I am a Marxist thinker AMA

[Bannedontherun]

I find myself saying this but have come back to feminism so i would like to explore my thinking with you all.

Do you regret the time that you spent being an active Marxist or do you think that some good came out of it?

Did you ever go to Greenham Common or another one of the peace camps back in the 1980s?

@larklane17 I don’t regret it. As we did not incite or involve ourselves in violence, or inciting others in my day. It was actually forbidden, On demos.

I met many great thinkers some known some unknown. Quite a few no longer with us. I learnt how to listen to others points of view and how to successfully debate topics.

I also learnt about Marxist economics and Marxist philosophy. Which i would not have otherwise known.

Did it benefit broader society, well no of course not, but amongst us are lots of people who were touched or were involved in Marxist politics and i sometimes see them in the media, comedy on TV, people who i knew well or vaguely.

And they are as far as i can tell all GC. So I maybe that is the good.

I suppose i can muse to my hearts content on my own thread….

i learnt also about tribes, tribal behaviour, and group think. I always thought the SWP had the potential to be cult like, I left before it happened before Tony Cliff died as did others, i cannot remember the catalyst for me.

one incident was I was driving to London with newer members who were all very parrot like, we were discussing books. I had just read Wild Swans, and one of them said was it on the reading list, as if we were only allowed to read approved books which, was not the case, but it shocked me that he thought that would be okay and only read stuff on bookmarks, FFS..

How does one tell the difference between an invisible Socialist Worker and an invisible Morning Star?

Ha ha

I studied an Economics adjacent degree at a RG university about 20 years ago. My tutor in my second year was an avowed Marxist. His demand for facts to support any thesis and the clear link between the fact and the thesis was amazing. He was the person who taught me how to think.

do you remember Women;s Voice?

Did you ever belong to one of the Communist parties in the UK and if so, what flavour would you say your Marxism was (is)?

Ah yes womens voice. Just before my time i think, the argument was that women should be centred not sidelined, same with gay rights.

I seem to recall an argument about who Women's Voice 'belonged' to
were women allowed to have their own organisation /publication or were they merely a front for recruiting wc women (as if)

I do indeed.
www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/womens-voice-uk/index.htm

I was in the SWP i assume you mean interpretation when you say flavour. I used to love saying i was a Trotskyite, as to me it was very much more about raising the awareness of the working class and organising them to defeat capitalism.

Actually on reflection much in the same way i declare i am GC.

This to me was the only way out for the human race from the current inequalities that exist, across the planet, so not a local issue.

A Trotskyite interpretation of history and his greatest theoretical work still. Has value, such as the theory of the permanent revolution.

But it is all theory and ideas. I have no faith in the idea that the working class will defeat capitalism anymore.

@newtlover before my time so do not know, other than what i already said.

thank you @larklane17 that was a trip down memory lane
WV described itself (in the issue I looked at) as a sister organisation of the SWP
and no mention of lesbian rights in their demands

@AutumnCrow No i did not although i did defend them. That happened when i was moving away from feminism, i found that whole tying nappies on the fence and the whole mother thing confusing at the time because I was more in to women shaking of the idealisation of motherhood.

I was wrong about that but i was a single young woman at the time.

I did get the pleasure of meeting Helen John by accident on a vigil in my city i was coming home from a night club, in the pouring rain at 2 am, she held a Bromley over me and we chewed some fat.

I felt differently about the irish womens peace movement.

As feminist I have two legs.
One's my left and one's my extreme Far Right.

How do I reconcile this position?

@Circumferences well you could cross your legs and see what happens my guess is you would fall over.

If i am interpreting your post correctly then you are correct in spotting that the left is right and the right is left sometimes.

Feminism is not a coherent political group of like minded people, i found it troubling that i loved what Kemi Badenoch said and other women on GC politics. Helen Joyce helped me out there.

Some times our enemies are our friends.

in part your point was what caused my thread, Marxist thinking is like erm looking from above at the world we live in, as if one is not in it. none emotional, analytic, but having to live in this world all the same.

If that makes sense

There was also Red Rag which was linked to the CPGB. Not sure if you recall it? https://banmarchive.org.uk/red-rag/red-rag-from-beginning-to-end-the-women-we-were-and-what-our-politics-became/ More arms length from the leadership imo.
More my background really. Same sex relationships still seen by many as a deviance back then. The Young Communist League pushed a lot of debate forward (but it was mostly about the men).

(Apologies to @Bannedontherun for the interruption there )

@larklane17 No apologies required contributions are all interesting😀

Not much useful to contribute, I just want to say that I loved the OP's "I am a Marxist thinker" to the tune of "I am a cider drinker".

Is there a succinct way to explain the different schools of thought, say between Marxism, Leninism, Trotskyist thought and, say, communism in general?

Do you think that a communist state could function without having eventually to oppress the proletariat ?

We can not have a Marxist state within a Capitalist world, the workers revolution would have to be international. Russia, Cuba etc is proof of that

Will be back to explain the different strands from my perspective

off to eat out in my capitalists sons fine restaurant lol

I love this thread.

I am a Marxist in my 50s and have often in recent years pondered how sound my political thinking still is - as in - does it hold water and feel coherent with the world and I how I see it. Am I ok with myself and how I view the world. Is there too much cognitive or philosophical dissonance.

I'm not out the other side yet, but i realise yes I am still very much a Marxist and that is ok.

I won't derail your thread with my own pondering, but it is nice to meet you.

Do you listen to (or make) the RedFem podcast? Lots of down-to-earth Marxist-feminism there.