Political Profile II

[Q]

Continued from here. -- Sentinel

Admin notice - The question regarding terrorism is no longer to be included, please do not add it to your post if you post in this thread.
- RedAnarchist

It's funny how my political positions have barely shifted from when I wrote them down over three years ago. Although I would probably word the positions on central planning slightly differently today and I no longer think the Soviet Union was a degenerated workers state for most of its existence.

So, is this going to get closed now or is this going to be one of those few threads that'll stay open, despite the 500 post rule? I'd like to see this stay open.

[Drowzy_Shooter]

Name: Drowzy_Shooter
Location: Northwest Arkansas
Class background: "Upper-Middle class"; One of my parents works as a planner/analyst for groceries in a certain large grocery store chain.
Ethnic background: Norwegian/English (maybe some Cherokee Indian)

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: No
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: No.
Working within current trade unions: Not unless it's something along the lines of the IWW (which I'm not sure you would define as a trade union)
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Focoism no, but I think Che certainly was a guerrilla warfare genius.
Central planning: I only believe in workers councils and co-ops.
National-liberation movements: No.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: I would think that most petit-bourgeoisie are just trying to get along in a capitalist system, and as long as they give their workers a fair living wage and treat them well, and will be willing to help in a revolution/communalize their means of production or shops, they are just as much of an ally as anyone to me.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: The rising amount of poverty amongst the working class (which I suppose is a proving point of marxist economics).
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: I would love to help fight with Nestor Makhno, as well as with the Spanish anarchists.
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Peter Kropotkin, Nestor Makhno.
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: I would say at the beginning they were simply left of capital (if that's how the saying goes), and were not far enough left. I also think they destroyed a lot of personal freedoms, and were quite clearly authoritarian, more so then I care for.

[Prometeo liberado]

Name: Hmmm
Location: USA
Class background: "Working class"; Both parents were unionized workers UFCW and electrical.
Ethnic background: Latin

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Yes if for no other reason than centralized and focused inner democracy is needed to be able to guide at the right time
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: No.
Working within current trade unions: For short term gains,solutions and politicize the membership
Che Guevara and "Focoism": In concert with larger events and leadership in the urban centers yes. As a military tactic yes. As a starting point and main focus of the revolution, no. Che, a great example of selflessness.
Central planning: Planning lead by the workers soviets in concert with the party.
National-liberation movements: Again lead by the peasants and workers with a clear stated goal.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: The petit-bourgeoise as part of a workers lead government is a recipe for revisionism and counter revolution.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today:
The advent of Neo-liberalism
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: Spanish civil War

What historical characters do you most associate your views to:
Gramsci, Marx, Fernado Alegret
What was the class character of the Soviet Union:
Pre 1924, 1933, 1958?

[Polyphonic Foxes]

Name: Ciaran
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Class background: Working Class, one parent without highschool education, one with college educcation.

Ethnic background: Entirely Irish/celtic

Do you support?
A "vanguard" party: Oppose, only the working class can liberate itself, it does not need an all powerful group of elitists to lead it away from capitalism, for if you can be lead to socialism, you can be lead backwards too: Liberate yourself.

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: In certain circumstances

Working within current trade unions No, create radical trade unions like the modern CGT, CNT and IWW as an alternitive.

Che Guevara and "Focoism": No.

Central planning: I find this to be an intellectually bankrupt term that can refer to anything from Parecon to authoritarian stalinism.

National-liberation movements: No.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: Both classes can be of great benefit to socialism, and very beneficial to both.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: Israel/Palestine thingy

Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: 1916, Dublin, Easter Rising.

What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Bakunin, Luxemburg, Marx, Kropotkin, Proudhon.

What was the class character of the Soviet Union: At some point from 1917 to Stalin's rise to power it became a state capitalist nation firmly entrenched in keeping up old hierarchical capitalist relations, now only with the boss replaced by the state, workers democracy for utility, the fundamental tenet of socialism, was not in existence.

Cheers.

[Ostrinski]

Name: Austin
Location: Lexington, KY

Class background: Proletarian background, not sure about now, as my mother works for the government with a lower-class income. Petite-bourgeois social function I suppose.

Ethnic background: Majority German and Basque blood, with a clusterfuck of others (Cherokee, Polish, and Scottish).

Do you support?
A "vanguard" party: This necessitates the definition of what a revolutionary vanguard is. I think it's naive to think that the entire working class will become class conscious at once, nor will the working class ever become class-conscious in its entirety. The section of the working class that is class-conscious should lay forth the apparatus by which the working class can turn its decisions into actions. So in other words, not some band of neckbeards on a mountaintop.

