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Title: Proletariat Primacy ~ An Introduction to Revolutionary Politics
Author: Aldo the Apache
Date: 08/08/2018
Language: en
Topics: Rent Strike, Strike, General Strike
Source: https://instagram.com/proletariatpropaganda?igshid=19ti2enba95ss

Aldo the Apache

Proletariat Primacy ~ An Introduction to Revolutionary Politics

Table of Contents

Foreword — Page 2

Rent Strikes — Page 3

Dual Power — Page 4

Primitive Accumulation — Page 5

Drugs — Page 6

False Consciousness — Page 8

Cultural Hegemony — Page 9

Healthcare — Page 10

The State — Page 12

Surplus Labour — Page 14

Dead Labour — Page 15

Elections — Page 17

General Strikes — Page 18

Metabolic Rift — Page 20

Overproduction — Page 21

Non-Violence — Page 22

Imperialism — Page 23

Liberal Solution — Page 24

Class — Page 25

Non-Profits — Page 26

Surplus Value — Page 27

Foreword

I am writing this in the year of 2020. There is a global pandemic raging

and fascism is rearing its ugly head once again. Please read this text

with the respect and sincerity it deserves. If you have questions, it is

your responsibility to educate yourself in as safe a way as possible.

Look into getting yourself encrypted, look into getting a Virtual

Private Network. If you don’t know what these terms mean, then reach out

to someone who knows about information technology.

We are out of time. Act now or plans will be made for you. This is

agitational literature, you should feel something, anything when reading

this. Do not do so alone, have a comrade there to give you emotional

support.

We have nothing to lose, but our chains.

Solidarity is survival.

I love you,

Aldo the Apache

WHAT IS A RENT STRIKE?

A fundamental truth of capitalism is that nothing is free, even basic

human existence. For example, everyone requires housing in order to live

safely, yet there are many more vacant homes than people in need of

housing, and millions are forced into homelessness simply because they

are unable to afford this basic cost of living.

This is just business-as-usual. Yet, even during a crisis, like a global

disease outbreak, landlords will still require profitable payments from

tenants at properties likely built and paid off decades ago. But the

means of our oppression also represents a means for revolutionary

action, the billions of dollars landlords steal from the working class

and poor is fundamentally dependent on compliance with payments.

Were tenants to refuse to pay rent en masse, A.K.A. rent strike, then

landlords as a whole would be in trouble. Many of them would default on

mortgages and taxes. Others would lose their means of parasitically

living, and the broader ruling class would feel financial pain as well.

Of course, just declaring ‘rent strike’ doesn’t make one happen, rent

strikes must be properly organised. Which means through the

establishment of tenants’ associations, property by property, and then

linking them up into city-wide tenant unions.

Organisers must also think strategically and practically, by developing

achievable campaign goals with the tenants and making demands to the

correct actor, one with the ability to implement them. Starting small at

first is recommended; some companies and properties might be too big to

tackle on the first attempt. Also, some locales might be too legally

hostile (i.e. Battery Point). Remember, the consequences of poor

organising is simply to make the lives of tenants worse off than they

were before: i.e. facing eviction or homelessness, or loss of

possessions.

Therefore, eviction solidarity funds, mutual aid materials and legal

supports are critical contingencies to ensuring people won’t be thrown

out onto the streets due to lack of preparation.

The revolution is entirely possible so let’s build it now. Brick, by

brick.

WHAT IS DUAL POWER?

As capital society slowly rots and the people suffer more, governing

institutions begin to lose legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Nonetheless, the bourgeoisie are provided an opportunity to regenerate

modicums of legitimacy here and there. This is by virtue of providing

anything at all, unless there exist alternatives which are run by the

people to meet societal needs.

At the end of the day, people must have food to eat, a place to stay,

water to drink and medical care. If the elites provide those basic needs

and necessities, then some will conclude that the system works, if not

perfectly.

Thus, revolutionaries must establish dual power institutions (i.e. The

Brisbane Hotel), which similarly provide for basics, but that also

illustrate the rot at the heart of the current system, and the inherent

possibility of a self-organised public.

However, these alternative institutions are not charities, which are run

by the opportunistic elites and their non-profits (i.e. The Salvation

Army); these ‘N.G.O.’s (non-government organisations) serve to ease

discontent.

Dual power institutions are organised for the two-fold intent of solving

social problems and leveraging now-strengthened communities in the

revolutionary process itself.

