Why you will become a renegade

I am by no means the only person to desert the false religion of Trotskyism, nor will I be the last. Indeed, I am confident that my defection from the IMT cult placed a seed of doubt in the minds of at least a few members, and that this blog can only assist in this regard. Granted, some might have reacted by doubling down and strengthening their blind faith in the Marxist religion, but I am optimistic that, at least on the part of some, this will prove to be a temporary phenomenon.

The truth is that, as the cult expert Steven Hassan has noted, all humans beings deep down want to be free. People do not like being lied to, exploited or controlled. Everyone has a core self which is suppressed by the cult, which seeks to remake all of its members in the same image. That core self can never be destroyed entirely. Within weeks of leaving the cult, I felt my core self returning to me. The passionate individualism, the sense of intellectual curiosity, the determination to go my own way heedless of the consequences, revived. That is what all those who leave cults discover as they return to normal life. Sooner or later, most of those who are now in the organisation will wake up, realise what they have been led into, and escape. Some will realise it sooner than others. I realised it after a mere two and a half years.

All Marxist organisations have high turnover rates. This was true for the Communist Party and it is true for Trotskyist sects like the IMT. There are more ex-members than current members. There are more Marxists and ex-Marxists who are outside Marxist organisations than are members of an organisation. There is a reason for this. The atmosphere in these groups is so toxic, tribal and inward-looking that it is impossible for a critically-thinking person to stay there for too long before realising that they have been duped, and withdrawing. Go on Google images and type in ‘International Marxist Tendency’ or the name of any other sect, and most of the images will be of people who are no longer in the organisation. Granted, there will always be a hardcore of loyalists who remain no matter what, but most people drop out after a period of time. This is called ‘revolving door syndrome’. It is ruinous and wasteful for both the cult and those who are persuaded to join, but these predatory and counterproductive attitudes towards recruitment don’t faze the leadership. As long as there is a constant stream of new faces, the illusion of growth can be maintained. Setbacks are rarely if ever admitted. Before I left the organisation, I was told by a full-timer that the leadership had set a target to double the organisation in a year. It would now appear that the organisation has not in fact fulfilled this goal, nor was it ever going to. These ridiculous targets are set with the aim of overworking the members to the most ridiculous degree, a factor that leads many to drop out. Besides that, people sooner or later start questioning aspects of the organisation’s doctrine, something which rarely goes well for dissidents, who are viciously slandered and then shown the door. Boredom, intellectual stultification and burnout are all reasons why people quit these high-control groups. The amount of emotional labour that goes into sustaining membership of such an organisation is such that one wonders how such stressed, overwrought individuals could possibly bring about the better world they seek, especially since capitalism is emotionally taxing as it is. The full-timers are exploited much more savagely than any corporation in any capitalist country in the First World ever would or could exploit its workforce.

Let’s face facts. Those of my former comrades who remain in the organisation will also take the path of renegacy. With every set of ‘perspectives’ that is proven false, with every split, with every mindless paper sale in inclement weather, with every branch meeting at which the same line is repeated by rote, the whole thing is revealed for what it is – an exercise in futility. Even those who fiercely condemned me for selling out will themselves ‘sell out’ and leave when they see the truth. They will then regret their angry words, and will themselves be turned on by their former comrades. They will see that everything I am saying about their organisation is true. I only hope they shake off their illusions sooner rather than later, and learn to appreciate the beauty of free thinking. They will realise that the world, for all its flaws, is so much grander than all the myths and legends of Trotskyist religion, and they will embrace it in all of its magnificence. Life is too short to be wasted on such adolescent rubbish.