First Published: n.d. [1971].
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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This booklet contains the Principles of Unity of VENCEREMOS. We believe in these principles and constantly struggle to put them into practice. This takes a continual remoulding of our beings, from victims of U.S. imperialism and all its horrors, to communist women and men.
We are a small organization in the embryonic stages of a protracted war, waged by the peoples of the world, against a monstrous enemy. We have no long history with mounds of experience to speak from, but the significance of VENCEREMOS is that it is a multi-national organization, collectively engaged in day-to-day practice and struggles, bounded by these Principles of Unity. Multi-nationality does not mean that our white comrades from the exploited masses of the oppressor empire represent a separate nation-state, but they are united with and follow the Third World leadership that is guaranteed by our organizational structure.
We know that the people of the world face a common enemy in U.S. imperialism, and we must use this communion, born from the belly of the oppressor empire, in order to gain final victory and realize the right to self-determination. Particularly here in the mother-country this struggle must begin now because of the thorough bombardment of racism, individualism and chauvinism in all its forms.
“We stand for government by the poor and working people. The revolution and the new socialist society will be led by the proletariat.” We feel that the VENCEREMOS Principles of Unity is a working class document. With the experience we do have, we know that poor and working people desire and need a well-disciplined organization, capable of leading the masses to victory. The five Principles (l) National Liberation and International Revolution (2) Dictatorship of the Proletariat (3) Democratic Centralism (4) The Liberation of Women and (5) Armed Struggle, together with the five basic demands and ten rules of discipline will help build communist women and men equal to just such a task. And hopefully, they will steer us away from the pitfalls of revisionism which seem to plague the revolution at this time and is our greatest internal enemy.
VENCEREMOS hopes that people reading this booklet will share with us their comments and criticisms in a non-liberal manner. We hope that this booklet is of benefit to the revolution. We realize that conditions are changing constantly and that theories will change as different contradictions arise.
We say love to our revolutionary comrades and All Power to the People.
Aaron Manganiello
Chairman of the Central Committee
Venceremos
December 3, 1971
We live in the era when imperialism is heading for total collapse and the oppressed peoples of the world are advancing toward final victory. Today the world proletarian revolution is led by the masses of the Third World – Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the internal colonies of the U.S. By waging wars of national liberation, the peoples of the Third World advance wave on wave against the imperialist powers, led by the U.S. These anti-imperialist struggles are objectively revolutionary whenever they fight against the main enemies of the people, even if they are not led by the proletariat and do not have socialism as their goal. But they can win liberation for the people only if the proletariat is in firm leadership and only by establishing socialism.
We who live inside the belly of the beast are part of this world revolution against a common enemy: U.S. imperialism. Our duties are fundamentally the same as those of our revolutionary comrades throughout the world. We must engage in any and all forms of struggle against the enemy, we must support all those people engaged in this fight, we must strive for proletarian leadership within the battle and in the establishment of socialism.
Within the boundaries of the so-called United States, the vanguard force is the peoples of the Third World–Black, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Asian, Hawaiian, Latino and Native American. The national liberation struggles of Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Hawaiians, and Native Americans are every bit as vital to the victory of the world revolution as the wars of national liberation being waged by the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Every oppressed nation within the boundaries of the so-called United States has the absolute right of self-determination. This means simply that they have the right at any time to secede and form a separate nation-state with a government of their own choosing. All revolutionaries, particularly those of the oppressor empire, must lead their own peoples to support this right.
On the other hand, the Third World people within the U.S. are the very heart of the proletariat. They make up by far the largest concentrated groups within the industrial proletariat, the reserve army of the unemployed, and the permanently unemployed masses. So they are not only nations oppressed by the U.S., but also the most exploited sections of the U.S. proletariat. As such they have the ability to lead all the poor and working people of the U.S. in a proletarian revolution and the establishment of socialism.
The strategy for the U.S. revolution is basically this: U.S. imperialism, surrounded by the peoples of the world, is battered from all sides. In the early stages of its collapse, national liberation struggles emerge within its boundaries. As the collapse speeds up, these national liberation struggles unfold into an overall revolution of poor and working people led by the people of the oppressed internal colonies.
Within the boundaries of the so-called United States, the revolution will be made by an alliance of the oppressed nations and the exploited peoples, bound to each other and to the peoples of the world by their hatred of the common enemy and love for each other. Therefore it is absolutely vital that there be a revolutionary organization representing this unity and capable of providing unified revolutionary leadership. The revolutionary party of the U.S. must be truly multinational, for in fact it will be inter-national. It must have real and not fake Third World leadership and it must absolutely guarantee to all oppressed nations the right to self-determination.
VENCEREMOS, as a multi-national organization made up of people representing the oppressed nations and the exploited masses of the oppressor empire, pledges itself to serve as an example of international revolutionary dedication. Third World leadership is guaranteed within our leading body and throughout the organization. We are committed, with our lives, to revolution and political power for the poor and working people.
¡TODO PODER AL PUEBLO! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE! ¡UNIDOS VENCEREMOS!
