Party and Council Dictatorship

Revolutions cannot be calculated with mathematical precision, and even less can they be guided by dogmatic formulas. Whoever fails to see and understand the development and movement of conditions will hardly be able to master them. Especially in today's period of capitalist decay, where events change as quickly as clouds on the horizon, the proletariat must pay greater attention to the dialectic of class relations to avoid being overtaken by circumstances. The revolutionary proletariat must conserve its strength and not waste it on useless debates and on “questions” that are not real questions at all. If the proletariat considers its tasks more in terms of the interaction of existing class relations, much energy will be saved—energy that could be better used in service of the proletarian revolution.

There is still much uncertainty among many proletarians regarding the tasks of the party in the dictatorship of the proletariat. Firstly, this is because they do not want to see any distinction between parties and regard all parties as the same, regardless of their content. Secondly, they view the struggle for the emancipation of the working class too mechanically and fail to recognize the obstacles that the proletariat must overcome. As a result, some proletarians consider the party unnecessary and no longer see it as a weapon of the revolution.

The fact that the parliamentary "workers' parties" no longer have anything in common with the proletarian revolution and even hinder it does not prove that a revolutionary party, which serves only the revolution, has no historical justification for existence. The party represents the consolidation of the most active and determined elements of the class in order to give the class a revolutionary direction and to crystallize its immediate tasks. The reason why the SPD and KPD can no longer be considered revolutionary organizations today lies in the fact that, through their reformist struggles, they have increasingly integrated themselves into capitalist society. Through their internal structure and autocratic leadership apparatus, these parties no longer serve as means to an end; instead, they fight merely for the survival of their own organizations. Those who conclude from this that all parties are therefore unnecessary, simply because the parliamentary parties have completely failed, fail to recognize the necessary conditions of the proletarian revolution. Since the SPD and KPD are not parties that aim to foster the class consciousness of the exploited and, in fact, act as obstacles to the struggle for soviet power, it is all the more historically necessary for the revolutionary proletariat to have a party that provides the revolution with direction and purpose. To reject a revolutionary party would mean leaving the battlefield to the counterrevolution.

The KAPD is a party that has nothing in common with the parliamentary parties except for the name. The structure of the KAPD is built from the bottom up, whereas in other parties, the opposite is the case. The tasks and goals of the KAPD are solely dedicated to the revolution. If there are proletarians today—mainly from the AAUE—who in part acknowledge the consolidation of the most determined proletarians, as the KAPD does, but object to the name, then this is truly a petty attitude that no revolutionary should adopt. There is no evidence that the revolutionary cause has suffered simply because the KAPD still calls itself a party. It is not the party itself that hinders the revolution, but rather the character, system, and structure of the party that determines whether it serves as a lever and compass for the emancipation of the working class or not.

The role of a revolutionary party during and after the establishment of the proletarian dictatorship remains entirely unclear to many proletarians. This is why some are already worrying about whether a party dictatorship will emerge or whether the class dictatorship will assert itself in its purest form. Others are already warning against a party dictatorship, seeing in it the greatest evil. To approach the future actions of the proletariat in the revolution from this perspective means to lose sight of the real development of class relations. These questions, as they are posed, are not real questions for us—the proletariat has far more pressing matters to resolve. The revolution will not succeed overnight. Many obstacles must still be overcome within the revolutionary struggle. This must be our main focus. The seizure of political and economic power from the bourgeoisie will be our primary task. Once we have accomplished this, the questions concerning workers’ councils will be easier to resolve. The more the party ensures that communist principles are upheld during the struggle for emancipation, the less it will need to resort to dictatorial measures within the workers’ council system. This alone clarifies what remains incomprehensible to some comrades and other proletarians. The strength of the party must be directed toward ensuring that the working class carries out a complete revolution. A proletariat that rejects half-measures, pacifist illusions, and humanitarian sentimentalism will act differently from the proletariat of 1918. The party must ensure that the working class expropriates the means of production from capital and destroys the political power of the bourgeoisie. Whether, in this revolutionary struggle, the party’s own initiative will be necessary is not a question to be debated today—this will be determined by the future conditions. What is clear, however, is that it is entirely possible for a party that lives and fights with the revolution to save it from counterrevolution through decisive, even dictatorial action. What revolutionary would condemn a dictatorial initiative by a party if, through its determination, it strengthens and preserves the proletarian dictatorship? When the proletariat enters the revolution, it will not find an orderly society, but rather chaos. Even within its own ranks, the proletariat will not find a unified front in the revolutionary upheaval. Parliamentary parties and trade unions will stand on the other side of the barricades, and if the revolution begins to succeed, they will stop at nothing to break it. These are realities that cannot be ignored if the revolutionary proletariat does not wish to sacrifice its life in vain. The party must remain vigilant over all these developments and must act decisively wherever the survival of the revolution demands it.

The rule of the working class can only come from the class itself, through the councils. Even within the system of workers’ councils, the role of the party will not be exhausted. The revolutionary councils will not yet be able to do without the backbone of the party, as it will be essential for anchoring the proletarian dictatorship. From the dictatorship of the proletariat to a classless society, there remains a long road ahead. Along this path, the party will prove necessary time and again to navigate obstacles. A revolution without the heart of a revolutionary party, as embodied by the KAPD, would be like a ship without a rudder.

Let us always remember 1918, and many things will become clearer to us. If at that time the party of the revolution, the Spartacus League, had been more deeply rooted in the proletariat, the social-democratic vermin would not have had such an easy counterrevolutionary victory, as was unfortunately the case.

Let us not waste time today on future speculations about what the party will or will not do within the council dictatorship. Instead, we should be guided by the principle that the KAPD must remain true to its foundations and resist all opportunism. If we continue on this path, many questions will become irrelevant—questions that cannot be resolved without considering the material conditions from which they arise. The field of struggle is vast, demanding the full commitment of all party forces. If we fulfill our daily tasks in the struggle for liberation, the future battle will not take us by surprise. The initiative of the revolution rests on the KAPD. The revolution has no other strongholds, for the KPD has long since abandoned the principles of the council dictatorship. Just as the AAU must become the counterforce to the counterrevolutionary trade unions within the workplace, so too must the KAPD act outside the workplace against the parliamentary parties. Our primary task is to prepare the revolutionary proletariat for revolution and, at the decisive moment, to strike against wage slavery and its enforcers. To fulfill this task, the KAPD and the AAU must establish a strong foothold within the proletariat, gathering enough force to confront the counterrevolution. This means mobilizing all party forces to tear the proletariat away from the grip of the trade unions and parliamentary parties—to win them over to the revolution. If we fail in this, even our best theoretical foundations will remain mere theory. The program of the KAPD was born from the recognition of the decay of capitalist conditions and the intensification of the class struggle. The theory of the KAPD emerges from the struggles of the working class, but this revolutionary theory must become a material force if the proletariat is to triumph over its mortal enemy—capital.

Let us fight with all means and all our strength to convince and inspire the revolutionary proletariat with our clear methods of struggle. Once we have fulfilled this task to the extent that we become a force to be reckoned with, we will also know how to fulfill our task in the civil war.