Archive for the ‘vanguard party’ Category
Posted by Mike E on October 5, 2010
During the Cultural Revolution in Tibet: In this one picture you can see the complexity of mass mobilization in the mix of consciousness, passivity, obligation and passionate participation
From Bob Avakian’s K. Venu Polemic:
“Lenin does frankly discuss the fact that
“‘in all capitalist countries (and not only over here, in one of the most backward) the proletariat is still so divided, so degraded, and so corrupted in parts (by imperialism in some countries) that an organisation taking in the whole proletariat cannot directly exercise proletarian dictatorship. It can be exercised only by a vanguard that has absorbed the revolutionary energy of the class.’…
One can only ask here: what is wrong with this?”
“…it does not get to the essence of things if the masses have the formal right to replace leaders, when the social conditions (contradictions) are such that some people are less “replaceable” than others… Voting Mao out of office would only mean that somebody less qualified—or, even worse, someone representing the bourgeoisie instead of the proletariat—would be playing that leadership role. You can’t get around this, and adhering to the strictures of formal democracy would be no help at all.”
“Given the contradictions that characterize the transition from capitalism to communism, worldwide, if the party did not play the leading role that it has within the proletarian state, that role would be played by other organized groups—bourgeois cliques—and soon enough the state would no longer be proletarian, but bourgeois. … the problem with the ruling parties in the revisionist countries is not that they have had a ‘monopoly’ of political power but that they have exercised that political power to restore and maintain capitalism. The problem is that they are not revolutionary, not really communist—and therefore they do not rely on and mobilize the masses to exercise the dictatorship of the proletariat, and to continue the revolution under this dictatorship.”
Intro by Mike Ely
I am reading Badiou’s new work “Communist Hypothesis” together with others. It argues that the previous communist Party-State has reached the limits of its historical value. This is connected to a view that the Leninist party itself has shown historical limits, and that new forms of communist organization need to be developed.
We would like to urge our readers to start by tackling (together!) the now available Badiou work on the “The Cultural Revolution: The Last Revolution?” which we have recently posted here on Kasama.
As a counterpoint to that: we are continuing to publish excerpts from a detailed defense of the Party-State by Bob Avakian.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Bob Avakian, Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, Maoism, Paris Commune, V.I. Lenin, vanguard party | 10 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 3, 2010
Captured Communards were often exiled in Polynesia where they spread rebellion.
From Conquer the World:
“So what [Mao's] dealing with [in his critique of using "Commune" for new governments during China's Cultural Revolution] is not really the name at all.
“He’s saying, “look, we live in a world where we’re surrounded by imperialism and it’s one thing to have a People’s Republic but if you try to have a commune you’re going to run into the problem of the state, both in terms of internal class enemies and in terms of the external, the international class enemies, and that’s too advanced a form, we’ll be crushed.”
“He says, “They won’t recognize us,” and so on, but it’s his own way of getting at a much more profound problem—and it is obvious if anyone’s a Marxist-Leninist that what he’s really dealing with is that question: What form is most appropriate for the class struggle in China and the suppression of enemies there and the class struggle internationally?
“He then goes on to make a very important point….
“If everything were changed into commune, then what about the party? Where would we place the party? Among [Shanghai] commune committee members are both party members and non-party members. Where would we place the party committee? There must be a party somehow! There must be a nucleus, no matter what we call it. Be it called the Communist party, or social democratic party, or Kuomintang, or I-kuan-tao, it must have a party. The commune must have a party, but can the commune replace the Party?”“
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Bob Avakian, Cultural Revolution, Maoism, Marxist theory, Paris Commune, vanguard party | 2 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 1, 2010
Women militants in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
Alain Badiou was a leader of the group generally known in France as “les Maoïstes.” In 1979, he wrote a play called The Incident at Antioch, which poses questions about the revolutionary process. In that play (now excerpted within Badiou’s new work “The Communist Hypothesis“) two characters debate how victorious revolutionaries should view their new state and new order.
Badiou is arguing that “failing” at revolution is always very close to “winning.”
