I’m a baby ML, and I wanted to get organized. Well, IMT currently has a global campaign of Karl Marx flyers, and I decided to join my local branch as a contact. Basically, you can attend meetings and events, but you’re not a full member.
It was fine at first, although I quickly realized they were Trots. I was willing to give them a chance, and I reached out to some internet comrades from GenZedong for input, and they said it should be fine to organize with Trots if it’s all there is around me. Well, the first couple months were what I expected. Basically a book club. However, they had a weird tendency to constantly mock “Stalinists,” when I don’t think they once mentioned fascism im a meeting. They also said China was never socialist because Mao was a “Stalinist bureaucrat.”
I spoke with a member one-on-one, and they explained that according to Trotsky’s “Fascism: What It Is And How To Fight It,” Fascism isn’t a threat because it is the mobilization of the petite bourgeouisie, which was half of the population in the places of Europe it took hold in at the time, but because the majority of the population is now proletarianized, we don’t have to worry about it.
I thought ok, that sounds strange. It goes completely against what I read in Parenti’s “Blackshirts and Reds,” which describes the big capitalists as having played a more prominent role, but I’m a baby leftist so I didn’t want to be too dogmatic. So I read Trotsky’s work on fascism, and it seemed ok, and I left it at that.
The meetings continued as usual, and I noticed they’d often collect money from their members at the end of meetings. It was strange, but I thought maybe they were just donating. However, at the meeting before the Karl-Marx-Seminar, a large weekend-long event hosted in Berlin, every member pledged at least 50, up to 500 euros to donate.
That was shocking.
But the Seminar itself only cost 20 euros, so I went. And I’ll admit, it was fun. But something was off- it gave me church vibes, and I had escaped a very… traditional church in the past. There was also alcohol, and lots of it, and the event lasted from breakfast at 7 AM untill 11:00 PM. So everyone was buzzed and exhausted, and easily open to suggestion.
The actual speeches seemed harmless enough, aside from blaming all the KPD’s failures on ‘muh Stalinism.’ Then, however, they said something weird- instead of being pessimistic, we should be optimistic about the wars in Ukraine and Palestine. They were at least correct in calling Ukraine an inter-imperialist war and the Israelis as genociding the Palestinians. However, they seemed oddly… excited, as to them, it meant a ‘revolutionary moment’ was coming soon.
They were right about the blatantness of the class contradictions in society, but their framing of the global crises reminded me of Christian speeches about Jesus coming any day now. They said we just need to be prepared to step in during a revolutionary moment, and that socialism is inevitable, almost like a promise of heaven. I think socialism is the only answer, but I don’t agree with it being inevitable. It is a struggle to be won, and if we lose, we will all die from climate catastrophes. So there’s at least two options…
Then, during the breaks between seminars, everyone would pressure you into buying their IMT merch. Because isn’t that what communism is all about?
Day 1 ended with a financial portion. They talked about the importance of “revolutionary finances” to fund an office in Berlin, even though I believe it could be better spent with mutual aid like the Black Panthers did.
They had each group’s finance person go and speak about how much they made, and every single group somehow met or surpassed their hundreds of euros goals.
Then, even though in total the German speaking groups met the goal they set, 30k euros iirc, they then raised it by another 10k or 12k (sorry I forget) euros and had a pause where group leaders would try to convince their members to give even more to meet this new goal, and many did. They in fact met this new goal. Most shocking, they boasted about how they collected 60 euros from a child.
That’s what the fundraising before the event was for, I realized. It reminded me of a telechurch pyramid scheme. The next day was much of the same, so I’ll skip to when I almost became an actual member.
The first thing they said is that because they know my financial situation isn’t great, they were only going to ask me for 30 euros a month.
Wait. That’s a lot. That’s money I need for food.
I told them this would be a problem, and that it clicked that finances would be a recurrimg theme, so I said I’d have to decline membership because I didn’t feel comfortable with the financial dynamic. Then, I was told that the “fight for communism is more important than respecting my feelings.” This shocked me, and I stopped responding.
I did more research and found out about all the IMT SA allegations, as well as a well made video calling out IMT as a cult:
I tried to peacefully cut ties with the group while avoiding offending them too much, as many of them are nice people (and vulnerable; one person told me IMT podcasts are the only thing that give them hope…), but I was called out for doing research outside the group, and told I should have talked to them about it instead. They said they don’t regret their money spent and ‘knew what they were getting into,’ so there’s nothing I can do to help them escape.
So yeah, it seems they recruit new leftists and vulnerable people who need a community. Then, once you’ve invested a few months of time ‘organizing’ with them in their book clubs and selling their newspapers, they want as much money from you as they think you are physically able to give. One member said they give a ‘large chunk’ of their salary, despite having holes in their shoes.
Sorry if there are any typos, I really don’t want to read all this again. The situation triggered my depression, and they were my only community, so I’m all alone again. But I wanted to get this out there so I can hopefully protect even one person to atone for the damage I did by spreading their stickers, flyers, and newspapers.
Whatever the case, even if they are the only option in your area, do not join the IMT. They present themselves as the only option for revolution, but even if that were true, it’s not a revolution I’d want to survive. And don’t worry, I’m still looking for other groups to organize with, but I’m going to be much more cautious this time. And I’ll definitely make sure they aren’t trots. If anything, I want to call myself a Stalinist now hahaha.
I hope you have a good day and stay safe comrades.