Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 16:54:47 +0800
From: KHOO Khay Jin <kjkhoo-AT-pop.jaring.my>
Subject: Re: M-I: A Great Political Truth!


I know, this thread is supposed to come to an end, but I'll put in my two
cents worth.

The fact is that the record of Stalin has to be confronted not because it
provides ammunition to the other side, but because it is a blot in the
socialist record. If they didn't have Stalin, they would have found
something else, as they did in 1917 which, let's not forget didn't go
beyond the borders of the Czarist empire.

The point comes down to the success of (and some may object to the term,
but I'm looking at it from this side of the world) western propaganda and
ideology. One can ask, a thousand times over, why is not the treatment of
native Americans a blot on American capitalism? Who worries about it, who
even thinks about it? Or the history of slavery and its continued
aftermath, an aftermath now put down to culture and genes, and what have
you?

No, the point, the truth, is that despite these blots, the US continues to
bedazzle the world, not least when despite verbal opposition, the greatest
compliment is paid by imitation.

Let's not forget that for most people in the world, there's no memory of
Stalin. Indeed, the majority of those who dumped the communist system also
had no memory of Stalin. Turn things around a little - the western world
looks with horror at Hitler and Nazism, but look at the reactionary state
of so much of the west today: the racism, best-seller status of what's that
book on genes and iq, best seller status of what's that book on positive
discrimination, the support for the merciless bombing of Iraq and the
acquiescence in the continued killing of babies there. Memories are funny
things.

The truth is that the greatest ammunition is the collapse of eastern
Europe, and the rest. One may say that the cause of that was stalinism, but
that really doesn't advance understanding very far: the ussr,
czechoslovakia, hungary, romania, poland, bulgaria, yugoslavia, albania,
nicaragua, china, vietnam, etc. had significant differences and saying that
they were all stalinist is not very useful.



At 10:36 am +0800 28/2/97, Paul Zarembka wrote:

 * On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, Shane Mage wrote:
 *
 * > ...The ideologists of capitalism in every country know how to use that
 * > memory [of Stalin] against socialism.  In our struggle against them any
 * > tolerance for stalinism constitutes a fatal weakness that, you may be
 * > sure, they will exploit to the fullest.
 *
 * This should be so obvious (but apparently is not) that it shouldn't have
 * to be mentioned.  The bourgeoisie has enormously ammunition here and it
 * can be pulled up at a moment's notice!  1917 Bolsheviks did not face this
 * ammunition.  We will face it for years to come!
 *
 * And this is precisely why CONFRONTING stalinism today, yesterday, and
 * tomorrow is so important ....




     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---