Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 21:06:38 -0500
From: LeoCasey-AT-aol.com
Subject: Gramsci and Stalinism


UticaRose seems intent upon picking a fight over Gramsci. I decline to be his
sparring partner.

The record is clear, for anyone who wishes to examine it, that I have made it
clear since I began posting to this list that I am not even an orthodox
Marxist, much less a Leninist, but a radical democrat who, in theoretical
terms, is a post-Marxist. It is also clear that I take the issue of state
authoritarianism, and its relationship to the Marxist and socialist
tradition, rather seriously. It is precisely because I have these views that
I insist upon a nuanced and precise understanding of the problem, an
understanding which -- in the context of historical scholarship -- does not
blame individuals such as Gramsci for failing to see into the future. (And
this is, I believe, a separate question from whether or not his thought
provides us in 1995 with an adequate approach to the problem.) Unless someone
thinks Marxism in the hands of a Gramsci is the intellectual equivalent of a
crystal ball, it is really hard for me to see how he can accused of being an
apologist for Stalinism. And that is pretty much where I am prepared to leave
that issue.



     --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

     ------------------