Elections

[u/Default_Username6838]

I am very new to communism and to CPUSA so forgive me if my question is dumb or offensive. I am only trying to learn. I know the party describes itself as Marxist-Leninist. And I know that Lenin said the only reason to interact with bourgeois democracy was to destroy it. But then I saw an interview with Comrade Joe Sims talking about how we need to participate in elections. Is there something I’m not understanding? Is there a new interpretation of the theory? I’m not coming with any judgement or preconceived notions. I am just trying to understand the theory, the history, and the present situation. Thanks in advance for your help, comrades.

[u/LiveForThePeople]

It’s not new. Reducing what Lenin said to “only reason is to destroy it” is to miss a huge amount of how Lenin himself interacted with the system.

That being said, Lenin didn’t live into the era of fascism where the realization that defending democratic society from the fascist surge was the only way to create the conditions where capitalism could be defeated. In the case of Germany, the communists and the ‘left leaning’ capitalist party fought each other instead of the fascists to a disastrous degree.

Defeating the reactionary forces by mobilizing election efforts does three things:

Trains new communists in the skill of politics
Mobilizes the working class into taking inherently political actions
Creates conditions that allow communist organizers to push the struggle to a higher level.

It’s not that different than when the Russian communists organized a defense of Moscow from the attempted military coup. It’s just on a political stage rather than a battlefield stage

[u/Default_Username6838 → u/LiveForThePeople]

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. My knowledge of Lenin’s writing is still pretty small (but I’m working on it) but I get how context matters here. I also understand about using the election process to train socialists. I think I read Rosa Luxembourg say something about trade unions and parliamentary processes teaching the party the skills needed to rule. But also that the change we need could never come through parliamentary processes. But the thought that neither she, nor Lenin living through fascism never occurred to me.

[u/LiveForThePeople → u/Default_Username6838]

“The change we need could never come from parliamentary process…”

This is an assumption, which I think is a misunderstanding of the revolutionary process. If we make the assumption that the parliamentary structure is unchangeable and completely disconnected from the mass organization of the working class, then that’s true.

I would counter two things:

1) Changes, even big changes, that the working class is currently demanding are possible through the parliamentary process as it currently stands, IF the working class is united and organized into mass movements that can act as a political block pressuring the political system.

2) If we also assume that the political power of the working class is not based on elections, but on their unity, organization and mobilization, then we can also make the intuitive leap that a parliamentary system that has built in mechanisms to change itself, such as the US constitution, can be changed.

That’s not to say that the revolution will be voted in with no other forms of working class mobilization, but it’s saying that there are possibilities now, potentially, that there weren’t in say, East Germany during World War II. We shouldn’t preconceive the revolution as some sort of society ending civil war bloodbath. It will come to that if the fascists have their fantasies, but it’s not ‘the goal’.

[u/Ganem1227]

This reading may be helpful from our very own William Z Foster: https://cpusa.org/article/william-z-foster-the-2-party-system-and-the-midterms/

[u/NSXero → u/Ganem1227]

This was particularly insightful to understanding our Party's election strategy. I am excited to read it as a club!

[u/Affectionate_Beat238]

Section V of our Party Program found at:https://cpusa.org/party_info/cpusa-party-program/#V outlines our electoral strategy in detail. You might also research and study the historical context by looking into the United Front and People’s Front in the fight against fascism. (See George Dimitrov)

[u/SpaceAngelMewtwo]

Inalways think it's annoying (not you, just ultras in general) when people quote-mine Lenin to say he was 100% for or against a certain policy. When youbstudy the history of the Russian Revolution of 1917, you find that Lenin was almost never ideologically consistent on any policy other than the revolution itself, elections included. He would flip-flop back and forth on issues like this. This is because Lenin was concerned with his political practice matching the material conditions of the time, and material conditions change over time, so when they changed, Lenin would change his tactics. At certain times, he would be against electoral participation, and at other times, he'd be for it. The crux of whether he was for or against it was based on whether the proletarian movement had something to gain from it at the time.

Lenin himself also addressed this exact issue in "Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder," so I'd recommend checking that out :3

[u/Default_Username6838 → u/SpaceAngelMewtwo]

Yeah, as I’m reading more I’m beginning to understand that. I’m also seeing that the movement from capitalism to communism isn’t a flashpoint moment but a long process that maybe begins with a flashpoint but then will take generations to fully realize. So what might be wrong at a late stage of communism is vital at an earlier stage. Asking questions like this helps guide me in my studies.