CULTURE is the lifeblood of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB). It is as intrinsic to the CPB’s development, growth and survival as economics and politics, and yet it has a far lower profile within the party.

Culture must be embedded within every level of the CPB, from the executive committee through the nations and districts and down to the local branches. Culture should not be an add-on or an afterthought. It should be central to the CPB’s ideology. Every policy and position of the party must have a cultural dimension.
 
For example, in the recent general election, the party produced an excellent manifesto which included a 12-point programme for real change. These ranged from Palestine and austerity to the NHS and public ownership.

But there was no mention of culture, either as a stand-alone point or as an aspect of the 12-point programme. There was no reference, for example, to the role that culture can play in women’s rights, migration and anti-racism, democracy, peace and the environment.
 
All successful communist projects have culture at their core and not at their periphery. The Cuban revolution is a case in point. Fidel Castro made sure that culture was one of the pillars of the revolution alongside free, publicly accessible healthcare and education, for example.

Castro understood that culture was fundamental to the success of the revolution because it was a means of embedding the ideas of the revolution among the Cuban people.
 
As Marx and Engels pointed out in the Communist Manifesto: “The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.”

Capitalist ideology is firmly embedded because the ideas of the ruling class are constantly being transmitted by the mass media.

This is so effective that most people do not understand or realise that when they watch the TV, listen to the radio, read the newspaper or shop in the supermarket, they are absorbing the ideas of the ruling class.

As a result, they think that not only is capitalism natural and permanent but that it’s also a good thing for them. That it looks after their interests. That is why they are prepared to champion and defend it.
 
Gramsci suggested that the cultural battle must be won first if the political and economic battle is to succeed. He made culture more important than politics and economics because he knew that changing the economic base of society would not automatically or spontaneously change the way that people thought about society.

Cultural change can take many years to achieve and embed. The process must start before the revolution takes place, and it must continue long after the revolution has triumphed.
 
Those countries which understand the importance of culture — such as Cuba, China, Vietnam and North Korea — have been able to embed it within their societies alongside changes to the economic base and the political superstructure.

There are many different ways of achieving this, with varying degrees of success. Cuba has a vibrant culture, which its Communist Party uses to entrench the ideology of the revolution.

Chairman Mao tried to fast-track this process via the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which had mixed results; cultural change takes time and cannot necessarily be accelerated as the old ideas and habits are deeply rooted, and a more gradual approach is more likely to succeed.

North Korea uses culture to constantly reinforce the ideology of the Workers Party. It understands that culture and ideology are critical to the building of socialism and communism in the DPRK.

It also understands that if culture and ideology are ignored or marginalised, then this opens up space for revisionist ideas to infiltrate and take over the party and society.

This is what happened in the USSR, and the lack of attention paid to culture and ideology has been identified — by China, the DPRK and others — as one of the major reasons why the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was taken over by revisionists who destroyed the party from within.
 
Lenin understood the importance of culture and made the development of public libraries a priority from the earliest days of the USSR. In a period when he was beset by a number of huge internal and external challenges, he made time to lay down the foundations of an accessible public library service that was open to all.

He understood that books and learning were essential to cultural development and to changing the hearts and minds of the Russian people. His work was taken forward by Stalin, who built the world’s first socialist library system as an essential tool for the transition to communism.

This work was undone by Krushchev, who allowed petit-bourgeois revisionism and reactionary ideas to enter the party. This process was accelerated by Gorbachev via perestroika and glasnost, which destroyed the CPSU and the USSR.
 
So, culture is critical to the building of socialism and communism. This is recognised by the CPB in its programme Britain’s Road to Socialism: “The ruling capitalist class wages its political struggle on three main, distinct but interconnected fronts: the economic, the political and the ideological and cultural. This requires corresponding responses from the labour and progressive movements.”

It also requires corresponding responses from the CPB itself, which must put ideology and culture at the heart of everything it does.
 
In this regard, the party has established a Culture Commission that produced the discussion pamphlet Class and Culture: Provocations for Cultural Democracy — which consists of several provocations or short essays on various cultural topics designed to raise awareness and stimulate discussion.

It will also help party members and allies in the labour movement to develop practical campaigns on cultural issues alongside existing work on political and economic issues.
 
The Culture Commission is organising a conference in Barnsley at the NUM headquarters on November 2, where these discussions will be taken forward. There will be speakers from the CPB executive committee and the Cuban embassy, as well as cultural interludes and entertainment.

There will be a panel discussion on capitalism and culture featuring Sarah Kilpatrick (NEU, young people), Paul McGee (football), John Pateman (public libraries), and Daisy-Mae Stewart (cuts to youth theatre).

Breakout sessions will consider “How can we embed cultural work within the CPB?” and “What can we do to build cultural democracy?” The afternoon will start with a brass band followed by a session on culture as a force for change featuring Heather Wood and friends (culture and the miners’ strike) and Joe Solo (campaigning today through music and culture).

The CPB conference Class and Culture will take place Saturday November 2, 10amto 5pm, and the National Union Of Mineworkers, 2 Huddersfield Road, Barnsley, S70 2LS. Book tickets at Bit.ly/ClassCult.