Re: A WP stuck in the past?

WSN,

I have a problem with the idea of developing a party "ideology" since from
my standpoint an ideology is a cultural-ideational distortion rooted in
material conditions. I am not trying to bicker over words, but I would
prefer that we identify what *values* and *principles* advocates of the
world party hold in common. Is the world party to be a political vehicle
promoting, maybe even struggling for values of worker solidarity and
socialist democracy? Or is the party to assist in developing some form of
world keynesianism or corporatism.

I agree with Mine that the standpoint of the world party be articulated
early in the discussion. If a world party is conceived as an empty vehicle
to be driven by whatever political-ideological view happens to be in the
driver's seat, or if it is to be open to all/most political-ideological
perspectives, then what is really being discussed is how to develop the
machinery of a party with no core principle(s). This is not to say that a
party should be a rigid, dogmatic, or exclusive institution. Such an
entity must be flexible, capable of compromise, and open to a diversity of
views. At the same time, one has to know that party members have something
of a shared vision of the future. What is this shared vision? As long as
we are talking about a world party, let's talk about the sort of society
we wish to live in, since the party must be a vehicle to achieve an end.
If it is a WORLD PARTY then it must be designing a desirable WORLD
SOCIETY. We cannot simply say we desire to stand against the transnational
corporation-the party has to stand for something positive.

The problem is two-fold: organization with no standpoint is a soulless
body; standpoint without organization is a disembodied soul.

Respectfully,
Andy Austin