Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 21:48:59 +0100
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: Re: Vanguardism (Dr Louis P)


>On Thu, 29 Feb 1996, Hugh Rodwell wrote:
>>
>> Louis, do you think there is no leadership in the working class?
>>
>> If there is, where does it come from?

and Louis answered, revealingly enough:

>Louis: It doesn't come from groups that got their asses thrown in jail by
>the Sandinistas. If I knew that you were hooked up with a group that was
>involved in these types of sick adventures, I never would got into a
>discussion with you. I made a point of not debating Carlos when I
>discovered that he had ties to a group that was trying to outflank
>the Sandinistas from the left. This is a litmus test for me. Groups that
>formed international brigades to build "revolutionary alternatives" to the
>FSLN are not worth having discussions with.

Which I suppose means that the Sandinistas qualify for leadership, and any
positions to the left of them 'are not worth having discussions with', and
equally, deserve to be repressed for encouraging the workers and the poor
to set up their own union organizations. In other words, Louis P supports
state violence when it's administered by a force with the policies of the
Sandinistas, even if it's against forces with policies of workers'
self-organization. This is the same line as the USec took.

The question of transforming Nicaraguan society is a big one. I should have
thought Louis' tolerance for discussion in relation to such a broad
question would have been greater, especially given his pleas for a broad
and tolerant party organization. But then, perhaps there's a dialectical
boundary between tolerance and intolerance for Louis that this discussion
is beginning to locate.

More on the Nicaraguan question later.

>Go make a fucking revolution
>in England or France that Nicaraguans can send brigades to, you windbag.

Once again, 'revolution' used as a put-down, 'fucking revolution' even.
What is Louis' attitude to socialist revolution - is it pie in the sky?

I've made it clear that I don't think individuals or organizations can
'make' revolution or transform society - so why this venomous twisting of
my positions?

If a revolution broke out in Britain or France, volunteer international
brigades would be welcomed with open arms, not jail.

Cheers,

Hugh




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