"The decantation of the proletarian political
milieu"? The ICC is infamous for their curious Newspeak. Or is it some
kind of incomprehensible, Francophone ultraleft lingo? It sounds even stranger
in Swedish translation, making the Swedish publications of this curious little
group extremely hard to read, let alone comprehend.
This issue of International Review contains long-winding polemics against political competitors that are probably even weirder than the ICC. What are we to make of groups with names such as "Communism or Civilization" (can you run that through me again, please?) or "External Faction of the International Communist Current"? One of many criticisms levelled against these people is that they refuse to intervene in the class struggle! The ICC, by contrast, is a powerful presence in the ranks of the proletariat, yes?
I admit that they did "intervene" back in 1988. I know for a fact that they passed out leaflets during a wildcat strike among train drivers in Stockholm, even managing to attend a strike meeting and enter into debate with the strike leaders. The leaflet called on the train drivers to spread the unofficial strike ASAP by sending delegations to other workplaces. This in itself was pretty unrealistic. Add to this the lack of concrete demands (such as wage claims, etc) and the ICC's deterministic attitude that "militants" can't do anything at all if/when a strike dies down, and you might realize why the bemused strike leaders didn't take the ICC's proposals very seriously. Their anti-union stance ("unions are bourgeois") probably didn't win them much support either, since the train drivers were trying to get their own dual union recognized by the employers! And then there's those unreadable magazines, which they actually try to hawk...
Members of "Communisme ou Civilisation" or "EFICC" might be excused for wondering what's the difference between this kind of intervention, and not doing anything at all?
I really don't care, not being a revolutionary Marxist of any kind, but had I been one, I would have joined a more savvy group, say some kind of Trotskyists or Stalinists with some clout and some muscle (and some Soviet Armed Forces). How's that for decantation?
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