Comrades are a bunch of creeps?

[blake 3:17]

What do you do? In the past while, I've realized a bunch of comrades and/or fellow travellers (the organizational lines are blurry) are people I don't want anything to do with.

In most cases, it's not a question of anyone doing anything so awful, just being jerks and after knowing them for more than fifteen years I just don't want anything to do with them.

I realize I'm a fair bit older than others here, and been part of the revolutionary left in the same milieu for much longer, and my patience has just totally run out. I am not anti-intellectual or anti-academic, but I am pissed at a number of academic Marxists who love to tell workers -- like myself -- how to organize, while pulling in very high salaries and having very selective senses of solidarity.

There is a painful personal dimension to it, but it also feels really good cutting some of these folks off. I don't like feeling like someone's lab rat.

Others?

[ckaihatsu]

What do you do? In the past while, I've realized a bunch of comrades and/or fellow travellers (the organizational lines are blurry) are people I don't want anything to do with.

In most cases, it's not a question of anyone doing anything so awful, just being jerks and after knowing them for more than fifteen years I just don't want anything to do with them.

I realize I'm a fair bit older than others here, and been part of the revolutionary left in the same milieu for much longer, and my patience has just totally run out. I am not anti-intellectual or anti-academic, but I am pissed at a number of academic Marxists who love to tell workers -- like myself -- how to organize, while pulling in very high salaries and having very selective senses of solidarity.

There is a painful personal dimension to it, but it also feels really good cutting some of these folks off. I don't like feeling like someone's lab rat.

Others?


Maybe consider it as unsolicited, unpaid professional advice....

[bcbm]

What do you do?

i dont actively associate with anyone who i would consider pro-revolutionary

[Jimmie Higgins]

I have friends, I have comrades who are friends, and comrades who are comrades.

I don't know, it's not such an issue for me. If I don't like someone personally in a coalition or in my own group, then as long as I can have a working relationship with them (assuming that any friction is just personality, not some political difference causing an inability to collaborate) then it's not a problem and I just don't socialize with them.

[black magick hustla]

one of the benefits of being in a rightwing white redneck city is the lack of moonbats and therefore forcing myself to make other sorts of friends...,.,.,

[black magick hustla]

edit: nvm

[blake 3:17]

It's a question of blinding myself for a long time out of some sense of loyalty or dedication to a larger goal.

There's an annual provincial report of public servants who receive salaries over $100,000 a year. A number of people in my milieu shared it on FaceBook and a few "comrades" are pissed. Guess they didn't want us knowing they were making a 130K while on sabbatical...

Today I got asked to spend the August long weekend doing unpaid child care for a group I haven't been a member of some for some years. Is this really what these socialists think a child care worker should be doing with their one break in the summer?

I dunno. Been at this shit too long. Enuff.

[ckaihatsu]

It's a question of blinding myself for a long time out of some sense of loyalty or dedication to a larger goal.

There's an annual provincial report of public servants who receive salaries over $100,000 a year. A number of people in my milieu shared it on FaceBook and a few "comrades" are pissed. Guess they didn't want us knowing they were making a 130K while on sabbatical...

Today I got asked to spend the August long weekend doing unpaid child care for a group I haven't been a member of some for some years. Is this really what these socialists think a child care worker should be doing with their one break in the summer?

I dunno. Been at this shit too long. Enuff.


Maybe also keep in mind that personal stuff is small-scale while the matters of politics are necessarily large-scale.

[blake 3:17]

My sweetheart may have become a Trot after being a liberal social democrat all her life. Finally meeting Billy Bragg a couple nights ago may have done more than I did. I did recruit a Luxemburgist friend to the CP earlier this year. I told them I wanted a cut of her dues...

Been listening to Nas a lot and his song Sly Fox -- "The only black man they like is in jail or a dead one" -- hard not to think some of the champagne socialists aren't all that far from Bill O'Reilly.

Death to the bureacrats! Fuck the police! Amandla!

[blake 3:17]

Maybe also keep in mind that personal stuff is small-scale while the matters of politics are necessarily large-scale.

