Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 10:40:22 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
Subject: Re: fascism, class consciousness


On Fri, 15 Mar 1996, Adam Rose wrote:
> 
> But to make the point again, on the surface, the French events
> "came out of the blue" , both in 1968 and this year. Before 68,
> involvement in the French CP had been falling ( it had 1,000,000
> members ! ) and the sales of its papers slumped. The normal 
> 

Louis: The French events didn't come out of the blue. They were 
"detonated" by a powerful student movement which in turn was precipitated 
by the international antiwar movement.

> I think you, Louis, underestimate working class consciousness in
> the US, and that this dovetails with your unneccessarily
> conservative organisational outlook, which has been discussed at
> great length.
> 

Louis: It's interesting that Jim Miller, a sympathizer of the American 
SWP, and Adam Rose, a member of the British SWP have a common assessment 
of the period we are in. This goes with the territory. "Marxist-Leninist" 
groups have to have a raison d'etre. That raison d'etre is that 
revolution is just around the corner. That is the only way you get people 
to pay $50 a week sustainers, sell newspapers in front of plant-gates, go 
to meetings 5 times a week, etc. This type of forced march leads to 
individual burn-out and splits like the kind that took place in your 
Canadian outfit. The left needs to preserve its cadre, not squander them 
on adventures based on some guru's pipe dream.



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