Yes I know... I should have been clear... I needed to distinguish the problems presented to the Communist International by the betrayals of the Socialist International from my own present day concerns emphasized by my *“ands” * concerns.
Democratic centralism was Zinoviev’s and Trotsky’s answer. I think it was answer that didn’t work or sometimes worked to dangerous ends... I do believe enough in the Old Bolsheviks to believe they started again in 1917 with the same basic question to the international movement. I state that question below with different rhetoric. How do we create worker’s democracy within society and maintain it within a revolutionary movement, without discarding revolutionary discipline needed for extreme situations. By extreme situations I mean those such as general strikes, coups, insurrections, street confrontations, and revolutionary situations of all kinds. Then how do you do this on a local, national, and international level? On this basic level of creating worker’s democracy and revolutionary discipline I think my present day question was also Trotsky’s though Trotsky’s answer, as far as party organization is concerned, is not ours. On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 1:45 PM Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > On 4/11/21 1:25 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote: > > > I agree but I think this doesn’t grapple with the main problem of > Zinoviev’s and Trotsky’s concerns. How do you build an International that > doesn’t fall into the betrayals of the Socialist International? How do you > create an program of international solidarity within a socialist movement > with democratic *and* revolutionary ideas, with internal revolutionary > discipline *and* equalitarian practice that is not cult like and doesn’t > rely on constant excommunication. In simple words, how do we have > revolutionary discipline *and* democratic practice within each party *and* > within > an international party as a whole? Such international revolutionary > discipline and democratic practice must not just be between parties as > corporate constituents but within the whole international. That is true if > we are to build a real international organization with solidarity in > practice. > > Keep in mind that Trotsky and Zinoviev considered the Comintern to be > based on democratic centralism. This meant that the leading body in Moscow > would have the same kind of power to discipline or expel not only members > in other countries but entire parties. The worst application of this > hierarchical method was the expulsion of Paul Levi, who wrote a scathing > attack on the German CP that had organized a totally idiotic ultraleft > uprising in 1921. Unless Levi went public, the masses never would have > learned of his critique. Lenin, of course, voted for Levi's expulsion but > had qualms about the Comintern and the organizational methods it was > adopting. He wrote: > > "At the third congress in 1921 we adopted a resolution on the structure of > communist parties and the methods and content of their activities. It is an > excellent resolution, but it is almost entirely Russian, that is to say, > everything in it is taken from Russian conditions. That is its good side, > but it is also its bad side, bad because scarcely a single foreigner--I am > convinced of this, and I have just re-read it-can read it. Firstly, it is > too long, fifty paragraphs or more. Foreigners cannot usually read items of > that length. Secondly, if they do read it, they cannot understand it, > precisely because it is too Russian...it is permeated and imbued with a > Russian spirit. Thirdly, if there is by chance a foreigner who can > understand it, he cannot apply it...My impression is that we have committed > a gross error in passing that resolution, blocking our own road to further > progress. As I said, the resolution is excellent, and I subscribe to every > one of the fifty paragraphs. But I must say that we have not yet discovered > the form in which to present our Russian experience to foreigners, and for > that reason the resolution has remained a dead letter. If we do not > discover it, we shall not go forward." > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7919): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7919 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82013043/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
