Category Archives: Politics

“In the struggle, of which we have noted only a few phrases, this mass becomes united, and constitutes itself as a class for itself. The interests it defends become class interests. But the struggle of class against class is a political struggle.” — Karl Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy

Retracing our steps: from the strait passage to genuine party democracy

Posted on 03/07/2012 by modulus

From the Third Internationale onwards, a cardinal dichotomy in socialist circles has been that of opportunism and ultraleftism. The “line”, so Leninists–against whom, let this be clear, I have no animus–say, is like a complex navigation problem. Many are the … Continue reading →

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Which way the Economic Revolution?

Posted on 28/06/2012 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason

All socialists hold that capitalism is not the best of all possible worlds in terms of organising production and consumption when viewed from the position of the vast majority of society. However, socialists have often been pretty vague about what … Continue reading →

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The NGO Industrial Complex

Posted on 24/06/2012 by modulus

The discourse of human rights: drawbacks and opportunities Many people on the left (mainstream or otherwise) align relatively uncritically with the pronouncements issued by neutral-seeming human rights NGOs. These organisations present themselves as “independent”, “apolitical”, just conveying value-free information to … Continue reading →

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South American political situation heats up

Posted on 24/06/2012 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason

Those who have been following the news may know that the president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, has recently been impeached by the Paraguayan senate.  While the impeachment included some vague charge of incompetence, it also claimed he was attempting to … Continue reading →

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Theses for partyism

Posted on 23/06/2012 by Q-collective

An introductory post made for the upcoming debate on the party on ##marxism. A few basic theses: Capitalism, by virtue of the way it operates, creates the working class. The working class is the only consistently revolutionary class in the … Continue reading →

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All power to the Soviets? Not so fast.

Posted on 23/06/2012 by modulus

To many socialists–myself included–the revolution of 1917 is an important referent. This was a time when our class, led by our party, rose up against the wasteful and murderous interimperialist war, smashed the last vestige of despotic monarchical power in … Continue reading →

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Mass Party Theses

Posted on 22/06/2012 by James O'Brien

Context: Applicable to the advanced capitalist countries Thesis 1: Primary Function 1.1 Socialism needs majority support to be viable. 1.2 There has to be a vehicle for (a) marshaling and expressing that support and (b) doing so in such a way … Continue reading →

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The proletarian class party

Posted on 22/06/2012 by Maximilien Robespierre

This is the first post in a series I did on the topic of the communist party. Originally, this particular post was essentially taken word for word from the notes I wrote in preparation for the debate in IRC on … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 3 Comments