Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 20:38:17 -0600 From: Hans Ehrbar <ehrbar-AT-keynes.econ.utah.edu> Subject: Re: M-NEWS: Reflections from the left in Brisbane and Melbourne The most recent message sent out on marxism-news contained excerpts from several messages from marxism-thaxis and marxism-international compiled by Hugh Rodwell. Hugh introduced his compilation with the following editorial comment: > Here are some reflections from Gary in Brisbane and Jeff in Melbourne. Both > demonstrate, to different degrees, the gulf between the traditional left > and the working class. To me it seems Gary is closer to the needed fusion > between socialist forces and the working class than Jeff. Tony H's reports > show the way the fusion is actually proceeding. To me the problem at the > root of all these doubts and uncertainties lies in the view that many of > the left develop in "quieter" times that the working class has either been > annihilated or finally pacified or just plain bought off -- in other words > that there is no hope of any socialist change coming from the working > class. No wonder such sceptics find it hard to adjust when the class shows > its real character -- like now. This makes it pretty clear that the > tradtional left is not the place to look for a correct perspective on > either the working class (and its economic and political potential) or > socialism itself. This in turn means any leadership coming (by default??) > from the traditional left will be inadequate to the real tasks of > developing a socialist alternative to capitalism. In response to this, Louis Proyect wrote: > THIS FUCKING SHIT HAS NO BUSINESS ON MARXISM-NEWS. IT'S BAD ENOUGH WE HAVE > TO HEAR RODWELL'S SECTARIAN GARBAGE ON OTHER VIEWS. MARXISM-NEWS IS FOR > NEWS, NOT EDITORIALIZING OF THIS TYPE. IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN, RODWELL SHOULD > BE BANNED PERMANENTLY FROM USING MARXISM-NEWS. Marxism-news is a moderated list, and nothing is sent out without the consent of the moderator, which at the present time is me, Hans Ehrbar. I see this therefore not so much as a critique of Hugh Rodwell but a critique of my selection among the submissions to marxism-news. I would like to have feedback also from others about how they feel regarding editorial content on marxism-news. We have had news items together with brief editorial comments in the past. Marxism-news depends on you contributing or forwarding news items, and in the past I have had no problems with contributors occassionally writing a few lines of comment about the news they were forwarding. But I am open to your suggestions in this respect and also how to improve marxism-news in other respects. Here are a few ideas how marxism-news could be developed otherwise: (a) perhaps we should make a list marxism-news-rejects which has all those submissions which were submitted to marxism-news but not approved. In this way everybody who cares about it can check up on the selection of articles forwarded to marxism-news and give input if they feel the choices that were made are not good. (b) I would very much like to enlarge the editorial team for marxism-news. One person is not enough. Whenever I don't get to a computer for a day or two, marxism-news falls behind. I would also like to include experts on the different areas: experts on the EZLN, experts on Ireland, experts on Bougainville, etc. Such experts are probably already subscribed to other mailing lists, and they would forward relevant material to marxism-news. Any volunteers willing to help in the selection of articles to be sent to marxism-news, please send a message to marx-administration-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Hans Ehrbar. ehrbar-AT-econ.utah.edu
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