Political Struggle

The main form of class struggle, refers to the struggle for political power among classes, political parties and social groups, usually refers to the struggle of the proletariat for the direct goal of conquering political power in general, and conquering and maintaining power.

Political struggle arose with the emergence of classes. In class society, contradictions and conflicts in fundamental economic interests of classes cause class struggles, which generally manifests itself as political struggle, ideological struggle and economic struggle, while political struggle is the concentrated reflection of economic struggle and ideological struggle. Only when the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie develops into a conscious struggle for the conquest of political power it is a political struggle. Political struggle always involves the overall and fundamental interests of the class; it plays a leading role in economic struggle and ideological struggle and becomes the highest form of class struggle. The economic interests of the proletariat cannot be satisfied in the simple economic struggle, they can only be solved in the political struggle. All political struggles are class struggles, and all class struggles for emancipation, despite their necessarily political form turn ultimately on the question of economic emancipation. Second International revisionists and Russian economists worshipped economic struggle and spurned political struggle. They believed that “the struggle of the proletariat for its economic interests must have a paramount significance for its class development and liberation struggle”. In criticizing such spontaneism, Lenin dealt with the dialectical relation between political struggle and economic struggle, pointing out that although economic interests are of greater importance than political interests, under capitalist conditions, “for the most essential, the ‘decisive’ interests of classes can be satisfied only by radical political changes in general. In particular the fundamental economic interests of the proletariat can be satisfied only by a political revolution that will replace the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by the dictatorship of the proletariat.”

There are various forms of political struggle. In the capitalist society, the political struggle of proletariat against the bourgeoisie mainly includes political strikes, demonstrations, parliamentary struggles, armed uprisings, revolutionary wars, etc. Its ultimate purpose is to conquer the political power. Among them, armed seizure of political power is the highest form of political struggle. The main tasks of the political struggle of the proletariat are to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie by revolutionary means, establish and fortify the political power of the proletariat, hold down the resistance of the exploiting classes, and defend against subversive activity and possible aggression of foreign enemies. After the establishment of the socialist system, the political struggle of the proletariat for the conquest of political power is accomplished, and economic construction, as the central task, is both the basic economic interest of the proletariat, but also the fundamental political interest of the proletariat. However, the fortification of power, the prevention of corruption, the prevention of the restoration of the old system, and the defense against the subversive and aggressive activity of foreign enemies and “peaceful evolution” remain major tasks in the political struggle. During the period of socialist construction, the content of domestic political struggle is different from the past, and the mode of struggle is mainly to establish and improve a new socialist legal system to keep the struggle within the scope of the Constitution and law. The main task of the political struggle of the proletariat is to strive for socialist modernization.

Marx pointed out that “the struggle of class against class is a political struggle” and “every class struggle is a political struggle”. In class society, in order to safeguard their own interests, certain classes must acquire political power and raise itself to the position of the ruling class. Class struggle centered on the political power constitutes the essence of political struggle.