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: : You're living in a dream world. Socialism isn't the only thing out there and socialists aren't the only people trying to direct the working class. Ever heard of fascism? It's a real threat and it's on
: Yes, facism is the aestheticisation of politics (Walter Benjamin). Of course we must fight for socialism, but the vanguardist methods of the lenninists and Trots don't help- they only hinder, in that they desire a passive and mindless proletariat to follow their swishes- the revolution can only be brought about by a mindful proletariate...: the rise. People need direction in order to enact real change during the historic hot-spots. Classic example: WWII Germany, a time for real change with all the massive unemployment and worker unrest. Who takes control? Hitler, a fascist, and the rest you know. The energy of the working class is unstoppable once moving but maleable until it is directed.
: Aye, but people like the Anti-Nazi league go to racial hotspots, kick in a few Nazis, and then clear off leaving the local blacks to cop the consequences, real helpful.
: The point is that Fascism happens because of a mentality of ledadership, and which is one that the left follows itself- as long as we presume teh people to be the passive reflectors of our leadership, who will one day be led to an awakening of socialist consciousness, then wee shall fail. yes, we need to take action, to try and persuade people to want socialism, but to ie to them, to treat them like footsoldiers in a war of intelectual generals, is not the right ay to go about things. Yes, we need a mass involved movement, but it has to be one with socialism clear in its mind...
: Red
Everything you say is right except about your assumptions of the theories of Lenin and Trotsky. The Russian Revolution occured in the way it did because Russia was such a backward country. It had never been fully capitalistic and so the people had never transcended the political sophistication level of the peasantry. The time was right for revolution in the cities anyhow and so Trotsky and Lenin rightly, if not a little artificially, pursued it. It was the situation that skewed their ideas. In an industrialized nation the revolution would have been far more in line with their theories.
