a reality in which everyone will be unconditionally provided with the barest necessities, with a basic income. In today’s world, the ideology of ‘human rights’, based on the sacredness of private ownership, serves mostly to protect the rights of the capitalist class. If by the notion human we mean precisely all persons, then we must admit that, firstly, it is necessary to provide humans standing on the lowest rung of the social ladder with the right not only to freedom from oppression, but to the basic requirements and conditions for economic and social development. And this implies a fundamentally different logic from today’s economic and political one.
There are well-known proposals* for carrying out the goals of the first stage, for example, the so called Tobin tax, which would enable the mobilization of sufficient funds to resolve many global problems by imposing a minimum tax on financial speculation. The problem of carrying out this project is not its impossibility, but the capitalists’ refusal to render even the smallest part of the wealth they have accumulated by exploiting others, and the inability of governments to carry out a policy oriented towards people’s well-being, bought and bribed as they have been by multinational corporations. Today capitalists grow rich not only from their intellect and labor, but mostly by exploiting others: a capitalist, for example, can move his factory to China, where he pays ten cents for producing a product that in America would have cost one dollar. Substitution of the wealth distribution principle in exchange for the capitalist’s personal interests should be directed towards the formation of a new order in the world labor market. Immediate and unconditional writing-off of the debts of the ‘third world’, the establishment of the ‘Tobin tax’, the provision of people with a basic minimum and democratic procedures of wealth distribution will cause the gradual equalization of labor value across the whole planet. And this, along with the other factors, will make it possible to remove artificial restrictions on peoples’ migration, finally abolishing borders between countries. One result of this will be that the need for a military-industrial complex will cease to exist, and such systems will eventually be liquidated. Not only the funds released in this way, but also an economy based on public interests – not a ‘free’ market economy, which means only the capitalist’s unlimited freedom, but a regulated economy guided by public interests – involving the renationalization of the communal sector, the establishment of state control over capital flows, and other measures, will enable us to resolve a lot of problems of vital importance, including ecological ones, so that our future generations will be able to live in an environment where self-realization is not only universally possible, but pleasant as well.
IX
System and man
By declaring the capitalist order to be man’s main enemy, by realizing that the world is divided into two parts: exploiters and exploited, we do not classify people as good and bad. The influence of external conditions and environment forms the character of every human in such a way that negative and positive aspects, be it only potentially, are always present in it. And the basic values of the existing order, the system of values, and the objects of human aspirations determine which of them will be realized. It is obvious that in the society of commodity fetishism, in which money stands on top of system of values, people are formed differently than in a society where orientation towards truth, love and sympathy are most important for them.
Our struggle is directed against a system, and not against men. Declaring that capitalism is evil, we do not mean that any particular capitalist is undoubtedly bad. But we emphasize that capitalism as an order appeals to and is based on the most negative traits in individual – lies, fear, greed, egoism, hatred – while communism appeals to the most positive features in man – aspiration for truth, bravery, justice, moderation, solidarity and love. Today, the assets of the worlds’ wealthiest 200 capitalists are equal to the assets of 45% of the world’s poorest population, approximately 2,700,000,000 persons. According to the UN statistics, one person, usually a child, dies from drinking contaminated water every 15 seconds in the ‘third world’. We believe that we should struggle to change an order in which a small group of people can buy gold-plated automobiles out of boredom, addressing their ‘existential problems’ by adding to its already huge collection of automobiles, can build houses that imitate the Japanese imperial palace, or travel to the Moon; while for the same cost a number of countries could resolve problems of hunger, AIDS or drug abuse.
X
Lessons of failure – what does the past experience teach us to?
A great number of people, especially in the countries of the former Soviet Union, would agree with the original idea of communism, if we described what it meant while merely changing its name. And the tragic and painful Soviet experience frightens and scares them. For that reason, many have suggested keeping the content of the communist programme, while changing its name. We consider this unjustifiable for several reasons: if the name is to be changed, then it’s better to call the Soviet reality by its real name - it was not an attempt at communism, but the project of usurping power by propagating the ideology of communism, not a voluntary cooperation among nations, but a dictatorship exercised over annexed countries. The essence of Stalinism is not the democratic transformation of society, but bureaucratic totalitarianism managed by commercial interests. The notion of communism and its content were not invented by the Soviet authorities. The governments of many countries have applied and continue to apply democratic rhetoric to mask their real dirty intentions, but no one has suggested this is a reason for changing the word democracy. Religious wars and fundamentalism have taken more lives than all other catastrophes taken together, but no one has proposed, for example, changing the name of the Roman Catholic Church because of the Inquisition, or to give a different name to Islam because of Al-Qaeda. And it is painful experience – not only the communist one, but others such as fascism and neoconservatism – that offers greater potential in so far as it will not allow us to weaken our attention and relate superficially to the project of change, especially to those standing behind them. It is a well-known fact that any important social transformation is preceded by unsuccessful attempts to realise it: no one refuses to learn to walk because he or she fell over on all their previous attempts. On the contrary, it is exactly these failures that cultivate and develop the accuracy and prudence that are needed to walk properly.
We declare that we dissociate ourselves from the specifically Soviet practice of ‘communism’ and all the movements or even ideological constructions with changed face, and which have maintained themselves under their own inertia from the Soviet Union up to now.
