Re: [OPE] market - and other kinds of - socialism

I think one has to distinguish between standing and winning individual elections and attending parliament.
The Irish Republicans had a principled position of not attending the parliament as it was subject to the monarchy. They one elections but refused to attend.
It would be possible for a radical democratic party to stand in elections on a similar grounds. They would say that they would abstain from attending until they had a majority at which point they would attend only once to bring in an act that would transfrom the elected parliament into a direct peoples' assembly.
________________________________________
From: ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu [ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu] On Behalf Of B.R.Bapuji [brbapuji@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 5:51 PM
To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list
Subject: Re: [OPE] market - and other kinds of - socialism

From: GERALD LEVY <gerald_a_levy@msn.com>
To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu>
Sent: Thu, May 5, 2011 7:04:39 PM
Subject: Re: [OPE] market - and other kinds of - socialism

In, on the other hand, it's a smaller party which is using the elections as
an educational vehicle for explaining their programme to working people,
then it certainly makes sense for them to also specify a socialist programme.
i.e. a vision of how an alternative, socialist society would be organized
(and, also, explaining the problems associated with the conception of
'evolutionary socialism' and how working people will have to eventually surpass
a parliamentary process of change).

'Using electionss as an educational vehicle for explaining programme to working people......'This kind of programme which we call in India 'parliamentary path' as opposed to 'revolutionary path'.The past experience showed that once you enter into it, the bourgeois legislature will engulf you and you will become a tail to one of the two major bourgeois 'coalitions'. Instead of participating in elections, a communist group or party can spend all its energies on educating the classes or masses belonging to various sections of the working class through conducting struggles on immediate as well as long term issues.
In India, this debate has been there among the so called ML [Marxist-Leninist] parties who declare their ideology as MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO'S THOUGHT or Maoism.
This is for your information from India and not to contest your view point.

The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
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Received on Thu May 5 15:46:47 2011