DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST PERSPECTIVE

All historical experience demonstrates that no exploiting class ever gives up its power and privileges peacefully. The capitalist class has repeatedly shown that it will cast aside its ``democratic'' institutions and unleash civil war against the workers to defend or re-establish its rule. As long as imperialism survives in major countries — and certainly in the United States — it will attempt to intervene through economic pressure and military force whenever and wherever it can to prevent or destroy any attempts by working people to establish their democratic rule. This has been the experience of every anti-capitalist revolution this century — from Russia, to China, to Cuba, to Vietnam, to Nicaragua. Any workers' state or group of workers' states will find itself in a permanent condition of armed truce with imperialism, that could, under certain conditions, lead to open war. The workers' state must prepare against that danger, as it has to be ready to help the insurgent masses of other countries facing armed intervention by imperialism.

In the course of its struggle for power, the working class will have to create a workers' militia to defend itself against the violence organised by the capitalist class. As long as the power of imperialism has not been broken, following a victorious seizure of power by the working class, any workers' state will need to build a professional and highly trained revolutionary army in addition to the militia. The militia, the ``people in arms,'' serves an important function as a direct expression of the new workers' power, in addition to providing a backup and reserve for the revolutionary army.

The balanced interrelationship of the two systems, of the professional revolutionary army and the workers' militia, will depend on the concrete international situation any workers' state faces, as well as the general level of development of the country. This is because the ability to utilise a militia in any conflict depends upon factors such as how quickly it can be mobilised and transported, and how many workers can be spared from production as well as on the nature of the external threat. Only with the overthrow of the imperialist rulers in the major countries, above all in the United States, will it be possible to make the militia system the sole form of defence of workers' power.

In order to most effectively function as an instrument of defence of the democratic power of the workers, the army of a workers' state must have an overtly working-class character. In creating the Red Army, for example, the Bolsheviks abolished the old officer caste system with its hierarchy of ranks and privileges. The officer caste in capitalist armies is necessary to maintain capitalist authority over soldiers recruited from among the working people. Similarly, as part of the process of consolidating its control over the Soviet workers' state the Stalinist bureaucracy reintroduced the old officer caste system in 1935.

The urgent necessities of military preparedness against wars of aggression by imperialism by no means imply or justify bureaucratic restrictions on the exercise of democratic rights by the working people.

The capacity for self-defence and the armed strength of a workers' state are increased by a high level of political understanding and conviction on the part of the masses; a high level of political activity, mobilisation and alertness; and internationalist education and activity.

Two key factors in the capacity of any workers' state to defend itself are:

• The degree of social cohesion and political identification by the working people with the workers' state and its government.
• The average productivity of labour compared with that of the imperialist powers.

The broader and less restricted is workers' democracy, the greater will be the social cohesion and identification with the workers' state and its leadership by the working people, and the quicker will be the growth of labour productivity.

Far from being a ``luxury'' in a world situation characterised by potential wars of imperialist aggression, workers' democracy is a major asset in the hands of a workers' state, even from a purely military point of view. Because it is politically difficult for imperialism to embark on military adventures without provoking massive working-class opposition at home, it tries to weaken such opposition by increasing repression and restricting the democratic rights of working people. Workers' democracy in the workers' states would exercise an increasing power of attraction on the exploited masses of the capitalist countries, undermining the military strength of imperialism.

All of the norms of a workers' democracy may not be realisable under every circumstance. Under conditions of civil war or foreign military intervention resulting from attempts by the former ruling class and its international allies to overthrow the workers' power, the rules of war must apply. Restrictions on the rights to political organisation and in some extreme cases, even on the expression of opinions may well be necessary. No social class, no state, has ever granted full rights to those who actively engage in acts of war to overthrow it, and the workers' state cannot do otherwise.

In all cases, however, the workers' state should strive to maximise the real democracy enjoyed by the working people, including under conditions of civil war. This is the best means to mobilise the power of the workers and their allies; heighten their social responsibility, self-discipline and fighting spirit; raise their self-confidence, consciousness, creativity, and their conviction in their capacity to advance toward socialism; and increase their active support of and participation in the administration of their own state.

If extreme conditions such as civil war or massive economic dislocation make certain restrictions of democratic rights unavoidable, the basic nature and limitation of such restrictions should be clearly understood by the workers. It is necessary to clearly and frankly explain before the whole working class that such restrictions are inescapable and temporary measures, not part of the social and political norms of the rule of the working class. Historically, they are vestiges of the struggle to eradicate class society; not the harbinger of the new social order. Insofar as restrictions are necessitated by the class struggle, they should be limited, both in scope and time, and revoked as soon as possible.

The direct and material responsibility for any restrictions of workers' democracy lies with the capitalist counter-revolution and international imperialism. The members of the former ruling class must be put on notice by the working class that the way they will be treated depends upon their behaviour toward the workers' power.

The Stalinist regimes systematically used the pretext of imperialist military threat to repress any form of political criticism, opposition, or nonconformism. This has created a profound and healthy mistrust among the working people of the world toward the abuse of the penal, judicial and police institutions of a workers' state to outlaw the free expression of ideas. It is therefore necessary to stress that, outside of the extreme conditions of war, the use of repressive measures by a workers' state against attempts to overthrow workers' power should be circumscribed to criminal acts strictly separated from the realm of ideological activities.

In the sphere of criminal law and justice, a workers' democracy should uphold and extend the progressive conquests of the bourgeois-democratic revolutions, incorporating them into its constitution and penal code. These include such rights as:

• The necessity of written law, the avoidance of retroactive delinquency, freedom from arbitrary arrest, the right to immediate legal counsel, the assumption that the burden of proof rests with the accuser, and the assumption of innocence until proof of guilt.
• The full right of all individuals to freely determine the character of their defence; full immunity of legal defenders from prosecution for any statements or lines of defence used in such trials.
• Rejection of collective responsibility by social groups, families, etc., for the criminal acts of individuals.
• Strict prohibition of any form of torture or forced extortion of confessions.
• Abolition of the death penalty.
• Extension and generalisation of public trials by jury.

The last word on all these matters, as well as on the constitution and penal code of the workers' state, should rest with the working people themselves. The fundamental guarantee against all abuses of state power lies in the fullest participation in political activity by the working people, the broadest possible workers' democracy, and the arming of the working class.

Obviously, every workers' state must defend itself against attempts to overthrow it and violation of its laws. The constitution and penal code of a workers' state will forbid and punish acts of armed rebellion, attempts at overthrowing workers' power through violence, terrorist attacks on individual representatives of the working people, sabotage and espionage in the service of foreign capitalist states, etc. But there must be a strict distinction between violent acts against workers' power and the expression of reactionary, pro-capitalist ideas. Against armed violence, the workers' state will necessarily defend itself by repression of those carrying out such acts. Against reactionary ideas, the workers' state should defend itself by ideological struggle.

The measures that the workers will have to take to defend their rule against capitalist counter-revolution will vary according to the conditions they face, as will the specific forms of workers' democracy. An industrially underdeveloped country where the working class is a minority and which is surrounded by powerful imperialist states will obviously face more immediate threats of capitalist counter-revolution than the victorious workers of the United States. And while it is undeniable that the social relationship of forces in such a country puts objective obstacles on the road of the full flowering of workers' democracy, the best way to face and solve the problems confronting any workers' state is through the maximum possible amount of workers' democracy.