The ISO and other Communist Cults

[Drake Tungsten]

Wow. I never knew there was such a heated competition out there for the reigns of a failed ideology...

[Buck Birdseed]

You have no idea. Even in little Sweden there are hundreds of little trotskyist and maoist and god knows what groups, from strange, academic anti-imperialist group Clarté to the (reasonably large) party with the most insane name ever, KPML(r). The (r) is there to distinguish them from normal, not-quite-as-revolutionary Communist-Marxist-Leninists. On top of this we get all the English ones as well, starting with The Militant and rapidly decending into hell.

And for some bloody reasons they all believe they can attract members in our Mayday march.

edit: English rather than Englist. Are there any specifically englist groups?

[HolyWarrior]

You clowns still take Marx seriously?

[HolyWarrior]

You clowns still take Marx seriously?

[OneFootInTheGrave]

I thought this was about CD ripping

[DuncanK]

Very interesting Che. Sounds like you have a lot of valuable experience. Some one was trying to recruit at my college. He wanted to get my name and phone number so they could get in touch with me latter. I was reluctant to give it to him. I kind of regret it, and I'm kind of jealous of you, but I'm a little paranoid about getting involved or having my name on a list.

[Spiffor]

Very interesting post Che. In France, we also have a multitude of leftists parties, but things are a bit less messy, since 3 bigger parties share most of the far left.

Lutte Ouvrière (Worker's Struggle) is the most radical of the 3. Favors revolution, even if violent. Very oriented towards the working class. Only party which didn't call at all to vote for Chirac against Le Pen.

Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (Revolutionnary Communistic League), which is more oriented towards the youth, and former members of the Comunist Party. Pro revolution, but the platform isn't very coherent, and is mostly a patchwork intended to attract people with leftists leanings, but without much theoretical strength.

Parti Communiste (Communist Party, duh ! to which I belong) It was founded in 1920, and was the biggest French party between 1945 and 1958 IIRC, because of its excellent reputation of resistance during the war. It is now dying (only 4.9% votes in the latest congress elections), as it cannot find its place between the Social Democrats and the leftists. For about a decade, the Communist Party aimed to make the Social Democrats lean more towards the left, and hence had a strong Social Democrat agenda, rather than a revolutionary one.

There are a bunch of unsignificant far-left groups, which also spend their time spitting on the others. Bigger parties do this to a lesser extent, but do this nonetheless. There remains a hate between Lutte Ouvrière and the Communist Party because of how Stalin replaced Trotsky ; even though the Communist Party rejected Stalin entirely, this hate continues.

[tandeetaylor]

Re: The ISO and other Communist Cults

Originally posted by chegitz guevara Some of these groups, particularly the Sparticist League, the Revolutionary Worker's League, Progressive Labor, and worst of all, the Socialist Equality Party (formerly the Workers League, a split from the organization to which Venessa Redgrave belongs) seem to have only one purpose, attacking other socialist organizations.

You guys keep at it. (And by "you" I am not specifically replying to you)

In order to keep you from thinking for yourself

That's totally against collective principles and sacrifice for the greater good.

[Odin]

I want to join one of these groups, but you have to pay regular fees.

[Spiffor]

DOn't your fees depend of your income ? I pay 1% of my income to the party, no more.

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Parti Communiste (Communist Party, duh ! to which I belong) It was founded in 1920, and was the biggest French party between 1945 and 1958 IIRC, because of its excellent reputation of resistance during the war. It is now dying (only 4.9% votes in the latest congress elections), as it cannot find its place between the Social Democrats and the leftists. For about a decade, the Communist Party aimed to make the Social Democrats lean more towards the left, and hence had a strong Social Democrat agenda, rather than a revolutionary one.

Sounds comparable to our Green Party. Although they are pretty new compared to your Communist Party.

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Spiffor
DOn't your fees depend of your income ? I pay 1% of my income to the party, no more.

Christ, why do you have to pay? That seems ridiculous to me. Only a cult would make you do that.

[Spiffor]

No, my party needs money to pay for its papers, for its locals, for its campaign material, for the paid people who work there etc. As it has no corporate support, members of the party do support it. Communist parlamentarians pay a hefty part of their wage to the party as well.
Had the party no money, the whole infrastructure and organization would go down, and it would be impossible to have a coherent message at the country's level.

[DuncanK]

Seems like they should just ask for donations, but what ever works better. I guess you can still vote for them even if you don't pay dues.

[Spiffor]

Yes, there are about 200,000 members, and more than four times voters (there is an extremely high number of members wompared to the number of voters ; our small party as about as many members as the two major parties).
I'm a member in the meaning I decided to participate in the party, by giving some time to it, by helping it during campaigns, and by helping it financially. The 1% payment is intended to bring the party a steady and predictable income I think.