George Marlen´s political strychnine

“The Bulletin of the Workers League for a Revolutionary Party” was the publication of a very small leftist group in New York City. The group is usually known as the Marlenites, after its leading light George Spiro, who wrote under the pseudonym “George Marlen”. The few people who have heard about the WLRP consider it to have been one of the more cranky sects on the left hand side of the political spectrum.

This issue of “The Bulletin”, dated February-March 1948, amply confirms that impression. While the Marlenites denounced Trotsky as a “Stalinist”, two of their central programmatic points were actually taken from the very same Trotsky: the theory of permanent revolution (developed already before Trotsky became a Bolshevik) and the idea that the Stalinist Soviet Union was a “degenerated workers' state” (developed when Trotsky had become a “Stalinist”). However, it's not clear whether this really means anything, since the *real* program of the Marlenites sound ultraleftist rather than Trotskyist – ultraleftist both in the generic sense, and in the more specific sense of being similar to Left Communism. The tone of “The Bulletin” is strident and extreme, with political opponents on the left constantly being accused of “conscious” treachery and depravity, as if nobody ever made political mistakes, or as if politics didn't have a material basis, instead being explained solely by the willful ideas in people's individual minds. Naturally, all competing leftist tendencies must be “destroyed”. No tactical maneuvering is allowed. The Marlenites absolutely reject most tactical slogans raised by their Trotskyist or “Stalinist” opponents: Workers' Government, People's Front, military support, Constituent Assembly, Labor Party, transitional demands, etc. Their basic platform reminds me of the ICC, a super-sectarian group in the Left Communist tradition active today. And no, that's not a compliment!

Originally, Marlen and his tiny band of faithful claimed to support Lenin against both Stalin and Trotsky, who were viewed as virtually evil men co-conspiring to take over the Soviet Union even before Vladimir Illich was safely embalmed. However, in this issue of “The Bulletin”, the ultraleftist deviation has deepened. Now, the WLRP argues that the Bolsheviks had always been based on a pro-bureaucracy and nationalist platform. While Lenin apparently realized it and tried to rectify it, it was nevertheless too little, too late. The Bolshevik Party presumably couldn't be reformed.

Next, the Marlenites take on Marx and Engels, claiming that “The Communist Manifesto” contains a whole number of political blunders and erroneous positions! In effect, Marlen demands that Marxism should be perfect in every respect…already in 1847. It's almost as if he is disappointed by the fact that the founders of “scientific socialism” weren't some kind of Über-geniuses. I'm not a Marxist, but this is a caricature of Marxist dogmatics, now turned against Marx and Engels themselves! Among the “errors” found by Marlen's group are: insufficient internationalism, insufficient understanding of the threat posed by nationalism, overestimation of the revolutionary capacity of the bourgeoisie, a classless way of using the term “democracy”, and the idea that there are other genuine workers' parties beside the Communist one. Marlen believes that “The Communist Manifesto” on these points was erroneous already when published. In effect, he is resuscitating the stinking corpse of a certain Bakunin.

This issue of “The Bulletin” also contains an intriguing piece of information. It states that many of the Marlenites came from Third Period Stalinism but broke with it in 1933. This is interesting, since it may explain the group's hopeless sectarianism, strident denunciations of all opponents who must be “destroyed”, the slightly paranoid style, the implicit Great Man theory of history, and perhaps even the constant attacks on Trotsky. They are all hangovers from the Third Period.The group broke with the *politics* of Stalin's Third Period, but they never broke with the Third Period *mentality*. The Marlenites are a kind of “Third Period Stalinists without (and against) Stalin”. Yes, that would explain a lot.

However, I fear that I may have given George Spiro's political poison too much attention. Therefore, I simply stop, right here! Four stars...for the stunning revelations.