Left Communism in the world today

[Communist Mutant From Outer Space]

How big of a movement is Left Communism in the world today, and what exactly are the different variants that exist within this movement? Are there any mainstream/active Left Communist parties in existence currently, and if so what are they? Most importantly, is Left Communism a movement worth pursuing when you consider the fact that it appears to be such a tiny sect of modern communism and modern leftism as a whole.

I ask because I have recently become interested in more Libertarian Communist currents; namely Anarcho-Communism and Left Communism. I am leaning more towards the former as it appears to be less esoteric and more of a growing movement, at least when combined with similar movements (i.e. Anarcho-Syndicalism and Synthesis Anarchism), but I do hold a great deal of intrigue towards Left Communism and its sub-variants and wish to know which would be a better ideological line to pursue.

[Aslan]

I have no clue. I hope some people talk about this since I'd like to know some left-communist as well as luxemburgist organizations.

[#FF0000]

I don't think there are any "luxemburgist" organizations since it's not really a defined tendency. Tons of people were influenced by Rosa Luxemburg and try to claim her as one of theirs.

As for left-communism, there are two main branches. There's German/Dutch left-communism, which is usually what people call "council communism", and Italian left-communism. The wikipedia article on this is a good introduction to these things and is worth looking at, tbh.

Today there aren't too many left-communist organizations. I'd say that a lot of syndicalist and anarchist organizations take a good amount of influence from council-communism, but no organization calls itself "council communist" these days.

The left-communist organizations that do exist are more Italian influenced. There's the International Communist Current, the International Communist Party, the International Communist Tendency, the International Group of the Communist Left, etc. etc. I'm pretty sure the ICC is the largest.

And as an aside, folks who call themselves "left-communists" would bristle at the term "libertarian socialist" or "libertarian communist". They don't use the term, and, frankly, it doesn't make much sense when applied to thinkers like Amadeo Bordiga.

[Blake's Baby]

To back up what #FF000 says, I think most Left Communists would reject the notion of 'Libertarian Marxism'. It was coined by Daniel Guerin, as far as I know, to mean 'Marxists that Anarchists can quote against Lenin (selectively and somewhat mendaciously)'. There is one 'Luxemburgist' organisation though, but I'm not sure how active they are. They mostly publish in Spanish (and as someone who identifies as a 'Luxemburgist' I radically disagree with them about Rosa's political thought).

There are three main strands (currents? tendencies?) of Left Communism today, all more-or-less descended from the Italian Left. The Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) is descended from the fraction of the Communist Party of Italy around Onorato Damen; the International Communist Current (ICC) is descended from the fraction of the Italian Left in exile around the review Bilan ('Balance-sheet') and also has some at least attempt to synthesise the Italian and German-Dutch Lefts; and the (various) International Communist Parties are descended from the fraction of the Italian Left around Amadeo Bordiga.

The Bordigists barely exist as an organised current outside of Italy; the ICT and ICC have sections in several places, and though I think until recently I'd have agreed that the ICC was the biggest (it's certainly the tendency with the biggest coverage worldwide) I think the ICT these days is probably bigger.

It's a matter of angels on pins though, the combined number of all Left Comms from all the organisations in the world, and their sympathisers, is tiny.

That doesn't really matter if they're right, though.

[The Feral Underclass]

The historical development of communisation theory comes out of the Dutch and Italian left also.

[Communist Mutant From Outer Space]

And as an aside, folks who call themselves "left-communists" would bristle at the term "libertarian socialist" or "libertarian communist". They don't use the term, and, frankly, it doesn't make much sense when applied to thinkers like Amadeo Bordiga.


To back up what #FF000 says, I think most Left Communists would reject the notion of 'Libertarian Marxism'. It was coined by Daniel Guerin, as far as I know, to mean 'Marxists that Anarchists can quote against Lenin (selectively and somewhat mendaciously)'.

To clarify, I wasn't trying to designate Left Communism within the Libertarian Socialist or Libertarian Marxist/Communist bracket, but rather call it "libertarian" in comparison to Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, and the like.

The size of the current does put me off a little, as I believe Ancoms and Libcoms tend to have a bigger following. I am however still unsure of which one I identify with more ideologically, so I suppose I should get to reading some Left Communist and Anarcho-Communist works.

Are there are Left Communist works that would be recommended (essays, books, etc.)? Ancom works seem to be more accessible via just searching the internet, i.e. "Are we good enough?" and "The Conquest of Bread" by Kropotkin, but Left Com stuff seems to be buried deep.

[The Intransigent Faction]

To clarify, I wasn't trying to designate Left Communism within the Libertarian Socialist or Libertarian Marxist/Communist bracket, but rather call it "libertarian" in comparison to Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, and the like.

