Module 3 - No Organization, No Revolution
The uprising of the workers and peasantry in Russia that overthrew the Tsar took the world by storm. The success of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution demonstrated the capacity of the oppressed and exploited to overthrow a backward government and form one in their interests, inspiring and giving fire to the struggle across the world. To those practitioners of struggle, it also proved that revolutions do not arise haphazardly, but must be guided by political organizations that are capable of withstanding moments of heightened repression and can navigate the spontaneity of uprisings to seize and sustain the moment of heightened struggle. The lessons from this echoed worldwide, emphasizing the indispensable nature of organization in bringing about working-class revolution. Simply put, no organization, no revolution.
Module 3 Reading
The Communist International: Marxism in the Era of World Revolution
Tues. March 26 at 6:30 PM ET
Instructor: Manolo De Los Santos
The Comintern was perhaps the first thoroughly organized attempt at worldwide anti-capitalist revolution, as well as a pioneer of a global, anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-imperialist politics. It was in the Comintern that the nucleus of the Leninist anti-imperialist position would develop into the anti-colonialism of the USSR following WWI. Various national liberation movements in colonial and ‘semi-colonial’ territories received not just an ideology of emancipation but material, organizational, and personal resources. Drawing anti-colonial militants from across the world, the Comintern facilitated the exchange of ideas and experiences towards building a global socialist revolution.
Political Education and National Liberation
Thurs. March 28 at 6:30 PM ET
Instructor: Stephanie Whetherbee Brito
Political education, as Amílcar Cabral says, is the tool that assists in the full realization of people as conscious, intelligent and capable beings and to reclaim ourselves as politically active members of society. This continuous process of reflection, organization and action is crucial to developing militant consciousness and strengthening the minds and bodies of people to confidently take up the task of revolution. In this class, we will explore political education as one of the elements of praxis, and some of the principles and concepts that are essential to political education processes.