What Is To Be Done For The 21st Century?

Mahn Soo Chae

(Deputy Director, Korean Institute For Labor Studies & Policy)

As all the world is in uproar, we are now entering into the 21st century. Well, but with what prospects? Or, what kind of society will it be? --- A post-industrial society? An information age? A knowledge-based society?

Yes, it may become that kind of society.

However, we musk ask again. Is it a free and equal society? Is it a society without exploitation and/or oppression? Is it a society for mankind, not for profit? Is it a society where everyone can develop his or her gifted art and talent as man?

Yes, it will be that kind of society at last. But, not yet. Not for the time being as well.

Why not? --- It's because the people headed by labour class are not yet prepared to build up such a society.

Labour class opened the 20th century with robust revolutionary struggles and actually with a great Revolution, that is, with glory. However, they have largely failed in protecting and developing the Revolution as well as in eternalizing it. And, they are now closing the century with deep remorse, wandering and groping.

What has obstructed the advance of workers? For what has the labour class in the 20th century got frustrated in preserving and expanding their revolution?

The causes are numerous in number, and complicated in structure. Some factors are located within the labour movement or labour politics, and some others are forming the conditions thereof. We can touch only on a few, but essential, factors or causes.

One of the most important objective causes is, needless to say, the blockades, attacks and subversive activities by the imperialism.

Aside from the Interference Wars which had been committed to subvert the newly born Revolution in the early days of October Revolution, to overthrow the socialistic governments have the imperialism and their allies strictly blockaded the Soviet Union, Socialistic East Europe, and other socialistic countries, and increasingly manipulated the subversive activities there. Nevertheless, they slandered, on the contrary, the USSR and the Eastern European socialistic countries as being behind the "Iron Curtain", and imputed the malicious political and military stratagems such as their own subversive activities to the communists as being "intrigues of Commies, or of Reds". Very naturally, some would-be communists who were affected by that kind of demagogies committed faults to mistake the vicious tactics of monopoly capital for the means unavoidable for revolution, and therefore to help consequently and objectively the sinister propaganda. Some other self-appointed 'truly internationalistic' communists went so far as actively participate in the wicked propaganda. --- We, of course, must fight against those fallacious lines.

These blockades and subversive activities by imperialism, together with immaturity of high productivity which is required as the material preconditions and foundation for socialism, have compelled some mal-functions upon the socialistic systems, which have corroded people's spontaneous commitment to construction of socialistic societies. The ostensible magnificence and affluence of the advanced capitalism would also have been a strong lure to the young generations of the USSR and Eastern European countries in late 20th century who had never experienced such a commercial gorgeousness and mass poverty veiled under it. However, in the 21st century these kinds of circumstances will never be formed again, for the social revolutions will certainly be the matters in the imperialistic countries themselves where the contradictions between productivity and production relation have reached their utmost.

In order to blockade previously and to crush the revolutionary political organizations of workers and the revolutions, imperialists and their puppets have indeed tortured and slaughtered millions of labourers, activities, and revolutionaries all over the world. For the great cause of protecting and promoting free democracy!

On the other hand, very rapid advance in productivity and some political consideration of the capitalist class not to stimulate and to emasculate the labour movement and politics under the situations of Cold War made it possible for the workers in the advanced capitalistic countries to enjoy somewhat comfortable social security as well as somewhat increased real wages, which actually contributed to eroding the revolutionary spirit of mass workers.

Setting aside the overt turncoats, many of the leaders and ideologues of labour movement and/or labour politics in the advanced capitalistic countries have virtually submitted to the intimidation of this homicidal violence, and to deceptive rhetoric of so-called free democracy. Furthermore, they not only considered the workers' state in Russia, the great outcome of the October Revolution, to be the other, but also were in fact hostile to it. Therefore, they have indulged themselves in some socialism different from original or traditional socialism, or from communism, such as democratic socialism, or social democracy, or socialism with human face, or mild socialism, or new socialism, et cetera et cetera. They find out reasoning for their new lines from the material comfort allowed very narrowly, and from the so-called inhumanity of the communism. However, the former is a very coarse one limited essentially by just the capitalistic production relation itself, and is one supported by the imperialistic exploitation and plunder. The latter is, of course, a false ideology formed by the capitalistic demagogies. It is needless to say that the new lines are the very way to guarantee economical and political comfort to the labour leaders.

Hence the real problem of labour movement and politics in the 20th century, and the tasks for the 21st century.

III

The core of the problem of labour movement and politics in the 20th century is the so-called social democracy, or civilianism in other words : the emasculation of labour movement and/or politics and political acquiescence or servitude of labour class to monopoly capital.

Therefore, the heart of the tasks of labour class for the 21st century is to liquidate that kind of acquiescence or servitude, or to overcome the social democracy or civilianism. In other words, it is to restore the real, not superficial nor vulgar, science and fundamentalism in the labour movement and labour politics.

