Communist Party UK statement on GRR

the point being it wasn't the communisum but the brutal authoritarian dictatorships that happened due to the meglomaniac men who managed to get to the top of the pile.

Pretty much like the Tsars. And anyone who thinks that people didn't live lives of utter drudgery and penury and starved under the Tsars is deluding themselves.

What happened under Stalin is down to Stalin and those who went along with him for the ride, under the banner of communism. Not actual communism or anything like the socialism that Marx described (which allows for private ownership of small firms, just not the entirety of the means of production)

My great grandma’s life was ruined by communism. Her life was great before communism and had a family business. I’m really disgusted that you think communist countries were awful before communism arrived. Communism made their lives awful. People were starving to death and if they didn’t die, they watched their loved ones die. Or they stepped over dead bodies in the street. Or they were burgled because starving people stole rations from other starving people. You clearly have had a very privileged life if you think communism is brilliant and aren’t aware of the way it destroys lives.

I'm guessing there is nobody alive today who lived in Russia under the serfdom of the Tzars, but they would have stories to tell of utter deprivation and destitution and life / death or meagre provisions at the whim of their lord.

While life as a nineteenth-century serf was no picnic, their hardship pales in comparison to the suffering of the 10s of millions who died by famine during the Soviet years. And we haven't even got on to discussing the millions more who died as political prisoners. Communism is evil.

I know these things happen under other political systems. But they seem endemic under communism

I'm guessing there is nobody alive today who lived in Russia under the serfdom of the Tzars, but they would have stories to tell of utter deprivation and destitution and life / death or meagre provisions at the whim of their lord. There is a reason that the revolution in Russia was as brutal as it was.

Avoiding a brutal narcissistic meglomaniac like Stalin, Pol Pot, North Korean Kims, isn't easy. Maybe impossible because only people with that drive and, probably, charisma, can make revolutions like that work.

And yes, denunciations right left and centre: everyone too scared to speak words out loud get denounced and carted off to a gulag. Not exactly the same, but you can see what happens when someone GC stands up to speak.

I have friends who grew up in the DDR (I'm ancient and i live in Germany). Some of whom had parents who were denounced as too liberal and had to work in factories instead of their jobs in education and science. But even the ones who have some realy tragic stories in their past, can also bring up one or two good points. And pretty often it is equality.

comparisons of the CPUK (and other countries) and the authoritian dictatorships of socialist states are misplaced though.

Stalin didn't have purges because of communism. Stalin had purges to get rid of any possible opposition to his authoritarian dictatorship. likewise Hitler (but facist authoritarian dictatorship)

True communism - without power hungry autocrats - would be a different thing.

I have often thought that the best kind of government in many places would be a benevolent dictatorship. (vote for me, I'd be awesome, btw)

WUT.

That's quite the non-sequiter.

I just might vote for the Communist Party. First time for everything.

I might have to vote for the Commies, then! I wonder if they have a candidate in my area, though?

My grandad, RIP, was a member of the British Communist Party. He’d be proud .

Great statement.

The Labour candidate in my area doesn’t believe in gender woo, I have on good authority, but won’t come out and say it publicly. The sitting Tory MP is captured and a nasty misogynistic bastard in all other areas, too.

So…

• We call for ‘sex’ as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act to be defined as ‘biological sex’.

They even say this!
It is extraordinary that it is this party that has investigated this issue so coherently and intelligently.

For anyone who has not signed this petition yet, calling on the Government to update the Equality Act to make clear that the characteristic sex is biological, there is still time:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4758082-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-3

Frankly, any political system is prone to corruption, being run by humans and all. Capitalism isn't perfect by any means, treats people as commodities, etc.

But this is a good statement. I'm not used to unequivocal clarity on this issue these days!

Well we agree that it would never work in large countries (and I’d include small countries too!)

the people I spoke to described people used as things

if you grew up in a certain town then you would work in the local mine, no choices. The people there were partly paid in vodka as a way of controlling them. The way they told it, this was in the 80s, within their memory

the most shocking thing was the extent to which people were encouraged to betray each other. You couldn’t trust anyone

I know these things happen under other political systems. But they seem endemic under communism

They hurl the insults Nazi and fascist around freely but I doubt they have the first clue about 20th century history. They demonstrate zero understanding of these terms.

Exactly.

Nazi and fascist are simply shorthand for "evil person/organisation" in same way TERF has evolved from trans exclusionary radical feminist to "witch".

In this good old modern day witch hunt I can absolutely imagine a mob of TRAs denouncing the Communist Party as fascists. They decide what floats and what sinks.

This is funny as most of the TRAs claim to be communists lol. Bet they’re not amused 😂

Don't underestimate the mental gymnastics. If men are women, feminists are nazis, the cat can be the dog and leftist lefties can be the right. But I hope you're right.

Very heartwarming to see too. Thanks for sharing.

The Weekly Worker group has published a few rather wishy-washy articles on the subject without coming out with clear conclusions, which is pretty unusual for them. I suspect this means they are divided on the issue.

Oh, since you asked, but it gets complicated.

The original Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was set up in the 1920s after the Russian Revolution through fusion of several existing socialist groups.

It never made much impact in elections, but did get a foothold in the labour movement.

The CPGB declined in the 1970s and 80s and the leadership tried to steer a more reformist course. People opposed to this walked out and founded the Communist Party of Britain (CPB).

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the mainstream CPGB, understandably enough, suffered complete political disorientation, renamed itself and eventually dissolved.

After that a earlier small splinter group decided that since the name wasn't being used any more, they would have it, and started operating as the CPGB (Provisional Central Committee). This is the group that publishes the Weekly Worker paper.

As the biggest remaining group, the CPB now often just calls itself the Communist Party.

There were other groups but I don't know if any are still active.

Sorry, CPB.

There are so many of them splitters. I think the CPGB is on our side too but may have got that wrong.

This is true about MB’s mother.

The CPUK have been good on this for a while (I voted for them in the last local elections!)

I believe Magdalen Bern's mother Deborah Lavin was a co founder of the Communist Party of Britain. But I'm not sure what relationship it has with the CP of old ?

Maybe some Marxist poster can enlighten me. Not sure how Ash Sarkar can claim to be a Communist if she believes in pink and blue gendered souls but there we are.

Worth a read of Ukrainian history before communism. Serfdom until 1861 and turmoil, war and mass emigration after.

I'm not suggesting communism is a good alternative to what we have now. But it's not worse than what went before it in most cases.

If communism was done in smaller countries (Central America if the US hadn't murdered everyone) it might have worked on a small scale. Never would work in large countries.

Why we have gender critical feminists lining up to speak alongside right wing nut jobs I'll never know.

Because left wing nut jobs won’t allow them a platform?

having spoken to people who lived under communist rule in Ukraine I'm pretty clear that I'd never vote communist. good statement though

I said great grandmother @RoseFl0wers

ClassicLib · Today 20:10

Given that there are probably a grand total of 37 people in the U.K. who give a flying fuck what the communist party says about anything, it’s probably best to ignore them, like 99.999999% of people.

Given that there are only 14 Lib Dem MPs it’s probably best to ignore ‘classic Libs’ as well.
Can you tell my gender by looking at my soul?

Nobody can credibly claim that the Communist Party are Right-wing!

It's 2023, of course they can.

I've listened to the stories of people who grew up in communist regimes so I'm unlikely to vote for them.

I do appreciate the clarity of the statement though, it's spot on.

Ash Sarkar must be furious. Every cloud....😁

My grandma is alive and I’m young. She moved to the U.K. in her early 20s.