September 2024
Hello
Submitted by Gepetto on Tue, 2013-12-03 15:31
I'm from Poland and I recently got interested in theory of the communist left. I mean, Italian one, I already subscribed to council communism before.
I don't fully agree with all the ICT's positions (I have doubts concerning the role of the party- perhaps due to my anarchist and later councilist "background"), but overall you seem reasonable and not sectarian, contrary to, well... some other left-communist organisation. Your view on the October Revolution also seems to be more complex and adequate than simplistic explanations laid down by anarchists ("Bolsheviks were just power-hungry red Jacobins") and many councilists ("it was bourgeois revolution from the start").
I was surprised to see some of your texts translated to Polish. Did you happen to have a Polish comrade? In Poland, communist left is virtually unknown. Communists in Poland are mostly Trot sects and Stalinist dinosaurs from the Communist Party (who mourned Kim Jong-Il). There are some people inspired by councilism and autonomism, but as far as I know all of them remain at the periphery of the anarchist movement (and Pannekoek and all are basically presented smugly as "Marxists who admitted the superiority of anarchism", or at least that's my impression). As for anarchists, commies are also a minority among them.
I wonder if there's any chance for openly communist group to gain any significant support here. Political climate in Poland is unfriendly towards radicals. Right-wing dominates political discourse to such extent that even the proper social democrats are outside of the parliament. Because of the post-WWII history (also Polish-Bolshevik war), everybody has a knee-jerk reaction to a word "communism" (or "socialism", but "communism" is obviously worse). Hardcore economic liberals label every kind of interventionism or social benefits as "socialism" (and their views are really popular amongst those who show any interest in politics). Trying to explain that socialism/communism is neither a totalitarian and militarist state, nor high taxes and welfare state, is like talking to a wall (I know that's what people think everywhere, but here it is taken to another new level). If you can't break down the barrier of prejudices in a personal conversation, what about convincing the whole mass of workers?
Okay, enough of this. If you wish, I can help you by translating some stuff (even if I will be the only Pole that will read it...). If I happen to have a time to spare I can also write something about major events here. That's all I can do.
Best regards
Forum:
Start here...
- Navigating the Basics
- Platform
- For Communism
- Introduction to Our History
- CWO Social Media
- IWG Social Media
- Klasbatalo Social Media
- Italian Communist Left
- Russian Communist Left
The Internationalist Communist Tendency consists of (unsurprisingly!) not-for-profit organisations. We have no so-called “professional revolutionaries”, nor paid officials. Our sole funding comes from the subscriptions and donations of members and supporters. Anyone wishing to donate can now do so safely using the Paypal buttons below.
ICT publications are not copyrighted and we only ask that those who reproduce them acknowledge the original source (author and website leftcom.org). Purchasing any of the publications listed (see catalogue) can be done in two ways:
- By emailing us at uk@leftcom.org, us@leftcom.org or ca@leftcom.org and asking for our banking details
- By donating the cost of the publications required via Paypal using the “Donate” buttons
- By cheque made out to "Prometheus Publications" and sending it to the following address: CWO, BM CWO, London, WC1N 3XX
The CWO also offers subscriptions to Revolutionary Perspectives (3 issues) and Aurora (at least 4 issues):
- UK £15 (€18)
- Europe £20 (€24)
- World £25 (€30, $30)
Take out a supporter’s sub by adding £10 (€12) to each sum. This will give you priority mailings of Aurora and other free pamphlets as they are produced.
ICT sections
Adverts
Glasgow Bookfair
RED AND BLACK CLYDESIDE BOOKFAIR
The CWO will have a stall at the Red and Black Clydeside Bookfair, there will also be an NBWCW meeting.
