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Amos U.Y.
20th April 2012, 23:00
Hello there comrades,


I've written the title and have the idea clear in mind but translating it to the blank screen is causing me some difficulty so forgive if you will the bad style or even vague message but basically:

The supposed centre-left, we can (probably) all agree, is no left at all, heartily embracing neo-liberal capitalist ideology to the core thus in the US; the Democrats (blue instead of red, who knew,) in the UK; Labour and in Italy PD who logo I'm sure all English readers will find reminiscent of the logo for PG tips.

In any case we then have the plethora of trade unions which are economist at best, and simply put capitalist stooges at worst.

Finally we come to us, the revolutionary left, a more divided grouping I doubt has ever graced the long history of the world. Thus firstly we have the non-revolutionary left: the "Communist" parties without any revolutionary element.
Then we have Marxist-Leninists, Marxists, Leninists, Maoists, Anarchists, Trotskyites, Stalinists, etc, etc, etc and we could go on for days naming the various supposed tendencies.

And now is the even better part, even then there are divisions and tendencies amidst the sub groups already.

Now to the point: if we can't even unite within ourselves, through coherent discussion, not uniting for the sake of unity (as in not to turn the revolutionary movement into a moderate one) but for the sake of action.

The time is more than ripe. Throughout the world protests have been and are kicking off but the protests are not social democratic in character but purely spontaneous. Once again we are trailing on the coat tails of the movement instead of being at the forefront and that applies to all of us, every single damn one.

If you're like me you feel disarrayed, disillusioned but probably more than that I feel that once again the question that must be asked is What is to be done?
The circumstances are better than ever, the opportunities overflowing, the working class is angry, the less well off middle class is angry but where is the revolutionary left's momentum, nay even presence?

If we can't even unite amongst ourselves how can we expect a population to unite with us, in our respective countries, for revolutionary change?

Can common cause be made or can it not? Is there no common ground?

A couple of common-ish grounds in my book are:


Working to highlight all issues of injustice, discrimination, economic problems etc, but in a social democratic light.
Working with the working class as well as engaging in dialogue with all other classes and shining the spotlight on issues that effect them as well.
Democracy in the movement but not to the extent that the core precepts are negated.
Anti-capitalism.
Anti-authoritarianism, and anti-state capitalism/bureau-kleptocracy.
Commitment to revolution as opposed to reformism and it's cousin economism.
Neither idealising nor marginalising the working class but working united with them, highlighting not just working class issues but all pressing political and economic issues.


Now I'm sure in what I've written and the list there are objectionable elements however I think it is worth stimulating discussion towards unity rather than these damned tedious continuous internecine struggles that really do the ruling capitalist classes job for them. In such a state what threat are we...



A.

Rusty Shackleford
21st April 2012, 10:20
there are common grounds and grounds where people in the past have killed eachother over.



there are some serious differences in ideology in the way of practice and understanding that make for some irreconcilable differences.


you might see, on occasion, a 'hoxhist' and an Anarchist agreeing on a point, but if it were spain (which is basically the point im trying to make, its just a clusterfuck) they'd be killing eachother no matter how much they 'believed' in revolution.

roy
21st April 2012, 11:02
In a revolutionary situation, the proletariat will liberate itself regardless of whether or not the 'Left' is united. Or it won't, either way irreconcilable differences and all that.

Philosopher Jay
22nd April 2012, 04:53
We can all agree to unite behind a Socialist program, we just can't agree what a Socialist program is.
Perhaps we should embrace the diversity of socialist thought. It ranges from utopian plans to set up small artists communes to return to nature for aesthetic projects to plans for world unification and scientific organization to bring universal justice and an end to all capitalist exploitation.

Tim Finnegan
22nd April 2012, 19:21
You want unity, you need something concrete to unite around. That something is the class struggle, which the majority of the contemporary "left" is wholly peripheral to, and all the good will in the world isn't going to change that.

SpiritiualMarxist
24th April 2012, 04:16
You want unity, you need something concrete to unite around. That something is the class struggle, which the majority of the contemporary "left" is wholly peripheral to, and all the good will in the world isn't going to change that.

That is true but the OP isn't talking about what I believe you are referring to as a contemporary left. I think he's talking about the majority of people on this boards and the people like them on the ground who do have class struggle in their minds. As far as that, I do see plenty of hope in that especially in the occupy movement where I've seen RCP march with PSL march with ISO march with Anarchist etc. So, I see hope in that sense but what seems to be the problem is that when seeking to educate and radicalize the general public, the left seem largely like a clusterfuck to a proletariate. While conversely, social democrats seem way more appealing because they can unite around a common message thats actually relevant to their lives in the present.

I think a big reason why there was even socialistic minded revolution throughout the 1900s is because there wasn't so many different takes on ideologies and those that were different still had the back of USSR. Now, thankfully, I don't think we need to back USSR or any current quasi-socialistic state, but we do have to present a unified message to the general public.

There's no way we can change the facts of the differences but I do think that we all can at least unite around the common goal of liberating the working class through mass struggle. I think if we all can somehow come together and present that as our message, it would be helpful in winning folks over to our collective struggle.

Jimmie Higgins
24th April 2012, 09:05
You want unity, you need something concrete to unite around. That something is the class struggle, which the majority of the contemporary "left" is wholly peripheral to, and all the good will in the world isn't going to change that.Other than the pessimistic tone of the last clause* there, I think this is 100% correct.

It's hard to have real organic unity if there is no center of gravity around which to unify. Right now in the absence of major class struggle and workers movements, left-groups basically rally around sets of ideas or "affinities" - since all these grouping don't agree on these ideas, they couldn't have a real unity based around ideas. Therefore, it would take a real material force, a workers movement, for people to find some real unity around. Then differences in ideas about the way forward could be argued out in the movements and maybe settled through the movements and in practice.

Ruling class organizations and parties have opposed ideas and heated divisions, but, aside from periods of sharp crisis, at the end of the day democrats/republicans or labor/cons can put their differences aside and find unity when it is called for. This is because they have a much more hegemonic and organized class and the ideas of that class to rally around.

*I think what I might disagree with what you are suggesting is that the subjective actions of the contemporary left can't re-connect radical politics to the class. If you are saying that good-will among various tendencies alone won't change the fact that radical politics have been removed from the working class, then I agree.

ckaihatsu
24th April 2012, 10:18
[S]ocial democrats seem way more appealing because they can unite around a common message thats actually relevant to their lives in the present.


Yeah, the mainstream reformist politicians are appealing in the way that *vampires* "have their shit together", and they communicate a clear, unified message with their rhetoric while secretly draining your livelihood and life away.