Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 09:20:36 -0500
From: dhenwood-AT-panix.com (Doug Henwood)
Subject: Re: Leo Casey, Stalinism, and the Canadian CP


At 9:50 PM 6/25/95, LeoCasey-AT-aol.com wrote:

>To Doug (Time On His Hands) Henwood:
>I had actually been waiting for my summer vacation next week to do a posting
>on the issues you had raised concerning a radical democratic approach to life
>in Crown Heights, as I wanted to take the time to do it properly. Not, mind
>you, to convince you, since I learned a long time ago that when someone makes
>up his mind in advance of listening to an argument there is not much purpose
>in attempting to opening the hermetically sealled and closed brain. But
>rather because it involves some interesting issues, questions which take a
>little more thought and time than pointing out the obvious about Stalinism --
>that is, obvious to all but the politically (and morally) brain dead.

This seems almost one of those occasions where a blunt "fuck you" is in
order. But I'll restrain myself. I asked the question out of genuine
curiosity. Perhaps I flatter myself, but I don't think of my brain as
"hermetically sealled and closed" (one misspelling and a redundancy, but
who's keeping score?). I await the posting.

I'm glad to see that the problem of Stalinism is so simple as to be dealt
with in a phrase, a phrase requiring neither time nor thought. So much for
history, ideology, and complexity in general. Stalin bad, _____ good. And
all the badness can be explained as proceeding from one very bad man. It
really simplifies the analyst's task greatly, that's one thing you've got
to say for it.

I'm glad too to see that morality is so self-evident. I guess when you
don't believe in class, moral reasoning becomes a lot easier. Perhaps when
you embrace the subtle complexities of RD, which we're told requires
advanced training in philosophy to understand fully, you don't have any
wetware left over to devote to such things as the analysis of "Stalinism"
or "morality."

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[dhenwood-AT-panix.com]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax




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