Originally posted by MeetingPeopleIsEasy+November 03, 2007 05:04 am--> (MeetingPeopleIsEasy @ November 03, 2007 05:04 am)
[email protected] 03, 2007 12:08 am
Check out this statement (http://communistworkersleague.org/cwl/statement.pdf), which was written by the Communist Workers League (whose link is in my sig if you're interested). I'm not trying to impose an opinion on you, but it explains some background info that you should probably know before joining "Communist League."
Link wont load... is this organization multi-tendancy? [/b]
Yeah, it's multi-tendency.
The link was to a PDF. Here it is in TXT form (looks like the formatting might get messed up by copying/pasting it.. sorry). Again, I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but this is just some stuff you should know about the few people who now call themselves the "Communist League."
In September 2007, the Communist League faced its first major internal crisis. This struggle, unlike
many such incidents across the left, lacked a fundamental political basis, but was instead fought to
defend the organisation against the outlandish, eccentric and egotistical machinations of an extreme
minority. Upon losing the fight, this minority decided to circumvent the democratic process by
declaring itself a “Provisional Organising Committee” - in effect a legislative and executive organ
created against the will of the League itself. Since we refuse to bow to the authority of a handful of
people looking to dictate their own personal agendas to the majority, they have to all intents and
purposes separated themselves from the organisation. However, they continue to spread what are
little more than petty falsehoods and personal attacks; in the process utilising rather comical
pseudo-Marxian language in order to hide the shallow nature of their argument. Since they continue
to declare that they are in fact the Communist League itself - which if that were true would mean a
league of perhaps three or four people - a response is required; a response which we hope will settle
this matter once and for all.
Declaration of a Faction of the Communist League
"The Communist League has reached a point of crisis. The actions of a section of the membership
have succeeded in degrading the organization to a point where internal functioning has ceased, the
Rules have been bypassed and circumvented to the point where chaos and lack of discipline are
now the norm, and the Basic Principles have been compromised in the name of expediency and get-
rich-quick schemes. In effect, the actions of a section of the membership have dashed the League
against the rocks, and the choice facing the League is now either to allow the organization to sink
into ruin or to take emergency action to repair the damage."
With the above statement, the anti-democratic minority of the Communist League declared in their
own words, what were in fact their own actions. They have effectively described the situation the
League faced while their minority was engaged in an unrelenting campaign to sabotage internal
democracy. Our majority, who ARE the members of the Communist League, denounce - in the
strongest possible terms - the deviousness of the three members who dare state that they are, in
fact, the League. It is truly a vile attempt to convince naive or possibly new and inexperienced
members to join what was a minority faction (now an organization claiming to be the League) under
the pretense that they are a genuine revolutionary force. To counter this attempt is the only reason
we have decided to let you know the identities of the faction of three. At no time was it any ones
desire or intention to "out" any of them. We do so here simply to prevent them from attempting to
further deceive the American left, as due to information obtained in the past few weeks, it would
seem they have utilized the tactics of intrigue and infiltration with other organizations in the past.
Background
As mentioned, the background to the recent turmoil did not involve anything even approaching
political divergence. At no point did the minority POC faction declare any kind of program, or even
opinion that went further than the most astonishing falsehoods regarding the character of the
comrades who opposed them. The struggle was fought purely over organizational matters, as in
internal democracy versus egomania and paranoia.
Over a period lasting roughly two months, our editor, Martin Schreader, also known as Henry Miles or
Henry Milestone, did deliberately and maliciously refuse to work on our national League
publications. At a Central Committee meeting, he finally came forward regarding what he and his
partner, Lisa Weltman, called a "sexist dynamic". They then proceeded monopolizing the bulk of the
meeting to talking about their own personal issues, skirting over the fact that due to over-
centralization and a lack of accountability, the entire organization had ground to a halt. League
members offered to help Schreader with the publications, so that he and Weltman would hopefully
be able to start resolving their personal troubles. We were quite naturally concerned about their
situation, but felt that we were not given enough information to intervene in this particular domestic
dispute between members.
