Radical Engagements: 'Our view of democratic centralism must change' by In Struggle!

While I make a small error that I catch about the relationship of In Struggle! to Worker's Communist Party-Marxist Leninist, I venture into the world of the dissolution of Marxist-Leninist sectarian organizations in Canada for two reasons: the problems were not merely external and it illustrates conflicts around unclairty about the meaning of Democratic Centralism.

Sources:

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Intro Musics: Spaceship Revolution by Etienne Roussel (Solo Intro), Bitterlake (Political Intro), Bitterlake (Strange Intro), The Siege of Kalameth by Jon Björk (Main Show Intro), Teknique by Anthony Earls (Nailing It Down Intro).
Outro Music: Let Down by Issue AB
Intro and Outro Video Design: C. Derick Varn (Main Show Intro, Show Outro), Djene Bajalan (Solo Intro, Political Intro, Space Outro), Bitterlake (Strange Intro)
The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World

[ingeteloo]

appreciate this sort of hobbyist content sm more than avg internet leftist content (ok, low bar, but i'm being sincere). it's nice to see stuff abt canada also.

[shannonm.townsend]

Is anyone familiar with Paul Cockshott's critique of dialectical marxism and advocacy of a newtonian approach?

[sankarchaya]

I think the ISO and SWP implosions reveal important issues with accountability in how Western sects implement democratic centralism. They dealt with charges of sexual abuse, which is a serious allegation, but the party hierarchies responded terribly and tried to misuse the party institutions to protect individuals. Of course due process is necessary in such situations, but I think its interesting that democratic centralism as implemented by these sects reproduces the lack of accountability in political hierarchies.

I also think its perhaps dangerous for everyone to take the Bolsheviks as a model for democratic centralism considering (a) the model changed greatly depending on context as you say and (b) the model was designed specifically for an institution dealing with an authoritarian reactionary monarchy. And a lot of the measures taken, like suppressing factionalism, might make sense as short-term measures but are objectively dangerous in perpetuity in a single-party state. It just leads to a monolithic ruling party that can achieve political unanimity by purging internal dissidents and terrifying anyone who might privately hold different views. Is the party meaningfully democratic if it purges all the alleged Trots and Bukharinites? Will such an institution allow for the kind of open debate about party policy that ensures the best program and flow of information?

[markpatterson]

I haven’t met a huge number of former BPP members but I’ve known a few. So anecdotally I can say that a lot of the rank-and-file panthers are Democrats today. I think that’s true of a lot of the new left. Some still claim Marxism. But they’re also members of the Democratic Party. Which tells me everything that I need to know about Maoism, tbh

[alimiti]

I wanted to say that clicking on Varn's latest content often makes youtube app stop/crash. It's weird bc I don't have this issue with other contents. If you experienced this too please leave a comment.

[MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

Canadian Marxism-Leninism is quite weird.

[CymbreBernice]

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