March to Socialism notifies Our Position to advanced workers and all comrades fighting against capitalism and asks them to go together toward building a socialist workers' party.

1. Abolishing capitalism

2. Socialism as the self-emancipation of the working class

3. Building a socialist workers’ party

4. The internationalism of the working class

5. The workers’ united front and leading all-working-class-united struggles

6. The hegemony of the working class

 

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1. Abolishing capitalism

 

Capitalism is a class society in which a handful of capitalists owning the means of production exploit workers of a majority. As capitalist society grows, this exploitation continues to enlarge. While the wealth, extravagance, and power of a minority of the owners grow perpetually and absurdly, the conditions of workers get worse relatively and even absolutely when capitalism goes into crisis.

For the same reason, all developments of production capacity due to advancements in science and technology in capitalist society turn into instruments of increased exploitation to fire workers, intensify labor intensity, and force dangerous work and low wages on workers. As a result, unemployment, relative poverty, humiliation, alienation of work, increasing labor intensity, deprivation of rights, and instability of life are attacking more and more workers. While the amount of production grows explosively according to the endless accumulation instinct of capital that knows no limitation, workers' purchase ability compared to that shrinks less and less. As a result, it is more and more difficult for commodities to find appropriate markets, leading to unlimited competition, overproduction, chronic recession, panic, and imperialist war.

International monopoly capitalists represented by multinational companies are thrusting social inequalities to the end and spreading the contradiction of capitalism in all corners of the world. With spreading to the whole world, competition has been much more sharpened. But, in other aspects, the trend of counter-globalization started after the global financial crisis in 2008, and even the trend of separation between blocs began to spread rapidly after the break-out of war in Ukraine in 2022. This reflects the inherent tendency of capitalism that production should be more developed by closely connecting worldwide but it is unceasingly disturbed and braked by competition between capitalists in different countries, especially imperialist hegemony wars.

The more fatal limitation of capitalism is revealed clearly in the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. As the rate of profit has declined due to the contradictions and limitations of capitalism itself, recessions have become chronic, and the danger of another great depression is threatening the whole world. But the crisis control ability in capitalism has been continuously drying. Today capitalists are heading into a stranded situation between inflation and deflation due to almost bankrupted fiscal states of countries and disturbed values of currencies etc. Together with this, as the uneven development of capitalist countries disturbs the hierarchical order of imperialism unceasingly, the confrontation over supremacy between advanced imperialist camps, including the US, and chasing imperialist camps, including China, is more and more intensified to call the specter of enormous world war.

The unlimited desire of the capitalist accumulation system has threatened even the overall ecosystem of the earth, so the climate crisis is heading to a dangerous stage as much as unrecoverable. 

Various disasters, such as drought, flood, pandemic, famine, ecosystem disturbance, etc., are rapidly spreading. Hunger, increment of unemployment and inequality, chronic recession, barbarization, crime, environmental destruction, illness, and war; all of these are explicitly the present figure of world capitalism.

As the capitalist system has decayed, the reactionary, violent, and savage character of the capitalist state apparatus also has been becoming more blatant. The capitalist state, armed with violent police and army as well as bureaucratic legislative, administrative, and judiciary apparatuses, etc., has consistently played the role of the executive committee of the capitalist class, repressing strikes and protests violently as well as enacting and forcing unjust laws for capitalists. This nature of the capitalist state has been most clearly revealed in imperialist oppression and confrontation over supremacy. In foreign policies, even the capitalist states with the most democratic cover have blatantly revealed their actual figure as violent imperialist forces armed with guns, cannons, missiles, and nuclear weapons and committing massive slaughter.

The capitalist system is becoming more reactionary. Capitalists feel that they have to offend workers' organizations more viciously to recover the falling rate of profit by intensifying the exploitation of workers. As well as the acceleration of political offensives such as claims and provisional seizures for damages by strikes, fascism-like far-right forces intending to annihilate workers' organizations including trade unions are continuously spreading in the capitalist class. The policies of discrimination and exclusion against social minorities such as migrants, women, LGBTQ+, disabled, etc., are enlarging to divide the working class and eliminate its ability to defy.

Today, the emancipation of workers and people, as well as the progress of humankind, can only be realized in the revolutionary struggle to abolish capitalism. Even though how much difficulty this struggle slaps, there is no other way but this through which the working class and humankind can escape from the terrible misery of capitalism.

