CWI India

[Beeth]

Is it advisable to join cwi, India? What are the benefits for members, if any?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Is it advisable to join cwi, India? What are the benefits for members, if any?

I have scant knowledge about this either direction but something I would think about would be what the CWI's position would be in the event of a Naxalite victory and what it would mean for your politically considering history of past such movements: would it bring you into potentially violent conflict?

Other than that I am not sure on their position but I heard good things.

[Q]

If you haven't yet, you can visit their website at http://socialism.in/

[Beeth]

Thanks, both. I've been to their site and corresponded, but I am not sure whether members have any benefits at all, or whether like most parties members will be 'used' to distribute leaflets or sing praises of dear leader. Are there cwi members from other nations who can shed more light?

[ind_com]

Is it advisable to join cwi, India? What are the benefits for members, if any?

Why the CWI, if you don't mind telling? Why not a Maoist organization, and why are you a Trot?

[Q]

Thanks, both. I've been to their site and corresponded, but I am not sure whether members have any benefits at all, or whether like most parties members will be 'used' to distribute leaflets or sing praises of dear leader. Are there cwi members from other nations who can shed more light?

I am a Dutch CWI member. Have been for the past 7 years (damn, time flies).

I'm not sure what you mean by "benefits". I general there are no perks, if that is what you're asking. And yes, some sacrifice in time/effort/money will be asked. But I'll need to refer to the Indian comrades for specific details in your situation.

About any praises we sing: Reverend Holy Spirited Comrade Peter Taaffe is all we sing to. Nah ;) We're pretty down to Earth type of folks, if I say so myself.

[Beeth]

I am a Dutch CWI member. Have been for the past 7 years (damn, time flies).

I'm not sure what you mean by "benefits". I general there are no perks, if that is what you're asking. And yes, some sacrifice in time/effort/money will be asked. But I'll need to refer to the Indian comrades for specific details in your situation.

About any praises we sing: Reverend Holy Spirited Comrade Peter Taaffe is all we sing to. Nah ;) We're pretty down to Earth type of folks, if I say so myself.

What type of activities do you folks do, usually? In many 'communist' parties here, the naive do all the heavy lifting while the guys on the top reap the benefits. It is a typical pyramid system. No one likes to be used.

[Beeth]

Why the CWI, if you don't mind telling? Why not a Maoist organization, and why are you a Trot?

Naxalites are branded terrorists. Besides, one isn't ideologically close to Maoism.

[ind_com]

Naxalites are branded terrorists. LOL. Point taken.

[Q]

What type of activities do you folks do, usually? In many 'communist' parties here, the naive do all the heavy lifting while the guys on the top reap the benefits. It is a typical pyramid system. No one likes to be used.

There are campaigns, branch meetings, schools, participation in or organising of protests. Again, the details vary by section and I'm not fully aware what the Indian CWI comrades are up to.

[Beeth]

There are campaigns, branch meetings, schools, participation in or organising of protests. Again, the details vary by section and I'm not fully aware what the Indian CWI comrades are up to.

I spoke to one, and the only thing they do is protest for the sake of protesting. There is simply no agenda, no plan, only whining. No wonder leftists are irrelevant. Imagine a working guy struggling for hours at the workplace - these worthies then expect him to go protest against something totally unrelated to his life and situation. In short, the guy has to be a selfless do-gooder even though his own life sucks.

[Ostrinski]

You could join and work to steer the organization in a more positive direction.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

I am in the CWI. I cannot tell you what we do in India. I do know that we are playing a pivotal role in the miner's strike in South Africa. We are very active in Nigeria and we have a branch in Pakistan who are organizing under very difficult and dangerous conditions.

Much of what socialists do is organize. We sell papers as a means of fundraising, building the organisation (this dates back to Lenin and Iskra and the early Pravda, a long tradition in the socialist movement), and intervening in labor disputes. Socialists hope to provide a means of self organisation of the working class.

As I understand our Indian comrades are not all that great about updating their website (surprising given India's huge presence on the Web).If it helps our Pakistani and Sri Lankan comrades are more web oriented.

Pakistan

http://socialistpakistan.org/

Sri Lanka

http://www.lankasocialist.com/

I feel we are doing very important work in these countries.


Tamil solidarity
http://www.tamilsolidarity.org/

India

http://socialism.in/

edit: The CWI India website has improved and I feel its pretty good.

[Beeth]

What about politics? Do you see cwi participating in electoral politics in the future? Or does it brush it aside as bourgeois?

[ind_com]

They don't have enough members for that.

[Q]

What about politics? Do you see cwi participating in electoral politics in the future? Or does it brush it aside as bourgeois?

In several countries there is participation, either directly or by campaigning under another candidate. In the US, at the recent presidential elections, a CWI member got 28% of the vote (http://votesawant.org/). That link also gives a good view of how the CWI views elections and on what type of programme.

[Leo]

Why not a Maoist organization, and why are you a Trot?

You know, probably you gave a better answer to that question than he did. Because he's a Trot, obviously, he isn't going to consider a Maoist organization.

