Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 02:09:25 +1300 (NZDT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Fydd?= <ffyddless-AT-yahoo.co.nz>
Subject: RE: AUT: Remove Scott from this list!


hullo all,

regarding the scott the trot situation: i don't think
leninism is something that should be deleted or
avoided all the time. for me, as someone who has not
come from a leninist background, and is unfamiliar
with much of the minutae of leninist policies and
tactics, a little more critical engagement with
scott's leninist views on this list would have been
preferable - a few people have done this like harald
but not many. for example, if communism is not just
around the corner, what is the alternative in the here
and now to leninist transitional demands? not everyone
has read trotksy's transitional programme & worked out
detailed non-leninist alternatives to it.

i feel compelled to come out of lurking cos i'm the
only person on this list who has actually met scott in
person, and has had the most email contact with scott
over the past few years than anyone on this list.

i think i can say scott is a nice person in flesh but
i find his email personality at times leaves a lot to
be desired. scott via emails can be at times
self-righteous, aggressive, scurrillous, and a smearer
- regardless of his politics (he still did this when
he was an autonomist and anarchist). he nearly always
over-exaggerates the views of others to make them
appear much worse than they are, which has pissed off
numerous people on numerous lists the world over. his
compulsive emailing means he tends to dominate
debates. these aren't meant to be personal comments
abt scott at all, i'm just commenting on his email
style, which i dont think is the best (and have said
so numerous times to scott but to no avail).

the thing that annoys me the most abt scott is that he
seems to pick up the insults from the tradition he is
currently passing through, and then uses them
gratitiously to slag off opponents. when he was
interested in class struggle anarchism, others were
verbosely condemned as individualists and lifestylers.
when an autonomist, others were verbosely condemned as
substitutionists. when an orthodox trot, as in his
current phase, others are now stalinists. hell, we
even received a (misguided) critique of the anarchist
zine i used to be involved in as "workerist" by him
once. maybe this is the only known instance of ultra
left influence on him.  needless to say, the
"critique" was very lengthy, like longer than the
actual zine!

given the above, i personally wouldn't object at all
to scott being removed from this list. scott, maaate,
i respect you personally, and think you have lots of
interesting things to say, but i think your talents
could be more productively spent elsewhere.  tho it
looks like scott will stay on - and so maybe it would
be useful if some people could post up links to
detailed critiques of leninism in reply to scott for
ignoramus's like me.

on the anti-war movement in aotearoa/nz, feb 15 looks
like being a big mobe across the country - and its
occurring in many small towns like oamaru. the town i
am in, dunedin, has recently had one march bigger than
any of the anti vietnam marches of the 60s/70s, which
is incredible given that the nz state sent troops to
vietnam.  

fydd.

http://greetings.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Greetings
- Send some online love this Valentine's Day.


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