Old Moles Collective

The Old Moles Collective is:

* a discussion circle and a free association of left communists,

* internationalist, against the state in all its forms, for a communist society which will be a free association of the producers.

* a publishing imprint for both original works and historical texts. All our publications are signed, and their content is the author(s)’ sole responsibility. All our work can be freely distributed under Creative Commons license.

The 'Communist Left' was first defined in Lenin’s 1920 pamphlet 'Left-wing Communism, an infantile disorder'. ‘Left communism’ was not a unified tendency, but rather a series of critiques from different parts of the nascent communist movement, directed at the continued use by the Bolsheviks and the parties of the Communist International of tactics that the left considered inappropriate to the historical situation opened up by both the war and the revolution in Russia. For reference, a non-exhaustive list of left communist tendencies in the International includes the following:

* Amadeo Bordiga and the ‘abstentionists’ in the Italian Communist Party, who considered parliamentary elections no longer to be a suitable terrain for class action.

* Sylvia Pankhurst and the ‘Workers’ Dreadnought’ group who objected to the orientation of entering and working within the Labour Party.

* Jan Appel, Hermann Gorter, and the German/Dutch lefts, who considered trade unions to be no longer a viable organisational form for workers’ struggles.

* Manabendra Nath Roy and Sultanzade, who opposed the International’s support for ‘national liberation’ struggles (including in Ireland).