Thanks, Tony. I think we've pretty much exhausted the discussion though perhaps we've hopefully narrowed our differences somewhat.
I'm left with the sobering thought of how many more have passed through our Marxist and Leninist organizations over generations in the advanced capitalist countries than have stayed to build them, contradicting the movement's habitually confident forecasts of rising to lead the class. I attribute this persistent drain to the cadres' encounter with objective reality in their practical interaction with the working class in the unions, union-based parties, and other mass organizations. In most cases, the turn away from the vanguard party is less an accomodation to the workers' supposed backward consciousness than an appreciation of, and adjustment to, their necessary caution in the face of the adverse balance of power between the classes. That was my experience and what I observed among my trade union comrades and in my various workplaces. My experience and historical materialism convinced me of the literal truth that the working class only revolts - which, let us not forget, implies taking up arms - when it has "nothing left to lose" but is otherwise indifferent to calls for revolution, especially from the outside. However, it has generally been responsive to calls for peaceful reform, which has sometimes proven in the past to be a step along the way to the system's overthrow. We can only speculate about what the future holds and act on this understanding. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42297): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42297 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119987077/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
