Recently there was a split, purges, and resignations, with much resultant gnashing of teeth in the Socialist Workers Party in Britain. SWP is a Leninist formation that fancies itself a vanguard party, ready to lead the workers to the inevitable proletarian victory. However, this can only happen after the masses have realized the correctness [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ultra leftism’
My enemy’s enemy is still my enemy
To badly mix metaphor with a Charlie Daniel lyric, I couldn’t resist chasing this dead horse once more around the parking lot. Because when an “Iran cleric urges severe punishment for rally leaders” I’m guessing that means lots of prison and torture, something you’d think lefties would oppose.
Just because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thumbs his nose at [...]
On similarities between some far leftists and the ayatollahs
Christopher Hitchens, on the ayatollahs blaming everything on the British.
One of the signs of Iran’s underdevelopment is the culture of rumor and paranoia that attributes all ills to the manipulation of various demons and satans. And, of course, the long and rich history of British imperial intervention in Persia does provide some support for the [...]
Response to lefties who support Ahmadinejad
It’s heartening to see a groundswell from the far left against ultra-left parties who will not support the Iran protests because of their delusion that Ahmadinejad somehow is an ally. (And maybe because they see this as a way to recruit for their parties.) But the sick truth is, too much of the far left [...]
A question to the left on Iran: Can the people make history or not?
Mike Ely at International Journal of Socialist Renewal on the left response to the Iran protests and why the foe of my foe is often not a friend.
There is a self-deceptive politics (among some leftists) that seeks to prettify all kinds of reactionary forces that (for one reason or another) are in opposition to US [...]
