Theory and Practice

Once Lenin said: A revolutionary party is guided by a revolutionary theory.

Indeed, the theory provides the vision for activism on a practical scale. Let us check that out for a bit. The Leftist Democratic Movement argues that they have no ideologies but they are leftists. Indeed, how can that be? What can their ultimate vision be? Above all, if they lack no ideologies, then what makes them leftists in the first place?

The Vision is important. The beauty of Marxism that it does not demand people to go down the streets and just attack the standing authority, on the contrary, it does as follows:

1) Defines the Nature of the battle
2) Explains in details how the battle reached such critical points
3) Places the alternatives of action (Unions, Underground, Cultural Debates, Parties, Student Activism...etc)
4) Targets the audience: The Proletariat from all over the world involved despite Religion, Race, Gender, Color, Ethnicity, and (special thanks to Tony Cliff) Tendency. The battle is on a global scale, and Lebanon itself is progressing to the global scale as our'beloved' Prime Minister is joining our nation to the WTO. The disadvantages are plenty, the only advantage that our battle would officially be upgraded to the standard of the world.
5) Defines the nature of the battle (Underground/Upperground/Revolutionary)
6) Demands the total emancipation and places the phases to follow in any case scenario
7) Tells us exactly the obstacles and how hard it is to achieve the goals (not impossible as LCP and DLM preach to justify their reactionary alliances and degeneration)

Without the vision, we would each speculate what to do? Or each person would call him/herself marxists/leftists (due to the fact sadly few view the difference) would imagine their own goals. I remember plenty in DLM (since it is much loose than LCP) preaching humanitarianism as leftists which is not true. Our vision is (at least in my personal opinion) utmost humanitarian, but within the scientific steps of Communism (Communism ie Not Stalinism/Russian Nationalism).

Lenin, Trotsky, Tony Cliff, and plenty others argued that Marxism has to be studied and understood while taking direct action. Indeed, it is a huge field with plenty of dimensions, some of the dimensionsa are:

1) Historical Materialism
2) Philosophy
3) Internationalism
4) Dialictical Materialism
5) Science of Revolution
6) Arts
7) Sociology and Causality Principles (Not Teleological)
8) Party/Movement Building
9) Plenty others

As Comrade James Connolly would say: "For our demands most moderate are, We only want the earth." [http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1907/xx/wewnerth.htm]

MFL