Parties and party lines

[m-14970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Rodwell)]

>On Mon, 3 Jun 1996, David Walters wrote:
>
>> There are no "Castro Fan Clubs" on the US Left? Three I can think of that
>almost
>> never run anything critical of Cuban and Castros influence there are:
>> the Workers World Party, SWP and CPUSA.
>>
>
>Louis: I'm sorry. When I speak of the left nowadays, I tend to discount
>the "Marxist-Leninist" left. When I speak of the left, I mean groups and
>individuals who are not bound by a "party line".

Typical Humpty-Dumpty speak -- 'when I use a word, it means what I want it
to mean'. If we interpret Louis's 'left' it means 'my own non-party-Party
patch of the left'.

Who's always harping on about respect for 'facts'?


What's more, parties are the default option, and they won't go away just by
pressing a delete button. You can ignore them, but they won't ignore you.

Parties (such as the CPUSA) that wilfully put themselves at the service of
another party (such as the Democrats) forfeit an independent role and
become historical ciphers with respect to the interests of the working
class they claim to represent.

Parties (such as Louis's organization must be if his statement here is to
be believed) that don't have a party line might just as well not exist.
Discussion clubs won't be able to intervene in history and change it.

If parties and party lines are so useless, how come the Sandinistas,
Castro, Stalin and Mao were so successful at using party machinery to put
across their own interpretations of reality and get their own policies
carried out? To the detriment of Nicaragua, Cuba, the Soviet Union and
China to be sure, but the policies got adopted and carried out none the
less.

These parties got things done, and since they were run on mistaken
principles, they got them done badly. Our task is to challenge this kind of
party with a stronger one, based on correct principles and run with
workers' democracy.

The Stalinist tradition perverted the Bolshevik model, using its strengths
to undermine the revolution. We must take it back.

Cheers,

Hugh




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