In order to state quickly and simply what may be quite complex ideas or formulae, every craft or trade, every field of science, every area of inquiry must develop its “language.” This language is a set of terms that are accepted short cuts. Problems inevitably arise when people begin to mean different things by this “language.” Social science, including the science of the revolutionary movement, is at best an inexact science and thus, the science most prone to mean different things by the same terms.

The League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA) strives to apply the fundamentals of science to understand the process of social development. Essentially this means putting the objective factors first. Our “political” language reflects this. Sometimes we find ourselves using the same words with comrades and friends but meaning different things, since one approach proceeds from objective factors and the other approach from subjective factors.

As our country slides into crisis and more people are pulled into the struggle, the words in our “revolutionary language” take on real and concrete meaning. In the interest of clarity and unity we need to restate our understanding and meaning of terms that are commonly used in the movement and are beginning to be used by the masses.

One of the most commonly used (and misused) terms is reform. The dictionary states that reform is “an improvement or amendment of what is wrong.” Reform means to restructure. This restructuring is to change the social relationship between classes. Reform and concession are not the same thing. Wresting concessions from the state or from an employer is the content of most social struggles. We know from experience that concessions are taken away as soon as the militancy and vigilance of the people subside. Reforms are generally quite permanent.

To grasp the importance and meaning of reform or restructuring we must first have some understanding of the structure – in this case, society. Society is the totality of the relations between classes and groups in a community. The base of society is the economy. The economy is the totality of production and distribution of the wealth created by that society. The creation of that wealth depends on the level of development of the means of production. Humanity is always striving for cheaper and easier ways to produce social wealth. Consequently the tools – the means of production — are constantly developing in incremental, quantitative stages until a qualitative leap takes place.
On the other hand, privileged, controlling classes and groups have a stake in keeping social relations just as they are in order to maintain their privileged positions. As the means of production evolve, a corresponding, deepening contradiction develops with the static and immobile society. As favorable conditions emerge, social struggle develops that ends with a quantitative leap in the social relations, which bring a reformed society into line with the level of development of the means of production.

The most recent example of this is the African American freedom struggles. African Americans have always struggled for freedom and equality. No matter how heroic their struggle and sacrifice, they could not gain their freedom so long as such a great part of the economy was tied to the backward tools of labor-intensive Southern agriculture. Its mechanization provided the foundation for corresponding change.

Much more was needed. Over a million Black soldiers served in the war for democracy and against fascism. They came home imbued with military organizational principles and determined to put an end to their second-class citizenship.

The Cold War put the American ruling class on the defensive. Their every attack against the Soviet Union was countered by exposure of the lynch mobs, the police brutality, the exploitation and reckless destruction of African American life (See Mary Dudziak’s Cold War Civil Rights). The exploding liberation movements in the colonial world became the context for the unparalleled determination and heroism that marked the movement.

These major factors and many lesser ones converged as the gigantic Freedom Movement that began the restructuring of American society. The quantitative development of the means of production was central and key to this quantitative development of society.

Some organizations take the position that reform comes when enough people demand it. They place the subjective factor first.
LRNA has often stated that there are no reforms left in capitalism. We say that because there can be no further development of the electro-mechanical means of production, which is the basis for reform under capital. The tools, the means of production, are in a qualitative leap from electro- mechanics to electronics. We are in an economic revolution. We are at the end of an epoch and any further social reform will come as a result of social revolution that restructures society to become compatible with the new electronic labor-replacing means of production. This is why we struggled for reform when it was possible and necessary. We struggle for revolution in order to make reform possible.

July.2010.Vol20.Ed4
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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