Imperialism in the 21st century

Today we live in a capitalist and patriachal class society, in which workers (proletariat) and capitalists (bourgeois) face each other in an unforgiving contradiction. Based on their contradicting objective interests as the exploited and exploiting class, they are waging constant and unconciliatory class war.

The land, we live in, is one of the strongest imperialist countries of the all-encompassing capitalist world system today. German imperialism through its state apparatus is a worldwide active force, which surpresses and exploits other people in the interests of German monopolies. German enterprises such as VW, Daimler, Allianz and Siemens as gigantic monopolies (world monopolies) exert determining influence all over the world. They‘ve divided the world market between themselves and the capitalists of other countries. Today, production of these monopolies takes the shape of global production chains. There is a tendency of monopolization on all levels of production. This corresponds to the general capitalist tendency of capital concentration and centralization.

The massive development of technology, the ever more growing monopolization and the internationalization of production have already laid the foundation for the overcoming of capitalism. The massively advanced socially connected production objectively pushes forward to production according to a centralized plan instead of competition and centralized distribution of the produced goods.

The German state stays the indispensable instrument of power for the German bourgeois, to keep the capitalist exploitation system up and running. It creates the best possible economical, political and military social conditions to enforce the interests of the capitalist class in general and of the monopolies in particular.

The capitalist order is regularly concussed by gigantic and ever greater growing worldwide economical crisis (crisis of overproduction). They are accompanied by wars between capitalist and imperialist countries, in which they fight for markets, resources and spheres of influence.

For years we have been observing the sharpening of all capitalist contradictions of every level. These contradictions are carried into the imperialist centers more and more. A constant threat of wars and nearly insurmountable economical and political crisis become part of everyday life. Furthermore, the capitalist mode of production leads to the systematical destruction of our natural environment. All this leads to spontaneous worker‘s struggles, uprisings and broad protest movements against the effects of the capitalist system. It puts the revolutionary overcoming on the agenda.

Working class and oppressed masses

Exploitation of labor power and thus the acquisition of surplus value are still the central fundament of the capitalist system. Therefore, the organization of the working class‘ struggle for socialism remains the vital precondition for the overthrowing of capitalism and the organizational level of the workers and their struggles is ultimately the success criteria of our communist work.

Contradicting with claims of bourgeois sociology, the working class has neither disappeared nor been decimated in numbers today. Quite the contrary: All over the world as well as in Germany it grows. Based on the developments of technology the production and labor process changes; and the appearance and composition of the working class with it.

We consider everyone, who does not possess means of production and thus is forced to make a living by selling one‘s own labor power, who basically performs executing and productive tasks in the social organization of labor and who‘s share of the social wealth is essentially reduced to the possibility of reproducing the labor power of oneself and one‘s family, to be part of the working class. In the broader sense family members also form part of it. This holds true especially for children, not for wage working partners and retired workers.

Today in Germany the working class is strongly differentiated – correlating to the more and more complex interweaving of different work and exploitation conditions. Yet, the overall tendency in all strata of the working class are decreasing wages, flexible working hours and poorer living conditions. The drastic raise of ‚atypical work contracts‘ (temporary work, part-time jobs, marginal employment) also puts pressure on the wages of the core workforce. Also, there are tendencies of proletarization among the petit-bourgeois strata (e.g. freelancer, craftsmen and intellectuals), which make the working class grow even more. They base on the ever more advancing capitalist penetration of all economical sectors.

Especially the opening of traditional handicraft and the privatization of state property have helped this penetration massively. As a consequence, today most parts of the health sector and reproduction are totally penetrated by and subjected to the capital (‚white factories‘). These ‘white factories‘ also work purely for profit and base themselves on the absorption of the surplus value created by their employees. Hardly any area of society can be found that is not based on the principle of surplus value production.

In the capitalist society in general and in Germany in particular certain sectors of the oppressed masses and the working class are especially oppressed and exploited. Some of them are women, youth and migrants.

Women have been oppressed in multiple ways for thousands of years. On the one hand through the ruling social system and on the other hand by the patriarchy. Patriarchy is the oldest oppression mechanism of the world. It originates from the first division of labor and the formation of private property. Patriarchy does not only divide society as a whole, but especially the oppressed masses and the working class. Thus, it is a fundamental tool for the upholding of this exploitative society. The past shows, that patriarchy will not simply be erased by the socialist revolution, but that in socialism a concrete struggle against its different forms and effects still has to be lead. Only communism will bring the ultimate end to patriarchy. Nevertheless, as communists we have to fight it actively on all levels of society and in all areas of our life already today. This way, women will take their place in the struggle for their liberation from class society and patriarchy and become vanguard fighters for a free society.

The youth is the most dynamic part of society. They are not bound to the capitalist system so strongly and are particularly open for revolutionary ideas. They are those that will have to construct a future society and have a strong interest in a liveable future. This system offers no perspective to them. A lot of worsening in the living and working conditions is experienced first by them. Therefore, they are special sources of revolutionary potential and we as communists have to develop special work with them.