But for some of these folks it's always always the Big Picture and never the Little Ones.

The activists I admire and will continue to work with attend to the needs of individuals and communities, and not just some BS "socialism". In the labour movement, it's basic stewarding, resisting injustice, standing up to actual bosses, bigots and scabs, not just spouting rhetoric about how everyone else does it wrong and we need a General Strike Now.

Anyways, time to move. Sometimes there are moments of clarification and this last bit has been one. I tend to think the best of people & can take it too personally when they turn out to be less than what I thought they were.

[Ravachol]

Guess i'm gonna be the contrarian here: while the stereotype of some leftist creeps/bores you paint is pretty prevalent in the 'organized left', to be honest I've found a lot of pro-revs (admittedly, I don't consider what passes for 'the left' to be pro-revs) to be very agreeable folks actually. A lot of my friends are either pro-revs or sympathetic to the general sentiment and most of those I've found to be way more laid back than your average neurosis-stricken liberal, conservative of run off the mill trot.

[ckaihatsu]

But for some of these folks it's always always the Big Picture and never the Little Ones.

The activists I admire and will continue to work with attend to the needs of individuals and communities, and not just some BS "socialism". In the labour movement, it's basic stewarding, resisting injustice, standing up to actual bosses, bigots and scabs, not just spouting rhetoric about how everyone else does it wrong and we need a General Strike Now.

Anyways, time to move. Sometimes there are moments of clarification and this last bit has been one. I tend to think the best of people & can take it too personally when they turn out to be less than what I thought they were.


Certainly, but, as one who happens to be more theoretical-minded myself, there *is* an objective need for at least *some* to consistently deal with the more-macroscopic side of things -- otherwise, who will -- ?

Dealing with the 'little picture' may be of expedient necessity, but if that's all anyone does, there will *never* be revolution and an end to capitalism.

I'd rather see the masses 'on the same page' of 'general strike' then ushering in socialism, than having to endlessly repeat the same ground-level battles against bigots and scabs, the bosses, etc.

Best with it, regardless.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

It's a question of blinding myself for a long time out of some sense of loyalty or dedication to a larger goal.

There's an annual provincial report of public servants who receive salaries over $100,000 a year. A number of people in my milieu shared it on FaceBook and a few "comrades" are pissed. Guess they didn't want us knowing they were making a 130K while on sabbatical...

Today I got asked to spend the August long weekend doing unpaid child care for a group I haven't been a member of some for some years. Is this really what these socialists think a child care worker should be doing with their one break in the summer?

I dunno. Been at this shit too long. Enuff.

I think you need to look at the class composition of your organization.

Ideologically speaking, these people may be communist. However it seems that these "comrades" of yours are either petty bourgeois or labor aristocrats. While they aren't necessarily reactionary, a class oriented party would do good to exclude these elements from it's membership.

[blake 3:17]

I think you need to look at the class composition of your organization.

Ideologically speaking, these people may be communist. However it seems that these "comrades" of yours are either petty bourgeois or labor aristocrats. While they aren't necessarily reactionary, a class oriented party would do good to exclude these elements from it's membership.

I think why I am so pissed is that a number of them are people who have written extensively against the very existence of the labour aristocracy. It's also folks I been friends with for 15 odd years and am fucking fed up.

I've other left friends in academia and in the labour bureaucracy who are completely honest and aware of the contradictions they're in.

There's a fair number of Marxist academics who try to explain away their dual role by 1) claiming academia is freer than the bureaucracy and 2) they're still exploited as workers so we're all workers, so... It's just like fuck off. I get paid to wipe noses and change diapers and haul garbage, and they're making 7 times annually to discuss theory of value. Fine. Whatever. Just be honest about it. It's the dishonesty that makes my skin crawl.

I was discussing this with the buddy who recruited me to Marxism in the early 90s, who is an academic (not a professional Marxist one), and he was talking about getting ready to hurl about some online discussion in England where 'radical ontology' had taught folks like Richard Seymour that there were three social classes in England. WTF? This is a fucking scam.

