Over the past month I have read both Jonathan Sperber’s Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life and Gareth Stedman Jones’ Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion. Both books have their strengths and weaknesses. Both do a convincing job of correcting the record on Marx and his relationship to the doctrine that bears his name. They put him … Read more
‘Dialectics is foresight over astonishment.’-Leon Trotsky ‘The imperialist propaganda machine insists that Putin has failed in his objective, and that the Russian army’s advance has been halted by the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian army. …Ultimately, it is the balance of forces that will determine the outcome. And that is overwhelmingly in favour of Russia. … Read more
484. GOING OUR OWN WAY.-When we take the decisive step, and make up our minds to follow our own path, a secret is suddenly revealed to us: it is clear that all those who had hitherto been friendly to us and on intimate terms with us judged themselves to be superior to us, and are … Read more
Back in 2014, the IMT denounced the Maidan Revolution as ‘fascist’ and celebrated the ‘anti-fascist resistance’ of the Eastern Ukrainian separatists, backed by Russian imperialism. At a pro-Russia solidarity gathering, Woods spoke. Hear him at 6:52 criticising Putin for not invading sooner! That’s aged well. Aside from the fact that Putin did in fact invade … Read more
“To imagine that a social revolution is conceivable without revolts of small nations in the colonies and in Europe, without the revolutionary outbursts of the petty bourgeoisie, with all its prejudices, without the movement of non-class-conscious proletarian and semi-proletarian masses against the oppression of the landlords, the church, the monarchy, the foreign yoke, etc. – to imagine … Read more
As part of the process of leaving Trotskyism behind, I have had to unlearn a lot. It began with a few small steps of questioning, to the full-blown collapse of my faith in the space of less than two months. Something that all cults or religious fundamentalisms have in common is a set of dogmas … Read more
When I left the cult, an IMT cultist taunted me on Facebook for lapsing back into lost Christian faith. I had been very open about my Christian upbringing and how I resented the fundamentalist nonsense with which I was indoctrinated. Now it was being used against me, in typical cult-like fashion. Of course, Christianity had … Read more
For every single day since leaving the International Marxist Tendency, I have felt anger. Anger courses through my veins like lava flowing through a volcano. My brain pulsates violently with rage as I comprehend the damage that was done to me. Leaving the cult was like being picked up and hurled out of a tall … Read more
A while back, I read an interesting article on plans Hitler allegedly had to transition Germany to a planned economy after the war. Whilst I doubt such plans would have come to fruition, it would have been interesting to see how the Trotskyist movement would have responded to him doing it. Since, according to Trotskyists, … Read more
Bullying is a central feature of cults. I am taken back to my rather unhappy days in high school when I think of the horrific abuse I suffered from my peers in the organisation. I am recovering from this evil experience, but I doubt I will ever forget it. I still vividly remember how my … Read more