Communism in different countries

[luxemburg89]

I know people from all over the world use this site, and their experiences of communism may be founded in their own country. As many of us come from different parts of the world and probably do not know an awful lot about what's happening in places other than our own country; I thought it would be a good idea for us all to discuss and explain what's happening across the world.

I am from Southern England, probably one of the only communists in that part of Britain. However my family come from Wales and I believe there is a communist constituency there called 'little Russia' near where my mum grew up. It is a VERY small movement in britain as it always has been. I am a member of the CPB (Communist Party of Britain) - there is also a CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain) - I would like to see a merger between the two sometime, things would be a hell of a lot easier.

The paper of the Left in Britain is 'The Morning Star' - despite not being the biggest it is always an interesting read. If you can get access to this then please please buy it. You will not regret it. The coverage is unbiased and, strangely for a British paper, is not racist, sexist or homophobic. However saying that it doesn't stick to this political correctness gone mad sentiment that all the other papers have.

Anyway enough of me rambling. Please give your thoughts on communism across the world.

[BobKKKindle$]

Good Thread!

I come from Hong Kong SAR, which is situated in the South of China, and is famous for being an 'outstanding' example for the benefits of free market Capitalism. The dominant role of the Beijing Central Government in Hong Kong's political affairs means that the Radical Left plays no role in Hong Kong Politics, and to the best of my knowledge, no such groups exist, and I am reasonably sure that I am the only serious leftist in my school if not all of Hong Kong. I lead quite a lonely Political Life in that respect - although it should be noted that the WTO talks took place in Hong Kong in Christmas 2005, which was something that was really exciting for me, as I got an oppurtunity to meet people of a similar disposition.

However, every day I am able to see some of the worst effects of the free market for myself; most notably, income inequality- It is not unusual, in the evening, to see senior citizens trawling through public rubbish bins searching for aluminium cans which can be sold. I have always found this shocking, as a westerner coming from a Capitalist Country that at least provideds a basic level of welfare to those that cannot afford to provide basic amenities for themselves. Ask any Hong Konger about this. Hong Kong is also one of the few 'developed' economic reigons to have no form of minimum wage.

There is only one domestic english language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, which focuses overwhelmingly on domestic affairs.

I look forward to hearing from people living in 'LDCs' if there are any on the board.

[luxemburg89]

I'm the only leftist in mine as well i think. Glad you like the thread. Have you ever been to the UK? What's the impression of us over there?

[Rawthentic]

I live in California, near San Francisco. Here, there were huge immigrant marches in which I proudly took part in since my parents are immigrants from Mexico as well. There are serious problems here: mainly the immigration debate, but also gang violence, mainly by young Latinos who have been ostracized and marginalized, unattended and apprehended by this society.

[luxemburg89]

that's really cool - taking part in the march. There aren't any here in Winchester. There's a Winchester in the U.S. isn't there? I think it's in virginia. The U.S.A. is founded on immigration, except of course the natives. Britain is much the same. There's a lot of anti-immigrant feeling at the moment in the papers and it's really annoying. It's important to accept immigration otherwise, as a world society, we cannot move forward - we'll just move backwards to basic middle and dark age mentality. You've got my admiration mate.

[Wanted Man]

Cool thread. :) My post will mainly deal with the CPN, NCPN, and CJB, because that's what I know the most of.

As far as I know, I'm the only communist in my town, but there's a city of about 190,000 people right next to it which has one of the strongest sections of the communist movement of the Netherlands(although that doesn't mean much! :lol: ), so if anything's going on up north here(Groningen, for those who know anything about this country), it gives me some exercise by cycling to the city. :)

Anyway, there was first the Communist Party of the Netherlands(CPN), which played a key role in the anti-fascist resistance. However, from research, it has turned out that it is highly likely that non-communist resistance members deliberately sold out communists to the Gestapo. Further research should show whether this was just clumsiness, or whether there was a deliberate effort on the part of the government-in-exile to weaken and disarm the communist movement to make it useless after the war(all you people who criticise the USSR for being cautious of non-communist governments-in-exile: take note!!!).

