Left-communism?

[Havet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-communism

Left communism is the range of communist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism) viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsheviks) from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism) and proletarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat) than the views of Leninism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninism) held by the Communist International (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International) after its first two Congresses.

My question is simple:

What is right-communism?? Does it even exist? If there is a "left" then there must be a "right". Why was such division required?

[#FF0000]

I can't really explain why the term Left-Communism came to be used, but "right communism" would pretty much be Marxist-Leninism, I suppose.

And I'm not sure what your last question is about, really. Left-Communists are just communists that opposed certain things with Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

EDIT: Listen to Devrim since he is almost certainly more correct than I am.

[Devrim]

It refers to the discussions in the third international at the first two congresses. I think it would be more correct to characterise Lenin as a centrist than being on the right. The right were the people who were basically still outright social democrats.

Devrim

[Conquer or Die]

Right-Communism would be "Socialism at a snail's pace" according to Nikolai Bukharin. It would be identifying with peasantry, including forms of private ownership against the "developed" working class and their primacy. In terms of Marxist fundamentalism, it may be correct on a superficial level but it denies materialism on the whole. Left-Communism is only workable in developed societies, yet developed societies expand and exploit outwards in order to siphon wealth back to the top. Marxist analysis is only valid if capitalism develops and is then replaced by Communism. Suggesting Communism works in a vacuum is not marxist, but idealist.

The NEP is a good example of "Right-Communism" which was a policy in Russia that replaced War Communism (the policy of the Civil War) and allowed for private ownership in the agrarian sector. This was a policy supported by Lenin, Stalin, and Bukharin and not supported by Trotsky. The NEP was replaced by Stalin with a 5 year plan that was meant to industrialize the country and prevent famine in the cities. He did this because development was unequal between the agrarian sector and the industrial sector.

It has been suggested that if Stalin had opened up the NEP policy to the industrial sector then he could've avoided famine either way (or at least dulled it). Stalin's 5 year plan was certainly a success, given that it greatly industrialized the nation (surpassing Germany in the process) but it also caused famines on the agrarian end and replaced many idealized communes with state run apparatus.

[Conquer or Die]

It refers to the discussions in the third international at the first two congresses. I think it would be more correct to characterise Lenin as a centrist than being on the right. The right were the people who were basically still outright social democrats.

Devrim

Social Democrats were probably more left-Communist than a majority of Bolsheviks.

[Havet]

And I'm not sure what your last question is about, really. Left-Communists are just communists that opposed certain things with Lenin and the Bolsheviks.


Oh I was just asking why some people felt the need to differentiate themselves even further within communism to the point of adding the "left" prefix.

[Pogue]

Oh I was just asking why some people felt the need to differentiate themselves even further within communism to the point of adding the "left" prefix.

cos some of us are right and everyone else is wrong.

[Conquer or Die]

Oh I was just asking why some people felt the need to differentiate themselves even further within communism to the point of adding the "left" prefix.

It's a useless differentiation in terms of party organizing today. Some of the intellectual concepts are crucial to proletarian revolution, however.

[Devrim]

Sega, I don't think what you are saying is really relevant to the question. I think you have the wrong end of the stick somehow.

Hayenmill, it was due to the tactical disagreements in the international. The main issues were over parliamentarianism, unions, national liberation, and whether to build mass parties with people who were still essentially social democrats.

Devrim

[Havet]

Sega, I don't think what you are saying is really relevant to the question. I think you have the wrong end of the stick somehow.

Hayenmill, it was due to the tactical disagreements in the international. The main issues were over parliamentarianism, unions, national liberation, and whether to build mass parties with people who were still essentially social democrats.

Devrim

Thank you for this useful post.

A curiosity question. Is there someone out there who actually calls themselves a "right" communism btw? Or do all marxist-leninists just fit that description, according to some posts above?

[Devrim]

A curiosity question. Is there someone out there who actually calls themselves a "right" communism btw? Or do all marxist-leninists just fit that description, according to some posts above?

