The American Party of Labor was founded in 2008, and bases itself upon Marxism-Leninism. For us, that is embodied by the lives and works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Hoxha. The APL is the nucleus of a Marxist-Leninist party, and we have slowly built our cadre since our foundation. We have been publishing our newspaper, the Red Phoenix, since 2010. We can now take on the task of a theoretical journal with the seriousness such an endeavor requires.
Below we state three motivations in starting this journal.
(1) The first consideration is that Marxist-Leninist militants in the US should be especially interested in applying scientific analyses of our world
The American Party of Labor is organized in the heartland of the most powerful imperialist nation in the world, placing a heavy responsibility on it. It behooves us to carefully consider not only the domestic policy of the ruling capitalist class of the US, but also the policy of the countries entrapped by its tentacles. These tentacles are both physical by virtue of the direct violence of US armed forces but also involve other grips. These include monetary holds by virtue of the dollar trap into which other countries are bound; economic strangulation by dint of US imperial policies; and also ideological fogs as powered by its dominance in the media, educational institutions, and web-based corporate giants.
That is why a Marxist-Leninist theoretical journal from the US should address the many thorny issues that face the world’s workers, peasants and toilers.
(2) Secondly we believe that the role of theory is to guide the struggles of the working class against capitalism and imperialism.
This is of course not an original observation. Marxist-Leninists over history placed a huge importance on this. It is useful to recall some of these. For example Engels wrote in the Peasant War in Germany:
“The German workers have… retained that sense of theory… without German philosophy, which preceded it, particularly that of Hegel, German scientific socialism – the only scientific socialism that has ever existed – would never have come into being. Without a sense of theory among the workers, this scientific socialism would never have entered their flesh and blood as much as is the case…. It will be the duty of the (workers’ – Ed.) leaders to gain an ever clearer insight into all theoretical questions, to free themselves more and more from the influence of traditional phrases inherited from the old world outlook, and constantly to keep in mind that socialism, since it has become a science, demands that it be pursued as a science, i.e., that it be studied.”
Lenin echoed this, and drew the conclusion that:
“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement. This idea cannot be insisted upon too strongly at a time when the fashionable preaching of opportunism goes hand in hand with an infatuation for the narrowest forms of practical activity.” (What is To Be Done?)
In turn Stalin cited that phrasing from Lenin, and in turn painted the picture of a vital connection between theory and practice:
“Theory is the experience of the working-class movement in all countries taken in its general aspect. Of course, theory becomes purposeless if it is not connected with revolutionary practice, just as practice gropes in the dark if its path is not illumined by revolutionary theory. But theory can become a tremendous force in the working-class movement if it is built up in indissoluble connection with revolutionary practice; for theory, and theory alone, can give the movement confidence, the power of orientation, and an understanding of the inner relation of surrounding events.” (Foundations of Leninism)
(3) Finally, to build a world-wide revolution requires understanding and studying the lessons of the rise of revisionism and its destruction of our movements.
To face the ever more brutal onslaught of world imperialism, only organized resistance can succeed in our long term goal. That long term goal is the socialist revolution. But this requires understanding and debating openly our prior failures to withstand capitalist counter-revolutions in the USSR and Albania. The history of how such restorations took place and were enabled is not fully clear so far, but the fact of the restorations is undeniable. However, winning young and stalwart adherents to a Marxist-Leninist viewpoint requires an open dialogue and credible analyses of the past. It also requires credible analyses of multiple problems – wars, racism, women’s oppression, interpersonal violence, battles in specialized fields such as biology, psychology, history, literature, law, art, etc. Many of these fields were once dominated by Marxist-Leninist experts. Since the (temporary) victory of revisionism, Marxist-Leninists have had to cede these fields to bourgeois defenders in the academy.
In short, the words of Karl Marx’s Confession — “Nothing human is alien to me” – lays the scope of inquiry before us. Our slogan, paraphrased slightly, formed the final words of the Communist Manifesto:
“The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working People of All Countries, Unite!”
Statement of Principles
What breakthroughs are at the core of Marxism-Leninism?
1) That the transition from capitalism to socialism requires the revolutionary overthrow of the exploiting classes and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
2) That the transition between capitalism to socialism and from socialism to communism can only be brought about under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
3) That the dictatorship of the proletariat shall be under the leadership of a vanguard party made of representatives of the working class.
4) That the socialist period must take the form of a centralized state-planned economy to replace profit motive.
5) That the liquidation of socialism in the Soviet Union and Albania was not due to the failure of Marxism or communism, but rather due to internal enemies of the remnant, expropriated bourgeoisie in a hidden form. They were assisted by conscious enemies of the working class within the party disguising their objectives by masquerading as Marxist-Leninists.
6) That revisionism presents a very real danger to the anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist movement internationally, and that all parties should attend to the political education of their members so that any future revisionism may be countered and defeated before it sabotages socialism once again.
7) That the diversion of the Chinese Revolution into the revisionism of halting at the stage of the national-democratic revolution for a long duration threw many Marxist-Leninists worldwide into a mistaken identification of Maoism with Marxism-Leninism.
8) That the continuing global warfare being waged by the imperialist countries with US imperialism at the head must be opposed, as should all imperialist wars waged against the peoples in developing and colonial countries.
9) That in the current era, the imperialist strategy of fostering neo-colonial oppressions is becoming transformed into an even more subtle oppression. This relies on ever more demagogic leaders in those neo-colonial states adopting more dangerous forms of a “pseudo-socialist” camouflage. Hence national liberation movements must as always be supported, but with an insistence on moving to the second stage of socialist revolution – even more insistently than in the prior era.
10) And finally, that the current world situation shows U.S. imperialism is declining, but no less dangerous than before. The NATO alliance remains the largest aggressive military force ever assembled in history, and the USA’s main armed force within Europe. Chinese social-imperialism is expanding its domain. China and Russia appear to be joining forces, and the position of EU imperialism is still evolving. The BRICS countries are involved in these developments as “junior partners” of imperialism. It seems a so-called “multi-polar world” is emerging, but the smaller imperialist powers cannot challenge the two larger ones – the U.S. and China. A “multi-polar” world is not inherently more advantageous for the working class, as the late 19th and early 20th centuries show us. The current era reflects the continuation of decaying global capitalism and imperialism, and must be used by the working people to advance the cause of socialist revolution.
Published: February 2023