In the CPN Congress of 1984, democratic centralism and Marxism-Leninism were officially scrapped from the party's principles. This led to the Verbond van Communisten in Nederland(VCN, Union of Communists in the Netherlands) to split. In 1989, the CPN dissolved, and formed the ecological GroenLinks(GreenLeft) party together with some leftist christian parties. The last CPN leader later openly admitted that she had never been a communist, making her "acceptable" to lead GroenLinks! GL is now an open "social liberal" party that voted for intervention in Afghanistan, and favoured the EU Constitution.

The VCN then merged with some local communist groups, founding the New Communist Party of the Netherlands, the heir of the old CPN with democratic centralism and ML intact. It has been growing slowly, but steadily since. From what I've gathered, it's starting to gather up some dissatisfied GL and SP(Socialist Party, the main social-democratic party since the PvdA(Labour) openly supports neo-liberalism like the "New Labour" in the UK)) members. With this, the party is gaining capacity to work in trade unions and on the factory floors, and be present at strikes and the like, leading to more positive reactions.

In 1999, the section of Scheemda(a rural municipality in eastern Groningen) split off from NCPN, forming the ironically named Verenigde Communistische Partij(VCP, United Communist Party). They accused the neighbouring section of Reiderland(the traditional "communist stronghold", because in the early 20th century, there were lots of big land owners who brutally suppressed their workers, leading to lots of communist sentiment) of being ineffective in their role as coalition members of the municipal government.

In 2001, the NCPN-Jongeren(NCPN-Youth) were founded as a youth section. In 2003, it became more organisationally independent as the Communistische Jongeren Beweging(CJB, Communist Youth Movement), which is spread around the country, and has especially well growing sections in and around the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Groningen.

In early 2006, the weakness of the Reiderland branch of the NCPN showed when they lost 3 seats in the municipal elections, keeping only 2, so they were not included in a new governing coalition. Soon after, several members of this branch, one of them having a seat in the municipal council, quit the party, stating their disillusionment with the elderly veterans, claiming that they did not support the youth enough. The CJB issued a statement of support for the NCPN, saying that the people who quit the party had never tried to actually do anything for the youth themselves, so their accusations were baseless, and their walking away like this ran completely contrary to democratic centralism.

In the end, the whole event was really inconsequential, as some members returned, and in the end the whole "split" was really only like 5 people or so. And I'm quite happy about this, because in the end, the movement has much more important things to deal with than these petty little splits in tiny rural communities! For example, CJB is now working on trying to keep the Czech communist youth, the KSM, legal.

Another very recent event was the commemoration of WWII communist resistance fighter Hannie Schaft, who died at 23 years old. I just came back from this commemoration today. Although it is organised by bourgeois organisations who do not speak much of her communism, afterwards, some of us visited her grave(with that of many other resistance fighters, many of them communists) in the dunes, to pay our true respects.

I know a lot of this stuff, because I've been running with the CJB for over 2 years now, and have been an official member for about one and a half. Since I don't know much about other parties that claim to be part of the revolutionary left, I'll sum them up here quickly:

VCP: mentioned before. I have no idea what they amount to these days, since I think they're not much more than the 30 or so members in Scheemda.

Groep Marxisten-Leninisten/Rode Morgen(GML/Rode Morgen, Group of Marxist-Leninists/Red Morning): maoists. Only ever seen a few of them once at a demonstration. Seem to have some base of support in Rotterdam though. The "Rode Morgen" comes from the name of their paper. It can also be translated as "Red Dawn". :D

Offensief(Offensive): Trotskyists. CWI branch. Practices entryism into the SP since 1998.

Internationale Socialisten(IS, International Socialists): Trotskyists. IST branch, therefore they follow the Cliffite "third camp" line of USSR being "state capitalist". Entered the SP in 2005. Interestingly, some Offensief members see this as opportunism because, well, they were there first! :P

And I'm sure there's plenty of others, like groups of anarchists or even sections of other trot internationals.