When: Saturday, 7 December 2024
Where: TBA
London Public Meeting
ANTI-FASCISM AGAINST THE WORKING CLASS
PUBLIC MEETING AND DISCUSSION
On 30 July riots broke out across the UK which targeted Muslim neighbourhoods and places sheltering migrants, following a stabbing in Southport the day before. The riots were fuelled by fascist groups and far right websites spreading the conspiracy theory that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Decades of racist propaganda from mainstream news sources, which blame immigrants for workers’ decline in their standard of living, have led to many thinking that immigration into Britain is the cause of reduced wages, homelessness, a collapsing health service, failing schools etc. rather than increased exploitation of the working class and capitalism’s economic crisis.
The response to this from capitalism’s political left has been to organise against fascism, with national demonstrations of the ‘great and good’ against the riots and against racism in defence of democratic freedoms. But fascism and democracy are simply strategies of the capitalist class to continue exploiting us. Strategies they use to recruit us to fight their wars. Organising specifically against fascism, amounts to supporting one section of the capitalist class against another. It is still in favour of the capitalist system. What we need is to oppose the entire capitalist system through the broader class struggle, leading to the eventual overthrow of capitalism itself.
While other approaches to anti-fascism involve small groups, engaged in physical confrontations with fascists, it is an approach that similarly offers no solutions to a system that breeds racism.
We argue that only the end of capitalism can put an end to poverty, misery and racism and only the working class can achieve this.
Come join us in a public meeting to discuss this.
When: Saturday, 9 November 2024, at 2:00pm
Where: The Lucas Arms, 245A Grays Inn Rd, London, WC1X 8QY (nearest tube: King's Cross)
Communist Workers' Organisation
IWG Meetings
IWG MEETINGS
The IWG will be holding regular in-person meetings where sympathizers are encouraged to come and get in contact.
New York: Last Saturdays of the month 3:30pm at Peculier Pub (145 Beecker St)
Philadelphia: Last Saturdays of the month 11am at B2 cafe (1500 E Passyunk Ave)
Lambertville, New Jersey: Tuesdays 8/13, 8/20, and 8/27 at 7 PM in the Lambertville Library (6 Lilly Street, Lambertville, NJ), for discussions on the Russian Revolution and Counter-Revolution.
Columbus: Last Sunday of every month, from 8PM-10PM, at Kafe Kerouac (2250 N High St, Columbus, OH).
Los Angeles: Please contact to get in touch.
Means of contact:
Email: us@leftcom.org
Instagram: @iwg.official
Facebook: @iwgusa
Twitter: @IWGOfficial
Recent publications
August 2024
Aurora is the broadsheet of the ICT for the interventions amongst the working class. It is published and distributed in several countries and languages. So far it has been distributed in UK, France, Italy, Canada, USA, Colombia.
Out now!
Journal of the Communist Workers’ Organisation -- Why not subscribe to get the articles whilst they are still current and help the struggle for a society free from exploitation, war and misery? Joint subscriptions to Revolutionary Perspectives (3 issues) and Aurora (our agitational bulletin - 4 issues) are £15 in the UK, €24 in Europe and $30 in the rest of the World.
Written by Jock Dominie. £12, 276pp.
The Russian Revolution remains a landmark event in history. For the bourgeois historians, the October Revolution is thought to be a tragedy that set back the achievements of the “democratic” February Revolution, and allowed the Bolsheviks to wreak havoc on their citizens and the world. For the Stalinists, the events of 1917 paved the way for the birth of the USSR, which they point to as a prototypical example of “socialism in one country”. In reality, the February and October Revolutions were both part of the same proletarian revolution.
The book can be ordered by emailing us at uk@leftcom.org and asking for our banking details, or by donating the cost of the publications required via Paypal using the “Donate” button. Postage charges should be added. If in the UK, and paying direct to our bank account, first class postage is free. If via Paypal add £2. For Europe cost of a copy with postage is €20 (EUR), for Australia it is $42 (AUD) and for the USA and anywhere else in the world it is $27 (USD).
