- Ultra-leftism
Ultra-leftism has two, overlapping uses. It is used as a generally
pejorative term for certain types of positions on the left that are seen as extreme or intransigent in particular ways (seefar left ). It is also used – whether pejoratively or not – to refer to a particular current ofMarxist communism , which is closely related tocouncil communism andleft communism .The ultra-left current in Marxism
The term "Ultra Left" is rarely used in English, where people tend to speak broadly of
left communism as a minor variant of traditional Marxism, but the equivalent term in French - "ultra-gauche" - has a stronger currency, as it is a more positive term in that language and is used to define a movement that is still in existence today: a branch of left communism descending from people such asAmadeo Bordiga ,Otto Rühle ,Anton Pannekoek ,Herman Gorter , andPaul Mattick , and continuing to present day writers such asJacques Camatte andGilles Dauvé (also known as Jean Barrot).The term originated in the 1920s in the German and Dutch workers movements, originally referring to a
Marxist current opposed to bothBolshevism andsocial democracy , and with some affinities withanarchism . The ultra-left is defined particularly by its breed of anti-authoritarianMarxism , which generally involves an opposition to thestate and tostate socialism , as well as toparliamentary democracy , and towage labour . In opposition toBolshevism , the ultra left generally places heavy emphasis upon the autonomy and spontaneous organisation of theproletariat .Ultra-left as a pejorative expression
Used pejoratively, the term generally identifies and criticizes positions, especially by those in the mainstream historical Marxist parties, to describe a position which is adopted without taking notice of the current situation or of the consequences which would result from following a proposed course - leftist positions that, for example, overstate the tempo of events, propose initiatives that overestimate the current level of
militancy or which employ a highly militant tone in their propaganda.The mainstream Marxist critique of such a position began with
Lenin ’s , which attacked those (such as Pannekoek orSylvia Pankhurst ) in the nascentCommunist International who refused to work withparliamentary orreformist socialist s.Trotskyist s and others see theCommunist International ’sThird Period -when it describedsocial democratic parties as “social fascist” and therefore essentially no better thanHitler ’sNazi s - as a strategy of ultra-leftism.The term has been popularised in the US by the Socialist Workers' Party, who have used the term to both describe opponents in the anti-war movement [http://www.geocities.com/acpollack2/LUoMA.htm] and opponent Trotskyists [http://www.pathfinderpress.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.114/it.A/id.420/.f] including
Gerry Healy . Ultra-leftism is often associated with leftsectarianism , in which a socialist current might, for example, attempt to put its own short-term interests before the long term interests of the working-class and its allies.Overlap between the two uses
Groups who belong to the ultra-left current within left communism are often subject to these sorts of criticisms from the rest of the left. For example, the refusal of the
International Communist Current to work with any other left groups, orJean Barrot ’s critique ofanti-fascism which suggests that all forms ofcapitalism are equally evil, and thereforefascism is essentially no worse thanliberal democracy .References
ee also
*
Ultra-Lettrist
*Left Communism in China
*Lenin , ""External links
* [http://www.libcom.org/library/ Libertarian Communist Library - an archive of libertarian, left and ultra-left communist texts]
* [http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/9973/council.html Ultra-left links]
* [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3909/elenin.html Gilles Dauvé and François Martin "Leninism and the Ultra-Left"]
* Peter Camejo, [http://www.geocities.com/acpollack2/LUoMA.htm Liberalism, Ultra-Leftism or mass action]
* Abbie Bakan, [http://www.web.net/sworker/En/SW2004/429-07-ultraleft.htm Ultraleftism: left words, sectarian practice]
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