The size of the current does put me off a little, as I believe Ancoms and Libcoms tend to have a bigger following. I am however still unsure of which one I identify with more ideologically, so I suppose I should get to reading some Left Communist and Anarcho-Communist works.

Are there are Left Communist works that would be recommended (essays, books, etc.)? Ancom works seem to be more accessible via just searching the internet, i.e. "Are we good enough?" and "The Conquest of Bread" by Kropotkin, but Left Com stuff seems to be buried deep.

I suppose Gramsci counts in this category. You should be able to find his Prison Notebooks, at least.

You could also find some of Anton Pannekoek's work in print.

[Blake's Baby]

If you want to know about Left Comms, there is a Left Comm group here - there's a post on the group forum that lists the websites of most of the Left Comm groups publishing in English, but to be honest the biggest and most prolific are the ICT and the ICC.

ICT: http://www.leftcom.org/en

ICC: http://en.internationalism.org/

You can read their stuff there.


I suppose Gramsci counts in this category. You should be able to find his Prison Notebooks, at least...

Are you kidding? Gramsci was part of the group that ousted the Left from the the leadership of the Communist Party of Italy, which led to the formation of the Communist Left as a tendency. There is a serious debate about whether he 'invented' Stalinism.



...You could also find some of Anton Pannekoek's work in print.

Pannekoek, Bordiga, Ruhle, Korsch and others should be available at the Marxist Internet Archive.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I suppose Gramsci counts in this category. You should be able to find his Prison Notebooks, at least.

Gramsci was a Stalinist, and I don't think any left communist organisation would want to be associated with him.

As for texts, it depends on what kind of left communism you're interested in. Since the Pancake franchise went out of business, the available flavours are Bordigist, Damenist and "synthesist" (respectively, all of the ICPs, ICT and ICC). There are also smaller groups like the IGCL and Pale Blue Jadal, mostly splits from the larger groups.

For Bordiga, a lot of his (or suspected to be his, anyway; at any rate texts he was in agreement with) texts are available online, although some important ones haven't been translated from Italian. If you search for "Bordiga" + name of the article, you should find something (it's scattered across multiple sites). I've heard the people over at n+1 are planning to digitise the entire archives of the Italian communist left.

[#FF0000]

To clarify, I wasn't trying to designate Left Communism within the Libertarian Socialist or Libertarian Marxist/Communist bracket, but rather call it "libertarian" in comparison to Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, and the like.

That could be said of the Dutch/German tendency, sure. But then there's the Italians, who's main dude Bordiga talks about "Revolutionary Totalitarianism" and was described as "more Leninist than Lenin". :lol:


Are there are Left Communist works that would be recommended (essays, books, etc.)? Ancom works seem to be more accessible via just searching the internet, i.e. "Are we good enough?" and "The Conquest of Bread" by Kropotkin, but Left Com stuff seems to be buried deep.

I can give you the "Introductory Post" from one of the left-com facebook groups I'm in. A lot of this goes beyond left-communism and into French ultra-leftism and other tendencies like that, which you'd probably be interested in.



# LEFT-COMMUNISM ('20s/'50s)
http://www.marxists.org/subject/left-wing/
- Vladimir Lenin, "Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder"
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/
- Anton Pannekoek, "Party and Class"
http://www.marxists.org/archi…/pannekoe/1936/party-class.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1936/party-class.htm)
- Herman Gorter, "Open letter to comrade Lenin":
http://www.marxists.org/archive/…/1920/open-letter/index.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/gorter/1920/open-letter/index.htm)
- Otto Ruhle, "The struggle against fascism begins with the struggle against bolshevism"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ruhle/1939/ruhle01.htm
- Amadeo Bordiga,
"The democratic principle"
http://www.marxists.org/…/wor…/1922/democratic-principle.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1922/democratic-principle.htm)
"Seize Power or Seize the Factory?"
http://www.marxists.org/…/bordiga/works/1920/seize-power.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1920/seize-power.htm)
- "Bilan", articles about spanish revolution
http://www.international-communist-party.org/…/Texts/SpainB… (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.international-communist-party.org%2FEnglish%2FTexts%2FSpainBil.htm&h=EAQHWu65MAQEV-ihYZPrFR1s1ZhKc0GMu8SXF_bk27_1PXg&enc=AZPYpDLsGQ4E4qBi3e0T-4FZ5cNOSSZmOyK29QoblcZeKV2m5aF53wjzV_ilyhDu2FINIdh JvaCHyt6t7tE3Q9H4fXXgoRB7LHOjUMv_BzQclKnZ6DNWZNA4X ky0tRLd6MiYci0xUs8yXzCi96MiNxO18V9iySPKykOjOJS5bLB ChA&s=1)
- Philippe Bourrinet, "The 'bordigist' current (1912-1952)"
https://libcom.org/…/p.bourrinet%20-%20the%20'bordigist'%20… (https://libcom.org/files/p.bourrinet%20-%20the%20%27bordigist%27%20current.pdf)

