LALIT's New Series of "Political Education" Starts
23.02.2008
LALIT's new series on "Political Education" started Thursday 21 February, following a Congress Resolution, with two stand-alone sessions that were held at Grand River North West. People in Curepipe and the South will have the opportunity to participate in similar sessions soon.
The first session was presented by LALIT leading member Alain Ah-Vee who gave an historical account of class analysis, class strategy, touching also on "class consciousness". He did this from both a world point of view, and in terms of recent Mauritian history, including a section on the State bourgeoisie which right now is in conflict with the historical bourgeoisie. He made it both easy to understand, without losing any of the very compelling arguments for this way of seeing society and history, a way that has action built into its way of seeing. At the same time, he showed how the different class realities are based on something as fundamental as relative relationships to the means of survival that different categories of people have. The second half of the session was question-and-answer, and open discussion, which was very wide-ranging.
The second session was presented by another leading LALIT member, Rajni Lallah. She gave a theoretical introduction to "the State", in particular the bourgeois State, starting with Engels seminal work, and with contrasting the bourgeois way of seeing the State with the Marxist tradition. She, like Alain Ah-Vee, gave both this world picture in historical terms, and also the way in which LALIT has seen "the State" during its 32 years' existence, in particular the post-colonial State with its relative autonomy relative to all classes including the local bourgeoisie, and the Bonapartist State, which has a similar capacity for different historical reasons. She presented most of her points around the debates between different left tendencies on the nature of the State, and on the taking of power, a key issue that makes very clear what the State is.
These two sessions will be given again in the Curepipe "Political Education" series, which will start in a month's time. Please contact any member if you would like to sign up, or phone 208 2132. Is there anyone who would like a audio CD of either of the talks? Please liaise with Rajni or Alain.
The next two sessions are on "Elections" and "Taking Power". If you'd like to join in, please contact any member, or phone 208 2132.
