More than one and half centuries ago, Marx said during the revolutionary era: “Everything solid melts into the air”. Today, we are at the eye of the revolutionary storm, and, everything is upsetting rapidly. It’s the edge of the big changes.
The speed of global developments is dizzying. It’s an intensive and brief history! Ten years of development now fits into months, weeks, or even days. All across the world, the winds of revolution and at the same time, war, are blowing from continent to continent, from country to country, from Latin America to Europe, from Asia to Africa.
Three decades ago, our party described the situation as “the new stage/phase”.
All over the world, uprisings against the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, and capitalist society, revolts, civil wars, clashes, strikes, and large-scale revolutionary mass movements are the order of the day. All this shows that humanity has entered into a “new phase” of historical development. An era of social revolutions, an era of great transition is upon us.
Humanity is experiencing the annoyances of transition to a new, classless, and borderless world.
The capitalist society and capitalist mode of production are also historical and temporary like all previous societies. This capitalist mode of production today has reached the limits of its historical development and become a great obstacle to the development of humanity. Accordingly, its abolition is inevitable. Capitalism is the invariable background of the huge turmoil around the world, wars inside and outside, uprisings and riots, starvation and poverty, unemployment, and destruction. In short, the revolutionary turmoil we are facing, which is spreading across the whole world is the result of the whole historical development of capitalism.
Without developing new concepts for the events we face today, it is impossible to scientifically diagnose and comprehend the events occurring today. Imperialism’s incorporation of dependent countries’ economies through the process of full annexation, global civil war, US imperialism’s collapse, the Third World War taking place between the imperialist-capitalist system and the global proletariat and the century of insurrections are some of the key terms in scientifically explaining and understanding the daily developments we encounter. Attempting to theorize independently of these terms, one cannot form a single credible sentence about either world revolution or the united revolution in Turkey and Kurdistan.
Petty bourgeoisie socialist movements influenced by bourgeois worldviews are extremely common. The counter-revolutions realized throughout the socialist world between 1989-91, fallen walls, declaring the “end of history”, in a word the victory cries of capital left petty-bourgeois socialist movements in shock. In fact, in Turkey and in many regions throughout the world, the same period saw an upsurge of revolutionary action.
An epidemic of demonstrations against the global trade agreements (GATT, GATS, MAI, MIGA) spread all over the world. In Brussels, truckers blocked highways, farmers ravaged all of Europe, from Japan to Rome, and farmer’s demonstrations challenged the agricultural practice of monopolies.
Immediately thereafter the uprising initiated by the Zapatist movement in Chiapas came to the fore. Following the Uruguay Round of Global Trade Agreements, the evolution of the World Trade Organization triggered new waves of protest, strikes, rallies, and demonstrations which showed no signs of slowing down. Periodically global uprisings occurred. Then… Seattle, and so on: “Another world is possible!”
Although “another world” is not a certain definition, it shows the rebellious feelings of millions against the imperialist-capitalist world order.
The imperialist-capitalist system is in the process of collapse. Humanity is in a new phase of historical development. The essence of this “new stage/phase” is that the social revolutions that will lead to the transition from capitalism to communism have started practically. As the old world collapses a new world is born on its ruins; the hope of salvation of humanity is continuing, the age of freedom of a thousand years is coming, and the dawn of communism is coming.
It would undoubtedly be a great mistake to think that the world bourgeoisie will stand by the collapse of the imperialist-capitalist system and will helplessly summit to its fate. At the end of last century, NATO determined that our era would be a “century of uprisings”, but also explained what policy and measures it would develop against these uprisings. Since the late 90s, they have started training and organizing in accordance with urban warfare, to fight in residential areas. It meant to begin preparations of Civil War around the world. On the one hand, in order to speed up the centralization of capital worldwide, the US has turned to a policy of full annexation of the economy of dependent countries, achieving the goal of waging war against the peoples of the world by undertaking acts of war against its own people. On September 11, 2001, the US government destroyed the Twin Towers on their own. And we know what happened after that. Afghanistan, Iraq, the Great (and the Greater) Middle East, Libya, North Africa, Syria, and so on.
