encephalon
22nd August 2006, 14:39
I don't have much time to elucidate, but recently I've found this idea rather interesting. With the collapse of a lot of "old new left" publications and organizations in the 1990's (crossroads, etc), it seems to me that the internet was the most natural move for leftist interaction in an age in which we once again find ourselves scattered across the entire globe and not centrally organized in one specific area (or by one specific organization, ideology, etc.).
While many of us aren't fond of the bolshevik revolution, it was far better than the autocracy it replaced (although in many respects the bolsheviks carried the autocracy with them). But whatever any of us think about lenin, bolshevism, authoritarianism, etc, one face remains: without Iskra, it's likely that the left wouldn't have organized to the extent it did early last century; and while Iskra did highlight the various sectarian attitudes of different groups and people, for a great while it remained largely non-sectarian and allowed leftists to organize on unprecedented levels, but without organization as its intent.
In short, I'm wondering if anyone else might see some semblance of a parellel between Iskra and forums such as revleft? Forums like this one, just as Iskra, highlight some very big sectarian issues.. but at the same time we're communicating in a mostly non-sectarian fashion at levels that are, to my knowledge, not to be found at least after the cold war started and soviet ideological hegemony strengthened to its highest levels. (For those of you that will claim revleft is sectarian: I'll admit that there might be some sectarianism against stalinist tendencies, be even stalinists are tolerated until they inevitably advocate bigotry.. and I don't even want to hear about the leninist/anarchist debate.. the fact that it's a debate means that leninists and anarchists are communicating here)
Granted, there was the SDS (eventually taken over by maoists) and other umbrella organizations of a similar nature, but I don't think they had the same communicative synergy that something as simple as this forum provides. I think, when its all said and done, that something like forums will play a larger role in leftist communication, especially across sectarian lines.. so much so that it would probably be worthy of mention in a hypothetical history book of the future.
The next "spark" may be, in fact, an internet forum. Any thoughts? (note: I'm not advocating armchair revolution, merely exploring the possibility of an Iskra within the curren technological paradigm).
While many of us aren't fond of the bolshevik revolution, it was far better than the autocracy it replaced (although in many respects the bolsheviks carried the autocracy with them). But whatever any of us think about lenin, bolshevism, authoritarianism, etc, one face remains: without Iskra, it's likely that the left wouldn't have organized to the extent it did early last century; and while Iskra did highlight the various sectarian attitudes of different groups and people, for a great while it remained largely non-sectarian and allowed leftists to organize on unprecedented levels, but without organization as its intent.
In short, I'm wondering if anyone else might see some semblance of a parellel between Iskra and forums such as revleft? Forums like this one, just as Iskra, highlight some very big sectarian issues.. but at the same time we're communicating in a mostly non-sectarian fashion at levels that are, to my knowledge, not to be found at least after the cold war started and soviet ideological hegemony strengthened to its highest levels. (For those of you that will claim revleft is sectarian: I'll admit that there might be some sectarianism against stalinist tendencies, be even stalinists are tolerated until they inevitably advocate bigotry.. and I don't even want to hear about the leninist/anarchist debate.. the fact that it's a debate means that leninists and anarchists are communicating here)
Granted, there was the SDS (eventually taken over by maoists) and other umbrella organizations of a similar nature, but I don't think they had the same communicative synergy that something as simple as this forum provides. I think, when its all said and done, that something like forums will play a larger role in leftist communication, especially across sectarian lines.. so much so that it would probably be worthy of mention in a hypothetical history book of the future.
The next "spark" may be, in fact, an internet forum. Any thoughts? (note: I'm not advocating armchair revolution, merely exploring the possibility of an Iskra within the curren technological paradigm).