29.08.2013

Marxism online: Reappropriating basic principles

On August 13, the centenary of August Bebel’s death, a new website was launched - MarxistCenter.com seeks to revive a genuinely partyist Marxism for the 21st century. Geary Middleton introduces this new political and journalistic project

First of all an explanation is owed as to who we are. This project flows from the Orthodox Marxist group, which is itself a fraction of the Revolutionary Marxists group on the web forum, Revleft.com.1 We in RM are commonly reproached with terms such as ‘Kautskyite’ and, while we reject the reformist and counterrevolutionary implications of the term, it does contain a kernel of truth, as we place ourselves among those who seek to re-evaluate the legacy of Second International Marxism - a new current, if you will, which was marked with Lars T Lih’s scholarly work Lenin rediscovered - ‘What is to be done?’ in context. We draw our inspiration from this scholarly and political current, and groups that undertake similar work, like the CPGB.

However, we felt that we had come up against a barrier. Some of us have a background in diverse Marxist groups and a need arose to claim a space for ourselves to develop politically and organisationally, lacking that space in our respective organisations.

In other words, we are an independent group of young comrades from around the globe seeking answers. And in our quest to join up the dots, of which this website will surely be a reflection, we strive to give a more up-to-date content to the Second International Marxism to which Lenin and the Bolsheviks belonged, as part of the project to merge the ideas of Marxism with the contemporary workers’ movement once more.

We are a loose writers’ collective with a common set of principles. We do not have a ‘party line’ and the articles will, certainly in the beginning, be more of a result of the individual writer’s own findings than anything else. We are also open to contributions from others and if you would like to submit something you can reach us at editors@marxistcenter.com.

Political basis

So how loose is ‘loose’? Don’t we have anything in common? Well, we do, obviously. The following is a short overview of the views we share:

• As Marxists we stand for the reappropriation of the basic principles of the Marxist programmatic concept of the democratic republic. This means that the working class, through democratic and republican principles, collectively decides how the means of production are used against private ownership by state bureaucrats. It is the class dictatorship of the working class governed by democratic workers’ organs. It is the self-emancipation of the working class through the struggle for the working class to take political power.

• These goals are crystallised in the communist programme. Because the programme is about the political take-over of society by the working class, it stipulates the strategic, objective steps needed to reach our goal and overcome the undemocratic barriers that the ruling class - a minority - put into place to keep itself in power.

• On the one hand, democratic-republican principles are, among others: the election and recallability of all public officials; universal military training and service, the right to bear arms and political rights in the armed forces; the election of judges and generalised trial by jury; freedom of information; and so on. It is also based on the extension of democratic forms of decision-making like workplace committees and so on.

• On the other hand, these principles stand for a truly democratic way of organisation and discussion. It is the purpose of this project to start to engage in a theoretical discussion on political democracy, programme and republican values as a contribution to a cultural change within the left and the whole of society. This can only be done if we are open and respectful.

We call ourselves the Marxist Center for two reasons:

1. As we base ourselves on a re-evaluation of the revolutionary traditions of the Second International, we fight for a long-term strategy of ‘revolutionary patience’. This means an active opposition to ‘short cuts’ on both rightwing notions that want to enter coalitions in the name of ‘relevancy’ and ‘realism’ and leftwing notions that seek to reach working class power through mass strikist strategies.

2. We seek to be a centre of debate and analysis based on these traditions. While our contribution will inevitably start humble, we aspire to grow and have an impact on the working class community.

Our tasks

For these reasons we aim for the following:

• To clarify our own ideas, first and foremost. This we aim to do by researching historical topics of interest, attempting to give our own analysis on current world events and engage in debate with each other and with the wider (far-left) community.

• To popularise the ideas of revolutionary Marxism. That is, both the ideas of Marx and Engels (‘classical’ Marxism) and the ideas of the early, Marxist Second International that was fundamental for the formation of mass worker-class movements in Europe and elsewhere, notably also the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and the Bolsheviks that placed themselves in the same tradition.

• To add to, in however modest a way, a practical community. A common theme among our detractors is that because we emphasise open debate we want to set up a ‘talking shop’. While we can only begin in a humble and, in some respects, abstract way, we aim for an actual party-movement, and will aid any such developments, and to help answer the most important question of our times: what is to be done?

As Lenin put it, “Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement”.2 Anyone that is up for this task is invited to join the ranks of this project.

Initial articles

We have already put up some articles (and more are on the way):

• The Tower of Bebel: “Well then, go forward, Tower of Bebel! Bebel is one of the most brilliant representatives of scientific international socialism. His writings, speeches and works make up a great tower, a strong arsenal, from which the working class should take their arms. We cannot recommend it enough … If only we could build and establish such a Tower of Bebel in the brains of every worker. Because then, when the working class has understood the socialist programme, ‘gentlemen’, believe us, your rule would soon disappear for ever …”3

• Programme: a compass to liberation: “A programme is essential because it serves as a compass. Where are we heading? Are we still on course? A programme binds the leadership, and any deviation from it must be able to be called into question openly, as it is in the interests of our whole class.”4

• Where is the class struggle in Egypt?: “Revolutionary workers today everywhere need a common ground of debate, a democratic mass political worker party, to crystallise our revolutionary theory, to build a rich, concrete and scientific collective knowledge for the working class to draw upon in its practical and political struggles to come.”5

• To win the battle of democracy: “With the failed ‘experiments’ of the 20th century still in their minds, people will always be wary of the sincerity of communists when they talk about democracy. We will never be able to change this view of communism if we keep clinging on to vague formulas of democracy.”6

Notes

1. Revleft is, incidentally, the biggest online community of revolutionary leftists globally.

2. Can be found in What is to be done?

3. http://marxistcenter.com/2013/08/13/the-tower-of-bebel.

4. http://marxistcenter.com/2013/08/13/programme-a-compass-to-liberation.

5. http://marxistcenter.com/2013/08/13/where-is-the-class-struggle-in-egypt.

6. http://marxistcenter.com/2013/08/13/to-win-the-battle-of-democracy.