Me

[Perkins Troelstra]

I am a Socialist of open learning.

I have been described (with some justice) as a Technocrat, a Meritocrat and also as a Social Democrat.

I am a nember of the Social Democratic party of my country (Netherland) because they are the one big party I respect, my deeper sympathies however go out to a more revolutionary Socialist idea.

I came here hoping to find out more about what kind of Socialist movements are actually around, I am thinking seriouslly of joinging the IS in the near future, but I'm afraid most of this kind of groups are more politicallly correct hobby grounds then a serious Socialist movement.


I have some spiritual beliefs, and I STRONGLY oppose any connection between religion and state, your spiritual views are your own and should be free from any outside dogma.
I do not have faith in the masses, I distrust Democracy and think that if a revolution of any kind is going to work, we would need a elite leadership who know what they are doing.

I consider equal rights for all races, genders and sexual orientations to be a necessity for any civilized society, and support cultural freedom.

I guess this is my intro for now.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Welcome to RevLeft!

Any questions you have are welcome in the "Learning" section.

I look forward to your posts :).

[Manic Impressive]

I do not have faith in the masses, I distrust Democracy and think that if a revolution of any kind is going to work, we would need a elite leadership who know what they are doing.

No offence intended but these are all tenets of fascism.

[Q]

Welcome fellow Dutchman!

First of all, we have a big Dutch subforum (http://www.revleft.com/vb/nederlands-f45/index.html). Now, onto some comments to your post:


I am a Socialist of open learning.

I have been described (with some justice) as a Technocrat, a Meritocrat and also as a Social Democrat.

I am a nember of the Social Democratic party of my country (Netherland) because they are the one big party I respect, my deeper sympathies however go out to a more revolutionary Socialist idea.
How did the PvdA win your respect? The last thirty years or so they've been consistently involved in neoliberal policies, how has this been a good thing? Do you still regard the PvdA as a workers party? What about the SP?


I came here hoping to find out more about what kind of Socialist movements are actually around, I am thinking seriouslly of joinging the IS in the near future, but I'm afraid most of this kind of groups are more politicallly correct hobby grounds then a serious Socialist movement.
Besides the IS, there is Socialistisch Alternatief (http://socialisten.net/), Dutch section of the Committee for a Workers' International (http://socialistworld.net/) (I'm in this group), there is the SAP, the NCPN and Doorbraak as some bigger other groups on the far left. The revolutionary left in the Netherlands is in general very small though at present time. What do you mean by "serious socialist movement" (given your positive attitude towards the PvdA I guess this is an important question).


I do not have faith in the masses, I distrust Democracy and think that if a revolution of any kind is going to work, we would need a elite leadership who know what they are doing.
Marxists work from the standpoint that the liberation of the working class must be the act of the working class themselves. As such communists are (or should be) inherently democratic, fighting for the most democratic form of society. However most communists also argue that parliamentary democracy has little if anything to do with democracy, it is basically a huge farce.

So, what do you oppose when you mention "democracy" and how are the masses involved in this?


I consider equal rights for all races, genders and sexual orientations to be a necessity for any civilized society, and support cultural freedom.
This is in contradiction with your previous sentence in which you deny equal rights in the political sphere (democracy). Could you elaborate?

[Panda Tse Tung]

Welcome :). Q said most relevant things, but i figured i'd welcome a fellow Dutchie.