Joining an Organization.

[John "Eh" MacDonald]

I have a few questions in regards to joining a political organization...

1. How do you decide which organization is right for you?

2. What does an organization do to help bring forward the revolution?

3. What do organizations use the sign up fee for?

4. How well versed should you be in Communist/Anarchist literature? Is there a "no uneducated people" rule?

5. How does a political organization differ from a political party?

6. Would it be a bad idea to move to a city just to become organized and politically active?(After schooling of course.)

7. What is your role in an organization after you sign up and are excepted?

8. Are there any active Trotskyist organizations in Canada? I used google but all I could find was organizations that eventually became Marxist-Leninist and joined the CPC.

I'm sure i have more questions but I'll have to think of them during my next smoke, get my dopamine pumping through my brain.:lol:

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

I have a few questions in regards to joining a political organization...

1. How do you decide which organization is right for you?

2. What does an organization do to help bring forward the revolution?

3. What do organizations use the sign up fee for?

4. How well versed should you be in Communist/Anarchist literature? Is there a "no uneducated people" rule?

5. How does a political organization differ from a political party?

6. Would it be a bad idea to move to a city just to become organized and politically active?(After schooling of course.)

7. What is your role in an organization after you sign up and are excepted?

8. Are there any active Trotskyist organizations in Canada? I used google but all I could find was organizations that eventually became Marxist-Leninist and joined the CPC.

I'm sure i have more questions but I'll have to think of them during my next smoke, get my dopamine pumping through my brain.:lol:
1. Only you can know if the organization is right for you. I joined a party, which I recently left, without much knowledge of left politics. If I were to join an organization/party now, I would read through their constitution, understand their aims and gain an outlined understanding of their ideology/tendency before hand.

3. Probably to fund their propaganda material/pay wages to their full-timers etc, same as any funding.

4. There is no rule to this for most parties, as far as I know, but you should generally share their views otherwise they would probably not let you join. However, I'd recommend that you study commie/anarchist literate beforehand so you can get an idea of which kind of party you want to commit yourself to.

6. Not if you had the expenses to do so/dedication to the cause! Its not something you could make a rash decision on though.

7. Usually you will be expected to help out in distributing material, engaging in struggles that your party aims to play a role in, attend meetings (usually weekly or bi-weekly) and discussions on your party and politics.

I left a couple out as I didn't have anything decent to say about them :D

[Quail]

I have a few questions in regards to joining a political organization...

1. How do you decide which organization is right for you?

2. What does an organization do to help bring forward the revolution?

3. What do organizations use the sign up fee for?

4. How well versed should you be in Communist/Anarchist literature? Is there a "no uneducated people" rule?

5. How does a political organization differ from a political party?

6. Would it be a bad idea to move to a city just to become organized and politically active?(After schooling of course.)

7. What is your role in an organization after you sign up and are excepted?

8. Are there any active Trotskyist organizations in Canada? I used google but all I could find was organizations that eventually became Marxist-Leninist and joined the CPC.

I'm sure i have more questions but I'll have to think of them during my next smoke, get my dopamine pumping through my brain.:lol:

1. I guess you know the organisation is right because it feels right? Like you feel comfortable and understand and agree with their aims and principles or whatever.

3. My organisation uses the subs to fund publications, etc.

4. Be well-versed enough to feel you cand efend your position. Your views might change as you get older, but as long as you can defend your views upon joining, I'd say that's well-versed enough.

5. A political organisation doesn't aim to get elected.

6. It depends if you'd enjoy city life. You could always try and set something up in a smaller town.

7. You're just a member. I've voluntarily taken on the role of group secretary, but I don't think there's any pressure to take a more involved role.

[John "Eh" MacDonald]

Yep, leave out number 4, I just realized how stupid the question was.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Yep, leave out number 4, I just realized how stupid the question was.
Question 4 isn't stupid at all! Loads of people end up joining organizations because they wave a red flag, only to find that when they read into left politics, they find they disagree with the party or organization quite significantly!

You should have an outline of your political views before you get involved in any organization or party.

[John "Eh" MacDonald]

Question 4 isn't stupid at all! Loads of people end up joining organizations because they wave a red flag, only to find that when they read into left politics, they find they disagree with the party or organization quite significantly!

You should have an outline of your political views before you get involved in any organization or party.

WHOOPS!, I meant number 5.:blushing:

[Widerstand]

1. How do you decide which organization is right for you?

Are they leftist? -> Yes -> Are they Anarchist, Council Communist or Left Communist? -> Yes -> Are their principles agreeable? -> Yes -> Do they exist physically where I exist? -> Yes -> Are they folks I get along with and would want to work with? -> Yes -> Make Total Destroy!



