6 THE REVOLUTIONARY AGE Saturday, August 9, 1919 Draft of the Russian Communist Party Program 1) The Bassinero deceduthe proletariem dieta?
The Russian Revolution of November 7, Translated from the Moscow Pravda the Party reveals to the rest of the laboring By Wilenkin and exploited masses the hopelessness of their circumstances in capitalist society and the neorship, which with the aid of the poorest cessity of the social revolution in the interest peasantry and proletariat. is laying the It is necessary to state that the intrinsic foundation of Communist society. The their deliverance from the yoke of Capitalcharacter of this program must be altergrowth of the revolutionary movement of the ed, and that it is not only a brief sumsm. The party of the working class, the Conproletariat in all countries, and the world mary of the Marxian study of the neuest, munist Party, invites into its ranks all strata phenomena and development of the Soviet imperialistic phase of Capitalism, but also of the laboring and exploited population as far form of this movement whi directly aims to the experience of the world war and a as they accept the proletarian standpoint.
realize the proletarian dictatorship, and last, year of practice of the proletarian dictat 12) The concentration and centralization but not least, the beginning and course of deveorship.
of capital, undermining free competition, has lopment of the revolution in Austro Hungary The committee is forced to admit that led to the creation of mighty monopolistic and Germany all this indicates clearly that due to the complicated task and the corporations of capitalists syndicates, kartells, the era of the proletarian, Communist world haste with which it was done this draft trusts which control the whole economic life: revolution has come.
is merely the first rough compilation of the amalgamation of financial interests (bank 2) The correct comprehension of the the cumulative material. The committee capital) with concentrated industrial capital: cause, significance and purpose of this rev accordingly asks the comrades to discuss the invasion of foreign countries by the big olution requires an interpretation of the essence the matter thoroughly and propose corinterests; and the actual economic division of of Capitalism and its development through rections.
the whole world among the wealthiest capitalImperialism and the imperialistic war which In order to faciliate discussion, the ist powers, and, last but not least, it has led to accelerated the collapse of Capitalism.
introduction of new phraseology and the world war. This is an epoch of financial 3) The nature of Capitalism and bourother corrections, the draft is divided interests the epoch of the hostility of the big geois society, which still prevails in the major into numbered paragraphs; this numer interests of one country towards the big inteity of the civilized countries, and the evolution ation will have to be omitted in the fini! rests of another, which led to the world war.
of which inevitably leads to the Communist text.
13) This strife has led to the imperialistic revolution of the proletariat of the world, was THE COMMITTEE. war war for markets, for spheres of investcorrectly characterized in our old programment for capital, of raw material, of cheap if we do not consider the indefinite name of the means the increased productivity of labor and labor power, e. for world domination and party, Social Democratic in the following the growth of social wealth, enlarges the social for the strangling of the small and weak nathesis. inequality of bourgeois society, increases the ons. Such is the nature of the first impe4) The main peculiarity of such a society chasm between the possessing and non possess rialistic war of 1914 18.
is its commodity character of production, ing classes, swells the ranks of the unemployed, based on capitalistic relations of production, and makes more acute the wa of larger and 14) The high degree of development of by virtue of which the most important part of larger masses of labor.
world Capitalism in general, the supplantation the means of production and distribution of nf free competition by state monopolistic Cap9. With the increase and development of italism, the creation by the banks and also by commodities is the property of a small, cla all these contradictions characteristic of cap industrial corporations of a capitalist machinwhile the great majority of the population, the italist society, the discomtent of the latoring ery for public regulation of the process of proletarians and semi proletarians, who are forced due to their economic circumstances of things also grows adding to the number and exploited masses with the existing order production ani distribution, the increase to sell their labor power continually or perio and the unity of the proletarians, and thus their, of capitalist monopoly of the cost of living which is intimately combined with the growth dically, e. to become wage slaves in order, combat against the exploiters becomes ever and the suppression of the working classes by by their labor, to create the income of the more acute. At the same time the concentrasuperior classes and of society as a whole.
tion of the means of production and distributhe trusts, the bondage of the proletariat by 5) The sphere of capitalist production is enlarged ever more and more, and, with the labor in capital st enterprises, creates ever tion and the socialization of the process of the imperialistic state, the enormous hinderance of the political and economic struggle constant growth of technology, the economic faster the material possibility of supplanting the devastation produced by the imperialistic of the proletariat, the terror of poverty and significance of large enterprises is increased, the capitalist mode of production by the Comleading to the elimination of small independent munist, e. that social revolution which imwar all this accelerates the transition from producers, minimizing the role of the rest in personates the final aim of all the activity of Capitalism to the new era of the proletarianthe social economic life, and lowering them the International Communist Party as a consCommunist revolution. This epoch has come.
to the position of dependence on Capitalism. cious expression of the class movement.
15. The imperialistic war could not result 6) The growth of industrial science also 10) Supplanting private ownership of the in a just peace, or in a general and more or gives the exploiters an opportunity to utilize means of production and distribution by co less steadfast peace under the prevalenc of to a greater extent female and child labor in operative ownership and introducing a syst. bourgeois governments. It inevitably devethe process of the production and distribution of commodities. And as, on the other hand, matic organization of the process of social loped and develops into a civil war of the exit leads to the relative diminition of the derror uction in order to secure the welfare and ploited and laboring masses, with the prolefull development of every member of societv, tariat as their vanguard, against the bourmand for human labor by the employers, the supply of labor power in thus greater than the the social revolution of the proletariat will geoisie. The increasing offensive of the proledemand, consequently the dependence of wage kinh the division of society into classes and tariat and especially its triumphs in individual will thus liberate all oppressed humanitv. inascountries auguments the resistance of the exlabor upon capital increases.
7) Such a condition of affairs in the bour as it will end every form of exploitation ploiters and forces them to create new forms geois countries, and their constant reciprocal of one part of society by another.
of international unity of capitalists (as the competition, becoming ever more acute, in II) The dictatorship of the proietariat is League of Nations, etc. who organizing as the world market make more and more diffia sine qua non of this social revolution, e.
a world entity direct all their efforts against the cult the sale of commodities which are prothe installation of the proletarian political rule. proletariat in order to suppress the revolutionduced in constantly increasing quantities. Over which will effectively suppress any resistance arv movement of the working class of all countries.
production, manifesting itself in acute induston the part of the exploiters. Taking it as rial crises and the ensuing periods of industrial our task to make the proletariat capable of All this inevitably leads to civil within instagnation, is an inevitable consequence of the fulfilling its great mission in the interest of dividual countries and to revolutionary wars development of productive forces in bourgeois all humanity, the International Communist of proletarian countries defending themselves society. Crises and periods of industrial stag Party has organized itself into an independent against invasion as well as small suppressed nation, on the other hand, still more devastate political party in opposition to all bourgeois nations revolting against the yoke of the imthe small producers, still more increase the parties, to direct all manifestations of the class perialistic powers. Under these conditions the dependence of wage labor upon capital, still struggle of the proletariat, which reveals the slogans of pacifism, of international disarmfaster leads to the relative and sometimes ab irreconcilable contrast of the interests of the ing under Capitalism, arbitration, etc. are not solute degradation of the conditions of the exploiters and the exploited and indicates the only reactionary and utopian, but they are working class.
historical significance and inevitability of the intended as a direct deception of the laboring 8) Thus the growth of technology, which coming social revolution. At the same time (Continued on page 7)