Taking the case of America, AFL-CIO, the national center of trade union movement in US, adopted a resolution in the annual convention in last October to support El Gore, the strong Democrat contender for presidency candidate in the presidential election next year. The resolution ran after the long habitual practices of the organization. However, those kinds of practices are not confined only to the AFL-CIO. Even the U.S. Communist Party largely supports the Democrats in every election. Their excuse is : "We support Democrats, who are relatively friendly to labor class, as the second good or as the second devil, as there is no other alternatives." --- This is evidently a political spiritlessness and/or extreme opportunism which must be liquidated for to advance to the 21st century. Labour class must pursue seriously its own independent and revolution-oriented political lines.

Various kinds of social democratic programmes must be liquidated as well.

For example, the illusion of workers' participation in management must be liquidated. A lot of social democratic elements in labour movement praise the German system for workers' participation in management as an exemplary model, saying : "Main business policies are decided in a labour-management council composed of same numbers of representatives from both labour and management." However, the admirers wish to be silent about the fact that the chairperson of the council is an additional member and always comes from the capital. What does it mean that the chairperson as an additional member comes always from the capital? It means that all the policies, that represent the unignorable interest contradictions between labour and capital, are decided in favour of the capital. It means that workers' opinions and will can be reflected only on the spots where the interests between labour and capital do not conflict with each other, or where the conflicts can be ignored. Then, the so-called exemplary German system is nothing more than a deceptive apparatus devised for to win the workers over into capitalistic system.

By the way, what is business manager? It is nothing more than a personification of capital as a value increase itself. Managers are capitalists. Business management means management of exploitation. Thus, the so-called workers' participation in management means that workers themselves participate in the exploitation of their own surplus labour, or means that they serve to the increase of exploitation. It is not only a contradiction but also very antagonistic to the interest of labour class.

The so-called employee-stock-holding system, the people's stock system, and so on as another social democratic project are also harmful to labour class and people. This kind of system are not only the apparatus devised for to disarm the class consciousness of workers and for to intensify exploitation. It is also a mechanism through which the workers and people frequently come across serious economic difficulties. Through this mechanism workers and people are dragged into speculation of the stock markets, where they lose at last all their household reserve as a part of reproduction costs of labour power.

This system inoculates workers with the illusion that they are participating in the distribution of profit. However, the illusion comes from the ignorance about the fact that the profit itself is nothing more than the surplus value extracted from themselves, and it deepens the ignorance. Furthermore, the dividends being allotted to, for example, employee-stock-holders are merely a disguised form of some part of the wages of the workers. It is because, in order to meet the necessary requirements of capitalistic production that the wage earners as proletarians must be ceaselessly reproduced (in the enlarged scale), the dividends must also keep the workers to be wage earners instead of making the workers the independent producers or merchants, or capitalists.

Bourgeois parliamentarism is also one of main social democratic programmes which must be liquidated, for it is a apparatus which, under the name of representative democracy, does away with the workers' and people's actual activities from the political fields. Indeed, workers and people can not enjoy any substantial political rights but the very formal rights to vote in modern bourgeois democracy. It is a kind of oligarchy or aristocracy of monopoly capital, where only a few giant men of properties and their puppets can participate in. The social democrats as the other face of monopoly capital cling to the parliamentarism, and they mobilize workers as instruments for sectarian strifes to seize the political power.

There are a lot of other important reasons that the labour class must overcome the various forms of social democracy, such as :

The social democrats are the strong supporter for statism in labour movement and politics.

The social democrats are the inspirators of competitive power ideology in labour movement.

The social democrats are the proponents of mal-scientific conveniencism in labour movement and politics.

Recently the social democrats have overtly run to neo-liberalistc camp under name of The third way or neue Mitte.

et cetera et cetera.

Therefore, as far as the labour movement and/or labour politics follow after the illusions created by social democracy, as in Western Europe where the labour movement and politics have been led by social democratic leaders, and as in many of newly industrialized countries where the movement and politics have been guided by the covert followers to social democracy, there can't be any future. There can be only the 21st century as a mere extension of the 20th century.

Restoration of scientific fundamentalism of labour movement and politics, or to build up the robust independent political line of labour class, liquidating the social democracy. This is the most urgent and essential task of the labour class who are advancing towards the 21st century as an age of liberation.

Finally speaking, construction of disciplined vanguard party of the labour class is the concrete process and form through and by which the labour class accomplish the task. We must rejected the undisciplined and shapeless mass party or electoral party which is vigorously propagandized by the social democrats or opportunists, for the vanguard party itself is the most excellent and real mass party, and above all, for there can't be any future of the labour class to that kind of undisciplined party.

The neo-liberalistic attacks and the difficulties of labour class caused by the rapid advance in scientific and technological revolutions. These all are creating crisis in the living of workers right now. However, at the same time they are stimulators for the development of labour movement, or are the material preconditions for a new world.