The Crisis of Bourgeois Social Sciences, Religion and Culture

Es ist der vierte Teil von 4 Nummern der Schrift: "The Crisis of Bourgeois Social Sciences, Religion and Culture" von Stefan Engel und Monika Gärtner-Engel in englischer Sprache. Part IV The Crisis of Bourgeois Social Sciences, Religion and Culture Crises, in ever quicker succession, are shaking capitalist society: Corona pandemic, deep setbacks for the world economy, social emergency, the initiated global environmental catastrophe, the growing threat of world war, or the increasing danger of fascism. The bourgeois social sciences, religion and culture try to give answers, but are themselves affected by the state of crisis. They are far from “ideology-free” but instead spread the bourgeois worldview! This book espouses the ideology of the exploited and oppressed of this world and their justified cultural, ecological and social needs. It develops an unsparing critique of bourgeois-decadent culture while at the same time defending all valuable and progressive products of human culture. The book develops liberating visions of how a socialist society will solve the issues raised in a forward-looking way. This is the fourth volume of the book series, The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stefan Engel, born in 1954, is a trained mechanic and works today as a free publicist. Since 1968 he has been actively involved in the building of the MLPD. From 1979 until 2017 he was the first chairman of the MLPD, and until 2016 he held positions of responsibility in the international revolutionary working-class movement. In 1991 he took over the leadership of the theoretical organ, Revolutionärer Weg, from Willi Dickhut. Monika Gärtner-Engel is MLPD Internationalism Secretary, Main Coordinator of the revolutionary world organization ICOR, and Co-President of the United Front. Since 2021 she has been deputy head of the editorial team of Revolutionärer Weg and is co-author of the books, New Perspectives for the Liberation of Women and The Global Environmental Catastrophe Has Begun! Besuchen Sie auch www.revolutionaerer-weg.de Neben den Kurzvorstellungen der einzelnen RW-Ausgaben finden Sie hier Briefwechsel und Dokumente aus der laufenden theoretischen Arbeit, aus aller Welt sowie Dokumente des ersten Redaktionsleiters Willi Dickhut.

The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology and of Opportunism

Es ist der zweite Teil von 4 Nummern der Schrift: "The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking" von Stefan Engel in englischer Sprache. Part II The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology and of Opportunism The second part of the book series, The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking, deals with the essential variants of bourgeois ideology since the reorganization of international capitalist production in the 1990s. In view of the growing capitalist crisis chaos and a widespread ideological disorientation, the emphasis in this second part is on the critique of the most important opportunist currents of the present day. Opportunism seeks to dissuade the working-class and people’s movements from class struggle and scientific socialism. It exerts a harmful influence on parts of the international revolutionary and working-class movement. Every politically thinking, responsibly acting person must ask themselves today where they stand in regard to the globe-spanning capitalist system. Along with absurd wealth, it produces misery for millions and puts the basis of human life at risk. Does one howl with the wolves then and bury the dream of a liberated society for good, only because socialism had to accept a temporary defeat due to the revisionist betrayal in the Soviet Union or in China? Or does one help the gigantic progress of scientific knowledge and practical achievements in social production to break through against the maelstrom of pragmatism and opportunism, and join in the necessary revolutionary transformation of society? Besuchen Sie auch www.revolutionaerer-weg.de! Neben den Kurzvorstellungen der einzelnen RW-Ausgaben finden Sie hier Briefwechsel und Dokumente aus der laufenden theoretischen Arbeit, aus aller Welt sowie Dokumente des ersten Redaktionsleiters Willi Dickhut.

The End of Socialism?

"Sozialismus am Ende?" auf englisch. “Let our friends and enemies throughout the world take note: Bolshevism rises again today in Russia like a phoenix from its ashes. We Bolsheviks know quite well how complicated our tasks are, but we will spare no pains and fear no sacrifice. Lenin‘s ideas are with us, Stalin‘s will is with us, The great heart of our people is with us, We are invincible!” From: Programmatic Appeal of the Revolutionary (Bolshevik) Communists of the Soviet Union

The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology and of Anticommunism

