I Want To Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism A.M. Gittlitz (Pluto Press £16.99)
I first came across the Posadists when wandering over to the Student Union Bar one sunny lunchtime back in 1978. There was a pretty young French girl selling copies of their paper Red Flag which I had not seen or heard of before despite being fascinated by the far left at this early stage of my political development and picked up a copy.
Every single article in the dreadful paper was written by some guy called J.Posadas who others more familiar with the sect soon told me about his wacky theories about Russia and China launching a nuclear war to wipe out capitalism and UFOs coming from "workers planets". And that was about it. They were both a legend and a standing joke even on the far-left.
Members of the more mainstream Fourth International (the United Secretariat/International Marxist Group) and made it clear that the Poadists had discredited the Trotskyist movement in Cuba as a result of their absurd theories and they were a tiny irrelevant group.
Every single article in the dreadful paper was written by some guy called J.Posadas who others more familiar with the sect soon told me about his wacky theories about Russia and China launching a nuclear war to wipe out capitalism and UFOs coming from "workers planets". And that was about it. They were both a legend and a standing joke even on the far-left.
Members of the more mainstream Fourth International (the United Secretariat/International Marxist Group) and made it clear that the Poadists had discredited the Trotskyist movement in Cuba as a result of their absurd theories and they were a tiny irrelevant group.
Given I only ever saw the one member selling the paper a couple of times in my life despite being a serial demonstration attendee the group were certainly not worth bothering about though the joke about UFOs did come up a few times. Of course there is much more to find out about this bizarre sect as Gittlitz tries to explain in his densely written but balanced history of Posadas and his followers.
It always amazes me how people who are superficially highly intelligent or committed get sucked into political organisations that are clearly cults rather than any type of "normal" political party and that's putting aside the fact that revolutionary politics are on the fringe of society in the first place.
There were (and still are) a variety of small groups and political organisations within what is generally referred to as the "Trotskyist" milieu. In my student days it was the SWP, Militant, the IMG and the WRP who garnered most of the attention. Even the rabid Spartacist League that suddenly burst on the scene were more visible than any UFO friendly revolutionaries.
However as we discover the anglo-centric view of Trotskyism that I and most others grew up with in the seventies and eighties was far from the normas other groups not represented on the British scene. There were the Lambertistes (former allies of Healy's WRP) the Morenites and of course the Posadists whose presence in South America was noticeable at least for a while and became the standard by which opponents judged Trotskyists in general.
There was far more to Posadas than UFOs and Nuclear war. Unlike British WRP cult leader Gerry Healy, Posadas was puritanical for much of his political career advising his followers to eschew sexual relationships as a "distraction" from activism though that did eventually go by the wayside when a young female comrade was caught giving the leader a blowjob during an event in Italy by her boyfriend.
Posadas also thought jokes were a feature of capitalism and explains the humourless and deadpan approach to politics he and his followers showed. Posadas ranted at all and any that he might even thought disagreed with him. Expulsions and neo-Maoist self criticism were features of the Posadist organisation. His one to one sessions with activists seemed to act as "brainwashing" sessions.
The whole story of Posadism is littered with chronic examples of cultism that has been so prevalent of the left, especially the "Trotskyist" milieu. Posadas was just one of a whole line of petty cult leaders like Healy, Robertson, Barnes & Lambert.
There are still followers of Posadas around though they keep themselves well hidden these days. This book written with perhaps too much sympathy to the subject matter cannot hide the abject failure of yet another Marxist sect.
It always amazes me how people who are superficially highly intelligent or committed get sucked into political organisations that are clearly cults rather than any type of "normal" political party and that's putting aside the fact that revolutionary politics are on the fringe of society in the first place.
There were (and still are) a variety of small groups and political organisations within what is generally referred to as the "Trotskyist" milieu. In my student days it was the SWP, Militant, the IMG and the WRP who garnered most of the attention. Even the rabid Spartacist League that suddenly burst on the scene were more visible than any UFO friendly revolutionaries.
However as we discover the anglo-centric view of Trotskyism that I and most others grew up with in the seventies and eighties was far from the normas other groups not represented on the British scene. There were the Lambertistes (former allies of Healy's WRP) the Morenites and of course the Posadists whose presence in South America was noticeable at least for a while and became the standard by which opponents judged Trotskyists in general.
There was far more to Posadas than UFOs and Nuclear war. Unlike British WRP cult leader Gerry Healy, Posadas was puritanical for much of his political career advising his followers to eschew sexual relationships as a "distraction" from activism though that did eventually go by the wayside when a young female comrade was caught giving the leader a blowjob during an event in Italy by her boyfriend.
Posadas also thought jokes were a feature of capitalism and explains the humourless and deadpan approach to politics he and his followers showed. Posadas ranted at all and any that he might even thought disagreed with him. Expulsions and neo-Maoist self criticism were features of the Posadist organisation. His one to one sessions with activists seemed to act as "brainwashing" sessions.
The whole story of Posadism is littered with chronic examples of cultism that has been so prevalent of the left, especially the "Trotskyist" milieu. Posadas was just one of a whole line of petty cult leaders like Healy, Robertson, Barnes & Lambert.
There are still followers of Posadas around though they keep themselves well hidden these days. This book written with perhaps too much sympathy to the subject matter cannot hide the abject failure of yet another Marxist sect.
Of course the group has no relevance at all in the modern age but every so often we are reminded of their existence. One Posadist actually attended Labour Party conference as a delegate during the Corbyn era.
For inveterate Trot spotters this is an essential volume covering a fascinating piece of political absurdity.
You can find the posadists on-line here: quatrieme-internationale-posadiste.org
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