Chapter 8 : And Now... What?

And now... what?

The ‘end’ of the war in Vietnam corresponds to the end period of international politics of the great powers which, during these last thirty years, has governed the destiny of the world. Beyond these apparent and immediate consequences (‘end’ of the most flagrant technological genocide and the practical affirmation of the principle of ‘pacific co-existence between opposing political regimes) it has its probable consequences for the future which are disturbing; the consolidation of the domination of the state under all its forms and in all the four corners of the world; entente cordiale between all powers to ensure the status quo of Power and Privilege; extension of technological rationality over all the planet, with the consequent assertion of submission by alienating work and the ‘advantage’ of the consumer society; intensive and maximum development of the structures of authoritarian society, round the two poles of its ideological dynamic: fascism and Stalinism.

Western Society, the Third World & the Others!

In the frenzied race towards industrialization which was established as the leitmotif of contemporary history of all peoples and of all systems, Western society has attained sufficiently high levels to render possible a radical change in the social politics of the different governments which composes it. Nevertheless, in the name of ‘international competition’ and ‘national independence’ the order of priority continues to be ruled by the economic and not by the social. And only in the case of movements demanding better wages and conditions, being able to overflow the limits of legality, and to continue their action beyond that which the system can tolerate, only then are certain reforms allowed and limited improvements made. But always with deliberate intention of ensuring the integration into the system of the exploited masses, of ensuring the continuance of the established order and of facilitating economic expansion. All to the detriment of the true humanization of individual and collective life, of true democracy and true communism.

In the countries of the Third World, industrialization is also changed into a supreme political objective. Despite the revolutionary assertions of the principal movements of ‘national independence’ and ‘liberation’ which in their time woke great hopes in the heart of the organized working class in Europe, the Third World (leaning, precisely on the submission of the masses to demagogic nationalism) turned to follow the path of Western Capitalist development. And, more and more, having resolved or not its ethical and religious contradictions, its integration with the other western nations became an incontestable and irreversible fact.

The others, were, in their time, Mao’s China, North Viet nam and Castro’s Cuba. But we have seen what economic reasoning, the strategy of dissuasion and the international collaboration with Johnson and Nixon have been able to do in these revolutionary ramparts.

Revolutionary Groupuscles

Faced with this harmony of the different authoritarian systems, and although the leftist groupuscles, the most ‘politicized’ did not renounce their well known slogans (to change the quality of life, society and man) nor their pretension to be the revolutionary vanguard, they retreated towards more modest, less radical, and more integrated positions. Thus perhaps without wanting it, those who considered themselves the most legitimate heirs of the whole international movement of the youth revolt, have helped in the absorption by the system of a movement which aspired to be inabsorbable. Just as repression equally lost its virulence, these groupuscles imposed a self-discipline (not to yield to ‘provocation’) that made them more and more respectful of legality up to the point of being happy to be the ‘extreme left’ of the classic left integrated by the whole range of reformist unions and parties of communist, socialist, or simply democratic persuasion..... Thus, although they continue to be called revolutionary, they have equally ceased to be, practically and potentially, the negation of the authoritarian order. Only the marginal groupuscules who have not renounced the revolutionary raison d’etre now remain as the authentic representatives of the ideal of the negation of authority; a raison d’etre which consisted, as had been affirmed in an exemplary fashion in May ’68, of living the revolution at the present moment, and it is only they who continue to fight the system, in radicalizing the struggles in different sectors of society, which the other groupuscules, parties and organizations persist in keeping within the bounds of legality.

Objectives

The Leninist conception of revolution has ceased to be a possible alternative thus giving to anarchist ideas a growing prominence and significance. In the factories, in the neighborhoods, in the universities and in everyday life, revolutionary activism can find a thousand and one justifications and an equal number of ways of showing itself. Capitalist exploitation and State oppression are still, and much more than before the essence and everyday reality of all the authoritarian systems with their inevitable string of injustices and endless outrages, of violence and repressive barbarity, of moral misery and cultural alienation. The objectives are still revolt and liberation, in order that man can aspire and attain his most complete realization. And, immediately, the denunciation and awakening of public opinion to the most flagrant abuses and outrages against the ‘rights of man’ in no matter what country of the world; in opposing the repressive solidarity of the States by the solidarity of the oppressed.

Appeal

Faced with the revolutionary demobilization of all the sectors and States which once invoked the revolution as the supreme ideal and objective; faced with the concerted efforts of the powerful to strengthen the very foundations which renders possible and maintains their privileges, faced with the assertion of the authoritarian principles of society, in the East as in the West, to the detriment of the independence of the people and of civil liberties, we ask the revolutionary unification and mobilization of all those who do not wish to abdicate their human dignity, of all those who refuse to live in alienation and to serve as a support for the powers that be.

We suggest to all those who have surmounted the poisonous ideological sectarianisms and who have renounced the chimera of the legal struggle, to unit their efforts with ours to foment the revolutionary activism in all its forms, finally in arousing public opinion to the struggles of peoples, minorities and individuals victimized by the oppression and repression of the State based on the premises stated in our documents prior to May 1968.

May 1st 1973

1st of May Group
International Revolutionary
Solidarity Movement