Es ist der erste Teil von 4 Nummern der Schrift: "The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking" von Stefan Engel in englischer SprachePart I The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology and of Anticommunism Justifiably, more and more people are losing confidence in the dominant politics. But what lessons do the workers and the masses in the world draw from the extensive crises? Bourgeois ideology has lost its power of attraction and is in deep crisis. An ideological struggle over interpretation and conclusions has broken out. Since the open crisis of reformism and modern revisionism, anticommunism has become the main obstacle in the building of the consciousness of the masses. However, anticommunism itself is in crisis, causing it to be constantly modified. This book follows the conviction that the time is ripe for an ideological offensive of scientific socialism. The books, Götterdämmerung Over the “New World Order,” Dawn of the International Socialist Revolution, and Catastrophe Alert! What Is to Be Done Against the Willful Destruction of the Unity of Humanity and Nature? contain the analysis of the reorganization of international capitalist production as new phase of imperialism, along with the conclusions for the strategy and tactics of the international socialist revolution. This book has the task to complete this by dealing with the ideological side. It is the first of four volumes of the work, The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking, which will be published as Nos. 36 to 39 of the Revolutionärer Weg series. Stimmen zum Buch „Die Jugend kämpft um ihre Zukunft und braucht eine Ideologie der Zukunft, den wissenschaftlichen Sozialismus. Es ist ein anspruchsvolles Buch, was ich gerade deshalb jedem Jugendlichen empfehlen würde, zu lesen.“ „Kapitalismuskritik ist weit verbreitet unter meinen Kollegen. Der Antikommunismus ist das Problem! Er verbaut die Perspektive. Das Buch zu lesen, hilft zu verstehen, woher er kommt und gibt eine Hilfe, wie wir damit fertigwerden!“ „Wer nicht verzweifeln will über die Zustände im kapitalistischen Gesundheitssystem, sondern eine Perspektive sucht, dem empfehle ich das Buch.“ Besuchen Sie auch www.revolutionaerer-weg.de! Neben den Kurzvorstellungen der einzelnen RW-Ausgaben finden Sie hier Briefwechsel und Dokumente aus der laufenden theoretischen Arbeit, aus aller Welt sowie Dokumente des ersten Redaktionsleiters Willi Dickhut.

Krone, Kreuz und Krieger - Europäische Vermächtnisse in den Philippinen - Crown, Cross and Crusaders

Die Philippinen sind das einzige Land in der Region Südost- und Ostasien, das nach einem westeuropäischen Herrscher, Philipp II., benannt ist. "Unsere Landsleute hatten das historische Pech", schrieb einst der bekannteste zeitgenössische Schriftsteller des Inselreiches, Francisco Sionil José, "etwa 350 Jahre im spanischen Konventsmief und ein halbes Jahrhundert unter Hollywood-Herrschaft leben zu müssen, von einem dreijährigen Intermezzo unter japanischer Knute einmal abgesehen." Die Jahrhunderte währende Kolonialherrschaft hat in den Philippinen tiefe Spuren hinterlassen, die bis heute auf Schritt und Tritt spürbar sind und das Denken und Handeln der Filipinos nachhaltig beeinflussen. Das Buch von Rainer Werning, einem ausgewiesenen Landeskenner, verfolgt die Spuren und Vermächtnisse, die vor allem europäische Länder - neben der Kolonialmacht Spanien auch Portugal, Frankreich, Österreich, Deutschland, Britannien und die Niederlande - in dem südostasiatischen Land hinterlassen haben. Faschistische Einflüsse Hitlerdeutschlands und Spaniens gelangten auf die Inseln als Wegbereiter des japanischen Militarismus. Gleichzeitig aber hatte auch das Marx'sche Gedankengut Eingang gefunden und boten die Philippinen eine Zufluchtsstätte für zahlreiche in Europa verfolgte Antifaschisten und Juden. Ein Buch, das vielfältige Facetten einer wechselvollen Geschichte präsentiert, die selbst  vielen Filipinos bis dato nicht bekannt war. Seine Zweisprachigkeit (Deutsch und Englisch) gibt ihm einen zusätzlichen Reiz.  Hier finden Sie Rezensionen und weitere Informationen    

Neocolonialism and the Changes in the national Liberation Struggle

From the series Revolutionary Path Number 25 Colonialism, the subjugation and plundering of foreign peoples, is not a special feature of capitalist society, but an integral part of all class societies based on exploitation. Today, the imperialist countries have subjugated the entire world and are fighting among themselves for new spheres of power and influence. In the 1950s and 60s, the old colonial system, some of which had been handed down from feudalism, was smashed. Most countries in Africa and Asia became politically independent, but this did not end their economic dependence on the imperialists. With the far-reaching changes brought about by the internationalisation of production and the export of capital, the conditions of oppression in these countries have also changed. Neocolonialism created changed conditions for the national liberation struggle because it introduced capitalism in all countries of the world and promoted the class division between the working class and the capitalist class. The book puts forward for the first time the thesis that the socialist revolution today must take on an international character. It belongs in the hands of everyone who wants to fight effectively against the causes of flight for millions of people and whose heart beats for international solidarity! It belongs in the hands of everyone who wants to understand how imperialism developed and how it can be defeated today!

