[Edited Message Follows] Hi everyone,
I finally got around to reading this thread. It is fairly good in places. We have a lot of experience on this list. People are thinking about organization because the political crisis in the US (and elsewhere) is heating up and people are being propelled into motion. We need to be *organized* in order to be *effective*. But what kind of organization? Some forms of organization tend to keep people *passive, obedient* and full of *illusions*. Some forms of organization favor the creation of *cults*. The history of attempts to create organization is littered with failure of all kinds: *treachery* , *betrayal* and *confusion*. But people still need to get organized--and the question of organization will not go away. Hence this thread on " *Marxist organization* ". *-- 1 --* Tom noted that the term "Marxist organization" is a bit of an *oxymoron* , and asked if we were discussing " *Leninist organization* ". But Lenin's organization went through various *stages* as conditions changed. * Prior to *1912* , working class organization in Russia consisted of an umbrella party which contained *two wings* --leading to "a party of parties" -- two independent parties existing within a larger party. As conditions matured--the time came when Lenin's wing could *finally* *jetison* the reformist Mensheviks. * Following the *1917* revolution, Lenin's party (essentially) became the state. Lenin did not consider *party-state fusion* to be some kind of "Marxist" principle--rather this fusion was an *improvisation* born of simple *necessity*. * With the *civil war* , beginning in 1918, conditions deteriorated and *democratic rights* within the country were eventually suspended. * By March 1921, during the *Kronstadt* revolt, democratic rights within the Bolshevik party itself were suspended. These were considered *temporary emergency measures* --but became *permanent*. After Lenin's incapacitation and death--the temporary emergency measures were turned into a *religion*. People like me (and many others on this list) took up this religion in the *1960's* and *1970's* when students in the *antiwar* and *civil rights movements* were faced with the task of rebuilding the *militant left* --which had existed in the *1930's* but had been eradicated. Many today blame Lenin for *abolishing democratic rights* --as if this was the *root of all evil*. But this kind of thinking is what is called the " *hospital fallacy* " (which confuses cause and effect). If you don't want to die--according to one proposed method of living forever--just create a statistical map of locations where people usually die--and then make sure to *stay away* from those locations. The problem, of course, is that many people die in hospitals. Staying away from hospitals will not help you live longer. Democratic rights were abolished in 1921--because of objective conditions: the *economy* had been largely *destroyed* by the civil war. People were *starving*. By that time, probably *90 percent of the population* of Russia would have been happy to see Lenin's head on a stake. The suspension of democratic rights was not a "Marxist" principle--but a "survival" principle: if the Bolsheviks had not suspended democratic rights--they would all have been dead within six months. Looking for clues in texts written by Marx or Lenin has other problems. Marx was born more than 200 years ago. Lenin died more than 100 years ago. Marx and Lenin wrote for people living during their time. The world did not even have the *internet* then. Do things like the internet make a difference when we are discussing things like *organizational* *transparency* and *accountability* ? It does for everyone who has not had a lobotomy. *-- 2 --* No organization can be separated from the *purpose* of the organization and the *context* in which it exists. Consider the fingers on your hand. If we must defend ourselves and have no weapon--we can *clench* our fingers together and make a *fist*. But we must *open* our hand to pick up and use a *tool*. A " *highly disciplined* " organization--where a large membership faithfully executes the directives issued by a much smaller center--may be necessary in conditions where *only* the comrades at the center have the knowledge and experience necessary to navigate a complex and confusing situation. But what if such knowledgeable and experienced comrades *do not exist* ? In that case--a highly disciplined organization will get you *nowhere* (other than a *cult* ). There are still cults today, mostly remants of groups that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, which practice what they call " *democratic centralism* ". Louis Proyect, around the time he created this listserv in the mid-1990's, called this " *cemocratic dentralism* " because this practice had degenerated into formulas for *concealing problems* and *protecting* *manipulation* , *dysfunction* and *denial*. We don't need to conceal problems. We need *sunlight* and *oxygen*. We don't need manipulation. We need *transparency*. We don't need denial. We need *recovery*. Similarly, the *"entryist" tactic* of *recruiting* from liberal or refomist formations (which work to " *move the Democratic Party to the left* " or create a "kinder, gentler" form of capitalism) presupposes the *existence* of some kind of more hard core stable organization (which has its feet firmly on the ground) to which you are recruiting. No such organization exists. The same goes for tactics aimed at "accumulating experience"--or assisting ongoing economic struggles--or struggles for partial demands. Such work may be better than doing nothing--but can we describe it as " *decisive* "? Or is *any kind* of work decisive at this time? *-- 3 --* In serious writing, I usually avoid words ending in "ism" and "ist": marxism, leninism, socialism, communism. These words may have meant something at one time. But language evolves--and these words have become *meaningless* because they mean a thousand different thing to a thousand different people--and have become little more than "trigger words" for *charlatans* , *cultists* and the *confused* --and hence have become *useless* as a *vehicle* for ** communicating anything more than a *mood*. There is, however, one way in which it may be possible to speak (in an intelligent and productive way) about "Marxist organization". Marx was an economist and revolutionary. But what Marx is best known for--is