Ceallach_the_Witch
24th June 2013, 16:00
Frankly, I've always found introductions a little stressful since I usually find it's a better option to just let people appraise you on your words and actions over time without forcing an unnatrual situation, but introductions seem to be very much an institution on this site (raaaah, institutions - i'll fit right in.)
I'm currently a history student (aiming to go on to a masters/phd at some point because I've always wanted to write expensive and unread books) but I've been interested in socialism and Marx's writings since my early teens - and being a teenager, I must've said some really idiotic things, since if I recall correctly I was put off talking about politics (specifically my comparitively loony politics) again until I was about nineteen. I bounced around wondering what I really thought about politics I suppose - was the reformist route still viable, is it possible to have a vanguard movement that doesn't go horribly wrong, is the ballot box any use at all - that sort of thing. I'll admit that I'm not terribly familiar with much writing on this subject, I've read The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital and a few SPGB pamphlets and that's about it.
Whilst I'm still working a few things out, I think my core principles have remained reasonably stable. I believe that the capitalist system is injust, wasteful and brutal, and that it must be removed and replaced with a classless, money-less and totally borderless and international society - a pretty literal interpretation of a global village, if you like. Do I think this can be accomplished? Yes, by a class-conscious, politically-conscious majority able to present the capitalist class with an overwhelming opposition. We can accomplish anything if we work as one. I'm a great believer in democracy (not the sham we have now though) and I'm pretty opposed to violence except in a defensive situation.
In short, I think I'm going to like it here.
I'm currently a history student (aiming to go on to a masters/phd at some point because I've always wanted to write expensive and unread books) but I've been interested in socialism and Marx's writings since my early teens - and being a teenager, I must've said some really idiotic things, since if I recall correctly I was put off talking about politics (specifically my comparitively loony politics) again until I was about nineteen. I bounced around wondering what I really thought about politics I suppose - was the reformist route still viable, is it possible to have a vanguard movement that doesn't go horribly wrong, is the ballot box any use at all - that sort of thing. I'll admit that I'm not terribly familiar with much writing on this subject, I've read The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital and a few SPGB pamphlets and that's about it.
Whilst I'm still working a few things out, I think my core principles have remained reasonably stable. I believe that the capitalist system is injust, wasteful and brutal, and that it must be removed and replaced with a classless, money-less and totally borderless and international society - a pretty literal interpretation of a global village, if you like. Do I think this can be accomplished? Yes, by a class-conscious, politically-conscious majority able to present the capitalist class with an overwhelming opposition. We can accomplish anything if we work as one. I'm a great believer in democracy (not the sham we have now though) and I'm pretty opposed to violence except in a defensive situation.
In short, I think I'm going to like it here.