Class Struggle and the Struggle for the Liberation of Women

Fight Liquidationism

  Since the mid-1970s the party increasingly had to come to grips with liquidationism. “With a decrease of the workers’ struggles in 1974 on the background of the fluctuating stagnation in the economy, many petty-bourgeois elements within the working-class movement became insecure and doubted the correctness of the proletarian line, attacked it and thus entered the grounds of liquidationism. ... The altered economic and political situation and its reactionary effects are the most important features of the material basis of current liquidationism.” (Revolutionärer Weg, No. 15, p. 12) Revolutionärer Weg, No. 15, became a milestone in the building of the proletarian party, because for the first time it compiled the manifold manifestations of the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking in the struggle for the building of the new-type Marxist-Leninist party, providing proof that here the main cause of liquidationism had to be sought. With its fundamental orientation to fighting liquidationism it has become an important weapon in the struggle to preserve the proletarian character of the party.  

Against revisionism

Selected Documents of The Solingen Party Congress Fifth Party Congress (Resolutions)

Documents of the 5th Party Congress from the MLPD.

WHAT REMAINS… 10 hard-won years at Opel Bochum, 2004 to 2014 – A documentation

This book documents the last ten hard-won years of Opel Plant 1 in Bochum from 2004 to 2014. It is not a book about cars, not a book about managers, and not a book about works council functionaries. It is a book about workers. A book about an unbending workforce that prevented the closure of its plant for ten years and so became a symbol and example across national boundaries. A workforce that gained the sympathy and solidarity of the entire working-class movement for its struggle, but also incurred all the hatred of those in power and their cronies. This struggle provides impressive confirmation of what Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in 1848 in their Manifesto of the Communist Party: “Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for a time. The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate result, but in the ever-expanding union of the workers.” _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Annegret Gärtner-Leymann, born in 1977. After training to become an industrial mechanic, assembly worker in body final assembly until the closure of Opel Plant 1. Since 2015 warehouse worker in the parts and accessories warehouse of Opel in Bochum. Active unionist in the metalworkers’ union IG Metall, former youth representative, and works council member from 2006 to 2015. Owing to the leading role she played in the struggle of the workforce, known beyond the plant as representative of the international automotive workers’ movement. Steffen Reichelt, born in 1975. Trained as energy electronics technician, assembly worker in vehicle final assembly until the closure of Opel Plant 1. Since 2015 warehouse worker in the parts and accessories warehouse of Opel in Bochum. Deputy head of the body of shop-floor union representatives of IG Metall from 2012 to 2016, since 2015 works council member for the OFFENSIV list. Aus dem Vorwort "Dieses Buch dokumentiert die hart erkämpften letzten zehn Jahre des Bochumer Opel Werk 1 von 2004 bis 2014. Dabei ist es kein Buch über Autos, kein Buch über Manager und kein Buch über Betriebsratsfunktionäre. Es ist ein Buch über Arbeiter. Ein Buch über eine unbeugsame Belegschaft, die 10 Jahre die Schließung ihres Werks verhindert hat und damit über Ländergrenzen hinweg ein Symbol und Vorbild wurde. Eine Belegschaft, die für ihren Kampf die Sympathie und Solidarität der ganzen Arbeiterbewegung erhalten, aber auch den ganzen Hass der Herrschenden und ihrer Intimfreunde auf sich gezogen hat. Um sich dieses Beispiels zu entledigen, mussten General Motors und die Regierung dieses Werk um jeden Preis und aus rein politischen Gründen schließen – und haben es Ende 2014 getan. Brechen oder gar für die Werksschließung gewinnen, konnten sie die Belegschaft nie. Wir sind erhobenen Hauptes aus dem Werk gegangen und tragen unsere Lehren wie eine Fackel in alle Welt. Dazu soll auch dieses Buch beitragen. Die Belegschaft von Opel Bochum hatte von Beginn an eine kämpferische Tradition. Über 50 Streiks und Kämpfe gingen von dieser Belegschaft aus. Der Höhepunkt war der siebentägige selbständige Streik im Oktober 2004, der mit Werksbesetzung und Blockade verbunden war. Mit diesem Streik und dem internationalen Aktionstag leitete die Belegschaft einen Übergang zur Arbeiteroffensive auf breiter Front ein. Allein durch diesen Streik blieb das Werk weitere zehn Jahre erhalten. ... Dieses Buch dokumentiert den Kampf, die harte Arbeit, den Zusammenhalt und die Auseinandersetzungen der Opel Belegschaft. Dieses Buch ist dementsprechend nicht neutral, es ergreift Partei für die Arbeiterinteressen und gewerkschaftlichen Grundsätze. Es beschreibt eine Betriebs- und Gewerkschaftsarbeit, die den Arbeiter nicht auf seine Rolle als Produzent von Waren und maximalem Profit reduziert, sondern ihn als Mensch sieht. Als Mensch mit all seinen Fähigkeiten, Erfahrungen, seinem ganzen Leben, der Familie und der Umwelt, in der er lebt. Eine Arbeit, die damit auch wagt, über den Kapitalismus hinaus zu denken. ... Das Buch soll die Stärken, aber auch die Schwächen im Kampf der Belegschaft dokumentieren, so dass die ganze Arbeiterbewegung davon lernen kann. Wir haben dieses Buch nicht geschrieben. Wir geben nur das heraus, was zig Kolleginnen und Kollegen über die Jahre erarbeitet und gesammelt haben. Das Buch dokumentiert Flugblätter, Reden, viele Bilder und bisher unveröffentlichte Originaldokumente. Es lädt zum Blättern und Nachdenken, Erinnern und in die Zukunft Schauen ein. Viel Spaß dabei."

