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Vi deler en uofficiel oversættelse af The Red Heralds artikel.

Udvalgt billede: Israelske og yankee-flag brænder foran det amerikanske konsulat i Pernambuco. Kilde: A Nova Democracia.

Mens staten Israel fortsætter med at udvikle sit folkemord mod det palæstinensiske folk, har det officielle dødstal for palæstinensere dræbt af Israel i Gaza oversteget 30.000 mennesker, og tusindvis af andre er ikke gjort rede for. Selv yankee-imperialismens forsvarsminister har indrømmet, at mere end 25.000 kvinder og børn er blevet dræbt i Gaza af Israel siden den 7. oktober.

Torsdag den 29. februar begik staten Israel en særlig kynisk handling. Mindst 112 palæstinensere, der ventede på hjælp, blev massakreret af IDF. Mere end 750 mennesker blev såret. Tusindvis af mennesker, der havde desperat brug for mad, vand og medicin, samledes tidligt om morgenen og ventede på Harun al-Rashid Gaden i det nordlige Gaza, hvor man troede, at lastbiler med mel var på vej. Da lastbilerne ankom, begyndte IDF at skyde på de forsamlede civile med alle former for militært udstyr. Da folk vendte tilbage til lastbilerne, efter at den første skudrunde var slut, åbnede israelerne ild igen. En journalist på stedet rapporterede, at »efter at have åbnet ild, rykkede israelske tanks frem og kørte over mange af de døde og sårede kroppe«.

Et vidne beskriver, hvad der skete: »Vi var kommet her for at få fat i noget hjælp. Jeg har ventet siden middagstid i går. Omkring kl. 4.30 tidligt om morgenen begyndte lastbilerne at sive ind. Israelerne åbnede bare tilfældig ild mod os, som om det var en fælde. Da vi nærmede os nødhjælpslastbilerne, begyndte de israelske tanks og krigsfly at skyde på os.« En anden person på stedet sagde: »Vi skulle bringe mel … så skød israelske snigskytter på os«.

IDF forsøgte først at skyde skylden på ofrene ved at sige, at de fleste dødsfald skyldtes, at panikslagne mennesker trampede på hinanden, da lastbilerne ankom. Vidner beskriver, at det først skete, efter at de israelske soldater åbnede ild. IDF ændrede senere deres historie og hævdede, at de åbnede ild, fordi de forsamlede mennesker var en trussel mod dem.

Flere solidaritetsaktioner er blevet gennemført, siden vi sidst rapporterede om dette.

I Pernambuco, Brasilien, deltog hundredvis af mennesker i en demonstration i solidaritet med den Heltemodige Palæstinensiske Modstand den 26. februar. Demonstrationen marcherede i en time, før den nåede frem til det amerikanske konsulat. Under demonstrationen blev konsulatet ramt af røde farvebomber. Yankee- og zionistflag blev også brændt af deltagerne, mens de råbte »Død! Død! Til imperialismen« og »Yankees! Go home!«.

I København, Danmarks hovedstad, er der blevet udført graffiti-aktioner i solidaritet med det palæstinensiske folks Heltemodige Nationale Modstand i proletariske kvarterer.

I Helsinki, Finlands hovedstad, samledes hundredvis af mennesker for at demonstrere mod bombningen af Rafah den 24. februar. Der blev råbt slagord, som blandt andet krævede en øjeblikkelig våbenhvile og at knuse imperialismen og zionismen.

I Trondheim, Norge, var der den 24. februar en demonstration, der fordømte det igangværende folkedrab i Gaza. Det blev understreget at dødstallene har oversteget 30.000.

I Frankrig har Unity Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah opfordret til en international aktionsmåned for Georges Abdallahs løsladelse fra den 6. marts til den 6. april.

We hereby publish an unofficial translation of a call of the Purple-Red Collective for the 8th of March 2024, published on Avrupa Haber.

8^th OF MARCH BELONGS TO THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS, AND NOT TO THOSE WHO WAIT FOR THEIR RIGHTS!

On March 8 this year, we women will have to listen again to the claims of the imperialist system and the reactionary male-dominated culture that great progress has been made in “women’s rights”. On the occasion of March 8, it will once again be expressed on television, in parliaments, in squares, on stands and on international platforms that women’s freedoms from working life to social life and fundamental rights have expanded and must expand. On March 8 they will celebrate “International Women’s Day” with greater “enthusiasm” than we do, and they will give speeches about women’s rights.

On the one hand, they will tell us the lie about how much progress they have made on women’s rights, and on the other hand, they will obscure the historical significance, content and essence of March 8. They will obscure the class structure of women’s struggle for rights and freedom and pretend that they were the ones who gave women their rights.

However, we know what the truth is. March 8, 1857, is the bloody story of a strike organized by 40,000 working women in New York to demand “the shortening of the 16-hour workday to 10 hours and equal pay for equal work.” During the strike, thousands of workers were locked up in the factory by police with the support of bosses, and 129 striking workers died in the ensuing flames. At the International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910, at the suggestion of Clara Zetkin, March 8, International Working Women’s Day, was dedicated to the memory of the murdered strikers.

