I have been viewing and very infrequently adding comments to left blogs for around a year now. There are some excellent sites which act as forums for genuine debate and insight. I am happy to say that the blogs maintained by my Socialist Party comrades which you can access via the blogroll are included in that, as are the excellent ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ and ‘Southpawpunch’. There are other sites though, that seem to serve as sectarian battlegrounds. I won’t mention them here, but I think it is clear that they play a very damaging role on the left.
I am not someone who makes a fetish of ‘unity’ above every other consideration. Very often what is meant by unity is an attempt to bring under one umbrella scores of tiny, irrelevant sects, without considering how such a unified party might attract wider layers of the working class. However, sectarianism and ill-feeling amongst the left will never aid our cause. Blogs that seem to navel gaze on the state of the left tend to attract elements that seek to criticise other socialists and leftists. That is why I will try to avoid such a focus.
What I can offer as a blogger is my own perspective on events and phenomena. I don’t offer much claim to expertise, but I probably approach certain issues from a slightly different angle to many socialists and Marxists, being from a predominantly rural area and being scientifically trained.
Hopefully my blog will present a slightly different and interesting perspective, and also reflect my interests. It will not be a blog that is updated daily, but I roughly hope to add a new post every few weeks. I am a member of a political party with the organisational method of democratic centralism, as pioneered by the Bolsheviks. This is an effective method of organising a Marxist political party. It involves maximum discussion and debate within the party, and democratic decision making on perspectives and proposed actions. While debate can (and does) continue within the party after a decision has been made, it is not proper to continue that debate outside the party.
I view blogging as a way of contributing to debates and discussions on the left. My own geographical isolation from other leftists means every opportunity to do this is important, to improve my own application of the methods of Marxism by understanding, by the constructive criticism of my views by others, where and when I slip up. However, some view blogging as a an end in itself (and though I don’t agree, I do suspect it will be a stimulating use of leisure time) and criticise the reticence of those in revolutionary organisations to debate and reveal internal party debates and changes online. I disagree.
Blogging must take a poor second place to actually being actively involved in a party, and campaigns in the wider working class. Some forget that and become a blogger who happens to be a socialist, rather than a socialist who happens to blog. I include none of the blogs maintained by my Socialist Party comrades in that bracket. Hope you come back and view the posts as I put them up, and join the debate!
