Given indefinite time, and learning from its own experiences in the crisis, the workers would find the strategy and tactics to seize power

The world today is entering a period of revolution. We see it in Northern Africa, in the continuous uprisings of workers in China, and in the mass strikes and uprisings in Greece and other EU nations. Such periods are not unique; there were revolutionary periods in the past, such as that period opened up by the American Revolution, or the period of the colonial revolutions following WW II.

Regime Change

However, as the ongoing revolutionary wave in Egypt and the revolution in Tunisia show, not all revolutions result in the fundamental change that their participants seek.

All regimes establish a means of transferring power from one individual to another. Even the one person rule of North Korea had such a means; power was simply inherited by the son of the deceased ruler, or at least this is the intent. At times, however, a regime can be so weakened, its base so narrow, that the direct intervention of masses of people becomes possible, and power is transferred outside of the pre-arranged means – or so it seems.

This is what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. Those who came to power did so by riding the crest of a mass uprising, rather than through constitutional means.

State Apparatus and Relations of Production

However, power does not reside in the hands of one individual head of state alone. He or she must rest on a government bureaucracy which includes the police, the judicial system, the military, etc. In addition to this apparatus of direct repression, there are all sorts of other indispensable wings of any regime, such as a wing to collect taxes, for which all sorts of record keeping is also necessary. In the capitalist world, these bureaucracies do not exist in isolation from the capitalist class. The leading military tops are directly tied in with them by a thousand threads, including social ties, positions that will be open to them after retirement from the military, etc. The same is true for the judges, and heads of the different bureaucracies. This influence then filters down through every department through opportunities for promotion – or disciplining or firing in the case of rebellious members of the bureaucracy. A most blatant example of this connection occurred recently in New York City. There, right during the height of the Occupy Wall St. movement, JP Morgan bank made a $4.6 million donation to the New York City Police Department. It is no coincidence that within days the NYPD were attacking the protesters and that the “white shirts” - the upper echelon officers - were the most blatantly brutal towards the protesters.

So as long as these government bureaucracies remain in place, so long as only the faces at the top change, the revolution is incomplete. But for the entire state apparatus to be overturned, the class upon which it rests must also be removed from power. And for this, the relations that exist in producing the goods in society must also be revolutionized. In other words, in the capitalist world private ownership of the means of production must be eliminated.

Revolutionary Situation – Objective Factors

This, of course, is not an every day event. The possibility for this to occur rarely arises. What are the conditions which make this possible? Lenin explained that there are three objective conditions necessary.

First, there must be such a massive crisis that the capitalist class can find no way out. Such a crisis can be an economic crisis, but it is not necessarily so. In the classic case of the Russian Revolution, it was a general social crisis which was brought to a head by World War I that brought about this situation. In such crises, all attempted solutions will be futile for the capitalist class, but that doesn’t mean it gives up. Instead, the class becomes divided. It cannot unite around a common strategy because no successful strategy exists.

Some wings of the capitalist class will seek resolution through appeasing the working class. Other wings, however, will correctly point out that appeasement will only whet the workers’ appetite for more power; it will only increase the workers’ confidence. In the eyes of this wing, direct brutal repression is the solution. To this, the former wing will point out that their control over the repressive apparatus of the state is shaky at best and that any attempt to crush the working class will result in total loss of such control.

Back and forth they will argue, with this debate breaking out in the open and different capitalist politicians and political parties denouncing each other in the strongest terms. This open debate and these denunciations will only heighten the crisis.

“Petit Bourgeoisie”

Such a crisis, combined with the turmoil in the ruling class, throws the “middle class” - the small business owners, land owning farmers, etc. into turmoil. Lacking any real power themselves, they desperately seek a source of power outside their own class.

Working Class

And what about the working class majority – the “proletariat”? All the years – decades and centuries - of accumulated anger start to find a way to burst to the surface. Desperate to resolve the crisis, and sensing the mortal weakness of its enemy – the capitalist class – the working class is united and ready to make the greatest sacrifices in order to resolve the crisis.

This class, the one true revolutionary class in society, is also casting about, seeking a solution, but also starting to get a sense of its true power and of its historic destiny.

Workers’ Councils

Inevitably in the course of such mass struggles, workers will develop organs to coordinate the struggle – committees of struggle they can be called. Or workers’ councils. These committees or councils will tend to take on increased power in society. For instance, during the Seattle general strike of 1919, the general strike committee went beyond simply organizing the strike. It also decided which vital businesses – such as delivery of milk and medicines – could continue to operate. In other words, for a brief moment it started to take on the task of running society.
The committees of struggle, workers’ councils, start to crowd out the functions of the state apparatus. Gradually and in an uneven fashion, the awareness of this and its implications dawns on the working class. The necessity of developing these councils as a new state – a workers’ state – and crushing the old capitalist state starts to become the task of the hour. But will the masses of workers become conscious of this in time?