[Global_Justice]

luxemburg, are you in winchester?

i'm from basingstoke :D

there is another poster from winchester i think, harulder (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showuser=13841).

and love underground is in reading.

your not alone mate, to say your one of the only communists in the south of england is wrong.

[Rawthentic]

Yeah, comrade you are right. Matthjis, there has to be communists or left radicals in a city. You just gotta seek 'em out. Please dont use that as an excuse to sit around all day. Im not saying you are though, either.

[Matty_UK]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26, 2006 09:14 pm
I am from Southern England, probably one of the only communists in that part of Britain. However my family come from Wales and I believe there is a communist constituency there called 'little Russia' near where my mum grew up. It is a VERY small movement in britain as it always has been. I am a member of the CPB (Communist Party of Britain) - there is also a CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain) - I would like to see a merger between the two sometime, things would be a hell of a lot easier.
I live in Gateshead (right in the north next to newcastle) and there's an old mining village known as "Little Moscow" (actually called Chopwell) where there was near or totally unanimous support for the communist party during the miners strike. It's pretty cool, there are streets named after Marx and Lenin and the village banner has pictures of Marx, Lenin, and the guy who founded the Labour party, back when it was a socialist party.

[Cheung Mo]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26, 2006 10:28 pm
Good Thread!

I come from Hong Kong SAR, which is situated in the South of China, and is famous for being an 'outstanding' example for the benefits of free market Capitalism. The dominant role of the Beijing Central Government in Hong Kong's political affairs means that the Radical Left plays no role in Hong Kong Politics, and to the best of my knowledge, no such groups exist, and I am reasonably sure that I am the only serious leftist in my school if not all of Hong Kong. I lead quite a lonely Political Life in that respect - although it should be noted that the WTO talks took place in Hong Kong in Christmas 2005, which was something that was really exciting for me, as I got an oppurtunity to meet people of a similar disposition.

However, every day I am able to see some of the worst effects of the free market for myself; most notably, income inequality- It is not unusual, in the evening, to see senior citizens trawling through public rubbish bins searching for aluminium cans which can be sold. I have always found this shocking, as a westerner coming from a Capitalist Country that at least provideds a basic level of welfare to those that cannot afford to provide basic amenities for themselves. Ask any Hong Konger about this. Hong Kong is also one of the few 'developed' economic reigons to have no form of minimum wage.

There is only one domestic english language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, which focuses overwhelmingly on domestic affairs.

I look forward to hearing from people living in 'LDCs' if there are any on the board.
What about April 5 Action?

Or do you view them as being nothing more than extremely radical social liberals? (I can against that argument while still recognising that they're a better alternative to either the Beijing-backed authoritarian capitalists or the Vatican-backed coalition of social democrats and communitarians that form the lynchpin of the pro-democracy opposition.)

[Wanted Man]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27, 2006 01:00 am
Yeah, comrade you are right. Matthjis, there has to be communists or left radicals in a city. You just gotta seek 'em out. Please dont use that as an excuse to sit around all day. Im not saying you are though, either.
I'm in a town of about 12,000. I should explain myself further: if there are any communists in my town, I certainly don't know of them, and there is no communist organisation active. But it's no problem for me, I just cycle to the city for 30 minutes and there's plenty of things to do. :)

[luxemburg89]

Yeah, i was joking about being the only one. My girlfriend's family live in basingstoke. Glad I'm not alone in hampshire, let alone Southern England

And Matty_UK i'll have to check that out sometime. My grandparents live in Darlington - have done for over 50 years now. I'll have to check that out sometime, thanks. I'll ring them and ask them about it. Probably go and see it next time im up.

[Spirit of Spartacus]

Where I come from, in Pakistan, the Left has endured severe repression ever since we got our independence from the British.

