Mass Campaigns as an Apparatus for Broadening the Struggle

by Rick Gunderman

The success of every revolutionary movement is at the mercy of its ability to rally large numbers of people behind it. Mass organizations give the people a way to take direct action in a democratic way for causes they wish to take up. On their own, however, mass organizations are still only a means for the core activist vanguard to connect with non-political people and bring them into the struggle.

The simple reality of the matter is that non-political people have existed everywhere, in all phases of history, and it is the furthest thing from a simple task to change their beliefs. Decades worth of effort in many socialist countries still left considerable segments of the population apolitical. Plainly put, these are the people who are content to go about their lives as long as there is political and economic stability.

When there is stability, it is less likely that large swaths of the population will take up political struggle. Political struggle materializes when the people rise up against those aspects of their conditions that they cannot tolerate, and conversely political complacency is the norm  when large enough numbers of people can tolerate their conditions.

One major aspect of the manufactured satisfaction with capitalism is the efforts, especially of neoliberal, ultraconservative and libertarian ideologues, to convince the people that capitalism is the only way. The people are hypnotized by their claims that socialism has “failed” and that capitalism has proven itself to be immutable, unshakeable and  unequivocal.

In order that progressive activists may shake up this false sense of permanency, it is necessary to be cautious, tactful and discreet. Preaching the revolutionary theory of  Marxism-Leninism to people who may think that a parliamentary cabinet is a piece of furniture where legislators store their canned goods is about as useful as trying to fly with cardboard wings.

Explaining all the complexities of the communist movement’s history, philosophy, economics, political structures and the capitalist class’s unceasing disinformation campaign against it cannot be done in one short sitting. Even sustained efforts at educating somebody on this topic are useless if not a part of the learner’s personal growth as a class-conscious fighter for social justice and working class power.

Apolitical people can sometimes be deaf to any talk of politics, but other times they prove to be very open-minded as long as the facts add up and the argument is rational. Focusing on hard, readily verifiable facts and offering intelligent but easy to understand solutions that can be campaigned for is the best way to draw otherwise apolitical people into a political struggle.

This is also the best way to win over to the communist movement people who have pre-existing political inclinations. By solidly demonstrating good leadership in the mass organizations based on decidedly Marxist-Leninist principles and appealing to the common beliefs of the organization’s members, the non-communists can see with their own eyes the effectiveness of an activist armed with genuine revolutionary theory. This offers the best chance to attract even the most committed anarchists, social democrats and libertarians to our ideology.

Put in the simplest terms, actions speak louder than words. Chanting complex and esoteric political slogans with convoluted and tangled theories that make sense only to political science graduate students will advance a movement no further beyond campus pubs. The core vanguard of activists must be have the deepest and most composite understanding of Marxist-Leninist theory to help them guide the struggle for social justice and working class power, but only for this purpose. As a tool for advancing the mass political struggle it is virtually useless.

This is not to say that the masses should not be exposed to communism and some aspects of Marxist-Leninist theory. On the contrary, it is necessary for the relevance of the vanguard to the current struggle and for the constant replenishment of the vanguard with new leadership.

This is one of the major purposes for building the mass organizations, from the vanguard’s perspective. Those in the vanguard do not cherish their leadership as some sort of noble title. They know that their leadership is only legitimate only so long as they are actively carrying out the duties democratically assigned to them by those they are responsible to. While it is important for the leadership to retain stable working relations with each other, the vanguard leadership must keep in mind the value of refreshing their ranks as often as possible.

If the core vanguard leadership is composed of the most advanced and dedicated activists, it is self-apparent how developing the mass organizations is a matter of developing good leadership skills among the people. When all of the people are capable of good leadership, there ceases to be a distinction between the leaders and the led. The ultimate result – far off as it may be – is all of the people running society collectively.

For the replenishment of the vanguard, strong mass organizations are needed. How do the ranks of the mass organizations get replenished, then?

In a word, mass campaigns. A mass organization is not just an organization of the masses – it is an organization for the masses. They must be composed of, as well as constantly among, the people. They must be public and visible, able to attract attention by calling on the people to struggle for the betterment of all of humanity.

A student union federation cannot just stay silent and unperceived to the students it claims to represent. It must get the students involved in campaigns to demand lower tuition fees, better learning facilities and student housing, access to well-paying jobs, a university administration that solicits their opinions, etc. It must ask the students what they want, and as a democratic body reach conclusive plans of action in the name of the students.

To build a student union, clubs and student associations under their umbrella must always be expanded. Their executive and legislative institutions must be democratic to the core, with expansive representation and direct democracy employed and expanded on a constant basis.

Another example is the Palestine liberation movement. Organizations exist that are dedicated to this goal, and for their campaign’s goal to be achieved they must always be out agitating among the people. The activists in the Palestine liberation movement must be patient and sensitive to the masses, working to educate without aggravating the wrong segments. At the same time, they must be vigilant of a powerful, well-organized, resourceful enemy – the Zionist movement. Their task is, through their campaigns, to win the masses away from Zionist ideology and toward the ideology of national liberation.

However the tactics are put into exact practice, the paramount determinant in a student union’s success as a mass organization is its drive to engage every single student in their campaigns for the betterment of all students. The most interested students will become leaders in the student union, building it as a mass organizations. These leaders, if exposed to a core vanguard with a solid revolutionary theory, will be of the highest quality and will be worthy to lead the whole movement to victory.

