The last revolution in Germany took place in 1919. In Switzerland there has never been a revolution. The social democratic parties of Europe have continuously moved away from a revolutionary perspective since the First World War. If you call for an armed revolution by the working class, in respectable circles you get nothing but a tired smile as some old social democrats pat you on the shoulder and explain they said the same thing back in 1968. But is the concept of a revolution ready for the long-term parking lot of history?

Every transformation from one form of society into another that has taken place until now has required a revolution. The most famous example of this is modern bourgeois society, capitalism, which began with revolutions in England, the USA and France. Each time, changes in the productive forces undermined the social order to the point that the developing contradictions could only be resolved by deposing the ruling class. No ruling class that has existed until now was prepared to give up its privileges voluntarily.

Under capitalism, the central contradiction is the one between bourgeoisie and proletariat. This contradiction did not decrease in the last century, on the contrary, it increased. Today we have a system based on a worldwide division of labor in the production processes. This is an enormous advance compared to the regional and national division of labor we had well into the 20th century. But the immense riches that are created in this way are given to a small elite. 500 corporations today own 52% of global wealth, as billions of people live in poverty.

These economic rulers will do anything to keep the privileges they have acquired. That’s why they created the bourgeois state with its armed branches, i.e. the military, the secret services and the police. Only for this one reason: to protect their property. It would be utopian to believe that, when the situation demanded it, they would refrain from releasing their armed thugs on us. In the 1970s when the reformist socialist Salvador Allende in Chile came to power democratically, he was toppled quickly by a fascist military junta that was supported by the USA.

We cannot risk the gains of the working class so thoughtlessly, just because we have false hopes in a “democratic” state, human reason or some concept of brotherly love. Only the working class, due to its position in the productive process, has a real interest in overcoming capitalism. Our job as revolutionaries is to support the struggles of the workers and draw the connections between their day to day demands and the goal of socialism.

by Alan from St. Gallen, www.revolution.ch.tc