Imperialists, with the interference of Russia, have been defeated in many areas. They are losing in Syria; they are losing in Iraq; they are losing in Ukraine, in Sahel, also in Palestine!
As 7th October military attack called Al-Aqsa Storm, the heroic people of Palestine, at the cost of great suffering, have now brought the war to territory under the control of the zionist Israeli state. In doing so, they have begun a new chapter in the Palestinian revolution.
The fact of the matter is that from Africa to the Middle East, from the Americas to Asia, reaching from there to Europe a revolutionary unrest is sweeping across the globe resulting from the conflict between proletariat and capital, communism and capitalism, the old world and the new world. This indicates that a revolutionary situation has emerged on a global scale. All conflicts in different countries and regions, whatever the different forms they take, may prove the existence of a revolutionary situation and how widespread it is.
The reply of the imperialist bourgeoisie against the global uprising is a traditional one: war and fascism! They need a destructive war and a strong fascist movement to prevent people’s revolutionary struggle around the world. Before in Syria, now in Ukraine, that’s what they are trying to do.
Each revolution has its own internal and external conditions, and internal and external allies. Polarizations at global scale, struggles have an impact on revolution in any country directly or indirectly. In this respect, with the existing conditions imperialist-capitalist powers coming face to face against the powers under the leadership of Russia and China, triggers class struggle directly on a global scale. That means, under these circumstances, the anti-imperialist movement has indirect support from Russia and China.
It would not be reasonable to expect Turkey and Kurdistan to be in a different state because there is a civil war going on between labor and capital on an international level and revolutionary conditions have developed in most of the countries of the imperialist capitalist system. On the contrary, these two states are lands of civil war and have been in revolutionary circumstances for nearly thirty years.
Turkey has a monopolistic capitalist economy. The industrial base of its monopolistic capitalist economy is weak and dependent on imperialism. The monopolistic capitalist class of Turkey faced strong proletarian movements while they were implementing the economic policies dictated by imperialist powers. In spite of the fascist coup in 1980, the Turkish bourgeois class couldn’t resolve the economic and social problems in Turkey. Less than a decade later the coup, clashes between the bourgeoisie and working class, Turkish state and Kurdish people erupted. The conflicts reached a state of civil war in 90’s. Revolutionary mass movements had spread all around Turkey and Kurdistan, armed clashes were widespread, the occupation of factories by the working class and strikes became commonplace. In big cities, the state lost control of neighborhoods. In essence, there was a revolution occurring.
To prevent the revolution, Turkish armed forces stormed brutally. While the cities in Kurdistan were burnt and destroyed, the people were massacred by chemical weapons and were buried alive in houses that were destroyed by heavy artillery fire.
Revolution is a long journey. Rising and downing mass struggle, armed conflicts, armed uprising, victories and defeats… are moments in this marching. In Turkey and Kurdistan we saw all of them. People’s uprisings against fascist oppression and terror continue.
Both the Gezi Park (in June 2013) and Kobane (in October 2014) uprisings were milestones of the history of Turkey and Kurdistan. They turned the social revolution in Turkey into a concrete/practical phenomenon. Turkey and Kurdistan have become the lands where the contradictions have accelerated, the clashes have intensified to such an extraordinary level that the monopolistic capitalist class now could no longer maintain its sovereignty without resorting to fascist terror.
These lands where revolution has become a contemporary, practical problem, are the weakest link of the imperialist-capitalist chain. Exactly because of this, the religious fascist state that is ruled by Erdogan is supported by the imperialist governments, especially by USA and Germany, whatever disagreements they might each perform for the domestic audiences. The fear of the imperialists is the collapse of the religious fascist state of Erdogan, because it would mean a people’s uprising.
