Caj

I disagree with some of your positions but you seem to have a good head over your shoulders and I have liked a number of things you've posted...so there you go Friendship offered, I'm glad you accepted it

I was reading this earlier today and I think you might be interested.

http://libcom.org/library/communism-...-bordiga-today

Apparently Bordiga wrote a 3 volume series on the capitalist nature of Russia as seen through it's agricultural system, but it's never been translated to anything other than French.

Guan Yu, ancient chinese dude. I can't say I've ever heard of Kollontai before, who was she?

Who's that in your avatar?

I somewhat agree with that statement because of the history of this tactic, but I don't just throw it out completely is what I meant.

Honestly, it is a hard question. I do believe that the tactic was necessary for the Bolshevik's situation, but I don't really believe (like you do) that it is necessary for any socialist organization today. It seems to always give rise to authoritarian tendencies and conformity to the party elites. Promotions are usually given by the leaders and are given to those that are basically "yes men" for them. When a decision is made, any dissent seems to usually get rooted out and expelled from the organization. Then again, there are different theories for democratic centralism, and one that puts great emphasis on democracy and freedom of expression while also advocating unity may be acceptable.

I agree with you completely. What do you think about the "democratic centralist" tactic of organization?

Well, it depends. A localized political party that doesn't participate in national elections can be a excellent organization tool without turning elitist like most political parties do. At the same time, there is always the threat of that, which is why I would want such a party to be subordinate to workers councils. What do you think?

I like DeLeon's idea of the workers organizing into revolutionary industrial unions as a vehicle of class struggle while maintaining a political party to organize together and fight on the political front. I disagree with Marxism-Leninism allowing the party to take over the proletarian and so I also support workers councils in which such a party would, I hope, be subordinate to the workers demands. I don't agree with the electoral politics of DeLeonism, but thats okay. I consider myself more of a council communist than a DeLeonist.