In that dialog, one of the characters, Paula, pulls out a big sheet of paper covered with elaborate plans and says:
“Look at this military chart…. There’s the dream, there’s the childhood. You really would have liked to conquer the world, just like any old king.”
Two years later, Bob Avakian (who was by then also in Paris) wrote a work called “Conquer the World: The International Proletariat Must and Will.”
Whether Bob’s title was a polemic with Badiou’s play, I honestly do not know. It is, at the very least, a remarkable coincidence, because there is, contained within Avakian’s “Conquer the World,” the (crude) beginnings of a explicit polemic with the views of Badiou’s Maoïstes, who were also known as the UCFML.
Yesterday we posted Badiou’s essay on the Cultural Revolution – which is at the same time a sharp exploration of previous forms of Party-State and the Leninist party in general. To supplement that, we will post a series of excerpts from Bob Avakian’s defense of the inherited Party-State.
Our purpose here is to join (and contribute to) a discussion-in-progress — and to help situate Badiou’s arguments against the Party-State in the context of a contending view (among revolutionary communists) that such a state is required by the material realities of communist revolution.
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Posted in Alain Badiou, Bob Avakian, Cultural Revolution, Maoism, Marxist theory, RCPUSA, vanguard party | 8 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 17, 2010
Kasama received the following:
A group of us in Chicago have begun what we’re calling the Communist Hypothesis Study Circle. The name, of course, comes from Alain Badiou’s recent (and quite excellent) book of that title:
Someone suggested it might be useful to post our schedule of readings here, for possible use by others who may be interested in doing something similar.
We’ll be meeting every two weeks, which will allow time for reading, study, reflection.
Below is our preliminary schedule of readings for the Communist Hypothesis Study Circle:
(Meeting 1) Communist Hypothesis:
Preamble: What is called failure?
Chapter 1: We Are Still the Contemporaries of May ‘68
- May ’68 Revisited, 40 Years On
- Outline of a Beginning
- This Crisis Is the Spectacle: Where is the Real?
(Meeting 2) Communist Hypothesis
Chapter 2: The Cultural Revolution: The Last Revolution?
Chapter 3: The Paris Communie: A political Declaration on Politics
Appendix: Letter from Alain Badiou to Slavoj Zizek: On the Work of Mao Zedong
(Meeting 3) The Communist Hypothesis
Chapter 4: The Idea of Commmunism
New Left Review article “The Communist Hypothesis”
After finishing The Communist Hypothesis, we plan to continue next with various parts or excerpts from Badiou’s most recent extensive philosophical work, Logics of Worlds, which forms the background to what he says in The Communist Hypothesis, especially in Chapter IV.
Posted in Alain Badiou, communism, Cultural Revolution, Maoism, Marxist theory, vanguard party | 10 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 10, 2010
This appeared as a comment in our discussion of primordial soup and revolutionary chemistry.
by Stephanie McMillan
I think a revolutionary movement during this time period has to be multi-faceted. It can be a network rather than a party, with ideological leaders but not central administrators. (Though ways to coordinate and connect would be important to have).
And to clarify, the ideological leaders I think we need will also emerge organically. I don’t think they can be declared. People will be won to ideas if they are correct and compelling.
I don’t think we can expect to first achieve a very high level of unity and then go out there with it. We’re all over the place. What are we even building — a revolutionary anti-capitalist movement that would include communists, socialists, anarchists and others? A group of revolutionary communists? Either way: what is our unity? Even if you narrow it down to communists, some have a vision of a high-tech zero-labor utopia and others look forward to de-industrialization and neo-primitivism.
The goal I think we *can* and should unite around at this time is very basic: to overthrow the current system and to put an end to classes and all forms of domination and exploitation.
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Posted in anarchism, communism, Stephanie McMillan, vanguard party | 69 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 8, 2010
by Mike Ely
In a recent essay,”What a Communist Beginning Might Look Like“ I tried to crudely sketch how a new communist movement might start to emerge — imagining three tiers: an Iskra project, a Pravda project and a series of Faultline projects. (I won’t repeat those details here.)