The reality of the imperialist bourgeoisie and all reactionary forces that talk about women’s rights by obscuring the class character of March 8, which is ours, is completely different. In dozens of semi-feudal, semi-colonial countries like Turkey, even our most basic rights are like an oasis in the desert. The exercise of many fundamental rights such as the right to life, inviolability, freedom and security, freedom of establishment and travel, freedom of thought and expression, economic freedom, the right to work and divorce and the right to engage in politics are rights that are both difficult and that when we see them, we women are murdered, exposed to violence, isolated and exposed to social pressure. In Turkey alone, 52 women were murdered for various reasons in January 2024. In countries such as India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the countries of the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Turkey, brutal violence and murder of women are on the agenda.

In countries like Europe, the “center of civilization,” we women seem to have easier access to basic rights, but social conditions and relationships here are also dominated by male dominance. This is reflected in physical violence, emotional and psychological pressure and economic disadvantage. When the imperialists sound the drums of war, increasing armament and chauvinism, we will be confronted with their demonstration of violence, which includes all of this. In this show of power, the first and greatest victimization comes back to us as language, attitude and oppression in the form of male domination. The answer to this is more violence, more exclusion and incarceration, more femicide. The murder of 7 women within 24 hours on February 27th is just one result of this escalation. However, in Europe, which is portrayed as the center of freedom, there are complex problems. We are the main employment group in flexible and precarious working relationships. We are “condemned” to work for less pay. We are still the ones most responsible for the care work. All the consequences of impoverishment, such as stress, tension and suffering, are primarily to the detriment of women. We toiling and working women, whose access to basic rights is made more difficult, are also subjected to harsher working conditions, bullying and cheap labor. This economic crisis is becoming increasingly clear as warmongering and chauvinism escalate.

The imperialists, who are the enemies of the peoples and working women, can never hide their true face in the wars they wage or provoke. In Palestine, the war machine of Zionist Israel is carrying out a massacre that makes no distinction between children, women and the elderly. Women are the weak link in this cruelty. On the one hand they are being massacred with a ruthless blockade, on the other hand they are being treated as “oppressed” objects in attempts at a ceasefire. To denigrate the Palestinian resistance, the imperialists are once again developing psychological warfare over women’s bodies. In the figure of the “barbaric Palestinians” the women’s problem is hypocritically used as a lever.

The rotten imperialist system, with the wars and its semi-colonial policies that it causes and provokes, creates economic destruction, which leads to a major emigration problem. The migration routes are in the network of a brutal smuggling system. On these routes we women are exposed to harassment, rape and all kinds of violence. The ordeal of women settling in other countries as migrants never ends. They are forced to become cheap workers. In addition, they are squeezed between the culture of the society from which they come and the culture of the society in which they live and are condemned to endure all kinds of difficulties. Here, too, female migrant workers are most affected by sexual violence and harassment. When it comes to exercising their basic rights, they face all the difficulties related to consciousness, equipment and inadequacies as well as female identity. All hindering, oppressive and restrictive aspects of the state system, family and social life are part of the life of migrant workers.

The imperialist system, with its decaying capital, its degenerate culture, its hypocritical democracy, its structure whose other feature is war, is the production center of all kinds of reaction that usurp women’s rights and freedom and drag us into the vortex of male-dominated violence. Their alliances with the feudal forces in their semi-colonies are misogynistic. The chauvinism, rearmament and war politics that they foment in their own countries are also culturally based on male supremacy and fuel misogyny. The honey that they smear around our mouths means that we are content with what is available and accept our fate. Which in turn would mean that we accept their exploitative, bloodsucking, misogynistic system, including male supremacy.

We won’t accept it. We won’t submit. We will not shy away from our struggle. We will not settle for limited, symbolic rights. There will be no liberation of working women as long as the source of exploitation, violence, poverty, aggression and unjust wars does not dry up. We will fight our battle with the consciousness of complete liberation, not less. We will conduct our struggle not with a liberal spirit, but with a revolutionary spirit.

For this reason, 8^th of March is neither a mere “Women’s Day” nor an instrument of capitalist consumer culture.

March 8th;

– … is a call to struggle against unjust imperialist wars.

– … is a call for rebellion against the multiple exploitation and oppression of female workers.

– … is a call to expand women’s revolutionary organization and struggle in this process in which exploitation increases and “slave” laws are introduced.

– … is a call to struggle against all impositions of patriarchal culture, religious reaction and all forms of discrimination.

– … is a call to organize against State violence against communist, revolutionary and progressive women in dungeons, in prison and on the streets.

As Purple-Red collectives, we will face March 8th, International Working Women’s Day, in the streets and squares with all our enthusiasm, challenging “frustration and despair ,” smashing misogyny, opposing imperialist plunder and exploitation, and never let ourselves be chained by fascism and feudalism.

LONG LIVE 8^th Of MARCH, WORLD WORKING WOMEN’S DAY!

END SEXUAL, NATIONAL AND CLASS EXPLOITATION!

NO TO IMPERIALIST WAR PROMOTION, EXPLOITATION AND PARASITISM!

PURPLE-RED COLLECTIVE

MARCH 2024

We publish an unofficial translation of the Editorial of issue 10 of the Spanish State’s newspaper Servir al Pueblo.

The proletarian woman carries the weight of double oppression on her shoulders: capitalist and patriarchal. On the one hand she is a worker, suffering the capitalist exploitation of wage labor. Additionally she is a woman under the class society where patriarchy develops, suffering the reactionary force of custom and tradition, which maintains the yoke of domestic work once her workday is over.

