Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 04:13:24 -0500 (EST)
From: Gerald Levy <glevy-AT-pratt.edu>
Subject: M-I: Re: concerning Zeynep and marxism-int


Comrades:

Although I may be accused here of beating a dead horse, I think it is
important to draw conclusions from the experience of political struggles  
( ... and, yes, the struggle with A.O. and Co. has been a political
struggle). 

Some of you, like Louis G, may find A.O.'s latest outbursts to be
incomprensible. I do not.

Rather, they are the quite comprehensible outcome of a world perspective
common to too many (but not all) Maoists which either place any
individual in the camp of the revolutionary movement. i.e. _by which they
mean_ political support for A.O. and Co., or in the camp of reaction.

When individuals express political disagreements, there was no room for
these Maoists for them to say that these were disagreements _among
Marxists_ (or among leftists or revolutionaries). Instead, they were
placed on the other side ... of the _class war_. This also required that
they demonize their critics by calling them "counter-revolutionaries",
"social fascists", "agent provocateurs", "sub-humans", etc. 

Once they then made the leap to call their critics "social fascists"
and/or "fascists", they then thought it was legitimate to hurl _any_ kind
of abuse at these fascists, including sexist and homophobic remarks and
death threats.

This whole affair, which lead A.O. recently into pronouncing that m-int is
a "FASCIST DICTATORSHIP", reminds me of Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism. Just
as it took McCarthy to accuse Eisenhower of being a communist for many
workers to see what was going on, so too it took A.O. accusing Zeynep of
being a "fascist" for others here to see the insidious nature of A.O.'s
political line.

This whole affair should give sincere leftists who consider themselves to
be Maoists severe cause for reflection (or ... should I say ...
"self-criticism"?). It should make them think again about the Maoist
denials of atrocities by Stalinists in the former USSR, China,
Kampuchea, Peru, etc..

And ... it should make us all think about what would happen to _us_ and
other leftists if people like A.O. had _real_ power. What would they do,
for instance, if they had the opportunity and the means, to Zeynep -- who
A.O. and Co. consider to be a "fascist dictator", a "sub-human", etc.
etc.?  I think we can see how the form of rhetoric chosen by many Maoists
has  led logically to this end: death threats and demonization, (but,
*hopefully*, not death itself.

Jerry 



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