File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9712, message 339


Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 16:53:00 -0800
From: DSU <jwalker-AT-fs1.li.man.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Don Quixote...


James Heartfield wrote:
 
> As to the rest, of John's post, I don't think it is that serious. Only
> that the last time I saw any of the out-of-work actors who sell the
> RCG's paper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, it was on the elegant
> boulevards of Islington's Upper Street.

I'm no longer a member and don't live in London but I know certainly up 
here in North-West England FRFI is has (and still is) mainly sold on lage 
housing estates. Mainly dominated by black and asian people living on or 
around the poverty line often for around 30 pence or what people can 
afford. The reason why you don't see many sellers may be that they are 
not sold in prominent places, which was my point. 

Also a large number of issues are send free into prisons and FRFI is 
probably the widest circulated Marxist paper in British prisons. 

It has to admited that the one place that LM does get circulated is to 
nurses and the RCP was very active during the various nurses strikes in 
Manchester as one of its leading members here was herself a nurse.

Where one sells ones propaganda material is significant and going to 
people regularly in their own home does build up some relationship with 
real people, living real lives and who will eventually thrown into real 
struggle to defend themselves. Selling papers in Islington has its place 
as it may raise more money to cover production costs and may catch people 
who are interested in politics. The arguement I was making was that it is 
wrong when that is all one does. It is wrong when it becomes the end and 
not the means, when it distracts an organisation from other equally 
necessary tasks.

The rest of my post was the more significant as it was asks why?

	'It strikes me that this has far more in common with the Idealism 
Marx
tries to counter in Hegel. His discussion of ‘class’ is a case in point.
It is seen as more analogous to Hegel’s ‘Spirit’. He talks about the
class struggle being eternal and is happy to quote Marx private
correspondence. But in his and Engels published work they make quite
clear the class struggle is not eternal. Marx argues for a Communist
(that’s what the C in RCP stands for) Society and defines it as a
classless society. Engles makes it clear that there were indeed primitive
societies without classes.'

Comradely regards

John Walker


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