2. What does an organization do to help bring forward the revolution?

I don't think they add that much. It's more about networking for local projects, informing each other, education, discussion, and the overall joy of working with like-minded people, and of course the benefits affinity groups give. Also, depending on the organization, the use of the memeber's fee can also have immediate benefits for you, and unions of course have the very real effect of helping your work situations (some 'unions' at least).

Overall, I believe political work can be done just as easy without being part of an organization. I'm also not a big fan of mass organizations, as individual contacts are a top priority for me.



3. What do organizations use the sign up fee for?

This is my main concern before joining one, actually.



4. How well versed should you be in Communist/Anarchist literature? Is there a "no uneducated people" rule?

You should at least know enough to understand their basic principles / platform. Though of course you could always ask one of them to explain it to you.


6. Would it be a bad idea to move to a city just to become organized and politically active?(After schooling of course.)

No. In fact I have done exactly that.



7. What is your role in an organization after you sign up and are excepted?

Depends on the organization. If it amounts to selling party newspapers, I'd get out asap.

[graymouser]

1. How do you decide which organization is right for you?
Well, you look at their political positions, and their actual activity, and you figure out what group is really closest to you in priorities. You talk to them, check them out, talk to others about them, and please Google the living hell out of them. If you can live with a group's line, go for it. If you figure out after a month or 6 months that it's not the group for you, by all means find another, or make your own.


2. What does an organization do to help bring forward the revolution?
Well, it disseminates correct radical ideas into the left wing of the social movements. But more importantly, it trains the cadres and arms them with theoretical understanding and practical experience - which combined make it possible to form the revolutionary party.


3. What do organizations use the sign up fee for?
Depends on the size of the group. As an organization grows, it does things that require money like putting out literature, travelling, holding conferences, hiring full-time staff, renting or buying offices and book stores and public meeting places, and so on and so forth. Banners, signs, buttons, all the things that make you a "physical group with a presence" instead of just a web site or some ideas, all cost money. Hell, web sites cost money to maintain. Most left organizations just scrape by.


4. How well versed should you be in Communist/Anarchist literature? Is there a "no uneducated people" rule?
For a Marxist group, you should have read The Communist Manifesto. You don't need to have read Capital. I think that pretty much draws the differences.


6. Would it be a bad idea to move to a city just to become organized and politically active?(After schooling of course.)
If it's feasible, then I would say go for it. The '70s were a real heyday of this trend, with a lot of leftists flocking to Detroit - not exactly the thing you want to do now, though. I am not sure what the most straightforward route for you would be.


7. What is your role in an organization after you sign up and are excepted?
Depends on your experience, your interests, your situation, and the group you join. Some groups just put you to work selling newspapers, it's true. If you're a student they will want you to work in the student movement. If you're a trade unionist they will want that to be your main focus. Otherwise you'll act to your capacity in whatever the day-to-day life of the group is like. For most groups that means attending meetings, distributing literature, being involved with some movement activity or another, and paying dues.


8. Are there any active Trotskyist organizations in Canada? I used google but all I could find was organizations that eventually became Marxist-Leninist and joined the CPC.
Well, there's:

Committee for a Workers' International - Socialist Alternative / Alternative Socialiste
International Marxist Tendency - Fightback
International Socialist Tendency - International Socialists
United Secretariat of the Fourth International - Socialist Action (sympathizing)

The New Socialist Group I don't think is formally "Trotskyist," they are a looser grouping that has supporters of the USFI. There's also the International Bolshevik Tendency and the Trotskyist League. The former are ex-Sparts and the latter are current Sparts; both groups are extremely small, somewhat crazy ultraleft sects.

A lot of Canadian groups are "lesser cousins" to their American counterparts. That's not true of the IS - but the IS is a Cliffite group (state capitalist), and the signs are that they're on a downward trend. If you see yourself as orthodox Trotskyist, I would say there isn't really a great option right now. What do you see as being most important to you in being part of a group?

[StoneFrog]

8. Yeah im currently in contact with a group from the CWI which is starting up in my area, from what i've heard, it seems the left is very stretched across Canada. But the most activity seems to be in the east of Canada, since im on the west coast there wasn't even a group for the CWI/Socialist Alternative until few weeks ago.

[Zanthorus]

There's also the International Bolshevik Tendency and the Trotskyist League. The former are ex-Sparts and the latter are current Sparts; both groups are extremely small, somewhat crazy ultraleft sects.

So that's why the IBT are some of the most agreeable Trots I've ever read :D

[graymouser]

So that's why the IBT are some of the most agreeable Trots I've ever read :D
Ha! Yeah, the IBT has always had a reputation as the "family friendly Sparts." But seriously the organization's taken a turn for the successively nastier over the last couple of decades, you can read http://regroupment.org/ for some stuff I don't really want to get into. (I know the guy behind this site, he's a really nice person but has been treated pretty badly by the IBT as he has documented.)