An adaptation of a text produced by MIR in 1975
(Movimiento Izquierda Revolutionario)
Latest edit 3/1/13
What makes a militant, of the proletarian revolutionary organization, a different individual? What makes this person face all kinds of danger, even death, in the defense of something so abstract like constructing revolution and/or constructing an alternative from the ashes of capitalism?
For sure, it is not because you are a member of a revolutionary organization, especially a proletarian revolutionary organization, that you automatically become a genuine revolutionary militant. Many individuals, in the midst of proletarian struggle, may quit, or even worse betray and go serve our class enemy by their inaction or simply by becoming their most fervent sycophant. We find this kind of example in all revolutionary organizations. Traitors and spies make believe they are RM [Revolutionary Militant], till the moment they have to choose between their individual interest and the interest of the collective, till they have to choose between the need to remain faithful to their ideal or save their skin. We must recognize the life and goals of these individuals are empty, it is a meaningless life without ideals and goals. Far worse, most of these individuals are people detesting the dominant classes they are serving. These individuals contain no trace of humanism, no self –worth. Their instinct becomes their most important survival skill. An RM can’t disassociate his/her personal interest from that of the collective. The interest of the collective should always, in our personal life, be determinant to our personal interest. This must be one of the fundamental elements in the construction of that new society we strive for.
A Revolutionary Militant, PRM [proletarian revolutionary militant] is the highest expression of humanity.
The genuine PRM is different from a humanist, from someone dominated by instinct and pragmatism. A PRM is someone who carries her/his love for humanity to its highest level. A PRM is rational, has the capacity to analyze, to predict, to rectify, define the forms of struggle corresponding to objective reality and always apply criticism and self-criticism. A PRM is someone convinced that the proletariat is the only class capable of bring humanity to another level where social relations are radically transformed. A PRM is someone with the capacity to remain intransigent to his/her choice, analysis, and reasoning. A PRM is someone whose ideas are not connived to praxis. It is not because a PRM has faith, nor believes blindly that something new can replace our current condition, or believes in another dogma or another faith that makes a genuine PRM. On the contrary, a PRM builds all his/her capacity, reinforces its determination, against all odds, from the engaging daily social practice in the masses, particularly in the proletariat. A PRM builds her/his capacity from always trying to understand, to rationalize objective reality from the interest of the working class. But also, a PRM is constantly in struggle with herself/himself and within his/her organizations for the interest of the working class to be the essence of our thought process. This is what wills the PRM, the conviction that he/she is on the correct pathway in the struggle against exploitation, injustice and for a new society, for a total radical transformation of the social relations in productions, for transitory processes to a classless society and to classless society
Ideological strength: The basis for the development and strengthening of a PRM
The conviction of a PRM has nothing to do with faith or blind belief. The conviction of a PRM comes from the realization that attitude and participation in the struggle of the masses, the working class is a historical necessity for radical transformation. The strength of a PRM comes from the unified, collective and organized work of all PRMs to build political rapprochement that the work of educating the masses, the working class, in all difficult conditions, and that through their political struggle to defeat the dominant classes, their exploitative systems and bourgeois dictatorship can be achieved.
This is the revolutionary strength, the rational knowledge of objective reality and the means to bring proletarian change in a class society, that makes a PRM reach the highest form of humanism in a class society. The daily praxis of a militant must reflect this firm conviction, by not reproducing the social practice he/she are struggling against, to bring change in a class society based on exploitation. The daily social practice must pave the way to develop capacity to consciously participate in the struggle to transform any social formation. The daily work of a PRM must be organized, creative and consistent.
This ideological strength, being convinced that she/he is in the correct and just path, a conviction that is consolidated daily, must constitute the moral base of a PRM. A moral that is base a spirit of abnegation, sacrifice, to serve the people and a real desire to overcome any form of individualism and ego-centrism. It is on this basis that a PRM will be able to confront all forms of adversity without flinching.
A PRM must enter a daily combat to transform herself/himself in combating bourgeois ideology from a proletarian perspective while at the same time participating in building and consolidating proletarian ideology. The militant work to transform ourselves, as PRMs is not the reflection of a belief or a temporary impulse but rather the result of a conscious sacrifice, the result of a desire to constantly make radical rupture with ideology foreign to the interest of the working class and its historical task.
