The reaction towards Palestine’s holocaust is creating a new political paradigm, one that will bring the anti-Zionist cause to victory if we guide it in the right direction. It’s this part of the situation that we absolutely cannot miss; though there are many spontaneous developments right now that give hope for the anti-Zionist, revolutionary cause, these events won’t translate into victory unless we intervene.
To get a sense for what sorts of interventions we’ll need to carry out, we can look to a story about spontaneous mass trends being guided in a concrete direction, as described by Lenin:
What was the historic service Lassalle rendered to the German working-class movement? It was that he diverted that movement from the path of progressionist trade-unionism and co-operativism towards which it had been spontaneously moving (with the benign assistance of Schulze-Delitzsch and his like). To fulfil such a task it was necessary to do something quite different from talking of underrating the spontaneous element, of tactics-as-process, of the interaction between elements and environment, etc. A fierce struggle against spontaneity was necessary, and only after such a struggle, extending over many years, was it possible, for instance, to convert the working population of Berlin from a bulwark of the progressionist party into one of the finest strongholds of Social-Democracy.
In the context where Lenin was writing, “social democracy” meant the most advanced type of working-class politics, a trend that was genuinely revolutionary. Since then, the upholders of this movement’s traditions have needed to abandon the “social democrat” label, as it was made to be synonymous with the movement’s reformist elements. Today, one of the main forces of co-optation that’s faced by the pro-Palestine and working-class movement is the modern social democrats; or the “democratic socialists,” as they’ve rebranded themselves. If we simply celebrate Gen Z’s awakening on Palestine, without waging our own struggle against spontaneity, the new popular energy will be successfully diverted towards opportunism; both the reformist opportunism of the “progressive” Democrats, and the ultra-left opportunism that substitutes adventurist violence for actual mass organizing.
It’s necessary to define and delineate these trends; because for the radical generation’s members to defend themselves against the political sabotage that’s coming their way, they will need to know which ideas have been historically proven to derail revolutionary moments. Now is a moment of unprecedented gains for America’s solidarity movements; never before have so many Americans come to side with the Palestinian resistance over the Zionist occupier. This development was the next step beyond Gen Z’s embrace of socialism, which had happened prior to when October 7 massively opened up our discourse. There are actors who seek to divert these sentiments into Democratic Party entryism, or who propagate mindless adventurism that undermines any attempts to organize these radicalized masses. But we can thwart any effort at leading the people astray if we connect the pro-Palestine movement here with the fight that the Palestinians themselves are waging. This will give our movement a kind of guidance which can only come from out of the center of a liberation struggle.
When it comes to Palestine, all the activities of the reformists, the adventurists, and the other antagonists towards revolutionary politics are dependent on a separation from what’s happening in Palestine itself. For example: when Zohran Mamdani tries to engage in a balancing act on Palestine by repeating the Zionist entity’s lies about October 7, this is a problem that we can only properly respond to if we adopt the perspective of Palestine’s resistance. If we understand the actions of the resistance in the context of an anti-colonial war, and give up the impulse to disavow these actions for the sake of appeasing Zionists.
Within the pro-Palestine movement, this problem of capitulation towards Zionism is the primary issue we have to rectify. And we can put forth the criticisms necessary for rectifying it, without alienating the parts of the masses who’ve been drawn towards a figure like Mamdani. There is a difference between the ideological actors who obstinately defend Mamdani’s taking anti-resistance positions, and the broad sections within Gen Z who’ve embraced Mamdani even though they themselves support the resistance. We need to be able to differentiate between opportunists and people with sincere intentions, then navigate within the masses so that we can bring in the majority among them who are compatible with our politics.
We know that most within the post-Covid generation already have the right position on the resistance; if any of them have gravitated towards a reformist leader, it’s because this leader is the only one that’s been presented to them who somewhat aligns with what they want. To isolate ourselves from these parts of the masses would be movement suicide; we must build a coalition with all who are advanced on anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism.
This is a key part of how we translate Gen Z’s radicalization into a political force that can sustain itself: do what Lenin did, and offer an alliance to those within the reformist camp who may switch to an outright revolutionary politics. It’s what the American Communist Party’s chairman Haz Al-Din did when he extended such an offer to the anti-imperialists inside the Democrat entryist orgs:
I'm speaking on behalf of ACP when I say that we don't have a problem working with and uniting practically with PSL, FRSO, hell, even anti-imperialists who are in the DSA…Wouldn't it be more constructive to work together at least on our major principled points of agreement rather than cancel and ostracize one and another over our disagreements? I saw someone say one of the reasons they like DSA is that it overcomes sectarianism by allowing different factions. I think it would be nice of ACP, PSL, FRSO and some others came together on the basis of a shared framework of principled coordination. We don't need to merge our organization's or parties but why shouldn't we keep open a space for working together? There's very few people in the USA who defend AES and maintain principled opposition to the Democratic Party. Why the bitter enmity? If we don't cooperate and join forces at some level, all we're doing is empowering the Right.
When Lenin made his offer of unity to the reformists, he did so with the awareness that this offer was likely to be rejected, or that the reformists would betray the revolutionaries when the time came. This didn’t matter though, because the purpose of the offer was to show the masses that the revolutionaries were the ones who could be trusted. At this stage American communists, and the others who share their level of consciousness Palestine, are not in a position to execute this strategy in the same way Lenin did; it wouldn’t really mean anything for us to offer Mamdani a partnership, because we aren’t yet on an equal footing with someone like him. The ones who we can meaningfully reach out to in this way, though, are the other organizers and regular org members who’ve joined groups that don’t necessarily represent their own politics.
Reaching out to them will expand our presence in the best way that we can for now; while exposing the sectarian motives of the opportunists who seek to keep these ranks separated from us. The next step—and the one we need to be carrying out in tandem with that one—is to build dual power, creating organizations that can sustain a presence within their communities. This is how we give representation to the masses who are most advanced on Palestine, and thereby deal a blow against the empire.
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