‘Why I left the Spark and the International Marxist Tendency’

(QUEER) FEMINISM – ANTI-SEXISMEDUCATIONPOLITICAL THOUGHTS

Translated form the original German which can be found here.

16.01. 2024

I was in the funk until a few weeks ago, this over a period of about 6 months. Especially in the last few weeks and months, I’ve noticed more and more things that are partly not right, but that also make Spark a potentially dangerous organization. This article is intended to help other people not to make the same mistake and to point out these grievances.

In order to understand this better, here are a few words about how Funk works. The Funke usually recruits members in two ways: Firstly, through interventions at demos, in front of schools or on the street. People are approached to motivate them to become members. I will say something more about these interventions later. Furthermore, members are sought through the ubiquitous posters and stickers, which have hit the whole of Switzerland like an epidemic in recent months. The newly recruited people are then invited to the “local group meetings” (OGs for short), where they are given ideological advice right from the start (the atmosphere in the OG makes it very difficult for many to criticize). At these local group meetings you are quickly pushed to join, the membership fee is set and you are a member usually before you have time to find out about the spark, to think about it critically or to think about your own decisions or become aware of them . In recent years, people have even started to accept people directly during the first conversation, including membership fees, etc. New members should then “not be left out of sight” in order to bring them ideologically into line with Funke as best and quickly as possible.

Now to the actual criticism. First I have to say something about the question of authority within the organization. Like many Trotskyist organizations, the Spark or the International Marxist Tendency also has an ideological leader. In the case of Funk, that would be Alan Woods. Everything Woods says is law and should not be questioned under any circumstances. We’re talking about a man who denies the Big Bang theory and is friends with the president of Venezuela. He writes most of the important articles in the International and is very likely to proofread the rest. Many of the articles at Funken in Switzerland are simply texts he translated. His opinions are adopted by the “experienced comrades” and carried into the OGs, where they are imposed on all members. At Funke we talk about the “correct position”, whatever that means.

Whoever says something against these arguments will be immediately texted and told why they are wrong and should change their mind. During interventions and discussions, it is better to remain silent on this topic before expressing a “wrong opinion”. The authoritarian tendencies are very clear here and the suppression of dissenting opinions is reminiscent of dark chapters in the history of communism. I noticed this myself when the topic of gender came up. As most may know, the spark doesn’t change. I myself have a completely different opinion and said so when this question came up. Soon I was called to “discuss” this topic with me. In fact, I was told that my opinion was wrong and explained why. Despite the explanation, I still don’t understand why gender should now harm the working class. In the end, I was simply asked not to say anything about it during discussions or to simply repeat Funken’s opinion, even though I didn’t and don’t stand behind it! These non-discussions (or propaganda) also lead to a shockingly low level of political knowledge and skills among some members, despite weekly meetings, reading groups, etc. This is hidden by simply avoiding criticism and labeling those who think differently as stupid in advance. Only those who have read Marx, Trotsky and Lenin have any idea and everyone who has a different opinion should just read more of these personalities and they will change their opinion. In this way, the Funke ideologically isolates itself more and more and at the same time illegitimates all criticism. This no longer has anything to do with grassroots democracy and socialism!

I would also like to briefly address how to deal with sexual abuse. A few years ago there were some cases of abuse in the Canadian and US sections. Instead of dealing with these internally and apologizing to the victim, which would have been the least the IMT should have done, the allegations were made in the manner of AFD and co. dismissed as political attacks against the IMT. For more information I can only recommend this article: https://barrikade.info/article/6252