My response was my radical ontology taught me there are two classes: decent people and friggin assholes. His was more nuanced: decent people, friggin assholes, and friggin assholes you have to work with.

I had my first book published a year and half ago -- not gonna promote it here for privacy's sake -- but did a comparison to one of the academic Marxists I'm pissed at and it had higher sales and more reviews on Good Reads so fuck em.

Thanks for letting me rant. My friends are getting tired of it...

[blake 3:17]

Guess i'm gonna be the contrarian here: while the stereotype of some leftist creeps/bores you paint is pretty prevalent in the 'organized left', to be honest I've found a lot of pro-revs (admittedly, I don't consider what passes for 'the left' to be pro-revs) to be very agreeable folks actually. A lot of my friends are either pro-revs or sympathetic to the general sentiment and most of those I've found to be way more laid back than your average neurosis-stricken liberal, conservative of run off the mill trot.

I was about to claim I'd be doing this stuff for 25 years, but checked the calendar but it's 21 and a bit.

And a couple of people I'm pissed at I've been in the same meetings with since 1992 or 3, and they drove me crazy then, and drive me crazy now.

My usual thought is that they should smoke a blunt and/or get laid & then I think why am listening to this fuckwad and not smoking a blunt and/or getting laid?

U katz have saved me so much $$$$$$$$$$$ in therapy. Thanks

[PC LOAD LETTER]

Well, that solves it, then, blake. Go smoke a blunt and get laid.

[Art Vandelay]

Well, that solves it, then, blake. Go smoke a blunt and get laid.

By far the best advice yet.

[black magick hustla]

Guess i'm gonna be the contrarian here: while the stereotype of some leftist creeps/bores you paint is pretty prevalent in the 'organized left', to be honest I've found a lot of pro-revs (admittedly, I don't consider what passes for 'the left' to be pro-revs) to be very agreeable folks actually. A lot of my friends are either pro-revs or sympathetic to the general sentiment and most of those I've found to be way more laid back than your average neurosis-stricken liberal, conservative of run off the mill trot.

some of my best friends were pro-revs. we went to the same shitty basement dj parties and drank from the same wine bottles. sometimes friendship is really political imo

[cynicles]

My sweetheart may have become a Trot after being a liberal social democrat all her life. Finally meeting Billy Bragg a couple nights ago may have done more than I did. I did recruit a Luxemburgist friend to the CP earlier this year. I told them I wanted a cut of her dues...

Been listening to Nas a lot and his song Sly Fox -- "The only black man they like is in jail or a dead one" -- hard not to think some of the champagne socialists aren't all that far from Bill O'Reilly.

Death to the bureacrats! Fuck the police! Amandla!

The seem to enjoy that black man in the whitehouse a lot. Lol identity politics to the extreme. But that's getting off topic. I always say fuck it to these official communist parties, waste of time. Don't need to be a part of them to confirm your ideological commitment to the cause and get a lot more done doing ground and agitating. Most of these organizations would like to think of themselves as the next revolutionary party but let's be honest they ain't shit, they'll drift into the bowels of history forgotten. Whatever revolutionary party becomes the centre of the revolution ain't here yet and it definately ain't them. It don't matter how many excuses they make for themselves.

[Brutus]

Do what you think is best. Throw courtesy to the wind. Be incredibly blunt.

[blake 3:17]

Do what you think is best. Throw courtesy to the wind. Be incredibly blunt.

Have been. It feels good & right. Maybe have stepped on a few toes.

Some of it might be a Canadian thing. The stereotype of us being overly polite is a true one and an unfortunate effect for the radical and revolutionary Left is that antisocial or simply irritating/annoying individuals end up dominating groups because nobody tells them to fuck off already.

One very dynamic activist group, which I wasn't a member of but a friend/supporter, has fallen apart in the last couple of years because of one person that everyone else is too polite to ask to leave.

[ckaihatsu]

The seem to enjoy that black man in the whitehouse a lot. Lol identity politics to the extreme. But that's getting off topic. I always say fuck it to these official communist parties, waste of time. Don't need to be a part of them to confirm your ideological commitment to the cause and get a lot more done doing ground and agitating.