# POST-LEFTCOM/ULTRALEFT ('60s/'70s)
- G. Dauvé,
"The story of our origins"
http://libcom.org/library/the-story-of-our-origins-dauve (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flibcom.org%2Flibrary%2Fthe-story-of-our-origins-dauve&h=lAQEtEqb1AQHZkJiaxzjMmg8zkeoaMaXh3rlNP9JYJBG1ug&enc=AZMUpTwWO17DnYNBBHWJQr-1tkb-1dWY3j8mVDRrCgO-91huMzspJWYkndyTHNp7YpkBrNr6gjAvr0_SNOeZw6Dbt8VfC0 8FW5dJkSnZ6vvFPNRxNxceLd1knU6hF4AV5mOoyglWKXNJKN2w GwQi4uSFE1QD1uVKkmJG8Cmvijv7dg&s=1)
"The renegade Kautsky and his disciple Lenin" http://www.prole.info/texts/kautsky_lenin.html
"Capitalism and Communism"
http://libcom.org/library/capitalism-communism-gilles-dauve (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flibcom.org%2Flibrary%2Fcapita lism-communism-gilles-dauve&h=VAQGc71xNAQEg2TTiWNmB4n-a17F4I0JhgRdsCzP7rbnN5A&enc=AZMnTsEOuj4rXeohuXZkAO1tzKM-4Ayplj749wYjGgQSWL8OwmD8-jxWRe6Q42McXqbVuUWOmtDUQEHVT06kjUdktY-HxaDcHtwdFmQDe-fYCtSEO0izGMO8ve4y04zUqR-2IopOqeREv3nFKs39omlndYAoHvX-zQmtM1kWA2rKUw&s=1)
- G. Debord, "Society of Spectacle"
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm
- OJTR, "Militancy, highest stage of alienation"
http://web.archive.org/…/www.geociti…/~johngray/milititl.htm (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20091 028010719%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2F%7Ejo hngray%2Fmilititl.htm&h=TAQE-0Ov9AQFdkeADfHxnUoicG_ZmxlAkZGpJw0CciqGqag&enc=AZMO0xMLKOjI0nmZRB1T0KbO65bRmeZpH0JYSpo6m3gSMg vfb2E5Vaomlzfbpzgomj70JuMn11CLfc7Q85k43FPIbOrF-KfQtV4uzjyMsM3vsc8u5gZxQJANKl3Kth0_DPeJpLQhRwHEjhk H2mqDHhRzQdxKrHIK8WiDF6I00oO7_g&s=1)
- La Guerre Sociale, "The question of the state"
http://web.archive.org/…/www.geocities…/~johngray/questa.htm (http://web.archive.org/web/20091028014951/http://www.geocities.com/%7Ejohngray/questa.htm)
- J. Camatte,
"The democratic mystification"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/camatte/demyst.htm (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxists.org%2Farchive%2F camatte%2Fdemyst.htm&h=7AQGVYiACAQF6nkoZ4lUgclJB72v2F-DfsfchNBjhe1uoog&enc=AZMseA9AMgyGKs5aQJ71owo81jRWAjw3kE-fvOlLlvOA8V3wkClgR_TVLMYdCQ0wdk_KKLpM_xKA7hh1K2e8l MaaBE1En_5UJk7yBGgMbrGCGGaodXl1ZJd2NWiAQ-XMwHaArCpmitqaLLAGKvTYXZKDvU1wypIFPE20zIraDnh2mg&s=1)
"Capital and Community"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/camatte/capcom/

