The aim of communism is the creation of a classless stateless society in which the people of the world collectively own, control, organise and plan the wealth of society. These conditions are the necessary basis for the fuller development of the individual and relations between individuals. They are also the necessary basis for the fuller development of relations between people and nature. Under these conditions the historical conditions for the continuation of social oppression in all its forms will cease to exist. Under communism  the conditions for the free and  round creative activity will exist. No longer will the conditions that produce oppressive labouring activity and alienation exist.

However the realisation of communism will not necessarily mean that all problems will inevitably dissolve into  heavenly bliss. Communists are not utopian idealists. Instead communist see communist society as the necessary historical conditions that provide the best social conditions for resolving the many problems that confront humanity.

To achieve communism capitalism must be destroyed. The capitalist social system can only be destroyed and replaced by communism through revolution. Such a revolution can only be achieved by the organised working class. This social revolution entails the abolition of the state. To realise the communist revolution the working class must organise itself through the communist party. The communist party is the spearhead of the working class. It is the institutional form by which the working class organises itself against the capitalist class. As a party of the working class it must be organised on democratic centralist principles. In the revolutionary process the working class organises itself through the party into broader organisational forms that entail the democratic organisation and regulation of the  activity of the workers in relation to crushing the capitalist class and maintaining and developing social relations for the reproduction and distribution of human resources. With the ongoing revolutionary process and the abolition of the bourgeoisie these social forms will develop  into truly communist social forms --communism. Communists, as opposed to Leninism and other left counter-revolutionary forms, oppose the setting up of what is called a workers’ state. There is no such thing as a workers’ state. The state, by its very nature, is an instrument designed to oppress the worker. The so called workers’ state set up in Russia by the Bolsheviks in 1917 was an anti-working class state.

At present the working class has accepted capitalism and its ruling class. It has chosen capitalism opposed to communism. In that sense the working class today is bourgeois. This fact reflects itself in the virtual absence, among the working class, of any interest in communist politics. This in turn reflects itself in the absence of any known communist organisations. Consequently individual communists are isolated and politically incapable of exerting political influence. It is impossible for communist, under the present conditions, to practice their politics in an open way without being subjected to attack by the working class. The more conscious elements of the working class are actively hostile to communist politics. Because of the existence of these counter-revolutionary conditions communists are unable to present their politics in a principled way within concrete situations. Consequently communists are confined to producing theoretical work and rendering it accessible to elements within the working class. This means critiquing the theoretical and political developments that have taken place within the working class movement over the last 200 years or so. This means subjecting Marx, in particular to critique. Marx was a significant transitional figure in the history of the modern class struggle. The problem is that despite the outstanding contribution he has made to the development of revolutionary thought he has not been transcended. Theoretically we are essentially fixed where Marx finished off in the 19^th century. Revolutionary theory has not succeeded in getting beyond that stage. It is only through critiquing the highest point reached by revolutionary thought that communists hope to get beyond it. Communists then must confine themselves to producing histories of the class struggle, theoretical analysis of political events etc. They must struggle to develop communist theory into an integrated doctrine that provides an understanding of contemporary capitalism in all its aspects. Communists must struggle to form a communist group of intellectuals to develop, promote and organise communism on the theoretical. Such a group will be based on an organised programme of theoretical work.

This means that if the working class choose communism we will be in a stronger position to actively participate in the struggle to achieve it. For the present it is not possible for communists to actively participate in the class struggle as communists.

·           If you are interested in discussing and even participating in this project please contact me, Paddy Hackett, through the following address: rasherrs@eircom.net 

Hackett’s Communist WebSite