Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:13:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: "James F. Miller" <jamiller-AT-igc.apc.org>
Subject: An ecumenical social-democratic newspaper?


Louis wants a revitalized _Guardian_-type newspaper:

>At any rate, I think what is desperately needed is a newspaper to fill the
>role that the Guardian used to. It really hampers the left to not have
>such a voice. This should not be a CofC newspaper, but a joint effort of
>DSA, SP, Solidarity, etc. The newspaper would play a role not too unlike
>the Iskra of Lenin's day: to facilitate exchanges between socialists
>nationally who agree with a broad Marxist outlook.

   Louis overlooks the fact that Lenin was struggling to
organize a revolutionary party. He said the main function
of the _Iskra_ was to serve as the scaffolding of the
party he was trying to build.
   DSA, SP, CofC, etc., members are not trying to build
a revolutionary party. They are not carrying out the
revolutionary work that Lenin's Bolsheviks carried out.
Further, the vast majority of them are philosophically
opposed to Marxism, and especially to the dictatorship
of the proletariat.
   As far as the prospects for the launching of an
ecumenical social-democratic newpaper are concerned,
I would argue that there is no momentum today that
would make such a project feasible. The political
climate that made the _Guardian_ as successful as
it was in the 1960s and 1970s does not exist today.
There's no market for such a thing.

Jim Miller
Seattle
jamiller-AT-igc.apc.org


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