Selucha asked me:
“Was this concept something you’ve been working on, or just something you thought up on the fly? What does everybody else think about this proposal?”
This approach has been my framework of operation for quite a while.
Here are some of the problems I’m trying to bang on:
- If our organizational plan is not to build one more mini-sect what is it?
- If we want to avoid a “left unity” that is dominated by liberal politics, how do we do that?
- How do we develop organic ties to actual resistance resistance, real popular motion toward revolution and a newly conceived communist core?
- What process(es) can accumulate (attract, train, organize) real material force for revolution in a country like this?
- What is the process that will gather raw material for a future communist core that has organic ties to the people themselves?
- How do we practically prepare for future conjunctural moments whose outlines and features are not yet clear?
- What is communist political work — how do we organize it without building self-encapsulated organizations?
- How do we have a communist movement without a legitimizing orthodoxy?
- How do we both popularize and constantly refine communist conclusions and methods?
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Posted in >> Kasama Project, Mike Ely, theory, vanguard party | 6 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on August 11, 2010
Thousands of working class and farmer struggles have been erupting in China -- including this confrontation at Honda
The following document reportedly comes from an underground organization within China. Little is known about them (including their size or influence) other than what has been shared here. Kasama is posting it because of its obvious interest, without being able to independently evaluate its authenticity. Thanks to Iseul for making it available.
The Ten Declarations of the Maoist Communist Party of China (MCPC)
22 March 2009
一、强烈抗议中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团对我党实行秘密追剿的声明！
1. We strongly condemn the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party and its policy of secretive suppression of our party!
2008年12月26日， 我党分别在北京、上海等大城市闹市区散发了“宣告中国人民对中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团造 反有理”的《 告全国人民书》，在“老虎”的屁股上狠狠地摸了 一把！随后在网络上和其它一些城市也进行了宣传。我党的这次革命行动，对中国共产党修正主义叛 徒统治集团造 成了强烈的政治冲击，有力地打击了中国共产党修 正主义叛徒统治集团的嚣张气焰。我党的《告全国人民书》是号召人民起来推翻中国共产党修正主义 叛徒统治集团 、开展一场中国无产阶级反复辟大革命运动的号 角；是号召人民共同声讨中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团的罪行、剥去中国共产党修正主义叛徒统 治集团的伪装 、打一场文攻武卫的人民革命理论战争的信号弹。
On 26 December 2008, our party gave out the pamphlet “To all the people of China” that declares that “the peoples of China have the right to rise up against the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party” in the central districts of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. By doing this we have “dared to touch the tiger’s ass”!
Afterwards we engaged in more propaganda online and in other cities. This revolutionary action of our party has resulted in a strong political wave against the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party, and managed to beat down the arrogant air of the revisionist ruling bloc.
This is the clarion call for a great revolutionary movement among the Chinese proletariat against capitalist restoration; this is the signal flare to mobilise the people to strike against the crimes conducted by the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc; to peel away the false skin of the revisionists, and to engage in a people’s revolutionary war through both words and actions.
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Posted in China, Mao Zedong, Maoism, Socialism, vanguard party | 41 Comments »
Posted by John Steele on August 3, 2010
“[During 1914-1918] Lenin advanced a number of closely related strategic principles; some that reaffirmed radical positions that had been eroded and others that were essentially new.
“In the first place among these was the revolutionary obligation to utilize all forms of struggle against one’s own imperialism under conditions of imperialist war – including those forms that were “illegal”…
“In second place, Lenin challenged the trajectory of social democracy towards an institutionalized junior management role in various national capitalisms.
“In the third place, the Lenin of this period rejected conceptions of necessary protracted intermediate stages for the Russian revolution.”
“There was a time when I scraped through the Collected Works quite diligently, looking for major Lenin positions that appeared ‘correct’ to me – or, at least, ones that were better than Soviet Marxism’s permitted texts and the ‘famous quotations’… I think some of the Kasama neoMaoists are engaged in a parallel endeavor – attempting to credit Mao with the elements in Chinese development that they view positively, and separating him from those not so positive by assigning them to contending positions within the party, or to the ubiquitous ‘objective limitations.’”
