Element Descriptor
Any successful social movement organisation, which is beginning to force policymakers to take note and even, gasp, change course, will attract those who want to capture the group’s attention, credibility, membership lists. Spotting tedious entryists and keeping them from wrecking things, is hard but necessary work. Failing to do so means that they will jump on the bandwagon and break the axles, and your morale with it.
Level descriptors
| Novice | Practitioner | Expert | Ninja |
|---|---|---|---|
| You are able to deal with junior/not very experienced Trots, who think that they can simply turn up, take over the group and get everyone selling newspapers in half an hour. Or turn it into a sub-cult, simply by saying the Key Words over and over, louder and louder | You are able to deal with a small number of entryist hacks who pretend to be innocent/concerned citizens while pursuing their anaconda style manoeuvres to take over your group by stealth. It may get bloody and nasty, but in the end you have the understanding of their tactics, which you can explain, to defeat them without the victory being Pyrrhic. | You are able to defend a functioning and cohesive group from a takeover attempt by determined and experienced group of entryist hacks for whom vampiring your group is a matter of (their) life and death. You can expose and counteract their various tactics with wit, warmth and sarcasm, leading them to give up and find a softer target. | Your mere presence in a group is enough for the dominant Leninist to tell his (and it’s always his, isn’t it) minions to find something easier to infiltrate and topple. Like Sandhurst or that very expensive monstrosity of a building near Vaushall Cross |
Element Overview Essay
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The reasons coping with Trotskyists and other batshit crazy fanatics is not done better is that you keep hoping that they’ll become reasonable, responsible, decent people. And you don’t realise that they’re caught in an organisational psychological trap that makes it virtually impossible for them to do that
Also, people who’ve had experience of dealing with Trots tend to burn out, give up and go away, taking their experiences and insights with them. So, every day is Groundhog Day for people dealing with trots.
The consequences are that well, it can kick off. And then onlookers think ”why are they fighting each other?” But then if you let the trucks have their way, they dominate. And they’re vampires. And it sucks the energy credibility, innovativeness, creativity out of a movement or a campaign or an ecosystem.
What’s to be done?
As with bureaucrats, it’s naming what going on for what it is. It’s refusing to be baited with the term sectarian. The smear is designed to force you to shut up and let them do their stupid, stupid, counterproductive things.
It’s explaining to other people in clear, non-emotive language (probably skip the vampire trope), the consequences of allowing Trots to fuck shit up. And it’s making sure that your group remains functional regardless of what the Trots do to the rest of the groups in your broader ecosystem
Development Resources
Assessment Resources
