About sterotypes for a rebel (part 1 : blood-fetishism)

(translated from greek language by G.S. & S.T.)

I was discussing last night with my father, while we watched the political news on TV about the developments. And when I began to tell him about the deadlocks of parliamentarism, he asked me "ok, but what will you succeed with bloodshed?" . I look at him and ask "what bloodshed, you mean?" and he explained that he believes, that my membership of a party which is called Revolutionary, means hoping in civil war. Then I throw him the big bomb "Do you know how many died at the greatest revolution of history, the great revolution of red Russian October,? 150!”. My father was quite surprised and the discussion couldn’t continue.

Unfortunately, one of the countless stereotypes that exist around the revolution and the revolutionary is the blood issue. Everyone think us like dreamers of bloodshed and trouble, spending our days with guns at hand! The truth is that I hope that there is not such a creature, because if there was, then it would not be a revolutionary, but a blood predatore of human beings (and of the most dangerous kind, indeed). I can easily imagine such individuals in the realm of fascism: if X member of golden eggs of Turkey (a pun about the fascist party Golden Dawn) spent his life with (according to law, no doubt about it) the hunting rifle, I would absolutely found it normal, I wouldn’t get even bother to check it. But if they told me that for a rebel, I would laugh ‘til afterlife.

There are two "weapons" basically, with which a rebel lives every day: the permanent development of philosophical revolutionary theory, so as to continuously connect with action, in order to change the world, this is the first! The absolute sincerity towards himself and the class that defends, is the other! Under this definition, I am proud of my party that is truly revolutionary and for workers’ interests. We may have made mistakes: as dialectical materialists we do not believe that there are infallibly to assert something. It would discount our first weapon, not doing (or pretend not doing) mistakes. We may not have achieved everything we had to do: but then, it would mean that we can do everything on our own, without the vanguard of the working class and the oppressed of this world – something like this would be substitution and absolute refusal of the second weapon!

The Revolutionary has no fetish with guns: The Revolutionary is not characterized by the use of weapons, but is characterized by the courage to catch every weapon, which is called by conditions to do! The typewriter, the banner, the megaphone shouting slogans, the posters, the newspaper, are propaganda weapons! In time of peace between people and classes are those who permanently use them inside his class, in order to explain that the absurd and the deadlocks of the system can only be solved with the solution of the problem of power! If suppressing, the revolutionary must not act, neither with the logic of capitulation, nor with the logic of the mess the other confrontational logic: we do not surrender, we do not escape, we do not capitulate, as pacifists do, we do not do jerking meaningless attacks everywhere that make us more vulnerable and put us far from victory, we do not break indiscriminately targets without strategic importance, we do not endanger our own side of the barricade, like some anarchists do! We protect methodically and targeted, those who for reasons of age, health or other reasons, are powerless to protect themselves and stand firm, ready to respond to repression with courage and abnegation.

The Revolutionary of our kind is not a terrorist and terrorists are not the Revolutionaries who a Marxist could believe in him/her. The Revolutionary for us, speaks to the masses, the Terrorist acts like a messiah trying with his own weapons, and a blessing from a part of the masses, to change things alone! Individual terrorism is 3 times ineffective & injurious : firstly, because it stimulates the capitalistic system's immune subsystem (because capitalism do not suffer any detriment because a minister or a strategist or diplomat died) and thus protects itself better, secondly because the masses will stay pathetic, feeling safe cause someone is fighting for them against the common enemy and thirdly because many Revolutionaries will find themselves in difficult circumstances – identified by the system and a part of society, with terrorists! The terrorists do not have any difference with a left parliamentarian, which again sends the masses at their homes, taking all responsibility- maybe a reformist parliamentarian, might be more honest with himself and the masses (despite the mistakes he made) believing we cannot go directly to socialism, so let's do the best we can inside this system.

All these does not mean that we snob the parliamentary action, nor that we condemn terrorism of the masses: the struggle through parliament can provide countless benefits on the road to revolution (already analyzed in 2^nd & 3^rd Congress of Communist International) and the terrorist methods (such as each method ordinary or unorthodox war) can lead us to victory at the appropriate time and in an appropriate plan: in times of civil war between the working class and bourgeois or in a case of foreign occupation (like 1941-44) or imposing totalitarian status (as were the juntas in our country), methods determined, organized from the same class who claim power, is undoubtedly for the victory, which lead us to the enemy without making us not honest with ourselves, with the revolutionary subject, role that the working class can play along with the oppressed and marginalized of this society!

In case of imperialist war (whether our country is attacking or defending) then our duty is the Revolutionary Defatism : the prevention of bloodshed between class brothers and the transformation of war into social-political revolution. We must show the proletarians of all countries involved that our interest is the internationalist solidarity rather than the cannibalistic policies of the imperialists, that our duty comes from what policy serves the world revolution and the interests of the working class rather than the profits of the bourgeoisie and nationalist obsessions...

The Revolutionary is the one who held that our duty after explaining the world is to change it, to make it freer, more human and fairer. If the ruling class realized tomorrow that they are defeated within the contradictions of capitalism and deliver us the power, we wouldn’t say no. If there was a peaceful road to socialism, we would be stupid to deny it. If the universe could change without any trouble, we will accept that, celebrating around the world. But when the ruling class still responds with violence, war, poverty, cutting off democratic rights, censorship and repression, then looking for the bloodless way unfortunately remains utopia. Hopefully we will be lucky as our political ancestors, the Bolsheviks, and that we will reduce the bloodshed to the minimum, but as our exploiters, bourgeois, are ready for it, we should be also ready for everything!