Ask Lemmygrad

"Ultra-Leftism" is a term I personally try to avoid as it tends to get used as a thought-terminator to dismiss people out of hand and has a bit of a smug/condescending tone to it when used.

But in essence it is essentially Left-wing Idealism; that is the Leftists in question are trying to match the socialism that exists in theory with the socialism being conducted in practice and when faced with apparent contradictions are not taking into consideration how material reality might have altered that practice and instead draw the conclusion that it isn't really socialism and can therefor be dismissed out of hand.

An example of this could be found in the Kronstadt Rebellion in which the sailors became disillusioned with Lenin and the Bolsheviks because the latter hadn't delivered on all their promises. The rebels did not consider that those promises could not be delivered upon at the time and failed to understand that socialism doesn't immediately produce communism but rather works to undo the effects of capitalism while building the foundations for communism. The suppression of the rebellion through violence is often critiqued by "Ultra-Leftists" (including myself at one point) as revealing the 'true' nature of the Bolshevik state and its 'totalitarianism'; ignoring the context that this rebellion occurred during the Civil War and that the Whites were still operating in the area. The initial response by local Bolsheviks was in fact to engage in dialogue and to negotiate an end to the rebellion and had this rebellion occurred during peace time this is likely what the central government would have done as well but in the broader context of an armed conflict it was inappropriate to waste time trying to talk the rebels down and give the enemy an opportunity to exploit the chaos. Socialism was under siege and needed to be defended. Distasteful as it may be to persecute one's own comrades the success of the revolution comes first; if the revolution doesn't succeed then their idealism is pointless.

"Ultra-Leftism" is a utopian understanding of socialism that demands it conform immediately to its ideals and will not tolerate any deviation regardless of reasoning. For the "Ultra-Leftist" the idea of socialism is more important than what conditions the socialist project finds itself in. It must be humane, egalitarian, and libertine at all times and any failure on any of these fronts is 'proof' of dishonesty, corruption, or betrayal on the part of the Party. This is the mentality that gave rise to the "that wasn't REALLY socialism/communism" argumentative trope that all Marxists are accused of by anti-communists as these were the people making precisely that argument.