And this not being enough, the capitalist and patriarchal exploitation suffered by the proletarian woman are intertwined, making her living conditions even worse. The proletarian woman is concentrated, in the labor market, in those sectors with worse working conditions and suffers belittlement, humiliation and sexual harassment. Meanwhile, in the domestic sphere, she suffers the consequences of these poor working conditions: she cannot reconcile family life and is forced to work split shifts and/or part-time. From the relationship between capitalist and patriarchal oppression, in the era of imperialism in its greatest phase of decomposition, it develops the cruelest forms of discrimination, vexation and humiliation. Even sexual slavery, such as prostitution.

Given this general situation, the picture does not improve in the Spanish context. The wage gap -the structural difference between what a man and a woman earn in the same jobs- remains. Although the government, the State institutions and the trade union leaders -who follow bourgeois feminism- affirm that the wage gap has decreased, they base themselves solely and exclusively on data from the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI), leaving out millions of women who work off the books. The right to abortion is continually attacked by reactionary and ultra-Catholic groups -financed directly or indirectly by the institutions, parties of the bourgeoisie and by the Catholic Church-, which carry out campaigns of harassment and attack against abortion clinics, blackmailing women who wish to have an abortion in every possible way. The low number of public day-care centers that exist -and not in all cities- make life difficult for mothers, especially single mothers.

We cannot lose sight of the youth, whose culture and way of thinking is harshly hit by the ideological offensive of imperialism, developing cruel forms of patriarchal oppression of girls and adolescents. There have been several cases of gang rape by minors under 16 years of age. As if the harassment and hypersexualization of girls and adolescents in schools and institutes were not enough, new technological tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are used as tools of blackmail and extortion. Thus, the case of how a group of students distributed fake photography created by AI showing their classmates naked was notorious. During class society, imperialism and patriarchal violence, those advances that should be good for humanity, such as AI, are used for imperialist war, sexual harassment and other patriarchal violence.

It is visible how the hypersexualization caused by patriarchal canons or standards of beauty affects the youth, but not only them. The proletarian woman, of all ages, is strongly subjected to this social pressure. It is notorious how the number of aesthetic operations has increased by 215% from 2014 to 2021, where it is women who undergo these operations (85% of operations are intended for women). The most common operations are breast implants, rhinoplasty, liposuction and modifications to the face in general. The great increase of aesthetic operations is due to a reduction in the price of surgery and the popularization of installment payments, added to a strong patriarchal pressure. That is how cruel patriarchal violence is.

All these cases are practical examples of how in the epoch of imperialism, in the phase of its greatest decomposition, the cultural expression of patriarchal violence becomes even more atrocious and humiliating for proletarian women.

Patriarchal violence, in all its forms, plagues women in all areas of their lives. In the past year 2023, 101 male chauvinist murders were officially recorded. So far in 2024 there are at least 10. There is no defense for women who are raped or assaulted. The “most progressive government in history” claims to be feminist, but does not defend proletarian women against abuse at work, does not break the yoke that binds them to the home, nor does it protect them from those who beat or rape them.

To be considered a “victim of gender violence” by the bourgeois justice system is a labyrinth in which many women do not succeed. Either because they do not have the economic resources -we already know that the free justice provided by the State is something that does not work in real life-, or because the institutions do not guarantee the right to denounce -how can a woman denounce if the police laugh at her or do not believe her? There are not few cases of rapes in police stations, prisons or Internment Centers for Foreigners (CIE). Is an assaulted woman going to trust the aggressors?- or for any other reason.

Even relying on bourgeois justice, to be considered a “victim of gender violence” and end up condemning the male chauvinist aggressor, guarantees absolutely nothing. There are not few news where in 2023 we could see how a person convicted of gender violence murders his ex-partner for revenge. Those convicted lead a normal life beyond the punishment -mild and punctual- that at the time is imposed on them. There are even autonomous and national deputies who were convicted in a final sentence, ran for election and were elected!

The conclusion is that the proletarian woman who rebels and wants to cut ties with the aggressor with whom she lives, cannot. If she reports, she is not assured of victory. If she achieves legal victory, she is not assured the protection of a timely revenge. If she has children, she is not assured of keeping them and the aggressor may have full or shared custody of them.

We cannot forget how imperialism, Spanish imperialism in this case, preys on women in semi-dependent and semi-feudal countries dominated by imperialism. The most common profile of a prostitute in Spain is that of a Colombian woman between 23 and 28 years old. More than 90% of the prostituted women are foreigners, mainly from these oppressed countries (Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa). In Huelva, strawberry temporary workers in the countryside – who are mainly Moroccan – suffer miserable working hours and wages, along with numerous cases of rape and sexual abuse which they have denounced. Latin American women, throughout the country, are the most employed and sought after profile for cleaning and domestic care work, often being interned in the residence where they live and in conditions of semi-slavery.

The “most progressive government in history”, the government that says it is feminist, does not protect the proletarian woman. An it never will, this or any other government, because due to the very essence of a government of this nature (which manages the interests of the imperialist bourgeois state), it can not end the nature of the problem of patriarchy (originating in class society and developing in the epoch of monopoly capitalism, i.e., imperialism). The government can only mitigate the problem, and not even effectively!

Facing bourgeois feminism in all its variants, there was no purely proletarian feminism that imposed the class position of the proletariat, which is nothing else than the organization, mobilization and politization of the proletarian woman to destroy imperialism and class society to thus destroy the patriarchy. The proletarian woman can only liberate herself by liberating herself as a class, since the problems she suffers from come directly from class society.

