File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9709, message 134


From: "Dave Bedggood" <dr.bedggood-AT-auckland.ac.nz>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 23:13:51 +0000
Subject: Re: M-TH: Wall street pathognominics


> Date:          Fri, 19 Sep 1997 09:59:31 -0500
> To:            marxism-thaxis-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
> From:          Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
> Subject:       Re: M-TH: Wall street pathognominics
> Cc:            marxism-general-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
> Reply-to:      marxism-thaxis-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU


Doug Henwood wrote:

> David Bedggood wrote:
> 
> >Doug makes a lot of the conditions today compared with those of  80
> >years ago. Is this a valid comparison? The first and only
> >proletarian revolution took place in a backward capitalist
> >semi-colony. The conditions facing Russian workers and peasants were
> >similar to those facing the masses of workers and peasants in the
> >world today, war, famine, disease, starvation i.e. capitalist
> >exploitation and oppression.  What made the difference then was the
> >self-conscious band of marxists who formed the Bolsheviks against the
> >menshevik current. The Bolsheviks organised a tiny minority against
> >the stream of worker and peasant consciousness, and
> >evolutionary/fatalist marxism represented by the then mensheviks.
> 
> A difference between now and then, which you may regard as trivial, is that
> there was a vast worldwide socialist and communist movement 80 years ago
> which simply doesn't exist today. What do you/we do about *that*?
> 
> 
> Doug

You miss the point Doug.  The vast worldwide socialist and communist 
movement 80 years ago  got nowhere without a Bolshevik vanguard.  
Where it was present there was a revolution, where it was absent, 
this vast movement succumbed to war and counter-revolution, betrayed 
by their reformist leaders. 

Today, we have learned a lot of  lessons. We have to rebuild the 
vanguard party, and we have to prevent the reformists from betraying 
and defeating the revolution next time. Hows that for starters?
Dave.

Dave Bedggood


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