For example, a people-owned community garden can mitigate the harms of

food deserts, but can also be used to feed striking labourers or

revolutionary guerrillas, thereby challenging directly bourgeois rule

itself. At its essence, the construction of dual power the construction

of dual power is a realisation of socialism, as the people will have

begun to self-govern and in opposition to the masters of capital.

Remember, since politics is class war, we must strengthen our position

and grow in order to fight and win, which means actively organising the

alternative today.

WHAT IS PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION?

One of the primary ways capitalists justify their exploitative system is

by claiming that the unequal pattern of property ownership came about

fairly and peacefully through trade.

At the heart of this idea is that some people transformed their modest

ownership into vast empires through thrift and hard work; whereas others

squandered it due to laziness and self-indulgence. This is the same

narrative told today about the poor.

In reality, capitalism originated out of the violent seizures of land

and resources from the feudal lords and peasants in Europe over many

centuries. This is forgotten history. For further reading, try googling

‘Highland Clearances’. Capitalism also originated by way of even more

violent colonisations throughout the whole globe, processes which

continue today under Imperialism (page 17). As the bourgeoisie

monopolised the productive forces through slavery and genocide, they

simultaneously made a ‘benevolent’ offer to the now

land-less//liberty-less peoples: transform this or that property into

vast riches, and the bourgeoisie will provide just enough for you to

live another day.

Thus, capitalism has not only arisen out of violent theft, but is itself

renewed each day out of the theft of riches produced by ‘the workforce’

and then, the underdevelopment of all.

Yet, when people organise themselves to challenge this pattern of

unequal ownership and exploitation, the capitalists throw up their hands

and say ‘wealth has to be earned peacefully’, then turn around and

murder or jail the organisers through the force of the state.

Therefore, in order to end this destructive and dehumanising system, we

must reject their terms and organise a global seizure of property and

wealth from the ruling class, just as they did to our ancestors and just

as they do to us daily. Whether they will resist the retaking of a world

that is owed to us is irrelevant. We did not start the class war, but we

must certainly finish it.

WHAT IS A DRUG?

For liberals and centrists, drugs represent a crisis of individuality,

whether because people are making ‘bad’ choices, or because addiction

dissolves ‘choice’ itself. Drugs instead represent a long history of

class and racial oppression by the ruling elites, due to the resulting

effects on families and communities, and the social context of

addiction.

This is not to say that toxic and non-toxic drugs are inherently evil,

as they are tools like any other material objects, but rather that the

social and economic contexts determine their sources and effects, and

when in the hands of the bourgeoisie, drugs are a weapon. The elites

have used the criminalisation of drugs to simultaneously destroy their

enemies, like the ‘undesirables’ of society, organised by minority

communities. Additionally, they have used such criminalisation to target

revolutionaries, and to self-enrich by licit and illicit industries

(i.e. drug cartels & big pharmaceutical companies).

A war on drugs (read Ronald Reagan) provides the justification and legal

clearance for militarised bureaucracies to monitor, infiltrate and

absolutely destroy the families and communities where consumption or

production takes place. Furthermore, mass incarceration of these people

creates a new commodity for the elites, both because it fills out the

budget for prisons and because it creates a permanent reserve of cheap

labour (read Privatised Prisons). These people are branded by the

punitive system and forever denied their basic humanity, such as

community support, social services and political power. Instead, they

are preyed upon by the most dangerous of industries

Yet, the elites also profit directly from both the movement of illicit

drugs through their banks and intelligence agencies, thereby fuelling

the Imperial violence in all parts of the globe. The commodification of

licit drugs (i.e. alcohol) moderate the ire of the working class; such

drugs as alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, pharmaceuticals and marijuana.

Still a centrist may say all of this tragic violence is necessary,

because addiction is a mode of violence for individuals in our society.

In truth, addiction is simply a neurological result of poverty and

social isolation, which are themselves caused by the way of structuring

society that benefits the bourgeoisie.

Humans, and in fact many other animal species, have always consumed

drugs for pleasure and spirituality. However, social addiction has only

occurred in societies that are split between those who have, and those

who have not.

Nonetheless, even if drugs can help people get through the day, they can

also cause harm to organising efforts and families. As revolutionaries

we must be ready and capable, which means reducing our reliance on

mind-altering substances.

Thus, armed with the basic formula: DOPE + CAPITALISM = GENOCIDE, we can

see that revolution is the only prescription. (for further reading,

watch The Wire)

“A MAN MUST HAVE A CODE”

WHAT IS FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS?

