File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-02-21.035, message 17


From: UticaRose-AT-aol.com
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 01:15:54 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: M-I: Actually Existing Stalinism


In a message dated 97-02-17 15:56:10 EST, you write:

<< To ask whether there would be a greater sum of human happiness in any of
 the ex-socialist countries had they never broken with capitalism is to
 ask an unanswerable question. There are too many variables >>

the "ex-socialist" countries appear to have had an all too frequent tendency
to justify large scale human slaughter. whether the kulaks or the trotskyists
or the capitalist roaders or urban residents, this does not seem to me to be
a question of the "greater sum of human happiness". Gulags, purges, cultural
"revolutions" and so on and so forth, the catalogue is nauseating and
something which marxists have not yet honestly or adequately dealt with. the
human costs are not "unanswerable". given the regularity with which
"socialist" revolutions have produced carnage, it would appear incumbent upon
the left, if it is ever to regain any credibility as promoting revolutions
which are not just feared or rallying points for bullies, to come face to
face with "socialism" with a barbarous face.

by the way, much of the world does use the US economy as a yardstick and the
agricultural economies of many more countries will have to become as
productive as the US if we are to avoid worldwide prolonged famine and, i
seem to remember, many marxists not so long ago had no problem comparing the
socialist bloc with the US and western Europe.




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