"He squandered a massive landslide from an electorate hungry for change, poured billions of public pounds into private pockets and accelerated the growing gap between rich and poor"
Crow was speaking about Tony Blair. But he could have been talking about Sir Stammer, Albanese in Australia, or in Aotearoa, Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins. Seems there's a pattern here.
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Surely it couldn't be that Labour parties exist to suck up all the oxygen in the electoral room, and do nothing with it? Denying it to left-wing parties who actually want to change things to make society better for working people.
It couldn't be that. Could it?
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I learned about Bob Crow from the song named after him by Fit and the Conniptions, from their 2017 album Old Blue Witch;
https://bandwagon.fm/677c2a9b5cd233fafccd3b8c
This is a fun album, full of piss and vinegar. Reminding me in parts of the some of David Rovics, especially his more tongue-in-cheek songs like Burn It Down, and rabble-rousing songs like The Commons and Black Flag Flying.
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Bob Crow was a militant trade unionist, which I have huge respect for. He was also into Leninism, which I don't have much time for. But to be fair, in my experience Marxists have often been better at showing solidarity with fellow leftists than other anarchists I've dealt with, and some of my best friends have been active in Marxist-Leninist groups. One or 2 still are.
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@strypey Before the Revolution, Marxist-Leninists will get along with other revolutionaries.
If the Revolution actually happens, they are going to have you shot. Hope you're ok with that.
It happened in Russia and China. There are close parallels in the French Revolution and the 1933 German revolution. The totalitarians eliminate everyone else.
Revolutionaries need to put a LOT more energy into figuring out how to avoid that. The State will fall when it's time. What comes next is harder.
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@mike805
> If the Revolution actually happens, they are going to have you shot
Maybe. But that's a then problem. Being thrown under the bus by other anarchists, or just shadowbanned from the local movement, is a now problem. At least I can count on most Marxists to collaborate pragmatically on areas of common concern in the short term. Other anarchists? Maybe. Often not.
@strypey Isn't that an old joke? If a group of crows is a murder and a group of dogs is a pack, what is a group of anarchists? A void?
From reading, this was a huge problem in the Spanish Civil War. The anarchists could win a battle and take over a town, but then it wasn't clear what to do next.
The Communists and the Falange knew what they wanted to do next: seize state power.
Anarchy paradoxically requires an organization to maintain it. Else gangs form and one of them becomes the state.
Strypey
mike805