File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-12-15.190, message 10


Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:32:22 +1000
From: rws-AT-comserver.canberra.edu.au (Rob Schaap)
Subject: M-I: Re: Godena's Remarks


I have to go along with Richard - but I'd like to add that (a) asking
people to throw off the comfortable robes of a sect, into which decades of
personal investment have been made, is as tortuously difficult as it is
necessary, and (b) this list argues at fever pitch, but rarely leaves the
tracks.  For instance, in my few months here,I've been witness to vitriolic
exchanges (Rose v. Godena; Lou p. v. Bobs Scheetz and Malecki etc etc), yet
have not seen the list deteriorate.  The odd indignant shriek and
inappropriate label does not put these people off, and eventually newcomers
like me get value from their posts again and again (unfortunately, I'm
still not sure they get value from each other).  

Me, I'm glad I have access to 'em all.  

'Tis to be said though - Of the many things I have learned from this list,
the continued inability of lefties to find practical common ground is one. 
Zeynep is not just right here, she is bringing to the fore THE MOST
IMPORTANT ISSUE for the left today (as it has been ever since the 1920s). 
Either we stumble impotently into the future with eyes locked firmly on a
romanticised past, or we ask ourselves why, in a time when the objective
conditions seem so amenable to our mode of analysis and praxis, our voice
is so quiet, incoherent and unsure.  As I've said before (and I'm not the
first), in such times, people head for succour and hope.  The fascist right
offers it just as we offer it.  They're offering it louder just now ...

Sometimes 'specious rhetoric' (I can see the accusation coming) *is*
appropriate, without recourse to theory (as Dave would have it) or
empirical substantiation (as Doug would have it) - that's how I justify the
above, anyway.  

Regards, Rob.





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