Most of these organizations would like to think of themselves as the next revolutionary party but let's be honest they ain't shit, they'll drift into the bowels of history forgotten. Whatever revolutionary party becomes the centre of the revolution ain't here yet and it definately ain't them. It don't matter how many excuses they make for themselves.


It's tough in that, under existing conditions, there needs to be some degree of organization and therefore institutionalizing of revolutionary politics, as for purposes of journalism, analysis, and strategy.

And we all know the vicissitudes of institutions. For now it's an unavoidable constraint.

[Crixus]

i dont actively associate with anyone who i would consider pro-revolutionary
I wouldn't necessarily say that's a positive thing. Not to say we should all join Bob Avakian's party and get tribal but there's something to be said for sitting in a bar full of communists having a beer. I think you'd enjoy the experience.

[MP5]

One of my best friends was a Stalinist actually. He was a really cool guy and was often too generous with his money and drugs. He did have a problem being around the crowd i used to hang out with as they where alot rougher then what he was used to. He would have gotten a smacking up one night had i not been there to cool everyone the fuck down. But he always was the best kind of fella

I have other friends who are Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, M-L-M, Luxemburgist, Trotskyist and Anarcho-Communist. They are a hell of alot more fun to be around then fascists or conservatives that's for sure. I would much rather discuss politics with fellow comrades over a few beers and some joints rather then do whatever it is conservatives do. I dunno i guess neo-cons sit home and drink soda and play chess :laugh:

[Slippers]

I tend to get on well with people who're socialists. I do have a friend who's views are somewhat similar to my own. I also have a "Communist" friend, though... he may be a bit of a "tankie", though not in the most terrible sense and he's sweet and means well.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Yeah, that shit sounds rough. Honestly, I'm of the opinion that being straight up with people (and I guess it sounds like that was the route you took) is the best way to save any friendships that are worth saving. I mean, realistically, withholding principled criticism is mutually destructive insofar as a) you have to keep putting up with their bullshit and b) they remain unaware or unconcerned with it. Plus, w/r/t micro/macro questions, forms of organization that are shaped by shitty dynamics (academiarchy?) will ultimately produce shitty theory, and, consequently counterproductive practice.

[blake 3:17]

Yeah, that shit sounds rough. Honestly, I'm of the opinion that being straight up with people (and I guess it sounds like that was the route you took) is the best way to save any friendships that are worth saving. I mean, realistically, withholding principled criticism is mutually destructive insofar as a) you have to keep putting up with their bullshit and b) they remain unaware or unconcerned with it. Plus, w/r/t micro/macro questions, forms of organization that are shaped by shitty dynamics (academiarchy?) will ultimately produce shitty theory, and, consequently counterproductive practice.


I've talked it over in less pissed off form with a few folks and they've mostly agreed started agreeing with me, if hesitantly. Some of the worst stuff is most seemingly innocent -- insistence on "democracy", "continuing the discussion", being "attentive to the complexity of oppression" -- those things are fine and good on one level, but when they are used to prevent people from making meaningful decisions or keeping discussions so circular nobody knows wtf is being talked about, it's not helpful.

VMC, I'm just gonna bring this up because I respect you, and we seem to have some similar thoughts even if we may disagree on whatever, but it's like the "rape supporter" stuff. Within movement organizations here and within a social circle that I've a bunch a friends in that's pretty apolitical, there's been some really really fucked up sexual abuse stuff that's happened and some people are trying to do right and others are trying to ignore it for whatever reasons. When "rape supporter" crap gets thrown into the mix it makes it all so effed up. It's like saying everyone is an "imperialism supporter" because they have clothes made in sweat shops or didn't protest a war. Well maybe, but whatever.

These are not ways to deal with immediate problems, not ways to deal with ongoing problems/contradictions, or ways to build movements that kick some racist capitalist imperialist ass.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I've talked it over in less pissed off form with a few folks and they've mostly agreed started agreeing with me, if hesitantly. Some of the worst stuff is most seemingly innocent -- insistence on "democracy", "continuing the discussion", being "attentive to the complexity of oppression" -- those things are fine and good on one level, but when they are used to prevent people from making meaningful decisions or keeping discussions so circular nobody knows wtf is being talked about, it's not helpful.

