First Published: Unite!, Vol. 4, No. 2, February 15, 1978.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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This month UNITE! took an important step towards the goal of becoming a daily. Publication of the twice monthly UNITE! is the result of the political and organizational development of the work of the MLOC overall. This growing maturity is reflected in many developments in both the content and form of the paper.
In August, 1975, the first issue of UNITE! was published. From the beginning UNITE! was an integral part of reconstructing the communist party in this country. In this period much of the work of UNITE! was laying the crucial theoretical groundwork for this party, clarifying and reaffirming Marxist-Leninist principles which had been buried by revisionists like the Communist Party USA. By reprinting the resolution from the Communist International on factory nuclei, UNITE! firmly put forward that the party must root itself in the factories and mills along secret lines.
At the same time, UNITE! reflected the incorrect view that there was a communist movement separate from the workers movement. Overemphasis was placed on uniting Marxist-Leninists. It was put forward that UNITE! would not carry out widespread agitation among the working class.
There was sharp struggle over this inside the MLOC which resulted in the defeat of this incorrect view. The individuals who held the view that the paper could not mobilize tile working class because the “conditions were not ready” were expelled.
UNITE! based itself firmly on the principle that there could be no communist movement separate from the working class movement. The paper set out to fuse Marxism-Leninism with the spontaneous workers movement by assisting and leading the class struggle.
UNITE! has taken up the task of helping to reconstitute the vanguard party of the working class in a conscious and consistent manner.
In order for workers to understand what tasks are involved in rebuilding a genuine party in this country, UNITE! laid out the five point plan of the Central Committee of the MLOC for rebuilding the party. There have been regular summations of these efforts in articles like “Genuine Unity Rests on Principle” (Vol. 3, no. 9).
And this year it will be in the pages of UNITE! that the Draft Party Program will be explained section by section to the working class.
In the struggle for the trade unions, UNITE! has made significant strides towards playing a leading role in educating and mobilizing the working class to fight the treachery of the trade union bureaucrats through articles like “1955 – AFL-CIO – A Merger That Split the Working Class”. (Vol, 3, no. 11). In articles like “Kropp Forge Attempts Privacy Invasion” (Vol. 3, no. 9) UNITE! leads the struggle of workers to oppose attacks by the capitalists, not just by explaining the nature of the attacks but by actually mobilizing the workers to fight them.
Recognizing the importance of organizing the unorganized, UNITE! has actively built both political and financial support for the Stearns strikers as in “Stearns Strikers Lead the Way” (Vol. 3, no. 8).
UNITE! has consistently upheld the principle of proletarian internationalism not only in words but also in deeds. UNITE! has educated the U.S. working class about the socialist countries and has built genuine support for these countries through such articles as “China Pioneers in Socialist Construction”(Vol. 3, no. 5) and “Congratulations to the PLA on the 36th Anniversary of Its Founding” (Vol. 3, no. 10).
The interviews with representatives of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the Palestine Liberation Organization were excellent examples of building genuine support for national liberation struggles.
UNITE! has provided the working class with an ability to understand the nature of the struggle between the two superpowers and the danger of a new world war, through articles on the August 1st Campaign. But more importantly, the paper has also laid the basis for understanding that the working class is capable of preventing such a war.
UNITE! has led the way in this country in opposing such revisionist theories as “detente” and the theory of the “three worlds”, which deny the leading role of the socialist countries and the working class, and instead promote such reactionaries as the Shah of Iran or Tito of Yugoslavia. The article “Tito Remains a Traitor to the Working Class”(Vol. 3, no. 9) is a powerful indictment of this reactionary theory.
UNITE! has consistently upheld that U.S. imperialism is an aggressive enemy of the world’s people and made very clear that it is our greatest internationalist duty to overthrow it. The articles on the B-1 Bomber and NATO make it clear that the U.S. has no intention of giving up its drive for world hegemony.
Recognizing the important obligation UNITE! has to the oppressed-nations inside the state boundaries of the U.S., UNITE! has consistently exposed the conditions of the Black Nation in the South through such articles as “Punishment for Profit” (Vol. 3, nos. 4-6). This kind of excellent analysis has not been done since the CPUSA abandoned its work in the South in the 1930s.
UNITE!led the way in taking up the struggle to free the Dawson Five by building broad support for these five young Black men.
The political content, breadth and consistent opposition to the entire imperialist camp has meant that UNITE! has become an increasingly popular paper among the workers and an essential weapon in waging the class struggle correctly.
It is important to point out not only the real strengths of the paper, but also the weaknesses so that they can be overcome.
