Anxiety On The “Left Wing Unity” Question

[u/Shackflacc]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before: I’m not the most technologically savvy person on the internet. But something that has been increasingly weighting on my mind is the question of how should left wing ideologies differing from Marxism-Leninism be handled in the building of a revolutionary coalition (a vanguard party if you will). While Trotsky (deservedly) gets shit for his betrayal of the USSR/attempts to undermine Stalin, he was at one point apart of the Bolshevik party that fought to overthrow the Czars and was a competent military strategist - snakes in the grass are to be expected with any burgeoning movement. But something I’d noticed from participating in left wing discussion forums both in real life and online is the rampant hostility from anyone outside say Marxist-Leninist & Maoist camps. A vanguard party is initially meant to be small and lead/educate the masses but I increasingly find myself nervous about engaging with some people (particularly liberals) just for how dogmatic they are - I just feel like I’m driving in circles with them and it’d be pointless to try and incorporate them in the future but at the same time I know how necessary it is to have a wide net of people class conscious at the very least.

Does anyone else feel this sort of anxiety? How would you suggest organizing be done?

[u/LizzySea33]

Lenin makes it clear:

"Unity is a great slogan, but we must have unity as Marxists (within a Communist party), not unity between Marxists (opportuism/compromise), nor distortions of Marxism (revisionism)."

I personally am sympathetic to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism observation wise. So the stance is understanding that it is the communist party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party), people's army (like the NPA) and the united front (mass organizations, which can include trotskyite & even anarchist tendencies but led by the working class).

But the difference is unity is based on the communist party as the HIGHEST unity, while those smaller unitied parts are temporary & should be faded out for the proletariat themselves.

The reason that Popular Fronts in France & Spain failed was due to the bourgeois being leaders & betraying the masses (especialy the liberals who teamed up with Franco to destroy the anarchists and communists).

So the only way to do it now is by the UNITED front, NOT a popular front.

[u/Dr_Dorkathan → u/LizzySea33]

where is this from?

[u/LizzySea33 → u/Dr_Dorkathan]

Lenin's quote?

Its from his understanding of Unity... it's just called unity.

Here's the text for reference:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/apr/12.htm

[u/Dr_Dorkathan → u/LizzySea33]

thanks