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 Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:24 pm
Gallenger oh Carmel I'm rocking out in Wabash Sweet. Do you know any Communists in your area?
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:00 am
I protest as I see fit, but don't wish to align myself with the biggest far-left group here, Socialist Alternative. I recently attended their Marxism 2009 conference, but I don't wish to join them because they remind me of fanatically religious people... I know it sounds pretty stupid to avoid people for their DEVOTION, but I feel as though they just yell at people and subsequently alienate everyone from their cause. I was recently fooled by their tendency to generalise and leave out facts too, in an issue regarding uni politics... now I've realised they were skewing things I'm even less inclined to join. Long story short... I don't align myself by I try to keep politically active!
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:20 pm
Peach Kotka I protest as I see fit, but don't wish to align myself with the biggest far-left group here, Socialist Alternative. I recently attended their Marxism 2009 conference, but I don't wish to join them because they remind me of fanatically religious people... I know it sounds pretty stupid to avoid people for their DEVOTION, but I feel as though they just yell at people and subsequently alienate everyone from their cause. I was recently fooled by their tendency to generalise and leave out facts too, in an issue regarding uni politics... now I've realised they were skewing things I'm even less inclined to join. Long story short... I don't align myself by I try to keep politically active! I don't blame you. I'm very discontent with the direction the communist parties are going. But as it stands now i don't have the knowledge to start one of my own. But soon... soon.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:36 pm
What exactly don't you like about the communist parties (I assume you mean where you are...or perhaps you mean in general)?
It is sad that the far left must be so fragmented like that.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:50 pm
Comrade Robson Peach Kotka I protest as I see fit, but don't wish to align myself with the biggest far-left group here, Socialist Alternative. I recently attended their Marxism 2009 conference, but I don't wish to join them because they remind me of fanatically religious people... I know it sounds pretty stupid to avoid people for their DEVOTION, but I feel as though they just yell at people and subsequently alienate everyone from their cause. I was recently fooled by their tendency to generalise and leave out facts too, in an issue regarding uni politics... now I've realised they were skewing things I'm even less inclined to join. Long story short... I don't align myself by I try to keep politically active! I don't blame you. I'm very discontent with the direction the communist parties are going. But as it stands now i don't have the knowledge to start one of my own. But soon... soon. You have to remember me and Hawkings are in the same state xp
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:02 pm
SoViEtTaNkT34 Comrade Robson Peach Kotka I protest as I see fit, but don't wish to align myself with the biggest far-left group here, Socialist Alternative. I recently attended their Marxism 2009 conference, but I don't wish to join them because they remind me of fanatically religious people... I know it sounds pretty stupid to avoid people for their DEVOTION, but I feel as though they just yell at people and subsequently alienate everyone from their cause. I was recently fooled by their tendency to generalise and leave out facts too, in an issue regarding uni politics... now I've realised they were skewing things I'm even less inclined to join. Long story short... I don't align myself by I try to keep politically active! I don't blame you. I'm very discontent with the direction the communist parties are going. But as it stands now i don't have the knowledge to start one of my own. But soon... soon. You have to remember me and Hawkings are in the same state xp what are you saying?
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:07 pm
Peach Kotka What exactly don't you like about the communist parties (I assume you mean where you are...or perhaps you mean in general)? It is sad that the far left must be so fragmented like that. RCP - Bob Avaikain is weirdo. I'm really not digging the whole CoP thing he's doing. CPUSA- They are opportunists. They supported the election of Obama instead of sticking to a revolutionary program. I feel they are not doing their job as communists which is raising the consciousness of the workers. The far left is almost always fragmented, or becomes fragmented at some point in time. But whoever does their job right will win out in the end, we will just have to see...
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:12 pm
Socialist Alternative are stalinophobic scumbags. That may seem harsh, but it is true. The Stalinophobia should be obvious: Their hatred of China and their constant insistance that the SU suffered a counter-revolution early on, though when (1924, or 1927, or 19...) depends on the author of the article. As well, their current enthusing over islam is shocking. I am sure you have bought their paper? Earlier this year they had an article expaining what Marx 'really meant' when he referred to religion as the opium of the people.' A nice response to that article can be found here[. In fact, I recommend all here read it. I think Tank will get a kick out of it. SAlt are thugs. For all their stalinophobia, they resort to the same thuggery that the stalinists used against Trotskyism, only not so brazen: They threaten violence when politically challenged by someone in the left, they bar critical leftists from their open events. After a member of Socialist Alliance attacked a woman comrade of this group he was kicked out, and eventually recruited by SAlt... It goes to show how utterly bankrupt they are that they oppose political confrontations with threats of violence and exclusion. Then there is the issue of their politics...
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:27 am
I'm relieved the other Australian here dislikes Socialist Alternative.
If you want to know how they feel about Stalin, there's an even easier way to find out: ask them! They take special care to distance themselves from Stalin anyhow.
I hadn't read that article actually (although I do get emailed their magazine contents). Some of their articles can be interesting or insightful, but I see a lot of them as foaming-at-the-mouth without much content. In fact... that's how I see them generally. That response to them was a good read though, thanks for linking.
About the World Youth Day thing... I'm baffled as to why Socialist Alternative of all people are worried about isolating people from the cause. I think they do a pretty good job of that themselves by ranting at people on campus and hijacking protests. And yeah, we thrust condoms at pilgrims at the Melbourne protest too... If you're frightened of a condom, your precious sensibilities deserve to be offended.