The Squelching of Democracy
One week later, no one had even heard from Schreader, much less been given a clear picture of the
status of our publications. We had not received the templates required for the layouts, which were
needed if anyone was to help shoulder the burden of editorial work. Due to this several members
discussed at our regular membership meeting ways in which we could continue publishing material
without having to put strain on Schreader and Weltman. Weltman was present at this gathering but
Schreader deemed he was too busy too attend. None the less possible options were discussed as to
what could be done to edit and publish our material - which included a motion on disbanding the
position of League editor and holding elections for an editorial board. At this point, Weltman
immediately left the meeting. Soon after this, Schreader appeared and accused us of sexist behavior
in front of his partner, along with “driving a female comrade” out of the meeting - to the great
confusion of all who were still present. It cannot be stressed enough that such an accusation has no
basis in reality, and exists purely in the minds of Schreader and Weltman. Due to their repeated
slandering of the League, which now includes calling us “woman haters” among other things, we
again state that there is no basis to such statements, and challenge Schreader to provide evidence
of such behavior. We are fully confident that he cannot, as no such evidence exists, due to the
simple fact that such an occurrence never took place.
After a heated argument, Schreader resigned as editor, in the process declaring his lack of
confidence in anyone else's ability to do the job. He then proceeded to throw all sorts of accusations
in the face of his comrades - which included charges of “factionalism” and of attempting to stage a
coup - which led to those present questioning Schreader on his motives, with one member calling
him by his first name. Nothing was mentioned of this at the time, but in less than 24 hours formal
charges of “breaching security” and engaging in personal attacks against League members were
leveled at these comrades. Two of the members were not able to be present to defend themselves
due to work, but were suspended all the same, with no chance of being able to even make a
statement. However, the trial itself was handled exclusively by the CC, where Schreader has a bloc
vote alongside Weltman and a sycophantic associate named Rick. It is to be noted that this same
gang of three now make up the Provisional Organizing Committee claiming to be the entire League.
As only one defendant was present at the trial, there was some degree of opposition. However, when
it was pointed out that the charge of engaging in personal attacks would also apply to both Rick and
Schreader, Weltman announced that that charge in particular was now a “mistake” that she had not
intended to include in the original document calling for disciplinary action. Such astonishing double
dealing and insincerity speaks for itself.
However, League members had also discovered proof that Schreader and Weltman had themselves
broken organizational security, in particular in the form of a website that contained written and
photographic evidence of Weltmans true identity. This was no ordinary website, but one that was
designed to act as an advertisement for Weltman's campaign to run for President of the United
States! This website also attached the League itself as political support for the campaign, despite
the fact that nobody in the League had been consulted on this or was even aware of her wishes to
stand for election.
When this was brought before the proceedings, Schreader continued to lie by arguing as if the
woman on the website was not in fact Weltman, despite the fact that several comrades have met
her and could vouch to the fact that the woman in the photograph was indeed her. As they were
rapidly losing ground, Weltman, Schreader and Rick then voted to ban all further discussion, in effect
silencing any further dissent, and moved straight on to suspending the three members. We would
confirm once more that two out of these three comrades were not even able to be present.
Some comrades were then subsequently ejected from the meeting, including one observer who
described the proceedings as a “travesty”. After earlier condemning several League members who
had posted the transcript of a CC meeting to the memberships internal discussion channel in order
to allow the rank and file to better understand the situation, Schreader then posted the transcript of
the trial to the same forum - but edited it so that the final part was missing so nobody would know of
the comrades who were banned for protesting.
According to our convention documents, the CC answers to the Executive Central Committee (CEC)
which is made up of elected representatives alongside those of the Central Committee. After hearing
about the suspension of the three comrades, several members asked the CEC to convene in order to
settle the issues brought up in the “trial”. Schreaders associate, Rick, then stated that only
Schreader himself could call and convene a meeting of the CEC, in fragrant violation of democratic
process.
However the CEC met anyway, disregarding the dictatorial action proposed by Rick, with a full
majority of CEC members attending. Schreader made an initial appearance and stated that because
he was chairman it was up to him to convene such a meeting, and since he had not done so we were
all in clear breach of League rules. He refused any further participation, clearly on the grounds that
because he personally didn't agree with the CEC's reasons for meeting, it should not be allowed to
take place. The CEC immediately voted to re-instate the excluded members, at which time
Schreader posted his factional declaration and excluded all members present from our internal
discussion board - effectively attempting to silence any further discussion.
