Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 11:34:59 -0600 (CST)
From: Chegitz Guevara <mluziett-AT-shrike.depaul.edu>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Questions concerning the SWP.


On Thu, 15 Feb 1996, boddhisatva wrote:

> 		Mr. Dean,
> 
> 	I don't know much about this group but I know quite a little about
> the sectarian weirdness on this group.  Don't run!  Don't Flee!  Talk to
> these people, get to know them, even join the group if you don't find them
> offensive.  

Don't listen to Bodhisatva. Stay away from the SWP. They are a cult. They 
lie, they call your house at 2:00am, they way overcharge on the price of 
their publications, they surround you when you're trying to talk with 
them. All they do is recruit people to rectruit people to recruit people 
to recruit people ad infinitum ad nausium.

> 	THEN, you can do something no leftists ever seem to be able to do -
> join another group.  Join the IWW, or the CP, or the ISO, or the C of C. 
> Join them all, keep your mind open, argue your points, try and influence the
> platforms, and try and promote unity among people with legitimate
> disagreements.  

You cannot join more than one organization, with a couple of possible
exceptions. The SWP, the CP and the ISO would all expell you for dual
membership (something I had actually tried to do with Spark and the ISO
back in the days when I though all socialists got along, but the ISO
wouldn't let me join while I was in Spark). You aren't allowed to decide
what you think on an issue, the party decides for you. If you disagree,
you are in danger of being expelled as a petty-bourgeouis. This applies to
many groups on the left.

> 	The dumbest thing you could do, in my opinion, would be to sacrifice
> something as important as Marxism to your disdain of cliquishness. If they
> are a clique, then they should be ashamed of themselves, and you should shame
> them.  With so few Marxists in the world, party loyalty is hardly something
> to be proud of.  Leave party loyalty to the Democrats and Republicans. 
> Marxists need to confront problems, not platforms.  Now, if these people
> can't be convinced of that, then you have to leave them, but don't surrender.

Talk to Jerry Levy and Louis Proyocet. They were in that organization, 
and have some very scary stories to tell you about it.

> 	More than anyone, Marxists should be able to subsume their personal
> convictions into the greater revolution.

Marxists who want to build a world based on freedom, shouldn't have to
sacrifice every shred of freedom to their orgnaization. Only what is
necessary to keep from getting killed by the state, which isn't a very big
problem in the U.S. right now. 

> 	
> 	peace,
> 
> 		boddhisatva

Talk to every group you can, seriously, about various issues, about other 
groups, about internal party life. Talk to former members of groups to 
hear what they have to say about the organization. When you feel you are 
ready to join a group, join one that will argue with you, disagree with 
you, but respect your right to make up your own mind. There are only a 
tiny handful of groups that fit that bill: Solidarity, the Committees of 
Correspondence, and the Socialist Party. Labor Militant, League of 
Revolutionaries for a New America, Democratic Socialists of America I all 
have questions about. All the rest, watch out.

Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
political homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett/chegitz.html

o/~ When an eel lunges out and it bites off your snout, 'ats amore o/~



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