Ultra-leftism
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Reverted 1 edit by [[Special:Contributions/Roadkill25|Roadkill25]] identified as [[WP:VAND|vandalism]] to last revision by [[User:Tim Q. Wells|Tim Q. Wells]]. ([[WP:TW|TW]])
{{Left_communism}}
'''Ultra-leftism''' has two, overlapping uses. It is used as a generally [[pejorative]] term for certain types of positions on the [[left-wing politics|left]] that are seen as extreme or intransigent in particular ways (see [[far left]]). It is also used – whether pejoratively or not – to refer to a particular current of [[Marxist]] [[communism]], which is closely related to [[council communism]] and [[left communism]].
==The ultra-left current in Marxism==
The term ''Ultra Left'' is rarely used in English, where people tend to speak broadly of [[left communism]] as a minor variant of traditional Marxism, but the equivalent term in French - ''ultra-gauche'' - has a stronger currency, as it is a more positive term in that language and is used to define a movement that is still in existence today: a branch of left communism descending from people such as [[Amadeo Bordiga]], [[Otto Rühle]], [[Anton Pannekoek]], [[Herman Gorter]], and [[Paul Mattick]], and continuing to present day writers such as [[Jacques Camatte]] and [[Gilles Dauvé]] (also known as Jean Barrot).
The term originated in the 1920s in the German and Dutch workers movements, originally referring to a [[Marxist]] current opposed to both [[Bolshevism]] and [[social democracy]], and with some affinities with [[anarchism]]. The ultra-left is defined particularly by its breed of anti-authoritarian [[Marxism]], which generally involves an opposition to the [[state]] and to [[state socialism]], as well as to [[parliamentary democracy]], and to [[wage labour]]. In opposition to [[Bolshevism]], the ultra left generally places heavy emphasis upon the autonomy and spontaneous organisation of the [[proletariat]].
==Ultra-left as a pejorative expression==
Used pejoratively, the term generally identifies and criticizes positions, especially by those in the mainstream historical Marxist parties, to describe a position which is adopted without taking notice of the current situation or of the consequences which would result from following a proposed course - leftist positions that, for example, overstate the tempo of events, propose initiatives that overestimate the current level of [[militancy]] or which employ a highly militant tone in their propaganda.
The mainstream Marxist critique of such a position began with [[Lenin]]’s [[Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder]], which attacked those (such as Pannekoek or [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]) in the nascent [[Communist International]] who refused to work with [[parliamentary]] or [[reformist]] [[socialist]]s.
[[Trotskyist]]s and others see the [[Communist International]]’s [[Third Period]] -when it described [[social democratic]] parties as “social fascist” and therefore essentially no better than [[Hitler]]’s [[Nazi]]s - as a strategy of ultra-leftism.
The term has been popularised in the US by the [[Socialist Workers' Party (US)|Socialist Workers' Party]], who have used the term to both describe opponents in the anti-war movement [http://www.geocities.com/acpollack2/LUoMA.htm] and opponent Trotskyists [http://www.pathfinderpress.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.114/it.A/id.420/.f] including [[Gerry Healy]]. Ultra-leftism is often associated with left [[sectarianism]], in which a socialist current might, for example, attempt to put its own short-term interests before the long term interests of the working-class and its allies.
==Overlap between the two uses==
Groups who belong to the ultra-left current within left communism are often subject to these sorts of criticisms from the rest of the left. For example, the refusal of the [[International Communist Current]] to work with any other left groups, or [[Jean Barrot]]’s critique of [[anti-fascism]] which suggests that all forms of [[capitalism]] are equally evil, and therefore [[fascism]] is essentially no worse than [[liberal democracy]].
== References ==
{{Unreferenced|date=June 2007}}
<references />
==See also==
* [[Ultra-Lettrist]]
* [[Left Communism in China]]
* [[Lenin]], ''[[Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder]]''
==External links==
* [http://www.libcom.org/library/ Libertarian Communist Library - an archive of libertarian, left and ultra-left communist texts]
* [http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/9973/council.html Ultra-left links]
* [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3909/elenin.html Gilles Dauvé and François Martin "Leninism and the Ultra-Left"]
* Peter Camejo, [http://www.geocities.com/acpollack2/LUoMA.htm Liberalism, Ultra-Leftism or mass action]
* Abbie Bakan, [http://www.web.net/sworker/En/SW2004/429-07-ultraleft.htm Ultraleftism: left words, sectarian practice]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Political spectrum]]
[[Category:Left-wing politics]]
[[fr:Gauchisme]]