XI
Opportunity for all
We call on all political, social and non-governmental forces to participate in a discussion of communism as a project. In our opinion, it is very difficult for political parties to give a rational basis to their programmes without aiming at some kind of determinate final order. For instance, how does a monarchist imagine the world of the future? With monarchies ‘restored’ everywhere, or with certain democratic nations cooperating to maintain their archaic, useless and expensive royal ‘authorities’, which have no power in reality and fulfill the ‘honorary’ function of ‘crown of the deceased’!? How do the first, the second or others (which?) substantiate both the possibility and necessity? What type of order is the conservative or traditionalist oriented towards? Can the preservation of any tradition be an end in itself? Are all traditions good? In some mountain regions the tradition of the blood feud has been maintained up until the present day. Do we need it? If even only in this case the answer is no, then it will be evident that it is necessary to have a future guideline for the critical approach to traditions. It is wrong to understand the word tradition as a purely positive term: if we do not know what kind of house our future house will be, we will not know what things we’ll need to take from the old house, what things we should throw away as excess rubbish, and what new things to purchase.
We are ready to cooperate with all real (and not merely self-declared) democratic forces; and, finally, with all forces if our vision of the final order and the character of political practice do not exclude each other.
XII
Political practice - principles and methods
By political practice we mean not only ‘political’ activity in the narrow professional meaning of the word, but any activity that has the aim or potential of directly or indirectly influencing the political processes.
We declare the basic principles of political practice to be the following:
Truth
In every concrete situation, our aspiration will be not power, benefit or reputation, but the principle of searching, establishing and implementing the truth – the only true position. It seems natural for us when the search and service for truth is declared the primary aim of the art. But the majority of people think that they have nothing to do with politics. It is clear that this kind of false consciousness is established by exactly the people – the rulers of the existing order – who have the most to lose if the people knew the truth. We declare that politics is the same high form of human activity as science or art, and that in every concrete political situation the search for truth, devotion and dedication to concrete problems, even if they contradict our personal views and everyday interests, are the basic guidelines of politics.
Nonviolence
Communist revolution is inevitable, but it is our goal and responsibility to take into account the tragic experience of the past and master the contemporary methods of struggle. We are aware that those who unjustly got rich merely by being greedier and more merciless than others will not voluntarily give up anything for the benefit of society. And, while not denying the right of exploited people to revolt, we consider that the experience of struggle, particularly in the twentieth century, not only demonstrates the greater effectiveness of nonviolent methods – disobedience, noncooperation, strike, boycott and so on – but also their effectiveness with regards to developing popular political consciousness.
Solidarity
We do not require that the democratic forces we fight alongside hold the same political and ideological positions as we do. On the contrary, we consider that, given the strength and brutality of capitalism, any well-defined, centralized force will quickly become vulnerable to it. We are aware that the goals of the proletariat and the conditions of its struggle are different in different parts of the world, and think that by acting locally we can move towards resolving many global problems. But we also see that there are problems that are common to all or most of us. On these issues we think it necessary to cooperate and carry out joint projects with all political forces whose vision does not exclude ours. However, the logic of resolving them justly will inevitably lead towards the need for global social revolution, that is, to the eventual formation of mass movements based on popular participation and solidarity.
Education
To turn communist revolution into reality, a sufficient number of educated individuals is needed. Thus, education and its dissemination are the most important goal of political practice. We do not mean the bourgeois meaning of education where, using schools and universities, mass media and other means of propaganda to impose rules and fill brains with information, capitalism indoctrinates people in order to create the wide assortment of slaves with theoretical, technical and other forms of ‘knowledge’ and equip them with false conscience based on false values for finally ensuring the continuation of the existing order. We mean such education that helps to hold the true point of vision and develops the features necessary for activity.
Strength
Capitalism, which is based on the most brutal, material, biological interests, on the ‘philosophy of the stomach’, shows unimaginable cruelty when its own interests are endangered. It uses all methods of struggle, including so-called prohibited methods, ranging from ignoring and discrediting groups and individuals to physically destroying them. Therefore it is obvious that in the struggle to win people to our point of view, we should not expect quick and easy successes. In order to pursue our policy over time, our necessary weapon is patience and strength.
Courage
Capitalism has repeatedly demonstrated its cruelty in Genoa or Baghdad, Cuba or Nigeria. We consider that, given this cruelty, we should act not on the basis of fear, but despite this fear. No important project or discovery has been carried out without human courage and risk-taking. Even to begin with, imagining the communist perspective itself needs courage, as such a vision confronts us with the necessity for the hardest kind of critical revision: that of one’s own world-view, of the system of values based on the logic of capital and rules of relations and possibility, with that of radical renovation of conscience. Only he who not only sees the injustice and imprudence of the existing order, but refuses to accept the fate initially prepared for him and who is ready, given even the great probability of failure, to take steps towards his own merited being, will be able to help realize the project of transforming each and all of us.
XIII
The nearest goals
At this stage, the primary goals of our movement are to conduct an internal discussion of the issues of organization, effective means of action and, simultaneously, to get to know wider circles of people, especially the proletariat, with communism as our idea and understanding of the project. Establishing contact with the world’s other democratic and communist movements and the publication of a separate text is part of our programme in the near future, where we will set out our view of, and proposals for resolving, the problems existing today in Georgia.
We do aim to be a pluralist movement for its own sake, as we believe that we should look for strength in justice and not in numbers. At the same time, though, we are open to any type of cooperation with those who are ready to share our view.
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* The manifesto format does not enable to extensively touch these programs and their separate items, such key terms as ‘Tobin tax’, ‘basic income’, ‘regulated economy’ and others. In the near future, we will separately publish the texts of these programs.
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