Revolution #216, November 14, 2010
CONSTITUTION
For The New Socialist Republic In North America
(Draft Proposal)
Authored by Bob Avakian
Adopted by the Central Committee of the
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Preamble
The New Socialist Republic in North America could only have been brought into being as a result of heroic, self-sacrificing struggle carried out by millions and millions of people who had been forced to live under a system of exploitation and oppression in the former United States of America; who could no longer tolerate the continual outrages and injustices perpetrated by the system of capitalism-imperialism and the structures and institutions of power and repression which enforced all this with violence and brutality as well as lies and deception; who refused to any longer accept that this was the best possible society and world, and were increasingly aware of and inspired by the possibility of a radically different and better society and world; and who therefore rose up, with the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist Party, to defeat, abolish and dismantle the imperialist system in the former USA and its institutions and apparatus of repression and violence. At the same time, this new socialist state could only have resulted from a whole process of revolutionary work and struggle, in the realm of theory as well as practical-political activity, by the Revolutionary Communist Party, acting as the vanguard of the revolutionary process, to enable both the Party itself and growing numbers of broader masses to prepare for and then to seize on the emergence of a revolutionary situation, to defeat and dismantle the forces of the old, oppressive order, and establish the new socialist state. In this whole process, the interaction and mutual reinforcement between the vanguard role of the Revolutionary Communist Party–with its theoretical basis in the science of communism and the further development of this science through the new synthesis brought forward by Bob Avakian–and the growing consciousness and increasingly determined struggle of masses of people, constitute a decisive element in the success of the revolution and the founding of the new, revolutionary socialist state. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America continues and gives further expression and initiative, in the conditions of the new society, to the fundamental principles and motive forces that constitute the basis for the establishment of this new socialist state.
In contrast to the way in which the capitalist-imperialist state serves and enforces the interests of a small ruling group of exploiters, the New Socialist Republic in North America, with the continuing leadership of the Revolutionary Communist Party, bases itself on, and proceeds from, the fundamental interests of those most bitterly exploited and oppressed under the old system, and the masses of people broadly, and provides the means for them to play an increasingly widening role in the exercise of political power and the functioning of society in accordance with those interests–in order to carry forward the struggle to transform society, with the goal of uprooting and finally eliminating all oppressive and exploitative relations among human beings and the destructive antagonistic conflicts to which these relations give rise.
This is a process and goal which, fundamentally and in the final analysis, can only be achieved on a global scale, with the advance to communism throughout the world. The orientation and principles of this state, as embodied in this Constitution, are internationalist: While giving due emphasis to meeting the material, intellectual and cultural needs of the people within this state, on a continually expanding basis, and to promoting the further transformation of this society to continue uprooting social inequalities and remaining aspects of exploitation and oppression, the socialist state must give fundamental priority to the advance of the revolutionary struggle, and the final goal of communism, throughout the world, and must adopt and carry out policies and actions which are in accordance with and give concrete effect to this internationalist orientation.
Regardless of differences, even very great and qualitative differences, in their political structures, institutions and guiding principles, all states have a definite social content and class character: they are an expression of the prevailing social relations, and most fundamentally the economic relations (relations of production), which have a decisive and ultimately determining role in regard to how the particular society functions and is organized. The state serves to protect and expand those relations and to enforce the interests of the social group–the ruling class–which holds the dominant position in society, as a result of its role in the economy, and in particular its ownership and control of the major means of production (including land, raw materials and other resources, technology and physical structures such as factories, and so on). In capitalist society, it is the capitalist class which holds this dominant position: the government structures and processes–and above all the organs of the state as an instrument of class rule and suppression (the armed forces, police, courts and prisons, the executive power, and the bureaucracies)–are controlled by this capitalist class as a means of exercising its rule over society and its repression of forces whose interests are in significant opposition to, and/or which resist, its rule. In short, all states are an instrument of dictatorship–of a monopoly of political power, concentrated as a monopoly of "legitimate" armed force and violence–exercised by, and in the interests of, one class or another. Any democracy which is practiced in this situation is democracy on the terms of, and fundamentally serving the interests of, the ruling class and its exercise of dictatorship. And it will remain the case that there will be a state, and that the state will constitute a dictatorship of one kind or another, serving the interests of one ruling class or another, so long as society is divided into classes (and other groups) with interests that are fundamentally antagonistic–a division rooted in the underlying social relations, and above all the production relations, which predominate in the given society.