An even better answer would be for him to repeat that he didn't want to be used to do the heavy lifting or sing praises of dear leader.

Of course, he would be used in a Trotskyist organization as much as he would be in a Maoist organization. Yet probably he wouldn't have to die for it as well along the way.

[ind_com]

You know, probably you gave a better answer to that question than he did. Because he's a Trot, obviously, he isn't going to consider a Maoist organization.

An even better answer would be for him to repeat that he didn't want to be used to do the heavy lifting or sing praises of dear leader.

Of course, he would be used in a Trotskyist organization as much as he would be in a Maoist organization. Yet probably he wouldn't have to die for it as well along the way.

Thank you for your extremely informative and useful post.

[BOZG]

You haven't really described what the benefits you expect are?

[Vanguard1917]

In the US, at the recent presidential elections, a CWI member got 28% of the vote (http://votesawant.org/).

Why wasn't this in the news? A few more votes and she would have beat Obama. ;)

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Why wasn't this in the news? A few more votes and she would have beat Obama. ;)

Actually that 28% represents a candidate in a state congressional election.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Naxalites are branded terrorists. Besides, one isn't ideologically close to Maoism.

I don't think it would be good to turn this into another Trotskyism Vs Maoism thread, so I'll try to send you some good info about Maoism through private messages so this thread can remain un-derailed.

[Prometeo liberado]

I am a Dutch CWI member. Have been for the past 7 years (damn, time flies).

I'm not sure what you mean by "benefits". I general there are no perks, if that is what you're asking. And yes, some sacrifice in time/effort/money will be asked. But I'll need to refer to the Indian comrades for specific details in your situation.

About any praises we sing: Reverend Holy Spirited Comrade Peter Taaffe is all we sing to. Nah ;) We're pretty down to Earth type of folks, if I say so myself.

TBH I have tried working with Trots on an off again and it just keeps ending up in some reformist quagmire. Solidarity was the last group of intellectual ne'er do wells that I put up with and that was a debacle. Lots of talk and piggy backin' and no actual street work. So what makes the CWI different? Not being funny but there just seems to be a common thread of non-activism amongst the Trots. Thoughts?

[Q]

TBH I have tried working with Trots on an off again and it just keeps ending up in some reformist quagmire. Solidarity was the last group of intellectual ne'er do wells that I put up with and that was a debacle. Lots of talk and piggy backin' and no actual street work. So what makes the CWI different? Not being funny but there just seems to be a common thread of non-activism amongst the Trots. Thoughts?

You may criticize the CWI for its programme or theory, but "streetactivism" isn't one of those critique points. I could put up a long, very long, photo collage of street demonstrations around the world where the CWI has played a big, if not vital, role, but instead I just refer to the CWI main site (http://www.socialistworld.net/) for that info. Shouldn't be hard to find.

[Prometeo liberado]

You may criticize the CWI for its programme or theory, but "streetactivism" isn't one of those critique points. I could put up a long, very long, photo collage of street demonstrations around the world where the CWI has played a big, if not vital, role, but instead I just refer to the CWI main site (http://www.socialistworld.net/) for that info. Shouldn't be hard to find.

My bad forgot the SA is CWI. There is such a thing as counterproductive street work, sadly.

[Ostrinski]

Comrade, Kshama Sawant got 29% of the vote in a congressional election for House of Representatives in Washington, 43rd Legislative District, which is Seattle.

In my opinion this is a large victory because that is a lot by US standards (the best a left wing candidate has ever done in the US presidential elections was 1912, Eugene Debs got 6% vs. Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft). I wish other socialist groups had gotten behind her more, but what can you do.

[Drosophila]

Socialist Alt. does a lot of street work. Can't say it's particularly fruitful or that I agree with the majority of their positions, but yeah.

[Crux]

I spoke to one, and the only thing they do is protest for the sake of protesting. There is simply no agenda, no plan, only whining. No wonder leftists are irrelevant. Imagine a working guy struggling for hours at the workplace - these worthies then expect him to go protest against something totally unrelated to his life and situation. In short, the guy has to be a selfless do-gooder even though his own life sucks.
Actually I don't have to imagine. That's what many of our comrades do.
That you describe it as "whining" and that you claim that we have no program, as well as some of the other posts I have seen by you, suggest you'd probably need to clarify your political perspective a bit more before joining. Or perhaps I should say, before you'd be allowed to join. So indeed if you would like to learn more do keep in touch with New Soc. Alt.

[Manulearning]

Which part of India you live in ?
They are concentrated in South. You can get their newspapers they started taking out about 2 years back and also Marxism Today. They have their brief history in that, will perhaps shed some light on their activities.
As for Trotskyist movement in India, it is very weak in whole of South Asia and that too divided into many factions. There are few in Kolkata region, and in Gujarat perhaps. One of their group has started taking out a Hindi magazine recently with one issue out, by the name 'New International'. Also Aakar Books are printing out quite a few good books on Trotsky and by trotskyists. It is a good publications with many good titles on Marxism.