VMC, I'm just gonna bring this up because I respect you, and we seem to have some similar thoughts even if we may disagree on whatever, but it's like the "rape supporter" stuff. Within movement organizations here and within a social circle that I've a bunch a friends in that's pretty apolitical, there's been some really really fucked up sexual abuse stuff that's happened and some people are trying to do right and others are trying to ignore it for whatever reasons. When "rape supporter" crap gets thrown into the mix it makes it all so effed up. It's like saying everyone is an "imperialism supporter" because they have clothes made in sweat shops or didn't protest a war. Well maybe, but whatever.

These are not ways to deal with immediate problems, not ways to deal with ongoing problems/contradictions, or ways to build movements that kick some racist capitalist imperialist ass.

I think it's definitely a tension. On one hand, I maintain that it's necessary to start from a place of seeing our own and our comrades' complicities with imperialism, with rape culture, etc. On the other hand, I think that recognizing that complicity comes with a certain political obligation to deal with it, and not simply to denounce everyone for falling short of the glory of god (to pick another reference point for similar attitudes). So, is running around calling everyone a rape supporter a useful way of dealing with more or less ubiquitous rape support (in terms of not believing survivors, in terms of who gets to stay in spaces and who's pushed out, etc.)? Probably not. I mean, one might as well be speaking esperanto on principle, since most people will hear "rape supporter" and react more or less the same way they react when you say, for example, that they're racist. Naming these things can be useful, but, realistically, I think situations tend to need long term approaches, and not just one off "Fuck you!"s.

I feel like there's a longer conversation to be had here, but I want to avoid talking about personal experience in too much depth in this thread. That said, this might be of interest:

http://libcom.org/library/betrayal-critical-analysis-rape-culture-anarchist-subcultures

(Written by some v. close friends)

[blake 3:17]

I like the end of that pamphlet. Call a rapist a rapist. That's how it should be.

[Delenda Carthago]

It's a question of blinding myself for a long time out of some sense of loyalty or dedication to a larger goal.

There's an annual provincial report of public servants who receive salaries over $100,000 a year. A number of people in my milieu shared it on FaceBook and a few "comrades" are pissed. Guess they didn't want us knowing they were making a 130K while on sabbatical...

This is one thing, and you are PROBABLY right.



Today I got asked to spend the August long weekend doing unpaid child care for a group I haven't been a member of some for some years. Is this really what these socialists think a child care worker should be doing with their one break in the summer?

This is another. I dont know the specific details, but in general, if you are a worker, and you struggle to create a new world, lazyness and denying to do what your organisation asks you to are things that you need to forget. It is an honour to enforce your class. And this is coming from someone that lives somewhere where class struggle is probably 10 times more demanding.


I dunno. Been at this shit too long. Enuff.
And some times, you just need to take a short break. Thats not bad either.

[DasFapital]

I've lately wanted to meet more with some fellow leftists in person. Being around people I am hesitant to express my actual opinions around is getting kinda old. However, I have a paranoid fantasy I will just find myself with avakianites and MaoistRebelNews and just feel more uncomfortable than I do around conservatives and the like.

[blake 3:17]

This is another. I dont know the specific details, but in general, if you are a worker, and you struggle to create a new world, lazyness and denying to do what your organisation asks you to are things that you need to forget. It is an honour to enforce your class. And this is coming from someone that lives somewhere where class struggle is probably 10 times more demanding.

Hahahaha -- no this is from a group I was in for about 7 or 8 years and quit about 8 years ago. They just can't find anyone else and too lazy to try to find anyone else.

I haven't had proper housing since a fire 2 1/2 years ago and the people who asked me to do this are home owners. Many of them have household incomes in the 250k bracket. My annual income is between 12 and 20k working multiple jobs. After the fire these former comrades gave me exactly one copy of one of their books and another bought me a coffee.

