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On 11/29/14 4:34 PM, Andrew Pollack wrote:
The fact that one was published in June and the other November is significant; that is roughly the time period in which it became clear to all (well, almost all) that the Podemos leadership was intending to follow the liberal trajectory of Syriza's tops.
I think we probably have different ideas about what a "liberal trajectory" means. But beyond the question of its decision, for example, to scale back some of its more radical proposals, there is another dimension that has to be considered--namely, the class dynamic of a party that has no links to the Spanish bourgeoisie and that is open and transparent. Unlike the British Labour Party or the Democratic Party for that matter, Podemos is much more like the Greens in the USA. If you keep in mind that Podemos represents the next stage of the anti-capitalist struggle in Spain rather than the Leninist party that will ultimately be necessary for total emancipation, then it begins to make sense. The British SWP's mistake is to counterpose a Platonic ideal of a Leninist Party and seduce the innocent into its imaginary ranks. Hal Draper described its methodology here:
The sect establishes itself on a HIGH level (far above that of the working class) and on a thin base which is ideologically selective (usually necessarily outside working class). Its working-class character is claimed on the basis of its aspiration and orientation, not its composition or its life. It then sets out to haul the working class up to its level, or calls on the working class to climb up the grade. From behind its organizational walls, it sends out scouting parties to contact the working class, and missionaries to convert two here and three there. It sees itself becoming, one day, a mass revolutionary party by a process of accretion; or by eventual unity with two or three other sects; or perhaps by some process of entry.
full: http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1971/alt/alt.htm#CHAPTER3 _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