The New Socialist Republic in North America is, like all states, a form of dictatorship–the dictatorship of the proletariat–which means that, in its essential character and its basic principles, structures, institutions and political processes, it must give expression to and serve the fundamental interests of the proletariat, a class whose exploitation is the engine of the accumulation of capitalist wealth and the functioning of capitalist society and whose emancipation from its exploited condition can only be brought about through the communist revolution, with its goal of abolishing all relations of exploitation and oppression and achieving the emancipation of humanity as a whole. In accordance with this, the governing bodies and processes of this socialist state, at all levels, must be vehicles for the furtherance of the communist revolution; and, as a key dimension of this, they must provide the means for those who were exploited and oppressed in the old society–and were effectively locked out of the exercise of political power and the governance of society, as well as the spheres of intellectual endeavor and working with ideas overall–to increasingly take part in these spheres, with the aim of continually transforming society in the direction of communism. All this is given expression through the principles and provisions, and the institutions, structures and processes which are set forth and provided for in this Constitution.
At the same time, the New Socialist Republic in North America is a continuation of the strategic orientation of United Front under the Leadership of the Proletariat, in the conditions of the new society which has been brought into being through the revolutionary struggle. This means that, while it must be recognized that the essential nature, and the basic principles and processes, of this Republic are oriented in accordance with the interests of the proletariat, as a class, in the most fundamental and largest sense–abolishing all relations of exploitation and oppression through the advance to communism throughout the world–the struggle to achieve this goal cannot be, and will not be, carried out simply by PROLETARIANS, as some idealized "perfect embodiment of communist principles," and in some uniform and linear sense. As the new synthesis brought forward by Bob Avakian has given emphasis to, the process of making revolution, and then continuing the revolution in the new socialist state toward the final goal of communism, must involve the active participation of broad ranks of the people, of different strata, and will proceed through many different "channels," involving many diverse forces among the people in many different spheres of human endeavor, not only those more directly political or relating more directly, at any given time, to the functioning and objectives of the leadership of the revolution and the new socialist state; and the orientation and aim, consciously taken up by growing numbers of the people, must be to work so as to enable all this to contribute, in the final analysis, to the struggle to further transform society in the direction of communism.
In keeping with this orientation and these objectives, the principle of "solid core, with a lot of elasticity" must be applied. This means that, on the one hand, there must be a continually expanding force in society, with the revolutionary communist party as its leading element, which is firmly convinced of the need to advance to communism and deeply committed to carrying forward this struggle, through all the difficulties and obstacles; and, on the basis of and at the same time as continually strengthening this "solid core," there must be provision and scope for a wide diversity of thinking and activity, among people throughout society, "going off in many different directions," grappling and experimenting with many diverse ideas and programs and fields of endeavor–and once again all this must be "embraced" by the vanguard party and the "solid core" in an overall sense and enabled to contribute, through many divergent paths, to the advance along a broad road toward the goal of communism. This orientation and approach is embodied in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.
The New Socialist Republic in North America is a multi-national and multi-lingual state, which is based on the principle of equality between different nationalities and cultures and has as one of its essential objectives fully overcoming national oppression and inequality, which was such a fundamental part of the imperialist USA throughout its history. Only on the basis of these principles and objectives can divisions among humanity by country and nation be finally overcome and surpassed and a world community of freely associating human beings be brought into being. This orientation is also embodied in the various institutions of the state and in the functioning of the government in the New Socialist Republic in North America.