So....

Enuff. I don't fall for it anymore.

[Brutus]

They don't sound like comrades.

[slum]

Many of them have household incomes in the 250k bracket


holy wtf

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Many of them have household incomes in the 250k bracket.
:blink:

[bcbm]

I wouldn't necessarily say that's a positive thing.

didnt say it was, just what it is.


Not to say we should all join Bob Avakian's party and get tribal but there's something to be said for sitting in a bar full of communists having a beer. I think you'd enjoy the experience.

i have enjoyed that particular experience plenty of times, in fact.

[Starship Stormtrooper]

Many of them have household incomes in the 250k bracket.

Wow, I thought my family's 50k income was bad :blink:. From what they sound like, you should definitely find another group or take a long break and see if you still want to continue agitation.

[Ravachol]

This is another. I dont know the specific details, but in general, if you are a worker, and you struggle to create a new world, lazyness and denying to do what your organisation asks you to are things that you need to forget. It is an honour to enforce your class. And this is coming from someone that lives somewhere where class struggle is probably 10 times more demanding.

You sound like a fucking christian missionary flagellating himself...

[vizzek]

This is another. I dont know the specific details, but in general, if you are a worker, and you struggle to create a new world, lazyness and denying to do what your organisation asks you to are things that you need to forget. It is an honour to enforce your class. And this is coming from someone that lives somewhere where class struggle is probably 10 times more demanding.

workers of the world: get back to work!

[blake 3:17]

They don't sound like comrades.

No they're not.

Makes me wanna do a drive by. Anyways -- might've exagerated on the 250 -- more like 175 - 200 plus the property. Depends on whom.

Anyways, they are very good at knowing people shouldn't listen to homophobic rap music unless it was made by Palestinians or Mohawks. Then it's cool.

See I wouldn't even give these fuckers a chance but I've known these folks for 20 years. The person I'm most pissed at comes out of IS/SWP & was fucking with the small group of us of from the FI who weren't an organized group at all, just people with principles and was blaming us for not staying in the New Socialist Group longer.

I've fucking taken Nazis out with bricks to the head. I don't have time for the fucking wankers.

The one leader of the NSG I give props to is Dave McNally -- brother's for real and does real honest work. He's used his class privilege to defend people fucked up by the system.

Other people here sometimes hate on Judy Rebick but she's a real sister and takes risks and stands up for people. If it weren't for her, John Clarke would be doing serious time.

Other little shits that want to accomodate the 'Black Bloc' or the real militants or wtf whatever bullshit can go fuck themselves. Solidarity to them is having a correct analysis the exact nature of the labour bureaucracy. Fuck off.

[blake 3:17]

Wow, I thought my family's 50k income was bad :blink:. From what they sound like, you should definitely find another group or take a long break and see if you still want to continue agitation.

They head their group(s).

[blake 3:17]

Thing is there's nothing else. IMT? Stupid. Local CWI? Won't be in the same room. Socialist Action? Barry Weisleder's biggest joke on the Left. IS? Definitively pro-Martin Smith anti-feminist, beyond everything else. RCP? Illiterate. Sparts? No comment needed.

All that's left is the CP which is probably the best of the bunch. Hard to get excited about.

There's a couple of anarchist groups that have cool people in them, but they see me as a total sell out social democrat, and I don't need to deal with that either.

Time for an extended break.

[Jimmie Higgins]

The one leader of the NSG I give props to is Dave McNally -- brother's for real and does real honest work. He's used his class privilege to defend people fucked up by the system.It's silly to say, but I'm glad to read that - he was the first leftist/writer I thought of when I began reading your thread.

[blake 3:17]

It's silly to say, but I'm glad to read that - he was the first leftist/writer I thought of when I began reading your thread.

I have full respect for David. He walks the walk and uses his class privileges to further the cause. He's posted bail for lots of people and acted as a surety for a G20 defendant who was essentially under house arrest at McNally's place. That brother's for real.

[blake 3:17]

What does he do for a living or where did he get his money?

He's a tenured prof at York University. His salary was $145,422.41 last year (it's on a public data base). Worth every penny.