Facing bourgeois feminism, we must defend, raise and apply proletarian feminism. The proletarian woman can not be a slave for much longer. The centuries of oppression, humiliation, violence and exploitation in all its forms must be sent to the place it should never leave: the trash heap of history.

Proletarian feminism for Communism!

Develop the fury of the proletarian woman as a powerful force for the revolution!

We hereby publish an unofficial translation of the call of the Red Women’s Committees for the 8th of March, published on demvolkedienen.org.

Proletarians of all countries, unite!

8th of March 2024

Women, combat and resist!

The class struggle is raging all over the world. Wherever we look, we see the wars, the genocide, the bloodbaths and massacres that imperialism is unleashing in a desperate attempt to escape its impending doom. Imperialism, which brings wealth and prosperity to the exploiters and poverty and misery to the exploited, is in a deep crisis, fueled by the ongoing struggle of the peoples of the world who are courageously and stubbornly fighting against the yoke of their oppression. The grimace of this dying beast is particularly ugly at present in Palestine, where Yankee imperialism with its Israeli butchers – also supported by German imperialism! – is driving forward the heinous genocide of the Palestinian people, who are holding up the flag of resistance and defending it with their blood. Even though the enemy is armed to the teeth and equipped with the latest technology, the people of Palestine are fighting fearlessly with all the means at their disposal, proving day after day that victory is theirs. The role played by the women of the people – also within the National Resistance Front of the People of Palestine – is by no means passive or limited to mere “support work”, on the contrary, the women of our class and people are fighting at the front line! The participation of women in the decades-long heroic struggle of the people of Palestine has existed as long as this struggle itself and the rest of the world is no different; the best examples of this are the people’s wars in Peru, India, Turkey and the Philippines. Wherever there is struggle, women are also standing up and showing that half the sky is theirs and they will conquer it!

In this country, too, the women of our class are doubly oppressed – by imperialism and patriarchy – and therefore have twice the reason to struggle. Each of us can feel this every day. We are forced to allow ourselves to be exploited at work, often under miserable conditions, and at the same time we are expected to look after the children and the household without pay, not to mention relatives in need of care. Our bosses are lining their pockets, and if we and our class brothers no longer bring them profit, they let us fall into unemployment or short-time work overnight, robbing us of our last wages.

The bourgeois state does everything it can to maintain this state of affairs; after all, its own existence depends on it. It is therefore not surprising that we are the first to be affected by austerity measures, while the big money is invested in arms deliveries and armaments so that the German State can secure its imperialist interests in the world, be it in Ukraine or in the so-called “Middle East”. After the government headed by Olaf Scholz recently shifted money around unconstitutionally in the interests of the bourgeoisie in the usual gangster manner, the billions that are now missing are to be made up by cutting social spending, among other things. As always, the burden is being placed on the shoulders of the working class. The planned cuts, e.g. in citizens’ benefits, will hit us women particularly hard, as we in Germany still earn almost 20% less than men, while we are almost ten times more likely to be single parents and therefore more often dependent on financial support. We have also been waiting for over a year for the promised “basic-security for children” spending, but more than one of five children in Germany still lives in poverty and there is no prospect of improvement anywhere at sight. The situation is no better when it comes to childcare: Although every child from the age of one is entitled by law to a place in a daycare center, there is a shortage of almost 400,000 places throughout Germany, especially in working-class neighborhoods. The few daycare centers that do exist, as well as schools, after-school care centers and other childcare facilities, are systematically understaffed, cut to the bone and allowed to fall into disrepair: Another factor forcing us into unemployment! The rulers are also only too happy to save on our health: on top of the already miserable health care for the entire working class, we women are faced with the immense reduction in delivery rooms and maternity wards, a huge shortage of gynecologists and clinics that perform abortions. And when we feel the effects of patriarchy, for example through domestic violence, in most cases the perpetrator is not prosecuted, but the woman is simply sent to a women’s shelter. And even that’s only if you’re lucky, because women’s shelters are also in short supply, contrary to bourgeois law.

All the State gives us are empty promises. Any apparent improvement is nothing but breadcrumbs thrown to us from time to time to keep our mouths shut. Because there can be no improvement for us within this rotten society. As long as imperialism exists, our exploitation and oppression by the patriarchy will also exist. The one cannot be smashed without the other, because the basis of both is the same: private property. Only the united struggle with our class brothers for a classless society can create the basis for our emancipation. To serve this goal, we need a class-conscious women’s movement that struggles for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Germany and our actual emancipation!

Red Women’s Committees FRG

(Part of the Red League)

We publish an unofficial translation of the final part of an article series published on Yeni Demokrasi. We have previously published part I, part II, part III, part IV and part V.

