Hi comrades. Is anyone here a member (or does anyone here have an opinion on) the U.S. group Socialist Action?
I think some key leaders do some good work and that there would be many individuals doing good work as well. I'm supportive of the dominant tendency in the FI and not especially sympathetiv to uber Leninism. In the US the anti war and Mumia work that SA do seems fine. I've read their recent stuff on the economic meltdown and the labour movement and again it seems fine. The Canadian group has a mistaken approach to our social democratic/labour party but that's another story...
Thanks, comrade. Yeah, upon further investigation, including talking to the national secretary of Socialist Action, I've concluded that they are a really good formation and I admire a lot of their analysis, but I've decided to join the Committee for a Workers' International instead.
I am a very proud member of Socialist Action. We are gaining some significant influence, especially with Midwestern youth. I think Socialist Action is one of the greatest revolutionary organizations in the country. Oh yes, I am good friends with comrade Mackler, the General Secretary.
Yeah, I've spoken with him before. He has a really amazing personal history of revolutionary work.
In in Socialist Action in Philly. I'm new to these forums. I'm curious why the one comrade chose the CWI over SA? Personally, I was in Socialist Alternative before and had political differences with the group. I truly like many of the SALT comardes and hope that one day we can be in a larger, unified revolutiionary party, but I find SA to be an organization I'm better suited to. About the so-called "uber Leninism" of SA, I've found SA to be a very democratic organization. Yes we believe that you have to start building the basis for a party now and not later. Like Cannon said, you don't wait for the flood to build a boat.
I'm a member of the FI in Germany and I agree with redphilly's last comment. Leninism, especially Lenins economic analysis and the leninist theory of organisation, in my eyes, should be an essential part of every revolutionary organisation and I can not see any hint or clue why we should abandon these strategies and positions. We all know what happened to groups like socialist democracy in Brazil. Of course it is important to regard leninism not as a summary of stark, dogmatic principles like the stalinists do, but as dynamic essential of modern revolutionary marxism. Especially the base of it's organisational theory, the analysis of the subjective necessities of the revolution, the process of development and decrease of the consciousness of the working class and the strategies of building a revolutionary party which can exist under the conditions of our society are still as up to date as they were in the times of lenin and trotsky. That they however must be developed further is absolutely right, but this can not mean to abandon them.
@ Mephisto, The situation in Brazil with Socialist Democracy (DS) was such a disgrace. The DS majority accepted positions in a popular front government. At least the FI made a criticism - even if it was, IMO, a mild one. I think this type of degeneration in part flows from such a long period of entryism in the PT. Entry is a /tactic/ and not a principle. It's not applicable in every instance and can have a corrosive effect on your cadres. This is why I woukld criticize the IMT's entry in bourgeois populist formations like the PPP in Pakistan or the PRD in Mexico. It blurs the class lines and has the /potential/ to pull your members towrads opportunist positions. (IMT folks, please don't take this as an attack. I'm not saying the IMT is opportunist.) Mephisto is quite right about the need to build parties on the Leninist model - but to avoid dogmatism and top-down organizational norms.
Again I agree completely. But regarding DS I want to add, that I quite sure, that the oncoming FI World Congress will draw the right consequences from the actions of this group and expell it. Luckily, the events of Brazil lead to the foundation of a new FI Section and the formation of the PSOL.
I guess you have seen the pre-World Congress document put forwrd by the FI majority /Role and Tasks of the FI/ http://www.internationalviewpoint.or...asks%20of%20fi It's an inadequate document IMO. It's very much about building "broad parties" which I think amount to halfway political formations - neither consistently revolutionary or reformist. Centrism anyone?
Generally I support the aim of building broad anticapitalist parties, like the P-SOL in Brazil or the Left Bloc in Portugal. The important thing with that is, that the revolutionary marxists in there keep organized in their revolutionary organisations to form tendencies and factions within these parties to fight for a revolutionary programme and leadership.
Agreed. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I'm not necessarily opposed to building broad left parties, but doing so, without an organized revolutionary tendency, can mean degeneration into cenrtrism. In that sense, the decision of the LCR to dissolve themselves into the NPA, without a tendency and severing their /organized/ ties to the International, was IMO a mistake. My point about the pre-world-con document is that most of the sections are /not/ in the position of building these types of broad formations, but are trying to build themselvves as Leninist parties and the document does not address the challenges of party building at all.
I agree completely, comrades. Unfortunately, as you say yourself, the trajectory of the majority of the FI seems to be different. As brazil has been brought up, I'd like to mention that the FI section in PSOL unfornately represents the rigth wing of the party, with them having pushed for local alliances with capitalist parties and now in the general election discussing an alliance with the green party, who are by no means left wing, if that had to be mentioned. The Socialist resistance bloc in PSOL of which the CWI comrades in "Liberty, Socialism, Revolution" are a part of are currently doing their best to oppose this and keep PSOL as an independent radical and socialist party, advocating an alliance with the genuine left, and exposing both the PT and the Green Party for what they are. [edit] Perhaps this discussion should be moved to the USFI sub-forum?[/edit] Comradely
I didn't knew that. Do you have any texts, articles or something like that about that subject? Regarding the oncoming World Congress of the FI and the National Congress of the Revolutionary Socialist League in two weeks, it would be nice to discuss this with the other comrades around here.
This is the document of the Socialist Resistance Bloc in regards to the 2010 elections: http://www.sr-cio.org/index.php?opti...coes&Itemid=86 There's more information on the website aswell, unfortunatly only in portugese but i get by with google translator and some knowledge of spanish.
Unfortunately I don't speak spanish at all.
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/09/0701.html This is an article on the latest P-SOL congress, so obviously the latest developments aren't in there but it gives you a general picture at least.
@ Mephisto: The main document for the FI discussion is "The Role and Tasks of the FI" http://www.internationalviewpoint.or...%20and%20tasks There are other docs posted on the IV web site: http://www.internationalviewpoint.or...hp?rubrique134 An opposition document by Brown (US) and Andreas (Greece) is not on the site and I've seen circulated via email. Message me your email and I'll forward it to you.
