"Clark Kent" Communists
There's an interesting piece on Indymedia.
Although anonymous, the piece was probably written by a Trotskyist, from the Communist Workers Group or some similar organisation.
The writer is commenting on the recent actions of the Italian Communist Refoundation, part of the ruling Italian "Red/Green Coalition, who provoked Italian PM, Romano Prodi (an alleged KGB agent) into threatening to resign.
The writer refers to 'parties of a new type'. These are coalitions of Communists, Greens, Maoists, indigenous radicals, "petit bourgeois" and a strong Trotskyist (4th International) sector, designed to gain enough critical mass to replace the existing social democratic party.
I believe the ruling Brazilian Worker's party (founded in 1980) was the model for these parties. RESPECT in the UK, Communist Refoundation in Italy, the Scottish Socialist Party and the Australian Socialist Alliance are all examples of this strategy.
Jim Anderton's failed New Labour Party/Alliance was designed to overtake Labour and almost succeeded before imploding. Matt McCarten's continually delayed "Aotearoa Party" is another example of the same strategy.
The Green Party has a Trotskyist/Maoist core of people, many of whom were involved in the New Labour party and/or connected to the Australian Democratic Socialist Party-the key promoter of 'party of a new type' strategies in our region.
What is interesting about this piece is that it claims several people inside Jim Anderton's New labour Party and the Greens, are "Clark Kent" Marxists-infiltrators waiting for their opportunity to rip off their disguises to strike out for the revolution.
I have been saying just this for some time. While the writer, clearly regards these people as "sellouts", it is nice to get some confirmation, from the extreme left no less, of my claims.
From .Indymedia
Italy's Refounded Communist Party is being torn apart by the same issue that destroyed New Zealand's Alliance Party in 2001 - the war in Afghanistan.
Like the Alliance, the RCP is a coalition of social democrats and anti-capitalists led by a charismatic politician far to the right of his party's grassroots supporters.
After entering a government dedicated to defending the interests of Italian capitalism and to strengthening of the European Union and NATO, the RCP has been faced with a choice between giving up the perks of power, on the one hand, and voting for the deployment of more Italian troops to Afghanistan, on the other. No prizes for guessing which option the party leadership has taken.
Along with the Respect Party in England and the Scottish Socialist Party, the RCP has sometimes been held up as an example of the 'parties of a new type' which supposedly offer a way forward for Kiwi socialists looking to (re)build a left alternative to Labour.
The revolutionaries in these 'parties of a new type' sometimes talk amongst themselves about a 'Clark Kent strategy'. While the party is gathering support, and the climate of public opinion is unsympathetic to socialism, the revolutionaries will assume the 'moderate' disguise of social democracy. When the time is ripe, they will rip off their disguise and reveal themselves as revolutionary 'supermen (and women)' dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism.
Kiwi lefties with long memories will know that the New Labour Party founded here in 1989 was an example of a 'party of the new type'. Some of its most influential members were 'Clark Kent' Marxists. The Green Party has also attracted Clark Kents. Like their counterparts in the RCP, these undercover Marxists often ended up quite happy to make their disguise permanent.
One-time revolutionaries like Matt Robson, Keith Locke, Sue Bradford, Marian Hobbs, and Metiria Turei have all become respectable MPs happy to serve the interests of New Zealand capital and US imperialism (Robson and Hobbs backed the invasion of Afghanistan; Locke and Turei are vocal defenders of the neo-colonial occupations that are killing East Timorese and Solomon Islanders and defending Australian and American investments).
Although anonymous, the piece was probably written by a Trotskyist, from the Communist Workers Group or some similar organisation.
The writer is commenting on the recent actions of the Italian Communist Refoundation, part of the ruling Italian "Red/Green Coalition, who provoked Italian PM, Romano Prodi (an alleged KGB agent) into threatening to resign.
The writer refers to 'parties of a new type'. These are coalitions of Communists, Greens, Maoists, indigenous radicals, "petit bourgeois" and a strong Trotskyist (4th International) sector, designed to gain enough critical mass to replace the existing social democratic party.
I believe the ruling Brazilian Worker's party (founded in 1980) was the model for these parties. RESPECT in the UK, Communist Refoundation in Italy, the Scottish Socialist Party and the Australian Socialist Alliance are all examples of this strategy.
Jim Anderton's failed New Labour Party/Alliance was designed to overtake Labour and almost succeeded before imploding. Matt McCarten's continually delayed "Aotearoa Party" is another example of the same strategy.
The Green Party has a Trotskyist/Maoist core of people, many of whom were involved in the New Labour party and/or connected to the Australian Democratic Socialist Party-the key promoter of 'party of a new type' strategies in our region.
What is interesting about this piece is that it claims several people inside Jim Anderton's New labour Party and the Greens, are "Clark Kent" Marxists-infiltrators waiting for their opportunity to rip off their disguises to strike out for the revolution.
I have been saying just this for some time. While the writer, clearly regards these people as "sellouts", it is nice to get some confirmation, from the extreme left no less, of my claims.
From .Indymedia
Italy's Refounded Communist Party is being torn apart by the same issue that destroyed New Zealand's Alliance Party in 2001 - the war in Afghanistan.
Like the Alliance, the RCP is a coalition of social democrats and anti-capitalists led by a charismatic politician far to the right of his party's grassroots supporters.
After entering a government dedicated to defending the interests of Italian capitalism and to strengthening of the European Union and NATO, the RCP has been faced with a choice between giving up the perks of power, on the one hand, and voting for the deployment of more Italian troops to Afghanistan, on the other. No prizes for guessing which option the party leadership has taken.
Along with the Respect Party in England and the Scottish Socialist Party, the RCP has sometimes been held up as an example of the 'parties of a new type' which supposedly offer a way forward for Kiwi socialists looking to (re)build a left alternative to Labour.
The revolutionaries in these 'parties of a new type' sometimes talk amongst themselves about a 'Clark Kent strategy'. While the party is gathering support, and the climate of public opinion is unsympathetic to socialism, the revolutionaries will assume the 'moderate' disguise of social democracy. When the time is ripe, they will rip off their disguise and reveal themselves as revolutionary 'supermen (and women)' dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism.
Kiwi lefties with long memories will know that the New Labour Party founded here in 1989 was an example of a 'party of the new type'. Some of its most influential members were 'Clark Kent' Marxists. The Green Party has also attracted Clark Kents. Like their counterparts in the RCP, these undercover Marxists often ended up quite happy to make their disguise permanent.
One-time revolutionaries like Matt Robson, Keith Locke, Sue Bradford, Marian Hobbs, and Metiria Turei have all become respectable MPs happy to serve the interests of New Zealand capital and US imperialism (Robson and Hobbs backed the invasion of Afghanistan; Locke and Turei are vocal defenders of the neo-colonial occupations that are killing East Timorese and Solomon Islanders and defending Australian and American investments).
posted by Trevor Loudon at
3/01/2007 10:02:00 AM
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