As usual, the national gathering held annually by Socialist Alternative in Australia featured packed sessions, lively discussions, and lots of clarity on politics at home and abroad, from Indigenous struggle to escalating imperialist conflict with China.
If the “micro-sect” isn’t the problem, why do so many socialist organizations suffer from a lack of democracy? And why haven’t we built a mass revolutionary party yet? As Firebrand’s E. Reed argues, charting the history of the socialist movement shows how inheritances from the past continue to weigh us down.
In the wake of the 2018 collapse of the International Socialist Organization, some socialists have argued that this disaster is proof that the small group as a model to build the movement is a dead end. History proves them wrong. A look at the past development of socialism shows a small organization with discipline and clear ideas is often the best starting place for growing mass revolutionary politics.
A specter is haunting communism: the specter of “socialism” Reformists and Stalinists, social democrats and communists alike have invented “socialism” as a replacement for Karl Marx’s revolutionary communism. They try to divert the left-wing movement from its goal of...