From: Zeynep Tufekcioglu <zeynept-AT-turk.net>
Subject: New lists
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 1996 16:44:01 +0300


Here are a few proposals:

1. Theoretical & practical aspects of organisation 
[Forms of struggle, Leninism, vanguardism, the valid and the obsolete, etc.]

This forum could hold a discussion for discussing various theories about
organisation; consider some specific cases of left/revolutionary/marxist
etc. organisations; theory and practice of political pedagogy & interaction
with the working class; concepts as democratic centralism, collective
centralism; the role of social-democrat parties, etc.


2. Theory of the state, globalism and internationalism
[The restructing of the nation-state, low intensity warfare,
multi-nationals, finance-capital, the thirld-world and [under]development,
fascism, etc.]

This forum can debate what globalism means; its impact; the nature and the
function of multi-nationals; the role of the finance-capital; the evolution
of the nation-state under globalism; specific developments in the
first-world, the third-world; forms of the bourgeois state (concepts as
democracy, fascism in today's world); global power blocs and hegemony; low
intensity warfare; foreign debt problem; etc.

3. Restructuring the struggle in an era of neo-liberalism 
[Crisis theory, neo-liberalism, the working class on the verge of the 21st
century, trade-unions, new employment structures and methods, the role of
peasantry, etc.]

This forum can debate the current economical situation; neo-liberalism or
flexible accumulation; theory of crisis (overproduction, underconsumption,
fall of profitability), the structure of today's capitalism and theoretical
concepts & practical aspects; de-industrialisation; growth of the service
sector; flexible employment (part-time work, subcontracting, quality
management and just in time techniques, the indvidiual contracts); the class
alignments and the social structure in the first-world and the third world
(urbanisation, inner-cities, peasantry, lumpen proletariat, the "classical"
proletariat); the role and function of the trade-unions; environment and
capitalism; etc.

4. National/ethnic question and the class struggle
[the surge in ethnic politics and struggles, class politics & the national
question, nationalism in the third-world in the first-world, etc.]

This forum for the rise of the ethnic sensitivities and struggles, specific
manifestations (Ireland, Kurdistan, East Timor, Tamil, Euskada..);
tribalisation (Bosnia, Rwanda); the growth nationalist right & fascism; the
rise of nationalism in the first-world (and its impact on the working class
struggle); the fall of third-world nationalist/development oriented ideology
(Peronism, Baath, Nasir, the non-aligned movement,..)

5. Ideology, culture & marxist politics
[the mass media, consumerism, identity politics, new mediums as the
internet, theory of ideology & politics]

Here, the debate could include the role and function of the mass media;
post-modernism and post-modernity; information age; the internet; the nature
of bourgeois electral politics; fragmentation; the current forms of "thought
control"; consumerism; atomisation; individualism; collective identities;
theory of ideology; theory of politics; space & time; class politics;
methodology, marxism and science; etc.


6. The Soviet Bloc & Socialism
[A theory of transition, lessons from the Soviet experiment, problems of
socialism, planning, etc.]

This forum can debate various theories of socialism, transition,
post-capitalism, central planning, market socialism, the Soviet experience,
the post-Soviet world, the current experience in the ex-socialist countries,
Cuba, Nicaragua, etc.

I suggest that all these be moderated to allow a productive, structured
debate. Flame-wars and over-repetition should be cautioned against but not
forbidden in a strict sense so as to stifle the debate. A Marxist discussion
list can't and shouldn't expect a noncommittal attitude from the participants.

I'm not sure about the technicalities, but I prefer a democratic process for
choosing, removing moderators, and for expulsion from the list. Also, a
panel of moderators instead of a single moderator seems more appropriate. 

I'm forwarding this to the M1 & M2 list as well. (Lisa: I think this subject
should allow some crossposting, a meta-discussion is now appropriate). 

Anybody have comments or suggestions? We should discuss the new structure,
if it is to work.

Zeynep





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