File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-12-10.211, message 69


Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 13:18:25 -0500 (EST)
From: louisgodena-AT-ids.net (Louis R Godena)
Subject: Re: M-I: Godena's Remark



Zeynep writes:

>On the other question, I personally think that [Louis G's] remark that the
IS has a
>"long history of supporting the Nazis" is unfair. 

Actually,  what I said was that "his [Tony Cliff's] long and sordid record
of support for the Nazis...,  the US...,  his perfidious desertion of the
Miners' strike..."   I did not mention the IS in regards to the Ukraine or
Korea because this outfit did not then exist in its current form.    Please,
if you're going to put quotation marks around words and then attribute them
to me,  do so accurately.     And it is not "unfair" to attribute to an
individual deliberate acts that are a matter of ascertainable historical
fact.     

> My personal political opinion is such discussion gets us nowhere. The
period in which Soviet Union
>was a major dividing line in the left is over, for better or worse. Most of
>the divisions, and "taking side"s from that era, are anulled. Those that
>want to keep them alive can do so. Insisting on being irrelevant is no crime.

This is surely begging the argument,  which I had no hand in initiating (on
the contrary,  every post I've ever initiated on this list is posted with a
deliberate and careful eye to the present).     A record of support for
Hitler and his allies,  regardless from which organization it orginates
(including my own) always raises questions.     They are important not from
a standpoint of political purity (none of us possess that).    Rather,  they
offer some guide to the general direction of an organization,  trend,  or
set of policies that can either be maintained or altered in some purposive
way.    The CPUSA has done much that has been shameful -- probably more from
the vantage point of hindsight,  which is always the least forgiving--
though it has just as often been on the right side of questions,  even if
that has often meant pursuing them in a less than forthright way.    I
cannot,  sadly,  say the same for the IS.

And,  Zeynep,  this thread has *nothing* to do with any "dividing line" *vis
a vis* the Soviet Union,  and you know it.  The consequences of Hamas,
Walesa,  Yelstin, and -- yes -- the "fascist" mujahadeen are still very much
with us, and especially with those who are daily suffering from the blight
the presence of this excreta has visited on their individual locales.   It
is the height of arrogance to imply that concern for their actions is
"irrelevant".

In closing (my second post of the day that has been wasted on this now
fruitless thread),  let me reiterate that my original remark was made in the
context of a lengthy and evocative reply to Angelo Novo.    It was not an
important part of that post.    Yet,  it was seized upon and magnified by
those who should know better.    I was asked by what lights did I revile a
certain organization that,  I feel,  lies outside the pale of Marxist
politics,  and I responded with candor and frankness and at some length.

This is the last time I shall do so.

Louis Godena  



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