Twilight of the Gods - Götterdämmerung over the "New World Order"

For the title of this book, author Stefan Engel employs an allegory from German mythology: in the götterdämmerung, the "twilight of the gods", the end of the world engulfs the worn-out gods of an antiquated age, and out of the world conflagration grows an admirable new world of peace an full, joyous live. The parallel with the decline of the present ruling stratum of world society and the preparation of a new future well worth living is intended! The book wrests this vision from the realm of mythology and places it on a scientific foundation. It conveys a perspective to all those for whom the götterdämmerung of ruling world finance capital does not signify the end of history but the starting point for an new epoch of the social develooment of humanity - without hunger, exploitation and war.

Crisis and Class Struggle

State-Monopoly Capitalism in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)

Strategy and Tactics in the Class Struggle

War and Peace and the socialist Revolution

History of the MLPD

AIDS can be conquered - the artificial origin, an early therapy and how it was boycotted

AIDS is not an incurable disease. In 1991 Jakob Segal proposed an effective and inexpensive early therapy for AIDS, but this therapy has powerful adversaries. It would mean the loss of profits amounting to thousands of millions of dollars for the pharmaceutical corporations. Public debate on the merits of these therapeutic proposals has thus been suppressed for economic reasons as well as for the obvious political reason of concealing a major crime: the origin of HIV can be traced back not to Africa, but to research laboratories working for the Pentagon. A worldwide early therapy at the expense of the causes ist required. It must be won through against the present AIDS policy.

The Dialectical Method in the Working-Class Movement. The Dialectical Unity of Theory and Practice

  Revolutionärer Weg, No. 6, The Dialectical Method in the Working-Class Movement, had the purpose of focusing the party’s attention on the independent thinking and acting of its members. The book’s topic was not uncontested, however! Leading comrades of KAB/ML (Communist Workers’ League/Marxist-Leninists) at first voiced the view to Willi Dickhut, head of the Revolutionärer Weg editorial team, that other topics were more important for the practical work of the organization. Revolutionärer Weg, No. 6, expounds the essence of the dialectical method as established by Marx and Engels and further developed by Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong. The book then applies the dialectical method to the development of the societal conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany, in particular to party building. This issue of Revolutionärer Weg concretely explains Lenin’s “elements of dialectics,” especially emphasizing the dialectical unity of theory and practice and the determination of the three stages of the proletarian class struggle in Germany.  

100 Jahre Oktoberrevolution - Dokumentation einer Strategiedebatte (englisch)

Beschreibung/Description: At the International Seminar of the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR) and the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO), which took place from 27 to 29 October 2017 in Bottrop, Germany, 1,050 participants, led by an international chairing group, debated the theoretical and practical lessons of the October Revolution. This illustrated documentation relives this exciting event. It contains all introductory speeches – both the general introduction of Stefan Engel to the seminar and the introductions to the individual discussion blocks – as well as the speech of MLPD Chairwoman Gabi Fechtner at the big cultural event. The book also offers a representative selection of contributions to the different thematic blocks and additionally publishes personal impressions of seminar participants. The pictures from the festivities of the ICOR in St. Petersburg, the site of the historic events, are like a bridge between the revolutionary past and the future, the dawn of a new global upsurge of the struggle for socialism. The documentation is recommended study for all those who wish to contribute to clarifying the issues raised and to strengthening the international Marxist-Leninist, revolutionary and working-class movement.

