In the 19th issue of Periódico Mural from this month [LINK: Suchen bei „muralperiodico.wordpress.com“], the Mexican comrades in a short but important article on page 5 address the question of unity. As what is stated by the comrades there is of some relevance, we use this occasion to publish a translation, that has been sent to us.
LET US ATTEND TO THE PROBLEM OF UNITY
In the bosom of the movement we usually hear the word “unity”, often times repeated almost arbitrarily, without meaning and even more, without clarity.
It is common for opportunism and revisionism, as agents of the parasitic classes on the inside the movement, to call for “unity”, to “weigh our commonalities above our differences” and to create “platforms, coordinations, assemblies or fronts” of everything and for everything.
Of this nature there exist a number of examples of processes, that are formed by the same political expression, always gathering the same people,
There are plenty of examples of processes of this nature, formed by the same political expressions, always gathering the same political expressions, always gathering the same people, under the same paths, with the same methods as always, but with different names for each new process of "unity". These champions of idealism consider that the conjunction of the same organizations and parties is enough to constitute the united front.
It is evident that they are not doing well in mathematics, since the summation of 4 plus 4 will always yield the same result. Furthermore, they do not identify that they have a core problem, and this is precisely the problem of unity.
Opportunists, reformists and revisionists of all stripes - consciously or unconsciously - continue to apply the rightist method of Browderism, that is to say: “unity at all costs”. In general, they direct these efforts towards economism, gremialism or electioneering; something totally understandable if we observe that their DNA and umbilical cord keep them attached in one way or another to the legitimization of the regime. In their disasters, which are costing the proletariat and the peoples of Mexico dearly, they get tangled up trying to justify themselves through the tactics outlined by the VII Congress of the Communist International; a tactic that they certainly never understood because they still do not understand the problem of unity.
We start from the materialist analysis of society and its development, and of course, we base ourselves on the universality of contradiction as the principle law of dialectics. From this we take our position and carry out our political line and tactical conduct.
Economically we maintain that in Mexico the relations of production continue to be determined by three conditions that cannot be ignored: semi-feudalism (subsistence of big landownership and serfdom), semi-colonialism (national subordination and imperialist oppression) and bureaucratic capitalism (which determines the historical impossibility of the economic development and the material development of the means and the relations of production under this regime). On this basis is erected the superstructure of the old Mexican state, of an eminently landowner and bureaucratic character, whose main tasks continue to be: to re-dynamize bureaucratic capitalism, to deepen semi-colonialism and national oppression, to reinforce land ownership in a few hands and of course, to drown in blood and fire the popular rebellion before its birth.
Proceeding from this characterization we pose the problem of unity. A problem with several edges, which are mainly defined when answering what unity we are talking about. For this we must clarify ourselves on a fundamental question: we do not want to create “platforms, coordinators, assemblies or fronts” to interlock with the class enemy; much less to legitimize the hateful regime that weighs on the backs of the working people.
From our position, we are clear that the class struggle is the motor of history, and this must be defined between antagonists with an irreconcilable character. This allows us to discard the illusions of conciliation or evolutionist alternatives with the class enemy. The class struggle will have to develop under the most varied forms of struggle, the main one being the revolutionary armed struggle towards the seizure of power; for this the science of the proletarian revolution has endowed the working class and the oppressed peoples with a universal military strategy: the Prolonged People's War.
From our position also, we maintain that it is necessary to develop at the same time a forceful and systematic two-line struggle within the revolutionary processes and also in the processes of a broader unity. This means that we will not only struggle with the masses, but also for the masses; which is equivalent to the scientific organization of poverty and the ideological leadership of the revolutionary process. Throughout this process we will encourage the development of the two-line struggle to identify, denounce, rectify, combat and extirpate the right positions, and that includes those of the center, that call to liquidate or demean the struggle of the people; we cannot be compatible with or condescend to those who profess to pact or conciliate with the class enemy.
This leads us to define the type of unity we require.
In the first place, we need this unitary process to identify the enemies of the people, which are the targets to be attacked by the New Democratic Revolution. Namely: big landownership, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism. With this we will guarantee the generation of work routes and action plans that will allow us to gain confidence among the very forces of the people in struggle.
In the second place, we need a unitary process capable of bringing together the broadest popular sectors hit by this regime, leading them along the democratic path, paying attention to the needs of the people, winning the sympathy of the unorganized sectors to attract them to the heat of the struggle. This implies an important heterogeneity in terms of class and ideological composition within the process of unity, and will require greater vigilance on the part of the revolutionary formations to maintain the ascendancy within the movement and its very leadership.
In the third place, the unitary process cannot become a utilitarian process as has occurred throughout the history of the different struggles that the people of Mexico have developed. In this new process each sector and each formation will have to fulfill tasks proper to the New Democratic Revolution, which go from the general to the particular and from less to more. To combat and resist is the task of all the forces, but the guarantee of this is the strengthening of the revolutionary positions within the process, which should be an example of organization, discipline and combat among the masses.
In the forth place, it would be a mistake to ignore the existence of other democratic and revolutionary forces within the movement, among which stand out congruent positions, with a disposition to combat, that are rooted among the masses and a copious experience of struggle. With those referred to we will maintain a relationship of allies, jointly fighting and helping each other to mutually combat the class enemy, respectfully pointing out our differences and our respective errors in order to rectify them in practice.
We will call these general points unity with principles and unity in action to fight against the class enemy.
It is in this context that we join the call for the National Meeting of the Resistances, which aims to generate a space for analysis and debate within the movement from its left (the anti-electoral and anti-capitalist), but where we also think that a solid plan of national action should be pushed forward that puts the accent on the struggle against the three great mountains that oppress the class and the peoples of Mexico.
In this way, we agree on the necessity to fight against the imposition of imperialist mega-projects of dispossession and death, to reject the anti-people and anti-union policies dictated from above, to defend the rights of the people in an unrenounceable way and to sustain the demand for freedom for political prisoners, the alive presentation of the disappeared, punishment for the murderers of our people, a halt to the war against the people and state terrorism.
As a popular and democratic press, we agree with the need to work to constitute the People's Front as a revolutionary front; we are committed to it with our efforts and daily work.
