Greetings Comrades, I have been a long time lurker on this site and very rarely post, something I am hoping to change soon. I find myself discouraged with the lack of activity in this group, and am sure that it cannot be reflective of the Canadian revolutionary left. I will admit that I am not overly educated on the revolutionary left groups and parties in Canada, and am interested in hearing all of yours opinions. Do any, if at all, have merit? Are they too authoritarian? Not active or revolutionary enough? From my limited research I have yet to find any that suit my ideology, and am not interested in joining a sectarian party. Perhaps others can change my opinion on one of the existing parties in our country and if others share my dissatisfaction perhaps we can all do something about it. I am currently in a living situation where I can only access the internet around once per week, and will check back when I can to see if there are any replies. I look forward to discussions with fellow comrades and apologize for the ramblings. -A revolutionary left in a sea of conservatives
Hi Rosario, as I'm supporter of the RCP Canada, the best thing I can do is suggest you read the series of articles "Why I support the RCP" on the M-L-M Mayhem blog, (3 parts, first one is able on my previous post in RevLeft Canada, two others on the blog). (( Bientôt disponible en français sur le blog du MER-PCR.com )) According to me, these articles explain really well the situation in the Ontarian left (and part of the Canadian one) and why RCP Canada is a living party (non-sectarian at all) with real revolutionnary goals. We're still small compared to parties in Nepal, but I think we're on the good track; opened an openly communist bookstore/activity center in Montreal two years ago (Maison Norman-Bethune), now distributing a new free bilingual newspaper, the Partisan, 5000 copies every two week (except for summer). If you have any questions, or concerns, please ask!
Hey Parvati, you describe the RCP as non-sectarian but a brief read though of their program shows pretty vehement rejections of other socialist and communist denominations.
Non-sectarian, for me is about individuals, humans. On one hand, People of good will who have different political positions are always treated with respect. On the other, there are supporters of all ages, all cultures, all backgrounds, etc. We always respond to all questions in a serious way. The rejection of political lines is not sectarian, it is mainly to take politics seriously, concrete view of a concrete situation. As you can respect people who are Raelians, who believe in angels, in Hinduism, in social-democracy, in aliens, conspiracy, etc etc etc, they have to say politically correct. This may sound ridiculous and less political, but it is essentially the same principle. I think today we can not say that we must include the social point of view requires that the earth is flat. However, there are hypotheses that can be discussed, as the speed of electrons, for example. It's a bit the same with politics. But Yes, I would emphasize the fact that sectarianism is related to people and the way you treat them.
Parvati After reading the program on the website I found both points of admiration and contention. While it is true that the party offers a concrete plan of action to overthrow the bourgeois, it hardly came off as a non-sectarian party. While you talk of treating opposing ideologies with respect, I can't help but get the feeling in a post revolutionary society that people of my current would be branded as "counter-revolutionary" and dealt with accordingly. My questions are: What is the parties opinion on the 650,000 executed under Stalin in the USSR, and I guess post Lenin USSR in general? While your opinion on the revisionists is clear I am curious as to whether you believe Stalin was correctly building socialism. Is socialism in one country possible? I am planning on joining a party soon and am interested in the RCP but wish to fully investigate any party before I join. Thanks for any discourse. How long does the party believe the DOTP will last in the building of communism? How authoritarian would the party be in your estimation?
welp I'm a SPC member if it helps gogo ultra-left
welp I'm a SPC member if it helps gogo ultra-left Its funny how the ultra left is mostly active online... I am wondering if there is any thing they have done out side the confineds of there computers , for which we can draw examples from. Sorry for the smart ass remark... In person im way nicer.
For anyone interested. Here is an other alternative to standard Democratic centralism. Nefac has there off shoots in ontario(COMMON CAUSE) and in Quebec(UNION DES COMMUNIST LIBERTAIRE) http://nefac.net/ http://linchpin.ca/ http://www.causecommune.net/ Of course, this is not a vanguard party, or a party for that matter. But non the less interesting to have a look at all different class struggle politics. Cheers, and good lecture. Ps, to my PCR comrades. Bonjour, comment aller vous. et comment va le MER.