 

2. Socialism as the self-emancipation of the working class

 

Capitalism is also conceiving the revolutionary conditions which will overthrow itself. The accumulation process of capitalism, which concentrates and centralizes means of production and socializes production processes, has also created huge workplaces in which numerous workers concentrate and workers' social networks. Workers, forged by collective work in workplaces and closely connected socially, have become able to unite and fight against the capitalist class powerfully and unfold not only struggles in workplaces or industries but also even nationwide struggles with the unity of whole workers.

In addition, capitalism has given birth to enormous numbers of new workers worldwide, spreading the wave of workers' struggle to whole countries. Vast numbers of new workers are being created in China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. The possibility of uniting internationally across borders and unfolding immense struggles for emancipation is growing daily.

All of these are leading this time to the era of struggle for the complete emancipation of the working class, that is, the era of socialism. Socialism will introduce social collective owning and running of means of production and planned production by the whole society. Furthermore, socialism will thoroughly combine this planned economy with a self-controlled production process in which workers themselves democratically decide and horizontally cooperate. So it will abolish all classes together with the emancipation of the working class and inequalities generated from class division. And it will go toward a communist society that uses all results of developments of production ability to secure complete welfare and full-scale self-realization of all people in society, based on the principle of the community as "production according to ability and distribution according to needs."

Socialism can only be realized by the movement of the working class itself. The working class can be emancipated through the realization of socialism only when establishing workers' power based on the initiative and activeness of the working class itself. It can build socialism only through workers' organizations rooted in workplaces which are units where producers work, such as workers' council-type states.  Workers' organizations are muscles of workers' power as well as pillars of socialism. Workers' power will elect, recall, and control all government officials from below and integrate legislative, judiciary, and executive into one within its hands. Through that, it will gather the strength and wisdom of the whole working class, abolish capitalism, and open up a socialist society.

The above is the ultimate purpose of the workers' movement that revolutionary workers in all countries pursue together. March to Socialism acts to realize just the same ultimate purpose as that. We are willing to participate in every footstep that the Korean workers' movement sets in the course of completing such a great mission with all our might and lead practically ahead of it. While doing so, we will always clearly suggest the movement's aim, that is, building a socialist society.

 

3. Building a socialist workers’ party

 

The crisis of the Korean workers' movement that has continued since the mid-1990s is the result of accumulating bitter historical defeats in several layers that have been generated by the fact that most leaders have feared unfolding daring and full-scale workers' united struggle and going ahead to build a combative and revolutionary working class party based on that. In order to overcome this, while making workers' struggles go ahead to combative and class-united orientation, we must create a socialist workers' party that integrates the most active militants of the working class into one organization under the prospects of socialism. March to Socialism is an organizational instrument to serve that.

This time should be the process in which the working class is forged through a blast furnace of class struggles as the protagonist capable of exhibiting the potential of socialism. And this time also should be the period in which socialists lead such class struggles and so prepare to build a socialist workers' party capable of leading the future struggles for workers' emancipation. The socialist workers' party that we want to build is an organization of the most advanced workers, who lead class-oriented struggles of workers and guide the prospects of building a socialist society, as well as a real workers' party, that is deeply rooted in working masses by being based on workplace cells or district cells. This socialist workers' party can only be built by active militants who raise the class struggle ability of the working class through intense practices and guide the working class to the line of socialism on the road of such class struggles.

To complete such duties, we must thoroughly sever ourselves from the bourgeois-like-transformed fake socialist system and make the distorted socialism by them restored rightly. The communist parties in the former USSR after the Stalinist counter-revolution, former Eastern European countries, North Korea, and China have been the parties of rulers who speak socialism but actually oppress and exploit the working class. The reformist parties in Europe and Latin America have led workers' struggles to the road of reformism and protected the capitalist system. As fighting against those forces that have transformed and distorted socialism, we will strive to build a socialist workers' party that restores the real tradition of socialism.

We want to be a core and impetus for building a socialist workers' party by vigorously pushing forward socialist political activities unfolded on the wide land of workers' struggle and in the middle of the live workers' movement. We will synthesize practical activities, that organize class struggles and actually push forward workers' movements, and theoretical activities, that issue goals and prospects of movements, into unified socialist political activities. We will strive to make the process of intense answering the demands of class struggles generated from reality the most active chance for socialist propaganda, agitation, and individual organization. In doing so, we will learn together with workers from all experiences of class struggles and strive to be grown as an alternative leadership for class struggles.