Finances are a central point of the organization. Since the Funke and the larger sections of the IMT have employed employees from their own ranks, so-called full-timers or professional revolutionaries, the organization has considerable expenses. Despite the not very worker-friendly wage, which is very likely legally contestable, of only 2,750 francs, in Switzerland, with 10 employees and only 300 members, you end up with expenses of at least 30,000 francs per month, or rather more, as there are additional costs for rooms and materials etc. occur. The average membership fee would have to be over 100 francs per month, especially since 8 francs of that go to the International. From my own experience I can say that MBs of 400 francs and more are not uncommon. I am a student myself and receive 250 francs per month. I initially wanted to set my MB at 25 francs per month, which in my opinion is quite a bit. However, I was put under pressure so I increased my MB to 40 francs to start with. In addition to these MBs, donations are collected at every major event and new books should also be bought again and again. In my 6 months I gave about 500 francs to the organization, mostly through external pressure from other comrades. Through so-called financial discussions in the OGs, the comrades are repeatedly told why they should increase their MB and what they can do without. Some, so-called “inspirational examples”, should show how other comrades do it, ie. how much money they give to the organization. At the end there is a round in which each comrade says how much he/she will increase their MB, which automatically puts pressure on everyone. These processes pose a high risk and are extremely critical, especially for younger or insecure people! The spark excludes its own members, with its eyes only on the money.

Spark justifies these efforts and investments mainly with the presence of a so-called “gold layer”. These are young people who have finished with capitalism and now want to fight against it. The Funke has made it its mission to do everything it can to get these young people into its own ranks. No question, these young people are there, and it’s not surprising given this exploitative system. But Spark is not the right organization for them. Most people notice this themselves, almost all after a short membership at the latest. The Funke has been able to gain many new members in the last few months, but only on paper. The credo is to recruit at all costs. Grow, grow and grow again. This led to 150 new members in the last six months. However, as Funke likes to say, this is by no means a huge success. Most of these new members are only there for a very short time and never really start working. Many soon leave the organization. The increase in members has therefore more or less completely stopped in the last 3 months, despite continued recruitment to an sometimes embarrassing extent (yelling at the train station, speeches in the university hall, etc.).

This goes hand in hand with the reaction to political events. These are not seen for what they are, but simply as an opportunity for growth for their own sake. The best example is the Middle East conflict. Even though I still agree with most of Funke’s positions here, this terrible tragedy is being used as an opportunity for rigorous growth, in some cases the situation has almost been applauded, the whole thing is being propagated as a “Palestine window” for growth. Considering the tens of thousands of deaths and civilian casualties, this statement seems incredibly macabre and terrible. The Funke doesn’t give a damn about the civilian population in Gaza or anywhere else in the world, its only interest is building its own organization!

As already mentioned above, the Funke recruits new members in so-called interventions. That means that the spark goes somewhere in the city where there are a lot of people and asks everyone there with their newspapers whether they are already communists. Little attention is paid to the privacy of passers-by; in recent months these interventions have become increasingly offensive and aggressive; people stand in a place with a megaphone and shout into the crowd. Once a 10-year-old girl was asked whether she was a communist (consciously not gendered)! Even at demos, the spark stays in the background and runs through the crowd to discuss with as many people as possible. Here too, members are put under pressure to attend an intervention at least twice a week.

Finally, a few words about other left-wing organizations. These are generally labeled as sects by the Funke, they are “counter-revolutionary” and would harm the working class (even though the Funke hasn’t even done anything for the working class). All left-wing organizations have a “wrong position” and only Funke has the “correct position” is repeated again and again. Because these organizations do not want to work with the spark, they are called sectarian. However, listening to the criticism of these organizations and talking to them is out of the question for Spark. Just a question to all comrades from the Funke: Could it be that you are in the sect, that the sect you always talk about is actually the Funke and the IMT? Just as food for thought.

Finally, I can only warn everyone not to join this cult under any circumstances. There are many, much better alternatives on the left spectrum. And I would like to emphasize once again that this is not an attack on individual members of Funk, but rather this criticism is directed against the leadership and the organization. Most Funke members want to fight for a better world, want to end capitalism and better conditions for all people. They simply haven’t realized yet that Spark isn’t the right organization for them. Talk to them and convince them with your arguments and get them out of this cult. The spark is not the future, it is the path to a dark past.