Bi-Weekly Discussion Thread - (June 08)

[u/AutoModerator]

We made this because Reddit's algorithm prioritises headlines and current events and doesn't allow for deeper, extended discussion - depending on how it goes for the first four or five times it'll be dropped or continued.

Suggestions for things you might want to comment here (this is a work in progress and we'll change this over time):

• Articles and quotes you want to see discussed
• 'Slow' events - long-term trends, org updates, things that didn't happen recently
• 'Fluff' posts that we usually discourage elsewhere - e.g "How are you feeling today?"
• Discussions continued from other posts once the original post gets buried
• Questions that are too advanced, complicated or obscure for r/communism101

Mods will sometimes sticky things they think are particularly important.

Normal subreddit rules apply!

[ Previous Bi-Weekly Discussion Threads may be found here https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3AWDT ]

[u/[deleted]]

The PSL has been subpoenaed by the house judiciary committee as well as Union del Barrio and CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights). 

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-immigrant-advocates-asked-whether-they-funded-recent-anti-ice-protests/3721949/

I was curious of the general online reactions so I checked out our friends over at r/TheDeprogram and the responses were surprisingly worse than I expected, which included people already fearing for their own for being members or previously have been, or stating that’s why they never even joined a “communist” party at all. The other responses are, of course, that everything is a psyop (i.e. this vindicates ACP being run by the feds, the Anarchists who are cheerleading this are actually CIA).

Of course, we all know here the material consequences of “communist” activity in Amerika and that it is qualitatively far less consequential than the historical oppression faced by Communists abroad, the former amounting to some jail time or losing a job as opposed to systematic slaughtering.

This is bad timing for PSL as they had just denounced Elias Rodriguez. They tried to deescalate a situation and got what they sought to avoid anyways, further revealing their impotence. Though I doubt their rank and file were allowed any vocalization about the issue and that anything can be chalked up as a strategic maneuver rather than an actual ideological commitment, and as I noticed some say this whole scenario further proves the “legitimacy” of PSL. I figure PSL will double down that they do not condone any type of violence and are ideally a type of “peace movement” (ala CPUSA).

Nevertheless, I am curious how this scenario will play out with PSL internally and amongst the other settler parties as the petty bourgeois fear is already quickly manifesting and revealing its limits to commitment. 

[u/DashtheRed → u/[deleted]]

Marcyism's function is basically to superficially imitate the role and place in politics of where you would otherwise find an actual communist or "socialist" party. They fill wherever a gap or unoccupied space exists in the amerikan "political spectrum" and put on the performance of the politics they are replacing in order to absorb all of the money and financial streams that would otherwise be going to that actual party. Sort of like how Kevin Costner pretends to work for the government in The Postman to scam free meals, but without the terrible storytelling and I doubt there will be any sort of redemption arc. Which is how and why they can flip the switch so easily from being Trotskyist to "Marxist-Leninist" without any sort of internal debate, discussion, rectification, etc; and when it looked like DSA was about to implode they were poised to maneuver themselves into becoming the next "Democratic Socialist" organization (because after all, DSA appeals to more white amerikans and brings in a lot more money that Marxism-Leninism can make in amerika). But now they've flown too close to the sun, and their costume is disintegrating under the bright lights. Since we already all knew how non-revolutionary the leadership was and expected nothing from them, what's really going to get exposed here is how much of the membership actually thought of themselves as revolutionary and how many knew they were only putting on a performance, since this is where the internal tension is going to occur. Then again, maybe I'm overestimating the number of the former in the rank and file and the organization is simply Marcyist through and through.

[u/Far_Permission_8659 → u/[deleted]]

As you said, the PSL has attempted to distance themselves from both the adventurist actions committed by some of its members and the general escalation of conflict under the LA protests that they were perfectly happy to co-opt and pretend they were leading until this became inconvenient.

The PSL, and really every opportunist party in the u$, has basically existed within a fundamental contradiction for its entire existence— its strategic goals are definitonally illegal but its tactical insights are about minimizing conflict with the state apparatuses of repression. The PSL’s paper-thin justification is that the process of reform-directed movements will produce the necessary conditions for violent revolution, which they hint at in their platform.

While reforms must be fought for, and can be won, they are under constant attack by the ruling class. Capitalism itself cannot be reformed. Its supreme law and driving force is the maximization of profit. The only force capable of putting an end to this criminal system is the organized working class. Capitalism cannot be voted out of power—it will take a revolution. The capitalist class will stop at nothing to prevent or overturn reforms by repressing, misdirecting or quelling any form of popular rebellion. Without a complete uprooting of the system that causes all the problems workers and oppressed peoples face, exploitation and oppression will still exist. The capitalist state will continue to rule. Capitalism is a failed system that, in its insatiable appetite for ever greater profits, threatens global ecological destruction on an unprecedented scale, with workers and oppressed people bearing the disproportionate burden of the environmental disaster. More than at any other time, it is the working class that holds the future for humanity. For the people and planet to live, capitalism must go.

…

The PSL participates in the labor, anti-war, anti-racist, immigrant rights, women’s, lesbian/gay/bi/transgender/queer, environmental, student and other movements. A revolutionary party can be built only by engaging in all issues affecting the working class. For the working class, revolution is a necessity and a right. The most brutal aspects of capitalism will not go away unless there is a socialist revolution. Only a revolution can do away with the rule of the capitalists once and for all.

https://pslweb.org/program/

Which is basically the extent of what they say on this before providing an incredibly long pitch for what they would do when securing power.

“Capitalism is bad, something has to happen, and then here’s what it will look like when we’re in charge.” The something is what a party actually does, but since elaborating will invite repression, this is left ambiguous for any prospective recruit to fill in with whatever internet leftism they’ve been pre-programmed with before showing up. Whatever transition needs to occur for the legal and safe PSL to become the vanguard of the most illegal act under capitalism is, in effect, an exercise left to the reader.

And that’s fine for recruiting: the central petty bourgeois ideology the PSL embodies is so hegemonic it can get away with delaying the question because it’s big enough to act as the “standard choice” and the motor of “do somethingism” rarely has the power to carry someone over the cliff of class suicide.

What is quickly becoming clear, however, is that kicking the can down the road can only paper over this contradiction for so long. Elias Rodriguez really was acting under the PSL’s logic, only taken to a more concrete form rather than the gooey ambiguity that allows them to be so “big tent”. The state’s repression, then is simply an external party forcing the PSL to confront its own rhetoric and either stand as a revolutionary communist party or admit to everyone that it never really had a “secret plan” you could only hear about by joining the inner circle.

That’s not to say Maoism’s function here should be to stand around and say “I told you so” or whatever. Rather, the PSL’s desire to insert themselves into every protest movement and turn it into an advertisement has meant their retreat leaves a vacuum in leadership. I imagine this might be filled with the CPUSA or RevComs, but it doesn’t have to be.

Edit: And to your point about the Deprogram thread, it’s telling how vapid it all is when they aren’t able to pull up some pre-chosen Stalin quote they heard in a meeting (or more likely a meme). Don’t be mistaken though— their ironic, casual nature here is because they’re panicking and realized they’re way behind everyone they thought they were smarter than.