# COMMUNISATION THEORIES
- Troploin (Dauvè&Nesic), introduction to communisation
http://libcom.org/library/communisation
- Endnotes, #1, "Preliminary materials for a balance sheet of the 20th century" (Troploin vs Theorie Communiste)
http://endnotes.org.uk/issues/1
- Théorie Communiste, "Who are we?"
http://libcom.org/library/who-are-we (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flibcom.org%2Flibrary%2Fwho-are-we&h=mAQHLwPuIAQH2dMhWvgtbscvSqpHBXwcNVsczSDqeHv2zBg&enc=AZPwS1IH2q2I9QLN0j4GZqve3SDj5YQwUU3LBpxctAiWbn Q46bGuNZN-WZ1fnqsS42VELHlxdxgf56_3-79Ayb157awPGxoaioby-2KeLN4mKwdEXtMj2_dLDbzCOpnG6PLxSP9GvyPFXunB41nzX0Q kRR_5kHRbzq0bR1Iq3Xg-tg&s=1)
- Bruno Astarian website, "Hic Salta"
http://www.hicsalta-communisation.com/
- SIC, International Journal for Communisation
http://sic.communisation.net/ (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fsic.communisation.net%2F&h=SAQFbCD5TAQEUN95whdx4oB64Izh7UoNfVG2evzFckPnh9Q&enc=AZNtce7fwtm18V3JpUdvRxNWa-_woA8rsxVF2AEB6BE4EiBvyEuvvdqmBigp6Syl49Pd55FQxAtr D9zh2OI7zpS5CFz2DQOy3-NZOQaRJBIRB-GxlqQJiV8D6LKH2J_tcIyhGIMRjgJEPpSZwtNPvPtaa74puREw QPZnDCln8I-RFg&s=1)
- Bernard Lyon, "We are not 'Anti'" https://www.facebook.com/…/We%20are%20not%20Anti%20-%20Bern… (https://www.facebook.com/download/1467571376835106/We%20are%20not%20Anti%20-%20Bernard%20Lyon.pdf)
- V.A. , "Communization and its discontents"
http://libcom.org/…/communization-its-discontents-contestat… (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flibcom.org%2Flibrary%2Fcommun ization-its-discontents-contestation-critique-contemporary-struggles&h=xAQEIi-1gAQHu-BpBAGL0lqTOilvDN9gjlPf4dHjDNlAceQ&enc=AZNnV_zmJ7vZ7yeWEacIhQLLDWSxDblkst0Dem2jwrr9nj X7vNHlc5EMkIkY5QRkgRyDNvI-p5kMXXtB5FO3X5bx98S0FwgT5N-h93nxVMMZe0jmZ_0558R3MCYDND4-biZU7D4RADXm-DGw3OYLmzokAQrQ_fz0kofuJqY_zwpfUQ&s=1)

# GENDER
- Silvia Federici, "Caliban and the witch"
http://libcom.org/files/Caliban%20and%20the%20Witch.pdf
- Roland Simon, "Gender distinction, programmatism and communisation"
http://libcom.org/…/gender-distinction-programmatism-commun… (http://libcom.org/library/gender-distinction-programmatism-communisation)
- Maya Andrea Gonzalez, "Communization and the abolition of gender"
http://libcom.org/library/communization-abolition-gender
- Endnotes, #3, "The logic of gender"
http://endnotes.org.uk/en/endnotes-the-logic-of-gender

# CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
- K. Marx, "Results of the Direct Production Process" (unedited draft chapter 6 of Capital)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1864/economic/ (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxists.org%2Farchive%2F marx%2Fworks%2F1864%2Feconomic%2F&h=oAQHBta0aAQFbKsGpxhXCHZDrABUPWzKhyT_tAeROtf9sEg&enc=AZMywX-wOCCxnO6auoIj2kuVCIo6YO2SAN4VgqHgWld_w6eSt4qJlB_zx WfA-hvuTdoiU-1NbWCE0BrxHyzM_NaEQBi78CEo6zry14XcxDEF6nslcBNQkZMd OU97cAYfiY9tIcRZ28LB4lXKwAi5anukNJlqYHAQIZPyT1Q0kb BR_Q&s=1)
- R. Rosdolsky, "The Making of Marx's 'Capital'" (PDF)
http://gruppegrundrisse.files.wordpress.com/…/rosdolsky-the… (http://gruppegrundrisse.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/rosdolsky-the-making-of-marxs-capital_cs.pdf)
- I. Rubin, "Essays on Marx's theory of value"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/rubin/value/ (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxists.org%2Farchive%2F rubin%2Fvalue%2F&h=aAQFE90VGAQG3nQQts-yt08ghd0y7QpJG-sZjdyaTncGjdg&enc=AZMueHDCVuVo1m3xQPlS9SDlivwDg0LmFU_R2LH4lZ5wCz vm22dBrtyv25oFFxDICiZeovd9G0yw5y0OHklsnRq4WOskd77M nfvVrNhqyTpH4nXKT-R3-9lz5AnXnCzyGNaN0aX5cFKR9uCyZ5SRQgESOs9UV2rzVUPmT7n sxY86xw&s=1)
- P. Mattick, "Economic Crisis and Crisis Theory"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1974/crisis/
- M. Heinrich, "An introduction to the three volumes of Karl Marx's Capital"
http://leandromarshall.files.wordpress.com/…/heinrich-micha… (http://leandromarshall.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/heinrich-michael-an-introduction-to-the-three-volumes-of-karl-marxs-capital.pdf)

