I’m in a bit of a doomer mood tbh. Left wing movements are at least gaining some traction where I am but they are far from principled MLs. As much as I like my own party, which even started as a ML movement, I believe we are really far away from returning to our roots. And as much as I appreciate my comrades doing their work, the liberal brain rot can still be strong. I especially feel like walking on egg shells when it comes to showing support for countries like China, DPRK, etc.
And I don’t even want to begin on the naive attitude towards the rise of the far right and possible violence lol.
I especially feel like walking on egg shells when it comes to showing support for countries like China, DPRK, etc.
That’s unfortunate. I had the impression that your party was very principled.
But yes I do, but not before things get significantly worse. I don’t have any hard data but young people are more and more rejecting the status quo. It used to be that when people entered their thirties and got married, bought a house and invested in their pension etc, they were fully bought in to the system. These days thirtysomethings are living with their parents and have nothing. Something’s got to give. Younger people are more politically aware than previous generations.
The example of China is going to become more and more stark in contrast as the standard of living worsens in Europe. The coming depression is going to be severe. After the initial reactionary nonsense that we’re seeing right now, I think we’re going to see a wave of socialist culture in the mainstream.
All based on my daydreams mind you.
We are pretty principled but we also have a huge influx of new members and that brings forth some ideological struggle from time to time
Ah, that makes sense. I don’t know man, you have way more experience at this than me. The media control is powerful, I think I’ve often under appreciated how sophisticated it is. I’ve seen some very smart people I grew up with reduced to raging warmongers with the Ukraine op and some people who were previously understanding of the nature of the USA reduced to supporting Biden due to Trump Bad. Gaza has mostly cured them all, and these were stubborn older liberals. I think Gaza is going to be marked as an historical turning point. We all came from something else. We all have cringe in our closet. If older people are being swayed, then I have a lot of optimism for the youth.
I get the doomer vibe every so often too. I find reading like minded people is restorative. For example this one today put me in a good mood. Just to see that there’s a lot of activity and people saying sensible things makes me feel less alone. They’re fighting the same battles as
youus.That article was interesting, with some quite reasonable takes. Thanks for sharing!
Thank OP for his post! Note that that article is almost a year old, but I just came across it today reading this one from Rainer Shea. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I don’t know much about him and I just take everything at face value and have no particular allegiances.
There are a few respectable ML parties in Europe, though they are usually pretty small. Many of them are anti-EU, which isn’t a bad thing, but idk if that’s what your looking for.
I’ve heard the Belgian communists are pretty strong. Otherwise most of the “communist” organisations tend to be either Trotskyites or Maoists.
Usually you can always find a nice ML organization, it’s only a matter of how small you’re willing to go. Don’t restrain yourself to parties too. Sometimes unions or other political organizations are better. Not being registered as a party can allow for a better ability to express their stances legally, or show their commitment to not participate in bourgeois elections.
Belgian communists
Hey that’s us!
How’s your movement going so far?
Elections are coming up this Sunday and there is a possibility of becoming the third or fourth biggest party in the country actually. This is after being irrelevant up until 2019. So I’d say it’s going pretty well all things considered. But with any growing movement we need to stay awake and not slip into socdem territory for example.
Few thoughts on this:
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I think it’s normal to have doubts in any endeavor. It means you’re reflecting on the state of things, not just going on autopilot. Which can be an opportunity to evaluate where things are at, how you’re doing within it, how others are doing, if there’s anything you think needs doing differently and if so, how to go about it.
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Pulling people over to ML theory and practice within countries that have a conscious awareness of it and vilify it in any way they can is undoubtedly challenging at times, but not impossible. You’re working within a party, so you have a vehicle for getting people into practice, something that those who are just trying to persuade in an online space, for example, don’t have, so that’s already a plus. And you have a means with which to deliver information in an organized way. If you’re concerned that things are being watered down too much in the process of growing the party, maybe there are ways you could help organize a revitalization of principles. I can’t pretend to suggest specifics here on a context I know nothing about, but point I’m getting at is, there may be organized things you can do to push back against watering down while keeping the movement strong.
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Although I understand co-opting of movements and parties is a real concern, even when you’re not pulling people all the way over to being principled MLs, you’re still pulling them further from the cliff of the far right. And in the global fight against imperialism and its consequences, I would say that’s better than having no sway over them at all. Maybe it’ll take more imperialized countries liberating from the empire in order to weaken its hold at home, but even if it does, you can still be building and working toward the right conditions for a tipping point.
Final thought: it’s normal to be down sometimes and healthy to recognize it and process it. Moods come and go, but the struggle goes on. Kudos to you for the work you’re doing.
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I think it’ll happen sooner than you think.
Let’s hope so
I can’t speak for European comrades but over here in Canada I would say we have a fairly principled ML party and still fail to gain much of any traction. Just having a party isn’t enough I would say. I don’t know what the solution is and don’t have much constructive to add but I definitely understand the feeling that the future is bleak. All I can say is if you can make a difference at a small level in your community as our party does here then thats better than nothing
I don’t know much about the CPGB-ML, but at least Joti Brar seems pretty good on a lot of important topics from what I’ve seen. Is the rest of the party in lockstep?