This piece is excerpted from the version that appeared in Sketchy Thoughts blog. Replies by some who are mentioned, as well as others, can be found there as well as at Gathering Forces and Kersplebedeb. Don Hamerquist was a leading figure in the Sojourner Truth Organization (during 70s and 80s). Kasama is posting this in two parts (Part 2 is here) — and the subtitles of those two parts are ours.
Author’s note:
This is a rough piece, slightly modified from two earlier drafts that were circulated privately to generate some discussion. This version is also unfinished and its analysis and strategic and organizational conclusions are tentative and provisional. I apologize for this and for the casual citations and references to authors and political tendencies that I am just getting around to considering carefully. I’m putting the argument out in this form, hoping that any frustrations and irritations with the general sloppiness, as well as the likely differences with political characterizations that are seen as mistaken, will provide added leverage towards needed discussions on revolutionary strategy and organization. Some of the initial responses and reactions are being posted separately. These include a few responses from positions that are cited or criticized in the text. I have made some minor changes in this version as a result of these, but nothing, I think, that would undermine or deflect the thrust of any of the interventions. More such arguments have been solicited and will continue to be welcomed.
For Part 1:
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Posted in anarchism, Don Hamerquist, Marxist theory, V.I. Lenin, vanguard party | 2 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on August 3, 2010
“I think that the issue of insurrection, the basic reason to take Lenin seriously, is an essential element of a revolutionary perspective right now. …
“The ebbs and flows of the revolutionary process…combined with the different ruling class policies of suppression and incorporation make it unlikely that any political perspective can incrementally advance towards a revolutionary transformation without there being moments where only an exercise of collective will, a leap into the realm of the possible with no guarantees, will prevent an effective reversal of the process.
“As this dilemma emerges globally in open spaces and across boundaries, with different stages of development and different rates of change forming a complex mosaic where no one element can be treated in isolation, the issue of whether to take power when it appears possible, but also problematic, will inevitably emerge and we will either have a prepared – or an unprepared, and therefore certainly inadequate – response.”
This is the second and final part of this piece — which is excerpted from Sketchy Thoughts blog. Replies are added from Gathering Forces and Kersplebedeb. Don Hamerquist was a leading figure in the Sojourner Truth Organization (during 70s and 80s). Kasama is posting this in two parts (Part 1 is here) — and the subtitles of those parts are ours.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, anarchism, Don Hamerquist, Marxist theory, V.I. Lenin, vanguard party | 5 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on June 29, 2010
Zengakuren 1967
“Revolutionary politics and militant tactics are inherently shocking to powerful sections of society. It is certainly unacceptable to that liberal establishment (that some want to ally with). It is offensive and infuriating to the more backward. And any serious revolutionary movement needs to travel (with enthusiasm) straight into those hostile winds — with a deep strategic sense that there are other forces who in class society who are not nearly so conservative.”
* * * * * * *
This discussion is about general politics and overall evaluations — it does not advocate any specific acts, in any specific timeframe.
by Mike Ely
An anarchist wrote in a neighboring thread:
“i find it a little odd the way Marxists in the US always associate militant action with anarchists almost exclusively.”
That is a misunderstanding. I think you are talking to the wrong Marxists. The experience of the Maoist movement in the U.S. (to take just one example) is closely tied with many forms of militancy — starting with the Black Panther policies of armed self defense, and then also with the militant combativity of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). And denoucing militancy is (in my view) associated with very particular currents within the Left — whose strategic errors are closely tied up with those tactical views..
Learning and Practicing Street-Fighting in 1968
While in high school, those of us attracted to SDS took classes at a local “Free University” in radical theory and the street fighting snake dances of the Japanese Zengakuren.
