Ultra left?

[heyjoe]

im having trouble nailing down exactly what is referred to as the ultra left here. the definition of who or what it is seems to differ according to who is using it.

[El Oso Rojo]

Ultra left are people, who are more left wing than leninists, and are very anti electoral politics, anti vanguard, and etc. It does apply to maoist and etc are anti revionist and hate the USSR with a passion, and they are more revolutionary than the working class. Meaning, They do not mind blowing up shit even if it might hurt other people and not only sometimes, they can ended being supportive of imperialist action because they feel like a revolutionary country is so reaction, it must die.

[Tommy4ever]

Ultra left are people, who are more left wing than leninists, and are very anti electoral politics, anti vanguard, and etc. It does apply to maoist and etc are anti revionist and hate the USSR with a passion, and they are more revolutionary than the working class. Meaning, They do not mind blowing up shit even if it might hurt other people and not only sometimes, they can ended being supportive of imperialist action because they feel like a revolutionary country is so reaction, it must die.

Cool story bro.

[Zanthorus]

the definition of who or what it is seems to differ according to who is using it.

That would be because on Revleft and for most of the organised left as well 'ultra left' is usually used as a meaningless slur against anyone to the left of the speaker/writer (I've seen everyone from the ICL-FI to Pol Pot labelled as 'ultra left'). It can sometimes be used in a non-perjorative sense though to refer to certain groups to the Left of both the Third and Fourth International's, for example Gilles Dauve uses it this way in 'Leninism and the Ultra-Left (http://libcom.org/library/3-leninism-ultra-left)' to refer to the Dutch-German Left.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Don't listen to gennosserot. 'Ultra-left' is generally a slur for anyone left of Lenin - I have been called it with no real basis, so I'm starting to think its not such a bad thing really. As you can see from gennosserot's post, the term is full of misconceptions and elementary arguments from people that don't understand anything outside of their own ideology. Its best to ignore the phrase, unless you want to slag off anarchists/leftcoms/anyone left of Lenin (as if that's a bad thing).

[Hivemind]

Ultra left are people, who are more left wing than leninists, and are very anti electoral politics, anti vanguard, and etc. It does apply to maoist and etc are anti revionist and hate the USSR with a passion, and they are more revolutionary than the working class. Meaning, They do not mind blowing up shit even if it might hurt other people and not only sometimes, they can ended being supportive of imperialist action because they feel like a revolutionary country is so reaction, it must die.

:mad:

[Q]

There was a thread about this a while back (http://www.revleft.com/vb/whats-wrong-ultra-t154131/index.html?t=154131). In posts 27 and 38 I more or less explain my position.

[genstrike]

I find that I get called a "sectarian ultraleftist" a fair bit. Usually it's for something like:

* Being critical of the tactics of a progressive bureaucracy
* Pointing out that students and university administration have opposing interests most of the time
* Proposing that the main priority of the student union be organizing students
* Proposing running an independent slate against the entrenched "progressive" incumbents in a student union (who kicked me off their slate because I was "too political")
* Not wanting to vote for a Blairite party
* Being critical of a political party which raised my tuition and froze my wages
* Not wanting to vote to accept a contract that contains wage concessions for all but the most senior workers
* Questioning the state-sanctioned labour relations system
* Being a member of the IWW

Basically, often terms like "sectarian" and "ultraleftist" are often thrown around in left circles towards anyone that disagrees with you.

That said, I think there are some legitimate uses for them, though. Personally, I reserve "ultraleftist" for someone who claims to be a revolutionary but is so holier-than-thou that he refuses to do any political or union work because nothing is revolutionary enough for them.

[genstrike]

I should add - sometimes these terms are used by more social-democratic people in various movements as a form of red-baiting

[Die Rote Fahne]

The word ultra-left is irrelevant political speak, used by right wingers and Liberals, by liberals to distance themselves from the Marxists and other revolutionaries, and right wingers to fear monger about liberals and social demcorats.

You ask any Liberal or right winger what an ultra leftist is, and they will say commie.

[El Oso Rojo]

Don't listen to gennosserot. 'Ultra-left' is generally a slur for anyone left of Lenin - I have been called it with no real basis, so I'm starting to think its not such a bad thing really. As you can see from gennosserot's post, the term is full of misconceptions and elementary arguments from people that don't understand anything outside of their own ideology. Its best to ignore the phrase, unless you want to slag off anarchists/leftcoms/anyone left of Lenin (as if that's a bad thing).

I swear I said ETC, meaning leninist too.

[Octavian]

I always thought it was a slur used against someone who took their ideology to the logical extremes so that they seem more legitimate despite it being in the face of practicality or even possibility.

[Blake's Baby]

Left Communists, you mean? Or, as we're sometimes known. petit-bourgeois sectarian ultra-left deviationists?

[Feodor Augustus]

It was to the Third Period Communist Parties that the tag 'ultra-left' was first attached, and it generally means something like revolutionary in words, reformist in deeds, and sectarian in practice. Moreover, ultra-leftists are noted for mistaking defensive periods when the class is under attack for revolutionary periods - which was why much of the Stalinist left saw the 1930s as capitalisms final crisis.

It should not, however, be confused with what Lenin called the 'infantile disorder': left communism. This was one of the tendencies of the movement that was traditionally incorporated into the vanguard party, alongside right-communist tendencies. Ultra-leftism was, in effect, the degeneration of this principled opposition of tendencies within Communist Parties and its replacement with a one-size-fits-all ideological dogma - complete, of course, with its periodic twists and turns.