The CWPUSA is not the only organization in the United States that claims to serve the interests of the working class. What sets us apart from all the other "leftist" formations? Though we have much more to say about our differences with the broader revolutionary movement, our distinguishing features can be summarized as follows:

• We uphold Marxism — scientific socialism rooted in dialectical and historical materialism — as the only basis for a correct understanding of reality. In this, we distinguish ourselves from utopian socialists and liberal anti-capitalists, such as anarchists, who base their worldview on an idealist conception of reality.

• We uphold Marxism-Leninism — the application of Marxism to the current era of capitalism in decay, that is, the imperialist era — as the ideology of the revolutionary proletariat. In this, we distinguish ourselves from those, such as "orthodox" Marxists, who reject the Leninist theory of revolution outright or treat it as applicable only to 20th-century capitalism or specific national conditions.

• We uphold the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a historical example of socialist construction in a state based on the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this, we distinguish ourselves from those, such as Trotskyists, who consider the Soviet Union to have degenerated into state capitalism under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.

• We recognize that the Soviet Union remained socialist until the Counterrevolution of 1989-1991. At the same time, we acknowledge that the country began its decline toward capitalist restoration following the Khrushchev faction's rise to power within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In this, we distinguish ourselves from those, such as Maoists, who consider the Khrushchev faction to have immediately restored capitalism and converted the Soviet Union into a "social imperialist" state.

• We consider the dissolution of the Communist International to have been a grave error in the overall strategy of the international communist movement. For the proletarian revolution to succeed, we must establish a new International free from the opportunist and revisionist errors that disrupted the previous one.

• We reject "multipolarity" and "patriotic socialism" as strategies for building the revolutionary movement. Attempting to appeal to one faction or another within the modern imperialist system or to the most reactionary sections of the proletariat can only lead to subsumption by the bourgeoisie.