Several comrades in the Central American and South American Parties have adopted the standpoint that it makes no difference to the working class whether it is exploited by domestic, native capitalism, or by the capitalism of the United States. No, it is not a matter of indifference for the working class.. The penetration and entrenchment of North American capitalism in the countries of Central America and South America means the consolidation of the entire capitalist system throughout the American continent. It is a favorite argument of the reformists of all economically backward countries, that such countries must go through the whole epoch of capitalism before they are ripe for the proletarian revolution. But these gentlemen (in the United States they are Gompers & Co.; in Mexico, Morones; in Argentine, Palacios, and such like) know very well that this is untrue; they are merely concerned with using the argument as a cloak for their treachery. The Russian Revolution has demonstrated that proletarian revolution is possible in a predominantly peasant country, but where there is a class-conscious, even if relatively small, industrial working class. By their very geographical and economic positions, Mexico and the countries of Central and South America have long ago come within the spheres of interest of international capitalism. In Mexico and in Argentine there exists today a strong and class-conscious revolutionary working and peasant class. There can be no doubt, therefore, that proletarian revolutions are possible in these countries, before capitalism "develops naturally into socialism." Besides, in the face of the massacres of workers in the United States, in Mexico, in Brazil, in Cuba, and in the countries of Central America, it would probably never occur to any class-conscious proletarian to believe that capitalism would be so good as to "develop naturally into socialism."
The working class throughout the American countries must struggle primarily against the capitalistic imperialism of the United States. The workers and peasants from Canada down to Argentine must proclaim the slogan of the united front of all the exploited masses of America against Wall Street, the heart and brain of the continental band of exploiters. From this point of view, the resistance of the individual national bourgeoisies to the domination of the United States is an essential part of the struggle against American capital in general.
In Mexico the efforts of the United States are directed toward industrializing those mineral fields of the north and those oil fields on the coast which its military forces can easily dominate. The American dollar has never entered Mexico in a "neutral" or "purely
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