Are you a member of a Party?

[Comrade Jacob]

I've always noticed that the vast majority of leftists are not a member of any party. I just want to figure out the number of leftists in my country by seeing the memberships to non-memberships ratio.
I know you are in many countries, but the the west and western Europe (with the exception of France, Portugal and Spain etc) have the same, very low amount of leftist party members.

An organisation would also classify as a party on this poll.

[Quail]

I'm in an organisation - the UK Anarchist Federation.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Nah, I don't really like to party to much anymore.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I am a member of an organization but no party (see profile).

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

[Red_Banner]

I was thinking of joing a party.

But the trick is what party to join.

"CPUSA" is run by that incompetent moron Sam Webb who panders to the "Democrat Party", so they aren't a serious party.

Then so many "leftist" parties want you to pay a membership fee.

I'm being exploited too much as it is, my income is limited.

[Quail]

I was thinking of joing a party.

But the trick is what party to join.

"CPUSA" is run by that incompetent moron Sam Webb who panders to the "Democrat Party", so they aren't a serious party.

Then so many "leftist" parties want you to pay a membership fee.

I'm being exploited too much as it is, my income is limited.
Don't most organisations have a kind of sliding scale? So if you're unwaged you can pay what you can afford.

[#FF0000]

I don't think I've seen an organization that doesn't have a sliding scale. I know the IWW's lowest rate is 9 bucks a month or so.

As for me, I wouldn't call the people I "work" (read: bullshit about politics) with an organization anymore, so no. Shit's rough in the sticks.

[Popular Front of Judea]

I am not able to confirm or deny my membership in any revolutionary organization at this time.

[Klaatu]

Perhaps (just perhaps) "belonging to this party or that party" is really the problem, in and of itself. Just think, it is the political parties in power which seek to control others through fiat, ambiguity, disinformation and confusion (consider the health-care debate and the climate change disinformation campaign going on within the US) This needs to change. And after The Socialist Revolution, this will change.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up.

[argeiphontes]

I'd like to start a unity party. Who's with me? ;)

[sixdollarchampagne]

I actively collaborate with a Trotskyist tendency without a national section in the US, where i live. If I lived in a country with a revolutionary Trotskyist group, I would inquire about joining.

[sixdollarchampagne]

What occurs to me to ask is, how is there going to be a socialist revolution without a Leninist party? Surely, if history teaches anything, it is that a workers' revolution needs a "general staff," to provide leadership and coordination.


Perhaps (just perhaps) "belonging to this party or that party" is really the problem, in and of itself. Just think, it is the political parties in power which seek to control others through fiat, ambiguity, disinformation and confusion (consider the health-care debate and the climate change disinformation campaign going on within the US) This needs to change. And after The Socialist Revolution, this will change.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up.

[Red_Banner]

What occurs to me to ask is, how is there going to be a socialist revolution without a Leninist party? Surely, if history teaches anything, it is that a sorkers' revolution needs a "general staff," to provide leadership and coordination.


Look at how OWS fell apart without any leadership.

[Devrim]

No, but I have been in the past.

Devrim

[synthesis]

Look at how OWS fell apart without any leadership.

Why do you assume a lack of "leadership" is the reason that OWS fell apart, rather than a total lack of class character or even a concrete political direction?

[La Guaneña]

I am in the Youth League of a non-party organization.

[d3crypt]

No, but i'm looking for a good good one to join. Problem is i can't afford any fees.

[Creative Destruction]

I'm not a part of a party, but I am very closely following an organization aimed at creating a party.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

I don't belong to any party or organization.

[Popular Front of Judea]

I'd like to start a unity party. Who's with me? ;)

No thanks. How about joining mine? I have cookies.

[Geiseric]

I'm a member of the 4th International. We have a sliding scale, if you're unemployed it's negotiable. The U.S. section's website is in my sig. Heres an article with some of my U.S. and Mexican comrades:

http://socialistorganizer.org/mexicali-binational-conference-a-success/

[argeiphontes]

No thanks. How about joining mine? I have cookies.

Are they with the vanguard of flavor, though?

[Popular Front of Judea]

I'm a member of the 4th International. We have a sliding scale, if you're unemployed it's negotiable. The U.S. section's website is in my sig. Heres an article with some of my U.S. and Mexican comrades:

http://socialistorganizer.org/mexicali-binational-conference-a-success/


THE 4th International?

[Geiseric]

THE 4th International?

yeah I regularly masturbate over copies of "the transitional programme."

[synthesis]

I've been a dedicated, dues-paying member of the Reserve Army of Labor for a few months now.

[Red_Banner]

Why do you assume a lack of "leadership" is the reason that OWS fell apart, rather than a total lack of class character or even a concrete political direction?


All of the above.

[Doflamingo]

Not a member of any parties, planning on joining the IWW at some point.

[Popular Front of Judea]

I've been a dedicated, dues-paying member of the Reserve Army of Labor for a few months now.

You have to pay dues now? Da-yum. What will the neoliberals think of next.

[DasFapital]

I'm in the Tea Party

[Red_Banner]

I'm in the Tea Party


Do what?

[DasFapital]

Do what?

Rand Paul is a revolutionary leader and I think we should all listen to his new ideological synthesis

[Red_Banner]

Rand Paul is a revolutionary leader and I think we should all listen to his new ideological synthesis

He is a reactionary.

He sues his own supporters.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/25345/ron-paul-suing-his-supporters-in-a-u-n-tribunal

[boiler]

I'm not in a party but I'm in a group, a small collective of Marxists and Republicans. The groups is called Cumann Sean MacEachaidh.

[#FF0000]

He is a reactionary.