Although the working class is the traditional bedrock of socialist

revolution, their relationship to the means of production does not mean

any worker in particular or the “workforce” as a whole are going to

pursue proletarian aims. Due to the cultural hegemony (page 9) of the

elites, many workers aspire to get rich and own the means of production

just like the bourgeoisie, or they fail to see the necessity of

revolution in place of reform. This false consciousness is an

intentional goal of the system and is achieved through punishing

dissent. This punishment is felt through the unemployment, low wages,

ridicule or jail. Compliance is rewarded with job opportunities, high

wages and/or public recognition. Additionally, part of this is the

division of the working class amongst lines of sociological identity.

This mode of false consciousness is such that the workers of the

dominant identity are granted a psychological and material wage for not

challenging the unfair distribution of benefits (read White Male

Privilege).

This can be seen when workers lend support to bourgeois politicians due

to their use of coded language that demonises oppressed peoples, such as

‘welfare queens’ or ‘illegals’. This is even though those same

politicians ultimately work to dismantle labour protections and social

services. While some workers can have a sense of revolutionary

consciousness instilled through cultural intervention, others cannot due

to their too-deeply held reactionary beliefs.

Thus, revolutionaries must learn to triage the development of

consciousness for workers and non-workers, generally focusing on those

with the least to gain from the status quo and the highest possibility

for revolutionary thinking. In other words, we must pick our battles.

Some people are deaf to our words, and always will be. Of course the

advancement of consciousness can take a lot of time and patience, and

the experiences of the masses may also reveal truths to which the

organisers are unaware or ignorant. Therefore, only through long-term

engagement with the masses can revolutionaries challenge false

consciousness and advance their own material understanding of existing

conditions; both necessary requirements for smashing capitalism. If you

think vanguard politics has any place in modern movements, you do not

know your history.

WHAT IS CULTURAL HEGEMONY?

The ruling elites do not just dominate the people by economic coercion

alone, they also shape human expression and knowledge through the

manipulation of cultural practices. In fact, bourgeoisie even own and

manage the very institutions responsible for producing the vast majority

of ‘respectable’ cultural practices. These include churches, schools,

associations and the media. Additionally, the bourgeoisie are often

depicted as upstanding citizens or heroes to be emulated; whether as

musicians and actors, or CEO’s, preachers and politicians.

In essence, the proletariat start to internalise the belief that one day

they too can be like the elites, choosing not to dwell on the shame

instilled by their class status. Thus, by controlling the acceptable

parameters for thought and life goals, the elites are able to trick

people into ‘consenting’ (read Noam Chomsky) to their exploitation.

Consequently, a primary goal for socialist organisers is to counter the

cultural hegemony of the elites, by winning over the hearts and minds of

the people to mutiny and rage.

Not only does this mean producing memes, film and other arts, but more

importantly, serving as a beacon and bastion for socialist cultural

practices, such as organising to feed the hungry and house the homeless.

Although the people may implicitly feel the hollowness of bourgeois

culture in their bones, until they feel the genuine warmth of a

functioning alternative, there will exist nothing but mistrust and

confusion.

However, when socialists have won the faith of the people as a whole,

the proletariat will be operating from a place of strength and can then

move swiftly to conquer the bourgeoisie (read The Paris Commune,

pictured below).

WHAT IS HEALTHCARE?

Capitalism is both the cause of people’s inability to access medical

care and the likely root of their illness in the first place. When

medicine is treated like a commodity, access becomes predicated entirely

on payment and thus on the whole, wealth disparities can mean the

difference between life and death.

For example, privatised clinics and hospitals can decline to assist

someone with a non-emergency need due to a lack of health insurance, and

both can refuse to treat someone further after their emergency condition

has been stabilised for the same lack.

Thus, privatised health insurance becomes the rule of the day, not just

in the U.S., other ‘western democracies’ also have a stratified system

whereby private healthcare outperforms defunded public healthcare. This

is where capitalists make billions off a fundamental human need.

Politicians are bought out to prevent meeting that need, such a need

could be a public healthcare option, or a full nationalisation of the

industry.

However, the prevalence of private health insurance does not solely harm

those without the means of affording coverage, nor those with insurance

but who are denied coverage for particular treatments. This model

ultimately harms society as a whole by pushing both the nearly $1

trillion cost of the industry and the over $1 trillion dollar cost of

preventable chronic disease onto the proletariat and the medical

institutions themselves.

