Marta Harnecker

Ideas for the struggle #8 - The left should avoid allowing the right to set its agenda for struggle

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

Ideas for the struggle #7 - Reasons for popular skepticism towards politics and politicians

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

Ideas for the struggle #6 - The need to unite the political left and the social left

Ideas for the struggle #5 - Minorities can be right

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal 1. Democratic centralism implies not only the subordination of the minority to the majority, but also the respect of the majority towards the minority.

Ideas for the struggle #4 - Should we reject bureaucratic centralism and simply use consensus?

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal 1. For a long time, left-wing parties operated along authoritarian lines. The usual practice was that of bureaucratic centralism, influenced by the practice of Soviet socialism. Most decisions regarding principles, tasks, initiatives, and the course of political action to take were restricted to the party elite, without the participation or debate of the membership who were limited to following orders that they never got to discuss and in many cases did not understand. For most people, these practices are every day becoming increasingly more intolerable.

The best homage we can pay Fidel: look outward together in the same direction

By Marta Harnecker September 14, 2016 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Over half a century ago, as Latin American households were celebrating the start of a new year, some good news arrived from Cuba: a guerrilla army with a social base among the peasantry triumphed on the Caribbean island, liberating the country from the tyrannical Batista regime. A political process began that not only aimed to overthrow a dictator, but sought to follow a consistently revolutionary line: genuinely transform society for the benefit of the great majority.

Ideas for the struggle #3 - To be at the service of popular movements, not replace them

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal 1. We have previously stated that politics is the art of constructing a social and political force capable of changing the balance of forces in order to make possible tomorrow that which today appears to be impossible. But to be able to construct a social force political organizations must demonstrate a great respect for grassroots movements, and contribute to their autonomous development, leaving behind all attempts at manipulation. They must take as their starting point the fact that they are not the only ones with ideas and proposals; on the contrary, grassroots movements have much to offer us, because through their daily struggles they have also learned things, discovered new paths, found solutions and invented methods which can be of great value.

Ideas for the struggle #2 - Convince, not impose

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal 1. Popular movements and, more generally, the different social protagonists engaged in the struggle against neoliberal globalization both at the international and national levels, reject — with good reason — attitudes that aim to impose hegemony or control on movements. They do not accept the steamroller policy that some political and social organizations tended to use that, taking advantage of their position of strength and monopolizing political positions, attempts to manipulate the movement. They do not accept the authoritarian imposition of a leadership from above; they do not accept attempts made to lead movements by simply giving orders, no matter how correct they are.

Building a better movement

By Pete Dolack September 6, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Systemic Disorder — All of us who struggle for a better world are disheartened that so many advances of the 20th century have been lost. The mounting crises of the environment, the global economy and ever more constricted political systems are unmistakably moving humanity toward a cliff. And yet social movements, for all the victories here and there, again and again fail to sustain momentum. Why are we in this predicament? No single person or organization can fully answer such a question, of course, but we do need to seriously reconsider what has been done and how. In this spirit, Marta Harnecker’s “Ideas for the Struggle” is a document that merits wide discussion. Originally written in 2004 and updated this year, the paper consists of 12 short, closely linked sections. And although written with Latin America in mind, the ideas are borderless.

‘Ideas for the Struggle’: required reading for activists in these challenging times

By Steve Williams August 30, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Ideas for the Struggle should be required reading for all organizers, political activists and would-be revolutionaries in these troubling and challenging times.

Ideas for the struggle #1 - Mass uprisings or revolutions? The role of the political instrument

By Marta Harnecker, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal 1. The recent and not so recent popular uprisings that rocked numerous countries across the world have clearly demonstrated that the initiative of the people, in and of itself, is not enough to defeat ruling regimes.

The relevance of Marta Harnecker's 'Ideas for the Struggle' today

Together with New and Old Project, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal is republishing a revised and updated edition of Marta Harnecker's "Ideas for the Struggle", a collection of 12 articles looking at the question of how to organise for socialism in the 21st century.