His last book, Monsters of the Market, is freaking fabulous as JH can attest to. It won the Deutscher Prize this past fall -- which is the biggest deal for Marxist thinking.

This is a thoughtful interview done for primarily historical purposes: http://www.socialiststudies.com/index.php/sss/article/view/174/150

[Lobotomy]

I had a small handful of anarchist friends once. most of them were total jerks. when they were sober, they were very feminist/anti-racist/whatever, but when they were drunk they would often go on borderline racist rants, or say disrespectful things about girls that they'd fucked. Also, they were always trying to 1-up each other in terms of how much theory they'd read. I'm not sure if this is typical or if it was just this one group.

[blake 3:17]

I had a small handful of anarchist friends once. most of them were total jerks. when they were sober, they were very feminist/anti-racist/whatever, but when they were drunk they would often go on borderline racist rants, or say disrespectful things about girls that they'd fucked. Also, they were always trying to 1-up each other in terms of how much theory they'd read. I'm not sure if this is typical or if it was just this one group.

It's all over the place. I think the far Left and some religions are just especially dishonest about it.

[Quail]

I had a small handful of anarchist friends once. most of them were total jerks. when they were sober, they were very feminist/anti-racist/whatever, but when they were drunk they would often go on borderline racist rants, or say disrespectful things about girls that they'd fucked. Also, they were always trying to 1-up each other in terms of how much theory they'd read. I'm not sure if this is typical or if it was just this one group.
I think the issue is, there's peer pressure to appear as though you're anti-sexist or anti-racist, but people can read a bunch of theory and say all the right things, but still not fix themselves. I think it's easy for people to think "hey I'm an anarchist/communist so I'm against sexism/racism/etc therefore I am not a sexist/racist/etc"... but it doesn't work like that. People need to actively challenge and question themselves.

[Art Vandelay]

Thing is there's nothing else. IMT? Stupid. Local CWI? Won't be in the same room. Socialist Action? Barry Weisleder's biggest joke on the Left. IS? Definitively pro-Martin Smith anti-feminist, beyond everything else. RCP? Illiterate. Sparts? No comment needed.

All that's left is the CP which is probably the best of the bunch. Hard to get excited about.

There's a couple of anarchist groups that have cool people in them, but they see me as a total sell out social democrat, and I don't need to deal with that either.

Time for an extended break.

Not to shamelessly self promote, but there are a few CWI comrades in the Toronto area, so I don't think you'd have a problem getting in the same room as them. Having said that, we are kinda dispersed due to the geographical size of our country. I've also not had anyone pressure me into doing extra work or any of the bullshit experiences you're describing.

[blake 3:17]

Not to shamelessly self promote, but there are a few CWI comrades in the Toronto area, so I don't think you'd have a problem getting in the same room as them. Having said that, we are kinda dispersed due to the geographical size of our country. I've also not had anyone pressure me into doing extra work or any of the bullshit experiences you're describing.

I've had to ask them to leave my house before. I am quite impressed with CWI folks here, but in the Tdot they're a bad joke.

[Art Vandelay]

I've had to ask them to leave my house before. I am quite impressed with CWI folks here, but in the Tdot they're a bad joke.

Heh I'm trying to figure out who it could be, I have most of the tdot CWI comrades on facebook. I'm sure my interactions with them as a new member though, have probably been different then people's interactions with them in general.

[blake 3:17]

JB? AL? Most of the Left won't touch em.

[Art Vandelay]

JB? AL? Most of the Left won't touch em.

Pretty sure I know who you mean by JB, I think I spoke to him once on facebook, but very briefly.

Edit: Think I figured out who AL is too.

[Fionnagáin]

This is another. I dont know the specific details, but in general, if you are a worker, and you struggle to create a new world, lazyness and denying to do what your organisation asks you to are things that you need to forget. It is an honour to enforce your class. And this is coming from someone that lives somewhere where class struggle is probably 10 times more demanding.
If our new world doesn't allow me to be lazy and disobedient, then why the hell would I want to struggle for it? :confused: