jondwhite
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Welcome Emily,I do not regard it helpful to view communism as an identity. I identified with ideas from the liberal tradition whilst still in education. I decided to pursue additional ideas identified with the communist tradition during a period of unemployment and then whilst beginning work under conditions of minimum wage.Nothing turned me against the Soviet Union, but I never found surrendering universal suffrage for democratic centralism convincing. It seems like a retrograde step in an industrialised country with a parliamentary tradition such as Britain.I think some people defend Stalin for a variety of reasons. An inability to grasp ideas that have never been implemented. Erich Fromm described the psychology as the fear of freedom. Hannah Arendt had something to say about the totalitarian mindset too. Some people just plump for the lesser of two evils and then tribalise and use a sort of reverse Cold War otherism ("if you're not with us then ergo you are against us") to demonise opponents. For some people politics is as sophisticated as reading a few atrocities then applying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". A lot of people don't think independently and join groups for herd mentality because their friends, family and acquaintances do (see the CPGB-ML).As to whether Stalin's defenders have any legitimate grounds for their beliefs. Only insofar as a stopped clock is correct at least twice a day. For example, opposition to Trotskyism and paying lipservice to Marx. Although these are extremely feeble "legitimising" factors.Communist parties in Europe are failing to gain ground in recession because older folk rightfully remember Bolshevism and the Soviet Union in a negative light. For younger people however, who are unfamiliar with the Soviet Union, are apathetic or still have reservations about communism. I'd be inclined to sympathise with the Frankfurt school's suggestion of a culture industry and Situationists' suggestion of a society of the spectacle. Some members think the time is simply not the right economic conditions, I'm not sure of this claim.The role I think communism will play in British politics, the most optimistically would be a mass socialist party which will be reflected politically, most comparable to the influence of the British SDF or early German SPD. There will be strikes in future, although union membership and the days lost to industrial action continues a trend downwards and this doesn't necessarily indicate class consciousness as other socialists might be keen to claim credit for. Assuming living standards continue to fall, the claim is made of the threat of fascism is bandied around too, which I'm not so sure grow in a particularly special way distinct from other political currents.As to whether communism results inevitably in dictatorship. Its a question that when posed by critics may carry a variety of assumptions. The main one is that the free market or economic freedom is a bulwark against dicatorship, that it somehow equates to political freedom and civil liberties. Well I'd argue this is a complete misnomer and probably a good example is the economic policy of General Pinochet in Chile in the 1980s. In general, a class conscious working-class inoculated against placing trust in great leaders is likely to defend civil liberties just as vehemently as its political power.The comparison between state capitalism and free market capitalism is not much different I'd suggest. Ruling-classes based in particular arbitrarily divided nations will want to manage capitalism as effectively as possible. Almost always this means using a state, more or less interference will depend on economic conditions. For many decades Keynesianism was the favoured management style. More recently, Republicanism in the US has been sold to the Tea Party libertarian (proprietarian) minded Koch brothers.On communism's inevitability, I'm inclined to regard capitalism as having outlived its usefulness (just as chattel slavery, feudalism has) in productive capacity. Other than free access I can't conceive of another productive system which hasn't already been tried or will work. Just as feudalism's ruling-class was insufficient support to introduce capitalism, a communist system of production will need sufficient support to introduce it. The party's job is to hurry it up by persuading a majority of workers to support communism.Any further questions, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck with your research project and tell us how it goes please.
Statement of SWP Democratic OppositionFour members of the Socialist Workers’ Party have been expelled in the run up to that organisation’s conference next month, for reasons detailed here. Some of their co-thinkers have responded by forming an oppositional grouping. This is what they have to say for themselves:FOUR comrades have been expelled for forming a ‘secret faction’ during the discussions prior to SWP conference. The expelled members had been legitimately concerned about the handling of very serious allegations directed at a CC member and the way that this was being handled by the organisation and had discussed about what this represented and how comrades could ensure the matter was dealt with properly. …
There is a long tradition of the SPGB not using candidate photos in SPGB election material culminating in the conference resolution of 1989. Were there any resolutions from earlier? If not, why not? I hope this is one of the informally practiced relics from the Edwardian era's practices of politicking that is consigned to the archives.To state the obvious, audio is an aural medium, video is a visual medium, and if you compare a Victorian newspaper to a free newspaper today, print is increasingly a visual medium. Why use colour, photos, pictures in the Standard if it might attract those other than interested in the case? Why didn't outdoor speakers wear masks? The anti-aestheticism in the party is strange from a party in the tradition of William Morris and Walter Crane. Should Walter Crane have not designed illustrations for socialism lest it attract supporters who liked his art? Why not use a voice synthesiser to read our material instead of audio recordings of meetings in case any likes the sounds of a human speakers voice. The answer is there has always been concessions to modern communications. A lot of workers learn visually, aurally, through trusted friends and not literarily. Opposition to personality politics is not unique to the SPGB.The object comes first because it is more important than the Declaration of Principles. A materialist approach to communications would benefit the party and its object.
I hope the SPGB does use a candidate photo. Making the "case not the face" point would lose more voters than it gains.
Well for the sake of argument assuming a "right to work" can even exist, the US right-to-work law is not the opposite since it probably increases raw numbers of jobs (if wages levels drop). Much the same argument (or at least a defence against losing paid jobs) as made by the Right to Work campaign front for supposedly-Socialist Workers Party in the UK incidentally.If its going to be couched in "rights" (which is dubious anyway) then I would prefer a right-to-not-work or a right-to-welfare.
FWIW, being spotterly, pretty sure most modern left coms think trade unions and socialism have nothing to do with one another. Remember Winnipeg 1919 – the WSM general strike!
I've heard a couple of critics accuse the SPGB position of "utopianism" but always thought this inaccurate as I assumed "utopianism" historically was defined as applied to co-operative communities. Still as recently trended over twitter by the deterritorial group, "full communism now" seems to be a position accepted more broadly than the SPGB. Some of the general political apathy might even be fed up with any reformism whatsoever.
There's chaos ensuing over the moderators "coup" at /r/Anarchist for details seehttp://www.reddit.com/r/metanarchism/There's a curious reddit athttp://reddit.com/ r/GoldenPath
The Second World War RevisitedJohn Molyneux's (key figure in the SWP) review of Donny Gluckstein's book
A little late in me posting, but New Left Media have done a few interviews with Romney supporters at his rallyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY0M7IdNl7Uand the more interesting one I thinkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-ePaZ8148