The Left here has to contend with not only a dictatorial, pro-imperialist military regime led by General Musharraf, we also have to deal with the religious right-wing, which is an active ally of the ruling-class.

The communists seem to be gaining momentum, but its a very gradual process. From what I've seen of it, it involves setting up communist cells in working-class areas and universities, organizing mass demonstrations of workers, mobilizing support among the rural peasantry by visiting and holding study circles, etc etc

I have lots of communist friends now. I could name at least 50 communist friends that I've met and gotten to know personally. :)



Some history, for those interested...

This is what I've managed to learn...

In the early 1950s, the government initiated a brutal crackdown on the revolutionary left, on the excuse that the communists were planning a coup. (which was bullshit).

Our greatest post-independence poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was never officially recognized simply for being a communist.

The communists were banned after this, and the ban continued up to 1994. The left was severaly weakened by splits among the communist movement.

The 1980s were a particularly bad time for the Left in Pakistan, since the pro-imperialist dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq began to encourage the most reactionary form of religious extremism, in an effort to mobilize support for the American-funded "holy war" against the socialist government in neighboring Afghanistan.

The two largest communist groups united in the late 1990s, to form the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP). That means "Communist Workers' and Peasants' Party".


We have some Trotskyist "communists" too. :P

(sorry, couldn't resist that)

The Trotskyists have their own little party, the Tabqaati Jedojehad (TI), which means "Class Struggle".

(sorry, couldn't resist THAT either :D )


But I support and associate myself with the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party, who are Marxist-Leninists.

Here's the website of the CMKP:

www.cmkp.tk




Sorry if that stuff is really un-organized, I hope it makes some sense to someone.

[luxemburg89]

First off the British Government has a lot to answer for - we had no right to be in your country. The imperialism of British history really annoys me.

Anyhoo moving on. In Britain I would say the main restriction on Communism and socialist movements is public opinion, or at least the public image of the movement. Most people don't bother to, or refuse to try and understand what it all really means. Is that the case elsewhere?

[Marukusu]

In Sweden, there are probably very few real communists, people dedicated to the revolution. Though most ordinary people I've talked seem to be anti-capitalists (they loathe the unequal wages and the way the workers are exploted) and think positively on a strong worker's movement, they also hate communism.

I live in a very small town (about 1500 people actually living here though many tourists just go here on vacation), so I'm pretty alone here with my political beliefs... :P
There is a small group of "Young Left"-members (members of the "socialist" Left Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Party_%28Sweden%29) youth organization) in the nearest "city" (about 15 000 inhabitants. Stockholm, the largest city in Sweden, only have about 1,7 million inhabitants with all the suburbs included), of which I know of only 2 who openly call themselves communists.

There are a few radical leftist parties in Sweden, most notably the Communist Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunistiska_Partiet_Marxist-Leninisterna_%28Revolution%C3%A4rerna%29) (former KPMLr and pro-Maoist), the Communist Party of Sweden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Sweden_%281995%29) (formerly pro-Soviet), and the trotskyist Socialist Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_%28Sweden%2C_1969%29).
The Left Party mentioned earlier officially gave up their communist roots after the collapse of the Soviet Union and are now nothing more than a radical reformist party that occasionallt sings the Internationale. But still, it's the largest "leftist" party in Sweden, and they achieved 317,228 votes (5,8%) in the September election this year, including my own (the liberal-conservative "Alliance for Sweden" won the elections for the first time in 12 years of uninterrupted Social Democratic rule, if anyone wonders).

I am much of a pessimist, but the revolutionary situation looks extremely dire in Sweden. :(
...Though the riots in Gothenburg in 2001 is something I'll never forget. :D

[luxemburg89]

what happened in gothenburg?

[Marukusu]

Originally posted by luxemburg89
what happened in gothenburg?