The Crisis of Bourgeois Natural Science

Es ist der dritte Teil von 4 Nummern der Schrift: "The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking" von Stefan Engel in englischer Sprache. Part III The Crisis of Bourgeois Natural Science The third volume of the book series, The Crisis of Bourgeois Ideology, and the Doctrine of the Mode of Thinking, deals with the crisis of bourgeois natural science. Natural scientists generally are held in high esteem in bourgeois society because they are seemingly apolitical, unimpeachable, and committed solely to social progress. With the advance of positivism and pragmatism, however, the natural sciences lost much of their scientificity and have gotten into a crisis. This polemic is intended to revive materialistically based free thinking in the working class. Unless it frees itself from the shackles of idealism and metaphysics, humanity will not be able to utilize the achievements of the modern natural sciences for social progress. Thus, this book is also a must for every scientist with a critical mind. It serves the purpose of helping scientific socialism and its dialectical-materialist method gain new esteem. Besuchen Sie auch www.revolutionaerer-weg.de! Neben den Kurzvorstellungen der einzelnen RW-Ausgaben finden Sie hier Briefwechsel und Dokumente aus der laufenden theoretischen Arbeit, aus aller Welt sowie Dokumente des ersten Redaktionsleiters Willi Dickhut.

The Restoration of Capitalism in the Soviet Union

  The restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union since 1956 was a severe defeat for the international Marxist-Leninist and working-class movement. It produced great uncertainty and led to a split in the worldwide communist movement, throwing the worldwide struggle for socialism back considerably. The book exposed modern revisionism as basis for the system change in terms of world outlook. Not every party recognized the restoration of capitalism because they, too, were influenced by the revisionist ideas of the CPSU and the DKP and followed the road taken by the CPSU. Others, like the Communist Party of China, fundamentally criticized this road. For party building in Germany, but also for the international Marxist-Leninist movement, it was decisive to analyze this betrayal and its causes and process them creatively. Revolutionärer Weg, No. 7, proves that the Soviet Union was de- stroyed from within by a new bourgeoisie with a Party membership card in its pockets, that the dictatorship of the proletariat was reversed. The takeover of power by the new bourgeoisie paved the way also for a fundamental change in the economic base. This analysis is carried out in Revolutionärer Weg, No. 8. Once the capitalist laws have been introduced, they operate au- tomatically, both inside the country and externally. Revolutionärer Weg, No. 9, deals with the evolution of the new- type capitalism into social-imperialism and with the further development of modern revisionism by Brezhnev and Deng Xiaoping. This book has been translated into four languages today, including Russian, and disseminated worldwide. It is a fundamental work that has helped many people to understand this development and to take the road of constructing a new party.  

Three Programs. The Way to Socialism. Antiauthoritarianism and Working- Class Movement

  In the first three issues of Revolutionärer Weg it was necessary to orient the building of the new revolutionary workers’ party to Marxism-Le- ninism. In No. 1, Three Programs – Three Doc- uments of Revisionism and Opportunism, proof first was provided of the revisionist degeneration of the Communist Party of Germany, KPD, and of the necessity for building a new Marxist-Leninist party. No. 2, The Way to Socialism, was a reckoning with the revisionist blind alley of “the struggle for fundamental reforms” and the possibility of a “peaceful path to so- cialism.” Through today these first two books furnish a guide to the struggle against modern revisionism. Besides revisionism, the young organization had to deal with the antiauthoritarianism that was carried into the Marxist-Leninist movement from the disintegrating pet- ty-bourgeois student movement. To achieve this purpose, No. 3, Antiauthoritarianism and Working-Class Movement, was published in 1970. Modern antiauthoritarianism to- day is one of the chief methods used by the system of the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking to corrode the justified and organized struggle of the youth. This is an important handbook for any rebellious young person!

Dawn of the International Socialist Revolution

“By unleashing the international productive forces, the reorganization of international production has ushered in the Götterdämmerung of international finance capital. At the beginning of its crusade around the globe, international finance capital still reveled in fantasies of omnipotence and dreams of eternity. Today, their mood is one of general hangover: the crisis-proneness of the social system proves irreversible. But the turn of a new era already looms on the horizon; the dawning of the international socialist revolution becomes visible. And yet, the old masters will not make way voluntarily, even if they drag the whole of humanity with them into capitalist barbarism. The decision for the international revolution must be made by the workers and the masses themselves. To help them make this decision and together with them sweep every obstacle out of the way so that they can fulfill their historical mission – that, in a nutshell, sums up the tasks of the Marxist-Leninists in the whole world today.”