Thank you for the link as well, I remember Lenin when asked if he knew Deleon, he recalled an Old man sitting in the back (with at the time, young Herman Gorter I believe) in the Amsterdam Congress of 2nd International. Looking over some of the National Archives I found some pamphelts and editorials for the early SLP which detail the SLP's reaction to the Comintern's 21 principles. It would also appear that they, like the Communist Left, rejected the 21 principles and upholded Internationalism. I am finding myself more and more in line with Deleon on a number of questions. I enjoyed the definition you gave to Kadir Ates on Deleonism btw.
That link was very interesting, thanks. I believe that De Leon himself did interact with and give accounts of the various members of the 20th Century Marxist movement, such as Bebel, Kautsky and the like, and this can be seen in a couple of articles in 'The People', probably the 'flashlight' ones if I recall correctly. The SLP did seem to come out in the 'left' of those assemblies as well, and you may be interested in this article. So yes, we're a bit less isolated than we appear, although the SLP did later grow isolated due to their rejection from the Third International, which may have spurred their decline.
I have been fascinated recently looking over old documents of the WIIU and the SLP and finding quotes from the Council Communist Anton Pannekoek or mentions of the Communist Left. Here is one: http://wiiuhouston.tripod.com/rdtopwr.pdf
Thank you.
quality post in the "Ditch Democracy" thread comrade
Yes, a true Marxist analysis! My thoughts exactly with regards to the underlying Material conditions. I respect Deleon for saying that only in the most advance of Industrialized countries can the Socialist Labor Parties tactics be applied, this is in contrary to alot of figures on the left, namely the Bolsheviks. So you would still argue for a Political Party to fight alongside the Political Field and a Industrial Union to fight alongside the economic? What about Internationalism? Deleon gave a little attention to things like Workers' Councils (and alot of other things, which is why it is great talking to a modern Deleonist) what do you think about them? Or Left Commuism for that matter which agreed with alot on the Left of 2nd International (Luxemburg, Pannekoek and Deleon)?
[continued] I don't hold that the revolution will be begun due to workers being communist, nor that they will become socialists until it nears its end; the aim of a proletarian Party, of course, must be the political rule of the proletariat, from which socialism follows. Of course, De Leon's ideas were never meant to apply to all countries (he suggested that different courses of action would be necessary elsewhere in 'Syndicalism'), but nonetheless I think that they are still applicable to the US, as well as a significant part of Europe and such.
I don't think that the SLP actually went into decline after the fall of the IWW, their decline began after that. As to De Leonism, I don't think that it's irrelevant, or I wouldn't be a De Leonite. The wax and wane of communist organizations generally doesn't have to do with ideological specificities so much as the strength of the workers' movement and the material conditions underlying them. I think that it's essentially accurate that working class political struggle will be essentially impotent if carried out in the absence of economic organization and the corresponding force, so as to keep the struggle oriented upon proletarian interests, while on the other hand the working class as a whole may only struggle as such politically.
I've been intrested in Deleon for a while, after finding a bunch of pamphlets by the SLP and in reading an anthology Deleon's works. It seems like the SLP went into decline following the break with the IWW. Do you think the tendency (deleonism) is irrelevant today?
Ultimately, the De Leon SLP had relevance in a growing labour movement, and in the face of a declining workers' movement the SLP ended up responding by becoming a sect based on moral injunction. After the Vietnam War, it came to support the Vietnamese side post factum, leading to some splits, and came to affirm national liberation as such, so that I wouldn't really wish to be associated with it at present.
