From: "Rosser Jr, John Barkley" <rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: Boshevism and democracy
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 14:43:16 -0400 ()


To Louis P.,
     Now, Louis, please do not presume to stick me in some 
basket that you have established a priori.  As far as I am 
concerned your material on Zinoviev goes at least part of 
the way in punching a hole in the "Leninism leads to 
Stalinism" argument.  Yes, I have made such arguments in 
the past, but I am not set in concrete on this.  I am an 
open-minded, if not completely empty-minded, guy.  At least 
I like to think so.  This forum is exactly for us to work 
out these kinds of ideas and issues, at least I hope so.
     So, I repeat, what then is the Leninist view of a 
Bolshevik party and how does it differ from the 
Zinoviev-Stalin-Trotsky view?  And is it compatible with 
"democracy," or is the latter an empty and irrelevant 
concept?  Does this relate to the Lenin-leads-to-Stalin 
question?  Yes.  But it does not presume an answer.
Barkley Rosser
On Fri, 25 Oct 1996 13:14:27 -0400 (EDT) Louis Proyect 
<lnp3-AT-columbia.edu> wrote:


> Barkeley, I don't think we are talking about the same problem. I am not
> interested in "democracy" as such, since this has no meaning in class terms.
> The subject I am pursuing has to do with the ability of Marxists to build
> socialist parties that are non-sectarian. Zinoviev's model is a sectarian model.
> 
> The issues you are raising have a lot more to do with the sort of analysis
> that falls under the general rubric of does "Leninism lead to Stalinism". I
> think there are probably very few people on this list, perhaps Tim Wolforth
> and you, who take this approach and it would be a waste of time for us to
> discuss it.
> 
> Louis
> 
> 
> At 12:54 PM 10/25/96 -0400, you wrote:
> >     I have found Louis Proyect's discussion of Zinoviev's 
> >role in the Comintern most enlightening.  It would appear 
> >that he is on to something in arguing that the Bolshevik 
> >Party under Lenin operated with a great deal more of 
> >internal democracy than was the case later under the 
> >Comintern and its successors.
> >     I now throw out the question:  How far did this 
> >democracy go and how far should it go?  After all, Lenin 
> >shut down the Duma elected shortly after the Bolshevik 
> >Revolution when the election produced a dominance by the 
> >SRs.
> >Barkley Rosser
> >
> >-- 
> >Rosser Jr, John Barkley
> >rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu




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