“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
-Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message, December 1862

In this, his speech announcing his reasons for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln acknowledged the essential ingredient of the mind in winning a war. Hard pressed by critics, sabotage, and a succession of military losses, Lincoln understood that just as the millions of enslaved were the Confederacy’s strength, so were they its Achilles heel. If the Union was to have a chance at victory, thinking had to be aligned with reality.

The LRNA Standing Committee report, “Prepare Now for the Battles Ahead,” shows both the opportunity and dangers in the current situation. The ongoing polarization in society will inevitably make itself felt within the political realm. In fact, we see the beginnings of this everywhere and across the political spectrum.

Polarization is the prelude to transformation. There is nothing pre-determined about the outcome. Where we end up depends on people’s understanding of the reasons for the problems they face, on their taking up a resolution that conforms to the possibilities, and on strategy and tactics that are designed to turn those possibilities into reality. Revolutionaries do not try to hold back the polarization, but work everywhere and always toward the goal of separating the workers intellectually and politically from the control of the capitalist class. 

This is a huge task, and cannot be done without a clear understanding and application of strategy.  The article, “The Revolutionary Concept of Strategy,” outlines this strategic perspective and details the methodology of approaching the work.  By making an assessment of the objective conditions and the contending forces, we can see the opportunities, as well as the problems we face. We use the assessment to determine the direction of the main blow. The growing polarization dictates that we throw our blow at the middle – politically, this means the Democratic Party – and by doing so, begin to free our class to form itself according to its own class interests.

It is not enough however, for the old class connections to be broken. New bonds must form; a new unity must be created. The common economic plight of the dispossessed of all colors is the basis for this unity.  “African American Question Takes on New Meaning” untangles these issues of race and class, and shows how unity across the color line is not only objectively possible under today’s conditions, but is indispensable to the formation of the new class. Racial isolation is not the goal of the attack against the black masses today, but the growing reaction is directed at preventing the political unity of the emerging new class of dispossessed, regardless of color.

The American people are crying out for change; with few alternatives they can only gravitate toward the “change” the ruling class proposes.  From different angles and perspectives, the goal of all the candidates of the main parties is to bring the American people into line with the solutions that protect private property and allow the corporations free rein to maximize profit.

The statement from the League’s Standing Committee “Elections 2008” calls on revolutionaries to take advantage of every opportunity during the months ahead to challenge the capitalists on their program, and to provide an alternative vision to the American people. In doing this, we can carry out our mission of uniting the scattered revolutionaries on the basis of the demands of the new class, to educate them and win them over to the cooperative communist resolution of the problem. The article, “Health Care Today” submitted by the LRNA Committee on Health Care, speaks not only to revolutionaries in the health care movement, but provides an excellent example of how revolutionaries can approach this task. It speaks directly to revolutionaries within the movement for health care, but its perspective and method will be useful to others, regardless of their areas of work.

As we go to press, the primaries are just beginning to get underway. The articles in this issue show us that we are not simply facing politics as usual. Danger and opportunity come hand in hand.  In the coming months we should always remember what is at stake, and as we do, think of Lincoln’s call to, “disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

 

January.2008.Vol18.Ed1
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