Re: Challenge to Cockshott

[Marcus Strom <MSTROM@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis,

You have unwittingly stumbled across the very dilemma of Red Action's
politics. They *do* try to meld anarchism and communism. They reject
the vanguard party for voluntarist thuggery. For instance. In their
activity against the British National Party (BNP), rather than build
mass community action against them (I don't mean in the popular
frontism of the  ANL/ARA), they resorted to using terror.

I have nothing against using terror as a *tactic*, but Red Action and
their front organisation use terror as a strategic weapon. JUst punch
'em and that's it. (I simplify).

While I lived in London, it was good for the morale when we heard of
a fascist thug losing an eye or a hand. This may or may not have been
orchestrated by R.A., but it does not mobilise workers themselves.

They are the anti-vanguard vanguard. This is elitist petty bourgeois
'blokey' politics.

A melange of anarcho-communism, uncritical support for the IRA - this
is Red Action. Their paper is purile, with headlines like: "We are
the reds!". They spend many articles explaining why they are the most
important / threatening organisation to the state by giving examples
of how the state is surveilling them. "We are the most persecuted
therefore we are the best" "We are the Reds" - petty sectarianism,
not the patient work of building a workers' party. (Part ... y: ie,
you are part of the class, not separate - a sect).

Whenever i saw Red Action in public, I literally saw a phalanx, a row
of around 8 -10 of their members, standing 6inches apart all with a
copy of their paper, bomber jackets, jeans, doc martens, shaved heads
and all male. Not very inspiring. But I'm glad they beat up fascists.
But it won't build a revolution.

I actually think they are a proto-terrorist organisation. With
some infiltration,. they could be made to go a very wierd direction
(well, wierder).

Paul, this isn't intended personaly. Some of the *positions* of
yourself and your organisation I agree with, but not with the
totality of the orientation of the organisation.

I just wish that middle-class activists with bad experiences in
'vanguardist' sects would get over it! Just because you walked into
the SWP/Sparts/..... whatever at a young age, learnt 'marxism' by
rote and then got bled dry by some sect (next week - we all adopt
Enverism!), don't turn your back on the need for a communist party,
a party with real roots in the class, a party that is the living
class consciousness of revolutionary workers. Leadership and
organisation in the name of anti-leadership and anti-organisation is
anarchistic and voluntarist. We need to reforge our world communist
movement along internationalist and revolutionary lines (not as Louis
would have it, as nationalist homilies of the language of the
corn-belt - shall we all chew hay stalks Louis? Just because you are
stuck in one part of the world and historically myopic).

The red flag is an international system. I suppose we need to build
the revolution under the Microsoft symbol? What ever we do, if we are
doing it correctly, we will be labelled reds,communists etc... I am
proud of such labels. We just fuel anti-communism by refusing to be
honest about our politics. (What was that opening paragraph to the
Communist Manifesto .....?) I suppose we could call ourselves the
"Nice (non-gender specific) Guys Out For A Really Nice Time ...
Promise We Aren't Communists Party" .... but we'd get red baited
anyway.

Get over it. Haven't you got the guts to actually convince workers in
struggle that their instincts are pointing towards communist
politics. Sure, stay in your apartment on the net talking to other
middle class men (sorry Lisa). I'm a fuckin' commie and proud!




> Date:          Thu, 31 Aug 1995 08:13:59 -0400 (EDT)
> From:          Louis N Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To:            marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc:            marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:       Re: Challenge to Cockshott
> Reply-to:      marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, Paul Cockshott wrote:
>
> > Louis seems to prefer his preconceptions to reality.
> > My views have to conform to those of the straw man
> > that he wishes to attack.
> >
> > The group that I participate in is called Red Action
> > not 'Red Fist', and it is neither Vanguardist nor
> > Maoist, but bases itself on the principles of the
> > first international.
> >
>
> Louis:
> I drew an erroneous conclusion from your endorsement of "Shining Path"
> in Peru. I assumed that you understood that this group is in the
> habit of murdering people on the left it has disagreements with. For
> example, if I was in Peru stating the things I state on a regular basis,
> and you were there as a member of "Shining Path", you would have hacked
> me up with a machete long ago. Maoists, of course, have no problem with
> jailing or killing political opponents on the left. They learned that
> from Joseph Stalin, who ordered the execution of people like Andres Nin
> and Leon Trotsky. Moscow-oriented CP's stopped doing this sort of thing
> after the miserable tyrant Stalin died. Maoists, with their
> continuing affection for the deceased dictator, were not above physically
> attacking those on the left they disagreed with. I defended meetings in
> the late 60's from SDS-PLers in Boston who wanted to prevent labor
> leaders from speaking (fakes, they called them).
>
> Now I am very happy that you are a "first internationalist" whatever the
> hell that means. The First International disintegrated when Bakhunin
> supporters and Marxists couldn't resolve unresolvable political differences.
> I guess over there in Scotland you have found a way to synthesize
> anarchism and Marxism. God bless you and allow you to flourish. My
> argument is with "vanguardists", not with eclectic formations like "Red
> Action". The only thing I would suggest is that you come up with a less
> immature, ultraleft name for the group. This sort of thing went out of
> style around the same time bell-bottom jeans did.
>
>
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>


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