Information War wants to be free
to serve the struggle to end bourgeois rule
to serve the struggle to end bourgeois rule
The Open Network of Revolutionary Activists Needs the Benefit of Your Experience
Posted 9th October 2011 at 02:45 by Ben Seattle
At the mass action here in Seattle yesterday, I handed out a few dozen invitations
to the next meeting of our discussion group on a 6 x 4 inch slip of paper, worded
as follows:
to the next meeting of our discussion group on a 6 x 4 inch slip of paper, worded
as follows:
The Open Network of Revolutionary Activists
Needs the Benefit of Your ExperiencePublic Meeting
When: Thursday, October 13 at 2 pm
Where: Roy Street Coffee & Tea
(the experimental-Starbucks next to FedEx-Kinko’s
at north end of Broadway on Capitol Hill)
Tenative Mission Statement:
We work to overcome the isolation
faced by revolutionary activists
so that we can help one another develop or
advance a revolutionary perspective in our work.
We work to sort out questions by
engaging and defending ideas.
►What we are: An informal discussion group of
2 or 3 experienced activists that meets one a month.
► What we hope to accomplish:2 or 3 experienced activists that meets one a month.
..... ► Our minimum expectation: Meet to listen and learn
............. from one another and treat one another with respect
........► Our maximum expectation: Resolve and understand
..............all the contradictions of the revolutionary movement
► What we need: We need to learn from experienced activists who:
(1) have reached revolutionary conclusions,
(2) want to work for the overthrow of the system of bourgeois rule,
(3) want to make use of the revolution in communications to build a healthy and powerful revolutionary mass movement, and
(4) want to overcome the crisis of theory that has crippled and divided revolutionary activists for decades.
(2) want to work for the overthrow of the system of bourgeois rule,
(3) want to make use of the revolution in communications to build a healthy and powerful revolutionary mass movement, and
(4) want to overcome the crisis of theory that has crippled and divided revolutionary activists for decades.
For more info: see the blog of Ben Seattle at:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/blog.php?u=15414
Note: Thursday at 2 pm is not a good meeting time for most people, since it
would require taking time off from work (if you are lucky enough to have a job).
If you would like to attend one of our meetings but this is not a good time
for you, make this clear in a comment on this post. And propose a time
that works for you. -- Ben
Total Comments 2
Comments
-
Hello, Ben! I believe I spoke to you at the SCCC walk-out yesterday. My name is Daniel. I read your invite, and it was of much refreshment. I am a radical, and I am involved with multiple radicalist groups, but the thing, though, is that they are all particularly sectarian, all too often. Moreover, reformism does not belong in the realm of revolutionary politics; reformism is anathema. While I can't attend your meeting today, I would absolutely love to sit down with you guys with the objective to discuss and organize. Thank you very much, and solidarity to you!Posted 13th October 2011 at 15:57 by RadicalWithoutAdjectives -
Reply to Daniel
Hi there Daniel,
Your post is encouraging to me. We should find a way to get together and discuss the principles which may lead to the development of a healthy and powerful revolutionary mass movement.
(1) Our next scheduled meeting is Thursday, November 4 at 2 pm at the same place. You are certainly welcome.
(2) We could also have a meeting before then, if Anton can make it. The issue here is time and schedule. I work day shift and Anton works swing shift. I can (sometimes) take time off from my job during the day if I make up the hours later. But this can be awkward, so I do not do it too often.
I will email Anton so he will be aware of your posting and he can reply here.
What does your schedule look like? What times are good for you?
(3) We can also have some discussion electronically, here on this blog. In-person discussion is easier in many ways, but discussion over the internet is useful also: it gives us time to think and formulate our questions and comments.
I will (tonight) post here a summary of the meeting that Anton and I had yesterday. At that meeting we discussed the political contradictions and class struggle within the Occupy Seattle movement (which are the same as are within the movement nationally). We also discussed the strengths and weaknesses of various groups on the left or that have participated in the movement, including: BOC, Red Spark, SAIC, Socialist Alternative and the RCP.
Large numbers of people without previous political experience are coming to the Westlake assemblies. These people bring with them the ideas which they have been given by the bourgeois media and culture of the society in which we live. These ideas include a lot of illusions (ie: the police are our friends, we can clean up our existing society with strategic reforms backed by mass action, etc). Once people connect with the mass action at Westlake, and take part in the process and struggle--they gain experience and their ideas rapidly evolve. This is a very good thing. I am glad to be alive to see it and I hope I may be able to contribute to this process.
People who come to the mass actions want our movement to be united because they understand that it is weaker when it is divided. But our movement is not united because we live in a class-divided society and the class enemy has influence over a section of the people who are active at Westlake. For lack of a better name, I call this section the "careerists". The careerists argue for giving in to the demands of the mayor in order to avoid arrests. On the opposite pole is the militant section, which argues that our movement can only attract widespread support and become powerful when it refuses to surrender to threats from the mayor.
The careerists are working hard to isolate the militants. And the militants are working hard to isolate the careerists. People who are new to the action want "everyone to get along". But as people gain experience in the actions and participate in the democratic decision-making process--they are increasingly concluding that the views of the militant section correspond to the needs of attracting support and building a powerful movement.
Your thoughtful comments, questions or criticisms in response to the summary would be quite useful for us and probably useful for you also--because the process of writing down political thoughts is an exercize that develops our ability to analyse and understand the events and principles we are describing and discussing.
More soon ...
All the best,
Ben SeattlePosted 14th October 2011 at 15:20 by Ben Seattle 
Updated 14th October 2011 at 15:50 by Ben Seattle
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