One of Mao’s contributions to dialectical materialist philosophy was his reference to the existence of “many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing”. The term “one of his contributions” should be emphasised here. For when it is expressed in this way, the relationship of each contribution to the other contributions seems to be hidden. However, these contributions are intertwined; one brings forth or explains the other. When Mao says that there are “many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing”, he redefines the contradiction, which he understands “as the essence of dialectics”, in reality and on a higher level, thus deepening philosophy. We see in almost all scientific analyses of society that there are many contradictions in the development process of every great thing. Of course, not only in analyses of society, but also in analyses of all complex processes, the existence of many contradictions is mentioned. This is one of the fundamental characteristics of scientific analysis. As we have already emphasised, the theory of philosophy was not completed either by Marx and Engels or by Lenin and Stalin. The chapter “On the Question of Dialectics” in Lenin’s “Philosophical Notebooks” from 1915 and Stalin’s “Dialectical Materialism” are worth mentioning in this context. Lenin’s chapter “On the Question of Dialectics” is the draft of a work. Here Lenin presents the most concise and fundamental aspects of materialist dialectics in a depth and richness that had never been achieved before. It can be said that Stalin’s work is an attempt to complete this work. But even this attempt is incomplete as far as the completion of the theory is concerned. Mao’s contribution lies at the level of completing this theory. By stating that “there are many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing”, Mao explains a fundamental feature of the philosophy on which Marxism is based. He makes this clear by explaining the categories of “universality of contradiction”, “specificity of contradiction”, “main contradiction and main aspect of contradiction”, “identity and struggle of contradictory aspects”.

This thesis is implicit in all scientific analyses. In analysing capitalist society, we see that Marx, having begun by examining the “commodity”, the most general, omnipresent and ubiquitous element of this society, as a contradiction, arrives step by step at “many contradictions” and examines each one in relation to the others. Engels carries out a similar analysis in the “Dialectic of Nature”. In “On The Origin of Species”, Darwin also carries out such an analysis. We know that Lenin analyses “many contradictions” together and in relation to each other in many of his works such as “Imperialism”, “Socialism and War”, “The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination”, and that Stalin deals with “many contradictions” in almost all his works, especially in “Problems of Leninism”. What Mao is actually doing here is expanding the theoretical vocabulary of dialectical materialist philosophy to include this characteristic of “every complex thing”.

Mao begins the construction of the theory by stating that the concept of contradiction is the sole essence of philosophy, its fundamental law, its fundamental element that precedes all other categories. This conception is mainly held by Lenin, and Lenin emphasises that it must be developed further. Lenin says: “The splitting of a single whole and the cognition of its contradictory parts (…) is the essence (one of the “essentials,” one of the principal, if not the principal, charactetistics or features) of dialectics…. The correctness of this aspect of the content of dialectics must be tested by the history of science” (Philosophical Notebooks, p. 357).

When Lenin states that this topic is treated in various fields as a “collection of examples” but not as epistemology, he indicates that the topic should be treated from this point of view. It is clear from these statements that the chapter was written for this purpose. Mao’s treatment of the topic as “epistemology” and “law of cognition” is particularly significant in this respect.

One could say: “Even without this, we know that the dialectic is used to analyse both reality and knowledge. What then is the meaning of ‘special meaning’?

DROPPING THE VEIL OF SECRECY

From the very beginning, the field of philosophy was a mystery to the masses. Although idealism dealt exclusively with the realm of knowledge, dialectics in the realm of concepts was not the main subject of materialism since it was formulated by Heraclitus, a naturalist, on the basis of “becoming”, “flow” and thus movement. Hegel held the view that the “universal spirit” was the only thing that had truth value, and even went so far as to say that it was “an inner being implanted in us by nature”. This is why Lenin adds the following to the statement “Intelligent idealism is closer to intelligent materialism than stupid materialism.”: “Dialectical idealism instead of intelligent; metaphysical, undeveloped, dead, crude, rigid instead of stupid.” Let us use the terms as Lenin suggests: “Dialectical idealism is closer to dialectical materialism than to metaphysical, undeveloped, dead, crude, inert materialism.” It was only in Hegel’s philosophy that the dialectical method deepened as a law of cognition. However, this was an entirely mystical use. Lenin states that Hegel’s philosophy is useless in this form. We know that Marx turned away from him, first approached Feurbach and in a short time also rejected him by writing the “Theses on Feurbach”.

The meeting of dialectics with materialism took place with the great step taken by Marx and Engels. From then on, materialism reached the stage of “intelligent materialism”, i.e. “dialectical materialism”. With this step, philosophy takes on a scientific character. The scientific method of investigation, the scientific method of thought, the scientific theory of knowledge became the means of human thought. This is also the inevitable consequence of the natural sciences, which had already reached a certain level by this time, were still developing and would develop even faster. It is also a product of the dynamics of the development of the new society, the capitalist society.

When Mao says: “The class struggle comes first”, he is not only referring to the philosophy of Marxism, but also to the role of the class struggle and the natural sciences in the development of philosophy as a whole.

“For a long period in history … [metaphysics], which is part and parcel of the idealist world outlook, occupied a dominant position in human thought. In Europe, the materialism of the bourgeoisie in its early days was also metaphysical. As the social economy of many European countries advanced to the stage of highly developed capitalism, as the forces of production, the class struggle and the sciences developed to a level unprecedented in history, and as the industrial proletariat became the greatest motive force in historical development, there arose the Marxist world outlook of materialist dialectics. Then, in addition to open and barefaced reactionary idealism, vulgar evolutionism emerged among the bourgeoisie to oppose materialist dialectics.” Ultimately, existence determines thought: the development of the productive forces, the class struggle and the sciences has brought philosophy from the “world of secrets” to the level of materialist dialectics, which is the way, the method, to arrive at knowledge of history, indeed of everything. At this point, we should refer to Mao’s statement that “he industrial proletariat became the greatest motive force in historical development”, which is certainly no coincidence. The fact that the industrial proletariat is propertyless and incapable of creating a new class society is the basis for its compatibility with the scientific structure of dialectical materialism. The relation of dialectical materialism to the industrial proletariat is important for the end of the period of class struggles in history. This relationship must be particularly emphasised; it must be studied, understood and explained… It should be noted that Mao’s “transformation of philosophy into a weapon of the masses”, which we have often referred to in discussing his contributions to philosophy, is related to this.