We stand for government by the poor and working people. The revolution and the new socialist society will be led by the proletariat, the most oppressed people – Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, Asian-Americans, poor whites, people on the street, all those who must either sell their labor to live, live off unemployment or welfare, or end up in jail or the army.
The proletariat must lead the rest of the working class and all other people oppressed by U.S. imperialism to overthrow the rich, who now own and control all the institutions of the so-called United States of America, and seize these institutions for the people.
Only the dictatorship of the proletariat and its allies can fully satisfy our five basic demands, but we will work to achieve each and every one of them through the day to day struggles of the people:
1. DECENT FOOD, CLOTHING, HOUSING, WORK, FREE MEDICAL CARE, AND GOOD EDUCATION FOR EVERY PERSON IN THE U.S. AND THROUGHOUT ALL THE WORLD.
As the wealthiest country in the world, the U.S. has the resources and capability right now to provide a decent standard of living for all its citizens. The rip-off of the world must end and be replaced by true international solidarity based on restitution of the people’s stolen property. Everybody has a right to decent, safe, meaningful work. We will not tolerate a medical system based on profit. We demand an education which exposes the lies and oppression created by this corrupt system, teaches the true heroic history of the oppressed people, and allows each person to develop their full potential.
2. EQUAL ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN. AN END TO ALL FORMS OF SEXUAL OPPRESSION.
We demand equal pay for equal work, free 24-hour-a-day child care centers, free and non-discriminatory education that teaches our true history and the skills we need to determine our own destinies, control of our own bodies, including birth control and free abortion if desired but excluding involuntary abortion and compulsory sterilization (genocide).
There must be an end to discrimination within industry, educational institutions, the home, the mass media, and in everyday social life. All forms of sexual oppression must end, including all laws governing sexual practice among consenting people.
3. PEOPLE’S JUSTICE. AN END TO THE TYRANNY BY THE RICH MINORITY OVER THE OPPRESSED MAJORITY OF COLOR AND POOR AND WORKING WHITE PEOPLE.
We believe that trial by a jury of peers means that all trials must be held in the immediate community, and judges and juries be people who live in the community directly.
We want direct community control of police, meaning all police live in the community they patrol and be chosen by the community itself.
We want the mass of people to bear arms, and the police, as servants of the people, not be allowed to bear arms.
We want all Third World, working class people, and youth now imprisoned, to be set free because the overwhelming majority of them have not been tried by their peers. They have received only injustice from this system. Free All Political Prisoners.
The people must smash all the forms of developing fascism, including the gestapo tactical squads, no-knock and conspiracy laws, wiretaps, injunctions, grand juries, Red squads, state and federal anti-subversive committees, and the various brands and varieties of secret police.
4. AN END TO THE DRAFT AND AN END TO A PROFESSIONAL STANDING MILITARY IN THE U.S.
No one should be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not kill other poor and oppressed peoples who, like us, are the victims of U.S. imperialism.
We support the just struggles of American servicemen who are struggling within the military against the oppressor.
To assure freedom and justice in the U.S. and the rest of the world, the revolution must abolish the standing army in the U.S. and create a People’s Liberation Army that serves the people.
5. SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL OPPRESSED NATIONS AND PEOPLES.
Within the U.S., the Black people, Chicano people, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, and the people of Hawaii each constitutes an oppressed nation. As such, each of these peoples has the right to self-determination. This includes the right to form a separate nation-state, if they so desire, and to have any and all kinds of self-government that nation-states are entitled to. If any of these peoples chooses to secede from the U.S. empire, we will support their secessionist struggle by all necessary means and with our lives.
There are other oppressed minority peoples –including Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Latinos, Eskimos, Filipinos, etc. – who have the right to control their own communities and are entitled to regional autonomy and full democratic rights. We pledge to support their struggles by all necessary means and with our lives.
In order to defeat the dictatorship of the U.S. imperialists and establish the rule of the oppressed masses, the proletariat must have a disciplined fighting organization, guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and made up of people who have dedicated their lives to serving the people and making the revolution.
We believe that democratic centralism is the most sensible way (and the best way) to insure freedom, while maintaining strong and principled leadership. Under democratic centralism, when a decision is made after struggle and discussion, all cadre must implement it. All cadre, even those who at the point of discussion took the opposing view, must strive to understand, accept, and carry out all decisions made by the organization. This implies that we have more faith and trust in the organization as a whole to reach a correct position than in each of our own individual selves, and it gives the organization the ability to test decisions scientifically.
We accept Chairman Mao’s statement on discipline:
(1) the individual is subordinate to the organization.
(2) the minority is subordinate to the majority.
(3) the lower level is subordinate to the higher level.
(4) the entire membership is subordinate to the Central Committee.
All cadre must promote unity through principled struggle, not factionalism. It is a violation of democratic centralism to bad mouth an organizational decision, refuse to carry it out, or seek to win over others in an unprincipled manner to oppose the decision. It is essential to the decision-making process to struggle and do criticism within the organization. But cadre must always be aware that the organization is endangered if we do not present a strong and unified will to the public and the pigs.
