Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 14:30:56 -0500 From: Robert Miller <106014.55-AT-compuserve.com> Subject: Karl and counter-revolution Well, it looks like most people want to get rid of Karl. However, before you all leap at the chance, I'd like to make a few observations. 1. At first he wanted to have autonomist marxism defined for him. Frankly, he was probably over-optimistic in this, and to my best knowledge has failed to get much of a reply. Maybe the list is too diverse for that, maybe the autonomists on it either won't or can't define themselves. 2. Then he demanded answers to questions about centralisation and the best way for revolutionary workers to organise themselves. He favoured centralisation. Some of us tried to say why it wasn't revolutionary. 3. He got frustrated at the lack of response and started getting rude. 4. People got rude back...... 5. Then things got really silly. So who doesn't want to 'expel' him. Oddly enough, those of us who call ourselves communists, and hence believe in working class political organisation and going along with that the ability to expel people.... And anyway, how do you go about expelling someone from something that has got no organisational structure, no statement of principles, no formal membership. Unless of course it is secretly run by a tyrannical elite. Meanwhile, politics that at least some of us regard as being counter-revolutionary (or close to it) are regarded as fine. Like supporting trade unionism, national liberationism - when couched in the populist language of the zapatistas, syndicalism, radical liberalism (to judge from some of the re-posts) ........ But after all aut-op-sy is a discussion list. And apart from being rude, I fail to see what has made Karl's comments any worse than some of the others I've read. All-in-all it's not a bad list, and it is a useful source of information and sometimes of interesting discussion. (Though the level of discussion probably reflects individuals interests, rather than Karl). But don't get so wound up by it all. There's more important things to do. Anyway, whose next? Bob --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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