I used to be a Marxist, and a fairly doctrinaire one at that. Saying that one "used to be a Marxist" is somewhat akin to saying that one "used to be Catholic" or is "a little bit pregnant". My sympathies recently could more be described as Democratic-Socialist. The "democratic" still for sure. Today, however, I capitalize the "Socialist".
The recent assaults on labor--especially on those in the public sector--have re-radicalized me to a certain degree. To a great degree. Follow me over the fold for a bit more.
Here's an anecdote: back in the very late 80's, I found myself elected to my university Student Congress. I didn't run, but was active in a number of left-wing and "multicultural" organizations. I was fairly well known as a Marxist. I was elected as a write-in candidate, without my knowledge. In fact, I was informed, one morning, when I was, frankly, hung over, that I had been elected. So, I set about setting up a coalition of campus leftists, LGBT folks (a community in which I had been active), student multi-cultural societies and my biggest backer, the Latina/Latino students' association (I am not Latino) as well as the small contingent of us that were pro Soviet-American Friendship with a view towards peace and disarmament. Think 1989/90. Yep. Such student movements actually did exist. Small, but we did exist. For a student body to draft someone like me to student government in one of the most conservative campuses in Michigan, that really surprised me. My base, nonetheless, was energized.
Now, we were undergraduates, and some of us were high on the possibilities of a kind of "third way" for Socialism and Marxism in those heady days of Perestroika and the beginnings of the velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe (and I had already, at that time, visited many Communist countries in Europe) and full of, you know, the kind of shit that fills the brains of undergraduate Reds. We had already seen what eight years of Reaganism and the beginnings of Gerald Ford Lite--I mean George H.W. Bushism--had to offer. So we formed a coalition, and agreed that it would be--that it should be--basically a Marxist approach to everything from decisions about the runnings of the Student Union to scholarships to things that mattered only to us. We formed a faction. There were, I think, 16 of us to represent 10,000 students. I was the only member who went to each meeting with an entourage of about 20 people to observe, representing our "party".
We were vocal. We published a newsletter. If I look at that today, it's rank agitprop. However, it worked. We managed to force a "no" vote for a special scholarship that would have favored rich commuter students and instead opened it university-wide. We forced stupid stuff like balls and dances--the province, really, of High School student government--into committees, and actually took up some very serious stuff. Our faction was responsible for forcing the Faculty Senate to agree to a change in our student Constitution to require regular joint sessions to consider serious changes in by-laws and rules relating to the Student Handbook and to "Student Councils" to vet disciplinary hearings for students and professors alike. This sounds like kiddie stuff, and it was. But we got things done. From the bottom up.
My "Political Director", a very dear friend of mine and a fellow Marxist, was always at my side. So were others in the office. Soon, we began to receive death threats. Seriously. It was taken seriously by the university, but not by us. "Let them come to Congress", I said to a dean, "let them look us in the face". In reaction to that, my un-official staff, myself and most of the entourage from the coalition that made it a habit to show up for monthly sessions took to wearing red flag pins (from the most recent Soviet Party Congress) on their lapels or sweaters or t-shirts. We flaunted it. "We are the People", we were saying. We show up. We don't threaten: we REASON.
I would have served more than two terms gladly, had it not been for the inconvenience of finishing school before I had the opportunity.
As fate would have it, Marxism seemed to wane in our lives. Clinton's "third way" was going to make the world safe for International Business. I don't know how I ever swallowed that. I voted for him. I'll admit it.
Now, in the wake of the Tea Party and their takeover of the GOP in places like Maine, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin, and the war against labor, I'm feeling a little undergraduate again. A little 1989 again. A little Marxist again. A little Socialist again.
I STAND FOR:
The universal right of all peoples to life, safety, healthcare, and honest employment.
The right of all workers, in all professions, to organize and bargain collectively.
The right of all workers to safe work environments devoid of harassment of any kind.
The right of all workers to benefits and overtime due them according to their collective agreements with management.
The right of all peoples to public education which is equal to the standard of the wealthiest members of society.
Freedom from discrimination based on class, race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or any other "other".
The right of people to retire on a pension which honors their humanity and dignity, along with healthcare and housing.
Dignity for veterans.
True openness and transparency in government.
Publicly funded elections without private money, and the ownership of the airwaves by the People.
Fair Markets, not "Free Markets"; tax swollen profits by taxing all un-earned income as if earned.
No cap on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid taxes, to include investment and capital gains income.
The encouragement of Labor-owned and collective industry in all sectors of the economy through grants and tax-credits.
I could go on.
I have been re-radicalized. It feels good.