Kshama Sawant, an avowed socialist, was recently elected to the Seattle City Council. I think this is a healthy event; I applaud Ms. Sawant's peaceful route to the extremely limited power one has as a city council person. But Ms. Sawant is a member of a Trotskyist Party. Most American's don't know much about Trotsky or the parties that carry his flag, mainly because they are small and usually quite obscure.
Americans are not likely to take to any party that idolizes a foreign political leader. Ms. Sawant and Socialist Alternative have not chosen one of the many American socialist leaders or parties to idolize. So why Leon Trotsky?
Leon Trotsky is a lot like Thomas Jefferson. I don't mean that in a positive way. I mean that his rhetoric is attractive to idealists, but his life betrays his rhetoric. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, it which he talks of freedom and the equality of man (mostly plagiarizing British writers). He owned slaves. When the British freed his slaves during the American Revolution, he demanded their return (he got a number back when the British surrendered at Yorktown). He supported his spendthrift habits (fine wines, fancy horses and the endless expansion of Monticello) partly by forcing child-slaves to spend their days in his nail factory.
Leon Trotsky was a Russian Marxist revolutionary running his own political party until the Russian Revolution. Then he joined up with the Bolshevik Party to stage a coup that both killed the Czar (who by then was only a figurehead) and overthrew the government established by the workers and peasants and their political parties. He was then assigned the task of organizing the murder of anyone Left, Right, or Center, who disagreed with the new dictatorship of middle-class intellectuals led by Lenin. He headed the Red Army that murdered hundreds of thousands of opponents during the Civil War. He did not object to the killing of socialist opponents by the brutal Leninist political police.
So why would a nice, thoughtful person like Kshama subscribe to the ideology of such a madman? After Lenin died a new leader, really dictator, was needed. Naturally Trotsky thought that with so much blood on his hands, he was the natural choice. But Joseph Stalin outmaneuvered him, eventually forcing Leon into exile.
By then Trotsky had a large following both in the Soviet Union (Russia plus places Trotsky had conquered, notably the Ukraine, where anarchists had tried to set up a non-dictatorial socialist system) and within the many communist parties around the world. He changed his tune. He began to use the rhetoric of democracy to improve his chances of eventually becoming a dictator. He criticized Joe Stalin, saying he (not the entire bunch of Leninists) had perverted the Russian Revolution, transforming it into a bureaucratic dictatorship.
For radicals of a certain mindset Trotskyism has a deep appeal. You can be a revolutionary and imagine that you are in a vanguard party in the line of Marx and Lenin, while talking about freedom and democracy. In the United States since around 1970s the numerous (but each small) Trotskyist parties have been particularly adept at recruiting LGBT radicals.
Their inability to see the contradiction between Trotsky's rhetoric and the factual historic record, or worse still their acceptance of it, is a key to understanding activists like Kshama. The world is a bright and shiny place just needing some nice rhetoric to wake up "the masses" to complete the glorious worldwide Leninist revolution that went astray when Stalin got his grubby hands on it.
If a socialist party wants to succeed in the United States, it should reject Trotsky.
If socialism is the best system for running society, it should be so on its own merit. It should not need the "blessing" of some Marxist saint like Lenin, Stalin, Mao or Trotsky.
If an American socialist party wants some saints, it could at least use American socialists. There have been plenty of them, and their example is much better than that of any of the Russian leaders, even if they did not bring a socialist revolution to the U.S.A. [note no Trotskyist political party has ever come to power anywhere in the world]. Look to Mother Jones, the Industrial Workers of the World, Daniel De Leon, or Emma Goldman for inspiration.
Over the decades I interviewed many leaders of American Trotskyist parties. They all lacked the confidence to speak out about the historical reality of Trotsky's life. Their tiny cults trapped them in error: to renounce Trotsky, after building their parties around worshipping him, would have meant being ostracized.
If Kshama Sawant wants to graduate to being a socialist leader herself, she needs to denounce the legacy of mass murder that is the life of Leon Trotsky. If she can't do that, she is a moral cripple who cannot be trusted to build a genuine popular socialist movement.
See also: A Rare Elected Voice for Socialism Pledges to Be Heard in Seattle [New York Times, December 29, 2013]
Showing posts with label revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revolution. Show all posts
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Natural Liberation and Harry Potter
I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night, and it was entertaining. Evil, of course, is out in the world. The foolish government refuses to admit it. Harry Potter has to train a bunch of teenage wizards in secret to be ready to combat evil, because the school he attends, Hogswarts or something like that, is teaching from books rather than allowing the kids to actually practice black arts.
So you could read it as a metaphor encouraging teen rebellion. But against what? School, to be sure. The government, a least in this particular episode. Evil, but then Hitler, Stalin, and General Franco also imagined they were rebelling against evil. Evil is whoever is opposed to you.
If the book upon which this film was based had been written by an American author, I would say it was about rebelling against the public school system, a thought endearing to both the far right and the far left. The government take over of the wizard school sounds like how the teachers unions view No Child Left Behind. Many charter schools believe in project-based learning, and the elitism of Hogswarts matches how charter school parents think about their little wizards.