# RACE & CULTURE
- Adolph Reed, "Black Particularity Reconsidered"
https://libcom.org/…/black-particularity-reconsidered-adolp… (https://libcom.org/library/black-particularity-reconsidered-adolph-l-reed-jr)
- Adolph Reed, "Django Unchained, or, The Help: How “Cultural Politics” Is Worse Than No Politics at All, and Why"
http://nonsite.org/…/django-unchained-or-the-help-how-cultu… (http://nonsite.org/feature/django-unchained-or-the-help-how-cultural-politics-is-worse-than-no-politics-at-all-and-why)

# ON THE RUSSIAN/SOVIET QUESTION
- Loren Goldner, "The Agrarian Question in the Russian Revolution: From Material Community to Productivism, and Back"
http://insurgentnotes.com/…/the-agrarian-question-in-the-r…/ (http://insurgentnotes.com/2014/06/the-agrarian-question-in-the-russian-revolution-from-material-community-to-productivism-and-back/)

# VARIOUS STUFF
- Krisis, "Manifesto Against Labour"
http://www.krisis.org/1999/manifesto-against-labour
- Riff-Raff, http://www.riff-raff.se/en/ (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.riff-raff.se%2Fen%2F&h=HAQHFwwdvAQFARSsFSv76CSAIskvtRqnBD4ib8jei5qENsA&enc=AZM-z9y0_uxZBU8EAY5LEZNgMFAPsPFBH_J8xIc1WTZK6WvYdwhgtI vqj5x4IBdi49_VxEukBQ0kq2kGDs4eVS0CdJ1UO8qb_6KqDBar fN210GskOZNQOL7IvYiLMt7H7hMuHjLNqyOqS1Xl_9kcgXiFeC _S_atzVmgcIT6Dw3bf3Q&s=1)
- Monsieur Dupont, "Nihilist communism"
http://libcom.org/library/nihilist-communism-monsieur-dupont
- Sam Moss, "The impotence of the revolutionary group"
http://www.lettersjournal.org/moss.html
- Grandizo Munis, "Unions Against Revolution"
http://libcom.org/…/Grandizo%20Munis-%20Unions%20against%20… (http://libcom.org/files/Grandizo%20Munis-%20Unions%20against%20revolution.pdf)
- Tiqqun,
"The coming insurrection"
http://bloom0101.org/thecominginsurrection.pdf
"Raw materials for a theory of the Jeune-Fille"
http://libcom.org/files/jeune-fille.pdf
- Dauvé, "Letter on animal liberation"
http://libcom.org/…/letter-on-animal-liberation-gilles-dauve (http://libcom.org/library/letter-on-animal-liberation-gilles-dauve)
- Loren Goldner webpage:
http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner/ (http://home.earthlink.net/%7Elrgoldner/)
- Gruppen: Why anti-national?
http://www.jungelinke.de/en/why-anti-national

[Sewer Socialist]

Is the Insane Dialectical Posse still around? If so, they seem to only be a couple-few people in the Bay Area and probably like 1 person in Los Angeles, judging by their small level of activity.

Couldn't the non - visibility of the council / pancake flavor be a result of their anti-party stance? There seems to still be a few fans in the IWW today, and likely in other organizations from what I can tell, but not as a distinct group.

[#FF0000]

Couldn't the non - visibility of the council / pancake flavor be a result of their anti-party stance? There seems to still be a few fans in the IWW today, and likely in other organizations from what I can tell, but not as a distinct group.

The only council communist "party" i can think of was the KAPD in Germany back in like 1920. Other than that it always seemed to me like council communism only ever existed as a tendency within different organizations.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Is the Insane Dialectical Posse still around? If so, they seem to only be a couple-few people in the Bay Area and probably like 1 person in Los Angeles, judging by their small level of activity.

I think they're still around, at least they still write, but I've never gotten the impression they were left communists per se.


Couldn't the non - visibility of the council / pancake flavor be a result of their anti-party stance? There seems to still be a few fans in the IWW today, and likely in other organizations from what I can tell, but not as a distinct group.

I don't think so, to be honest; council communists were really done in by WWII and never recovered. Most of their old leaders had died in the forties, except arguably Pankhurst who moved on to the worship of the King of Kings of Ethiopia, and as the councilist organisations were always small there were preciously little militants to replace them. A similar thing happened to left communists, really, and would have happened to Trotskyists if it were not for the mixed blessing of the SWP and Pablo.

