Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 07:47:33 GMT From: Chris Burford <cburford-AT-gn.apc.org> Subject: M-I: The truth ? I am still catching up on digests after being away only a few days. There seem to be many voices saying how sterile is the battle between those blaming everything on "Stalinism" and those appearing to defend "Stalinism". I thought one of Lenin's remarks was that the truth is always concrete. If people want serious discussion of the past, this is a question of being prepared to argue in a detailed and concrete way, and not just symbolically, and I would suggest to recognise the achievements and the efforts of past attempts at socialism, as well as the serious problems. If that cannot be done on this list without constantly reverting to a symbolic war of counterposed gestures, and the moderators decide to ban that, I am quite willing to conform. Meanwhile the remedy for the list overall seems to me to concentrate on more serious discussion of the concrete, often more difficult than the abstract. And an understanding that the moderators can only do so much. Basically unless all subscribers understand a willingness to moderate themselves, the list is not workable, and therefore unselfmoderated contributions are better rewarded with little attention. I am still in favour of a very wide forum, however, partly because, not in spite of, my sympathy for a Monthly Review type of position. I think that position has survived over the years by being open to debate with neighbouring perspectives, not by being closed off. If so, such a general viewpoint would continue to grow and spread in the conditions of the internet. That is my guess anyway. Chris Burford --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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