Date: 10 Jan 97 22:15:39 EST
From: jonathan flanders <72763.2240-AT-CompuServe.COM>
Subject: M-I: Mensheviking


>> I think that you are all  missing the point.  The SWP is quite like 
 the Party organisation of the Mensheviks. It is relatively open and 
 broad because the entry qualitifation does not require agreement with a 
Marxist

programme as conceived by Lenin.   In that sense it cannot operate in 
 a democratic centralist manner as conceived by Lenin. Why, because 
 the membership as untrained cadres cannot contribute to the 
 democratic debate which tests and changes the programme. Hence the 
 programme becomes the property of various leadership cliques.
 Louis P and Adam are in agreement on the type of organisation that is 
needed, except that neither can see that their prescription is one for a 
 bureacratic clique. <<DR Bedggood

Jon Flanders:

   Adam says Lou P's a Menshevik. DR says Adam and Lou P are both 
Mensheviks. Next someone else will come along and say DR is a Menshevik.
Around it goes and where it will end nobody knows.

   Could we have a moratorium on this sort of thing? How does slapping a 
label on someone advance the discussion? 

   Louis P has been  criticized for making "threats" that might 
chill someone from contributing to the discussion. I would argue that 
carrying a paste pot and brush around with you ready to slop a Menshevik 
billboard on someone has a similar effect. Its a fighting term, and sets 
the atmosphere for a flame war.

  Let's try for a list culture that's more educational and less polemical
in tone. I know thats a stretch away from realization, and probably 
reveals the "menshevik" in me, but I still think its a worthy goal.



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