[Art Vandelay]

The ICP that's around today, is it the International Communist Party (that Bordiga founded and published Il Programma Communista), or the Internationalist Communist Party (the group organized around Damen and Battaglia Comunista)? Or are they both still around?

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

My understanding is that the Internationalist C.P. would join together with the British CWO as the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party, later the International Communist Tendency. I don't know if they still exist as the ICP (the CWO still uses its pre-IBRP name, so, probably?). The International C.P. split into four or more groups which are distinguished by the name of their periodical. I would say the Florentine Il Partito Communista is the largest one but I don't want to be accosted by angry Italian pensioners, that happens too often as it is.

[Communist Mutant From Outer Space]

Are any Left Communists here in a Left Communist organisation? I'm browsing the ICC's website now and it appears they only want hardcore people within their group, and seeing as they're the "biggest" I don't imagine there's many members in these groups even amongst the Revleft crew.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

The only council communist "party" i can think of was the KAPD in Germany back in like 1920. Other than that it always seemed to me like council communism only ever existed as a tendency within different organizations.

If I understand the theses on unitary organisation correctly, there can't be a councilist party. The KAPD was a party of the so-called "Dutch-German" communist left (although it originated from a spectrum of tendencies, from the later councilists to "national Bolshevists"). The councilist organisation in Germany was the AAUD-E, and later the KAUD.


Are any Left Communists here in a Left Communist organisation? I'm browsing the ICC's website now and it appears they only want hardcore people within their group, and seeing as they're the "biggest" I don't imagine there's many members in these groups even amongst the Revleft crew.

There are members and former members of these organisations on RevLeft. Most communist organisations want a certain level of commitment from their members; quite frankly if you have a group (or even more scandalously a 'party') that just expects you to sign up, or even just click on a button, and then do nothing, that strongly hints the group is completely useless. This is something many people on RevLeft don't seem to get, as they treat being rejected or not allowed to double-card as some kind of personal affront.

[#FF0000]

Are any Left Communists here in a Left Communist organisation? I'm browsing the ICC's website now and it appears they only want hardcore people within their group, and seeing as they're the "biggest" I don't imagine there's many members in these groups even amongst the Revleft crew.

There used to be. Devrim, Leo, and a few others. From what i understand, they left the organization, though.

[Thirsty Crow]

How big of a movement is Left Communism in the world today, and what exactly are the different variants that exist within this movement? Are there any mainstream/active Left Communist parties in existence currently, and if so what are they? Most importantly, is Left Communism a movement worth pursuing when you consider the fact that it appears to be such a tiny sect of modern communism and modern leftism as a whole.

I ask because I have recently become interested in more Libertarian Communist currents; namely Anarcho-Communism and Left Communism. I am leaning more towards the former as it appears to be less esoteric and more of a growing movement, at least when combined with similar movements (i.e. Anarcho-Syndicalism and Synthesis Anarchism), but I do hold a great deal of intrigue towards Left Communism and its sub-variants and wish to know which would be a better ideological line to pursue.

It's a tiny movement; not a movement really if we were honest. At best, it's scattered individuals and some organizations around the world who do or don't keep contact with each other.

There are no left communist parties since one thing in common is the understanding of the party which stipulates only the world party - the new communist international, born of the class struggle - makes sense of any talk of a modern communist party. Anyway, I'd say I do know the two biggest networks of left communist organizations, the ICT and the ICC, do not consider themselves the party though any talk of a nucleus of the future party might be tricky and result in actually sectarian* shit.

*Opposed to the revleft variant of "sectarianism" which sees any tendency clashes as necessarily sectarian, which from one PoV makes no sense.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

It's a tiny movement; not a movement really if we were honest. At best, it's scattered individuals and some organizations around the world who do or don't keep contact with each other.

There are no left communist parties since one thing in common is the understanding of the party which stipulates only the world party - the new communist international, born of the class struggle - makes sense of any talk of a modern communist party. Anyway, I'd say I do know the two biggest networks of left communist organizations, the ICT and the ICC, do not consider themselves the party though any talk of a nucleus of the future party might be tricky and result in actually sectarian* shit.

*Opposed to the revleft variant of "sectarianism" which sees any tendency clashes as necessarily sectarian, which from one PoV makes no sense.

That is true, of course, but it was my understanding that the various Bordigist ICPs do consider themselves the party (as opposed to reviews like n+1). I don't think anyone would really consider them the party except themselves, of course.

[Thirsty Crow]

That is true, of course, but it was my understanding that the various Bordigist ICPs do consider themselves the party (as opposed to reviews like n+1). I don't think anyone would really consider them the party except themselves, of course.
Makes sense, I tended to disregard the millenarian Bordiga worship for the idiotic crazy shit it is, but hey to each their own I suppose.