That is all very well and good, but I doubt it is the intended message of the movie. I also don't think the intention is to get kids meeting in secret pointing at each other with wooden sticks and practicing Latin.
Evil must be fought, and fighting is exciting. Wow, maybe the movie is about the War on Terror. Maybe the idiots in the government are Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe English and American kids should be secretly training with automatic weapons and Latin prayers to fight Islam.
Well, teen angst can be turned in many directions. To me the evil of the world is the destruction of Nature, including global warming, species destruction, and the general collapse of ecosystems we are seeing all around us right now (those of us who care to look). It isn't just George Bush and pals that are ignoring or minimalizing what is happening. It is most of the human race, and most of the leadership of the Democratic Party.
Wars, including civil wars, are a toss of the dice. The U.S. invaded Vietnam and murdered two million people to save the world for capitalism in the 1960s. Instead Communism triumphed and Americans became unwilling to use force, for a decade or so. Then, unpredictably, without the capitalists firing a shot, Communism collapsed.
Rebellion in America could take many forms. It could gain a Christian racist edge. It could be directed at the Republicans and for the Democrats. It could be against both parties, or it could take an anarchist turn against all parties and government itself. The rebellion could be confined to the ballot box, or it could take to the streets, or it could arm itself and start a civil war.
But most likely nothing will happen. Order of the Phoenix is, after all, just a movie. Playing at being wizards is a big ego trip for children, but the real idea is to get them to read, go to college, and fit right into the corporate system. The message of any one movie, even if clear, is quickly submerged in the next movie or TV show or hot band idol.
Meanwhile, ecosystems are collapsing. A sane government would put in place an immediate ban on all cutting of trees; stop the production of SUVs and encourage people to walk, bike, or ride a motorcycle; prohibit couples from having more than two children; and re-orient the industry of people into ecological restoration.
Do not expect sane government. Do expect slowly rolling eco-collapse. Don't expect the economy to collapse, until we are much closer to the end, but expect escalating food prices. Expect the unexpected. We are going non-linear, we are going chaotic. It may not be supernatural, but it is nature as humans have not had to face it since the paleolithic. Nobody knows what is worth packing for this trip: but a little revolution might make us feel like we are humans, not just pawns in corporate growth games.
For more on natural liberation philosophy see www.iiipublishing.com
So you could read it as a metaphor encouraging teen rebellion. But against what? School, to be sure. The government, a least in this particular episode. Evil, but then Hitler, Stalin, and General Franco also imagined they were rebelling against evil. Evil is whoever is opposed to you.
If the book upon which this film was based had been written by an American author, I would say it was about rebelling against the public school system, a thought endearing to both the far right and the far left. The government take over of the wizard school sounds like how the teachers unions view No Child Left Behind. Many charter schools believe in project-based learning, and the elitism of Hogswarts matches how charter school parents think about their little wizards.
That is all very well and good, but I doubt it is the intended message of the movie. I also don't think the intention is to get kids meeting in secret pointing at each other with wooden sticks and practicing Latin.
Evil must be fought, and fighting is exciting. Wow, maybe the movie is about the War on Terror. Maybe the idiots in the government are Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe English and American kids should be secretly training with automatic weapons and Latin prayers to fight Islam.
Well, teen angst can be turned in many directions. To me the evil of the world is the destruction of Nature, including global warming, species destruction, and the general collapse of ecosystems we are seeing all around us right now (those of us who care to look). It isn't just George Bush and pals that are ignoring or minimalizing what is happening. It is most of the human race, and most of the leadership of the Democratic Party.
Wars, including civil wars, are a toss of the dice. The U.S. invaded Vietnam and murdered two million people to save the world for capitalism in the 1960s. Instead Communism triumphed and Americans became unwilling to use force, for a decade or so. Then, unpredictably, without the capitalists firing a shot, Communism collapsed.
Rebellion in America could take many forms. It could gain a Christian racist edge. It could be directed at the Republicans and for the Democrats. It could be against both parties, or it could take an anarchist turn against all parties and government itself. The rebellion could be confined to the ballot box, or it could take to the streets, or it could arm itself and start a civil war.
But most likely nothing will happen. Order of the Phoenix is, after all, just a movie. Playing at being wizards is a big ego trip for children, but the real idea is to get them to read, go to college, and fit right into the corporate system. The message of any one movie, even if clear, is quickly submerged in the next movie or TV show or hot band idol.
Meanwhile, ecosystems are collapsing. A sane government would put in place an immediate ban on all cutting of trees; stop the production of SUVs and encourage people to walk, bike, or ride a motorcycle; prohibit couples from having more than two children; and re-orient the industry of people into ecological restoration.
Do not expect sane government. Do expect slowly rolling eco-collapse. Don't expect the economy to collapse, until we are much closer to the end, but expect escalating food prices. Expect the unexpected. We are going non-linear, we are going chaotic. It may not be supernatural, but it is nature as humans have not had to face it since the paleolithic. Nobody knows what is worth packing for this trip: but a little revolution might make us feel like we are humans, not just pawns in corporate growth games.