Sorry for the delay, I was busy and I think a black hole has taken control of my brain, making me forget the existence of RevLeft ^.^ First, I continue to believe that having a clear policy line is not something sectarian. Regarding the issue of treatment of Trotskyists or other currents, I do not think that it must be treaten like that ^. ^ Today we are putting forward the strategy of popular war and work among the masses rather than the unions or the parliament. We have our own assessment of the situation in Canada. Some points are shared, others less. It seems to me absurd to think that "what we gonna do after a revolution other currents". Not just because it's far and hypothetical. But for two main reasons (among others). 1 - More exacerbated the class struggle will be in Canada, more the camps between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will be identifiable. Groups / organizations / etc. will have to position themselves in this context, a material reality. And it is this positioning that matters much more than the historical experiences which we could well relate ourselves to. 2 - Even if you can just think that these experiences can lead to one way or another - in a revolutionary process, everything changes. As some Iranian comrades told us from their experience in 1979, during this process, three months pass by and nothing remains the same. All attitudes are changing, we find ourselves faced with many new situations, many choices. On the question of Stalin, I'm not an academic, but this is what I can answer. Everything was done under Stalin can not be attributed to Stalin. This is not a loophole trying to protect Stalin from any critics. Rather, it just relying on the materialist conception that it is the masses through the class struggle that make history, not the individual personality of Stalin. In the sense that perhaps he was really boring, or maybe he was a very cool guy, but the choices he made are not due to that, but due to the context in which he lived that led him to all sorts of reasons to make some good shots and make errors at other times. "After Lenin died, the Bolsheviks and Stalin carried on. They tried to build socialism in Russia and help build it throughout the world. Stalin fought hard against the old bourgeoisie and against opportunist deviations like Trotskyism. He also led the struggles of the proletariat and the people against fascism in the Thirties and Forties. The Russian proletariat did in fact make enormous sacrifices during the Second World War. Overall, however, Stalin was unable to grasp the contradictions in socialist society. He also failed to understand the erroneous ideologies and weaknesses of the Bolshevik Party. The proletariat was thus overthrown and the gains of the October Revolution lost. On an international scale, Stalin and the Bolshevik Party were too domineering and this led to promoting their erroneous aspects throughout the whole international communist movement. The leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union would end up embarking down the path of state capitalism." (PCR-RCP Programm, Chap. 2) We could also say that Stalin did not understand that ideas - as erroneous and as fascist as they could sometimes be - do not die with those who propagate them, but by changing the material conditions in which their were originally generated. On the question of socialism in one country, I would say briefly, that since socialism is a transition from a capitalist society, class and classless communist society, it would be possible for a single country to be in transition. In any case, it appears logical that a country must perform the first revolution. It seems absurd that 200 countries + territories occupied by imperialism managed to make a revolution in the same month. By cons, is that it makes the transition more laborious, more complex to manage? Certainly. As for the DOTP there is no estimate, it would be adventurous to do that other than as kidding. The key is to associate it with concrete analysis of a concrete situation. Finally, in terms of authoritarianism, I understand why some choose to appoint us as well, but none of PCR-RCP supporters do not claim themselves like that. For example, in France, in the 1960's and 1970's, the Maoists were considered among the communists like the anti-authoritarian ones, leaving all the place for young people and new ideas. I will not elaborate more because it seems to be two debates in one: the difference between "authoritarian communism" and "libertarian anarchist" / difference between "democratic centralism Maoism" and "functioning of other communist parties (depending on locations and times)". Note that we can have both ^.^
@Andre Vasily Le MER va bien je crois, et toi? Est-ce que le français est ta langue maternelle (puisque j'ai vu que tu étais du Québec auparavant?) J'ai aussi pu voir que tu étais en Saskatchewan. Je suis curieuse de savoir ce qui se passe lÃ*-bas, quelle est ton appréciation de la situation? En fait, plus de détails sont Ã* venir, mais maintenant que nous sommes bien implanté-es en Ontario, nous allons commencer Ã* travailler de plus en plus dans l'Ouest et dans le Nord du Canada
@ Parvati Oui le francais est ma langue maternelle(malgré le fait que je l'écrit vraiment mal) La situation en Saskatchewan est pas si belle. Rien a comparé avec montreal. Il y a un petit mouvement Anar a Saskatoon mes c toutes, et 1% de ceux la sont lutte de classiste... Situation tres difficile.... Si vous faite dequoi dans mon boute, Donne moi un coup de fils. Je serait intéresser a travailler avec des camarades rouge. Mes malgré mon apréciation pour certainne tendance Marxist... Je hait le centralism démocratique mes bon, ceci n'empeche rien a matiere de coopération.
