Unity and Struggle has been an organization for a long time, with some membership roots dating all the way back to the Love & Rage Federation of the 1990s. We have taken many turns and shifted our form of organization many times over the years. Along the way, we have met many other groupings who have been grappling with similar questions as us: What is the most appropriate form of organization for revolutionaries? What can we learn from past forms of organization? Is an anti-authoritarian Leninism possible? And, importantly, do the answers to these questions vary depending on time and place?
This presentation, originally given at our 2019 summer conference, is meant to explore some of our milieu’s lessons and our current thinking on the party-form. This version was re-created over Zoom for a group of people who joined U&S in Atlanta earlier this year.
The presentation critiques Marxist-Leninism, using core Marxist categories as a foundation (form & content, subject & object, and the fetish). Afterward, it provides some thoughts on some forms a revolutionary organization could take, as an alternative to the traditional Marxist-Leninist parties, and as one project of many for our time.
As always, we do not profess to have all the answers, and welcome any friendly critiques, feedback, comments, etc.
Closed captioning available via YouTube.
