Subject: LL9804039 Ben Seattle on communist unity (reply to Jim Hillier) Date: Monday, March 30, 1998 9:35 PM Hi Jim (and everyone else), I am glad to see you raise the question of communist unity. All intelligent and sincere communist activists would like to see the development of greater unity amongst themselves. The question that comes up, however, is: ================================ How is this unity to come about? ================================ What are the practical steps that will lead to this unity? Your post, which I very much liked, discussed various revolutionary organizations in Turkey and/or Kurdistan. You raised questions which, in my mind, are central. What objective forces make it difficult for these groups (all of which command the loyalty of a section of class conscious activists) from working together more effectively? My own focus is more on a similar question as it relates to conditions in the more developed countries of bourgeois democracy. The circumstances in these countries is more favorable in many respects and yet we see a similar inability of various groups to effectively coordinate their actions. At present, there are numerous groups and grouplets of activists who consider themselves to be communists but who, for many reasons, are hardly on speaking terms with one another. It is one of the characteristics of the current period that many of these groups combine features of principled revolutionary organizations with features of religious cults. The twin diseases of our movement, reformism, and its close partner-in-crime, sectarianism, are everywhere, just as is the air we breathe. The development of mailing lists like this one, or the Spoon's lists, while primitive in many respects, will help to point the way forward. This is because such lists represent the *earliest signs* of the immense impact which the coming revolution in digital communications will have on the development of a communist movement. Communist activists from many different backgrounds will learn, in the wake of the communications revolution, how to cooperate *without* giving up their principled opposition to what they consider mistaken in one another's viewpoints. This is not an overnight process. But it is a process which has already begun. What will be the result? Sectarianism will be crushed and the influence of reformism will be punctured. I have identified, I believe, those tasks which are decisive for the creation of a communist movement which would be worthy of the name, fully capable of capturing the imagination of millions and, eventually, leading the working class for the overthrow of bourgeois rule. I discuss these tasks in my essay "1917 was the Beta Version" which I wrote for the 80th anniversary, last year, of the October Revolution. This essay was originally written to be my introduction to LeninList. LeninList was in crisis at the time, however, principally due to the failure of you (and others) to grasp a pivotal tactical principle: ==================================== Incorrect views cannot be defeated if one exercizes too heavy a hand and attempts to force the discussion to conform to what one considers to be correct. ==================================== A heavy hand will kill a discussion. When you took it upon yourself to dictate what Adolfo would be allowed to say about Cuba--you killed the discussion about Cuba and nearly killed LeninList. But intelligent discussion is what is needed at this time. Nothing else will kill the incorrect ideas which stand as obstacles to the creation of a powerful communist movment. Only intelligent discussion can serve to drive the stake thru the heart of the undead. Since LeninList was in crisis, I posted my "Beta Version" essay to the Spoon's Marxism-International (with only a summary to LeninList). My essay, unfortunately, drew only a single comment (by Mark Jones, which I did not consider serious enough to require a reply). But I am confident that this discussion must take off, sooner or later. Communist unity is necessary for the overthrow of bourgeois rule and, as such, will inevitably come about. But communist unity can only come into existence as a result of taking up those tasks which are decisive for the creation of a powerful communist movement. What are the tasks which I identified in my essay as being decisive for the creation of a powerful communist movement? * * * * The decisive task *in practice* is the development of an electronic news service without copyright and created such that readers could not be *barred access* to any progressive political trend. Readers themselves (thru a collaborative process) and competing political trends will rate articles and decide what will appear on various competing "front pages" that will function as windows into a single common database to which all trends will contribute. Such a news service will eventually provide millions of readers easy access to a common indexed system of progressive articles, commentary and opinion on all important topics and will, furthermore, allow readers to add their own public comments or questions to all articles and, in this way, will serve as the launching ground for a large number of forums. I am currently at work on a very modest web-based prototype of such a system. My prototype system would be capable of being used by hundreds of people, not millions. But it will help to illustrate the concepts involved. My hope is that it will both be of practical use (in a limited way) and inspire further work. Lenin unified the scattered, squabbling marxist groups in Russia around a common newspaper that linked the various organizations to one another --and to the masses. The linkage of the scattered groups thru a common information system (ie: Iskra) facilated their unity in practice and created conditions for the successful ideological struggle against the immense influence of reformism (ie: the reflection of the bourgeois ideology within the marxist movement). A distributed electronic news system, controlled by no single trend with a heavy hand, will likely begin to play a loosely analogous role in the first decade of the next century. Make no mistake. Such a news service, representing a powerful beacon to millions and embodying the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all progressive mankind--will inevitably emerge. The only question remaining is whether such a news service will be created now by progressive activists such as ourselves--or later by others with deeper insight and a more powerful dedication to the proletariat. * * * * The decisive task *in theory* is the development of a living picture of how workers' rule will function in a modern, stable society. From a scientific standpoint, such has *never existed*. In order for a communist movement to be viable, much less capable of shaking the earth, the present-day crisis of "communist" theory must be overcome. Nowhere is the bankruptcy of this theory more obvious and more critical--than in its utter failure to realistically explain (or even intelligently discuss) the *alternative* to bourgeois rule. This is *the* central question of communist theory. And until it is answered, until the *discussion* of this question succeeds in drawing in workers--a genuinely communist movement will never be able to outgrow its infancy. ============================== How will a workers' state suppress the newly overthrown (but still immensely powerful) bourgeoisie *without also* suppressing workers ? ============================== Against such a question, all the immense confusion, self-deception and inbred charlatanism (which, at present, dominate the present-day "communist" movement) -- will have about as much chance as a goldfish in a blender. All that will be left will be pink, frothy water. * * * * My essay, "1917 was the Beta Version" can be reached by clicking the prominent link to it at www.communism.org. I invite all readers of this list to check it out and either comment on it here or write to me. I am committed to linking, at the bottom of my essay, to all serious and thoughtful responses. Ben Seattle ----//-// 30.Mar.98 3am www.Leninism.org