Just as lucrative for capitalists is the research and development of

medical treatments, which is driven by the maximisation of profit and

not the fulfilment of human need. Not only are the most pressing

problems neglected by the pharmaceutical industry for more profitable

endeavours, such as male pattern baldness, but any efforts by the

industry are immediately patented and thus charged for exorbitant rates.

This then deprives even those who are able to afford health insurance.

More fundamentally troubling is that the R&D itself is geared towards

developing treatments for existing conditions, not discovering the root

of the illness and preventing it from occurring. To do otherwise would

be to deprive the capitalists of their captive audience.

Were medical research and development faithful to the public, the

research would certainly point out that every aspect of a person’s life

is being poisoned by capitalism as a whole, from the air, water and soil

to food supply, cosmetics and other consumer goods.

In stark contrast, a socialist system of healthcare would be based on

the immediate nationalisation of all components of private healthcare,

and would be redirected towards ameliorating the ailments of society. As

a result, the costs of the health insurance industry would be eliminated

as direct medical treatments would be accessible and free for all.

You have nothing to lose, but the loss of your loved ones.

WHAT IS THE STATE?

Calls to reform the state have dominated ‘left’ discourse over the past

few decades. This is, in part, owed to the erroneous conceptions of the

state itself, which lend credit to this defeatist attitude.

The state has not always existed, but has arisen in different times and

places due to the monopolisation of certain social functions under the

hands of a few. Prior to the advent of the state, the power to enact

justice or to bear arms, for example, would be a collective right of the

tribe as a whole, not the duty of a few enacting judgement on the many.

But, as societies increase in cultural and technological complexity,

labour becomes increasingly divided into distinct roles, which are then

concretized into hierarchical classes of people, each with their own

responsibilities and powers. In essence, the state is a direct result of

this division of society into classes. Contrary to the views of

liberals, the state is not a neutral arbitrator which exists

independently of the classes. Or for the purpose of reconciling class

conflicts. In reality, the state is simply the monopolisation of power

under a single class. The state then expresses its vision of social

order onto the rest of the classes beneath. For example, in slave

society, the monopoly of power was held by the master over the slave,

and in feudal society, it was held by the kind and lords over the

peasantry.

In the world today, the state exists as a result of class and as a

result of class division between the ruling class and the working class,

with the former subjugating the latter. Few can doubt class rule by the

bourgeoisie when their ideas are adopted far more often and easily, when

politicians are bought out, and when those same politicians are

sometimes in fact a part of the bourgeoisie in the first place. Thus,

the idea of reforming an institution which only exists to implement the

will of the ruling class is patently absurd. This silly idea is quite

like a slave asking their master if they could take turns at cracking

the whip.

Instead, the task for leftists is to fundamentally overthrow the rule of

the bourgeoisie, not by holding the reigns of the bourgeois state

through electoral victories, but by seizing the very means that give

rise to the bourgeois state in the first place, i.e. the means of

production. Upon seizing the source of class difference and suppressing

the rebellion of the bourgeoisie (and any remnants of their power, such

as wealth, titles etc.) the proletariat abolishes the previous state,

replacing it with one more sympathetic to working class ideals. Yet,

unlike all other governments, here the functions of the state previously

monopolised by a minority start to become fulfilled by society as a

whole, and the more functions dispersed in such a manner the more the

state ceases to exist, until it has, eventually, withered away into a

classless, stateless society.

Of course, this withering away of the state is not guaranteed, as

remnants of the ruling class can reorganise and resist; or opportunists

hiding within the proletariat can hijack any of the state functions

which are still divided from the people.

Only if the masses are vigilant and dedicated can they suppress an

oppressive minority attempting to seize the state from within or without

(a coup d’état), and thus preserve the socialist society as a whole.

We must work to organise without bowing to any unjustified hierarchies;

no gods, no masters, just pasta.

WHAT IS SURPLUS LABOUR?

Under capitalism, workers do not sell products, they sell their life

itself in 8-hour-intervals.

Work, rest, and play.

This is seen as a necessary sacrifice to continue living, but workers

are mostly producing for the owners’ benefit. Consider a burger that

costs $1 to produce but is sold for $3. If it takes 3 minutes to make;

$0.67 is produced each minute. In contrast, at least in the U.S., the

worker receives $0.167 per minute at $10 an hour.

Were the worker given the full value of their labour they would only

have to work a 2-hour shift. Instead, workers labour the extra 6 to pay

for the owner’s yacht.

You have nothing to lose

but your chains.

WHAT IS DEAD LABOUR?

