Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 00:29:31 +0200 (MET DST)
From: rolf.martens-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se (Rolf Martens)
Subject: Re: Adolfo claims Molotov-Ribbentropp = Brest-Litovsk


Hugh Rodwell wrote on 24.07 i.a.:

>Adolf-O really gets aereated in his latest post. 
.................

>but fails to mention why he has never ever (nor any of his other Maoist
>chums, for that matter, such as Quispe, Chris, Gina, Jay or Rolf) quoted
>anything Stalin himself had to say (at the actual time, untouched by
>retroactive censorship) on their favourite historical topics, 

This thing about Adolfo's "other Maoist chums", lumping (or should
one say, "lumpening"?) Jay, Adolfo and me together with "Quispe",
Chris-B-actor-cop and G. Gina, is really an interesting gambit, 
considering what all know has taken place on this list during the
last three months.

This already is the second somewhat "interesting" statement by
Hugh R. Some days ago, he wrote that Cris-B was "a dedicated
Maoist". Perhaps people should start reading his postings with
the possibility in mind that Hugh R. himself might be of the type 
of "dedicated Maoists" that Chris-B is.

In general, our "opposition" seems a little agitated and
nervous at the moment - see some recent "over-harakiri"
postings by "Quispe", for instance. Things are not going so well 
for them, perhaps?


On the subject Hugh R. had in his headline, I just want to make 
a very brief comment at this time. He quotes comrade Adolfo:

>>There is nothing but anti-proletarian feeling behind such 
>>assertions as that Stalin made an "alliance" with Hitler. 
>>Did Lenin made an Alliance with German imperialism by signing 
>>the treaty of Brest then?

and replies.

>'Anti-proletarian feeling', eh? Something Stalinist ideologues 
>have in their bones.

In fact this matter is not so simple as Adolfo put it.
I earlier had the same opinion on this as he now expressed.
But there *are* indications that there *was* something very
sinister going on, on the part of the then Soviet governemet,
at that time, and even indications that it had been going on 
for some time.

This is a matter which the adherents of Marx, Lenin and Mao
Zedong need to look into more closely. I certainly at the
moment don't have all the answers here. But these questions
shouldn't be brushed away with an assertion that "there's
nothing to it".

Sinister dealings by the then Soviet government, if there were
such, would absolutely *not* refute the correctness of Marxism,
Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. 

My then comrades of the German party KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT) in
the mid-'80:s started digging into some other questions of
history of our movement, and did find some things that IMO, 
even more that the 1939-1940 events (but also in part related to
these events), call for a certain genuine rethinking on the part 
of the Marxists. I'll not go into those subjects more either, 
just now. My then comrades unfortunately took some discoveries 
they had actually made as a pretext for wanting to abandon 
Leninism completely. I counter-attacked this. But their party 
did degenerate. However, our movement *will* have to deal with 
certain "uncomfortable" questions of history. 

The reason why I'm only pointing at these things in this vague
manner here (there are documents on them, in German; one series
of articles by Klaus Sender from 1986 on has the title: "Die 
Stellung Lenins zu A. I. Herzen") is that I'm giving prority to 
certain other matters, such as the preparations for the WMC and 
the things which IMO need more immediate discussion in connection 
with that.

A big discussion on events 1939-40, and on the Soviet govt.
under Stalin in general? Generally speaking, there *is*
need for one. But I prefer not taking part in one just now,
any further than with the above.

Rolf M. 

 




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