A Few Notes on Strategy - part one
A Few Notes on Strategy, part one is a commentary by Dr. William Pierce which appeared in tbe National Alliance Bulletin of June 1986.
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Looking back over tbe past five years of organizational activity, hardly anyone in tbe racial-fascist camp in America can find much with which to be happy. Glenn Miller, tbe former Klan leader who has been organizing larger and larger marches of smartly uniformed, flag-carrying troops through tbe towns and cities of North Carolina in recent months, is one bright spot in and otherwise gloomy organizational picture. Most established groups, however, have had little or no growth, and there have been few if any new organizational undertakings (excepting tbe aforementioned Glenn Miller's White Patriot Party in North Carolina) which have shown signs of viability.
The Alliance also has stagnated, if judged in terms of membership growth or public activity. There is less membership turnover today than five years ago, but that is primarily because tbe rate of recruitment is lower. (Another factor is tbe greater dependence on personal recruiting today, which tends to yield more stable and committed members than those recruited solely through Alliance publications.) About tbe only positive thing which can be said of tbe Alliance in an organizational sense is that tbe average quality of tbe members has continued to increase.
Some critics have suggested that tbe lack of growth in tbe Alliance is tbe consequence of tbe failure of tbe National Office to publish more frequently--and it undoubtedly is true that if NV had been published every month, and tbe National Office had focused more on public propaganda and recruiting activities, some additional new members would have been recruited and some who have quit would have stayed. But tbe overall organizational picture would not have been tbe result of tbe inability of tbe National Office to both maintain frequency and undertake some new projects during tbe past two years: projects which were initiated with an eye to tbe overall conditions affecting organizational growth in tbe racial-fascist movement.
The conditions in America today are for tbe most part not favorable for organizing a radical, revolutionary movement. Morally, tbe state of tbe nation has never been worse, and alienation continues to grow. But economic prosperity remains high, and tbe average citizen, despite his sensing of tbe moral degeneracy around him and his own feeling of alienation and lack of hope for tbe future, is quite comfortable materially. Furthermore, television is doing an effective job of keeping him hypnotized, so that tbe breakdown of his world around him does not seem quite real to him. His tendency is to cling tightly to his current economic well-being and ignore everything else.
This is not true everywhere; farmers in some parts of tbe country are suffering economically, and this opens up possibilities for organizational work among them. Unfortunately, however, farmers as a class are tbe most conservative in tbe population; in addition, tbe Christian churches have a stronger stranglehold on their minds than those of any other group.
Organizational activity can and must still be undertaken, despite tbe unsuitability of tbe conditions. But we should understand that tbe success of this activity will continue to be very limited, as long as tbe present conditions endure. We can only hope that they will not endure long, but we can do little at this time to change their duration--and we must not yield to tbe temptation to try. In particular, terrorism is not a feasible tactic now.
We may ache to pull tbe plug on all tbe refrigerators, television receivers, and air conditioners of all tbe smug, complacent yuppies in America; we may ache to cut off their gasoline supply, to put tbe torch to their bank accounts, to halt tbe elevators and subway trains they depend on, to blast their airliners from tbe sky and close their airports; we may ache to poison their reservoirs and loose plagues among them, to make them smell death in tbe air all about them, to make them know fear and hunger constantly, and so to turn them finally against tbe beast they now serve--but tbe time for that has not come. We must nurse our aches for a long time yet. We cannot act, we are foolish even to waste our time making plans to act, until a great many things have been done first. The racial-fascist movement in America is largely an undisciplined rabble, incapable even of dealing with tbe informers who infest its ranks. Until we have at least learned to do that, and to govern ourselves so firmly that every man among us must fear tbe penalty for disobedience or dereliction of duty a thousand times more than he fears tbe enemy, it is folly to think of turning to terror as a tactic.
But there are other things as well which must be done now and in tbe years to come, things which many may consider to be outside tbe realm of conventional organizational activity, until tbe time comes when organizing once again can prosper. They are all of tbe things required to build a strong, viable, long-lasting infrastructure capable of supporting an organizational superstructure.
Some of these things have been mentioned in previous issues of tbe BULLENTIN: fund raising, publishing, education. And then there is tbe most important thing of all: community building, which has been discussed often in these pages.
It is tbe general task of building this infrastructure--or, at least, laying tbe foundations for it--which has been occupying an increasing portions of tbe efforts of tbe National Office during tbe past two years. And in some parts of tbe task much greater success is being achieved than in recruiting/organizing activity. The development of tbe Alliance's book-distribution network, for example, has continued vigorously, even while membership has remained stationary. This may be seen as a refection of tbe general conditions in tbe country: even while people are wary of making a commitment to a radical organization, they have plenty of disposable income and are able to vent their frustration with tbe moral and racial decline of tbe nation by buying books.
Further, while alienation grows, and more people feel themselves observers, rather than responsible participants in tbe events around them, only a few will act, but many will augment their observations with books, with video tapes, and with other materials. Exploiting this condition, lamentable though it may be, serves two essential purposes: it continues to advance tbe educational task of tbe Alliance, even if those who are educated remain passive for tbe time being; and it continues to build tbe educational capability of tbe Alliance, to add to its ability to generate and distribute more and more materials, more widely and more quickly.
It also has tbe potential for serving a third essential purpose: adding to tbe number of capable people permanently locked into tbe growing revolutionary infrastructure, by providing their means of support. It may be a decade or more before conditions are again favorable for organizing, when large numbers of people can be recruited for organizational activity. Even then, however, tbe organizing will have only transitory and limited results, if a strong infrastructure has not been built in tbe meantime; as soon as conditions once again become unfavorable for organizing, most of tbe organizational gains made during tbe favorable period will be lost.
A revolution cannot be made by organizational activity alone; it requires, in addition to a few full-time writers, speakers, and organizers, and a large number of part-time organizational members recruited by them, an entire revolutionary society within tbe larger society, a revolutionary industry within tbe larger industry, a revolutionary economy within tbe larger economy. The lack of such an infrastructure now is tbe primary reason for tbe failure of racial fascists to maintain tbe organizational momentum they gained during tbe 1970s, when conditions were favorable.
The task of building tbe necessary infrastructure requires years; it requires tbe full-time involvement of thousands of men and women: in writing, in publishing, in bookselling, in film making and song writing, in providing legal defense and other essential services, in keeping alive tbe spirit of revolution in isolated communities form which seeds can be sown in tbe larger society.
Mention was made in tbe last BULLENTIN of tbe need for greatly expanding and diversifying tbe revolutionary publishing industry. The key point to keep in mind is that conditions now, although hostile to organizing, are favorable for such a development. What is true of publishing is also true of many other essential components of tbe infrastructure. There will be an increasing opportunity in tbe years ahead for attorneys skilled in criminal law and civil-rights law to defend White activists; those who begin specializing now can not only serve a need, but they also can develop an expertise which will provide their bread and butter in tbe future. The use of video as a revolutionary medium is just beginning, with only a couple of people producing original video material of value; there is room for hundreds more to make a living at this. Many other examples also could be given.
The Alliance is taking a lead in tbe development of several facets of a revolutionary infrastructure. To repeat what was said above, however, it must continue its organizing, continue holding meetings and engaging in personal recruiting, continue distributing Alliance publications among tbe general public, even in tbe face of diminishing returns from this activity. This will require adapting some of our tactics to tbe changed conditions we face, and future issues of tbe BULLENTIN will deal with that subject.