INTERVIEW WITH KARL-ERIK WADIN WESSLÉN

For Leftist Trainspotters list

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/leftist_trainspotters/>
by PH

January 25, 2007

[Any errors the English language translation of this interview might have are mine
/PH]

KWW: Attached is an interview done with me in English, by someone claiming to be a

"Serbian Marxist-Leninist. It was published in Nya Revolutionsbulletinen ("New
Revolutionary Bulletin") #8, 2006. Since then I'd like to know what that site's
written about me, because I have no clue about that. [For this, and other articles
mentioned, I'd be happy to mediate between interested readers and KWW /PH]

PH: What organisations, magazines and political projects are you currently
involved in?
KWW: I'm active in the Sundsvall branch of Ung Vänster ("Young left" [the Left
party youth /PH]) and in another movement (within the autonomous left) which I
cannot name due to our internal policy. I'm on the editorial board of Nya
Revolutionsbulletinen, but had to leave the position as it's editor in chief
because of the Ung Vänster witch hunt against the magazine. This in order to avoid
being expelled from Ung Vänster. I'm also on the editorial board for a web zine,
now in hibernation, which is still online: <http://www.freewebs.com/socialisten>

PH: Where are you in your personal life? I know you live in Sundsvall; do you
study? Work?
KWW: I'm in my third year of the gymnasie education [ie. 18-19 years old /PH]. I'm
taking the social science programme, and will graduate in May of 2007. After this,
I'll try to work for a year before continuing my studies at the Umeå university.

PH: You often use your real name on the Internet and in relations to politics.
Have you had any bad experiences because of this?
KWW: Since I don't hesitate to use my name, I've become quite well-known in parts
of the Swedish left. I've never been harassed by political opponents because of
it, the attention is mostly within the left (which, however, have diverse opinions
on whether my life's work is something positive or not). For example, my Ung
Vänster branch in Sundsvall is known as the "Maoists" just because of me. This has
naturally affected other of our Sundsvall members, and not just me.

PH: What's your political journey been to date? What were the circumstances
regarding your expulsion from Ung Vänster?
KWW: I'm not expelled from Ung Vänster, but I was suspended for a couple of
months, something that was explained with claims that I'd acted uncomradely
towards other members of the organisation, and that I held dual membership in a
number of other organisations, and so on.

I started calling myself a communist in the middle of 2002, and on the autumn of
the same year I joined NRA(r), that is, Nya Röda Armén (revolutionärerna) ("New
Red Army (revolutionaries)"), as we called ourselves. Attached is also my pamphlet
"The History of NRA", which deals with the political changes and developments
during my year as a NRA member. In the spring of 2003, I also joined Ung Vänster,
and I was a active in both of these organisations in the same time, until I lead
the Maoist opposition in a split from the National Bolshevik leadership in NRA
(which at that time had changed its name several times).

The main NRA dissolved around a month later, while my splinter group lived on for
a long while after. In late 2004, my former minority grouping relaunched NRA,
which from that point on came under my lead, openly aligned towards Maoism,
published a paper (Revoltionsbulletinen ("Revolutionary bulletin"), and such
(which had never before been done in the movement).

In the summer of 2005, NRA was finally dissolved when we fused with a couple of
other groups in order to form Förenade Vänstern ("United Left"), which however
folded around six months later due to lack of involvement.

PH: You've been connected with the National Bolsheviks. Is there any truth in
that?
KWW: The National Bolsheviks had a leading role in NRA, and I lead the internal
opposition against the, However, during a short period, I was actually a member of
the Swedish section of the National Bolshevik Party (NBP), and an organizer for
its Norrland [the northern region of Sweden] branch. I attach a pamphlet Nya
Revolutionsbulletinen published in polemics against the National Bolsheviks
(mainly their Swedish section).

Regarding NRA I wouldn't call that movement an urban guerrilla, since it virtually
never did any practical work in that field. However, some things were done at
times, something I can tell a couple of anecdotes about.

PH: Where can one get back copies of Nya Maoismen ("New Maoism")?
KWW: Nya Maoismen was a blog I used to have [I was actually referring to Nya
Revolutionsbulletinen, my bad /PH]. It's been taken down after pressure from Ung
Vänster. However, I'm now involved in a magazine called Nya Revolutionsbulletinen,
which has published all articles previously published on the blog Nya Maoismen,
and more to that. This magazine is only available through contacting me
personally, since I had to take it off all sites it used to be hosted on due to
pressure from Ung Vänster. The magazine Fajaf did put it up for download after the
Ung Vänster witch hunt, but I don't think it's available through them anymore.

