Quotes

This is a state of the Paris Commune type, one in which a standing army and police divorced from the people are replaced by the direct arming of the people themselves. It is this feature that constitutes the very essence of the Commune, which has been so misrepresented and slandered by the bourgeois writers, and to which has been erroneously ascribed, among other things, the intention of immediately “introducing” socialism.

This is a state of the Paris Commune type, one in which a standing army and police divorced from the people are replacedby the direct arming of the people themselves. It is this featurethat constitutes the very essence of the Commune, which has been so misrepresented and slandered by the bourgeois writers, and to which has been erroneously ascribed, among other things, the intention of immediately “introducing” socialism.r

The Defeat of One’s Own Government in the Imperialist War

Imperialism

“Turn Imperialist War Into Civil War”

Lenin: 1917/tasks: WHAT SHOULD BE THE NAME OF OUR PARTY—ONE THAT WILL BE CORRECT SCIENTIFICALLY AND HELP TO CLARIFY THE MIND OF THE PROLETARIAT POLITICALLY?

(Draft Platform for the Proletarian Party)

Formerly progressive, capitalism has become reactionary; it has developed the forces of production to such a degree that mankind is faced with the alternative of going over to Socialism or of suffering years and even decades of armed struggle between the “great powers for the artificial preservation of capitalism by means of colonies, monopolies, privileges and national oppression of every kind.” Lenin Socialism and War

14. As regards the national question, the proletarian party first of all must advocate the proclamation and immediate realisation of complete freedom of secession from Russia for all the nations and peoples who were oppressed by tsarism, or who were forcibly joined to, or forcibly kept within the boundaries of, the state, i.e., annexed. All statements, declarations and manifestos concerning renunciation of annexations that are not accompanied by the realisation of the right of secession in practice, are nothing but bourgeois deception of the people, or else pious petty-bourgeois wishes. The proletarian party strives to create as large a state as possible, for this is to the advantage of the working people; it strives to drawnations closer together, and bring about their further fusion; but it desires to achieve this aim not by violence, but exclusively through a free fraternal union of the workers and the working people of all nations. The more democratic the Russian republic, and the more successfully it organises itself into a Republic of Soviets of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, the more powerful will be the force of voluntaryattraction to such a republic on the part of the working people of allnations. Complete freedom of secession, the broadest local (and national) autonomy, and elaborate guarantees of the rights of national minorities—this is the programme of the revolutionary proletariat.

The logic of the crisis of overaccumulation is explained through the model of the cyclical nature of capitalist development.  In general, there are laws for the fall of the average rate of profit.  But this should not be taken literally.  The average rate of profit does not fall linearly, it is subject to cyclicity. This means that at certain historical stages the rate of profit may rise, while at other periods it may fall.  Why can it rise in a short span of time?  This is due to the introduction of new technologies in capitalist production.  In conditions of a deep crisis, capitalism seeks to master a new technology that will increase labor productivity.  Those who can master technology before the rest and introduce it into production will receive additional advantages relative to their competitors.  Capitalism begins industrial expansion, leading to an increase in investment in fixed capital.  Those industries in which new technologies are being introduced give the largest profitability to the largest investor, stimulating the influx of new investments into the industry.  Since capitalism is a collection of disparate producers, each of which focuses only on its own personal profit, it is not interested in the state of the system as a whole – at some point, the problem of overaccumulation arises. That is, there is so much capital that the products made with the use of this capital do not find their realization, i.e., effective demand is not able to digest the entire volume of products produced.  The problem of overaccumulation arises, the rate of return begins to stagnate and even fall. And this starts a new cycle of searching for new technology for investors who try to overcome the problems of overaccumulation with its help.

In 1976, corporations became eligible for unlimited donations to political parties. The number of lobbying committees began to grow, in 1974 there were 89 of them, by 1982 there were 1467. The assets of public companies and state organizations were freely transferred to private hands. For example, in pharmacology, many studies were funded by the National Institutes of Health. In 1978, some companies received the rights to free use of patents for related developments.

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Anarchism is a product of despair. The psychology of the unsettled intellectual or the vagabond and not of the proletarian.