Agreed. You mentioned something about OWS not being ideologically pristine in a thread maybe a couple of weeks back. I basically agreed with the contents of that post, but at the same time there a couple of things it and its offshoots could do without -- namely the influence of reactionary ideologies such as liberalism, which is particularly prominent and does seem to pose a threat to any radicalisation of OWS, et al. and the development of an exclusively working class organic movement. As far as I can remember, you agreed with me on the point of communists being involved in the struggle at a purely class level -- if communists are going to intervene or be involved in this struggle in any positive and meaningful way, we cannot approach other workers as members of political organisations that are quite frankly alien to them because to do this would simply hinder any potential radicalisation.
I pretty much agree with everything you just said. That's all the sort of shit I didn't realise until I was well into my second year at university. I guess signing up for a communist political organisation at a young age like I did can stifle political/intellectual development quite significantly. I think the Occupy movement is starting to bring these contradictions you mentioned out into the open, as Marxists don't know how to support an act of class struggle that doesn't fit neatly within their own constructed ideologies.
It's in reference to the tendency of many self-ascribed Marxists here to consider themselves and each one of their utterly irrelevant parties to be somehow fundamental to the development of the workers' movement. They are playing the role of a self-proclaimed vanguard above and outside the working class or of leaders of a movement which doesn't really exist as such atm, when in fact the realisation of our political project has bears little relation to the activities of pro-revolutionaries and activists. Of course, I subscribe to an entirely different theory of a vanguard -- one which I posit to be more "orthodox" Marxist. To a lesser extent it refers to the tendency of many communists to make lifestyle choices (and generally be asshats) on the basis of their political views, which is equally deplorable. What actually made me come to these conclusions was a little over two years of lurking here. My politics are assuredly different now.
Damn, I wish I knew about the dangers of leftist roleplay when I was your age. Would have saved me a lot of fail. lol What made you come to these conclusions?
No that's fair enough, that was an unfounded presumption on my part.
Maybe my occupation was a bit misleading. I'm actually a high school student.
So you at Melbourne Uni? I'm thinking of possibly doing my Masters there due to how financially generous the Australian tertiary system is to its poor Kiwi cousins. How is it there?
