Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 08:56:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Cockburn?


On 7 Mar 1996 Ryan-AT-bitstream.mpls.mn.us wrote:

> leadership. Now, would someone please tell me and everyone else around the
> world not very familiar with Alexander Cockburn something about him? I know
> he writes a column in the Nation, which I rarely read, and about the
> environment. Where is he from? What he has said about the militias or at
> least where can one find it?
> 

Louis: Actually, the whole cyberseminar was initiated on account of a 
Cockburn column that appeared in the Nation magazine in which he likened 
the militias to the Zapatistas in Mexico! The very next week Adolph Reed 
appeared on on Doug Henwood's radio show in NY and made the case that the 
militias were fascist.

Reed and Cockburn are two thinkers with impeccable Marxist credentials 
who reached two startingly opposed conclusions. I suggested to the list 
that a discussion of fascism would be useful. It would help us to make 
judgements about the militia with more clarity.

The idea for a seminar came to the front burner after the Million Man 
March on Washington. A spate of accusations appeared on the list stating 
that the Nation of Islam is fascist.

I think we have made a lot of progress on the list in terms of 
understanding the classical definition of fascism. Obviously there is 
still a lot of disagreement about what fascism might mean today when the 
working-class is quiescent. What kind of counter-revolution can there be 
when we are not even in a pre-revolutionary situation?

A word or two on Cockburn: His is the son of Claud Cockburn, a famous 
member of the British CP who was a highly provocative journalist in the 
1930s. His son, Alex, follows in his footsteps. Alex has been accused of 
being "Stalinoid". This is a slander. The reason he has attracted so much 
heat from liberals is that he draws the class line. Right now he is in a 
major conflict with the people who run the Nation. They want to turn the 
magazine into a mouthpiece for the Clinton campaign, while Alex wants to 
keep the fire on the labor-hating, environment-despoiling, racist dog 
from Arkansas.

Cockburn is the main reason I got involved with Central America. After I 
got kicked out of the SWP for computer programming offenses (this is what 
I did for a living) in 1978, I moved back to NY and resolved to lead a 
placid, petty-bourgeois life-style. I started reading the Village Voice, 
where Alex had a column at the time, in order to find out what trendy 
night-spots to go to. Instead I found myself turning to his column each 
week and thinking about nothing else. This led me to join CISPES 
(Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) and to learn 
about non-sectarian politics. So I personally owe a lot to him.

I just want to tip my hat to each and every comrade on the list, by the 
way. This morning at work I read my e-mail and was delighted to see a 
corncupia of informative and thoughtful posts. This is just what we need! 
God bless you one and all.




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