Mao says: “This dialectical world outlook teaches us primarily how to observe and analyse the movement of opposites in different things and, on the basis of such analysis, to indicate the methods for resolving contradictions. It is therefore most important for us to understand the law of contradiction in things in a concrete way.” Finally, by “us” Mao means the communists, the leaders of the historical road on which the industrial proletariat marches, the proletarian vanguard that feeds on it, that relies on its movement… After explaining that dialectics teaches us to analyse the movement of contradictions and, on the basis of this analysis, to find methods to resolve the contradictions, Mao says that the most important thing is to understand the law of contradiction concretely. This is the basis of Mao’s contributions. Mao first made this clear in the essays “On Practice” and then in “On Contradiction”, thus completing the theory of the dialectical world view.

He explains the understanding of the law of contradiction in a concrete way through the abstract-concrete/general-specific/universal-typical relationship, which he establishes under the headings “universality of contradiction” and “specificity of contradiction”. This section of the essay “On Contradiction” contains the basic understanding of the “concrete understanding of contradiction”. We have already mentioned this several times and point out once again that all revolutions in history are to be understood as the result of concrete analyses of the respective social structures and that proletarian revolutions can only be realised through specific, country-specific strategies based on the “analysis of concrete conditions”. Concretely, no revolution is the same as another revolution, even if they are qualitatively the same. The universal reality of proletarian revolutions in no way negates the fact that these revolutions must be based on concrete analyses. The specificity in universality and the universality in specificity is the indispensable understanding of the dialectical worldview. Without this understanding, no reality can be understood. It can only be half understood, which is one of the forms of non-understanding.

THE COMPLEXITY OF THE CONCRETE

From this chapter onwards, Mao speaks of a “new” stage which the concrete analysis encounters and which he formulates for the first time. This “novelty” is the thesis of the existence of “many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing”. Indeed, there are many contradictions in all processes, unless one is dealing with a simple, isolated process. Scientists also have to deal with many contradictions when they analyse an event, a material process or a formation. By analysing each of these contradictions as far as possible, they try to understand or be able to understand the event, the material process or the formation. This inevitably applies to all analyses of social struggle.

We can say that this is finally Mao’s trademark in the field of philosophy. Having grasped the law of contradiction as the “essential essence” of dialectics, he turns to explaining the concrete role that contradiction plays in these processes, and at this point he turns away from the concept of “one contradiction” and focuses on the concept of “many contradictions”. From then on, he is concerned with understanding the role of the “many contradictions” in the process in question. Terms such as “basic contradiction”, “main contradiction”, “main contradictions”, “the predominant direction in the contradiction” are descriptions of these roles. The question of the “diversity of contradictions in the development process of a great cause” is one of the crucial questions in determining the programmes, principles and the path that the revolutions should take. Without this kind of analysis, it is impossible to understand and analyse revolutionary processes. This is because revolutions involve the resolution of many contradictions. Many contradictions in a social structure are either resolved or dissolved by revolutions. This phenomenon is the basis of Mao’s relationship to revolutions. His analysis of society involves identifying and analysing contradictions. He discusses class relations on the basis of contradictions and evaluates the relationship of each class to the revolution on the basis of social contradictions. This is the well-known class analysis. However, analysing class through philosophy, or perhaps better said, through epistemology, is a special form of Mao’s contribution to philosophy. This is clearly shown in the philosophical essay “On Contradiction”. After noting that of the many contradictions in a process, one contradiction determines or influences the others, Mao illustrates this relationship of contradictions by analysing the whole world as follows: “in capitalist society the two forces in contradiction, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, form the principal contradiction. The other contradictions, such as those between the remnant feudal class and the bourgeoisie, between the peasant petty bourgeoisie ant the bourgeoisie, between the proletariat and the peasant petty bourgeoisie, between the non-monopoly capitalists and the monopoly capitalists, between bourgeois democracy and bourgeois fascism, among the capitalist countries and between imperialism and the colonies, are all determined or influenced by this principal contradiction.” In capitalist society, that is, in the world society of our epoch, all other contradictions are determined or influenced by the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. This does not mean that everything or every contradiction results or exists from this contradiction. Of course, there are many contradictions that are the product and result of this contradiction. The contradictions between the proletariat and the petty bourgeoisie, between the bourgeoisie and bourgeois fascism, between monopoly capitalists and non-monopoly capitalists, between imperialism and the colonies are of this kind. However, the contradictions between the feudal remnants and the bourgeoisie or between the feudal remnants and the proletariat are contradictions from the continuation of the period before capitalist society. Nevertheless, the solution or resolution of any contradiction depends on the resolution of the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. For this reason, Mao also emphasises the revolutionary role of the proletariat under the conditions of the existence of feudal remnants. He considers the elimination of the feudal remnants impossible without advancing on the path of the proletarian solution. This role of the principal contradiction in resolving the many contradictions in a social process is the fundamental role that dialectical materialists adopt as a principle in defining and analysing a process. For the World Proletarian Revolution, for example, the passage from Mao quoted above is fundamental. Mao’s devotion to the cause of the proletariat and his passion for the victory of socialism can be seen in this passage alone. Anyone who does not realise that the elimination of the feudal remnants requires the leadership of the proletariat, who in any way attributes this elimination to the bourgeoisie, is not a Maoist and does not understand the “role of the principal contradiction among many contradictions” of dialectical materialism.

