Lenin lives! Towards a Revolutionary Communist Party! - Socialist Appeal
socialist.net
This Sunday marks the 100th anniversary since the death of Lenin – the inspiring leader of the Russian Revolution. With capitalism in turmoil, in Britain and worldwide, now is the time to continue Lenin’s legacy, and build the forces of communism.

I don’t know if anyone has shared this already since it has been in the works for a couple of months now and they still do not plan to become a thing until May, but anyway.

The Socialist Party (formerly known as Militant) must be feeling pretty vindicated right now since Socialist Appeal has finally migrated away from entry-ism after being forcefully expelled from the Labour party (again).

I wish them luck, but I wish TUSC was still around. They built up a pretty big movement before pivoting around Corbyn and willingly stepping aside from all UK elections for a couple of years. I don’t know where their organisers are now, I haven’t seen them around in a while and presume they have mostly moved on to other things.

Socialist Appeal are not bad, and I enjoyed going to their annual Revolution festival in London. It is a shame that they come from the British Trot school of refusing to acknowledge anything good that Stalin did ever in 30 years of power in the USSR but probably the best we are gonna get.

If you live in the UK and you don’t do so already, it is worth supporting the orgs that are providing us with independent news, whether it is Socialist Appeal, The Socialist, The Morning Star (the CPB newspaper not the financial website) or Novarra Media. There are worse places to spend your money.

  • drinkinglakewater [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    12·
    9 months ago

    Apparently this is a global directive from IMT to its associated orgs, Socialist Fightback in Canada recently announced they’re undergoing the same rebranding.

    The “revolutionary” in the name raises an eyebrow from me considering these are Trots but I’m willing to be surprised if they mobilize any sort of actual struggle.

    • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      I didn’t go this year, only last year, but the editor of Socialist Appeal (seasoned Welsh guy, very enjoyable to listen to) spoke in length about the need to be ready to take power when the moment is ripe. This was in the months after Sri Lanka’s failed revolution, where people took to the streets and occupied government offices, but there was no leadership to take advantage of this momentum, and the movement fizzled out. If I recall correctly, their speech also contained praise for Corbyn on a personal level, and shame for the half measures he and others like him having taking repeatedly over the years.

      My takeaway is that they absolutely believe in the necessity of revolution and the need to form a class that is ready when the time comes. It is surprising to me only that we did not get to this point sooner.

      • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        Trots talk incessantly about the need to build a real worker’s party and have revolution so that’s all par for the course. They always have a (usually hypercritical and incorrect) take to offer that sounds aesthetically reasonable but tends to fall apart with any amount of scrutiny.

        More importantly for IMT and related groups, they’re cultlike and abusive to members and should be avoided.

        • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          I don’t know if it is a good idea to avoid the largest Marxist org in the UK even if it has the problems you have said. At the very least they provide a left voice, even if limited, and an opportunity for networking in real life.

          The last time I tried to find an inoffensive Marxist org in the UK, everybody was promoting Red Fightback, who were then criticised for a bunch of practical reasons, soon mired in controversy themselves and then finally split up due to infighting.

          We have a lot of co-opted, ineffective and toothless leftist orgs in the UK, and most of them are toothless, ineffective and problematic.

          • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Joining a large org that wastes your time and even abuses you is not better than joining a small org that wastes your time and even abuses you.

            If you want to join a cult, have a very limited reading list, do pointless or even counterproductive things, and then risk losing your entire social circle when you realize it’s bullshit, and even have a decent chance of being sexually abused and then have it get covered up, then by all means join an IMT-associated group.