All phenomena are comprised of opposing poles which are mutually exclusive and interdependent, and in contradiction. This polarity — the relation between the two poles –- organizes them and makes them what they are, a quality.
Growth and development occurs as a result of the contradiction and struggle between the two poles. The relation between the poles becomes more contradictory within each stage of development, forcing the emergence of a new stage.
Yet this process of growth and development is different from the process of change and transformation. Change cannot come about simply by the poles struggling and fighting one another. The process of the poles struggling and fighting one another is the process of ongoing growth and development. The process of change and transformation requires something else: the introduction of a new quality which begins the process of destruction of the old quality and the possibility of the formation of something new.
Polarization means the process of the opposing poles being wrenched apart in an ongoing process which destroys that which holds them together and that which made them what they were. Polarization begins with the introduction of the new quality and makes possible the leap to a new quality, or in terms of what we are looking at, a new society. They are not separate categories but part of a long process of struggle, destruction, and transformation on a new basis.
This is as true for the natural world as it is for society. In chemical reactions, for example, the introduction of energy into the bond-forming electrons causes the bond to rupture, creating "opportunities...for new bonds to form."
With the introduction of qualitatively new productive forces we see the beginning of the destruction of the classes, the institutions and relationships that developed on the old material basis. Every political revolution has been characterized by polarization. As these relations are torn apart, the "opportunity for new bonds to form" begins. Faced with the fraying bonds that once held it together, all of society is pulled into the process. It is in such times of motion and change that revolutionaries can play their historical role.
Implications for Today
The concept of polarization holds profound lessons for revolutionaries. Production without labor is forming a class with no ties to the capitalist system. They cannot fight the capitalists in the same ways as they once did because their connection to production is dissolving. This opens up the possibility of politics on a new basis and, with it, the possibility of reconstructing society on a new basis. It is the development of the new class subjectively that makes the difference in the direction that society takes. Conscious revolutionaries concentrate on developing the consciousness about the actual process going on — what the problem is, a vision of what the world could be, and a program for revolution to reconstruct society.
Discussion Questions and Readings
1. Describe the process of polarization. How is it set in motion?
2. Discuss the significance of polarization in the process of change in nature and in society.
3. Why is it important for revolutionaries to understand the process of polarization as it relates to the revolutionary process?
Readings
4. Through looking at past revolutions we can examine the process of polarization and how it plays out in the realm of society and politics. Using the example of the French revolution, identify economic, social and political polarization and the relationship between them. Look also at the role of ideas. Compare that revolution to the revolutionary process today. What is the same? What is different?
5. What does "politics" mean? What do we mean by "politics on a new basis"? What are some of the blocks to this, and why? Give examples from your own experience. What role will a class party play in the development of this new kind of politics, and what is its relation to the reconstruction of society?
Readings
- Nelson Peery, "The Revolutionary Process," Entering an Epoch of Social Revolution. (pp. 17-18; 19-20 in print version)
- Nelson Peery, "Polarization - Basis for a Workers Party." (pp. 39-43 in print version of Epoch pamphlet.The article is included at the end of the Epoch pamphlet.
- LRNA, Political Resolution, 2001. ("The ruling class acts as a class" to end of document) http://www.lrna.org/doc.4/polres.html
- LRNA, Political Report to the LRNA Steering Committee, "The Tasks of the Comrades in the Mass Movement," May 2000. http://www.lrna.org/texts/reports/pr00052.html
- E.J. Hobsbawm, "The French Revolution," excerpt from The Age of Revolution. http://www.scienceofsociety.org/philo/texts/hobsbawm1.html