When we claim this, we are often told: “You are not analysing concrete conditions, you are dogmatic”. Apart from citing concrete arguments, we must remind them that dialectical materialism is the scientific way and method of analysing reality. “The presence and role of the principal contradiction among many contradictions” is not an exceptional case but, on the contrary, a law that always applies and can be relied upon with complete confidence in any scientific analysis: “there is no doubt at all that at every stage in the development of a process, there is only one principal contradiction which plays the leading role. Hence, if in any process there are a number of contradictions, one of them must be the principal contradiction playing the leading and decisive role, while the rest occupy a secondary and subordinate position. Therefore, in studying any complex process in which there are two or more contradictions, we must devote every effort to finding its principal contradiction. Once this principal contradiction is grasped, all problems can be readily solved. This is the method Marx taught us in his study of capitalist society. ” (Mao Zedong, On Contradiction).

Mao’s thesis “There are many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing, and at every stage in the development of a process there is a principal contradiction” is one of his fundamental contributions to philosophy. But that is not all. Another of Mao’s decisive contributions is his concept of “instability, inequality”. This was undoubtedly formulated before Marx, but ultimately it has been a principle of dialectical materialism ever since. Mao, however, raised this issue to the highest level. Not only does he argue that equilibrium does not exist, that it is temporary and relative, but he also distances himself from the search for equilibrium. He is fully aware that a Marxist can never strive for equilibrium. He understands the universality of contradiction as an infinite process and defines the finitude of each contradiction in its particularity. That is why he says that there can be no equilibrium in socialism and even more so in communism. In this respect, he appears as a revolutionary who constantly speaks of chaos, gives in to chaos and defends chaos. The essence, however, is the chaos in the processes themselves. Mao does not speak of the creation of chaos, but of the inevitability and continuity of chaos. The concept of “creation” is also at odds with materialism from the outset. The concepts of the materialist define reality.

Mao speaks of the instability of the two contradictory aspects of a contradiction as follows: “… in any given contradiction, whether principal or secondary, should the two contradictory aspects be treated as equal? Again, no. In any contradiction the development of the contradictory aspects is uneven. Sometimes they seem to be in equilibrium, which is however only temporary and relative, while unevenness is basic.”

Mao explains this instability and inequality through the “fierce” struggle between the two aspects of the contradiction. The determination and maintenance of the contradiction is the task of one of the two aspects, while the other aspect has the task of ensuring the end of the contradiction, its transition to a new stage. This is the case with all contradictions. Therefore, everything is destined for instability, for rupture. Mao showed this by explaining the characteristics of contradictory directions: “Of the two contradictory aspects, one must be principal and the other secondary. The principal aspect is the one playing the leading role in the contradiction. The nature of a thing is determined mainly by the principal aspect of a contradiction, the aspect which has gained the dominant position.”

“But this situation is not static; the principal and the non-principal aspects of a contradiction transform themselves into each other and the nature of the thing changes accordingly. In a given process or at a given stage in the development of a contradiction, A is the principal aspect and B is the non-principal aspect; at another stage or in another process the roles are reversed–a change determined by the extent of the increase or decrease in the force of each aspect in its struggle against the other in the course of the development of a thing. “

In view of all this, Mao said: “We often speak of ‘the new superseding the old’. The supersession of the old by the new is a general, eternal and inviolable law of the universe.”

LORD OF TURMOIL

The general, eternal and non-negligible law of the universe also explains Mao’s relationship to complexity.

In his introduction to the collection of Mao’s “On Contradiction” and a series of other philosophical essays, Zizek describes Mao as a “Marxist Lord of Misrule”: “This is why, while setting in motion and secretly pulling the strings of the self-destructive carnival, Mao nonetheless remained exempted from its shifts: at no moment was there ever a serious threat that Stalin (or Mao) himself should be ritualistically deposed, treated as ‘yesterday a king, today a beggar’ – he was not the traditional Master, but the ‘Lord of Misrule’”.

It is partly true that Mao did not essentially receive the treatment that Stalin received from the Soviet leadership after him. We say “partly” because it must be remembered that Stalin was not suddenly treated like a “beggar of a king”. It is well known that the attack on Stalin began timidly, tentatively and secretly. The ominous resolution of the 20th Party Congress about him, about his time, was not made public for a long time. Despite the open hostility at the congress, both Khrushchev and Brezhnev continued to defend Stalin. It should also be remembered that Mao was essentially rejected by the leadership immediately after him, his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was completely negated, and his moves towards socialism were condemned as sectarianism. “Yesterday’s king, today’s beggar” is not directly the case, but it is to some extent the case in the governments of the countries concerned. However, this is not our subject. Our subject is the true meaning of the term “Lord of Misrule”…