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Posted in Black Panthers, China, Mao Zedong, Maoism, mass line, Mike Ely, New Com. Movement, revolution, vanguard party | 41 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on June 28, 2010
The following was posted as a comment in a thread on the need for communist cadre and professional workers. In particular it bounces off the comments of Miles Ahead.
by EnCee
I wanted to respond more, but life and organizing got in the way.
One point which Mike raised that I thought has particular resonance because of the way the party I was in was structured had to do with a specific division of labor. It jumped out to me more on a second reading.
Mike mentions agitating, organizing and fundraising as functions all cadre should be able to participate in.
Division of Labor, Divisions Over Labor
In my previous work there was a pronounced separation of some of these functions, especially among “office staff” and a few select “leaders” but even more there was a definite division between the two functions of agitation and organizing and on the other hand fundraising. While most people could generally contribute to small functions like fundraising parties or yard sales, other things were definitely off limit. I can understand some discretion needed for this. People want to be protective of the way people contribute so not everyone can be involved in collecting party dues and knowing what people contribute. That was one minor division, which could be criticized, but I think the problem lies in that it was symptomatic and reflective of larger problems.
The more major division had to with access to donors. “Donors” in this sense were people of considerable wealth who contributed to the party based on their solidarity to our politics. Many of them might have come into an inheritance, be a successful but independent business people or professionals like a Lawyer or Doctor with progressive politics. Some were simply members of oppressed groups or nationalities who appreciated our mass work and wanted to contribute in some way. None of them were members as far as I know, unless you count some of the better off “leaders” of the organization. The thing is there was a definite blocking off of the people who had access to the “Donors” and those who did run of the mill fundraising like sending out mailing or organizing a party.
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Posted in >> communist politics, vanguard party | 6 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on June 25, 2010
In Nepal, the Young Communist League is playing a special role in training professional revolutionary cadre for the creation of a new socialist state
“There are ways in which a “revolutionary people” rises to the occasion, and makes up for the lack of trained cadre — by rapidly “stepping into the shoes,” by innovating, by unleashing its own great creative initiative. That is part of the communist mass line. And it is not like we should envision our communist movement as a mega-thinktank of revolution, preparing future generals and ambassadors in some academic way. Yes, we mainly “rely on the people” to solve the great problem of leading and administering all of society. and many many people will step forward to take up tasks they would NEVER dream they would do.
“But there is also, alongside that (alongside our PRINCIPAL mass line strategy for solving these problems) also a real need for highly trained and sophisticated political cadre — for statesmen, planners and organizers of a highly trained kind.”
“This is why I have always been wary of arguments that lightly condemn the communist ‘party-state.’ If we are not going to try to seize and wield the OLD state, and if we are not going to generate waves of new cadre within sophisticated party and army formations, where exactly will the many hundreds of thousands of cadre come from to create and lead the new state and the new order?”
By Mike Ely
Miles Ahead wrote:
“I’m all in favor of the need for a division of labor! but do think that perhaps division of labor gets muddled and misconstrued in practice with the concept of professional revolutionaries—even with the leadership and cadre in a revolutionary/communist organization…
“Within the concept of being a professional revolutionist, further divisions held sway in the hierarchy of the “professionally trained” revolutionary organization I had devoted my life to. The chasm widened and deepened between the theorists and the “practical” workers, leadership and led, under the guise of being professional revolutionaries.
“Without getting into some very crass (and ultimately demoralizing) examples, this experience did make me wonder—was there something inherent in Lenin’s call in the first place that would lead to this kind of practice, or was Lenin correct for his time and in general, but that his call left the door open for future revolutionaries’ misinterpretation, bastardization of the concept, or even an opening for political abuse?”
Part of the question of professional revolutionary is this:
An organization that aims at fighting for reforms needs to be able to organize a mass campaign. And the kind of cadre it trains and develops have to be able to organize a mass campaign (i.e. agitate, organize, fundraise etc.)