Due to centuries of misinformation by capitalists, there should be no

surprise that many well-meaning people are confused about the costs of

doing business, especially in terms of what workers are truly owed. The

cost of doing business is based on two major components; living labour

and dead labour, with the former comprising the actual work by the

labourer, and the latter being materials, machines, land, or buildings,

which were worked by some labourer sometime in the past. Dead labour,

also known as the means of production, can be further split into two

categories.

The first is a semi-permanent value, such as machinery, land, buildings,

tools etc. which can be resold at another time by the capitalist. The

vast majority of a capitalist’s money is in the innovation of new

technology. The second is a consumed value, such as the materials being

worked or electricity and ad space. These are added together with the

labour value to create the final commodity, but these values are

ultimately consumed in the process.

In discussing compensation for the surplus value created by workers,

some claim that the costs of semi-permanent dead labour should be paid

out of the worker’s compensation, even though at the end of the day the

capitalist fully owns this value and can recoup it at any time. Take,

for example, a burger which costs $1.30 in consumed dead labour, but is

sold for $3. The worker produces $0.57 per minute, which factors out to

around $99, 590 annually per employee, assuming regular sales/production

across 8 hours, 7 days a week. Were 10 workers involved in the

production of 10 burgers every 3 minutes, they would collectively

produce $995, 904 annually in surplus.

Assuming the total cost of all the semi-permanent dead labour came out

to around

$955, 000, or a cost of $1.63 per burger, then according to some, the

surplus value would actually only be $40, 904 for that first year,

leaving around $0.07 in total available for compensation per burger, or

$1.40 an hour, for each employee. Maybe, at this point, a

capitalist-in-waiting could ‘feel’ something for the capitalist, since

they’re operating at a loss. But consider that the low amount of surplus

value was predicated on the costs of a start-up; meaning the purchase of

semi-permanent dead labour, or machinery, land, buildings and other

equipment. Something that is not actually an annual cost and which is

typically financed for repayment over several years, After the second

year of production, the total surplus produced would bounce back to

$995, 904, as the cost of purchasing semi-permanent dead labour would be

paid off in the course of the first year. Nonetheless, paying the

employees would cost $291, 200 annually at $10 an hour, and the

remaining $8.60 per hour from the first year would cost $250, 432, but

would leave a neat surplus profit of $454, 272 for the capitalist.

By the end of the third year, the capitalist would be making $704, 704

annually, and by the fourth would have extracted $1, 863, 680 from the

labour of the workers.

In essence, what could have been $64 per hour per employee (across the

four years) has become nearly two million in the back pocket of the

single capitalist. Additionally, if the capitalist decided to liquidate

the business after the fourth year, they would recoup the $995, 000 in

dead labour, bringing their total profit to $2, 858, 680 and leaving all

10 employees exhausted and now without a job.

Of course, that capitalist would likely turn around and use their $2,

858, 680 to open up two new businesses (likely where the burger place

received its money in the first place) and would still have $868, 680

left for buying caviar and a yacht.

The question is, would you rather a world where after four years the

workers had received $64 per hour (averaged) and each owned $99, 500 of

value in dead labour, or one where the capitalist ate up all of the

value and then left the workers without a place to work?

WHAT IS AN ELECTION?

For liberals (centrists), elections represent the prime route for the

oppressed to fight back against the ruling class, since policy decisions

are adopted by the state. However, this is a simplistic view of

government which obscures precisely how the state and capital interact,

and the nature of proletarian power In truth, elections for capitalist

democracies are simply the selection of a more palatable member of the

ruling class for the masses, whether due to a reactionary desire for

security or a need for reform. Yet, even the most sympathetic bourgeois

politicians are only able to achieve partial reforms because the state

itself serves to protect the creation of capital and a single individual

here or there cannot overturn the pressures of an entirely corrupt

system.

Additionally, when the ruling class does accept partial reform, it is

not out of a rational agreement with the sympathetic politician, but

rather to preserve the legitimacy of class rule and to stave off

revolution. Most importantly, the source of this crisis of legitimacy

and the possibility for revolution exists in the masses themselves, not

from a well-received speech by whatever new up-and-coming legislator.

This potential for forced reform is also independent of whether or not

the sympathetic politician is elected, as even the most reactionary

politician will acquiesce to the roaring thunder of the masses. But in

order to scare the ruling class into granting much needed breathing

room, the masses must engage in sustained class struggle against their

ruling masters, not just voice their support for some bourgeois-vetted

candidate over another. And if the call to engage with an election

steals energy from, or overshadows, class struggle, then revolution is

further delayed and the likelihood of reform is lessened. Thus, whether

you vote for the lesser evil or don’t vote at all, never forget that

class struggle and revolution come before the ballot.