Here's what the oh-so-ever-great-and-unbiased wikipedia says about is:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg_riots

While many here would consider the Gothenburg riots "low-key" compared to other similar events (like the Battle of Seattle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTO_Ministerial_Conference_of_1999_protest_activit y)), it sparked a lot of debates in little Sweden. I myself followed the riots closely in the news (no, I wasn't there in person) and when I started to get intrerested in the demonstrants I became more politically aware.
You could actually say that the Gothenburg riots is what made me a communist.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

In Sweden, there are probably very few real communists, people dedicated to the revolution. Though most ordinary people I've talked seem to be anti-capitalists (they loathe the unequal wages and the way the workers are exploted) and think positively on a strong worker's movement, they also hate communism

A nation of trots lol

[Marukusu]

Originally posted by LeftyHenry
A nation of trots lol

Heh, when the average Sven hear about communism, he rather think more about Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot rather than mister Lev.
It doesn't matter what arguments you come up with when you try to convert the "old guard"-swedes, they all just say "ok it's a fine idea, but communism doesn't work and never will". Many are also royalists and/or nationalists to different degrees, the results of a life in pro-western indoctorination.

[luxemburg89]

oh right thanks for the link.

thanks to everyone for replying to my topicy thing. I've only been on this a few days. Its great to know theres so many of you out there. I'm gonna go to bed now - anyway see you later guys.

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27, 2006 05:46 pm


I am much of a pessimist, but the revolutionary situation looks extremely dire in Sweden. :(
...Though the riots in Gothenburg in 2001 is something I'll never forget. :D
The anarchist syndicalist SAC just held a large strike. They have around 7000 members. There are deffinetly more than 2 communists in Stockholm, you need to get out more.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/debatt/story...,922180,00.html (http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/debatt/story/0,2789,922180,00.html)

http://www.sac.se/

[The Grey Blur]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26, 2006 09:14 pm
there is a communist constituency there called 'little Russia' near where my mum grew up.
How cute, a mini-deformed dictatorship in the Welsh countryside.

Does your mum know the Stalinist who got all the money from that painting being sold? That was an amazing stroke of luck.

Here in Ireland the thinking layers of the working class are growing and growing, with support for Socialist ideas growing massively over the last few years around certain anti-privatisation campaigns where comrades played leading roles. As Ireland is a country with a long history of Imperialist exploitation we have always drawn inspiration and ideas from international comrades so I'm happy reading these responses.

[Marukusu]

Originally posted by violencia.Proletariat
The anarchist syndicalist SAC just held a large strike. They have around 7000 members. There are deffinetly more than 2 communists in Stockholm, you need to get out more.

My current economical status kind of limits my movements to this computer. I am a slave to this machine. :(
And how truly revolutionary is the SAC? I mean, is revolution really on their schedule or is it just some nice words they use to attract angry workers? Just curious.

[Enragé]

Internationale Socialisten(IS, International Socialists): Trotskyists. IST branch, therefore they follow the Cliffite "third camp" line of USSR being "state capitalist". Entered the SP in 2005. Interestingly, some Offensief members see this as opportunism because, well, they were there first!

they also left again, since the SP didnt accept dual membership.


And I'm sure there's plenty of others, like groups of anarchists or even sections of other trot internationals.

http://www.eurodusnie.nl (anarchist collective)
and we have an AFA

thats all what comes to mind right now

lots of squats though, squattercafés etc

[norwegian commie]

Thing is, there is always more than you think.
I thougt all revolutionary activity was dead in my city. But then i met some commies on an palestine meeting, and i joined socialistic youth...

Im having a blast now, going to seminars enlisting people, giving our "mother party" hell. They are not nearly as radical as us... We alsoe struggle a bit with reformsts in the organisation... They took it over in the 80's and the revolutionaries claimed it back in he 90's.. But now i fear the history is repeating itself, and SU has newer excluded(thrown out) a single person, so we are kinda stuck.

Anyways, thats were im at..

[luxemburg89]

As far as i know the 'little Russia' thing was nickname by anti communists. That does not mean it's stalinist in any way, and as a matter of fact my mums a trotskyite. Wasn't the woman who got the money from the painting part of the CPGB? cos i don't support them, i support the CPB - this sounds like the Judean peoples front from monty python a bit doesnt it?

