Date: Sun, 03 Aug 1997 22:25:48 +1000 (EST)
From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au>
Subject: Re: M-I: Reply to Paul LeBlanc



>The problem with Cannon was not his personal failings and I should have
>probably made this clearer in my review. The problem was that he functioned
>as a Zinovievist. His understanding of "Marxism-Leninism" was shaped by the
>misconceptions of the early Comintern. He was at the 5th World Congress of
>the Comintern, the infamous "Bolshevization" congress. So was Vincent R.
>Dunne, another leader of the American Trotskyist movement. They were both
>members of the Communist Party at the time. When they came back to the
>United States, they helped to organize the CPUSA's own "Bolshevization"
>convention which resulted in the type of crude witch-hunt against
>ideological deviations that marked Zinoviev's Comintern and which has
>characterized American Trotskyism since its infancy. This was Cannon's
>problem, not his foibles as an individual.


Lou,

This series of posts is very important.  Truly a heroic effort.  I am
following it closely.  I would add a small point here that in one of his
books, Cannon makes a very flattering remark about Zinoviev and says how
much he still admired him.  I will try and dig it out for you.

regards

Gary



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