Glossary of Marxism-Leninism – Unity–Struggle–Unity

trade-union consciousness

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 03:40:01 +0000

The organic and naturally-arising consciousness of the working class that it must combine into unions to fight for reforms. This less-than-revolutionary consciousness does not grow from trade unionism to revolution without the presence of outside agitators. Simply or merely focusing on economic reforms without the political dimension of the revolution to overthrow the entire corrupt system of capitalist governance typifies trade unionism. In our present stage of development, trade-union consciousness embodied by the moribund trade unions such as the AFL-CIO is openly reactionary and serves as a bulwark of capital. However, the upsurging, spontaneously-developing, trade-union consciousness of the masses can be imbued with revolutionary character.

Mass organization

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 22:45:18 +0000

Often referred to as a “mass org.”

A mass formation is any organization that does not require its membership to submit to ideological authority or an ideological program. In Stalin’s example these include the soviet councils, the trade unions, etc.

For the purpose of our current moment, mass organizations are those groups that are formed or joined by Communists for a specific purpose or to mobilize and agitate among other workers on progressive issues; For instance, PSL’s ANSWER Coalition or it’s rent caravans — CPUSA’s organizing to get unions certified, etc. These are examples of mass organizations.

The purpose of mass organizations and vanguard organizations could not be more different. The purpose of the vanguard organizations right now should be to link up and consolidate all forms of struggle into one movement, one great army of struggle, against the capitalist state. The purpose of the mass organizations is to act as the “belts” and “levers” of the proletariat and to convey direction to the vanguard organizations — and for the vanguard organizations to interpenetrate and unify with the masses, to drive the masses onward from height to height, to intensify the struggle, and to draw ever-wider sections of the population into the fight.

Habash, George (جورج حبش)

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 02:22:03 +0000

Palestinian Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, founder of the Arab Nationalist Movement and its successor, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Born in Al-Lid (currently Lod) and educated in medicine at the American University of Beirut, he returned to Al-Lid shortly before the Nakba, and experienced it firsthand. He became a refugee in Jordan along with his family, eventually founding the PFLP there, and going on to fight against Israel-backed fascist militias in Lebanon. He retired as chairman in 2000 and died in Amman in 2008. He earned the moniker “Al-Hakim”, a word which both means “The Wise One” and “The Doctor”, owing to his medical background and the high esteem he is still held in.

James Connolly

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 00:56:51 +0000

Irish revolutionary and Marxist theorist. Born in Scotland to poor Irish parents, he worked as a child laborer in Edinburgh’s factories. Having enlisted in the King’s Liverpool Regiment at age 14, he deserted after being deployed to Ireland. However, his desertion went unnoticed due to a fortunate clerical error. He became active in labor struggles in Scotland, Ireland, and the United States, joining the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, “The Wobblies”), and engaged heavily in strikes and collective action against the British and Irish bourgeoisie. He embraced Marxist analysis, which he used to write his magnum opus “Labour in Irish History”. Connolly vigorously defended his position as a Socialist and a Catholic, and he believed that Christianity’s original message of liberation for the poor was perverted by the bourgeoisie and their clergymen. Connolly realized the importance of Irish national liberation, then a strange idea to some. He saw that Socialism in Ireland required freedom from British imperialism contrary to the views of English Socialists, some of whom accused him of “national chauvinism”, and that Irish freedom from British imperialism required Socialism contrary to the views of bourgeois Irish nationalists, some of whom accused him of “not loving Ireland enough”. He responded sharply to both camps. Connolly founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP) and the Irish Citizen Army (ISA) to achieve these goals. He was among the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, in which Irish independence forces declared a provisional government (with Patrick Pearse as President and James Connolly as Vice President), and set off to fight British troops in Dublin and around Ireland. The Rising failed, and Connolly was executed alongside the other leaders. It is said that he was executed while strapped to a chair due to heavy injuries he sustained during the Rising, which prevented him from standing up.

Pan-Africanism

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 13:58:22 +0000

This is the political project of creating solidarity and revolutionary action between all African communities across the entire diasporic population. It is one way in which global anti-Blackness can be combatted. Pan-Africanism urges the countries of Africa to band together to throw off the chains of neocolonialism, which is necessary because of the historical forced underdevelopment of Africa by the Atlantic slave trade, and the union of interests and solidarity of movements in diasporic African communities (e.g., New Afrika in the U.S. Empire, Afro-Caribbean movements in Latin America, etc.).

Zionism

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 19:23:31 +0000

A political movement that began in the 19th century as a response to the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment. The movement was formally established in 1897 by the Austro-Hungarian lawyer Theodor Herzl, who gave shape to its character in his book Der Judenstaat. Herzl sought to answer the “Jewish Question,” posed by antisemites since at least 1750, which postulated that Jews had no place in the nation-states of Europe. Herzl’s answer was to send European Jews into Ottoman Palestine as shock-troops to open the territory up to European settlement and markets. In exchange, he offered the self-deportation of the entire Jewish population of Europe.

Zionism is inherently opposed to all forms of Yiddishkeit, or “Jewishness,” that exist outside of the nation-state of Israel. A foundational pillar of Zionism is the so-called “negation of the Diaspora,” the rejection of Jewish life and ethnic existence in diasporic communities.

Zionism is an aggressive settler-colonial movement and is the foundational political ideology and political strategy of the illegal settler state of Israel.

Abu Ali Mustafa (أبو علي مصطفى)

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 03:33:17 +0000

Nom de guerre of Palestinian Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Mustafa Ali Al-Zabri, the 2nd chairman of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was among the founding members of the organization, and a right-hand man of George Habash in Jordan and Lebanon. He was elected as chairman in 2000 after the resignation of Habash, and conducted operations against the Israeli occupation from inside Palestine, having been able to return there as a member of the PLO council, raising the now well-known slogan “I returned to fight, not negotiate” (عدنا لنقاوم لا لنساوم). He was assassinated by an Israeli Apache helicopter on August 27th, 2001 in Bireh, Palestine. His assassination triggered an operation on October 17th in which Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi was assassinated by the PFLP in retribution, to date the highest-ranking Israeli politician to be assassinated by a Palestinian.

Reproductive labor

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 12:36:32 +0000

The conditions that permit people to exercise their labor power don’t occur naturally; that is, the work force must eat, sleep, replenish lost calories, regenerate their muscles, and eventually replace the members of the workforce who die from sickness and old age. Nor do the conditions of the generalized exercise of labor power reproduce themselves without effort. Lastly, there are social conditions of the labor process that must be reproduced and maintained (for example, a laborer cannot go to work naked due to social convention arising from certain real needs not to be exposed to hot sparks on bare skin, and so forth). Reproductive labor, then, is all labor primarily involved in the historically determined aspects of the production of labor power, in the general labor power of society, and in the social preconditions of the labor-process.

Social chauvinism

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 02:16:41 +0000

Support of one’s “own” nation against other nations, particularly of imperialist nations during inter-imperialist conflicts. Social chauvinism can also manifest as a kind of great nation chauvinism in which one favors the national interests of a great nation exerting national oppression on others.

Capitalist

Comrade Editor J. Katsfoter — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 01:54:33 +0000

Another word for an “owner,” that is, a member of the bourgeoisie; i.e., someone who owns capital but does not support themselves through their own labor.