WHAT IS A STRIKE?

Since capitalist owners are capable of hiring or firing masses of

people, any individual worker is nearly powerless against them. Yet, as

the capitalist seeks to squeeze more and more surplus value out of the

workforce, we begin to see workers engage in a collective struggle to

improve their conditions.

This collective struggle is called the strike, or when workers stop

labouring under the coercive terms of the capitalist and demand fairer

treatment.

When capitalists realise that the whole of their profit is threatened by

an organised workforce, they are willing to give up a few percentage

points of the surplus value in order to retain the vast majority.

Although most people think of strikes as an action taken by particular

workers with a particular company, that is just the most basic form,

there are several different strikes, each with their own role in class

struggle.

The wildcat strike is an action taken by the workers independent of

their union, which can sometimes act contrary to the interests of its

membership, wildcat strikes are often made illegal by capital-backed

governments, but can achieve gains above and beyond union-approved

measures.

The solidarity strike is made by workers in a separate enterprise or

industry than the workers being mistreated. Solidarity strikes can

accelerate wins by increasing supply costs for the abusive owner, or by

causing other capitalists to apply intervening pressure.

Monkey-wrenching is when workers dramatically decrease efficiency (and

thus profits) by either slowing down their labour, or by sabotaging the

means of production.

The proxy strike is when the comrades of workers physically occupy a

workplace in order to prevent production from taking place, thereby

protecting those very workers from being blamed for the losses.

Sick-ins are when the workers simultaneously use their sick days, often

in the case when striking was made illegal.

Good work strikes are when workers give away free or reduced goods and

services to the consumers, on the bosses’ dime. Unlike most strikes,

this type directly benefits the consumer.

Working to rule is when workers follow the many contradictory and

bureaucratic procedures to their fullest extent, meaning that the entire

process is slowed down or rendered impossible and workers are protected

since they are just following the rules.

The identity strike is when workers of a particular identity, such as

race, gender, or citizenship status, do not perform labour as a whole

group. Often this type emphasises the particular forms of oppression

experienced by the group under capitalism.

The prison strike is when the invisible labourers that produce the vast

majority of goods refuse food and work to protect their enslavement and

poor treatment.

Nonetheless, although strikes can achieve important gains for workers,

it is important to remember that the wins are simply concessions from

the capitalists, but that they still retain control of the means of

production. In order for us to overcome capitalism, we must not only

protest and withhold labour, but also physically take back the means of

production which are rightfully ours. Revolution is the only solution.

WHAT IS A METABOLIC RIFT?

Capitalism is the root of environmental destruction due to its blanket

disregard for the natural limits of the planet by way of endless

accumulation. Centrist attempts to ‘green’ the economy ignore the

inherent drive towards endless growth rates and thus simply push the

impacts of environmental harm down the supply chain and onto other

people, what is known as the metabolic rift.

For example, although the electrification of automobiles may reduce

carbon pollution produced at the moment of driving, this simply shifts

the energy burden to the point of charging the battery. This could be

just as well powered by coal or natural gas as alternatives. Worse, the

car, its battery, and the road infrastructure are all produced through

environmentally destructive practices. These include strip mining,

smelting, or paving, and are produced on a massive scale, regardless of

whether the commodity is ultimately utilised. Thus, as long as the

economic system itself is built on the growth of capital, more

production will necessarily occur. This means more destructive practices

overall, regardless of minor improvements in efficiency. In fact,

improvements in efficiency can actually spur even more total use than

before, as lowered production costs can mean easier adoption for

capitalists and consumers alike.

Until the costs of production are reconciled with their environmental

and social costs, capitalists will continue to externalise these harms

and tolls onto the rest of us, whether in terms of medical care,

environmental clean-up, or the price of adopting a new ‘green’

technology. The only solution is for all of us to seize the means of

production and fundamentally restructure economics around meeting human

need, not overproducing commodities for the enrichment of the

capitalists.

WHAT IS OVERPRODUCTION?

The economic crises that occur every so often are an inherent and

cyclical component of capitalism due to the private accumulation of

surplus value. Surplus value is the amount of value left over after

subtracting the cost of production (not including wages). Under

capitalism, the owners keep the vast majority of the surplus value, with

only a small percentage being doled out for wages and another portion

re-invested into the company. Since each capitalist attempts to amass as

much surplus value as possible, the continual growth in production means

that more goods are produced than can be sold, A.K.A. overproduction.

