Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 08:03:58 +0100 (MET)
From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki)
Subject: M-G: Re: M-I: Academic Marxism?


yoshie furuhash;

>I agree with Will that we do need to consider what separates academics from
>other sorts of workers who all Marxists can agree are indeed proletarians.

<snip>

Yoshie I assume with a lot of other people writes a rather formel correct 
position on the academics and their plight. I can only add that many 
academics because of the "education explosion" in the post war boom find 
that they themselves are today finding themselves on the dole for perhaps 
the first time in history! Ahh nothing like a good old portion of 
unemployment for our smarties to get them moving in one direction or 
another! Unfortunately historically these kinds of crisises usually drive 
the smartie crowd to the right at best and even towards fascists and rascist 
solutions when things get really up tight. However there are those 
intellectuals that do not follow the pack and do work against their both 
material and cultural priviledges that they historically have been based on..

But what Yoshie and others leave out despite their plight is the bougeois 
world of thoughts, values and ideals that are served to them on a silver 
spoon from birth. It creates a constant pressure to capitulate to these 
forces and in this case under the cover of being "Marxists".

I do not think that there is much difference between the labor aristocracy 
and academia other then the labor aristoracy has built up its capital in the 
factories near the workers historically both as trade union bureaucrats and 
the specialized tradesin the industries whereas the academia do not even 
have these class roots!

But both are naturally extremely dangerous. But getting back to the academia 
I think the best examples of academia actually writting something that 
workers can use comes from people like Adam Rose (who i disagree with 
because of his state capitalism) but his style and the things he sometimes 
produces can be used by workers. Dave Bedgood is another good example. 
Negative examples is Doug! Not because i disagree with his liberalism. The 
problem with Doug i think is that he does not give workers any information 
that they can use. He mostly contibutes like others here as some sort of ego 
tripping mind game, sort of like masturbation, or a discussion over the head 
of workers. Proyect is another example of the same tendency and quite openly 
wants to create a list which in style is exactly like the garbage that he 
thinks is important.

I should mention here Vlad who started off pretty bad politically but has a 
style which i think workers could understand..

And Stuward who is very honest, in fact to me one of the most honerable of 
the intellectual crowd that hangs out here!


Aldolfo despite is religous fever and obsession with cockroaches has a style 
which can be understood by workers sometimes. But he is constantly wanting 
to join the intellectual playpen. When he is not threatening to use the 
steel boots on them!

Louis G is extremely intelligent but goes on with endless desertations 
without openly coming out and defending his obvious Stalinist line. He draws 
all the arguements but not the tactical and organisational conclusions they 
involve. He is trying to get people to buy a pig in the bag. The same old 
pig of Stalinist politics that the workers movement has been chained with 
for years. Albeit a cleaned up version.

Barkely is just a whining apoligist that wants to be one of the boys.

Justin appears to be one of those dry dusty types who will have to change 
his ways if he thinks he is going to communicate with working class people.

Scott is a clown and lives off leaching on intellectual quips amongst the 
learned here at Jefferson village.

Bob S. who apparently has dissappeared from M-I was more of and honest 
bougeois intellectuall with quite clear positions that at least defended the 
male half of his protogees!

Jerry Levy who was one of the "ivory tower" people has his own problems 
these days. From carrying the big stick against the "Stalinists" and the 
Trots on first m1 and then M2 he is getting hit with the stick because of 
the Proyect affair.Very Funny in fact. In regards to this I find it 
interesting that the moderaters Godena and Zeynep defend Louis on this one 
with Jerry and quietly let slip by Proyect going all over the net accusing 
malecki of being and "agent provacateur", "cop" and a lot of other lies and 
slanders. But for these intellectuasls their are one kind of thing that 
should be looked into and Jerry gets the big stick and others which are 
ignored that were and are far more dangerous. I assume that the rules and 
arts of respectability on M-I only are for certain elements of academia. 
Sort of like being in a sandbox playing with your prick or something! So 
much for our moderaters. Although i think that Jon certainly was principled 
in removing himself from the Jerry-Proyect controversy. To bad you could not 
do that with the Malecki stuff on M1 John. And as far as the recent 
controversy I think that Jerry should not even have been allowed to write 
and then get thrown off the list for his writtings. because he was never a 
member of the list. So if anybody should get a smack on the hand it is in 
fact those moderters that allowed Jerry's letter to reach the list despite 
him not being subbed! But i see that this stuff as been taken care of now.

But as they usually say one of the traits of the petty bougeois intellectual 
is defending their own kind through thick and thin from those horrible 
"vulgar" proletarians! "Each to his own and never the twain shall meet." Who 
said that? Obviously a very smart ass.

Finally I guess that Lenin and Trotsky were the best examples of a communist 
intellectuall intellegencia who could go to the very hieghts of the 
intellectuall aristocracy and deal with them in the interests of poor and 
working class people and then on the other hand could write to the lowest of 
poor and proletarian elements of the vanguard of the proletariat and grabb 
them by the balls.

Our list has a long way to go before we find any of this calibre to help 
poor and working class people find a way forward. It is a sign of the times 
and naturally the character of the new left and its both historically being 
born in the post war boom and years after the great events which shaped the 
intellectualls of the first-second, third and fourth Internationals. In fact 
not to much original thinking from our intellectuals on this list. Just a 
parroting of the various trends that have existed since the victory of the 
October revolution and the stalinist and Social democratic aftermath! And to 
think that these intellectualls have accuse Malecki of being a horrible 
sectarian who just repeats those horrible Bolshevik Leninist formulas and 
talks about Trotsky all the time. I mean christ our bougeois intelligensia 
who appear to go through every word any asshole writes and bickers about it 
trying desperately to find something so that they can throw that oh so 
horrible Lenin anf Trotsky out the window! Hmmm it just makes me wonder. But 
even in these questions the ivory tower types appear to defend their own! 
However their are a few exceptions!

Probably take a small group of revolutionary Bolshevik-Leninists and a new 
October somewhere on this planet in order to break all of our intellectualls 
>from there bad habits! Then and maybe then should workers take you people 
seriously. Until then nobody gets a free ticket! Especially our "marxist 
academicians"! 

So the message is not your woes but where are you thinking about taking poor 
and working class people, the revolutionary motor of history. To new 
victories or new bloodbaths?

Warm regards
Bob Malecki

PS: For those intellectuals I have not named (Rob S) for example. Well, 
consider yourself lucky! You might just make it on to my list!

PPS: Oops their goes that horrible vulgar malecki again! Why won,t he stop 
picking on us. I guess we will have to deal with him in one way or another! 
Wel, the same goes for you! As the great cry from the French Revolution once 
again walks the halls of history on Internet! Off with their heads! 
Especially those with the powdery wigs on...

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