On the Dialectic

On the Dialectic

By: Reece Gatliff, co-leader of the CPUSA–UT

The first principle of all dialectical thinking is:

• Two opposing half-truths form a single whole truth.

The singular whole truth is made up of what Hegel called a unity of opposites.

Thus, light and darkness, plus and negative, good and evil, bourgeoisie and proletariat, etc.

When the sun is up, we say, “it is daytime,” and when the sun sets, giving way to the moon, we say “it is now nighttime.” Daytime and nighttime are the two half-truths, the whole truth being categorized under the word “day.”

This abstraction brings us to the second principle of dialectical thinking:

• All people think according to definite concepts.

One might look left and see a house, saying “that is a nice house!” They might think it is nice because it is painted a pretty light blue, complete with a spacious, fenced-in backyard with plenty of beautiful flowers and bushes surrounding it.

They then might turn right and see an oak tree, exclaiming “That is one big, leafy tree!” upon viewing its broad leaves and long trunk shooting up into the sky.

We might like a work of art because of its detail, colors, hue, etc.

Concepts are simply how we make sense of the world; they are the thesis, or starting-point, of all human thought.

The notion of the thesis brings us to the third principle of dialectical thinking:

• Thesis–antithesis–synthesis

If the thesis is the starting-point, then the synthesis is the endpoint. We use actions to reach the endpoint. Actions which fail to reach the endpoint fall into an antithesis, or a reversal, and consequently lead us back to the starting-point.

Viewed through the lens of revolutionary Marxist-Leninist politics, the thesis is the people, and the synthesis is the Socialist republic. The Vanguard Party makes the people its starting-point, using such tactics as the mass strike, voting, agitating etc. to eventually create the Socialist republic of tomorrow. A failed strike action, or a failure to get enough citizens out to vote for truly progressive candidates, leads the Vanguard Party into an antithesis; the Party then goes back to the people of its constituency, learning all about what the masses really want, and changing its tactics accordingly based on what We the People desire.

The fourth principle is:

• The “I am”

Each individual in the State or Society is an “I am” per Hegel, every “I am” or independent willpower relating to “the We” or Society.

Furthermore, every person is also a “Queen” on a broad chessboard, their moves within Society being nearly limitless.

To Marxist-Leninist eyes, these “Queens” appear as Party cadre.

All cadre are inevitably leaders of, by, and for the proletariat.

As such, the Party is made up entirely of leaders, and serves as the advance guard of the proletarian army, destined to beat the capitalist army (made up of bourgeois class representatives, police and National Guard units, etc.) by conquering the Government or State-power on the political battlefield.

Principle five is:

• All history is in a constant process of becoming

Not just past history, but present-day history, becomes.

It grows, a complex living organism.

Take the history of the United States of America.

Our people started out as desperate British colonists protesting unfair taxation policies, then grew into a mighty mass of citizens of all races, nationalities, and ethnic groups complete with an advanced capitalist economic system, a sophisticated common law code, and a fighting Spirit of bourgeois democratic republicanism.

What we do here, now, within this framework of U.S. bourgeois democratic republicanism matters, and forms a living current history.

Principle six:

All States become

Each State is also wholly redeemable, no matter its past crimes.

That being said, the seeds of the future Social State are found in cooperatives, community-controlled schools, sovereign tribal farming projects, etc.

The people’s Vanguard, in conquering class Government, safeguards these seeds and thereby ensures that they grow into healthy, large plants.

The seventh principle:

• All freedom is actual

Freedom from fear and the freedom to develop our full potential and faculties as rich, complete individuals are both keys to the concept of a fully alive, actual freedom.

The proletarian army’s leaders fight for real economic freedom, without which there can be no true freedom.

The eighth and final principle:

• Every story is dialectical.

Each person’s story is distinctly multi-sided.

How they came to be, what makes them “them,” is made up of one, two, many half-truths.

Even more so, those who tell the stories control the future.

The Vanguard, in seizing control over the existing State-power, will be able to not just tell but control the stories.

This is the essence of genuine mastery.