So yeah, there are a shitload of parties. All located in Italy, and all squabbling over the legacy of one man.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Well, I'm not an impartial observer (although, frankly, I'm not a leftcom or close to leftcoms either, I just talk to leftcoms more than other tendencies for some reason), but I think the ICC is at least as ridiculous as various Bordigist splits, even if we factor in mystical communism of the Florentines and the Khmer Rouge as Jacobins. Generally, a reactionary period produces a lot that is ridiculous in communist circles and circles that call themselves communist.

And obviously, try as they might the leftcoms can never outdo Trotskyists. We have the market on bug-fucking craziness cornered and the ICC would have to step up its break-in game to even be a serious contender.

[Thirsty Crow]

And obviously, try as they might the leftcoms can never outdo Trotskyists. We have the market on bug-fucking craziness cornered and the ICC would have to step up its break-in game to even be a serious contender.
We'll see about this one :laugh:

Nah but seriously, and there are folks here who can correct me, the various assorted Bordigist orgs are usually not what passes around as "synthesist* left communism" today.

*Based on the historical Italian and Dutch/German communist left, therefore the synthesis bit. I don't know about other people, but a political monopoly by the communist party is not what I stand for, unlike some views of the historical Italian communist left might suggest.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Well, yes, the "synthesists" are one of the three kinds of left communists that still exist today, along with Bordigists and the "Damenists" of the ICT. There is a lot of common ground between synthesists and Damenists, from what I understand, so that the Bordigists probably do look like "their crazy uncle" in Blake's Baby's phrase. My point was that things to laugh at (or be worried about) aren't really exclusive to Bordigists, when it comes to the communist left.

[Thirsty Crow]

Well, yes, the "synthesists" are one of the three kinds of left communists that still exist today, along with Bordigists and the "Damenists" of the ICT. There is a lot of common ground between synthesists and Damenists, from what I understand, so that the Bordigists probably do look like "their crazy uncle" in Blake's Baby's phrase. My point was that things to laugh at (or be worried about) aren't really exclusive to Bordigists, when it comes to the communist left.
"Damenists" are synthesists in my opinion. The point you refer to also stands unfortunately.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Hm, that's not how I understood the issue (for example I think the ICT and ICC have very divergent views on workplace organisation, with the ICC basing themselves more on the dialogue with council-communist elements undertaken by the old GCF), talking with both former ICC people and some from the ICT, but again, I'm not part of the tendency, and between this and the debate on how the ICT sees the proletarian state I don't know anything anymore, I've just confused myself in the head.

[Emmett Till]

To back up what #FF000 says, I think most Left Communists would reject the notion of 'Libertarian Marxism'. It was coined by Daniel Guerin, as far as I know, to mean 'Marxists that Anarchists can quote against Lenin (selectively and somewhat mendaciously)'. There is one 'Luxemburgist' organisation though, but I'm not sure how active they are. They mostly publish in Spanish (and as someone who identifies as a 'Luxemburgist' I radically disagree with them about Rosa's political thought)...



Be it noted that "Luxemburgism" and "left communism" are not merely different, but direct opposites.

if there is anyone who historically could be considered a "Luxemburgist" as such, it would be Paul Levi. He was more or less her appointed successor, and published her famous 1918 critique of Lenin, much though not all of the ideas of which she had disavowed before she died.

He was also the person who nearly destroyed the German Communist Party by bureaucratically expelling half the membership. Who formed the KAPD, the Communist Workers Party, the original "leftcom" organization. Whether Rosa would have approved of this we'll never know, but he essentially did it in the name of "Luxembrgism" more or less, getting rid of the troublemaking ultralefts who had been outvoting Rosa and Karl and him at conferences on various issues.

Over the objections of the Comintern leaders in Moscow, who all thought this was a disaster.

[Emmett Till]

I suppose Gramsci counts in this category. You should be able to find his Prison Notebooks, at least.

You could also find some of Anton Pannekoek's work in print.

Gramsci is far, far from a leftcom. He and Bordiga were opponents, and quite a bit of Gramsci's "Prison Notebooks" is devoted to criticism of Bordiga and left communism.

You could make an argument for Gramsci as a "rightcom," the Italian Communist Party's misuse of his writings to justify Eurocommunism was not altogether unjustified. Though he didn't like Bukharin and contemporarhy Italian "rightcoms" like Tasca either.

He had a very creative mind, and probably would have broken at some point with Stalin and Stalinism if he had gotten out of Mussolini's prisons and survived a bit longer. But the fact is that just about all of his most famous writings hew the Stalinist line completely, they just defend it with dar more sophistication and insight than your average Stalinist. He even at one point in the Prison Notebooks comes very close to calling for "proletarian totalitarianism."