Imminent Security Threat?
"In the last months following the First Constitutional Convention of the League, however, a section of
the membership, trained in the schools of petty-bourgeois socialism and still adhering to those
methods and practices, have attempted to transform the League into a clone of those organizations.
They have not only advocated a fundamental shift in our practice, away from communist activism
and toward the method of a leftist pressure group on the ruling class, but they have also tossed
aside the Rules aside in favor of personalism, gossip and infantile methods of argument. The
responsibility for this failure lies with all those who have engaged in these methods. However, it is
necessary to point out that this failure was allowed to grow and take hold due to the failure of the
Organizer to fulfill his chief responsibility to the League: the oversight of the daily administration
and coordination of the League, in accordance with the Rules and the mandate set by the
Convention and Central Committee."
The post above is yet another attempt by Schreader to accuse others in theory what he is actually
guilty of in practice. When he is not in fact lying through his teeth in regards to us wanting to
supposedly turn the League into a pressure group (again we publicly challenge Schreader to provide
concrete evidence to back up his claims) he is simply delving into his own personal world of paranoia
and fantasy.
However, during the recent troubles it became apparent that the emphasis on security had become
something of a dogma. At no point did the POC faction ever attempt to reconcile this policy with an
analysis of the actual situation facing the American left. Over time it became apparent that
Schreader and Weltman were genuinely terrified of their true identities being discovered, for the
simple reason that they were known on the US left for disruptive behavior and intrigue.
As stated, Lisa Weltman, as recently as September 2006 was exploring the possibility of running for
President of the United States - with the backing of a local Green Party member. Schreader is also
listed as her campaign manager, all associated with either the Green Party Michigan, or the Michigan
chapter of the SP-USA. Schreader attached our League platform to the Weltman campaign, insuring
the possibility of a federal investigation of Weltman, and by association, the League.
However, after League members discovered this website, it was taken down, clearly to prevent the
rank and file from being able to properly digest the information and come to their own conclusions.
Schreaders charge of sexism
Schreaders charges the following:
"the most egregious of these was the open embracing of sexism by these members. Some of these
members made blatantly sexist and misogynistic comments, twisted efforts at combating sexism
into acts of sexism in order to cover their own anti-woman attacks, and consciously sought to drive
a leading woman comrade out of the League on a personalistic basis."
This charge is based on Schreaders own "sexist dynamic" he admitted to at the CC meeting
mentioned earlier. However it has become clear judging from his conduct at the trial, his input
regarding the website, and his recent “declaration” that Schreader is a deliberate liar and makes this
statement solely to try and take the focus off him as a supposed "leader" in communist/leftwing
politics. His loss of any kind of grip on reality, and his persistent attempt to accuse others with what
he himself is guilty of, is the main reason we offer this document. It should also be noted that
throughout this unpleasantness, we were consistently able to best the POC faction by simple
reliance on hard evidence (transcripts, minutes, the website etc) where as they were only able to
respond with outrageous slander and by descending into their own private fantasies. We are fully
able to provide evidence of everything we have stated and argued - the POC cannot do the same.
The "Rest of the Story"
The rest of Schreader's document is truly unworthy of responding to. He makes repeated use of
supposed Marxian jargon in order to try and convince the reader that somehow he actually has a
form of political argument. However as mentioned the vast bulk of his statement is pure fabrication
and is beyond his ability to prove. His claims that we (as in the League, not him, his wife and Rick)
want to turn the League into a “clone” of the left, alter its principles, or destroy it altogether, are
simply groundless. Not seemingly content with dragging the organization through the dirt, lying
repeatedly, attaching us to political campaigns without our consent, suspending opponents and
censoring the membership, he has now taken it upon himself to advertise his slanderous statement
as much as possible.
We, as a League, did not relish this conflict, or the steps we have had to take to resolve it. We
expect to be criticized. We only ask that before you criticize, you take into account the spirit in
which we offer this document. We also ask that you acknowledge our effort to openly stated the
facts - along with our willingness to prove them - in order to counter the disruptive actions of those
who are already known to the American workers movement as charlatans and purveyors of intrigue
and deceit.