The working class is an inexhaustible source that produces PRM.
It must be clear, a lot of social sectors in the popular classes are historically more ready to accept, endure and engage in a style of living that a PRM should be ready to accept. A large sector of the working class is not used to living a comfortable life. Even a fraction of the working class, in imperialist social formations, who is more privileged is living in such uncertainty that they also carries the potential of transforming themselves into PRMs in a setting with a high degree of ideological struggle. By and large, the working class in all social formations is very adept at becoming PRM. The working class confronts daily capitalist exploitation and faces constantly their demagogic propaganda on democracy. Most laws, taken in capitalist social formation, are an expression of the dictatorship of the capitalist class on the working class. Since most of the working class especially those at the lower strata of the class live in misery, because every day they are confronting capitalist exploitation, since they massively live in ghettos, in the worst communal, deplorable style of living, these workers are more apt to do patient and disciplined work. More importantly, the working class, because of its relation to capital is the only class capable of leading a struggle to the end against its more direct and potent enemy: THE CAPITALIST CLASS.
Every class in society produces their revolutionary militants, combatants capable of leading their associates in a struggle for the triumph of their class objective. In the US, the capitalist class played that role in their struggle for independence also industrial capital led the struggle against fractions of the capitalist class so their form of class exploitation was triumphant. Thus, the working class is a constant source to recruit revolutionary combatant in our struggle to end exploitation and build a classless society.
Even though the working class is the principal source to recruit revolutionary militants, all social classes produce their own intellectuals and political militants, people having the determination, commitment and organizations to achieve and pursue their class interest at any given time. The capitalist class also did produce its own revolutionary militants and intellectuals against feudalism, occupation and to make sure society advanced in its direction. The revolutionary content of their struggle was short-lived and only addressed the interest of the capitalist class. Bourgeois democracy is only a masked dictatorship of the capitalist class. The organizations of the American bourgeoisie did everything to mobilize the reluctant masses behind the revolution. It is important to understand how this minority was able to win out. The revolutionaries of the bourgeoisie were much more active, efficient, cohesive, and belligerent, more conscious of their aims and more determined in their pursuit than any other portion of society. This is an invariable characteristic of a rising social class that nowadays gives them a rational understanding of class autonomy. It was the class to whom the future belonged. The victory of the capitalist class was essential to progress. The American Revolution was a capitalist revolution initiated by the bourgeoisie.
The working class, in capitalist society, represents the future and the revolutionary militants also need to be active, efficient and organized.
We can and will find RM in other dominated classes, in the people’s camp. Some of them may become PRM and most of them will represent an alternative for their own class. For RM opting for proletarian revolution they must enter a period of transformation, a class rupture, from a revolutionary to a proletarian revolutionary. Non-proletarian revolutionaries must recognize their limitations before they can adopt another alternative besides capitalism. The experiences of the Chinese and Vietnamese people, the different struggle for national Liberation prove clearly not all revolutionary struggles will lead to a radical transformation of society from a proletarian perspective.
Mass struggle and ideological development are the makers of a RM and proletarian revolutionary.
Whatever the social origin of revolutionary militants, there are many ways to forge us and transform us. We must develop our intellectual capacity to better serve our class interest, we must participate and build structures that will allow us to collectively and democratically build organizations at the revolutionary and mass level to defeat capitalism. But most importantly and fundamentally, participate side by side with the masses in their struggle and develop our ideological capacity.
The history of all revolutionary organizations clearly shows the only way to forge revolutionary militants is by developing a high level of analytical capacity, in developing our ideological capacity that allows us to understand and appropriate the objective reality and transform it, in learning from the vast experience of the international proletariat, in applying the dialectical relation of general to specific and specific to general, through our rationalization, closely linked and determined by our work in the masses, principally the working class. The forging of RMs, people that are the produce of this rotten capitalist system, can transform themselves into proletarian revolutionaries with ironclad discipline to be the embryonic form of that new society.
To become a proletarian revolutionary is a long process of struggle based on criticism, self-criticism and a real desire of transformation . It is a long process of transformation based on accumulated experience and learning from the masses with humility.