Communism in the 21st Century

To search for the traces of communism in the 21st century, two conditions are
necessary, to begin with.

One is to have some knowledge, even if it is not very deep, of the communist
experiences that have taken place in the last two centuries.

The other would be to handle the essential concepts of the theory that opens the
doors to the knowledge of the role of the worker in production, and therefore, in
society.

The first condition, the knowledge of the Soviet experience (fundamentally), will
allow us to corner, in order not to repeat, the idea that a party (the communist
party), an institution, will be the spearhead on the path of building communism.

This mistake, deep mistake, is not made by the capitalists. They are the engine,
they are the only protagonists, of their system. Their parties are their servants.
Their parties, and other institutions that serve them (Universities, Professional
Colleges, Study Services, Research Centers, intellectuals, writers, journalists, etc.,
etc.), do nothing but serve them, with their intelligence, with their ideas, with their
projects, with their wisdom; with all that, they are nothing more than their servants,
who are fired when they want, who are shortened the ration as soon as they
misbehave. They are the ones who rule the institutions, because they rule in
production.

The Russian Communist Party did not rule in the Soviet Union because it was an
institution of the workers; he ruled because he was the owner of the production.

The capitalists do not need to know much, for that they have their institutions that
know everything, and put all their wisdom at their service. They have all the
institutions at their service. Including, of course, the Communist Party (whether we
are talking about our country or any other European country).

In these conditions, our Communist Party, and the other Communist Parties in
Europe, cannot, and in fact do not, have among their objectives, the one of walking
towards a communist society.

This "truth" that the capitalists have so clear, says this: if you take ownership of the
means of work, you take ownership of the direction of production, if you take
ownership of the direction of production, you will direct the institutions, and they will
serve you.
 The Russian Communist Party, followed this truth to the letter, and ended up
dominating everything: production and institutions. And, along the way, he left the
workers lost.

Therefore, it will be necessary to ask the European Communist Parties to make an

effort to explain to the workers what type of work they support and help to develop,
since as an institution that they are, that is their main task. And not that of opening
the way, as a vanguard, to anywhere.

Putting the Communist Party in the place that corresponds to its real function
(reproducing wage labor), will clear the field, the stage, of the existing practice (not
invented), and of the theory, or reflection on this practice.

The elementary knowledge, in the form of concepts, will be the second condition
that will allow us to place the worker in the place that corresponds to him in
production, and therefore, in society.

This theoretical treatment allows us, as we have seen previously, to contemplate

the worker from a double angle.

From the angle that only observes the relationship of the worker as an owner, or
not, of the means of work.

And from the angle that only considers whether the labor process is individual, or
several workers cooperate in it.

Applying this double relationship we find:

 Processes of work for own account and for account of others.

 Individual and collective labor processes

And combining these relationships, we will have:

 Individual processes on their own account.

 Collective processes on their own account.
 Collective processes for account of others.

The first is that of peasants and artisans. The third is the capitalist labor process.
And the second, the communist labor process.
 This way of approaching the knowledge of the object we pursue (work in
communist form), follows the parallel path that researchers in the natural sciences
follow.

The text is an essay that analyzes the state of communism in the 21st century. The
author argues that communism has two main challenges: its association with
totalitarianism and its difficulty in adapting to the new realities of the world.

The author also argues that communism can be reformed and become a viable
alternative to capitalism. The author proposes two key conditions for this reform:

 The Communist Party must be reoriented towards the goal of building a democratic
and egalitarian society.
 The labor process must be reorganized in a way that gives workers more control
over their work.