He sues his own supporters.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/25345/ron-paul-suing-his-supporters-in-a-u-n-tribunal

He is joking.

[medgardd]

Why do you have to pay to be in a party?:confused: I am in a party that's free of charge. Emek party in Turkey.:)

[boiler]

Why do you have to pay to be in a party?:confused: I am in a party that's free of charge. Emek party in Turkey.:)

Some Party's that members have to pay would use the money to found the Party. Use the money to pay for posters, leaflets, renting out rooms for meetings and the like.

[Klaatu]

What occurs to me to ask is, how is there going to be a socialist revolution without a Leninist party? Surely, if history teaches anything, it is that a workers' revolution needs a "general staff," to provide leadership and coordination.

That's a good question. Personally, I do not think we need "leaders" anyway. How do we know these "leaders" can be trusted? After all, you know the saying: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I feel as though it is we the people that must control our own destinies. That is what democracy is all about. We do not really need "leaders," if we are intelligent and educated and moral enough to think and live for ourselves. Freedom and freedom of thought is a basic tenet of Socialism/Communism.

I simply do not trust anyone else to have power over me.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I said I was a member of a party, but tbh, I'm more a close-associate of a pre-party formation. :p

I think "parties" are a little silly at this point, insofar as I think most coherant Marxian communists are concerned with "the communist party" which is the most politically advanced sections of the working class, rather than a particular organization along the lines of existing bourgeois political parties. I think this confusion, and the proliferation of the latter serves to hamper the development of the former.

[Geiseric]

I said I was a member of a party, but tbh, I'm more a close-associate of a pre-party formation. :p

I think "parties" are a little silly at this point, insofar as I think most coherant Marxian communists are concerned with "the communist party" which is the most politically advanced sections of the working class, rather than a particular organization along the lines of existing bourgeois political parties. I think this confusion, and the proliferation of the latter serves to hamper the development of the former.

What was the "anarchist international," founded by Bakunin if not an international party?

[Hrafn]

Voted "No" before I read other organisations also classify. Dammit.

[UFO137]

Voted No. All Political Parties should be abolished. All politicians should be ....tickled.... until they asphyxiate

[Leftsolidarity]

Yeah, Workers World Party. What's up with all this dues stuff? A good party has comrades that can afford it pay dues and helps out comrades that don't have money. Without the help of my comrades I wouldn't be able to do 90% of the traveling and organizing I do. If I find a job, I would then contribute what I could to the party so they can continue to help fund others and get materials.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Not to accuse you of anything, but I'm over footing the bill so my 'comrades' can fuck off from city to city accomplishing nothing or even worse just taking an extended 2 - 3 year vacation before they go out and get a full time job and give up being a revolutionary.

[Geiseric]

The money I contribute goes to the international and organizing efforts, which I know firsthand are not a croc of shit. The group I'm in is the only activist group around trying to keep the largest community college in the world open which is a little disheartening. Along with that we focus on actual events that are happening in the real world which ultra lefts and phrase mongers don't really understand.

[Leftsolidarity]

Not to accuse you of anything, but I'm over footing the bill so my 'comrades' can fuck off from city to city accomplishing nothing or even worse just taking an extended 2 - 3 year vacation before they go out and get a full time job and give up being a revolutionary.

Then you're in a shitty group and should find people that you can call comrades without putting it in quotes.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I'm too old to be hanging out with college students. I'm not telling anyone not to join a party, I was answering your question about dues. You are all entitled to your own experiences.

[freecommunist]

Not at the moment, but have in the past.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

I'm sympathetic to a few parties and other organisations but currently I'm not a member of any party. There are very few active parties/organisations I agree with that have a presence where I live anyway. I'm involved to a limited extent in my university's Labour & Socialists society - they're pretty much all social-democrats of one flavour or another but it's nice to be even vaguely on the same wavelength as someone.

[blake 3:17]

An old Maoist buddy had the one of the best left internet handles, Non Partisan Partisan.

We're looking for one.... When I joined the USFI the idea the idea was to build much bigger stuff. Kinda happy I'm getting along with some left reformists I wasn't before. I'm still too anti-imperialist and anarcho for them, but we're on friendly terms.

[boiler]

I'm surprised by the ammount of people that are not in a party or organization. I would have thought more people would be members of some type of organization or party.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

What was the "anarchist international," founded by Bakunin if not an international party?

Alright, maybe, but (1) we're talking about the working class at a v. different period, and (2) I don't think the black international was that much like a bourgeois political party (ie a single definite membership group with decision making power vested in a "representative" executive).

[Thirsty Crow]

Alright, maybe, but (1) we're talking about the working class at a v. different period, and (2) I don't think the black international was that much like a bourgeois political party (ie a single definite membership group with decision making power vested in a "representative" executive).
Are all parties bourgeois in themselves? How do political organizations of the working class differ from those?

[BN22]

I'm still relatively new to political theory in general, never mind socialism, so am still finding my place. I will likely vote in the next election, but I'd rather grow my knowledge base before committing to any party by way of becoming a member of it.

[edwad]

i don't think my county democratic committee knows i left yet so maybe i'm technically still a part of that. :rolleyes: nah but i'm trying to find a good local organization (no luck so far and there aren't any local chapters of bigger socialist organizations either :glare:)

[Q]

I'm a member of multiple organisations/parties.

[Glitchcraft]

I can't think of more than 5 groups that shouldn't be dissolved. I find most of them useless at best but typically counter productive.

[Os Cangaceiros]

IWW, an organization not a party though.

Since this chapter of IWW is just starting out, I think people around here are just trying to construct the basic framework for a left-wing presence in this city, because there's virtually none to speak of at the moment.