Re: [Marxism] British SWP proposes socialist unity effort to oppose bourgeois parties

["Politicus E." <epoliticus@xxxxxxxxx>]

Proyect wrote:  "What the SWP should consider is a total break with
their modus operandi and moving toward the approach of the NPA in
France. Initiated by the Trotskyist LCR, the New Anticapitalist Party
decided to put aside questions of “distinctively revolutionary
socialist views” and emphasize the real questions facing the left in
2009. Hopefully, since the SWP seems to have a good grasp on these
questions, they can begin to take the next step and evolve toward a
more transparent and open political framework that has the possibility
of truly uniting the left. In other words, they should return to the
road of V.I. Lenin, the 20th century’s greatest exponent of left unity
based on the evidence of 1917."

I continue to be puzzled by Marxists that fail to understand the
import of Lenin's famous dictum:

"The categorical requirement of Marxist theory in investigating any
social question is that it be examined within definite historical
limits, and, if it refers to a particular country (e.g., the national
programme for a given country), that account be taken of the specific
features  distinguishing that country from others in the same
historical epoch."

Why do I refer to this remark of Lenin's?

My comment is not directed towards the proposal of the S.W.P., nor the
political situation that the comrades confront.

But I have in mind a particular posture, deriding concrete political
positions as petty bourgeois, which if adopted however entail a
substantial probability of radicalizing important sectors of society.
For example, in the U.S. context, consider the assassination of
Tiller.  This tragedy presented an opportunity for radicalization of
large numbers of left-liberal types;  for the opening of a space for
the exposure of the political role of the Democrat party;  for
exposing key political aspects of the capitalist state, etc.  This
opportunity, I think, was insufficiently taken advantage of.

We would do well, in the U.S., to bear in mind that Marxists must
conduct a concrete analysis of concrete conditions with an eye to our
political goals.

epoliticus

-- 
"In the tender annals of Political Economy, the idyllic reigns from
time immemorial ... the present year of course always excepted."
-- A German refugee, circa 1867 --

http://epoliticus.wordpress.com/

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