Our Road Map

As Karl Marx described, “Communism, as fully developed naturalism, equals humanism, and as fully developed humanism equals naturalism; it is the genuine resolution of the conflict between man and nature and between man and man – the true resolution of the strife between existence and essence, between objectification and self-confirmation, between freedom and necessity, between the individual and the species. Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution.” (Paris Manuscripts) Communism is a world where classes, all forms of exploitation, value, money and property have been abolished; patriarchy, family, gender, the state and power have been destroyed; the division of labor, alienation and the distinction between the city and the country have become things of the past: it is the true dawn of the human species. At the same time, “Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.” (German Ideology) The hell we live in is the last in the line of class societies established through of our species’ alienation from nature thousands of years ago. At the basis of this society called capitalism is the production of commodities, objects whose purpose is not to fulfill needs but to be sold. The commodity is a monster which exploits and imprisons us, the workers in every instance of production and thus keeps the present order alive. Communism is the flower blooming and the dragon of the proletarian revolution arising from our struggles as the exploited against this monster.

In the direction of this framework we’ve reached on the basis of Marx’s dialectical method, we define ourselves as communists and we adopt the experiences of struggles in the history of our class and the communist tradition which is a part of all these experiences through the filter of ever-lasting criticism. Based on the same method, when we look at the current historical epoch capitalism is in right now, we are confronted with a slaughterhouse where crises, wars and genocides are the norm. This inferno leads us to five basic political principles which, in our opinion, should be defended by all those who claim to be revolutionaries:

1. Internationalism: Defending the necessity of the abolition of capitalist relations in the whole world as well as the world wide common interests of the working class against all forms of nationalism, national oppression, national ‘liberation’ movements and capitalist wars without exception.

2. Rejection of Democracy: Abstaining from and not supporting any of the various parties or candidates participating in the elections. Seeing the relations and similarities between bourgeois democracies, embodiment of the normal functioning of the capitalist order and various bourgeois dictatorships, defending class war and the interests of the proletariat against all democracies and all dictatorships.

3. Rejection of the Unions: Defending the need for the workers to take control of their own struggles and the unity of all proletarians both from different unions and none against the unions that defend the interests of the state they’ve been integrated into in every condition by sabotaging workers struggles.

4. Rejection of Patriarchy: Opposing patriarchy, the first class relation in history which continues with all its horrors today and all forms of sexist, homophobic and transphobic attitudes it creates, struggling for them to be broken within the proletariat through class struggle as a pre-condition of the proletarian revolution and for their eventual complete destruction.

5. Irreconcilability: Not to support or cooperate with any state, including the capitalist one-party dictatorships claiming to be socialist. Not to look for solutions for capitalism from within with ideas such as self-management, which amounts to workers exploiting themselves. Not to compromise, engage in temporary or permanent joint activities or fronts with the bourgeois left whose function is to support the dominant order in one way or the other. Rejecting policies of choosing the lesser of two evils in the name of objective necessity, such as anti-fascism.

As a humble collection of communist militants living in one of the most suffocating countries in the Middle East who have had to leave the international organization we were members of recently, we have put a period of discussion both on the framework we used to have and, as much as we’ve managed to identify them, the theoretical issues of the time. Our wish is to conduct this process not in an introverted manner but by opening up to the contributions of all groups and individuals who agree with us on the five points we’ve listed. We hope that in the medium term, the discussions we’ll be having on the general subjects listed below will determine the substance of our group. Nevertheless, we believe it won’t be an exaggeration to name some of these topics among the important theoretical questions of the century. Thus, we don’t expect the discussion process we’re starting on these questions to come to an end for us.

Emphasizing that the list below is not final and we will happily evaluate all sorts of topic suggestions; here are the main titles we’ve come up with so far for our discussion process:

• Communist Organization

• Left Communism and the Question of Tradition

• The Dialectical Method

• Methods of History

• Proletarian Self-organization

• The Period of Transition

• Consciousness

• Culture

• Ideology

• Patriarchy

• Civilization

• Ecology

• The Law of Value

• Theories of Decadence and the Economic Crisis

• Imperialism and War

• The Evolution of the Contemporary Proletariat

• The National Question in the Middle East

We want to add that the order of the topics weren’t determined based on importance or priorities. In about two months, we hope to produce a certain agenda by dividing these subjects to subtopics and start discussing on the question of communist organization. We plan to share the subtopics of this subject in a separate text shortly. We will be publishing the discussion texts, the conclusions we’ll reach and the notes of our debates as much as possible throughout this process. Also, unless the related individuals or groups ask us not to, we intend to publish the written contributions of individuals or groups who want to discuss with us on these questions as well as the notes of the discussions we’ll have among ourselves, with those who made these contributions or others interested. Additionally, we’re quite willing to organize joint meetings with those who want to discuss with us.

We hope the discussions we’ll have on the topics listed above will contribute to the strengthening of the theoretical foundation of the communist movement.

Pale Blue Jadal