The term Marxist-Leninist is a much more modern term, which basically means Maoist. There weren't any 'Marxist-Leninists' at the time.

I don't think that today these sort of groups can be called 'right communists'. They are openly bourgeois parties now.

Devrim

[Havet]

The term Marxist-Leninist is a much more modern term, which basically means Maoist. There weren't any 'Marxist-Leninists' at the time.

I don't think that today these sort of groups can be called 'right communists'. They are openly bourgeois parties now.

Devrim

So you too agree with the futility of parliamentary democracy?

[Devrim]

So you too agree with the futility of parliamentary democracy?

Yes, of course:


In decadent capitalism, parliament and elections are nothing but a mascarade. Any call to participate in the parliamentary circus can only reinforce the lie that presents these elections as a real choice for the exploited. ‘Democracy', a particularly hypocritical form of the domination of the bourgeoisie, does not differ at root from other forms of capitalist dictatorship, such as Stalinism and fascism.

Devrim

[Die Rote Fahne]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-communism

Left communism is the range of communist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism) viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsheviks) from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism) and proletarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat) than the views of Leninism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninism) held by the Communist International (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International) after its first two Congresses.

My question is simple:

What is right-communism?? Does it even exist? If there is a "left" then there must be a "right". Why was such division required?

The right would be the leninists.

The division happened because of many anti-authoritarian members of hte communist ideology. Rosa Luxembourg for example.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Social Democrats were probably more left-Communist than a majority of Bolsheviks.

Depends on your use of Social Democrat. Whether your using it like it`s modern sense which is capitalist, or in the Trotskyian and Luxembourg sense.

[#FF0000]

The right would be the leninists.

The division happened because of many anti-authoritarian members of hte communist ideology. Rosa Luxembourg for example.

Anti-authoritarian isn't really the right word to use.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Anti-authoritarian isn't really the right word to use.

Why not? It is the key to Left Communism was their democratic and anti-authoritarian views.

[Revy]

I think you can get the idea of why they position themselves as "Left Communists" when you read these (nearly identical) quotes from two major left communist international organizations:

International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party:

All parties and groups that have claimed to be parties and organizations of the proletariat (Social Democrats, Stalinists, Maoists, Trotskyists, etc.) are enemies of the proletariat and today act as the left arm of the bourgeoisie. They pose as defenders of the working class when in fact they are precisely the opposite. International Communist Current:

All the so-called ‘workers’, ‘Socialist’ and ‘Communist’ parties (now ex-’Communists’), the leftist organisations (Trotskyists, Maoists and ex-Maoists, official anarchists) constitute the left of capitalism’s political apparatus.

[Robert]

Any call to participate in the parliamentary circus can only reinforce the lie that presents these elections as a real choice for the exploited.

The "call" reinforces the lie? Or the participation (e.g., voting) reinforces the lie? To whom is the admonishment directed?

[Madvillainy]

Why not? It is the key to Left Communism was their democratic and anti-authoritarian views.

Well you can see what Left Communists feel about 'democracy' from the quote Devrim provided:

Basic Positions of the ICC
‘Democracy', a particularly hypocritical form of the domination of the bourgeoisie, does not differ at root from other forms of capitalist dictatorship, such as Stalinism and fascism.

Nor are Left Communists in anyway tied to something as abstract and silly as anti-authoritarianism.

On topic: the name is really just a historical thing from the communist international, and it's still used today as a way to identify left communists from other so called communists.

[Devrim]

Why not? It is the key to Left Communism was their democratic and anti-authoritarian views.

The whole concept of 'anti-authoritarianism' is an anarchist one, and doesn't really fit into the Marxist discourse. If you want to define them like that, that is your choice, but they wouldn't have used it about them selves and, indeed rejected the idea.

Devrim

[Devrim]

The "call" reinforces the lie? Or the participation (e.g., voting) reinforces the lie? To whom is the admonishment directed?

The 'call'. It reinforces the illusion that parliment has something to offer the working class.

Devrim