2023-08-04 17:36:38
A new electoral contest is approaching, in this case the local and regional elections, in the midst of the first government of class collaboration that the country has known. In this framework, we want to share some reflections on the relationship of the revolutionaries with the bourgeois elections.
By PST – Colombia
The October elections and the campaign already underway express a new obstacle for the masses to mobilize independently of the government for their demands, giving Petro a margin to prevent or delay new social outbreaks. But at the same time, they represent an opportunity for us to discuss politics; so that we can talk about the limitations and contradictions of the electoral system, the political regime, and “democracy”.
bourgeois democracy
Bourgeois democracy is, in a few words, the dictatorship of the ruling classes over the whole of society, its norms, laws, institutions and the much celebrated three powers, are designed – even in the most democratic country in the capitalist world – to maintain this domain, and to prevent the existence of a government based on workers’ democracy, that is, of the workers and the oppressed, who are the majority. With the periodic holding of elections, the oppressed masses have the illusion of being able to change things, to be able to participate politically and to dispute power. These elections are called more and more frequently for one position or another, and are the mechanism par excellence to maintain the domination of the usual in times of stability, that is, in the absence of revolutionary processes in which the struggle for power is given outside the electoral system and its institutions.
This periodic call for elections supposes great pressure for the revolutionary organizations and for the working class in general, pressure to adapt to the mechanisms of this reduced democracy, pressure to make alliances, pressure to reduce or cut our program and proposals, pressure to postpone our struggles and demands in favor of electoral promises. On this particular occasion, we will have the pressure to vote for the candidates of the Historical Pact with the argument of helping to fight the right, or defending the supposed change. But the reality is that the structural changes we need can only be achieved through direct struggle, and not through the ballot box.
The politics of the Bolsheviks
We claim the heritage and teachings of the Bolsheviks and Lenin’s Third International for participation in elections. We understand the importance of participating, although we subordinate this task to the class struggle. The central task of the Bolsheviks when running for election was “…to develop class consciousness and the independent class organization of the proletariat as the only revolutionary class to the end…”.
They had no expectations that important reforms could be won through parliament (valid for assemblies, councils, etc.) because this institution had lost the ability to grant them. Today we see that the reforms that are being presented are within the framework of the exploitation system itself, increasingly cut down and that for every reform that this congress approves, it approves ten counter-reforms.
Our politic
As a party, our right should be to be able to participate with our own ideas, proposals and candidates. But Colombian legislation is deeply undemocratic and is armored so that this cannot happen. Only those who have the resources can really access it, since money is needed to collect thousands of valid signatures, finance million-dollar campaigns, pay million-dollar policies that are required, etc. The recently sunk political reform aimed to deepen these gaps instead of seeking democratization.
Participating in elections is very important to spread revolutionary ideas, and denounce the very limitations of the system and of bourgeois democracy. In case of winning any public office, our task is to use it to “…unmask the bourgeoisie now its accredited servants, but for also unmask the social-patriots, to the reformers, to the political misconceptions of the center and, in general, to the adversaries of the communism”. By no means was the policy of the Bolsheviks to unite with reformists or center politicians against the most reactionary bourgeoisie, but to fight them all. Class independence, and independence from other parties, is a norm for electoral participation, alliances are reserved for exceptional and especially restrictive cases, and political independence must always be maintained, that is, even if we agree to vote for a candidate who is not from our party, we do so without hiding our proposals and without subordinate ourselves politically to this candidate or his party, reserving the right to criticize, as we have done when we have applied the critical vote tactic in previous elections.
For us, it is not simply about adding votes, alliances or political pragmatism. Nor do we have any special fondness for the useful vote, that is, we do not vote thinking of the least worst, nor do we do it for “the one who has real options” or to ingratiate ourselves with other organizations or political sectors. Today as we discuss the tactic among the narrow options left to us by the political regime, we believe that the main discussion should be true democratic political reform, so that workers, the oppressed and minorities can truly participate.
MP.
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