Yehuda Stern

Not at all (at least you know what labour credit and real socialism are about):

http://www.revleft.com/vb/lenins-err...487/index.html

Also, "participatory democracy" is a broad term (note that I didn't use the term "direct democracy," but only the word "direct" so as to imply social ownership and control, not state ownership and control). Soviet democracy is participatory but not direct.

"The workers tried to carry out a revolution in February 1917, but the Bolsheviks were unprepared, and the other parties consciously betrayed the revolution and passed it to the bourgeoisie. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, intervened in this process and managed to build a vanguard proletarian party which took power and set up a workers' state, the only workers' state of any kind in history.

This state, by the way, did not even nationalize industry until 1918, just to show you how false the orto-trot criterion for a workers' state is."

I actually have an explanation of my own for you to consider, actually:

Social Proletocracy, Marx, and Lenin's theoretical mistakes

Interesting stuff, in any case. But 'getting banned' for badmouthing this or that group is certainly nothing to worry about here. People say all sorts of things about any communist party, trotskyist group or anarchist whatever, and it's often slanderous, insulting or false. So really, there is no harm in posting proof of anything.

Well, that's the kicker; I don't think one's political line is decided by which historical countries one "supports". Supporting something non-existent is meaningless, they have just left us experiences to learn from. I definitely don't think that the USSR was state capitalist and imperialist, but that's just about it.

Also, interesting discussion about Ma'avak in the Israel thread. I can't tell if any of those things are true, but if there's one thing I can't stand, it's right-opportunism.

Great first posts, welcome to RevLeft. As I don't share trotskyism, or the idea that the USSR became state capitalist and imperialist, you'd probably consider me a "supporter of anti-Semitic, Stalinist, East European dictatorships". But more importantly, I fully agree with you on Zionism. I was surprised to see quite a few people on RevLeft defend not only the existence of Israel, but even the way it was created. So I'm glad that you've injected a bit of common sense into that thread, as well as some experiences that not everyone has.