"In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization.

Disunited by the rule of anarchic competition in the bourgeois world, ground down
by forced labour for capital, constantly thrust back to the 'lower depths' of utter
destitution, savagery and degeneration, the proletariat can become, and
inevitably will become, an invincible force only when its ideological unification by
the principles of Marxism is consolidated by the material unity of an organization
which will weld millions of toilers into an army of the working class." Nether the
imperialist governrments or any other capitalist force will be able to withstand the
victory of this army.
============= V.I. Lenin

Hi there,

In view of the ever-growing military and economic attacks on working people

around the world, and the irrational power-lust which now accompanies U.S.
imperialism and can result in a nuclear holocaust, I have made a decision to
convene an online and in-person series of meetings to discuss and formulate a
program aimed at uniting the planetary working class as the socialist stewards of
the world. The following points can serve as some of the starting points for
discussions..

The Working Class: A Planetary class imprisoned and divided within the
capitalist nation-state system.

1. Capitalism is a world system and the working class is a global class,

oppressed, enslaved, and exploited for its labour power within that system.
The liberation of this class can only be secured by its creation of a planet-wide
socialist system under the democratic control of working people. The liberation
of oppressed nationalities, ethnicities, and religious groups, most of whose
members are also workers, depends also on working class liberation.

The planetary scope of the working class arises from its inter-connection by the
world-wide capitalist division of labour, by its common conditions of life, and by the
accelerating process of globalized production enabled by a set of inter-related
advances in IT; manufacturing and distribution processes., communications
technologies; transportation methods; and related sectors. Through its collective
labour, the planetary working class creates all of the wealth of society. But like
the slaves of old it has no real power over its work process, over its conditions of
life, or over how the wealth it produces is used. Only social or public ownership
of the worlds production systems under the control of workers themselves can
reverse this condition.

The working class is not limited to industrial workers but includes all those who
have nothing to sell but their labour power. It includes theemployed, the
unemployed, and the partially employed of all countries. It is a multi-racial,
multi-ethnic, male-female, multi-generational, white-collar-blue collar class
composed of the immense majority in countries where capitalism has become
fully dominant.

Moreover, the working class is an ever-growing proportion of humanity.

Proleterianization, the growth of the planetary working class, is proceeding apace
as never before. Hundreds of millions of peasants, small farmers, and villagers
are crowding into the worlds cities, in China, India, Latin America, and Africa,
making the transition from small producers on the land to urban wage-slaves and
salary-slaves within the world capitalist system. These cities serve as 'hot
houses' of capitalist exploitation, serving to ruthlessly extract surplus value from
the minds and bodies of workers whose labour constructs a capitalist urban
environment, an environment suited for capitalist efficiency but which externalizes
endless inconvenience, struggle, insecurity, and suffering onto workers.

2. The working class, and humanity as a whole, is facing a three-fold

planetary emergency

The planetary working class, the immense majority of human beings, is facing a
three-fold planetary emergency emerging from the working of the world capitalist
system: The ever-growing aggressive wars waged by the capitali imperialist
powers and their proxies; the ever-growing impoverishment, instability, and social
misery imposed on working people by the world capitalist system and its
developing economic crisis;; and the ever-growing destruction of natural
eco-systems which sustain life on the planet. All three of these emergencies
are rooted in the world capitalist system; the division of the world into rival
capitalist nation-states, each one dominated by its own capitalist oligarches; and
by the financial and military forces which are now dominant in the capitalist world
system.

In our time finance capital and military-industrial-security systems have gained

primary control of the world capitalist centers and governments in the U.S. and
Europe. In a capitalist economy money is a claim on the labour-power - and the
products -f working peoples' collective labour. By channeling trillions of dollars
to the banks, finance companies, and the military, the U.S. and EU governments
are engaged in massive robbery of the worlds working people, turning over
ever-more control of our labour - and of the use and products and services
created by our collective labour - to these institutions and the parasitic elites which
control them. It is worth noting that whereas 8% of business profits in the U.S.
went to finance 30 years ago, now 40% of business profits go to finance, a sector
which adds nothing to the real economy except the manipulation of money and
various 'financial instruments'.
As impoverishment, social misery, and militarism become dominant, the vestiges
of democracy which might once have been found in capitalist governments are
ever-more replaced by authoritarian forms of rule, wars of aggression against
helpless peoples, ecological rape of the planet, and impoverishment of workers as
ever more wealth and power accrues to the military and finance.

