"Without revolutionary theory, the workers, even with the best will in the world, cannot fight the capitalist system successfully. This statement holds good, not merely in the question of the final revolutionary struggle for power, it applies equally in every aspect of the daily struggle. Workers who have no understanding of the theory of revolution cannot follow a consistent line of action that leads toward it. Behind every action aimed at the bourgeoisie, there must be the theory of the revolutionary overthrow of the bourgeoisie. False policies in the ranks of the workers, whereby even their own good will and energy is transformed into a force operating against their own interests, spring in the first place from false theory. Only by an understanding of the revolutionary nature of their struggle, and of the necessity of shaping their actions in the light of this theory and adapting them to the execution of it, can the workers follow a systematic policy of opposition to the bourgeoisie and of defense of their own interests. Revolutionary theory is not something separate from action, but is the guiding principle of all revolutionary action."
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Activists from the United StatesAnti-fascistsAtheists from the United StatesAnti-war activistsTrotskyists from the United States
Original Language: English
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"The Bolshevization of the Party" (1924)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_P._Cannon
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James P. Cannon
James P. Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Marxist and Trotskyist leader. Cannon was the leading founder of the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Labor Party, which would be a early precursor to the Communist Party of America.
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