I studied Irish History last year. I've said this a lot but Britain has much to answer for - many of the problems in the world were caused by Britain or British ideology.

[Omri Evron]

Cool thread.

Well, in Israel, and I doupt this is supprising, the political situation is realy realy bad. Other than the fact that the country has always been racist by definition, and maintains the apartheid military occupation over the Palestinians for the last few decades, things are getting much worse. I assume that in a few years there will be a fascist take over (as in real fascists and not just the usual Zionist racists).

The CPI is the only joint Arabic and Jewish party in Israel, and the only one to oppose nationalism and capitalism. The movement isn't very big, but it's growing, and we are one of the leading political forces among Israeli Arabs. In the last elections, Hadash (the front of the CPI and other radical lefts) got some 70,000 votes and 3 Knesset members- which is a relative improvement to the last elections. I am personally active in the youth league of the CPI, and we are growing quite quickly in the center of Israel in the last few years.
There is a lot of social unrest because of the extreme neo-liberal economic policies of the government in the last few years (aided by the Labor party), but they are always minor to the "security" issues (the need to "defend the country from terrorism"). The anti-occupation movement is also very active, and includes dozens of organizations. There is a very radical but small activist scene among Israeli youths that includes demonstrations against the occupation, demonstrations with Palestinians against the Apartheid Wall, and in the Refusenik movement.
Overall, the leftists are pictured as traitors, and the majority of Israeli citizens don't even believe in liberal democracy. The whole Israeli society is extremely militaristic, and there are huge fundamentalist, racist and fascist groups & parties in the country. One of these major parties is "Israel Our Home" which openly calls to take away the citizenship of all Arabs and citizens that won't serve in the army and swear loyalty to the Jewish State. Other major parties call for the transfer of all Arabs from the "Greater Israel", and want to institute a theocratic regime (or even monarchy).
Among Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories there is also a shift towards right-wing Islamic parties, but many of the leaders of the struggle towards national liberation are communists.

So, things here pretty much suck, although when faced with such challenges I am proud to say that I know many dedicated and brave revolutionaries both in Israel and in Palestine.

And of course, also in Israel there are tiny communist organizations that split from eachother, and a few dozen anarchists.

[Louis Pio]

Hmm here In Denmark we got a "green/red" party called the unity list which includes USFI, Old moscow commies and soft left + the danish SWP who just joined. On the silly left we got 3 "communist parties", it used to be four but some united on an unprincipled line (they don't wanna discuss Soviet and they call for "anti-monopolistic democracy"). The anarchists here have become quite disorganised in the last period of time, I don't really think they have any organisations but some meet in the "youthhouse" which is an old squat the police want to kick them out of now http://ungdomshuset.info/en.php3?id_rubrique=4

And of course we have the Danish section of IMT who are the only ones taking a non-secterian approach to the members of the 3 workers parties. Unity List, Socialist Peoples Party and Social Democracy.


We have some Trotskyist "communists" too.

Well you kinda forgot to mention that the biggest ever communist group in Pakistan are Jeddo Judh, they have 3 members in parliament which they use as a platform for revolutionary propaganda and on top of that they organise the struggle against privatisation, in their last congress more than 2000 members attended, people from ALL ethnic groups in Pakistan.
Joint PTUDC-Sindh Employees Alliance Conference against ban on Unions and IRO 2002 (http://www.marxist.com/ptudc-sindh-alliance-conference281106.htm)
MNA Manzoor Ahmed intervenes in parliament against privatisation (http://www.marxist.com/manzoor-privatisation060406.htm)
The 25th Congress of The Struggle opens in Lahore (http://www.marxist.com/25th-congress-struggle-lahore.htm)
25th Congress of the Struggle – Part Two (http://www.marxist.com/25-congress-struggle-part-two.htm)
"The Struggle" (http://www.struggle.com.pk/)

The small "communist" groups however has no following to speak of and rightly so.