But a revolutionary movement aims to replace the existing state, develop an army, organize a planned economy. Its tasks at the moment (writing, organizing, fundraising, dealing with state repression, etc.) are only a distant precursor of the tasks it plans to undertake.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, >> communist politics, Communist Party, Maoism, mass line, Mike Ely, vanguard party | 7 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on March 19, 2010
Contested elections were an important arean for the earlier revolution against slave owners -- after the decisive armed civil war had shifted power.
by Mike Ely
Joseph Ball wrote, in an accompanying thread:
“It’s sometimes claimed that the multi-party elections in this system will take place under the dictatorship of the proletariat. But this makes no sense at all. If it’s a dictatorship of the proletariat how can you allow bourgeois parties to compete for power with the party of the proletariat? It is absurd to believe that elections could routinely take place between two parties both with a proletarian line. The proletariat has a common interest. It’s vanguard should be encouraging unity not institutionalising a split so we can blindly copy bourgeois democracy. Multi-party democracy has a material basis in capitalism because different factions of the bourgeoisie have different selfish interests. Not so the proletariat.”
Joseph articulates here a view and a logic inherited from the Comintern. It assumes that the Stalin-era state form is inherent in the process of socialist transition and in the very nature of the working class as a historic revolutionary agent. I think this views deserves a respectful discussion and repudiation. It is a view that I disagree with on almost every level. I think it is refuted by actual experience (including the experience of capitalist restoration). I think it has been deeply challenged by Mao’s view on continuing revolution — and needs to be challenged even further. This theory rests on a way of thinking that is deeply schematic and mechanical, and really doesn’t bother to look at living reality in a creative or penetrating way.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, >> communist politics, communism, Communist Party, Mike Ely, Socialism, Stalin and Stalinism, vanguard party | 25 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on March 1, 2010
This is a discussion of the communist Kasama Project — its politics and development.
There is a Part 2 to this piece.
Contributing to Revolution’s Long March
Part 1: Grabbing Pitchfork or Theoretical Knife
By Enzo Rhyner, J.B. Connors, John Steele, Kobayashi Maru, Mike Ely, Rita Stephan, and Rosa Harris
Overcoming Two Absences
Life on earth is wracked by contradiction. Each moment, especially in our era, throws up new and particular contradictions starkly.
In just the first year of Kasama, we’ve seen the rise of Obama — with all it has meant, including in the thinking of progressive people. And we are standing amid the early shockwaves of a wrenching, global economic crisis that has awakened and alarmed hundreds of millions of people, and re-injected the word “socialism” into public discourse.
And meanwhile, there really is not yet any sense of a revolutionary or communist alternatives on the political radar screen. The intermediate are alarmed and panicky, while many of the most consciously progressive are (in a way never seen in our lifetime) loosely gathered around the new U.S. government.
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Posted in 9 Letters, communism, J.B. Connors, John Steele, Maoism, Marxist theory, Mike Ely, revolution, Rosa Harris, theory, vanguard party | 3 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on January 10, 2010
This is a full length video history of the Naxalite movement — the historic Maoist revolution that started with the 1960s uprising in India’s Naxalbari region and that has now blossomed into a powerful maturing movement for power and change. It discusses the achievements of Naxalbari, the subsequent criticisms made by later Maoists, and the formation of the current revolutionary movement.
We can’t embed this directly, so you can view it by following the Blazing Trails link.
The video is made available through the Democracy and Class Struggle site, whose tireless work is so important for spreading information about revolution in many places in the world.
Some specific references in this may still be unclear to people outside India — feel free to post questions and clarifications here.
Posted in >> communist politics, communism, CPI(Maoist), Maoism, Naxalite, peoples war, revolution, Rosa Luxemburg, vanguard party | 12 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on December 30, 2009
After launching their armed struggle in the late 1960s, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has scored many successes, including the development of significant “guerrilla fronts” across this archipelago.
However, for many years, this revolutionary movement has been unable to break through to a higher level of confrontation with the brutal government — and has not been able to advance toward the seizure of power in significant regions or countrywide.