Some situations will call for decisions to be made by those in leadership without consulting cadre a-head of time. Cadre must put trust in leadership and carry out these decisions on the spot. Criticize leadership later, not in the middle of a tense situation.
The leading body of our organization is the Central Committee, which at all times is to have a majority of Third World membership. The Chairman of the Central Committee is Chairman of the whole organization. The Chairman and all members of the Central Committee are subject to recall at any time necessary. Recruitment to the Central Committee is to be based on commitment out of necessity and love to serve the people. Central Committee members must continually show exceptional:
Discipline – Willingness to accept criticisms and do self-criticism for the betterment of the people, the organization, and one’s self. The willingness to give up personal preferences or gratifications for the fulfillment of organizational duties.
Leadership – Ability and capability to struggle in the position of leading and learning from the people.
Practice (Correct Methods of Work) – Without revolutionary practice, theory becomes invalid. In order to understand which theories are correct, we must apply these theories into practice.
All leading bodies throughout the organization must have a majority of Third World people. If they do not, they cannot make political-policy decisions (this does not refer to day to day work in the various communities).
Ideally, every VENCEREMOS cadre would be so entirely at the service of the people that there would be no need for rules to guide and control our behavior. In reality we are not at that place yet. Already our most advanced comrades have enough self-discipline not to need rules to make sure they are not drunk, drugged, stealing from the people, etc. The time comes in the development of a revolutionary when we don’t need weed, we don’t need to get drunk at parties, etc. Comrades, we need committed, daring fighters, motivated by a great love for the people. To help develop all cadre in that direction, all cadre are bound by the following rules:
(1) No member will commit any crime against the people and cannot steal or take from the people, not even a needle or a piece of thread.
(2) No member will use, point, or fire a weapon unnecessarily or accidentally at anyone.
(3) When arrested, VENCEREMOS cadre will make no statement, except for name, address, and the information required to fill out the basic arrest form. Legal first aid must be understood by all members.
(4) Members must avoid all non-political arrests – such as for unpaid traffic tickets – because they endanger the organization.
(5) No member can have narcotics or weed in his possession or be under the influence or be drunk while doing political work.
(6) No member may take acid or any psychedelic drug at any time. No member can use speed, downers, cocaine, or any opium derivative unless medically prescribed or authorized. Any member found shooting narcotics will be expelled.
(7) No member can keep any illegal drug in his or her home or car.
(8) Every member will pay dues every month.
(9) VENCEREMOS cadre are always on political assignment to serve the people. Members will be expected to accept dangerous and difficult assignments, such as joining the U.S. military or a local police department, or working in the most miserable conditions that our peoples are subject to.
(10) Every member will be familiar with these Principles of Unity, Program and Rules of VENCEREMOS.
Women are rising up all around the world. They are rising up as fighters against U.S. imperialism and against their own oppression as women. Women are a marginal work force, the last hired and some of the first to be fired, especially Third World sisters. They are paid less for doing the same work, and in addition have to spend endless unpaid hours in household drudgery. No matter how hard capitalism forces women to work, they are supposed to appear as weak, emotional, irrational sex objects. This ideal is imposed on all classes.
The men of the ruling class run this society. Within each class, men dominate. This male supremacy exists on all levels of society. Male chauvinism is the attitudes and beliefs that make this male supremacy seem reasonable and natural, even desirable. Male supremacy and male chauvinism can be completely wiped out only after we seize power for all the people. But we can and must overthrow both male chauvinism and male supremacy within our own ranks NOW. We need women to be strong, and we need the leadership of women, who have learned about imperialism through their own oppression. Therefore men should not try to force women back into weaker roles, and if they do they are only aiding the enemy. Women who are not prepared to engage in armed struggle are weak revolutionaries. Men who are not prepared to engage in housework are weak revolutionaries. Men are weak revolutionaries if they do not know how to follow the directives of women leaders. We cannot allow any liberalism toward the examples of male chauvinism and male supremacy we see every day. We can not let them slide by.
The success of this revolution will depend on equal efforts. Women are one half and men the other half. Neither can win without the other. Our Vietnamese sisters have set a vanguard example of women’s role in the revolution. They have shown that a strong women’s movement is a vital part of the overall struggle towards socialism.
In this country, proletarian women are oppressed both as women and as members of the proletariat. On top of all this, Third World women receive all the same shit that their brothers get in racist amerikkka. So they are becoming the most dedicated fighters leading the struggle against U.S. imperialism right in the belly of the beast.
The right of the people to defend themselves cannot be taken away by anybody. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. We believe that an unarmed people are slaves or subject to slavery at any time. Therefore every VENCEREMOS member must learn to operate and service weapons correctly, must have arms available, and must actively teach the oppressed people the importance and methods of armed and organized self-defense.
Furthermore we recognize the right of revolution stated in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness –That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when along train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
The oppressed people will have power by any means necessary. And every day our rulers teach us one lesson very clearly: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
We are part of a single world revolution against a common enemy. We do not see that our duties are fundamentally any different from those of our revolutionary sisters and brothers throughout the world.
DEATH TO THE FASCIST PIGS! ¡LA HORA YA LLEGO!