I don't know what state you're in or if you're a student but recently there was a fiasco with Students for Palestine and Palestinian Solidarity Week... which went off without a hitch at other campuses around Australia (as far as I know) but at Monash, a guy in the student union was fined for supporting it. Or so SAlt said and got all worked up about. I actually spoke to people in the MSA and they have told me the full story in which the fine sounds much more reasonable.
Just for an example of them not telling the whole story!
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:44 am
You get emailed their stuff, which is good. Scumbags though they are, you should always read the literature of as many groups as you can, both to help you form your own views, and in order to combat those of opponents.
Being on-again-off-again active in Sydney(not a student, currently unemployed prole), I see a number of things about the various left groups, which I am sure applies to Melbourne (though not Brisbane, apparently. They all love each other up there...). With SAlt, they absolutely oppose their newly recruited membership from talking to anyone. Being known for my politics (though not a member, when approached by newbies and I don't have the time to talk or buy their paper, I will say 'Sorry, I'm a Spart.' You should see how far they jump backwards... THE FEAR they have against them... I have friends at Uni of Sydney who will buy Spartacist just so they can hold it while walking past SAlt's cake sales out the front of the library without being harassed. I s**t you not.), when I try to talk to someone I don't recognize selling their paper, they will very quickly send a minder over to give the person some make-work and get them away from me. Socialist Alliance is nowhere near as bad as that, but they are way opportunist, so... Meh. Have'nt had much experience with the DSP's split though.
So yeah. Read all group's lit, don't be like them.
That reminds me, for the last couple of weeks I have been doing an archive trawl of the ICL website... I should probably do the same for SAlt and the DSP...
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:36 am
Hmm! I never SEE any other Marxist groups around. Almost literally never. I've seen Socialist Alliance in the city, but that's about it... I certainly haven't seen anyone else around uni! Granted I've only been at uni since the start of 2007 (so, since VSU was introduced) and uni politics has died a bit since then... but still.
Socialist Alternative must be very overrepresented here in unis... at least the two I've been at. At my current uni, they're out there with their magazines every time I sit down to eat or try to walk into the library but I've never seen any other remotely Marxist groups around campus.
They're pretty hardcore about driving for membership it would seem. When my boyfriend and I attended Marxism 2009, we were stopped by about five different people and asked 'How did you find out about it?' then were forcibly engaged in lengthy conversation and told to join. mad I'm sometimes easily intimidated by people who just talk at me so I gave my phone number to one of them and am now on some list!
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 1:01 pm
I don't know of the population of the various left groups in Melbourne, though I know there are more groups there, I don't know how different the numbers are, compared to Sydney.
Up until a few years ago, SA was the biggest, and was the group I joined originally. I eventually left because of their lack of class struggle, though the particular thing was a fight had over their pamphlet 'Our gender agenda' which was pretty ok as far as its complaints against sexism were concerned, but had no class line and looked to Labor and the Greens for change, maybe helped along by some protesting: Nothing highlighting the importance of the proletariat, and how women can only achieve full equality with men under socialism...
Shortly after I left High School, SAlt started to win out. SA was failing because it was generally suck, while SAlt had an air of militancy, and had pretensions of building a party, not a movement.
Other left groups are...
Wait. I will tell Robson to forward a PM I sent him ages back about the Australian left.
It has a bit of history and stuff in it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:31 pm
Comrade Robson SoViEtTaNkT34 Comrade Robson Peach Kotka I protest as I see fit, but don't wish to align myself with the biggest far-left group here, Socialist Alternative. I recently attended their Marxism 2009 conference, but I don't wish to join them because they remind me of fanatically religious people... I know it sounds pretty stupid to avoid people for their DEVOTION, but I feel as though they just yell at people and subsequently alienate everyone from their cause. I was recently fooled by their tendency to generalise and leave out facts too, in an issue regarding uni politics... now I've realised they were skewing things I'm even less inclined to join. Long story short... I don't align myself by I try to keep politically active! I don't blame you. I'm very discontent with the direction the communist parties are going. But as it stands now i don't have the knowledge to start one of my own. But soon... soon. You have to remember me and Hawkings are in the same state xp what are you saying? Your talking about a person whose already into MA politics as we speak xp
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:34 pm
Comrade Robson Peach Kotka What exactly don't you like about the communist parties (I assume you mean where you are...or perhaps you mean in general)? It is sad that the far left must be so fragmented like that. RCP - Bob Avaikain is weirdo. I'm really not digging the whole CoP thing he's doing. CPUSA- They are opportunists. They supported the election of Obama instead of sticking to a revolutionary program. I feel they are not doing their job as communists which is raising the consciousness of the workers. The far left is almost always fragmented, or becomes fragmented at some point in time. But whoever does their job right will win out in the end, we will just have to see... Bob Avaikains followers are really really borderline retarded when it comes to Communism/socialist parties. I have to agree with the CPUSA as well but they are still better then RCP
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:44 pm
SoViEtTaNkT34 Comrade Robson Peach Kotka What exactly don't you like about the communist parties (I assume you mean where you are...or perhaps you mean in general)? It is sad that the far left must be so fragmented like that. RCP - Bob Avaikain is weirdo. I'm really not digging the whole CoP thing he's doing. CPUSA- They are opportunists. They supported the election of Obama instead of sticking to a revolutionary program. I feel they are not doing their job as communists which is raising the consciousness of the workers. The far left is almost always fragmented, or becomes fragmented at some point in time. But whoever does their job right will win out in the end, we will just have to see... Bob Avaikains followers are really really borderline retarded when it comes to Communism/socialist parties. I have to agree with the CPUSA as well but they are still better then RCP Can we not talk about Chairman Bob please...
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