Dictatorship of the Proletariat 2 (DP2)

Copyright © 2024 by Gerald McIsaac.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval, system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

ISBN: 978-1-963068-59-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-963068-61-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-963068-60-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024919749

Introduction to the Second Edition

I decided to write a Second Edition to this book, partly because I am not at all satisfied with the First Edition, and partly because the revolutionary situation is developing very quickly. Recent events have to be taken into consideration.

The sad fact is that I am convinced our civilization has passed its peak, and is now in decline. Our civilization is in danger of collapse. This decline must be reversed.

No doubt, there are those who think that this is an exaggeration, that our civilization could never collapse. To such people, may I suggest that you bear in mind that this was precisely what was said of the Roman Empire!

In fact, throughout history, numerous civilizations have come into existence, risen to a peak, then fallen into decline and finally collapsed. Yet our civilization is not destined to collapse, because we alone have experienced an industrial revolution.

The importance of this revolution cannot be overstated, because it gave rise to two new revolutionary classes. The class of people, of the middle ages, who were referred to as burgers, became the bourgeois, or capitalists, and they hired people to work for them, by the hour. This second class of people became known as the working class, or proletariat. I can only stress the fact that at first, both new classes, capitalist and proletariat, were revolutionary.

This changed dramatically, around the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time, capitalism reached the monopoly stage, otherwise known as imperialism. Monopoly capitalism has absolutely no progressive characteristics.

The monopoly capitalists, multi billionaires or imperialists, are completely reactionary. They are determined to run our society into the ground, in their never ending quest, for an ever greater profit.

In America, the richest country in the world, the multi billionaires never had it so good! They live in the lap of luxury! They pay no taxes!

By contrast, the working class is increasingly impoverished. Countless people are unemployed, homeless, hungry, living in cars or on the streets, under bridges and in subways. The food banks are running out of food. Alcohol and drug addictions are common place. Drug overdoses and suicides are frequent. Mass murders are now a daily event. Criminal gangs are in control of whole neighbourhoods. Drugs are being sold openly. The police are powerless.

As well, the small business owner, the middle class, or petty bourgeois, is being ruined, driven into bankruptcy, forced into the ranks of the working class.

This cannot go on. A revolution is necessary. The revolutionary working class, the proletariat, must overthrow the completely reactionary class of monopoly capitalists, the multi billionaires. At the same time, the existing state apparatus must be smashed, and replaced with a new state apparatus, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.

It is the purpose of this little book, to outline precisely the manner in which this must be done.

Introduction to the First Edition

August 1, 2021. E Day. Eviction Day. The day that an estimated eleven million more Americans are scheduled to join the ranks of the homeless, at least if the landlords have their way. That is the day the moratorium on evictions expires, so that is the day the landlords plan to evict all the tenants who cannot pay their rent.

The wits among the working people respond to this news with that which passes for humour. ‘’The good news it that the federal government has set aside $46 billion for rental assistance. The bad news is that only $3 billion is being spent.’’

The fact that the tenants are unemployed and also hungry, due in part to the Covid Virus, is of no concern to the landlords. But then the landlords are small time capitalists, middle class, ’’petty bourgeois’’. The buildings they own represent their invested capital, and they are determined to harvest the largest possible profit from their investment. That means collecting rent. Those who cannot pay the rent are free to live on the street. Nothing personal. Just business. Just capitalism.

Capitalism is precisely the problem! The capitalists are concerned with their profit, their ‘’bottom line’’. Their goal in life is to make some ‘’serious money’’, as they phrase it. The health and general well-being of the ‘’common people’’, the ‘’little guy’’, the ‘’rank and file’’, the working class, the ‘’masses’’ -a term I hate, as it sounds so impersonal- are of no concern to the capitalist. For precisely that reason, it is capitalism which has to be abolished and replaced with socialism.

