Another of Lukács’ essays from his famous 1923 collection History and Class Consciousness, Legality and Illegality is an important warning against the diametrically opposed romanticisation or mortal fear of illegality seen in altogether too many so-called “communist” organisations of the modern day, as well as a thorough exploration of bourgeois […]
Introduction to the Communist Left
Works that explain the key positions of left-communism
Nationalism and Socialism, Paul Mattick
A 1959 article by the left-communist Paul Mattick defending Luxemburg’s stance on national liberation in the new era of the post-WW2 world. Many of his arguments still bear relevance to the conflicts of today.
Condemnation of the Renegades to Come, Amadeo Bordiga
Bordiga’s commentary on Lenin’s text ‘”Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder’, written in 1961. Lenin’s original work, often misrepresented as being against left-communism, is in fact a polemic against the tendencies now called councilism and utopianism, as Bordiga makes clear.
Communism and its Tactics, Sylvia Pankhurst
The second version of this text, serialised in ‘Workers Dreadnought’ in 1923, outlying basic positions of the Communist Left in its early days, written by suffragette and communist Sylvia Pankhurst.
The Democratic Principle, Bordiga
The use of certain terms in the exposition of the problems of communism very often engenders ambiguities because of the different meanings these terms may be given. Such is the case with the words democracy and democratic. In its statements of principle, Marxist communism presents itself as a critique and a negation of […]
The System of Communist Representation, Bordiga
In launching our communist programme, which contained the outlines of a response to many vital problems concerning the revolutionary movement of the proletariat, we expected to ace a broad discussion develop on all its aspects. Instead there has been and still is only furious discussion over the incompatibility of electoral […]
Resolution on the International Class Struggle, ICC
Adopted at the 22nd Congress of the ICC in 2017, this resolution outlines the positions of the Communist Left 100 years after the Russian Revolution.
The Principles of Communism, Friedrich Engels
This 1847 work succinctly describes the positions of the Communist Party and its Left Wing.
Workers’ Councils, Anton Pannekoek
This 1946 work describes the system of workers councils (or Soviets) and their role in the destruction of capitalism, as well as laying out more generally many positions of the Communist Left.
The Communist Left and the Continuity of Marxism, ICC
An article originally published in ‘Proletarian Tribune’ and uploaded by the ICC in 2005 that outlines the basic positions of the Communist Left.