More on sectarianism and ultra leftism in relation to the USA.

In a previous blog I commented on the uprising in Britain and the failure of the left to play any significant role in it due, I believe, to sectarianism and ultra-leftism. In this blog, I would like to raise the same issues with regards to the USA.

I was not able to attend any of the events in Madison over the past months. But I was watching the recall counts on MSNBC the other night. There was a big crowd of people, clearly pretty much working class in composition. There were many young people also. There were many placards from union locals and other groups on different issues. But what I did not see were any placards and banners from the left. Now maybe these were all censored out. But I doubt it. There was pretty wide coverage of the crowd. So I have to conclude that there was not much of a left presence at least in a way that could connect with the existing consciousness. I would like to address this.

The crowds there were very enthusiastic for a victory of the Democrats over the Republicans. This was the way they could see to defeat the Republican governor and his anti union agenda. This in my opinion was the situation the left were faced with. This was the existing consciousness. The challenge to the left was to connect with this consciousness and help it go forward. This could not be achieved by just saying the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans. This could not be achieved by just saying the only solution is to build the revolutionary party. Nor could it be achieved by just saying we need a Labor Party.

I believe the left were not able to make any real progress in the situation in Wisconsin because they are hamstrung by ultra left and sectarian methods. First on ultra leftism. Putting the main emphasis on saying the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans, putting the emphasis on the need to build the revolutionary party, putting the emphasis on the need for a Labor Party these all result from an ultra left approach in that they do not take the existing consciousness and see where that is and then see what demands can connect with this consciousness and take the movement forward. These ultra left approaches mean that the left cannot intervene in movements such as we have seen in Wisconsin. They are left standing on the sidelines.

I have already put forward the basic demands which I think should be raised in relation to Britain. A similar approach is needed here. That is basic demands directly relating to the immediate needs and consciousness of the workers. The main emphasis being on demands on jobs, wages, free health care, free education, tax the rich, make the rich pay and only after making the emphasis very clearly on these demands we can say we believe that the Republicans and the Democrats, neither of them will deliver on this front. This in my opinion is what is necessary to connect with the existing consciousness and give a way forward for the movement. This is the way to avoid an ultra left approach which is an obstacle to the movement and which discredits the left.

Then sectarianism. The various left organizations and also individuals in this country are overwhelmingly sectarian. I myself was a sectarian for most of my political life. But I think I have wised up. I ask myself some questions. Why has the left so little influence when there is such rage in working class people in this country. Why are there more people who consider themselves socialists outside the left organizations than inside them? Why when 36% in a recent poll said they were favorable to socialism are the left so weak. I think it is as I say above the ultra leftism of the left. But also I think it is the sectarianism of the left. Almost without exception the left organizations put their own petty interests above those of the interests of the movement. Always seeking to recruit and recruit rather than seeking to build united fronts of struggle as a way of working towards increasing unity of the left forces against capitalism.

There are hundreds of people in the left organizations in the mid west. There are thousands of former members, there are more thousands who would join a left organization if they could find one which was not sectarian and which had an internal life that was genuinely democratic. I am not interested in hearing about democratic centralism etc etc etc. None of the left acted properly in relation to their internal life. Not the organization I was in nor others. They took bits and pieces out of the experience of Bolshevism when that organization was already well on the way to being destroyed by Stalinism or was in the midst of a civil war and modeled themselves on these false methods. Especially today in the age of the Internet, of Assange, of Anonymous, such an approach, while always wrong is insane.

We need to recognize that we were all sectarian, that our organizations were all sectarian, that we and our organizations were all ultra left, then on occasion lurching over to opportunism and back to ultra leftism. We need to build united fronts of struggle around a few basic demands which connect with the consciousness of the masses and help the movement go forward. Within this we can all explain and discuss the essential ideas of scientific socialism, Marx as most of us know was against his ideas being called Marxism, Trotsky and Lenin likewise. Never before has there been such a need and such an opportunity to challenge capitalism and build a new world. If the left is to do its duty in this situation it will have to face up to its sectarian and ultra left past and change.