So as some of you might know, I’m a member of a marxist party, maybe one of the biggest of Western Europe currently.
The party is not ML. It takes part in electoral politics, though its main focus is building class consciousness at the work places and in the local communities. Getting into parliament is beneficial because 1) money and 2) raising awareness.
The party gets criticized by groups on the margin. They sometimes specifically criticize the MLs in our party for joining, because we are not part of what Lenin described as a Vanguard Party. I guess they are not entirely wrong, I’m not going to call my party ML even though there is (increasing) room for ML sentiment.
My problem is, I don’t really know what to do with these critics. Leaving the current party, with tens of thousands of active members and actual political influence, for a ‘true ML party’ with several dozen people who struggle to organize a book club, does not sound like the way to go. Stop calling myself a ML? That would seem weird as well.
How do you guys look at this?
How long are you in this party? If in your experience you find that it’s possible to alter some policies of the party, then it’s definitely worth it struggling from the inside and fight for a more revolutionary line, even if it’s not a “ML” party. I expect however, that sooner or later you’ll find something in the party that cannot be changed because of limitations of the organization.
Well I did manage to become responsible for writing a part of the party programme, so I guess I can actually have some influence.