New Marxist newspaper

[RedWorker]

After the obvious success of my wiki idea (Marxistpedia), which is now the #1 informational resource, I wondered about the next task of the informational vanguard of the proletarian revolution, headed by the world socialist leadership, i.e. me and everyone else who agrees with me.

To achieve the proletarian revolution we need first of all to take the lead in propagandistic efforts. This includes giving the working class angle in news-reporting. This is done by a few services, but most of them are complete crap, which includes problems such as being specifically designed to attract up to 25 readers, endless repetition of obnoxious Trotskyist dogma and a North Korean style of writing.

Leaving these minor problems alone, we get to the real problem: the lack of a real Marxist point of view. We need a service that adheres to the True Marxist view, the only authentic Marxism that exists. What is True Marxism, you ask? True Marxism is defined as the Marxist tendency upheld by me and people I like in RevLeft, despite the endless flaws of the latter.

So, all joking aside, does anyone think this is a good idea? We need to create an on-line newspaper where we news-report from a Marxist point of view, yet meanwhile have normal-looking aesthetics, market it as simply a 'left-wing progressive newspaper' (despite radical ideas), and make no use of obnoxious writing style. Oh and don't upheld ridiculous Trotskyist dogma and other stupid crap. This should aspire to become the international Marxist news resource.

Who's in?

[Creative Destruction]

I'm cool with this. I spent a couple of years as a freelance journalist for a couple of community weeklies, so I am not down with the brash, obnoxious language that characterizes most leftist newspapers.

I do think, though, that any new newspaper like that needs to take a stand against the more egregious trends in leftism, like underconsumption theory. Jacobin is comparatively big, but they're also big with that crowd, led by David Harvey, et. al.

[motion denied]

is this any different from indymedia(s)?

[Creative Destruction]

is this any different from indymedia(s)?

IndyMedia seems to have an open platform, where people submit "citizen journalist" pieces and they're, loosely, approved by a small collective and the rest of the content is supplemented by a pretty free-wheeling "wire" service. I thought about joining the Austin IndyMedia, but a lot of it was crudded up with conspiratorial and new agey bullshit. It wasn't very often that you'd get a quality piece. It may have changed since then -- it's been quite a few years -- but that was my experience then.

IndyMedia also has a distinct radical liberal and anarchist point of view, for the most part. RedWorker is talking about having a Marxist paper.

[Tim Cornelis]

About every month someone proposes this, including me at one point. Why not add a news section to the Marxistpedia and see how that goes first.

Centralise the means of communication in one place comrade.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I help put out a monthly broadsheet in Halifax (our 12th issue just came out today!). The local angle is pretty appreciated I think. Or, like, nobody cares about what Marxists in Toronto think, outside of Toronto (and Toronto's lackeys).

On a related note, the Media Co-op network in Canada tends to be decent. Something like "indymedia" but less cluttered by crap.

[Creative Destruction]

It'd be neat if this new newspaper brought in the voices of Marxists around the world, like from Africa and Asia. Those voices don't get much play, either because of Western Marxist ignorance, apathy or a lack of a means of communication.

[VivalaCuarta]

You have no program so you have no future. You will speak for the bourgeoisie not the workers.

[Zoroaster]

You have no program so you have no future. You will speak for the bourgeoisie not the workers.

Lol what. A newspaper needs a program now? Dang trots and their newspapers.

[Diirez]

A newspaper would be a really good idea. I also like the idea of maybe starting small and adding a small news section on marxistpedia to experiment on it, test ideas and see what the feedback on it is.
If you're in need of writers I would be willing to contribute to this project.

[G4b3n]

You have no program so you have no future. You will speak for the bourgeoisie not the workers.

Hey, everyone, I just found out how to tell who is speaking for what class. This fucking guy right here. So long as we have him to weed out the bourgeois agents, the revolution should go smoothly.

[VivalaCuarta]

Hey, everyone, I just found out how to tell who is speaking for what class. This fucking guy right here. So long as we have him to weed out the bourgeois agents, the revolution should go smoothly.

Well this one is pretty easy to read. Right at the get go, throw in a disdain for theory and the obligatory genuflection toward the current two minutes of racist imperialist hate ... not to hard to see this one's going no where fast.

[Q]

I actually happen to agree with the Trot here. Programme and method should be at the center of what communists do. Just creating a newspaper "just because" will likely develop towards the mainstream consensus after a while. A programme, a vision if you will, keeps you stay on target and communicate what you need to in order to bring you closer to your goals.

That being said, a newspaper is a highly antiquated form of communication. The place is at the web really. A paper publication may be useful, but it would be more in the form of a magazine or brochures that collect some interesting articles from your website for certain occasions.

This latter approach is something we adopted in the Communist Platform at our last aggregate meeting. We haven't made plans for a new issue of Kompas yet, but it would be along these lines: When the occasion arises, such as a meeting of a major organisation or a national strike, we would collect the most interesting articles and publish them in paper format. This would serve the purposes of being relevant to your audience and also being a good intro portal to your political ideas, to your vision. So people can then follow the rest on our website, become involved, etc.

[Vogel]

My comrades! Good news, I have found what we look for already made. It is small, brand new with just a handfull of articles. They are looking for writers, can't pay you for it though. It is american based though. Look at their articles, see what you think. I especially like the one on immigration.


riserevolt.wordpress.com

[Sewer Socialist]

Isn't this basically what Jacobin is?

[Creative Destruction]

That being said, a newspaper is a highly antiquated form of communication. The place is at the web really.