For more on natural liberation philosophy see www.iiipublishing.com
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
We Know You Want a Revolution
Being a child of the 60's (despite my parent's best efforts to "protect" me) I have been around revolutionaries quite a bit. I have thought of myself as a political revolutionary and been a member of revolutionary organizations. May 1 is the traditional Workers Day, celebrated (back when) in the communist nations, but shape-shifted to Labor Day in the U.S.A.
Today industrial capitalism has triumphed not only over the workers of the world, but over nature itself. Mankind, as organized by international corporations, has become the biblical plague of locusts, sucking the rivers dry and stripping the land of its corn.
The only political revolution that happened was the fall of communism. Many of us thought the fall of capitalism was imminent after the U.S. lost its war against the people of Vietnam. We were way too optimistic.
Somewhere along the line I realised that socialist dogmas, whether Leninist, social democratic, or anarchist, where incomplete without taking into account man's relationship to nature. If socialism had fulfilled its promise to make the average family better off we would almost certainly have the same overpopulation, global warming, and other ecological problems we have now.
I argued for ecological positions within the anarchist movement, as did many others, and most anarchists came around. But in the meantime the rebirth of anarchism as a trend after the collapse of the Soviet Union never really went anywhere. The anarchist movement has done some great things, from Food Not Bombs to helping to stop the World Trade Organization's nefarious plans, but we are no closer to an anarchist revolution than in 1950.
Instead of anarchism the most dynamic political movement in the world today is radical Islam. While there are some good aspects of Islam, this is not what the world needs.
The Industrial Revolution which started in the 1700's has proceeded apace, and we had a Service Revolution in the last half of the 20th century. The service sector comprised 76% of the U.S. economy in 2006.
Meanwhile most American minds remain Medieval at best. Religions that looked stupid to the ancient Greek philosophers predominate in the U.S. At the other end of the spectrum many non-religious people, as well, are consumed by greed, alienated from nature, and unable to abide by any system of ethics. The Scientific Revolution has proven to be not a two-edged sword, but the sort of multifaceted virus described in William Gibson's Count Zero. It's main result has been an unsustainable population boom. The Internet seems to be serving as a general accelerator, like adrenalin or methedrine in a human body.
Most likely candidate for the next revolution: the weather. Take a gander at Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather for what might lie ahead.
I believe the real revolution that is needed now is in philosophy. Getting people to change their philosophy is no easy task, especially when religious faith gets in the way. But we are in the Era of Global Warming. It is time for a change.
A revolution in Philosophy cannot take place without a revolution in practice. I will keep doing my part to protect nature. I will do my part for social justice and within-the-system political change. But I'll be doing more writing and lecturing about philosophy too.
Today industrial capitalism has triumphed not only over the workers of the world, but over nature itself. Mankind, as organized by international corporations, has become the biblical plague of locusts, sucking the rivers dry and stripping the land of its corn.
The only political revolution that happened was the fall of communism. Many of us thought the fall of capitalism was imminent after the U.S. lost its war against the people of Vietnam. We were way too optimistic.
Somewhere along the line I realised that socialist dogmas, whether Leninist, social democratic, or anarchist, where incomplete without taking into account man's relationship to nature. If socialism had fulfilled its promise to make the average family better off we would almost certainly have the same overpopulation, global warming, and other ecological problems we have now.
I argued for ecological positions within the anarchist movement, as did many others, and most anarchists came around. But in the meantime the rebirth of anarchism as a trend after the collapse of the Soviet Union never really went anywhere. The anarchist movement has done some great things, from Food Not Bombs to helping to stop the World Trade Organization's nefarious plans, but we are no closer to an anarchist revolution than in 1950.
Instead of anarchism the most dynamic political movement in the world today is radical Islam. While there are some good aspects of Islam, this is not what the world needs.
The Industrial Revolution which started in the 1700's has proceeded apace, and we had a Service Revolution in the last half of the 20th century. The service sector comprised 76% of the U.S. economy in 2006.
Meanwhile most American minds remain Medieval at best. Religions that looked stupid to the ancient Greek philosophers predominate in the U.S. At the other end of the spectrum many non-religious people, as well, are consumed by greed, alienated from nature, and unable to abide by any system of ethics. The Scientific Revolution has proven to be not a two-edged sword, but the sort of multifaceted virus described in William Gibson's Count Zero. It's main result has been an unsustainable population boom. The Internet seems to be serving as a general accelerator, like adrenalin or methedrine in a human body.
Most likely candidate for the next revolution: the weather. Take a gander at Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather for what might lie ahead.
I believe the real revolution that is needed now is in philosophy. Getting people to change their philosophy is no easy task, especially when religious faith gets in the way. But we are in the Era of Global Warming. It is time for a change.
A revolution in Philosophy cannot take place without a revolution in practice. I will keep doing my part to protect nature. I will do my part for social justice and within-the-system political change. But I'll be doing more writing and lecturing about philosophy too.
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