PH: What happened to the Förenade Vänstern ("United Left") initiative?

KWW: Förenade Vänstern folded since the other members didn't deliver on the tasks
that the forming conference assigned to them. I was elected general secretary of
the society, another person was elected editor for our magazine Fusion (of which
only one issue was produced), and yet another person was elected webmaster and
responsible for the website committee. Of all these people, I was the only one who
actually did what we were supposed to do. On the other hand, after the downfall of
the organisation, I've met several people who've expressed their will to relaunch
it.

PH: How do you combine the teachings of Mao, Trotsky and Andropov?
KWW: I no longer adhere to any of these, but when I did, I wrote several articles
on my combined political theory. For example, one such article was published in
Nya Revolutionsbulletinen #1, 2006, which I'm attaching. Nya Revolutionsbulletinen
#10, 2006 included an article about my earlier political theory, and also an
explanation as to why I condemned Maoism and instead embraced council communism.
It is also attached.

PH: How come you've now shelved Maoism and embraced council
communism?
KWW: In Nya Revolutionsbulletinen #10, 2006, I wrote an article entitled "A
Farewell to Maoism", which explains that I no longer support Maoism, and instead
claims that the future is in council communism. The immediate reason for my
decision to do so is that two members of the top Ung Vänster leadership came up to
Sundsvall from Stockholm to give out to my branch because of our general
opposition and specifically because of me personally. Because of the meeting, I
realized that my support of Maoism was problematic for my friends (all of whom are
in the "autonomous flank" of the left) and I chose to gravitate towards their
political stance. One of our members told me after the meeting that he had wanted
to criticize the Ung Vänster leadership representatives for centralism, but
couldn't since I was a Maoist, and that's what made me make up my mind (since
Maoism is centralist).

Now, I oppose centralism and the party structure as a political system. Therefore,
I cannot be Maoist, therefore, I'm a council communist.

PH: What's your current position regarding Appel's teachings?

KWW: One year ago, I wrote an article entitled "In Defence of Appel", which was
just recently published in the Maoist Nya Arbetartidningen ("New Workers'
Magazine") (<http://www.nat.nu>), but because of their poor publishing frequency,
the article wasn't printed until almost a year later, and by then, I'd already
changed my opinion regarding the question. I have my doubts regarding Appel and
can neither oppose his ideas nor cherish them. It'll be interesting to see what
answer my article gathers, and what my reply to that'll be.

PH: Have you co-operated with other organizations, for example Maoist ones when
you adhered to Maoism, or council communist ones now?
KWW: I was a member of the Maoist Magazine society Arbetartidningen (who publish
Nya Arbetartidningen) for a number of years, and still remain a member, even
though I'm no longer a Maoist. This was founded by the former left faction of SKP
(earlier KFML) who split from SKP In the early 1980s, and formed Sveriges
Kommunistiska Arbetarparti ("Communist Workers Party of Sweden", SKA). During my
time as a Maoist, I considered myself very close to SKA (which ceased to exist in
1993). I've also tried joining the other Maoist grouping in Sweden, that is,
Vänskapsföreningen Sverige-det Nya Peru ("The Association for Friendship between
Sweden-the New Peru") (<http://www.maoistisktforum.se>), but never managed to
really get a good communication going with them, since they apparently try to keep
their activity secret, and have a hard time admitting new members.

Appelian organisations have not existed in Sweden since the late 1960s, so,
naturally, I've never been a member of any such group.

When it comes to council communist movements in Sweden, we currently have

Internationella Kommunistiska Strömningen ("International Communist Current")
(<http://sv.internationalism.org>), but they're said to be very cultish and
introvert, so I don't feel keen on joining them. They seem to support left
communist thinkers such as Amedeo Bordiga, while I personally more lean towards
the left communists Anton Pannekoek, Herman Gorter and Paul Mattick I did however
get one copy of the IKS paper Internationell Revolution. That's my only connection
to them.

Earlier, there was also the council communist group Folkmakt ("Peoples' Power")
(folded around 2002), and I'd no doubt joined them if they were still around.
That's where my current political sympathies are. I've got my hands on a lot of
back copies of their magazine, also called Folkmakt, and am also studying their
old theoretical magazine Riff-Raff, published still today, but now
organizationally non-aligned (<http://www.riff-raff.se>).