3. Imperialism and The Danger of World War III

Imperialism, with its brutal wars and protowars, must be recognized as a

fundamental constituent of capitalism. Imperialism is not just the result of
unscrupulous and power-obsessed individuals, though such people certainly play
a role. It is rooted n the struggle of different groups of capitalists based in
particular nation-states for geo-strategic control of humanity's labour-power,
markets, and resources.

Imperialism has been part of capitalism from the beginning. Colonial wars of
conquest, occupation, and the looting, exploitation, and enslavement of other
peoples, beginning in the 16th. century, was crucial in generating the wealth
which fueled the take-off of mercantilism in Europe and the subsequent industrial
revolution. In the twentieth century two late-developing capitalist powers,
Germany and Jan, sought to compete for raw materials, cheap labour, and
territory with established imperialist powers like Great Britain and the U.S. The
result was two world wars which slaughtered a total of 70 million people

In our time Imperialism revolves primarily around the interests of finance capital,
military-industrial capital, and to some extent the energy industry which are the
dominant forms of capital in the major imperialist powers of the U.S. and the EU.
The quest of these powers for global power has in recent years killed millions of
our fellow workers, and turned millions more into refugees, particularly but not
only in the Islamic world. Millions have died due to direct warfare and the
imperialist use of terrorists in countries such as the Ukraine, Afghanistan, Libya,
and Syria The imperialist powers reckless quest for global dominance is
bringing them ever-nearer to direct conflict against the nuclear-armed powers of
Russia d China, with the very real danger of triggering a nuclear holocaust. The
Brezenski and Wolfowitz doctrines, available from Wikipedia, are the real basis of
US... foreign policy, calling as they do for permanent U.S. hegemony over the
planet and the conquest and control of Eurasia, on which China and Russia
occupy key positions.

It is imperative for conscious working people to organize mass opposition to

imperialisms regional wars; to make clear the three-way link between these wars,
the rule of finance capital, and the progressive impoverishment of workers in the
imperialist centers and around the world.. It is above all necessary to oppose the
U.S. and EU powers willingness to risk nuclear war in their attempts to militarily
encircle, intimidate, weaken, destabilize, and ultimately remove the current
Chinese and Russian states in favor of rulers who would open their territories,
people, and resource to unhindered domination and exploitation by the imperialist
centers.

4. Imperialists are what they do, not what they say.

In recent years the words 'freedom, democracy, and human rights' have been
hijacked by the imperialist powers. Those words are used to hide their real
intentions to gain control of labour, resources, markets, and geo-strategic
advantage by the conquest of any country which manifests even partial
independence.. Each intervention in other peoples' countries begins with claims
that these noble values are being somehow 'brought' to the country involved but
ends invariably in disaster for the target populations. Here is the real recent
record of imperialist interventions in other peoples' countries on behalf of 'freedom,
democracy, and human rights': Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, and
Syria - a trail of death, destruction, destabilization, and destroyed societies. And
massive numbers of refugees fleeing for their lives.

Socialists and working people should give no support for *any* foreign military
operations or protowars carried out by the imperialist centers for any reason or
under any pretext. All such operations should be vehemently opposed for the
murderous campaigns for global control which in reality they are. Bizarre
claims that bombing other peoples' countries, or sponsoring neo-fascist or jihadist
'rebels' to overthrow governments in places like the Ukraine or Libya or Syria, is
somehow a defense of 'human rights' or 'democracy' should be met with the
contempt that they deserve.

5. The Planetary Working Class must Organize on a Planetary Scale.

Working people must build global organizations independent of the previously

reformist 'nationalist' organizations which now systematically betray and help to
politically disorient them. The social democratic parties in Europe, the
democratic party in the U.S., the New Democratic Party in Canada, the so-called
communist party of China, and the vast majority of official trade unions in these
countries, all exemplify this development.

Historically, the organizations had a role in securing limited gains for working
people within the a national and capitalist framework. But the impact of
globalization has rendered long-term pro-working class reforms on a national
basis impossible. Capital naturally seeks the lowest labour costs, and the fewest
government restrictions, on its exploitation of workers. In a globalized world, if
costs are higher in one country than in another, capital simply moves on.

Under these conditions, the previously reformist parties and trade unions have
abandoned their previously reformist role. These organizations are unable to
challenge the basic premises of capitalism due to their ideological acceptance of
capitalism and their middle and upper class leaderships. Under the impact of
globalization, these organizations have retooled the word 'reform' as a signal
for anti-working class measures aimed at disabling the working class and
transferring massive amounts of wealth from working people to the top layers of
the social order; and to the banks, financial institutions, and military-industrial
systems that those top layers control.