Migrants today are exposed to special oppression through racism, chauvinism and fascism. The working class living in Germany is international and consists of all parts of the world. Not only in everyday life but in the working world as well migrants oftentimes experience special oppression and economic exploitation. At the same time they bring along combat experience and resistance traditions from their home countries which is not to be underestimated. They provide important potential for the revolutionary fight in Germany.

It is to be aimed at to recognize and organize those and further special potentials in the oppressed masses and the working class for the revolutionary struggle.

Our common goal: Communism

The only way out of war, crisis and the exploitation of humans through humans is the socialist revolution. It fulfills the objective class interest of the proletariat. From a historic viewpoint, the overcoming of capitalism is the historic objective that is to be solved by the proletariat. The communists see it as their duty to win over their class siblings for exactly that task and to master it successfully.

The capitalists are not going to give up their power voluntarily and instead use all of their available military, political and economic resources to uphold their rule. That is why this revolution can only be carried out successfully through a political-military battle by the as a class organized workers.

The imperialist state and its political body must be smashed by the working class in the socialist revolution. Only through this action the working class gains the power to start with the construction of socialism. Socialism with its planned economy and the as a socialist council republic organized ruling of the working class (dictatorship of the proletariat) provides the necessary transitional form to communism.

Prior attempts to build socialism showed that it is indispensable to continue class struggle with unrestrained energy in a socialist society. The aim is to constantly educate the working class in an increasing manner, to politicize them and to produce actual teachers of society. Should this not succeed impends among other things the bureaucratization of the socialist state, the development of new exploitation all the way to the restauration of capitalism – whether under a socialist smokescreen or through open counter revolution.

Our goal is the liberation of all people in communism. Our goal is a society without exploitation and oppression, without wars and crises,without environmental destruction, a society without the state and the patriarchy, a society where everyone can live according to their need and work according to their abilities. Only under communism every suppression mechanism and remaining defect of the old society belongs to the past and generations of people grow up only knowing exploitation from history books.

Reconstruction of the Communist Party in Germany

To reach the aforementioned goals we necessarily need a communist party; a new type of party, a cadre party, which applies Marxism-Leninism to today‘s condition and develops it further, which is represented throughout the whole country and anchored in the repressed masses and the working class through its mass organizations, which recognizes all types of battle for the destruction of capitalism, uses them and covers its structures from the eyes of the class enemy.

There exists no such party in Germany today. That is why the most important tasks of the communists in Germany is the creation of a Communist Party of Leninist type. We view it as our duty to contribute to the creation of said party in Germany.

The Marxist-Leninist movement is in a crisis on a political, ideological and organizational level, founded on objective and subjective factors. This applies worldwide in general and especially in Germany. Organizational the communist movement in Germany is in a weak and fragmented state. Isolation, the search for errors and differences as well as prevalent regionalism shape most revolutionary and communist circles, groups and organizations.

A communist party cannot emerge spontaneously. Its construction requires conscious efforts and planned actions. Contrary to the over and over raising spontaneous revolutionary movement we set it as our goal to contribute to the systematic creation of a communist party, on all levels and with all consequences.

We are an organization, that does not understand itself as a communist party, yet the construction of such a party is our goal. The path to the construction of the communist party in Germany contains diverse tasks and today we already see different approaches to follow it. Thus, we see other revolutionary projects as an enrichment of our common struggle.

Form an Organization of struggle

Today we see it as our task to form the preconditions to the foundation of communist party despite all weaknesses and defects. This means, to constitute communist structures and form communist cadres. It means to apply the Leninist organizational principles (Democratic Centralism, revolutionary discipline, militancy, critic and self-criticism as an law of development). It means to develop a revolutionary strategy and tactics, to study, defend, develop and vividly apply Marxism-Leninism; to develop a communist policy in the different areas of class struggle and to activate, politicize and to organize the oppressed masses through revolutionary agitation and propaganda.

An organization that earnestly declares the consequent overthrowing of capitalist exploitation as its aim, can only reach this through the accumulation and unification of numerous talents and skills. It can only be reached through the organization and education of revolutionary cadres ready to make sacrifices. Especially the struggle against oneself‘s bourgeois and patriarchal properties and for the formation of a revolutionary personality has to be lead. After a very short amount of time already the development of such an organization will be hampered without professional revolutionaries. Without a solid core of professional revolutionaries a developed communist party can neither emerge nor withstand the coming attacks of the class enemy.

Women and youth will also play a special role in the construction of a communist party. Women as a particularly oppressed part of the working class and youth as an especially dynamic and forward pushing force. This leads to the necessity of forming independent communist youth and women structures.

Overcoming one‘s own weakness

Imperialist extra profits, a ruling strategy brought to perfection, German fascism, the past existence of a revisionist state on German ground and the ideological encirclement of the German capital are only some of the objective reasons for the weakness of communists on all levels.

The German bourgeois has brought the method of integration into the capitalist system to stabilize their leadership to perfection. It includes the weakening of the worker‘s movement through the still predominant influence of social democracy, reformism and yellow unions, which do everything to impede a class-militant and revolutionary worker‘s movement or to suffocate it in the bud. Yet these conditions do not make the construction of a party impossible nor must they be used as an excuse for the current weakness of the communist movement.

