Midlands Discussion Forum with Free Communist is Saturday 7th September 2013 2pm, Sheffield
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Midlands Discussion Forum with Free Communist is Saturday 7th September 2013 2pm, Sheffield
Midlands Discussion Forum and the Free Communist presents an afternoon of discussion on, does the working class need a political organisation?
September 7th, 2pm at the Rutland Arms 86 Brown St Sheffield S1 2BS which is 5 minutes walk away from both the train and bus station.I attended Midlands Discussion Forum meeting titled "Does the Working Class need a Political Organisation" and its looking likely (at least according to libcom) its been recorded. Two independents (with leftcom sympathies) organised it. 12 people attended, including one lady. One of the organisers mentioned a roll-call of groups during his contribution at which point I made myself known. Two CWOs were there and Barry the main figure left in the Commune (an autonomist group) was in attendance. The writer of Free Communist was there, an ex-SPGBer and a number of people were presumably independent. A disproportionate amount of contributions came from 3 or 4 attendees.Even accounting for arriving late, it was a struggle to follow the discussion. It veered between abstract future hypotheses and historical disputes. After the break, I was asked to join the table, but I said I felt sitting slightly apart would be the SPGB thing to do (ha). There were contributors (including a CWOer) fond of using the unnecessarily abstract language favoured by leftcoms. I had a stab at making a point but generally found the discussion challenging to grasp, or least, each persons perspective was. Much was about the party's relation to the class which can be a useful topic. Even if we agree on the kind of society we seek, then different approaches is simply a matter of putting them to the test, in which respect the SPGB is a lot less abstract than is often accused. Not much discussion actually referenced the SPGB before or after my contribution. The best stab at what might constitute an alternative to the caricature of "mere propagandising" was taking the value element out of everyday life aka communisation, I wasn't convinced as I'd just left re-enactments of the Diggers (where the microphone failed) in Wigan that morning. Some leftcoms said revolutionaries can only be produced by the revolution. The revolution as a process could perhaps be understood, but the other assertion would make leftcoms non-revolutionary on their own terms, fair enough if you want us to take your word for that.It had seemed Barry (The Commune) had prepared criticisms of anarchists (none showed) and "Class Consciousness and Revolutionary Organisations" (a key CWO text). One of the CWOers (who appears on a recording of a debate with the SPGB and possibly the ICC from many years ago) interrupted and argued Barry had not understood the text, was distorting it, or needed to re-read it, which to me, as a fairly typical objection heard at certain meetings, did not make the CWO come across well.A post meeting meal was planned but at 6pm, the meeting concluded and I had to leave. I felt like the meeting may have come away with more questions than answers were brought into it. Overall, I did enjoy it and the challenge of it, and would consider attending again as there may be another such meeting.
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