Unnecessary Dividers in the Marxist Community

I've written often of the multiple factions that plague the left. Specifically, these can include the difference between anarchists, trade-unionists, Marxists, anarcho-syndicalists, etc. Today, I will focus especially on the divisions that split the Marxist community.

The origins of the divisions in theory and practice debated among today's Marxists can be traced back more than seventy years. These differences can be extremely small and seemingly insignificant, and yet they never cease to cause controversy amongst leftists. I believe that these rows are caused more by managerial differences and the debate on modes of practice than any real ideological debate between Stalin, Trotsky, etc.

A good example of the needless debate between Marxists centers on Stalin's "National Question" and its place in Marxist thought. Self-described Trotskyists and Stalinists continue to be split by their opinion of this piece, often needlessly. The real focus on the "National Question" centers on state-craft, which is more or less useless to America's fledgling Marxist community.

Since the 1917 October Revolution, revolutionary politicians have understood that the theory of Marxism is a tool to be applied to oppressive governments in the hope of building a more egalitarian society. This point, that Marxism is a tool to be applied to a particular situation seems to have been lost on many revolutionary Marxist parties in the "First world." Deep down, every politically conscience progressive person has a inner-revolutionary, fighting to take over and foment some sort of a people's war for the betterment of mankind. But, as mature beings of current western society, we must put down this craving, and work for a true democratic revolution, within the political system we currently have. The concept of violent revolution in America, or the western world for that matter, is currently impossible and unsupported by the masses, and thus working towards one must be considered opportunist defeatism.

Revolutionary giants of the past provide a good example of thought, theory, and practice, and must be used often as a guiding light. There is nothing wrong with learning history, or admiring the likes of Lenin, Mao, or Che. The real problem starts in failing to understand that these men used Marxism as a tool in their time, and in their unique historical context. The failure to update Marxist action, and the refusal to take part in the current democratic political process dooms any Marxist movement to failure.

The myth of American exceptionalism

Recently, and against better judgement, I opened up an issue of the ultra-conservative magazine "NewsMax." Now if I were to write a blog post for every utterly confounding thing in that magazine, it would be safe to say I wouldn't have any spare time to update my other blog, or even write angry Op/Eds to "The Post" for that matter. After seeing one particular phrase in an article about Obama's foreign policy however, I couldn't resist a rant. Near the end of the article was this well crafted claim: "Obama denies American exceptionalism, insisting that American is just another country like Uganda or Spain, except with more land."

What blasphemy! What lies! I honestly can't believe there are many Americans that believe his nonsense, and yet I know it to be true. I suppose the writers of NewsMax believe that by birth we Americans are better than the other people's of the world? By divine mandate we reserve the right to rule? These xenophobic and nationalistic writers believe they are actually superior.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of one's country, but such feelings often lead to dangerous nationalistic sentiments. These feelings create an atmosphere of lazy self-assurance, and are threatening the growing progress of our country. The conservatives are feeding Joe Citizen what he wants to hear, along with fatty foods and useless products. Eventually, without a new attitude, our country will continue to decline in world rankings for literacy, health care, knowledge, and freedom. These arrogant Americans can only shrug at the anger of the world for so long, before they utterly destroy our country. America's suffering and hard work decades ago gave us our pride, and these people are continuing to live off of it like a fat thirty year old in his mother's basement. Only a new commitment of hard work and global responsibility will cure the disease of "American exceptionalism." The sooner we all realize we're citizens of the world too, the larger the chance of positive development in our crumbling society.