Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 09:18:07 -0500 (EST)
Subject: M-G: Re: the "baiting pit"?


In my absence, the m-int wars are heating-up. The mere fact this these
wars are ocurring in my absence says a lot about the position of the
"moderators" to suspend me for allegedly "destroying the list."

Here's my take on what is happening:

1) m-int was intended to be a heterogeneous list in which different
perspectives internationally among Marxists are present.

2) This goal was met to some degree (of course, limited by the problems
inherent in the medium, i.e. the lack of Net access or prohibitive cost in
many parts of the world).

3) Now everything is beginning to totally unravel. Although I have been
critical of the actions and composition of the "moderators", I believe
that the current situation can be traced more to the _political
composition_ of the list than any actions or inactions of the moderators
(who now seem to be stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place).

4) The political composition of m-int includes (from right to left):

   a) the die-hard Stalinists (best exemplified by A.O.). This "tendency"
      is increasingly calling for the expulsion of everyone who is not in
      a) or b). The underlying presumption seems to be that anyone on the
      list who makes "derogatory remarks" about Stalin, Maoism, the  
      Shining Path, etc. is a "counter-revolutionary", "agent
      provocateur", and "red-baiter."

   b) a centrist grouping around Proyect which has entered into a tactical
      alliance with a) against the remaining members of the list. Although
      this grouping has political differences with a) they choose to be
      silent on those differences and even praise the members of a). This
      can be explained, in part, by Proyect's charge that m-int is engaged
      in a "faction fight." This group is also increasingly widening its
      call for expulsions and has gone out of its way to make excuses for
      the death threats and cop-baiting by some of the members of a).
      Part of their strategy seems also to be the purposeful distortion of
      the positions of c) and d) and _ad hominem_ attacks (the intensity
      of this can be gauged by the recent attacks on Paul Z). The goal of
      this group is to remove the members of c) and d) either through
      expulsions or hounding them into unsubscribing.  
 
   c) a heterogeneous group of independent anti-Stalinists who have
      increasingly become outraged by the actions of a) and b) --
      especially the death threats and charges that people who are not in
      a) or b) are cops. This group is also increasingly antagonized by
      the _ad hominem_ attacks against them and the unwillingness to of
      members in a) and b) to confront their political perspectives
      without distortions, lies, and charges that they are
      "counter-revolutionaries", "red-baiters", "academics", _ad nauseum_. 

   d) Troyskyist of various types. This group has taken what I view as a
      principled position against the actions of a) and b), but have
      sometimes also descended into _ad hominem_ attacks and flame wars
      with them. A concern of this group is that the desired re-shuffling
      of m-int proposed by a) and b) would effectively prevent them from
      stating their political positions. This group as well, who are
      labeled as "anti-Marxists", "counter-revolutionaries",
      "red-baiters", etc., are on the purge (hit) list of a) and b).

The "moderators" seem to be deeply divided about what to do. Louis G is
basically a member of a) [but given the recent charges by A.O. that he is
not a Marxist, one wonders how long that will last]. Jon is a member of b)
[but has not engaged in the same level of on-list accusations against
other members that Louis P, Gary, etc. have]. Zeynep has sympathies for a)
and b) but also, it seems, is justifiably outraged by their conduct
on-list. One of the major problems for the list is that none of the
moderators represent either c) or d) and have, IMO, acted one-sidedly
because of that.

In the larger scheme of things, the above will hardly merit a footnote in
the history of Marxism. One should recall, after all, that the list itself
is relatively small (about 125?) and is not representative of most workers
internationally (intellectuals and graduate students seem to be the main
composition of a-d).

Where will this all end? I know not. But, whatever happens, they will not
be able to blame me since the shit has been hitting the fan only after my
suspension.

Jerry



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