Its true that Maoists are probably one the least well read tendency on Revleft, but this has to do with the fact that most of us dont have university educations, at least partly, but we are not "anti-intellectual"...Caramelpalace has done a phd on Maoism and thinks she/he understands it perfectly. Actually though the divisions and dynamics among us they dont understand at all.
The figures of the SWP dont count because they are a revolving door. Better a few real militants.
If all of these groups came to some agreement and formed one Party Marxism-Leninism would be twice as strong in Britain as it is today, the differences in their positions are pretty minor in most cases, it would be worth the compromise in the current situation
RCPB (ML) is the same story as the NCP, they have a paper and a few meetings every now and again and that's it. RCPB (ML) do have a very good bookshop in London which sells Marxist classics, bought my Stalin collected works from them a few years ago and also some Kim il Sung. They don't open much these days though as Michael is getting pretty old. CPB ML isn't a name you hear very often, I don't know too much about them and don't see them around, probably another dead end group with good intentions. Having said that someone from my CPGB-ML branch used to go to their meetings every couple of months in London so it's not like they are completely non-existent. I think they supported the No2EU coalition in Euro elections and are against voting Labour.
What is the story with the CPB ML and the RCPB ML? How active are they? Why are they two seperate parties? Looking at their website though it seems they are stuck in a pre Thatcher post WWII era that has gone forever.
Yeah. They're not bad people in all honestly, they just have a strange perspective on how to succeed. It's a shame but I think they will just fade away. Their main purpose was to represent those who supported China and they did that so it's all good. And as much as I disagree with them on a number of issues, at least CPGB-ML are around and Communist politics for the future are not entirely hopeless.
Yeah I had the feeling that they were basically old tankies and didnt have any young blood so to speak.
Okie dok...My family has a long a history in the Communist of Ireland going back to its foundation and my dad is quite fond of the NCP...Its weird that ask people to vote for the Labour Party still given that their website has a page devoted to Stalin!
There is also quite a big difference in size, CPGB-ML is well past the three figure mark now and has only been going seven years, they are definitely the fastest growing left group in the country proportionately. Groups like SWP take on more new members per month but they have thousands of members to begin with, and also have a high turnover of membership due to the fact that a lot of people join without really knowing or caring about socialism. CPGB-ML only take on revolutionaries and interview all prospective members, therefore, people don't really leave the Party unless they have a serious political disagreement. The NCP is basically just the CC and people who write articles for them, they don't have anybody on the street doing anything, last time I saw them was May Day 2010.
The main difference is that CPGB-ML call for revolution while the NCP advocates voting for the Labour Party, if it weren't for this CPGB-ML could probably quite easily swallow them up completely and gain about another 20 members. Both support the PRC, DPRK, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. The CPGB-ML, NCP, and Michael Chant's RCPB (ML) are quite close knit and have good relations, come to each other's events, lend speakers to one another, etc. RCPB (ML) are similar to the NCP but they were in the Albanian camp and do not call for a vote for Labour.