To successfully unfold the struggle of building a socialist workers' party, March to Socialism will strive to lie its foundational basis on the workplace cells of workers armed with socialist thoughts and closely connected with all struggles of the working masses. It is because the organization we want to build is the one that leads workers' struggles and is run by the initiative of militants connected with workplaces and acting in a socialist way.

March to Socialism accepts the thought of democratic centralism, summarized by the free discussion and unified action, as the basic principle for running our organization. This means that all discussions within us are implemented in a comradeship way, bolstering unification toward the rightest orientation and that we pursue organic cooperation between all comrades as the principle for activity and development within us. And by applying democratic centralism, March to Socialism will constantly adapt its activities to the needs of the actual workers' movement and so go vigorously toward building a socialist workers' party.

 

4. The internationalism of the working class

 

The Korean working class is a part of the international working class that struggles for workers' emancipation worldwide. Only workers' internationalism can open the future of socialism.

As production and exchange have developed internationally, the building of socialism can only be realized through the international unity of the working class. The objective condition for this has continuously matured. Based on the higher level of globalization of capitalism, the foundation for more closely connecting and integrating workers' movements of all countries is getting increasingly abundant.

Defending workers' internationalism is practically getting more critical in the aspects of developing workers' struggles, too. The factory moving of multinational companies has been forcing the Race to the Bottom on all workers worldwide. In order to fight against that,  the international unity of workers, shouting "workers of all countries, unite! overturn the world!", has been getting increasingly important. If workers don't go ahead toward socialist unity through workers' internationalism, they will have to surrender to nationalism, like the strengthening of national competitiveness, and fall into class collaborationism. And workers in different countries will have to be divided, and aim guns at each other in front of wars which will be more frequently generated as imperialist competition gets increasingly acute.

March to Socialism will defend workers' internationalism against nationalist currents, fight against imperialist oppression and wars, and accept it as a decisive task to spread this cause in the Korean workers' movement. We will unite with socialist forces worldwide, lead ahead united struggles of workers worldwide, and eventually go ahead toward building a revolutionary socialist international organization.

 

5. The workers’ united front and leading all-working-class-united struggles

 

The capitalist class ceaselessly attacks workers, partially or fully. Therefore workers must repeatedly choose whether they stand on the stage of the battle or are destroyed and submitted. As the primary instrument for fighting against capitalists' attack by raising the class struggle ability of working masses, March to Socialism takes notice of workers' united front that unites workers into an independent rank. It is because the power of workers' struggle is basically generated by the broad unity of workers, and only through the growth of this struggle working masses can choose the real working class party and overcome the reformist leaders.

Today, Korean socialist forces have not grown meaningfully. Therefore, the gap between objective situation and subjective ability is enormous. When socialists actively intervene in class struggles, workers' united front can be a powerful instrument to reduce this gap. First of all, we take note of trade unions. It is because trade union is the most popular organization for the unity of workers in which workers organize themselves independently in the present in South Korea. Furthermore, we build and participate in the organization of advanced workers that can play a role as the impetus for workers' struggles. Through these various layers of workers' united fronts, while intervening in and influencing class struggles with the biggest ability we have, we will strive to develop the class struggle ability of the working class.

When the united power of the working class is properly realized through a united front, and so the workers' movement goes ahead, the decisive question, "where this power should go ahead for our emancipation," will be put in front of the workers' movement. Like this, the popular bridge going for the political and revolutionary movement will be able to be laid through the unity of the working class. And if socialists' active political activity combines with that situation, we are confident that socialism will be positioned as the conviction of the working masses at that period. And by acting in a way that does not impair the unity principle of the workers' movement and closely be connected to the struggle experience of workers themselves in a united front, we will go toward practically eliminating the influence of opportunist and reformist forces.

Especially concerning the trade union movement, March to Socialism considers the objective situation of bureaucratization of today's Korean trade union movement, which is a common phenomenon in all capitalist countries. Of course, we will not avoid activities connected with the official system of trade unions. We will instead strive to make such activities active instruments representing the interests and demands of rank-and-file workers. Only when we utilize the official system of trade unions in the orientation of depending on real influence in rank-and-file union members and growing the subjectiveness and activeness of them, we can continue to fight against reformist and trade-unionist bureaucrat layers and enlarge such fighting, so we can make trade unions change into the organization for the struggle of working masses. Even though there would be various forms and methods, we will strive to construct the rank-and-file union members' movement within and without the trade union movement based on the spirit of the workers' council. And we will give our all efforts and supports to make combative and class-oriented advanced workers' united fronts that lead such rank-and-file union members' movements go forward. In these workers' united fronts, we will work shoulder-to-shoulder with workers but strive to be the decisive core of them while adhering to independence with a socialist flag.

