By Raskonikov Radek
AUSTIN – Today I went to the march in Austin to support public education. Though it is not certain how many people there were, estimates have it that about 11,000 people showed up. There were many different progressive organizations there, as well as teacher’s unions. There was a very large number of ultra-Leftists who were entirely isolated from the people. They had red flags and signs that said “join the socialists”, and were trying to dominate the march. Most of the teachers unions and other progressive groups were trying to avoid the ultra-Leftists; I heard one say “I am trying to create a buffer between the socialists and us”.
The strategy of the ultra-Left is extremely harmful to the movement for working class unity. By isolating themselves from the working class, the ultra-Leftists obstruct the revolutionary process. A comrade from the Houston Communist Party was there, with a very modest sign, which said “stop the budget cuts! stop the attacks on working people! put people before profits!”; many of the working people at the demonstration said how much they liked his sign and did not show any animosity towards him.
The ultra-Left was largely looked down upon and ignored; the only people that gave them any attention were the Tea Party thugs, with whom they tried to argue. It is crucial today that communists do not separate themselves from the working class like ultra-Left groups. The working class today largely supports the Democrats; it is only by working on their level of political consciousness that communists will actually reach them. As long as one is guided by the end goal of Socialism and revolution, one does not become a revisionist if one puts down the red flag and instead carries a sign with a less radical slogan.
The role of communists today should be to ally themselves with the organizers of these kinds of demonstrations and try to steer the demonstration in a more progressive way without isolating themselves from the masses. As long as they try to tie each of their actions to the working class and to the larger movement of socialist revolution, there is nothing reformist about it. The ultra-left, who refuses to work with other less radical organizations, will show up at these demonstrations, fully exposing themselves and trying to organize the demonstrations outside of the demonstration itself. This will fail, as most people have no understanding of socialism and generally have inherited many negative bourgeois prejudices against socialism. Thus, only if one works within the organizations that organize these events can one assist our class assume the role of the ruling class.