For many of us, this term is associated with first-hand contempt. The reign of chaos is a status based in the carnival on the idea that “it was customary for great households to choose a ‘Lord of Misrule.’ The person chosen was expected to preside over the revels that briefly reversed or parodied the conventional social and economic hierarchies. /…/When the brief reign of misrule was over, the customary order of things would be restored: the Lords of Misrule would go back to their menial occupations”. A status explained by Mao’s “inexhaustible evilness”… To call Mao the “Lord of Misrule” is indeed appropriate in an inverted reading. He is indeed a Marxist who masters chaos, who explains chaos, as all Marxists do…. As we have tried to explain above, Mao is someone who argues that instability and inequality are essential, that reality contains many contradictions, and that contradictions can never remain in equilibrium, even when they appear to be in equilibrium. This is not a situation that he “wants”, but reality itself. Mao is a materialist. His essay “On Practice” is a declaration of this identity. Reality is, to use the terms above, “the process of development of a complex thing”. “There are many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing”. The instability and disparity of contradictions explains that every great process is “chaos”. Mao sees reality as chaos. But this chaos can be recognised, analysed and mastered by the consciousness thus created. “Overcoming” can never take the form of stabilising and ending chaos. That contradicts the nature of things. This would be a subjectivist definition resulting from a lack of understanding or a sectarian interpretation of reality. Mao is in favour of the truth, and that is the source of the “Lord of Misrule”. As Comrade Demirdag said: “Facts are revolutionary”. Mao Zedong’s philosophical theory of understanding reality and transforming it in a revolutionary direction offers enormous opportunities for people, especially the proletariat today.

In summary, Mao Zedong’s contribution to philosophy is the completion and theorisation of Marxist philosophy. This theory must be transferred to the consciousness of the masses. The ability to control chaos must be transferred to the masses. “When it awakens under the influence of the vanguard of the active historical army, consisting of the “best people,” who have learned the lessons of modern science, then the “ordinary people” will understand that their task consists in the radical reconstruction of society (NB)”. (Philosophical Notebooks, by Plekhanov on Chernyshevsky, p. 543)

It is an indisputable fact that Mao Zedong, as the last of the “best people who have learned the lessons of modern science”, was a unique revolutionary theorist who declared that the period of proletarian revolutions was the period of “turmoil”, that he was the greatest revolutionary, that of course in a communist society the revolutions would continue in completely different forms…

(DONE)

We publish an unofficial translation of a statement by Current of the People Red Sun(Corriente del Pueblo Sol Rojo).

Our Day of Struggle is a response to the lack of a solution to the demands for justice and repression!

Next Monday begins our Day of Struggle in Defense of the Rights of the People, which will take place in a context of increased repression and criminalization against the popular movement in Oaxaca.

The chronology of aggressions against the people so far this year is as follows:

16th of January.
70 proletarian families from the neighborhood Revolución in the Port of Salina Cruz were assaulted by municipal police and the Navy while resisting the demolition of their homes initiated by the company in charge of the construction of the Inter-Oceanic Train.

27th of January. In the midst of a joint operation, elements of the State Investigation Agency, State Police and National Guard raided the homes of 9 activists of the Civil Resistance-Mixtequilla, who were detained and transferred to the Tanivet prison; the following day the community was besieged by the National Guard and the Navy to prevent protests. Finally, on February 2, a control judge imposed the precautionary measure of justified pre-trial detention on the detainees.

7th of February. A district judge in Salina Cruz sentenced David Hernández Salazar, Community Agent of Puente Madera and member of the APIIDTT organization, to 46 years and 6 months in prison for opposing the dispossession of communal lands.

13^th of February. Elements of municipal and state police with high-powered weapons and without riot gear evicted our artisan and merchant comrades from the Gurrión walkway, next to the Temple of Santo Domingo, violating their right to work and the agreements signed with the municipal and state governments.

18th of February. Elements of the Navy violently evict and detain retired railroad workers who were demonstrating on the railroad tracks in Matías Romero.

29^th of February. State police install metal fences in the street of the city’s main square, in anticipation of new demonstrations. It should be noted that our Day of Struggle begins on March 4 and will enter the main square.

This Day of Struggle in Defense of the Rights of the People is a response to the lack of a solution to our demands for justice and also to the repression that seems to want to consolidate in the state under the discourse of the “Oaxacan spring”. It is evident that the big bourgeoisie, through the governments of the self-proclaimed 4T, wants to impose its vision of “peace” by co-opting, demobilizing and repressing the popular movement.

The SolRojistas are made of a special dough, as comrade Stalin teaches us. We will not give up. Our revolutionary order continues: Flood the streets and squares with red flags!

Stop the war against the people!

Don’t vote, organize and fight!

Whoever governs, the rights of the people are defended!

Current of the People Red Sun

1^st of March 2024

Lørdag den 2. marts afholdte Palæstina Nordjylland en kraftfuld demonstration til støtte for det palæstineniske folk. Demonstrationen var blot en af mange demonstrationer over hele landet under hovedtitlen »Hele Danmark på gaden for Palæstina«. Demonstrationen startede foran stationsbygningen og fortsatte ned til Toldbods Plads, under demonstrationen blev der hele tiden råbt kraftfulde slagord til støtte for Palæstina.

Da demonstrationen var kommet frem til Toldbods Plads afholdtes der taler af bl.a. Palæstina Nordjylland, der fordømte de arabiske landsudsælgende bureaukratiske lakajregeringer, som ikke blot passivt har stået hen, men aktivt har støttet Israels folkedrab i Gaza.

Et meget rørende og følelsesladet digt blev også læst højt under demonstrationen.

Antiimperialistisk Kollektiv holdte også en tale, der fordømte Israels folkedrab i Gaza, og udtrykte sin fulde og ubetingede støtte det palæstinensiske folk, som med våben i hænderne kæmper for befrielse. Talen fordømte også yankeernes og den danske imperialismes angreb mod yemen.