his *conclusion* that the *working class* has a *historic mission* and *destiny* : overthrowing the rule of capital and liberating humanity. It makes sense to discuss organization that is aimed at assisting the *self-organization* of the working class--bringing *light* and *consciousness* to the working class--and *knowledge* of this historic mission and destiny--so that the working class can *understand* itself as a class--can *think* in terms of its *material interests* as a class--and can *flex its muscles* as a class. Marx did not move things forward by asking "what did Marx say?" Lenin did not advance matters by asking "what did Lenin do?" *They looked at the world* and the organizational needs of the working class concretely. We must do the same. If we look at developments over the past century, the accumulation of *historical experience* , the immense *growth* of the *working class* everywhere, the *vast* *expansion* of the *productive forces* , and (in particular) the revolution in *digital information* and communications--it appears to me that the *solution* to our organizational problems is emerging. We only need the courage and humility to *avoid turning away-* -and instead look at what stands directly in front of us in a calm and *sober* way. *-- 4 --* In many ways, the organization the working class needs today would be closer to the form that Lenin's organization took prior to 1912: a "party of parties", or " *organization of organizations* ". During this period the bolsheviks and mensheviks publically criticized one another in their newspapers while also agreeing to share resources in ways that were beneficial to both. The closest we have to this today, in the U.S., is the *DSA*. The DSA made it possible for *Mamdani* to become mayor of New York, and is the only large organization in the left, with tens of thousands of members (all other organizations are tiny, with dozens of members). But the DSA has two huge problems which we cannot ignore: (1) The DSA is controlled (unofficially) by the *Democratic Party* ** and mainly serves to *funnel activist energy* into the *black hole* of Democratic Party politics. (2) The debate, discussion and criticism between the different sections of the DSA is generally *not public*. These two problems are *inseparable* from one another--and they are both *fatal*. But the idea of a *common umbrella organization* within which *smaller groups* can *self-organize* (ie: exist, compete, criticize one another in public, and form and reform themselves in a relatively rapid and *fluid* way with a minimum of *isolation* and *friction* so as to most rapidly *metabolize information* and *experience* into principled action and actionable principles) will be *necessary* for working class organization that is *real*. *-- 5 --* What the working class needs, above all, is the emergence of a *pole of attraction* based on *independent class politics*. But such a pole will not emerge when some cult simply declares itself to be "the pole" (spoiler: that has been tried a thousand times, it does not work anymore than putting lipstick on a pig makes it something more than a pig). The independent pole the working class needs will only emerge as a result of a *protracted* and *highly public* period ** of *open struggle* during which thousands of disagreements and disputes are openly fought in a way which *catches the attention* of workers and activists. Only as a result of such a protracted and public process--will workers and activists understand what *independent class politics* are--and are not--and *who* supports independent class politics--and who does not. And this will require a *public information platform* to which all activists have the *right* to contribute. There is *no path forward* to the organization the working class needs in the 21st century that does not involve some kind of public information platform that (1) is aimed at assisting *self-organization* and (2) makes it possible for activists to *publically criticize* , in an easily accessible way, every form of opportunism, deception, manipulation, delusion and denial. There will, of course, be different opinions concerning the best, quickest and most effective way to create such a public information platform. But *we need to be clear* that such a public platform is *necessary*. None of the existing commercial social media platforms are suitable for what is needed. We need a platform that is not at the whim of billionaires or the mercy of governments. We need to make it happen. We need to create it. We need the courage and humility to *recognize* that the independent and democratic *mass organization* the working class needs--will emerge from the work to create an independent and democratic *public information platform* that will serve as the *digital nervous system* of that organization. *-- 6 --* Some might argue that Lenin did not have the internet and therefore that the bolshevik party did not originate out of a public information platform. It is, of course, true that Lenin did not have the internet. But the original plan for Iskra, as outlined in *Lenin's "What Is To Be Done?"* in 1902, can best be understood as a plan for a *public information platform* in conditions of illegality. *Isolated activists* in every isolated group--needed to be able to *report on their work* and experience and *publically criticize* and contrast effective and ineffective politics and methods of work. Only in this way could the isolation be *broken* and a *class-wide revolutionary organization* be forged. *-- 7 --* I could go on at length on all these topics. I have left a lot out. But this post is already too long, and I will not be motivated to write if no one is motivated to read and engage with me in a serious way. I have been writing about these topics for years. Hopefully my formulations have become sharper and more capable of connecting with the experience of others. I look forward to all *thoughtful questions, comments* or *criticism*. I will include, in a separate post, some related graphics. -- *Ben Seattle* http://communism.org/ben Our century of information war will lead to a public information platform that will (1) bring the truth about everything important to everyone and (2) catalyze the self-organization of the struggle to overthrow the rule of capital -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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