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by Rashid Johnson
The Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party (RIBPP), which reformed in December 2020 as a split from the NABPP, is explicitly a revolutionary intercommunalist (RI) party. As such it is important that we explain to the people what RI is and why we embrace it as our guiding political line.
Foremost, RI is based on a scientific analysis and understanding of the world as it exists in this “new” era of neoliberal capitalist imperialism – where the ruling class is at war with the poor and is rolling back all the concessions that were made decades ago to workers and the oppressed in response to various mass resistance movements. These include movements inside of Amerika, especially those for New Afrikan Black Liberation and civil rights, for AmerIndian land and cultural reclamation and sovereignty, women’s liberation, against the war in IndoChina, the student, New Left and other movements, all of which were moving toward each other to form a unified struggle against the common imperialist class enemy.
This was seen as especially threatening with the advances in revolutionary theory made in China under the leadership of Mao, who offered his support to these struggles and called on them to unite behind the Black liberation struggle. Speaking in 1968 of the world revolution in this “new era,” Mao wrote:
“At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the Black people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of all the people of the world against US imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants and revolutionary intellectuals of all countries and all who are willing to fight against US imperialism to take action and extend strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States!
“People of the whole world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our common enemy, US imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism and all systems of exploitation and the complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.” [i]
Two years later, Huey P. Newton, cofounder and theoretical leader of the original BPP (Black Panther Party), put out his “Theory of Revolutionary Intercommunalism.” He stated in one relevant part:
It is a global empire. A small number of super-rich capitalists control the world’s wealth and own the systems of communication, media and overall means of production. They cannot but exist in contradiction to the interests of the world’s people.
“In 1917, when the [Russian] revolution occurred, there could be a redistribution of wealth on a national level because nations existed. Now, if you talk in terms of planning an economy on a world-wide level, on an intercommunal level, you are saying something important: that the people have been ripped off very much like one country being ripped off.
“Simple reparations is not enough because the people have not only been robbed of their raw materials, but of the wealth accrued from the investments of those materials – an investment of which has created the technological machine.
“The people of the world will have to have control – not a limited share of control for X amount of time, but total control forever. In order to plan a real intercommunal economy, we will have to acknowledge how the world is hooked up. We will also have to acknowledge that nations have not existed for a long time.”[ii]
The way the world is now “hooked up” in the capitalist imperialist ruling class is transnational, and the US is no longer a country: It is a global empire. A small number of super-rich capitalists control the world’s wealth and own the systems of communication, media and overall means of production. They cannot but exist in contradiction to the interests of the world’s people.
This contradiction compels them to struggle constantly to consolidate their world domination, which generates constant anarchy and chaos – including social and environmental devastation – and the threat of globally destructive war. If we are to survive, their control must be overthrown and a world working class dictatorship established.
Across the world, rural populations (peasants) have moved en masse to urbanized areas through being driven off their land by high tech imperialist agrobusiness. Alongside, the enhancement of capitalist-driven automation and technology has pushed multitudes of traditional workers out of jobs. These conditions have led to a continuously growing mass of marginalized urban unemployed workers and lumpen. These masses of marginalized and desperate peoples will form the base of the next wave of World Proletarian Socialist Revolution.
There is still a material basis for rural-based people’s wars, such as are taking place in India, the Philippines and other countries, and there is still a basis to organize existing workers at the point of production. So, we recognize the role and need of national-based revolutionary communist parties, but we must adjust the Maoist line to the changing contradictions and conditions.
This is what revolutionary intercommunalism is all about, why we embrace it and why we have organized as a Black-led party, with Brown and White arms, to unite and lead the struggle in this new era for world proletarian socialist revolution.
Dare to struggle dare to win! All Power to the People!
[i] Mao Tse-tung, “A New Storm Against Imperialism,” “Statement by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in Support of the Afro-American Struggle Against Violent Repression,” Peking Review, April 19, 1968.
[ii] David Hilliard and Donald Weiss, eds., “The Huey P. Newton Reader,” NY: Seven Stories Press, 2002.
Send our brother some love and light: Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, 264847, Pendleton Correctional Facility, G-20-2C, 4490 W. Reformatory Road, Pendleton, IN 46064.
