Towards a Marxist-Leninist Viewpoint, 2003

Kye Leung
August 13, 2003
Part 1

This is Part 2 of a series of articles that sums up my experiences towards learning and applying Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.

(I have to apologize for readers who were looking for the latest update to this series of articles. I'll try to update the series once every two weeks.)

In the course of trying to understand Marxism and Leninism (ML), I have had the opportunity to meet activists, some whom had been in M-L organizations, and asked this question: "Do you still believe in Marxism-Leninism?"

I asked this question because in the process of forming my own opinions on the topic I was a somewhat non-believer. One can point to the many groupings of M-L organizations that once thrived in the ‘70s but by the ‘90s had disappeared. Or one can look internationally at the collapse of the Soviet Union and the European bloc and not have questions. But on the other hand I was drawn to the activist movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s and wondered why some organizations or individuals had turned to M-L? What led these young activists of their time to dedicate years towards party building and why did some fail? (Check out "Revolution in the Air, Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che" by Max Elbaum)

As I met both current and former activists I posed the question and it has drawn a wide-range of responses as it related to people's own experiences with M-L. As I cannot possibly remember every one's responses and also due to length, I am going to sum-up some of the main points I can recall and for privacy issues will not reveal who they are.

The most recent person I asked was a professor who now teaches Asian American studies at a university and after some thought replied: "Yes, because the core principles of Marxism still exist today. Leninism, yes, because I believe that a highly disciplined organization."

Former auto union organizer, member of a defunct M-L organization: "No, because it hasn't really worked. You looked at the years we tried doing it, like 15 to 20 years and we weren't able to recruit masses of people into the organization. We recruited maybe 20-30 people. There were a lot of people who were supportive but they wouldn't join. Marxism-Leninism was formed a hundred years ago and times have changed and it requires a new analysis of the existing conditions."

Former organizer for Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition in the ‘80s: "Yes. When we were young many of us dropped out of college and dedicated our lives to party building because we believed that the revolution was around the corner and we thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice. But as we got older and the revolution wasn't happening it started to raise a lot of issues."

So, how why did I end up gravitating towards M-L and why did it hold a certain attraction for me?

To be continued…