Introduction

I created this community because I am a burnt out sectarian from the RCI. It seems that leftist communities on reddit fall victim to sectarianism as well. People use these subreddits to advertise their sectarian groups, like the PSL, RCI, CPUSA, etc. This is understandable, and maybe it is even good that people move from the internet to getting involved in reading groups and their local community. However, sectarian groups have high turnover rates. There are many people, like myself, who are burnt out. It seems that most give up and become centrist or even right wing, but I haven't.

This community is for those burnt out leftists who haven't given up on the project of socialism. The name of this subreddit is a bit silly, but I hope it can also be used for serious discussions. It's named after the Marxist Hal Draper who was heavily involved in Trotskyist sectarian groups, but he became disalusioned and went on to critique them in his "Anatomy of a Microsect." This subreddit isn't meant to be a place to worship him or take dogmatic views on his positions, but he is an important inspiration.

What is a Microsect?

Hal Draper critiqued microsects for imposing their programmes upon the masses. They believed that this would help liberate the masses, but it ended up creating dogmatic structures which were unable to connect to them at all. Minor theoretical differences became grounds for endless splitting. In his view, the party must emerge from the mass movement, not the other way around. Otherwise, it is doomed to become another sect.

Draper's Alternative

As an alternative to the sect, Draper proposes the idea of the Marxist center. Essentially, the center means bringing together local socialists to create a publication. It also means to intervene actively in mass organizations like your workplace's union.

According to Draper's analysis of the Bolsheviks, Iskra was the Marxist center which enabled them to become a mass party. It didn't split from the RSDLP for a very long time because it strived to grow into a mass party.

I'm not sure if the Marxist center is sufficient to bring about a socialist party, but it is certainly necessary. Publications are important, and I think these should include free zines and pamphlets rather than newspapers which cost money to buy. Of course, some press materials should be sold for money to cover costs, but that's beside the point.

What is to be done?

Just like Draper, I do not have a clear answer to this question. There are no shortcuts to building a mass party. Theory is not a mystical spell but rather a process of modeling capitalism and organizations which may combat it. However, I can provide some ways to start.

Online networking

The internet is a useful tool for networking with like-minded socialists. If it wasn't, than people wouldn't be reading this post. Whether it's lefty subreddits or twitter accounts or discord groups, these function to connect socialists. My subreddit attempts to be one of these places. Of course, these are corporately owned and can be manipulated by bad faith actors. There are also more open source platforms such as Mastodon and Lemmy, which can be used to evade this sort of censorship.

These online groups may be used to organize IRL meetups. These meetups may develop into more tight-knit groups. This moves us to the next section.

Real world organizing

Ultimately, real organizing must be done in the real world. Socialists can connect with each other to read and write theory, and they can also connect with workers through unions and mutual aid networks. Students can also organize with faculty to change the policies of their universities.

Even the sects which I have criticized in this article can play a role, as can more loosely organized groups like the DSA. In my view, a mass party necessitates a mass coalition, at least initially.

In conclusion, you should join this subreddit and tell me about your experiences.

Resources:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htm

https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1971/alt/index.htm