This kind of frustrating impasse is a situation faced by diverse revolutionary forces in other parts of the world (including in India over many decades, Ireland during the days of “troubles,” Sri Lanka during the Tamil secessionist revolt, Palestine and Colombia.) Meanwhile, obviously, in far too many countries, the most revolutionary forces have not even been able to consolidate themselves into a serious political party, develop significant initial mass bases, and start to confront the kinds of problems that are presented in the Philippines.
In the following statement, the CPP leadership lays out an ambitious plan to overcome their movement’s long-standing problem: To move from the strategic defensive to the strategic balance with the government forces (a moment Maoists call “strategic stalemate”) within five years. Their plan involves a systematic strengthening of their party and baseareas: with the goals of increasing the number of New Peoples Army (NPA) guerrilla fronts from 120 to 180, greatly expanding party membership, and strengthening its leadership structures in planned and concrete ways.
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Posted in >> communist politics, communism, Communist Party, Maoism, peoples war, Philippines, revolution, vanguard party | 21 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 24, 2009
Demarcations and differences do not require treating others like heretics from some true religion
By Mike Ely
I’d like to build upon what Tell No Lies just said in our discussion of the mentioning of Trotsky by one of Nepal’s leading Maoists.
First, the point in all of this is that we need to find a way to be clearly, shockingly revolutionary, but not sectarian. This is a challenge (in a left where anti-sectarianism is the banner of reformism). I think it is possible, and I think many of us are eager for it.
Starkly non-sectarian, fiercely revolutionary. With all that this implies and demands.
TNL said (excerpted from among other things):
“I am quite pleased to see Bhattarai quoting Trotsky, if only to shake up the dogmatists. … I’d love to see a similar openness to the full range of heretics from Gramsci through Fanon and beyond. Being “on guard” against heretical ideas is deadly to revolutionary theory… A genuinely scientific outlook is unafraid of heresy and knows that seemingly disproven ideas come back to life all the time in the light of new experiences or theoretical advances in other areas. The Trotskyist critique of building socialism in one country was problematic more because it was politically paralyzing than because it was analytically wrong about the limits of what could be achieved and its revival in a much smaller country in a more globally integrated world economy makes complete sense to me.”
I think there are a number of sides to approach here.
1) Treating ideas as heresy has been a way of shutting down debate without engaging deeply with the actual lines. It is a terrible method. Communism is not a religion with religious doctrines, apostates and heretics.
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Posted in communism, Communist Party, Kasama, Krushchev, Mao Zedong, Maoism, Mike Ely, philosophy, revolution, Stalin and Stalinism, theory, Trotskyism, vanguard party | 34 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 13, 2009
Che was executed in cold blood 42 years ago by a U.S. lead death squad that captured him in Bolivia. Then, as now, he had emerged as a prominent symbol of self-sacrifice, armed struggle, internationalism and uncompromising opposition to U.S. domination. His death stands as a glaring example of the role the U.S. and its agents play in the brutal repression of humanity’s highest aspirations. The torturers of the CIA were not invented on 9/11 — but have a very long and bloody history.
Che is a highly romantic martyr of the people’s cause. But he was also a revolutionary leader and thinker in a particular complex time; he was associated closely with a specific series of approaches and strategies.
Che (and the Cuban movement he was part of) had a particular line on the role of the people in their own emancipation. It was a view that exalted the actions of small military groupings of “heroic guerrillas” (called focos) in galvanizing revolution. Unlike the Maoists at that same time, Che and Fidel Castro were not advocates of a “land to the tiller” agrarian revolution, but sought to nationalize the existing plantation structure of Cuba and similar countries.
The fact that so many people revere him is a testimony to the deep desires for liberation throughout the world. And at the same time, revolution is not made by symbolism alone. The controversies surrounding Che’s strategies have contemporary significance.
The following piece was written over ten years ago in appreciation of Che’s impact — while also making a critical assessment of his strategic concepts. There has been considerable excavation of these events since this piece was written. Kasama intends to publish other essays on Che reflecting a number of different assessments.