However, in Turkey and Kurdistan, the fact that every step the monopolistic capitalist class and imperialists have taken to prevent the revolution has done nothing but intensify the revolution. This has only one explanation: the bourgeois order is collapsing and falling apart along with its all institutions.
Still, it is necessary to assert that, unless the bourgeois system is brought down by the proletariat and working people through revolution, the bourgeois system will not collapse on its own. The capitalist economic system is bound to crisis in order to renew itself. The revolutionary powers and communists should know to benefit from the crisis of the monopolistic capitalism for the victory of the revolution. Being a revolutionary means knowing how to benefit from the crisis of the capitalism for the victory of the revolution for the capture of the political power. Anything else is done in vain. Because every bourgeois is ready to say and accept that capitalism is in a crisis, and that bourgeois society is rotting and collapsing. What makes the revolutionary proletariat party, and Communist party different from these types of bourgeois is destroying the sovereignty of the bourgeoisie and taking power to the hands of the labor.
Under these conditions the revolutionary parties must have clear sight of their goal, the ability to lead to be able to benefit from this crisis for the victory of revolution and ready to commit to seizing power and to overthrow bourgeois rule.
The biggest impact of social reformist and opportunist parties on the world working class movement was the removal of the working class from the capture of political power. We’re confronted with this legacy under the name of “European Communism”. In the other continents and countries, we are confronted with it in different forms. But no matter what form it may appear to be, the common line that cuts them wholly is the line of compromise with the bourgeois class and distance from the goal of capturing power. As the most prominent form of this line is the government over-classes, is defending a “democracy” separated from its class content.
In the time of revolutionary crisis—and now we’re going through such a crisis worldwide—the task of a revolutionary party is to benefit from the revolutionary crisis for the goal of revolution. The conquest of political power which is the first door to capture of all power. There is no other goal in times of revolutionary crisis. A revolutionary party cannot approach the problem otherwise.
The task of a revolutionary party is to successfully carry out the revolution benefiting from revolutionary crisis, to seize the power to form a revolutionary government thereby breaking the resistance of exploiters.
Needless to say this difficult task cannot be carried out by peaceful means, by reconciliation with the bourgeoisie. It can only be achieved by the dictatorship of revolutionary government that doesn’t restrict itself to any law.
Now, in Europe and many other parts of the world, groups, parties, political strata are emerging that are focused on revolutionary Marxist-Leninist thought. The revolutionary forces within the social reformist and opportunist parties are separating their ways and shifting to a revolutionary line. This objective situation is the result of the deep crisis of bourgeois society and bourgeois class domination.
As long as revolutionary parties, groups, and people who have just emerged and tried to organize are able to follow a revolutionary line, they will have the future as long as they follow a political line guided by revolutionary feelings and aspirations of the exploited and oppressed masses, no matter how weak they may be! What is important and decisive is the revolutionary policies and the revolutionary program. Now we know how the “communist parties” had enormous power dissolved because they don’t have revolutionary programs and revolutionary policies.
The essence of revolutionary policies in times of revolutionary crisis, whether this crisis arises from foreign war, civil war, or any other cause, is to benefit from the crisis that bourgeois domination or bourgeois itself has suffered, to overthrow of bourgeois domination and to seize political power for the victory of revolution.
The revolutionary situation and civil war between labor and capital is now spreading all over the world. This crisis of the imperialist-capitalist system is not a temporary road accident. It is the result of devastating internal contradictions of capitalism’s maturation. There is not one weak ring in the imperialist-capitalist chain, but many. Not one in the chain, but a lot of rings of the chain have come to the point of breaking.
On the condition that the oppressed, exploited masses are filled with the longing for “another world” beyond capitalism and declare that this other world they’ve longed for is “possible”, the revolutionary and communist parties can only write on their flags:
All Power To Labor!
All The World To Labor!
Now Is The Time For Revolution!