Re: [Marxism] Location Information

[Tim Kennelly <tim_gmk@xxxxxxxx>]

1) How did you get interrested in Marxism?

     I first got interrested in Marxism in Januray of 1996 (grade 10), when my 
friend Chuck (now Charlie of sevenoaksmag.com) discovered marxism on the 
internet.  After informing myself about communism I decided that I liked the 
idea of a nationalised economy and income parity, and so decided that I was a 
communist.  I did not however inform myself about class analysis or the current 
state of the 'left'.
     I knew that communism could only be achieved by overthrowing the 
Capitalist system, but I abhorred violence, and therefore did not fully embrace 
the idea of socialist revolution.  By 1998 I had decided that the best that 
could be hoped for was electing agovernment hat would gradually nationalise the 
whole economy.  This democratic socialist view I held until September 2002, 
when I ran across the Spartacist League (the Trotskyist League in the US) and 
subscribed to their newspaper (The US produced Workers Vanguard and the 
Canadian produced Sarticist).  I then went through a brief period of about 3 
months where I thought that most of those active on the left were leading the 
working class into a dead-end trap of reformism.  Fortunately, my Friend Riaz 
(another friend from high school who got turned onto marxism by Chuck) talked 
some sense into me before I went so far as to join the Sparticist (a move I am 
definitely glad I did not make).  I have since come to realise that social
 democratic parties like the NDP do serve a purpose but are not the entire 
answer, and that full socialism can only come through a seizure of the means of 
production by the working class.  I have been "Active" on the left since 
January of 2003, when I got involved with protests against the impending 
invasion of Iraq.  I have also been quite interrested since then in 
left-wing/marxist analyses of both history and contemporary events, as well as 
marxist class analysis.

2) How do you respond presonally and politically to the apparent 
"triumphaliusm" of the system today, the so-called "end of history"?

I honestly don't think about it much, but when I'm reminded of it (such as 
right now) I remind myself that history is something that we have to make 
happen, lest the bourgeoisie, through the state aparratus, become the only ones 
making history.

3) What are some of the books that have influenced your political evolution and 
that you think other people could learn from?

My list of books that have influenced my political developement are as follows. 
 Some of them are obvious, some less so, and many deal with specific topics 
rather than being general marxist books.

Karl Marx - The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx - Das Kapital
Karl Marx - 14th/18th? Brummel of Napolon Bonaparte (Marx's analysis of events 
in France around the time of the 1848 revolutions)
Lenin - Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism
Trotsky - History of the Russian Revolution
Trotsky - The Revolution Betrayed
Antonio Gramsci - Selected Writings
E.P. Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class
E.P. Thompson - Making History: Writings on History and Culture
Norman Finkelstein - Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Edward W.Said - Interview with Edwar W. Said
Eric Foner - Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution (the definitive 
book on Reconstruction)

4) What are the political conditions in the region of the world you live in?

  I live in British Columbia, Canada.  At present our premier Gordon Campbell 
and his B.C. Liberal Party are engaged in the worst attacks on the rights of 
workers in over 80 years.  Fortunately the B.C. Liberals instituted fixed four 
year election terms in B.C. after they were elected in May 2001, which means 
that next May 17th we get to vote Gordon Campbell out of office.  If this 
indeed happens he will almost certainly be replaced with the left-leaning B.C. 
New Democrats (B.C. NDP) under the leadership of Carol James.
     The NDP were in power from 1991-2001, during which time tehy governed 
largely from a centrist perspective (not as left as when they were in power 
from 1972-1975 under Dave Barrett).  That said, the NDP were constantly 
attacked in the media during their time in office, because the media (CBC 
excepted) is bourgeois-owned and supportive of the BC Liberals.  Glenn Clark, 
NDP premier from 1996-1999, was especially villified by the media.  The media 
fabricated a backlash against his government, and support for the NDP dropped 
from 39% in the 1996 electiont to 25% in the 2001 election.  That resulted in 
the BC Liberals getting 77 of 79 seats in the legislature.  They then started 
ramming through the most right-leaning agenda in over 80 years.
     Since May 2001 the support for the NDP has rebounded to 39%, which, 
because of how it's distributed relative to BC Liberal support, may be enough 
to defeate the BC Liberals and put the NDP back in.  Unfortunately, Carol James 
has not promised to undo the Gordon Campbell agenda.  She hasn't specifically 
said she won't undo it, but she has said she want to consult with business and 
labour before making major legislative changes (this is code for telling the 
working class to lower its expectations).  So we're hoping that the NDP gets 
elected and undoes Gordon Campbell's agenda (to the extent that it can be 
undone given restrictions imposed by NAFTA), but we're not holding our breath.



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