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October 9, 1967: The CIA Murder of Ernesto Che Guevara
By Mike Ely
Thirty years ago, on October 8, 1967, gunfire echoed through a steep ravine of the Andes Mountains in southern Bolivia. The guerrilla band led by Ernesto “Che” Guevara was pinned down and surrounded by Bolivian Army Rangers.
Less than a year earlier, Guevara and a team of cadres had secretly traveled from Cuba to Bolivia to launch a guerrilla war, hoping to topple Bolivia’s pro-U.S. military government. Guevara had gone up into the mountains with about 50 supporters. Within months they were discovered by Bolivian troops. And an intense pursuit started.
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Posted in >> communist politics, Bolivia, capitalism, Che Guevara, CIA, communism, Communist Party, Cuba, Maoism, Marxist theory, mass line, Mike Ely, military, revolution, vanguard party | 93 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 13, 2009
Mike Ely
El 8 de octubre de 1967, en una quebrada de los Andes en el sur de Bolivia, se oyó un nutrido fuego: Ernesto “Che” Guevara y sus guerrilleros se encontraban rodeados por el ejército boliviano.
Poco menos de un año antes, Guevara y un grupo de cuadros viajaron clandestinamente de Cuba a Bolivia para iniciar una guerra de guerrillas y tumbar al gobierno militar. Guevara y unos 50 guerrilleros se internaron en las montañas. Pocos meses después el ejército boliviano los detectó y empezó una intensa persecución. Para eludirlo, Guevara dividió al grupo en dos, pero jamás pudo reagruparlo. Su diario indica que para fines de agosto los guerrilleros de su grupo estaban fatigados, desmoralizados y que solo quedaban 22; el 31 de agosto el segundo grupo fue aniquilado al cruzar un río.
El 26 de septiembre, el ejército emboscó al resto de los guerrilleros cerca del poblado de La Higuera. Varios guerrilleros cayeron en combate y el Che quedó herido en una pierna. Luego, el 8 de octubre lo capturaron con dos combatientes y los llevaron a la escuela del pueblo.
Al día siguiente, llegó en helicóptero un tal “Félix Ramos” en uniforme de oficial del ejército boliviano y se encargó de los prisioneros. Dos horas después, el Che y los dos combatientes fueron ejecutados.
La mano de Estados Unidos
Las armas y el equipo de los asesinos fueron Made in U.S.A. El oficial boliviano que lo tomó preso estudió en Fort Bragg, Estados Unidos, donde se preparan golpes de estado, asesinatos y campañas de contrainsurgencia. El tal “capitán Ramos” era Félix Rodríguez, un viejo agente de la CIA.
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Posted in >> communist politics, Bolivia, Che Guevara, CIA, communism, Communist Party, Cuba, imperialism, Kasama translations, Krushchev, Maoism, Mike Ely, military, revolution, vanguard party | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on September 11, 2009
A new communist collective, calling itself FIRE, has formed in Houston. Kasama would like to welcome this effort, and share with everyone FIRE’s new Declaration. FIRE promises more documents explaining their emerging thinking on the efforts, in both theory and practice, to build a new revolutionary movement in the U.S. (FIRE Collective website, Declaration PDF , facebook)
The FIRE Collective writes:
“…while it is true the kind of revolutionary organization necessary does not currently exist, this is no reason to give up or settle for the choices currently presented. In fact, this means revolutionaries need to take up the sorely neglected task of actually finding the way forward to revolution in the heart of this empire, forging the kind of revolutionary organization needed to achieve that, and settling for nothing less! These challenges call for revolution, and nothing could be more worthwhile…
“There is a great revolutionary process of revolutionary refoundation going on nationally and internationally for us all to join into, let’s join into it and fight for a world free from oppression. Those who want to take on the challenge of revolution need to deeply begin studying and summing up the struggles that came before us, to launch many new kinds of struggle, to form many new groups and collectives – with all of this aimed at contributing to our ultimate goal of a liberated future.”
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Posted in >> communist politics, abortion, African American, anti-racist action, antiwar, capitalism, communism, imperialism, military, organizing, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist), UCP Nepal (Maoist), vanguard party | 15 Comments »