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: I wouldn't rail against simply the participation, but against the upholding and perpetuation of all bourgeois institutions.

Working within current trade unions? The trade unions had their day, and were once revolutionary, but began settling for petty victories and compromising demands with the bourgeoisie. I wouldn't condemn anyone for being part of a union, but I would condemn them for asserting that unions can facilitate revolutionary action.They are now just another bourgeois institution.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Che was a bourgeois romanticist who used liberal idealist philosophy as the framework for his socialist awakening, and was as such on the 9:00 AM flight to failure. Focoism - never again, never again.

Central planning: Don't we all? Democratic planning of industrial production is a staple of a socialist economy.

National-liberation movements: Insurrections with nationalist political content are not socialist. No.

The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: I don't know what to say. The proletariat is the only class capable of the destruction of capitalism. If sections of the petite-bourgeoisie and peasantry want to serve the proletarian project, then why should they be denied?

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: Depends on who you are and what your interests are. I will be going to college this fall, and as such am keeping a close eye on how the university situation develops and unfolds. But I mean, if you're a Syrian civilian, you're obviously not going to give two rats' asses about the college situation in the US.

Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: Age of Reason, Industrial Revolution, Gilded Age

What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, Gramsci, Bordiga

What was the class character of the Soviet Union: The Russian Revolution was genuinely proletarian, as were the developments that took root thereafter (soviets, general assemblies, etc.). Class distinctions re-emerged during the civil war when the bureaucracy centralized food and wartime production. The Russian Revolution started running on fumes when the German Revolution failed, when the socialist state becomes isolated it has entered into the dying process, and the reformation of the economy to adapt itself to the global market.

[KrasnayaRossiya]

Name: Yevgeni
Location: Moscow oblast

Class background: American peasantry on my father's side, southern sharecroppers and Massachusetts laborers. On my mom's side, there's a lot of lawyers and accountants. I'm just lumpen garbage.

Ethnic background: Office worker

Do you support?
A "vanguard" party: Yes

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: Only if bourgeois interests and collaborators are purged.

Working within current trade unions? Yes

Che Guevara and "Focoism": No


Central planning: Yes of course


National-liberation movements: yes

The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: yes,sometimes
What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: Revolts in the 1st world,the situation in Asia,Middle east,South America....

Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: In the 70s

What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Lenin

What was the class character of the Soviet Union: Socialist until Gorbachov fu**ed it up

[Sir Comradical]

Name: Joe, not really but that will do.

Location: Sydney, Australia

Class background: My parents are both teachers, so workers.

Ethnic background: Indian, as in Hindustan India.

Do you support a "vanguard" party: Yes

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: As a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Working within current trade unions? Unions are the organised expression of the economic interests of workers within the capitalist system but they are not necessarily revolutionary organs. However with correct leadership they can be used for revolutionary purposes. All workers should join their trade-union, scabs deserve to get belted.

Che Guevara and "Focoism": If it produces desired results then yeah go for it. Arguing that revolutions can only happen a certain way is dogmatic nonsense.

Central planning: Extremely important in setting priorities for the economy such as the break-down between producer goods, consumer goods & military expenditures (assuming that the revolution doesn't go global). These fundamental questions need to be addressed in a central plan.


National-liberation movements: If they're anti-imperialist, yes.

The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: The peasantry are also oppressed by capital but they have a tendency to support land-to-the-tiller type reforms so it's important that their consciousness is guided by the more advanced politics of the working class. The petit-bourgeoisie can get fucked.

What, Who, and Where: ?

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today:
The day-to-day depredations inflicted on working people by capitalism. The class struggles and anti-imperialist struggles going on across the world.

Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: Allow me to be arrogant enough to believe that if I were around in 1920's India, I would have made it to the top of Communist Party of India, won the support of the masses, created a peoples army, violently kicked the Brits out of India, severely punished all collaborators and raised the red flag over Delhi. The People's Republic of India would have an unbeatable cricket team for sure.

What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Marx, Engels, Luxembourg, Deutscher, Lenin, Trotsky...

What was the class character of the Soviet Union: It was a bureaucratically deformed workers' state. The October Revolution defeated the capitalist class but the bureaucracy weren't capitalists because they didn't own the MOP let alone appropriate the surplus produced by workers. Tony Cliff's state-capitalism theory is a load of shite.

"The privileges of the bureaucracy by themselves do not change the bases of the Soviet society, because the bureaucracy derives its privileges not from any special property relations, peculiar to it as a 'class', but from those property relations which have been created by the October Revolution...Insofar as the bureaucracy robs the people, we have to deal not with class exploitation, in the scientific sense of the word, but with social parasitism, although on a very large scale..."
- Leon Trotsky, The Class Nature of the Soviet State.