But not only objective conditions keep the division between communists on the one hand and the working class and the oppressed masses on the other hand alive. In the the political resistance movement a political culture has been established, that conserves and reproduces this harmful situation. In Germany communists have been falling back into old social democrat traditions such as legalism, regionalism, sectarianism, the division of economical and political struggle, the verbal acceptance but de facto rejection of all necessary means and forms of struggle, liberalism in organizational matters and other forms of bourgeois politics. We lack ideological and organizational continuity. We have to overcome it. It‘s the communist‘s task to destroy the still existing illusions into the German state, reforms, bourgeois parties and yellow unions.

Communist Unity

In the spontaneous movement potentials arise all the time, which must be included into the process of party building. We confront all potentials with our pretension and these tasks. The goal of these efforts must be to win as much potentials as possible for the construction and unity process of the communists. Petit-bourgeois sectarianism and dogmatism must not determinate thoughts and actions, but only the consequent will to constitute the communist party.

When it comes to the struggle against the different variations of bourgeois deviations from Marxism-Leninism it always serves the purpose of communist ideological and organizational unity. To stand unified in principal questions is an indispensable precondition for the organizational unity. At least as important is the formation of a developed, ideological, political and organizational line, under which all communist potentials can unite in one organization.

Communist unity is not a singular action and nothing that can be created through a mere formal decision. What we require instead is: mutual trust formed in the joint class war, formation of a common revolutionary and organizational culture and mode of working and the clear understanding that a socialist revolution without the greatest possible ideological, political and organizational unity will stay an illusion.

Revolutionary solidarity

While we fight for communist unity on the base of Marxism-Leninism, we also recognize that different revolutionary currents have emerged. On base of revolutionary solidarity we seek the joint struggle with all revolutionaries against the class enemy. We approach other revolutionaries with respect and at eye level. In our joint actions we put the unifying elements into the foreground, not what divides us.

We also analyze and follow the developments on an international level. As communists we are proletarian internationalists, which have to learn from the experiences of our comrades all over the world. We strive for a close practical connection and the organization of international solidarity.

Develop communist mass work

Being communists, it comes as a natural task, to form a communist organization for the struggle against the capitalist system and to win workers for this struggle and educate them. The creation of communist cadres is only possible through the struggles of the masses. Thus, communists must always fight for strong roots among the exploited and oppressed masses.

The working class remains the revolutionary subject in the struggle against capitalism. To gain a strong anchoring among the proletarian masses is therefore of extraordinary importance. Communist work in the masses aims at activating, politicization and organizing them in their own interests. It also aims at overcoming the predominant reliance on representatives. Yet, the correct forms of organization, agitation and propaganda have to be created for this aim. It’s our aim to win more and more parts of the masses for revolution and socialism.

The political, ideological and organizational influences of communists in Germany is very weak today. The struggles of the working class and the other oppressed strata are of small number and are vastly dominated by opportunistic and reformist forces. In Germany communists have near to no political, organizational and ideological anchoring among the masses. The missing link between the weakly developed worker’s movement and the splintered communist movement leads to weakness on both sides. It keeps the worker’s movement away from exceeding its current reformist and legalistic borders.

Unity of revolutionary theory and practice

Theory and practice form a dialectical and inseparable unity. There is no revolutionary theory without revolutionary practice and no revolutionary movement without revolutionary theory. Thus, we do not only have to acquire and spread the revolutionary theory of our Marxist predecessors, but also apply it to our practice, put it to the test and develop it further. Marxism-Leninism as the scientific theory of the always changing reality must be studied in close interrelation with revolutionary practice, must be liberated of its revisionist aberrations and be defended.

As communists we have to fight all forms of bourgeois ideology as they confuse the working class and the oppressed masses and keep them away from their historical mission, the overcoming of the capitalist society. Social democracy, reformism and revisionism are as much varieties of bourgeois ideology, that we have to fight in theory and practice, as liberalism, pacifism and legalism.

Unity of theory and practice, revolutionary self-criticism as much as close bonds with the working class are necessary to take the next steps on the path to the construction of a communist party.

In the last decades we experience essential changes in our world. The development of technology and the advancing digitalization, the internationalization of production and new relationships of dependency in the imperialist world system are phenomena, which cannot be explained entirely with the Marxist-Leninist texts from 100 till 150 years ago. As reality changes, revolutionary theory must be developed. This is just another great task, that communists in Germany and all over the world face today, and by which they will be measured.

Therefore besides the construction of communist structures and creation of close links to the working class and the oppressed masses through our practical work, it is our task to apply Marxism-Leninism to the current conditions in Germany and develop it further by analyzing and generalizing new phenomena and developments. This is the only way Marxism-Leninism can serve as a tool to overcome capitalism.

These programmatic self-understanding summarizes the currently most important positions in the construction process of a communist party. Our organization shall be measured by it.