Progressive sounding rhetoric - 'change you can count on' from. the U.S political
elites or 'Chinese Dream' in China or empty 'anti-austerity' rhetoric from the
Sizra party in Greece - is all that these organizations can now contribute, while
they back away from any attempt to defend or advanced the interests of ordinary
people, and embrace their impoverishment and removal of their basic democratic
rights.

Worst of all, these organizations now almost universally support, or at best accept,
the imperialist wars and protowars waged by their local capitalist nation state
governments which are killing, injuring, and destroying the lives of millions of
workers and ordinary people worldwide.

The underlying economic force of globalization has transformed the economic

landscape.. New methods of production, transportation, and communication
now allow production of whole products, or individual product components, to be
rapidly moved from one world location to another to take advantage of more
'business friendly' policies. Substantial improvements in wages and working
conditions, in environmental policies, or in general life conditions for workers has
become impossible when expected from reformist pro-capitalist parties or unions
operating within the institutions of particular capitalist nation states. It is
impossible because such improvements would merely mean that local capital will
move to other places with lower wages, poorer working conditions, and less
environmental protection.

It has long been an axiom of real revolutionary socialist organizing that working
class people must build international organizations around their own interests and
their own membership, completely apart from other organizations and social
classes, such as the small business or big business classes, whose fundamental
interests do not align with those of workers, and whose leadership can disorient or
drastically mislead working class movements. It is now, however, more
imperative than ever to break completely with such forces. These organizations,
and the governments they belong to, and the corporate mass media which
supports them, are now the betrayers of the European people, the American
people and the people of the world. They represent not the planetary working
class, the immense majority of humanity, nor the working classes of their own
countries, but the interests of finance capita, the military-industrial-security state;
and the tiny sector of the population which stands atop these systems. There is
also a thin slice of the upper middle class which buttresses these groups, and
benefits or hopes to benefit from their system.
6. The working peoples struggle can succeed only if it is equipped with an
explicitly international and socialist program entailing the wresting of
political power from the ruling elites and its vesting in democratic
Stewardship organs of the working class. Immediate measures of the new
working class governments will necessarily differ in terms of local conditions. In
developed capitalist countries the program of the workers government would
generally include:

1. The immediate formation of a steward's government of, by, and for the working
people as part of the movement to a World federation of workers state and
workers stewardship of the planet.

2. The immediate expropriation by the workers government of the banks and

financial institutions, the large corporations, and the capitalist media
conglomerates, and the use of these resources to meet social, economic,
cultural, and environmental needs.

3. Immediate measures to ensure full and meaningful employment for all workers,
and immediate measures to ensure adequate food, shelter, clothing, and medical
care, and access to education for all members of society.

4. The immediate dismantling of the military-industrial-security systems and

companies, the closing of all military bases in other peoples' countries, the
conversion of previously war-related industry and resources into social
resources dedicated to peaceful productive activity to meet human needs.

5. The immediate implementation or full restoration of basic democratic rights

such as those embodied in the U.S. Bill of Rights. This entails also the
immediate dismantling of all systems of mass surveillance such as the NSA
(so-called 'National Security Agency) of the U.S and similar agencies operated by
EU governments and in other lands. I t also entails the protection of all racial,
religious, ethnic, and other groups from persecution.

6. A stewards socialist government of, by, and for the working class would lay
down the foundation to begin resolving all of our social, economic, and ecological
problems, while moving towards conditions supporting the total physical, mental,
emotional, spiritual, and social development of each human being.

7. Stewardship transcends national identities Our identity as workers is an

objective one. It is grounded in our actual position in the world It involves our
rejection as workers of identification with local Capitalist nation-states and their
governments. We are members of a planetary social class of workers,, to which
we are bound by the global nature of modern producttion. Socialist stewardship
is based on our actual interests, and not on the illusions which have been foisted
upon us by the capitalist schools, media, and government officials. It is
imperative to sharply distinguish ourselves, and other workers, from the capitalist
nation state governments which currently rule over us. Confusing our cultural
identities as Americans, Chinese, French, or Nigerian with the nation state
governments which currently rule over us on behalf of capital is a deadly mistake.
It is a tool used by the capitalist class to deceive us into supporting their
governments, their interests, their anti-working class policies which oppress and
exploit us, and their wars in which we are made to kill one another so that 'the
capitalist class of the land we livein may conquer and plunder other lands and
peoples.. It is crucial to sharply distinguish ourselves and other workers from
capitalist governments. We are in reality members of an oppresswed and
enslaved planetary class of workers numbering in the billions. Our revolutionary
watchword must be: 'The workers of the world are one, and I am one of them.'