[PhoenixAsh]

Since we know this board is being watched I would suggest everybody to consider very carefully what personal information they are writing down here considering names and locations

[KrasnayaRossiya]

Class background: American peasantry on my father's side, southern sharecroppers and Massachusetts laborers. On my mom's side, there's a lot of lawyers and accountants. I'm just lumpen garbage.

Ethnic background: Office worker

Do you support?
A "vanguard" party: Yes

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: Only if bourgeois interests and collaborators are purged.

What is this?
I didn't write this!
Someone edited my post!
What is going on!?!

[Sir Comradical]

Thanks hindsight, but that's not my real name!

[Zav]

Name: Zav
Location: http://www.revleft.com/vb/newreply.php?
Class background: Prole
Ethnic background: Important? No. Relevant? No. Interesting? My ancestry is interesting only to me.

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Fuck no. If there is to be a vanguard, then it must be a horizontally organized collective, not a bureaucratic mess.
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: Yes, if it will bring needed change. Social democracy is better than no democracy.
Working within current trade unions: The IWW is still current, so yes.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Yes, if the people support it.
Central planning: Only if the planning is done and approved by everyone.
National-liberation movements: On a case-by-case basis I do or do not. Vermont, yes, Tibet, no, for example.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: That depends on what they support in a given time and place.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: The Greek government approved more austerity measures yesterday, which is close enough to today. Really though, all the events of the world, and the universe, for that matter are connected. To separate one from its kin, causes, and effects makes it difficult to put it into perspective.
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: The Revolution, or any time where there is proper medicine and lots of personal freedom.
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin, R. W. Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Noam Chomsky (come at me, bro), Oscar Wilde, Subcomandante Marcos, Tom Hodgkinson
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: The Russian Revolution was originally proletarian, but became usurped by the Bolsheviks, and was promptly killed and its face removed and worn as a mask until the flesh decayed and the nasty face of Capitalism was revealed. Then Capitalism threw the mask away, laughing all the way to the bank.[/QUOTE]

[Zav]

Name: Zav
Location: http://www.revleft.com/vb/newreply.php?
Class background: Prole
Ethnic background: Important? No. Relevant? No. Interesting? My ancestry is interesting only to me.

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Fuck no. If there is to be a vanguard, then it must be a horizontally organized collective, not a bureaucratic mess.
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: Yes, if it will bring needed change. Social democracy is better than no democracy.
Working within current trade unions: The IWW is still current, so yes.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Yes, if the people support it.
Central planning: Only if the planning is done and approved by everyone.
National-liberation movements: On a case-by-case basis I do or do not. Vermont, yes, Tibet, no, for example.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: That depends on what they support in a given time and place.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: The Greek government approved more austerity measures yesterday, which is close enough to today. Really though, all the events of the world, and the universe, for that matter are connected. To separate one from its kin, causes, and effects makes it difficult to put it into perspective.
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: The Revolution, or any time where there is proper medicine and lots of personal freedom.
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin, R. W. Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Noam Chomsky (come at me, bro), Oscar Wilde, Subcomandante Marcos, Tom Hodgkinson
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: The Russian Revolution was originally proletarian, but became usurped by the Bolsheviks, and was promptly killed and its face removed and worn as a mask until the flesh decayed and the nasty face of Capitalism was revealed. Then Capitalism threw the mask away, laughing all the way to the bank.

[Deicide]

Since we know this board is being watched I would suggest everybody to consider very carefully what personal information they are writing down here considering names and locations

What? Really? By whom? And how do you know? I'm new here.

[Q]

What? Really? By whom? And how do you know? I'm new here.

Yes, really.

By whom? By Stormfront idiots and big brother.

How we know? Over the year users have reported many issues about them getting in trouble over stuff they posted on Revleft.

[Dr Doom]

Name: Doom

Location: northern ireland

Class background: im a worker

Ethnic background: its watever, irish british i dont care tbh.

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: yea but not in the typical leninist sense. i dont think it is the task of this party to intergrate itself into the state as happened in Russia

Participation in parliamentarian bodies: hell nah

Working within current trade unions: im against doing political work inside the unions but would have no problem joining one.

Che Guevara and "Focoism": ew, nooo!

Central planning: yeps

National-liberation movements: never

The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: difficult question. maybe, sometimes.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: i dunno. umm greece, syria, occupy was sorta interesting. and i suppose the ongoing anti cuts protest n shit like that.