This is not to say that the capitalists are indifferent, concerning the eviction of so many working class people. On the contrary, they are quite excited about this. They see this as an ‘’opportunity’’, and the capitalists are constantly looking for opportunities. It is an opportunity to make a huge profit, so that many capitalists are now investing their capital in real estate. The evictions of so many working people can only work in favour of the capitalists!

The fact of the matter is that capitalism crushes and exploits all common people. Many such people are completely degraded, reduced to the level of beggars, relying on hand outs, merely to survive. All too often, they ‘’self-medicate’’, through the use, and abuse, of alcohol and drugs. That is ‘’one side of the coin’’, so to speak.

The other side of the coin is the fact that, every so often, people get into motion. ‘’Serious motion’’, if you will excuse the expression. Revolutionary motion, to be precise. This is to say that millions of common people rise up and demand change. We are currently living in a time of revolutionary motion. People are fed up. There are limits! Countless people who were formerly apathetic are now ‘’waking up’’, as they phrase it. Now is the time for change. Now is the time for socialism.

It is for the benefit of those who are just now ‘’waking up’’, taking an interest in their lives, becoming politically active, demanding change, that I have chosen to write this little book. For that reason, certain important scientific terms are explained. Those who are already familiar with those terms may find this tiresome. Bear in mind that due to the revolutionary motion, countless working people are just now becoming politically active, and have to learn these terms. It is necessary to prepare them for scientific socialism. After all, it is the most advanced workers, the vanguard of the proletariat, who will lead the proletariat to socialism.

I say this because the one and only alternative to capitalism is ‘’scientific socialism’’, in the form of the ‘’Dictatorship of the Proletariat’’. Common people just have to be made aware of that.

Chapter 1

Definition of Classes

During a time of revolutionary motion, countless working people, those who were formerly apathetic, become politically active. They refer to this as ‘’waking up’’. We are now living in a time of revolutionary motion, so that those ‘’newly awakened’’, politically active working people, are questioning our political system, commonly referred to as ‘’democracy’’.

Perhaps the first thing our freshly minted revolutionaries are going to have to learn, is that of the existence of classes. In North America, it is customary to deny the existence of classes, or at least that used to be the custom. No doubt the more advanced workers will check for a proper definition, on the internet. It is a wonderful invention, so why not use it?

With that in mind, our rising revolutionary star will learn the following: ‘’Social classes are hierarchial groupings of individuals that are usually based on wealth, educational attainment, occupation, income or membership in a sub culture or social network.’’ It goes on to say that ‘’Many Americans recognize a three tier model that includes the upper class, the middle class, and lower or working class’’. In scientific jargon, we refer to this as the capitalist, or ‘’bourgeois’’, definition of classes.

This stands in contrast to that which the internet defines as the ‘’Marxist’’ definition of a class, which is defined as ‘’a group with intrinsic tendencies and interests that differ from those of other groups within society’’.

That is not at all the ‘’Marxist definition of class’’, but it gives common people a place to start. In fact, the monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, technically referred to as the ‘’bourgeoisie’’, form one class. The small business owners, technically referred to as the ‘’petty bourgeois’’, or middle class, form a second class. Those who have nothing to sell but their labour power, technically referred to as the ‘’proletariat’’, or working class, form a third class. That leaves the family farmer, a fourth class, technically referred to as ‘’peasants’’.

As there are very few family farmers left in North America, only the remnants of that class remain. Their influence, as a class, is negligible.

The internet also reports that most Americans believe that there are three classes in America, as previously listed. This is largely true, as the family farmers have been all but wiped out.

The belief in the existence of three classes in America, is a step forward from several years ago. At that time, the existence of classes was denied. Then, at around the time of the Occupy Movement, the working people began to sense the existence of classes. They began to refer to themselves as the ‘’99 percent’’, as opposed to the ‘’1 percent’’.

The understanding, at that time rather vague, was that the working people formed the vast majority of the population, the ’’99 percent’’, while the ‘’1 percent’’, the ‘’super rich’’, formed the tiny minority. There is some truth