[Louis Pio]

EDIT: Double post

[RNK]

In Quebec there are a few Communist/Leftist organizations. There's the Communist Party of Quebec, the French nationalist, reformist off-shoot of the Communist Party of Canada. They're meaningless other than to simply push (weakly) for electoral reform. They've recently merged and re-merged with other parties and groups to create broader Leftist movement. Basically, they are useless.

Then there's the Communist Party of Canada - Marxist-Leninist which for all intents and purposes seem to be the exact same as the CPC except smaller. They too are an electoral Party and their activities consist of weak pressure tactics to poke and prod bourgeoisie domination.

Then there's the Revolutionary Communist Party, which is relatively new, but distinguishes itself by completely brushing off the idea of electoral reform and dedicating itself to armed forceful struggle based on the usual Marxist-Leninist civil insurrection as well as tinges of Maoist ideologies such as the need for a people's war and continuous revolution once Communism has been established. They're too new to know for sure how they will turn out. They could end up becoming a force to reckon with, or they could simply turn out to do nothing but huff and puff and whither away. The CPC and CPC-ML however had had over a century (combined) to do something and have only gotten weaker.

[luxemburg89]

cool. im going to Brescia (in Italy) in a few months. well actually im going to Turin but on a day trip we're going to Brescia. Does anyone know if the Brigate Rossi are still prominant there?

[Boriznov]

I live in Belgium, the belgium that colonized Congo yes.

there are two socialist party's here in the flemish part anyway

the PVDA (partij van de arbeid) but for me it has to many maoist influences and also they don't do much to support the cause

and the SP.A, i think they even wouldn't want a communiste society but just gain power as all politicians.

if there's any belgian that reads, correct me if i am wrong please

[Enragé]

SP.A are social democrats, not communists ;)

PvdA from what i gather are ok, do much on grassroots levels, but indeed, as you said, the whole maoist thing :|

[Zeruzo]

LSP anyone?
I'm no Trot but ignoring them would be silly... (If we're gonna include the SP.a)

[Ander]

I feel slightly ashamed, but the language barrier prevents me from discovering what really goes on here. Although my Portuguese is decent, it's not good enough to really get into any kind of political discussion or participate in an organization. I've seen anti-capitalist graffiti around here though, and Brasilia WAS designed by a known Communist.

I've got less than a year left here though, so when I return to Canada I will definitely become more politically active.

[Wanted Man]

Originally posted by [email protected] 05, 2006 09:45 pm
the PVDA (partij van de arbeid) but for me it has to many maoist influences and also they don't do much to support the cause
I like them, I don't think they can really be seen as Maoists anymore. Although they do have some respect for China, they don't advocate peasant revolution or anything. In fact, the International Communist Seminar is an initiative by the PVDA, and their chairman Ludo Martens, to unite all pro-USSR, pro-Chinese, pro-Albanian and pro-Cuban tendencies of Marxism-Leninism, as their historical divides are meaningless at this point.

[Prairie Fire]

I think that Comrade Ernest covered most of the revolutionary situation here in Canada.

We have two major parties: The revisionist communist Party of Canada, and the anti-revisionist Communist party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).

There are other tendancies floating around... The trots have more than one group (he he. silly trots.). There is the Maoist RCP that Ernest was drooling over, which shouldn't really call itself the Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada, as it is practically non-existent outside of Quebec. It is an off-shoot of the Avakianite RCP-USA. You also have the "Canadian friends of the Soviet People", known mostly for their international publication "North Star Compass", and a whole mess of tiny groups that I probably don't know about.

and by the way Ernest, get your numbers straight; CPC-ML is quite a bit bigger than CPC. If you don't believe me, go to Wikipedia.

Yes, it is kind of like Monty Pythons "life of Brian", isn't it?
" The only peole we hate more than the bloody romans are the fucking Judean Peoples Front."