User login
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Gepetto
Gepetto
Thanks for writing although I don't know whether you meant it to be in the public arena of our forum. However we welcome your comments. You have understood where we are politically very well. For us the councilists have identified teh aprty as the CAUSE of the counter-revolution when in fact it substituted itself for the class in the process as the revolution failed. Obviously the fact that the party which began as the most revolutionary at the time ended up carrying out the counter-revolution gives material support for this theory. We could not have had a worse defeat and we are still paying for it. However we now recognise the errors of social democracy (even in the radical form of Bolshevism. For us the working class as a whole makes the revolution but in the course of it it has to forge the tools to finish the job. Obviously these are mostly class wide organs like councils etc. But the material organisation of class consciousness before then takes the form of a political association or party. This party rules no territory, is not a government in waiting and operates with one aim only - to spread world revolution. In any one area it can only lead the way but cannot make socialism itself as that is the result of a transformation of human beings on a mass scale in the course of a real revolutionary process. Certain individuals may kick this process off but only when it has seized a mass of people can it become really trnasfornational. You have also guessed right that we have no affiliated organisation or even one member in Poland but the translations were done by a young comrade who had lived in the UK for some time. I just checked on on average they have each been read by 2000-2500 people so unless you have been a serial reader then there must be more interest out there than you might think! Naturally we'd welcome any new translations and look forward to carrying on the discussion.
I know that you don't believe
I know that you don't believe in party overthrowing capitalism and class society in the name of proletariat, if you did I wouldn't be here. However, you wrote that party should not limit its role during revolution to a mere propaganda, but should fight for sustaining communist programme. I assume this means just active participation of militants in councils, but at first I had doubts concerning what would it mean in practice. But, what's more important is that ICT believes that workers need a party to develop proper class consciousness, that such consciousness can't arise from their daily struggles. But doesn't this contradict the Marxian conception of communism as "real movement" as opposed to an ideal or utopian scheme coming from the outside of the working class; or 1st thesis on Feuerbach in which Marx criticises bourgeois materialism for disregarding "sensuous human activity, practice"? (great, now I'm dabbling with philosophy...) And well, I know that ICT has no affiliated organisation in Poland, I would know about it ;) Well, migrant Polish worker was what I was placing my bet on.
(P.S. where should I send
Gepetto
Gepetto
Thanks for getting back to us and sorry about the delay in response. Ironically we had a meeting at the weekend in Newcastle which was attended by several students, one of whom was the offspring of Polish immigrants. Naturally he was an anarchist as you would have predicted.
We liked your reply to our overlong and obviously unnecessary explanation of where we stood re organisation and your question about how our theory will work out in practice. Your explanation of it is as good as ours. We content ourselves for the moment saying that individual members will be delegated by their local bodies and thus remain responsible to them. If this clashes with the internationalist perspective of a continuously extending world revolution then either our members have to step down or they choose to continue as delegates but no longer as members of an internationalist revolutionary organisation. The real social, economic and political forces on the ground will be the decisive factors here and we cannot in any case do anything if the objective circumstances decree another counter-revolution.
We are obviously agreed on class consciousness. Re the FAQS they are not in English but machine translated from the Italian. Native English speakers would have a hard time to follow them. We have always meant to correct them but other priorities have meant we have postponed it. Now you have raised it we will look at it again but if you are able to crack the code and make it coherent in Polish we would be very grateful.
On the practical question send your email address to uk@leftcom.org and then we'll send you emails you can use for direct communication.
Internationalist greetings
Jock
Gepetto said:
Gepetto said:
"Trying to explain that socialism/communism is neither a totalitarian and militarist state, nor high taxes and welfare state, is like talking to a wall (I know that's what people think everywhere, but here it is taken to another new level). If you can't break down the barrier of prejudices in a personal conversation, what about convincing the whole mass of workers?"
Of course it is difficult everywhere to talk about communism but I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be in a country like Poland. However, if communist revolution rested on convincing every or most workers' of what communism really is and to desire it we would never see it.