It is important to understand that although the vanguard is in the leadership, a true revolutionary movement vests all power in the masses – that is, those masses that will participate. The mass organization, in a revolutionary society, is the source of all power. The vanguard simply serves to direct the masses in their development – they are there to elevate the masses.

If a revolutionary movement can be thought of as a tree, the masses are the tree’s sustenance– sunlight, soil nutrients, water, etc. The mass organizations are the leaves and the roots, the means by which the tree absorbs its sustenance and converts it into energy. The vanguard is the trunk and the branches, channelling all of these processes to ensure the healthy development of the tree.

As inexact a metaphor as this undoubtedly is, it shines light on what role the vanguard, the organized masses and the masses at large all play in revolutionary activism. If the tree hopes to absorb sustenance, its leaves and roots must be healthy and open to input – but also capable of filtering out that which harms it.

*originally written and posted on Facebook on January 12, 2012.

Build the People’s Mass Democratic Organizations

by Rick Gunderman

In those countries where organizing is legal enough to allow it, the first task in starting political struggle is to form a core group of leaders that are capable of rallying a periphery of supporters into action. This core vanguard must be politically advanced, class conscious, dedicated to social justice, but above all else must have strong, deep-rooted connections with the broad masses of people. In this way, the vanguard does not condemn itself to political obscurity and irrelevance, but exists with and for the people.

It is of great importance that those in the vanguard are able to effectively marshal people, especially their supporters, into action. When the vanguard is capable of this, this periphery of supporters must be shaped into various mass organizations that are capable of attracting and mobilizing ever-larger numbers of people to achieve political goals.

Mass organizations are the peoples’ progressive forces in the struggle against capitalism, imperialism and reaction. It is in these organizations, where large amounts of people can unite on a common basis to work for a specific and defined set of goals, that the foundations for a socialist society are laid.

Mass organizations are where the people learn what it means to challenge and confront the powerful, and thereby develop class-consciousness in a practical way. It is where information related to political struggle is disseminated and discussed, and the progressive movement as a whole is strengthened by this collective generation of knowledge. It is where democracy is learned and applied, where the will of the people is clearly expressed in concrete ways.

It is not out of thin air that mass organizations appear – they appear naturally in the course of political struggle. This is true universally, although from one country and one historical period to the next they can take on greatly different forms.

Sometimes mass organizations are started by experienced and dedicated activists, other times by regular people inspired to take up arms for a particular cause. Sometimes full-time activists and casual activists work together. This does not change the nature of mass organizations – they are always the seeds of mass, socialist democracy. Whether they yield a good harvest, however, depends entirely on the quality of their leadership.

An example of what mass organizations are and how they work can be found in labour unions. Labour unions can encapsulate whole workplaces of people into a single democratic unit, where all workers are members and where their will is elucidated and their opinions constantly solicited.

The labour union can work for its membership, using their funds not only in the struggle to better their members’ lives but to enrich them as well. Many unions provide or subsidize recreational activities and vacations alongside housing and pensions for their members.

The quality of leadership of a labour union is directly correlated to their success as mass organizations. A union is successful when its members are paid fair wages for their labour, when its members are actively involved in both the decision-making process and the social life of the union, and when it is constantly striving for the education and consciousness development of its members.

A labour union is not successful when its leadership exists above and disconnected from its membership. When its leadership collaborates with the capitalist bosses, when its members are hardly or not at all involved in the decision-making process, and when it fails to bring benefits and good wages to its members, the union is a moribund shell of a mass organization.

Another example of a mass organization is Greenpeace, an international group for environmental activism. Greenpeace unites environmentalists of all political stripes for action on issues like climate change, nuclear waste, whaling and deforestation.

For Greenpeace to be a successful mass organization, its members need to be active participants not only in their actions but in their decision-making process as well. Its publications must be regular, informative and free of charge. The path to irrelevancy is lined with solicited donations and bumper stickers as the primary means of member engagement.

Labour unions and environmental groups alike are flexible and stable mass organizations with broad, long-term goals. Conversely, there are mass organizations that are impermanent and narrow in focus.

One such example is the historic movement for women’s suffrage. While the women themselves were often politically involved on multiple fronts, they united on the basis of winning the franchise for the female sex. Upon winning this, the women’s suffrage movement lots its raison d’être and became a chapter in history.

Impermanency in no way negates the value of these types of mass organizations – although the term “mass movement” may be more accurate if they are not united in a single organization. Rather, they can be a great impetus for expanding the progressive movement as a whole. The women’s suffrage movement was not a fly-by-night act of rebellion, but a part of the wider movement for women’s liberation. From the women’s suffrage movement emerged many great feminists like Nellie McClung, Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst. 

This shows that mass organizations can either be permanent and broadly focused, or temporary and narrowly focused, depending on exact goals and purposes.

In either case, the core vanguard must clearly understand the purpose of mass organizations as they relate to the long-term goal of achieving mass socialist democracy. Mass organizations are the fertile ground where socialism grows. They are the fountains from whose heads spring the waters of democracy. If the core vanguard is the roof of the house of socialism, the mass organizations are the foundation, the frame, the bricks and the mortar.

It is a mistake to view mass organizations as the guiding force in the revolutionary process, or to believe that they need no guiding force at all. Every revolution needs plans, direction, leadership and the ability to replace old state institutions with new and radically different ones. This is the role the core vanguard fills.

A car could not run without an engine, and that engine cannot run without gas. A revolution cannot succeed without a vanguard, but the vanguard cannot succeed without the masses. Herein lies the reason for the importance of mass work, and also of maintaining a solid and effective vanguard.

*originally written and posted on Facebook on January 11, 2012.