Limited Time

These three conditions are brought about by the laws of motion of capitalism itself. Rare as they are, revolutionary situations can be compared to earthquakes, which arise by the laws of nature. No force on earth can prevent such situations from occurring from time to time.
Given indefinite time, and learning from its own experiences in the crisis, the workers would find the strategy and tactics to seize power. However, that is exactly the point – such a crisis cannot last indefinitely. Within a fairly short period of time it must be resolved one way or another. If the working class cannot find the road to power quickly enough, then large layers of that class will become demoralized. Likewise, the “middle class” - the petit bourgeoisie – will tend to look more decisively towards the capitalist class as their savior. Under these conditions, then, direct brutal repression – a counter revolution - becomes the order of the day.

“Subjective” Factor

This leads to the question of the fourth factor necessary for a successful revolution – the “subjective” factor. It is considered to be a “subjective” factor because it does not develop simply due to the laws of motion of capitalism; it requires the subjective will of workers and the allies of the working class themselves. In physics, quantum mechanics explains that in certain situations, certain outcomes are possible, but there is no way to predict which among those possible outcomes will occur. In the laws of motion of the class struggle, a similar process can be seen.
What is required is that the most conscious and most determined layer of the working class be organized amongst themselves and along with their revolutionary allies outside the working class (the youth, etc.) This requires an organization, a revolutionary leadership, or a revolutionary party. There is no other means through which this layer of the class can exert its influence on the working class as a whole. Lacking such a revolutionary leadership – such a party – this layer of the class will become somewhat fragmented and unable to systematically act and exert its influence. As a result, some layers of this sector of the class will start to become confused and demoralized.

History has proven that such a revolutionary leadership cannot just arise on the spur of the moment. It takes time for it to develop, for it to learn how to organize and for wider layers of the working class – and in fact of the middle class – to develop confidence in it.

History is full of tragedies where a revolutionary situation existed but this fourth factor, the subjective factor, was lacking. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) just such a situation existed. In Barcelona, the working class made a desperate attempt to once and for all resolve that revolutionary crisis. Lacking such a revolutionary leadership on a mass scale, they were crushed and the counter revolution went on to victory in the person of Franco. In Chile in the early 1970s a revolutionary situation existed and the working class was capable of seizing power many times over. Again, that fourth factor was lacking and the result was the military coup of Pinochet in 1973. Once more, in Iran a revolutionary situation existed when the Shah was overthrown in 1979. Again, lacking the fourth factor, the revolutionary leadership, the result was the rise to power of the counter revolutionary mullahs.

General Process

A true revolutionary leadership, really rooted in a significant layer of the working class, does not develop overnight. Nor does it develop in a vacuum. As the workers’ movement rises, it will tend to seek to unite beyond just the work place. Such unity tends to take the form of a mass workers’ party, a party in which and through which all issues can be posed from the class point of view. Whether it be the issue of housing, of state repression, or of the environment and global warming/climate disruption – all these issues are to be taken up by the working class and solutions from the point of view of that class can be posed through such a mass party. (Note: In the United States, some revolutionaries think that the working class can be organized strictly through the unions. They neglect to consider that workers have to and have organized far beyond the work place.)

Of course, all sorts of opportunists and charlatans will also find a base in such a party. There will also be layers of the working class who are less clear and determined. These factors combined mean that there will be debates and struggle within the party. Connected with this process, a more clear-headed and determined wing will develop. Ultimately, such a wing will have to have independence from the more reformist and opportunist wings. However, the point is that a revolutionary leadership is very unlikely to develop outside of the process of a mass workers’ party and certainly won’t develop outside of the process of a renewal of struggle of the working class in general.
Working Class More Powerful Than Ever

Today, on a world scale, the working class is more powerful than ever before. It is the majority of the world population. Contained within its collective consciousness is the memory and the knowledge that springs from the memory of the lessons of world history. It is also today more globally aware than ever. This has several consequences. One is that revolutionary situations can last longer than they did in the past, because of the power of the working class. Another consequence is that it is far easier for that more conscious and determined layer of the working class to organize and spread its influence.
It still requires a conscious and systematic effort, however.

John Reimann is a retired carpenter and an expelled member of the Carpenters' Union in the United States. (He was expelled for leading rank and file struggles against the union bureaucracy.) He is a long-time socialist, who organized for a number of years in Mexico. He is presently a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.