This can be seen in everyday life, as there are more homes and the

homeless, more food than is needed to feed the hungry, and more medical

care than the sick, even with production costs being cheaper than ever

before.

Since much of their capital is trapped in unsold goods, the owners also

become unable to pay back the immense debts they borrowed from banks,

whose source of money comes directly from the people and their

production.

This spiral of debt payment failures ripple across the economy, causing

all capitalists to tightly hoard their money, meaning less investments

in job creation and community development.

The main ways capitalists recoup this loss is by either extracting more

surplus value from the workers, such as requiring longer work hours and

slashing wages, or consolidating wealth through mergers and buyouts,

which increases the surplus and starts the cycle anew. Capitalism’s

inherent drive to overproduce results in the suffering of the people, as

their lives, labour value and future prospects are all sacrificed by the

capitalists in order for them to profit and game repeatedly ad

infinitum. The only solution is for society as a whole to take back the

means of production, so that we can fairly divide our surplus value and

meet the needs of the people, rather than produce needless commodities

and enrich the rich.

No jobs

on a dead planet.

WHAT IS NON-VIOLENCE?

Liberals and centrists often criticise socialists and other leftists for

their use of violent tactics to promote change, instad, demanding strict

commitment to non-violence. However, centrists fundamentally

misunderstand the nature of violence, and thus are complicit in

maintaining the violence of the status quo. Violence is not simply the

use of physical force, but is comprised of a whole spectrum of

behaviours. All with the intent of exerting power over another and

resulting in their harm. For example, violence can be enacted against a

person’s body, emotions, property and even their humanity itself.

Centrists would of course decry any of the aforementioned forms of

violence and might offer verbal commitments to the concept of

self-defence. Yet, when communities organise to confront violent

attacks, whether by protest, street confrontation violent attacks,

whether by protest, street confrontation, or revolution, the liberal

only works to condemn an disrupt these acts of self-defense, claiming

them as violent and wrong. In essence, a liberal commitment to

self-defense goes only so far as to retroactively justify historical

events, or to preserve the current rule of law.

However, since the rule of law is based on the exertion of power by the

bourgeoisie over the proletariat and which results in their

dehumanisation, deprivation and death, then the status quo and any

defense of it is inherently violent.

As all of history shows, oppressors are unwilling to just hand over

power simply because they were asked nicely. Instead, the oppressed have

to use mass struggle to exert a power of their own over their violent

rulers. Certainly, not everyone can, nor should, use violence for the

purpose of change, but only a liberal would entirely reject a diversity

of tactics and thus serve as an agent of repressive regimes.

WHAT IS IMPERIALISM?

In an attempt to stave off the inevitable crises of capitalism, the

bourgeoisie seek access to new markets by controlling foreign economies

and waging imperialist wars. For example, since capitalists continually

seek expansion of their productive capacity, they must simultaneously

find new consumers to purchase their goods, otherwise they will fail to

exchange products for money and must accept losses.

Because underdeveloped nations often take on debt from capitalists in

order to pay for needed commodities or services, the bourgeoisie exert

both economic and political control over these countries in order to

guarantee captive debtor-consumers, such as pressuring governments with

the threat of default, or buying out indebted lands and resources.

Additionally, as the capitalist class attempts to overcome their

potential losses from overproduction by working domestic labourers

harder or cutting their hours, they run out of surplus value to extract

due to local labour laws. Consequently, the bourgeoisie turn towards

exploiting foreign works in less protected countries.

Since multiple capitalist centers exist in different countries, they all

compete over global and regional markets. Consequently, full and stable

access to foreign markets becomes a matter of ‘national security’, at

least insomuch as it protects the power of the national elites.

Although resulting military interventions are publicly excused as

stopping terrorism, preventing the spread of communism, or liberating

oppressed peoples, the result has been the same over the past century.

Underdeveloped countries are continually invaded and bombed. Their

leaders and people assassinated, bribed, kidnapped, raped and tortured.

Their lands stolen or destroyed. In essence, the cost of capitalist

elites’ international combat is paid for with the blood, sweat and tears

of the proletariat around the globe, with the degrees of each relative

to proximity around the various capitalist centers.

The only way to stop the unending waste and devastation of imperialist

wars is to take control of our productive forces back from the

capitalists and to organise our economy around meeting the needs of the

people… not building more wealth for the rich.

The only just war

is class war.