Where would you like to be in history; caveman times. that wud be sweet.

What characters do you most associate your views to: marx n engels, bordgia, gilles dauve, bukharin, malatesta, luxemburg blah blah blah

What was the class character of the Soviet Union: state capitalist

[Orlov]

Name: Orlov
Location: United States
Class background: Working class
Ethnic background: Jewish

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Yes, in order to lead the dictatorship of the proletariat and ensure that the dictatorship of the proletariat is the ultimate backbone of the post-revolutionary society.
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: For propaganda purposes front-organizations should be utilized that allow the confrontation of bourgeois society through the tools of bourgeois society.
Working within current trade unions: Yes, as a tool of propaganda.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": In countries where Focoism is applicable, yes.
Central planning: Yes
National-liberation movements: Yes, any movement in resistance to imperialism
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: Yes to the peasantry, no to the petit-bourgeois.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: The struggle in Palestine
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: The USSR from 1917 to 1953
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh and Mao (military doctrine and theory in relation to his later years in which he practiced collaboration with US imperialism while the people's war in Vietnam was occurring no)
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: Workers state from 1917-1953 in which socialism was preserved at all costs. Eventually, opportunists in the backlash of J.V Stalin's death organized a coup and were inevitably thrown out by Revisionists.

[Lanky Wanker]

I can't wait for the day I'm smart enough to fill this out.

[NewLeft]

Name: Prefer not to answer
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Class background: Working class, "lower middle" income
Ethnic background: Prefer not to answer

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: No need for a vanguard party and it does not lead to a dictatorship of the proletariat.
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: To an extent, reform builds class consciousness, but it does not lead to revolution.
Working within current trade unions: Yes, the vast majority are not revolutionary, but they are one of the few organizations aimed at the proletariat.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Adapting socialism to different conditions/needs is fine, but focoism failed.
Central planning: Not preferable to horizontal planning.
National-liberation movements: Depends, if it is against imperialism and benefits the lower classes..
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: A peasant/worker alliance is required in certain regions. The petite-bourgeois are not revolutionary, but they can benefit from the revolution.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: Occupy
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: Novemberrevolution
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Luxemburg, petite-bourgeois anarchists
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: It relied on a revolution that never occurred and it was constantly under attack. Much of the populace were peasants and state capitalism was inevitable. It was not proletariat.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Name: Prefer not to answer
Location: Germany
Class background: Father a bureaucrat, Mother a Veterinarian; Father's father a bureaucrat, Father's Mother a secretary, Mother's Father mechanical engineer, Mother's Mother a Secretary.
Ethnic background: Aryan ()

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Yes, in revolutionary hierarchical implementation of marxist-leninist theory and organisational tool.
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: No, not as a revolutionary party
Working within current trade unions: Yes to an extent, only for recruiting.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": Adapting socialism to different conditions/needs is fine, but focoism failed.
Central planning: Necessary in successful revolution but to be workers democratic centralism, i.e. the changing of the worker to his product, the ending of alienation as a permanent revolutionary attribute.
National-liberation movements: Mostly yes, strong sympathy for anti-imperialist struggle,
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: A peasant/worker alliance is required in backward/severely underdeveloped countries, individual revolutionary petty-bourgeois needed to replace the bourgeois State apparatus and bureaucrats during revolutionary take over of the industrial working class and brought into the revolutionary marxist-leninist thought.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today: "The Falling Rate of Profit"
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in: Bavarian revolution 1918-1919 and the Antifascist resistance of Tyrol that brought nearly all of northern Italy's industry into workers control but destroyed by Allied forces after the War.
What historical characters do you most associate your views to: Karl Marx, Eugen Levine, Fidel Castro, Berthold Brecht.
What was the class character of the Soviet Union: Capitalist organisation of production, no Socialism.

[lombas]

Name: lombas
Location: Low Countries
Class background: Petit bourgeois
Ethnic background: ?

Do you support?

A "vanguard" party: Yes
Participation in parliamentarian bodies: Yes
Working within current trade unions: If you have to.
Che Guevara and "Focoism": No.
Central planning: Yes.
National-liberation movements: Depends heavily on the nature of them.
The peasantry and petit-bourgeoisie: Yes.

What, Who, and Where

What is the most important contemporary event in the world today:
The response on the financial crisis and capitalism, the lack of a clear answer from the left.
Where would you like to be in history; what historical event would you like to be in:
I don't like dysentery, plague or smallpox.
What historical characters do you most associate your views to:
I don't like political theorists.
What was the class character of the Soviet Union:
Elitist workers' state.