From: ROSSERJB-AT-jmu.edu
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 00:36:44 -0500 (EST)
Subject: What kind of Communism?


     Given all the discussion about the CPUSA,
the PCP, the DPRK, the PRC, and Cuba, not to mention
the various stages of the Soviet past, perhaps the
question should be raised, "Is there a version of 
Communism that is morally good?"  Now I realize that
even raising such an issue brands one as petit-bourgeois,
if not an all out "racist-fascist-imperialist-numerously-
hyphenated-blah-blah-blah..."  After all, morality is to
be circumvented to achieving the dictatorship of the proletariat
by any means.  Such concerns are merely "bourgeois morality."
But then, if I remember correctly, Adolf Hitler also used to
sneer at "bourgeois morality," claiming to be the Nietschzean
ubermensch, "beyond good and evil."
     Well, after all that obnoxious introduction, I have a
point.  What about the Keralan Communist Party as a model?
Kerala under their rule has achieved very high educational
levels and high life expectancy, even for a very poor state
in a poor country, social outcomes comparable to those in Cuba.
But they have done so without getting on AI's naughty list,
without a Cult of Personality, without throwing opponents in jail or
executing them, or any of the rest of that stuff that various
people on this list seem to think is just great.  So, is this
a good model or what?
Barkley Rosser


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