As a part of the struggle for socialism we must continually fight for the improvement of the conditions of the working class under capitalism. We fight for immediate demands to safeguard the well-being of an workers so they will be in a better position to fight for socialism. While UNITE! has made some progress in this respect, we must work more diligently. It is not enough to call for the end to layoffs; we must layout a concrete plan for fighting them.
It is only in this way by developing and fighting for a minimum program, that the working class will be won to the side of the party. Taking up these struggles, the working class sees that the Party can lead the struggle for both the short term, immediate demands and the long term struggle for socialism.
An aspect of the weakness on the minimum program stems from not focusing adequate attention on democratic demands and linking these up with the struggle for socialism.
The lack of a party program with such minimum demands has held back our ability to carry out consistent agitation and propaganda. This problem will begin to be overcome with the publication of the Draft Party Program on March 1st.
Another serious shortcoming of UNITE! has been the lack of consistent attention and leadership to the struggles against women’s oppression. By not adequately taking up this responsibility, we have allowed reformists and revisionists to hold sway over the masses of women in this country. In order to rectify this error we have made plans for the coming year which will insure that the demands of women are taken up systematically.
Another weakness is the need to give adequate analysis and leadership to the struggles of the Chicano peoples in the Southwest. We are currently intensifying our efforts to deepen our ties so we will be in a better position to carry out this important task.
As well, we recognize it is certainly a shortcoming that UNITE! is not published in a Spanish language edition. This to some degree has held back our ability to mobilize Spanish speaking workers and oppressed peoples. We have made plans to overcome this problem, but we also recognize that it will be some time before we will be able to accomplish this goal.
UNITE! must arm the working class against opportunism which consistently tries to undermine and destroy the revolutionary movement. While UNITE!has taken up the battle against one such form of this treachery, the theory of the “three worlds”, it has not systematically hit hard at the most powerful proponent of modern revisionism, the CPUSA.
The defense of Soviet social-imperialism, the class collaboration with the trade union bureaucrats, the betrayal of the Black Nation, all must be systematically exposed. The ability of the working class to fight revisionism and opportunism will insure that the working class will not be led astray in the struggle for and consolidation of state power.
Recognizing this weakness, UNITE! has made plans to pay regular attention to all social props of the bourgeoisie, from the trade union bureaucrats to the Trotskyists to the CPUSA.
The recognition of the criticisms we have pointed out flow directly from the use of the paper as a collective organizer. As workers and oppressed people use UNITE! as a guide to their struggles, both the strengths and shortcomings become apparent. This is a sign of the real growth and health of the paper. The task before UNITE! is now to develop the strengths and overcome the weaknesses.
Many of the problems outlined stemmed from the lack of a conscious plan for each and every issue of the paper, planned well in advance. This has been changed to insure that the paper is genuinely paying attention and giving leadership to all areas of struggle of the working class and oppressed peoples in an organized, conscious manner.
As more and more workers come to know and use UNITE! the consciousness, strength and organization of the proletariat will grow.
This year the primary task we have set before UNITE! is to build the paper as a collective organizer. We need to substantially increase the distribution of the paper so that more and more workers, thousands upon thousands, are mobilized around it.
One of the primary ways this growth will take place is through training workers to use UNITE! to focus all political work – in strikes, in the fight against the trade union bureaucrats, in the daily struggles on the shop floor and in the fight for democratic rights.
Organizationally, this will be carried out by linking shop papers at individual plants to UNITE! and developing both open and secret UNITE! Committees and distribution networks in the plants and communities.
This task is fundamental to the building of the party press and the party itself. As the paper increasingly plays a leading role in the actual day to day struggles in the shops and mills, thousands and then millions will be organized around the party through UNITE!
There are many ways friends and supporters can help build UNITE!
Buy a Subscription for yourself or a friend.
Distribute UNITE!–, Order a bundle of UNITE!s and distribute them in your community and at work. Get stores in your area to regularly carry the paper. For 25 copies or more you can receive the paper at a 40 discount.
Set up UNITE! Study Circles in order to apply it to struggles.
Become a Sustainer for UNITE!, sending us $5, $10, $20 or more each month. This is very important so that UNITE! can continue to grow and take on many new tasks.
Become a UNITE! Correspondent, sending articles, photos, artwork, poems or information about struggles at your workplace, community or school.
Accomplishing UNITE!’s goal of becoming the daily newspaper of the working and oppressed millions of this country will not be easy. It will be a long and tortuous struggle. But there is no doubt that UNITE! will reach its goal because the working class and oppressed people want and need this newspaper. UNITE! has come a long way and will continue to progress on this revolutionary road towards socialist revolution.
Build the Party of the Working Class!