A roundabout with no exits
We were inspired to write this critique by Jimmy Doran, trade union leader and CPI stalwart, writing in Socialist Voice in March. In an article headed “Imperialism for Slow Learners”, Doran concludes with another of his declarations: “We should learn from history, not repeat it”. (HERE)
The Law of Unintended Consequences establishes that actions can have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. Looking at the CPI from a distance and taking into account its history and its current lamentable state, is like looking at a roundabout that has no exits. It just keeps going round and round in a dizzy haze of self-importance, exceptionalism and above all, denial.
It refuses to lay any foundation for the future and then rages against the injustice of it all by blaming anti-communists and the emerging right-wing for its failure to make any progress. Actually, the only thing preventing the CPI from making progress is itself and its self-imposed restraints.
Occasional attempts to break out of their vicious circle are utterly futile because they never lay any foundation for such moves. It continues to revolve around itself and around its leadership – indifferent to its actual and complicated surroundings.
The inevitable result is that the noisy and furious declarations amount to nothing – time and time again.
The last Party Congress provided an opportunity for a change in both direction and leadership practices. Above all, the Congress provided the perfect opportunity for the Party to correct the major errors that had accumulated and which it had inherited from the previous administration. Of course, none of this happened. Instead, the Party and the leadership circled around itself in its familiar comfort-blanket and the roundabout with no exits remained firmly enclosed.
The new leadership just took up from where the former leadership stood and a naturally occurring opportunity was squandered. It is doubtful if such an opportunity was even considered and as a consequence history does indeed keep repeating itself within the Party.
Just like every other proclamation emanating from the Party and from Doran such as “We should learn from history, not repeat it”, these wise words apply only to everybody and everything else but not to the Party itself – it has little or no self-awareness, no sense of how it is viewed in the outside world – whether by friend or foe.
Some way or other, the CPI will have to find a way out of this dilemma – who is winning, who is better off etc, by the CPI refusing to correct its mistakes or change its ways? And, correcting its errors is all it would take to address and resolve at least some of its woes.
The first step to getting anywhere is deciding you’re no longer willing to stay where you are
Anonymous
Both Doran and the CPI are made for each other. They both walk headlong into criticisms such as this and expect that they can get away with it. Or, do they even think that far ahead? They both plod along without any apparent awareness of just how amateur and predictable they are. Both should know better and both should know how to avoid getting into scrapes like these.
They then compound their political and operational inadequacies by refusing to either defend or explain their positions when challenged.
Readers may feel that our criticisms are harsh. However, criticism and analysis are the realities of the rough and tumble of serious political and social engagements. It’s not a game and there is no excuse for rank amateurism and disconnect from the complicated social and political environment we are, unfortunately, forced to inhabit.
We will end with a slogan of our own: “If you can’t stand the heat – get out of the kitchen.”