I freely admit to some tightrope walking
Fair enough. It should be noted, however, that the more you reject spontaneism, the more you accept vanguardism.
And yes, that does make me a (partial) Idealist.
Our politics follow from those basic views.
Well, I think we've reached an impasse because ultimately your views arise from an extrapolation of historical materialism that I don't accept, I think. I don't think there's any guarantee in relying on spontaneous working class politics, nor do I think it's a bad idea to try to influence said politics even though it might seem too advanced for the moment.
It seems like you're not interested in continuing this discussion, but I just want to clarify the terminology here: "working class politics" and "reformist unionism" are mutually exclusive.
The ISO is vanguardist but I support a broad based party of communist unity. They just played a role in radicalizing me personally, by making Marxist ideas and education available to me. Working class politics can indeed arise, but in that case it will be influenced only by the dominant ideologies and end up as reformist unionism. I'd like the working class to be revolutionary communists, and that's not going to happen on its own in the political world we live in. Yes, that is the difference between us. C'est la vie. Peace.
I suppose that's the difference between us - I don't think that either Marxist books or the ISO are prerequisites for the working class to adopt working class politics. How is analyzing the ISO in such a way not vanguardist?
I wasn't radicalized through struggle. Sure, I worked in a factory, but if it weren't for Marxist books and the ISO I could have just ended up a union-supporting liberal. The availability of the ideology for me to interpret my experiences through was crucial. I would probably have never arrived at a similar position myself.
Oh ok, then yes, I suppose I'm somewhat voluntaristic. I consider myself a historical materialist, because I think material conditions strongly influence historical events, but events have more than one cause. The availability of a particular ideology at a particular time is also a causal factor. So there is no reason for a party to tail the working class or wait for something to arise spontaneously from struggle, since they affect each other.