March to Socialism argues that organizing all-working-class-united struggles is the most prioritized practical task in the current class struggle. Unless united power, the class struggle ability of workers will become powerless, and the confidence and dynamic for socialism will be nothing but exhausted. The Korean capitalist class has divided the working class by nurturing the irregular work system and trade-unionist bureaucrat layers. And this has paralyzed the struggle ability and social hegemony of the Korean working class. To block this retreats and give an impetus to vigorous advance, we must put up the line of all-working-class-united struggle to the fore, so we must construct the front of "the capitalist class versus the working class." We will clearly issue that even the gains workers win can return to nothing anytime unless continuous advance on the basis of the all-working-class-unity. We will take the lead in advocating the line of the all-working-class-unity, regardless of whether organized in trade unions or unorganized, whether regular or irregular workers, whether women or men, whether workers in big companies or small companies, whether workers in the public or private sector.

It wouldn't be excessive how much we emphasize the importance of vigorous and dynamic energy that young workers show when we break through bureaucratic and trade-unionist habitual routines, restore a class-oriented, democratic, and combative movement, and make it go ahead. Their energy will be a strong power that encourages the unity of all generation workers and the march of the workers' movement. In the process, new protagonists leading the advanced workers' movement and the socialist movement will grow. We will strive to go shoulder-to-shoulder with them and guide them toward victory.

We will strongly emphasize that even though how much glitter the gain of workers' struggle, this victory is just nothing but a part of the enormous battles needed for the complete emancipation of the working class. To promote such awareness and make workers' struggles go further, we will suggest "action programs" that connect the current struggle and socialism. And we will help and lead workers to grow their ability and confidence that independently run and control the future workers' state and socialist society based on the experience of running popular organizations of workers. Also, we will strive with all our political abilities for the most advanced workers forged from such workers' united fronts to grow as the protagonists of building a socialist workers' party.

 

6. The hegemony of the working class

 

March to Socialism will fight against all kinds of social oppression and discrimination, such as patriarchy, racism, meritocracy, etc., that suppress women, LGBTQ+, disabled, migrants, etc., and connect these struggles with workers' struggles against capitalist exploitation. We emphasize that only the working class can be the consistent militant against all social oppression and discrimination and, on the other aspect, only through struggles against all social oppression and discrimination the working class can unite as one and mightily fight against the rule of the capitalist class.

Of course, the eventual instrument for overcoming all social oppression and discrimination is the socialist revolution. It is because all social oppression and discrimination are rooted in class hierarchical order under the capitalist exploitation system and the desperate needs of the capitalist class that can maintain their rule only through dividing the working class. But it is not automatically realized for the working class to grow as the protagonist to create a socialist new world. It needs a series of historical processes in the movement of workers themselves that workers vomit up filth capitalism has planted, and organize and forge themselves according to the principle of a socialist community. The process of workers' fighting against capitalist exploitation and all forms of social oppression and discrimination and so uniting as one has decisive importance in such processes.

Socialist organizations should be the ones that embody such figures of socialist society ahead of any other. For this, March to Socialism will fight with the most decisive attitude against any oppression and discrimination that could be generated inside. And we will participate in struggles with the most energetic attitude against all forms of oppression and discrimination. Furthermore, we will combine struggles against social oppression and discrimination as well as struggles against climate crisis with the workers' movement.

March to Socialism will fight for the enlargement of democratic rights. The decaying capitalist system has been consistently retreating in the political arena, too, leaving only a shell democracy. There have been numerous retreats in the democratic arena, such as corruption, collusion with capitalists, rejection of people's control, bureaucratic oppression, violence of state apparatus, bad laws, etc. Against this, we will fight for full-scale enlargement of the democratic rights of workers and people. Enlarging such democratic rights will be a popular weapon for the working class to unfold struggles against the capitalist system. Furthermore, in those struggles workers and people will be vividly aware unless destroying the capitalist political structure and establishing workers' power based on direct control and operation of workers and people, the fundamental rights of workers and people will not be realized.

Comrades! We never agree with those who say another world is impossible. The potential power of the working class is endlessly abundant, and victory is possible! March to Socialism invites you to the road to victory!

For the socialist workers' party and the emancipation of the working class!

 

(This document was adopted unanimously by all participants in the founding congress of March to Socialism in South Korea on Oct 1st, 2022.)