Nearly half of the people in the world do not have Internet access, including much of Africa, much of South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. The idea that the "place is at the web" neglects those billions of people that would be in the socialist movement's interest to reach. That's not even to get to the issue that the web is completely saturated, with many e-zines and publications not really being distinct from one and another.

That's not to say that the web should be neglected, but it's to warn against neglecting other, "antiquated," forms of communication that perhaps billions of people only have access to.

[BIXX]

Nearly half of the people in the world do not have Internet access, including much of Africa, much of South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. The idea that the "place is at the web" neglects those billions of people that would be in the socialist movement's interest to reach. That's not even to get to the issue that the web is completely saturated, with many e-zines and publications not really being distinct from one and another.

That's not to say that the web should be neglected, but it's to warn against neglecting other, "antiquated," forms of communication that perhaps billions of people only have access to.

However do you believe you will be able to distribute to those areas? Or is that task left to others? If you answered no and yes consecutively it would probably be better to do it online. At least at first.

[Zoroaster]

Well this one is pretty easy to read. Right at the get go, throw in a disdain for theory and the obligatory genuflection toward the current two minutes of racist imperialist hate ... not to hard to see this one's going no where fast.

What are you talking about? Imperialist hate? Where was that?

[Creative Destruction]

However do you believe you will be able to distribute to those areas? Or is that task left to others? If you answered no and yes consecutively it would probably be better to do it online. At least at first.

There are usually friendly organizations that have some modicum of a web presence that are in those areas, which you could get to them by email and see if they would be interested in being distributors. It's not easy, but it'd be worth the effort.

[Hrafn]

Usually? You're kidding me.

[Creative Destruction]

Well, let's all stay in our Western bubble, then, since this apparently an insurmountable task!

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Distributing a revleft newspaper to masses of people without internet access seems like a tall order right off the bat. You should start smaller with like, a blog or something.

Whatever happened to the journal that the cool guy anarchist clique here was going to make, this idea really does pop up a lot.

[Q]

Nearly half of the people in the world do not have Internet access, including much of Africa, much of South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. The idea that the "place is at the web" neglects those billions of people that would be in the socialist movement's interest to reach.

[...]

That's not to say that the web should be neglected, but it's to warn against neglecting other, "antiquated," forms of communication that perhaps billions of people only have access to.
Just a few years ago I heard the argument all the time that the internet was just for rich boys and nerds and shouldn't be taken too seriously and at this very moment more instances of Linux computers and Android mobile devices are activated in the third world than you might suspect.

In short, your argument is going to be out of date much sooner than it would take the time to build up a paper presence in these areas of the world.


That's not even to get to the issue that the web is completely saturated, with many e-zines and publications not really being distinct from one and another.
I'm not even sure what that has to do with anything. Is it not a progressive thing that, in principle, everyone with internet access could have their voices heard? It is inherent in the relevance of your message that is going to determine what kind of impact it is going to have on others.

[The Idler]

Would it be feasible to compile some of the best posts from revleft over the course of a month for a digestible PDF or document with attractive layout?

[Zukunftsmusik]

Lol what. A newspaper needs a program now? Dang trots and their newspapers.

I don't think it's uncommon for, if not newspapers, at least journals, periodicals etc. published by Marxist groups (formal or informal - in the case of the latter this is quite obvious) to have programmes or at least a common platform or set of postitions. If the aim is for the contributors to at least agree on some core principles (which seems to be the case, even though the OP is tongue in cheek), some sort of "programme" could be useful in order to set the grounds for the debates and the relevance of the news to the newspaper.

[BIXX]

Would it be feasible to compile some of the best posts from revleft over the course of a month for a digestible PDF or document with attractive layout?
You know, normally I hate you a lot, but now I only dislike you. Thank you for this idea. I will start on this right away maybe.

[Tim Cornelis]

You know, normally I hate you a lot, but now I only dislike you. Thank you for this idea. I will start on this right away maybe.

Start with the milk thread

[RedKobra]

Its an intriguing idea. I really do think we need to find ways to reconcile the revolutionary left. To remind us we're on the same side. We're against the same enemy. We want the same sort of society. A paper that can bring together Trotskyists, Leninists, Luxemourgists, Kautskyists and non-doctrinaire Marxists would be a bold and useful project and may even prove to the left that despite its reservations competing left sects can manage to have disagreements and still work together. Vive Unité!

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

It's been done before. And it failed every time. Turns out, you can pretend you agree with other groups only for so long. The last such effort the ICL participated in was Revolutionary History; they quit when the majority in the RH started publishing paeans to Ukrainian fascists of the WWII era.

And it's pointless. The workers' revolutionary party (not to be confused with the Workers Revolutionary Party, which is, or was, none of that) is not a mega-sect built by gluing existing sects together.

[RedKobra]

It's been done before. And it failed every time. Turns out, you can pretend you agree with other groups only for so long. The last such effort the ICL participated in was Revolutionary History; they quit when the majority in the RH started publishing paeans to Ukrainian fascists of the WWII era.

And it's pointless. The workers' revolutionary party (not to be confused with the Workers Revolutionary Party, which is, or was, none of that) is not a mega-sect built by gluing existing sects together.

All that is as maybe but we're going to have to get over it sooner or later. You don't overcome these problems without dialogue and you can't have dialogue if you refuse to work with other persuasions. If we gave up on things because they've always failed we wouldn't be on this site, talking about how to bring about a workers revolution, because after all they've always failed in the past.

There are certainly some influential leftists who have personal fiefdom's to protect and who have a vested interest in sectionalism but quite frankly these are the very people the movement should be kicking to the kerb.

Its not unrealistic, its imperative.