Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 13:50:23 -0600 (CST)
From: Chegitz Guevara <mluziett-AT-shrike.depaul.edu>
Subject: Re: 100 Years of (Mis)Understanding


On Sun, 26 Nov 1995 ROSSERJB-AT-vax1.acs.jmu.edu wrote:

> To Jim J. again:
>      Well, I suppose the Central Committee of the
> Cuban Communist Party elected Fidel at some point,
> and, gosh, maybe he has even been "re-elected" from
> time to time.  But who elected them?  I imagine that
> at some level those people are/were officially "elected"
> in elections in which there were no opponents and those
> who wished to vote "no" could go over to a special booth
> in front of the registrars to do so.  Uh huh.

Before you go off in such a fucking condecending tone, you ought to know
something about which you spew. Cuba democracy works on this model. 
People elect local councils. Local councils elect regional councils. 
Regional councils elect national councils. National councils elect
exectutives. Terminology and number of layers may not be accurate, but
that's how it works.  In effect, the people of Cuba have more influence
over their government than we have in the U.S. There are different 
parties to choose from in Cuba, although they are limited from any real 
influence by law, but there are also different tendencies within the CCP. 
Is Cuba a socialist paradice, no. But it's a superior alternative to most 
everything else around at the moment.

> 1989 was NOT an accident.

Gee, thank you for clearing that up. All this time I simply thought they 
had fallen down, and couldn't get up.

> Why did it happen?

Read "The REvolution Betrayed," but first, get a clue.

> Again, if people
> on this list are going to go along with self-appointed purgers
> like Louis Proyect who sneer at democracy then any serious
> workers' movement based on Marx in this world will remain a
> marginal joke only for those who enjoy their sects.

How does Louis purge people off this list? Does he have some special
access to the listserver to delete you? Can he somehow write a program to
keep the list from accepting your email? Or is that he defends his ideas
with a logic and level of research that most academics aren't used to
dealing with? I don't agree with Louis on everything, and I dislike the
especially condescding way he has of dealing with people whom he disagrees
(although I'm beginning to suspect he only treats a subset of his critics
this way, namely those with bad logic and little to no facts, and MIM, but
everyone treats MIM bad), but he has no power to make people go away. If 
you don't want to deal with Louis, there's a really easy way to do it 
(which won't work if you get the digest). It's called a killfile, you 
won't see anymore messages from Louis or Ralph or anyone else you think 
is violating your rights. Or, gee, you *could* just skip over his posts. 
Do you have a down arrow key on your keyboard?

Do you know why people leave because of Louis, because they can't defend
their ideas. Well too fuckin' bad baby, if you can't handle it. Marxism
ain't about making nicey-nice with everyone. It is about conflict, and
"the most ruthless criticism" (among other little things like 
revolution). They couldn't stand the heat. Academic farts are to used to 
being treated with respect by their pears, that when they encounter real 
Marxists, they freak. 

WE AREN'T PLAYING WITH NEAT IDEAS HERE! What every ideas we generate, and 
base decision on may effect the lives of billions (I'm talking in 
general now, I have no pretensions that the list is *that* important) and 
we can't afford to be nice to dumbshit crap which will louse things up.

So get the hell off your high fuckin' horse, cowboy, and go read a book 
or two before you come back.

> Barkley Rosser

Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett

I'm not anti-society, society's anti-me
I'm not anti-religion, religion's anti-me
I'm not anti-tradition, tradition's anti-me
I'm not anti-anything, I just want to be free.

Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies



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