Meir A. | Red Phoenix correspondent | New York–

A typical mistake found in the newspapers of revolutionary organizations is to sink into the trap – so characteristic of the intelligentsia – of attempting to pedantically correct some ideological weakness perceived within a social event upon which they had and have no influence. However, this adds little to the conversation because it primarily comprises a repetition of the formulas that must be proven in practice. When an event takes place in which any number of clandestine, rogue actors fail to adhere to the principles of Marxist doctrine, these criticisms ring hollow and seem to serve better as the padding of an academic portfolio than the columns of a party newspaper, because fidelity to revolutionary principles was never the burning question.

This is the case to be made when it comes to many analyses of the assassination of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson. Yes, we are all aware that we should oppose the worship of spontaneity. However, we must be equally aware that without the existence of a vanguard party the masses cannot be expected to remain silent and sit still. Outside of the fairy tales of bourgeois economists the systematic violence generated by the capitalist system is not a surprising tragedy, but a societal constant. Capitalism is the great progenitor of crime and malice. Why should the oppressed complain when the chickens come home to roost?

If, among the dozens of unarmed persons murdered by police, and the strikers brutalized, and the prisoners snuffed out in darkened cells, one of our enemies meets the same fate, we Marxists will not complain. Hadn’t Thompson made his fortune from violence? When he met his end on that evening, Dec. 4, 2024, it had simply been the predictable outcome of structural inhumanity; a man like that makes enemies. Granted, this was a more “professional” and “bourgeois” brand of callous harm than the news cycle accustoms us to, but callous, intentional harm, nonetheless. It is brutality made no less despicable by its enshrinement in the laws of property and commerce.

As far as Marxism-Leninism is concerned, individualized terrorism is the movement’s punishment for opportunism and disengagement. Too many organizations demagogically pander to the concerns of the workers, but truly, as Bill Bland declared, they “objectively serve the interests of monopoly capital by preaching the illusion of ‘peaceful, parliamentary transition to socialism.’”

The masses of workers, students, and oppressed peoples are coming to the sharp realization of electoral impotency and the severity of the political crisis, and they are reaching for a sincerely revolutionary solution. If the organs and intellectuals of the working class prove incapable, unwilling, or insufficiently organized to provide an alternative, the people will be reduced to a blind and individualized lashing out. They will exhaust their energies before having ever begun in earnest, and the vanguard organizations will be left behind.

Instead of running to the soapbox with notes, or to Mr. Mangione with letters of admiration, Marxist-Leninists of any sincerity should run to organizations which are pursuing a revolutionary line, and they should throw themselves into the struggle. Carlos Marighella, who formalized the Urban Guerilla concept, gives us this definition of a revolutionary combatant: “The guerilla is an implacable enemy of the government and systematically inflicts damage on the authorities and on the men who dominate the country and exercise power.”

The revolutionary has connections in the community, and this is what enables his freedom of movement. He is not an outlaw who “benefits personally and attacks indiscriminately.” Luigi Mangione has so few connections to the masses that any honest analysis cannot determine his guilt or motivation without doubt, assuming he is even the correct suspect in the first place.

While many can relate to his apparent motives, the implications of this action seem to be largely unintended. There are doubts as to the authenticity of the alleged manifesto, and it is not unlike American law enforcement to manufacture a suspect when they can find none. Many aspects of his story create cause for doubt, such as the way in which he fled over state lines but kept the evidence on his person. In any case, the outcome of the action is the same, and the outcome is a lesson.

The label of radical “does not split, it does not smear; on the contrary, it represents a center of attraction.” The significance of this story is the swelling support that Mangione received upon his arrest, and that the event attracted even before a suspect was named. Loud and clear, the bell of defeat for the United States is ringing out everywhere, and we must organize together, preparing ourselves to meet the struggle of the upcoming years. We must not forget that the ripening of the revolutionary conditions has put fascism on the march, and that the calls for reform are a screen to hide the total loss of control by the social-fascists in the Democratic Party. We can now march boldly, with renewed confidence that “the majority is with us, or will be with us, during the revolutionary struggle.” (Enver Hoxha, “The Superpowers“)

Categories: U.S. News