The oppression of women arose together with the emergence of exploitative class divisions among human beings thousands of years ago, has been carried forward and become deeply entrenched in all societies ruled by exploiting classes, and was a marked feature of the imperialist United States of America and its domination and influence in the world. Abolishing and uprooting all this is one of the most important objectives of the New Socialist Republic in North America. This is expressed not only in full legal equality between women and men, but beyond that in the declared orientation and policy of this Republic to overcome all "tradition’s chains" embodied in traditional gender roles and divisions, and all the oppressive relations bound up with this, in every sphere of society, and to enable women, as fully as men, to take part in and contribute to every aspect of the struggle to transform society, and the world, in order to uproot and abolish all relations of oppression and exploitation and emancipate humanity as a whole.
In an overall sense, and in accordance with the principles and provisions of this Constitution, the Revolutionary Communist Party provides leadership to the state and its key institutions. Members of the Party, at all levels, dedicate themselves to upholding, propagating and implementing the Constitution of the Party as well as the Constitution of the New Socialist Republic in North America. While there are differences between these two Constitutions–as aspects of the viewpoint, objectives and responsibilities of Party members, embodied in the Party Constitution, extend beyond what is set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic–there is a fundamental unity between the principles of the two Constitutions; the Party, and all its members, are accountable to and may not act in violation of, and on the contrary must consistently act on the basis of and in accordance with, the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.
As historical experience has demonstrated, socialist society will–for a considerable period of time–contain, and in fact regenerate, elements of exploitation, social inequality and oppression, which have been, unavoidably, inherited from the old society and cannot be uprooted and abolished all at once, or soon after the establishment of the socialist state. Further, there is likely to be a protracted period in which new socialist states come into existence in a situation where they are, to one degree or another, encircled by imperialist and reactionary states, which will continue to exert significant influence and force, and may even occupy a dominant position in the world for some time. These factors will, for a long time, repeatedly give rise to forces within socialist society itself, as well as within the parts of the world still dominated by imperialism and reaction, which will attempt to overthrow any socialist states that exist and restore capitalism there. And historical experience has also demonstrated that, as a result of these contradictions, forces will emerge within the vanguard party itself, including at its top levels, which will fight for lines and policies that will actually lead to the undermining of socialism and the restoration of capitalism. All this underscores the importance of continuing the revolution within socialist society, and of doing so in the overall framework of the revolutionary struggle throughout the world and with the internationalist orientation of giving fundamental priority to the advance of this worldwide struggle toward the achievement of communism, which is only possible on a world scale–and the importance of struggle within the party itself, as well as in society as a whole, to maintain and strengthen the revolutionary character and role of the party, in keeping with its responsibilities to act as the leadership of the continuing revolution toward the final goal of communism, and to defeat attempts to transform the party into its opposite, into a vehicle for the restoration of the old, exploitative and oppressive society.
With the final abolition of class divisions and all other exploitative and oppressive relations among people, throughout the world, there will still remain a need for government, in the sense of providing an organized framework for decision-making and the administration of the common affairs of the human beings who make up society, on its various levels, and for the pursuit by individuals and groups within society of their particular inclinations, preferences and concerns within the overall cooperative functioning and ethos of society. But the need and the basis for a state–as an organ of class rule and of suppression of classes and groups antagonistically opposed to the ruling class–will have been eliminated, and the state will have been abolished. In these conditions, the basis and need for an organized group of people exercising a disproportionate influence in the sphere of government, and in society overall, will also have been surpassed, and vanguard parties, with a special role in the governance of society, will have been eliminated. Advancing to such a communist society, bringing into being the conditions that make that possible and achievable–through continuing revolutionary struggle to transform all spheres of society, within a particular socialist state and in the world as a whole–is the fundamental aim of the socialist state and of the vanguard party which plays a leading role within that state. While recognizing the complex and protracted nature of the struggle to overcome the relations and divisions which make a state and a vanguard necessary, the socialist state and its leading party must, at every stage in this process, not only propagate this goal but promote and give effect to concrete measures which lead in this direction.
The preceding constitutes the basis and foundation for the Articles that follow in this Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.
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