WHAT IS A LIBERAL SOLUTION

Jeff Bezos, at the time of writing, is worth $196 billion or roughly

280, 000 times the net worth of the average American family. The

‘moderate’ liberal solution is to increase taxes and strengthen safety

nets. The ‘radical’ liberal solution is to take the wealth and

redistribute it directly to the people. Both solutions are liberal

because they leave in place the system of exploitation which made Bezos

rich in the first place.

The socialist solution is to seize the wealth and the means of

production (i.e. Wholefoods and Amazon), then turn over operations to

the employees and fairly split the surplus value between the labourers

and the rest of society.

When all the wealth and means of production are returned to the people

as a whole, no one will profit from exploitation, nor compete to live.

Together we will enjoy the value we collectively produce. All for one,

and one for all.

No one left behind.

WHAT IS CLASS?

Class is often depicted in the U.S. as being determined by income range

and being composed of the lower, middle and upper classes. This view is

flawed and serves to obfuscate precisely how the many are being

controlled by the few.

There are indeed classes in capitalism, but they are determined by who

owns (or the capacity to own) the means of production. They are as

follows:

The Bourgeoisie: Owns the means of production but does not work them.

The Petite-Bourgeoisie: Owns and works them (Hill Street Grocer).

The Proletariat: Does not own them but works them (The Brisbane Hotel).

While class mobility may be somewhat possible when divided by income

brackets, true class mobility is exceedingly difficult and rare. This is

especially true as the cost of production has continually increased with

technological solutions / development and industrial scale. Most people

simply cannot afford to up and purchase a fully operational place of

business, nor do they have access to loans sufficient for that purpose.

The few that move from the proletariat to the petite-bourgeoisie are in

an inherently unstable position since they are competing against

powerful multinational conglomerates and must thus exploit more and more

of the labourers beneath them.

Although reformists believe that increasing class mobility will

alleviate the excesses of capitalism, they leave in place the very means

of exploitation that perpetuate a dictatorship by the bourgeoisie.

Whether any one person comes to own or lose the means of production is

irrelevant to the whole picture which is that a single class always

continues to own while the majority do not. The only solution is to

throw off the shackles of our oppressors and take back what is

rightfully all of ours.

WHAT IS A NON-PROFIT?

Many well-meaning activists join non-profits in order to advance their

revolutionary work or to find ethical labour, but this line of thinking

can be a trap.

The vast majority of nonprofits are funded and directed by the very

elites that must be overthrown, directly reflecting the immense

inequalities inherent in the economic system. As a result, non-profits

typically focus on providing social services to people in need, rather

than affecting systemic change, as they must answer to their grantors’

bourgeois objectives or be defunded. Worse, the ruling class use

Non-Government Organisations (NGO’s) to create buffer zones between the

masses and revolutionary thinking, by creating the semblance of a

functioning system and tying the livelihoods of organisers to pleasing

their masters

In essence, the bourgeoisie steal some of our best and brightest,

transforming them into a ‘cadre’ of liberal bureaucrats and isolating

them from the experiences of the masses. This is not to say that working

for a non-profit is an indication of having ‘sold out’, that non-profits

cannot do good work, nor that meeting the material needs of the people

is anti-revolutionary.

Rather, we must understand the inherent limitations of taking part in a

professionalised workforce and separately build our own revolutionary

institutions that are entirely guided by the people and which intend to

fundamentally abolish the capitalist system.

In the struggle to survive, NGO’s provide a tactical means for

individuals and communities to achieve some objectives, but only a

revolutionary party will create the future that we all need.

WHAT IS SURPLUS VALUE?

Capitalism is rooted in the extraction of ‘surplus value’, from workers.

Surplus value is the result of uncompensated production by the worker.

For example, say a cheese pizza is sold for $10 and produced in only 7

minutes.

If the ingredients cost $2.60 ($2 for cheese, $0.25 for dough and $0.35

for sauce), then that leaves $7.40 per pizza for compensating the

efforts of the worker. This is known to leftists as “labour value” or

“surplus value”. Yet, the worker is only compensated $7.25 an hour,

meaning $0.85 per pizza.

If the manager is paid at twice the rate of the worker, they receive

$1.75 per pizza. For no effort on their part, the capitalist owners take

home $4.80 of surplus value per pizza. Were the worker fairly

compensated they would $5.60 per pizza, or $48 an hour.

Yet the ruling class has workers fighting over $0.01 in taxes, 480 times

less than what is being stolen from them in extracted surplus value.

Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.