"The Modern Prince" is the Communist Party, indeed one could argue that Gramsci's vision of "the modern prince" had a Georgian mustache.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

I'm reading Anton Pancake right now, so this thread is of interest to me ...


Couldn't the non - visibility of the council / pancake flavor be a result of their anti-party stance? There seems to still be a few fans in the IWW today, and likely in other organizations from what I can tell, but not as a distinct group.

Perhaps, but wasn't Pannekoek in a number of parties himself? Being a critic of parties doesn't exclude one from organizing in parties. It just means that one does not see the party as the agent of working class power.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

It was coined by Daniel Guerin, as far as I know, to mean 'Marxists that Anarchists can quote against Lenin (selectively and somewhat mendaciously)'.
Actually, Guérin coined it to mean a synthesis of the best parts of anarchism and Marxism that would transcend both.

[Blake's Baby]

Hm, that's not how I understood the issue (for example I think the ICT and ICC have very divergent views on workplace organisation, with the ICC basing themselves more on the dialogue with council-communist elements undertaken by the old GCF), talking with both former ICC people and some from the ICT, but again, I'm not part of the tendency, and between this and the debate on how the ICT sees the proletarian state I don't know anything anymore, I've just confused myself in the head.

My take on this is that the ICC considers itself 'synthesist' - drawing on both the Italian and German-Dutch traditions - while both the Bordigists and the ICT consider that their tradition is pretty much Italian. However, the Damenists of the ICT - which includes the Italian group the Internationalist Communist Party, also known by its journal Battaglia Comunista - had already had some dialogue with the German-Dutch Left befoer WWII, and had a 'German' (that is, Luxemburgist) position on the National Question. The Bordigist position is a little more complex than that.

On some (theoretical) questions, the ICC is closer to the Bordigists (such as various points of political organisation) and some questions they're closer to the Damenists. For practical purposes, the ICT and ICC are closer to each other than either are to the Bordigists, who barely acknowledge the existence of other groups and certainly wouldn't deign to talk to them (the various ICPs already having all the answers, from what I can tell). But the ICC and ICT can actually be persuaded to talk to each other on occasion.

[newdayrising]

but I think the ICC is at least as ridiculous as various Bordigist splits

Do you mean in their actual political output, texts and so on or just in the internal drama of the organization? Or both?

If you mean their politics, texts and so on, what exactly do you regard as particularly crazy?

[Guardia Rossa]

"He attended his last meeting of the Executive Committee of the Comintern in 1926, the same year in which he confronted Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin face-to-face. In his final confrontation with Stalin in Moscow in 1926, Bordiga proposed that all the Communist Parties of the world should jointly rule the Soviet Union, as a demonstration of the supra-national reality of the workers' movement"

He does seems crazy. Kinda awsome too.

[newdayrising]

"He attended his last meeting of the Executive Committee of the Comintern in 1926, the same year in which he confronted Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin face-to-face. In his final confrontation with Stalin in Moscow in 1926, Bordiga proposed that all the Communist Parties of the world should jointly rule the Soviet Union, as a demonstration of the supra-national reality of the workers' movement"

He does seems crazy. Kinda awsome too.

I don't think anyone was talking about Bordiga himself being metally ill, but about the politics and/or behavior of left communist organizations.

[Emmett Till]

"He attended his last meeting of the Executive Committee of the Comintern in 1926, the same year in which he confronted Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin face-to-face. In his final confrontation with Stalin in Moscow in 1926, Bordiga proposed that all the Communist Parties of the world should jointly rule the Soviet Union, as a demonstration of the supra-national reality of the workers' movement"

He does seems crazy. Kinda awsome too.

All considered, too bad Stalin didn't go for the idea.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Do you mean in their actual political output, texts and so on or just in the internal drama of the organization? Or both?

If you mean their politics, texts and so on, what exactly do you regard as particularly crazy?

I was mostly referring to "internal drama" (although it didn't always stay internal). As for political positions, the ICC theory of "parasitism" is pretty notorious, although, again, most of the really stupid consequences are in the realm of practice.

[newdayrising]

I was mostly referring to "internal drama" (although it didn't always stay internal). As for political positions, the ICC theory of "parasitism" is pretty notorious, although, again, most of the really stupid consequences are in the realm of practice.

That's what I thought you would say. The theses on parasitism seems to be the ICC's main problem for most people, along with the decomposition thing. Generally though, their outlook seems pretty un-crazy to me, wether one agrees with it or not, which can't be said about most of the bordigist groups I guess, Il Partito in particular. I suppose insularity is fertile ground for "crazy" politics.