On building a revolutionary organisation pt. 1
by
Lindokuhle Mponco
We always hear, see, or even read
this word organisation but have we ever taken the time to understand what the
word organisation means? The first thing that comes to mind when you think of
the word organisation is essentially the condition of a concrete object. Organisation
is essentially the state of readiness which comes from awareness. This
awareness comes from a realisation that to reach maximum output, one needs to
collectivise the necessary resources to achieve this aim. This in a nutshell is
what the word organisation means.
Now adding revolutionary to the mix
immediately shifts it to another level and assigns a task to that organisation.
An organisation that espouses and claims to be revolutionary must be measured
by that standard, and first we must understand the meaning of the word
revolutionary. Revolutionary technically means a full circle movement. However,
in political terms it means the abrupt termination of the way of doing things
to usher in a new way of doing things (Lenin, 1917). This way of doing
things has to be organised, and as such it is why we refer to it as an order.
The Old Order immediately implies the old way of organising oneself, or society,
while the New Order immediately implies the new way of organising oneself, or
society (Lenin, 1917). In essence, a
revolutionary organisation is a collective of individuals that seek to establish
a new way of doing things. Their method of ushering in this new way of doing
things is characterised by terminating the old way of doing things abruptly. As
such, this abrupt termination is often accompanied by blood, sweat, and tears
due to how this conflict is built up and ultimately unfolds (Lenin, 1917).
The termination of the old way of
doing things means that the new way of doing things must usher in a group of
individuals who will organise society on this basis, and they cannot accomplish
this task without being organised into one body, or structure (Lenin, 1917). From this we can
deduce that to establish a new way of doing things and ultimately establish a new
society means there must be an organisation (Lenin, What is to be done?, 1902). A new way of doing things just does not pop
out of nowhere, it must emerge from somewhere because everything has a starting
point. This evolutionary process happens due to two different forces, which in
most cases in human history are inherently contradictory to each other due to
having different interests (Marx K. &., 1848). For an order to
exist one must subject the other one to the other, and from there on the production
of ideas, and accumulation of resources will mostly benefit those that run the
order and have subjected the other force to their rule. These forces are known as
classes, and it is from this experience that we see that human history is a product
of class struggle (Marx K. &., 1848). Marx & Engels
are not the only thinkers that have come to this conclusion, British
Sociologist Max Weber also comes to this conclusion too. It is from these
conclusions that we realise that the duty of every subject class is to
collectivise its resources with the sole aim of abruptly terminating the old
way of doing things to establish the new way of doing things (Lenin, 1917). Lenin goes on to
further say that the need to terminate the old way of doing things stems from
the changing material conditions (Lenin, 1917). The material
conditions change because the means of producing the necessary resources to reproduce
life have stagnated, and this stagnancy creates a degeneration of the system
used to do things (Marx K. &., 1848).
The stagnancy leads to decreasing
living standards, and further drives the subject class downwards. This push
down leads to a response of the subject class either being in tow with the
decline, or a resistance which is characterised by the subject class rejecting
the way of doing things, and abruptly terminating them to usher in a new way of
doing things, fit for the material conditions (Marx K. &., 1848). This is then called
a revolution, and in our experience as humans we have come to know that
organisation is a core element of any revolution, and it is organisations that
carry out revolutions. In essence, there is no spontaneous revolution, and all
revolutions are driven by ideas of the dominant organisation within the subject
class (Trotsky, 1907). These ideas emerge
because of the experience of the system by the subject class. This experience
of constant conflict and clashes with the ruling class leads to a realisation
that for one to enjoy the same benefits in this society, one must reshape this
society to create an entirely new society which will elevate those at the
bottom at the ultimate expense of those at the top (Marx K.
&., 1848).
Due to this, the need to organise
this group of diverse individuals who have a common interest, and a common
grievance leads to these individuals to formulate ideas and theories which will
be applied to overcome this dominant/ruling class. As such, an organisation is
formed to not only carry out these ideas but to educate the rest of the subject
class with the aim of liberating them from the yoke of the ruling class (Lenin, What
is to be done?, 1902). The organisation either from the onset
is geared towards abruptly terminating the old way of doing things to usher in
the new way of doing things or is geared towards gradually revising the old way
of doing things. The revision has been proven time and time again to be a
futile exercise due the fact that all systems, or rather way of doing things
come and go based on the changing material conditions (Marx K.
&., 1848).
From the old society, we see the germs of the new society and it is these germs
that grow to a point whereby they create a new organism with characteristics of
the old society but at the same time a wholly new organism with the germs of
the new society (Marx K. , 1871). The need to create
this new society means that the subject class must be equally organised if not
more organised than the ruling class. In one of his articles, Lenin once said a
slogan of winning over the army, and arming the people was a positive slogan in
the struggle against despotism and capitalism due to how it practically
organised the subject class and gave them an advantage when it comes to abruptly
terminating the old way of doing things. Once again, an organisation must exist
for these slogans to exist, and a revolutionary organisation serves that
purpose of producing ideas, spreading them, and applying them to liberate the
subject class by using the subject class itself (Lenin, The
State and Revolution, 1917).
A revolutionary organisation must
identify the motive forces, or rather the driving forces of this struggle
against the old way of doing things. Once they have identified these forces,
they then must collectivise their struggles into one programme which will speak
to the general overthrow of the old way of doing things to usher in the new way
of doing things. Once they have been collectivised it is automatic that they
will operate under one banner, which represents the common interests of the
subject class. The motive forces, or rather the driving forces of this struggle
must always be trained and equipped for this task so that they do not degenerate,
and usher in the era of caricatures and distorted new ways of doing things. It
is the duty of the individuals who study, analyse, and understand these ideas and
theories to ensure that the essence of these ideas and theories do not die out,
but are constantly developed and shaped to fit the material conditions. Should
these ideas and theories exhaust their historical necessity, it is bound to
happen that their death will usher in new ideas and theories to advance the
struggle of the subject class, and as such a revolutionary organisation must
always anticipate such due to its inherent character of always being ready to terminate
abruptly the old way of doing things (Marx K. &., 1848). However, time is a
process which dialectically turns the revolutionary organisation of today to an
oppressor organisation of tomorrow, and such a contradiction can only be
resolved through the termination of a class-based society and the creation of a
classless society (Marx K. &., 1848).
It is on this basis that we can
begin this gigantic process of building a revolutionary organisation which will
usher in a society whereby the old way of doing things is a distant memory, and
the new way of doing things is a reality. Once we understand why a
revolutionary organisation exists, the conditions that lead to its existence,
and the ideas and theories that sustain the revolutionary organisation for it
to abruptly terminate the old way of doing things, to usher in the new way of
doing things, then the task of building a revolutionary organisation will be much
easier.
7 June 2021
East London, South Africa
