Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 20:51:47 -0400
Subject: VOTE DEADLINE on "soc.politics.marxism"


 
 
                    VOTE DEADLINE ON "soc.politics.marxism" 
 
The deadline for voting on "soc.politics.marxism" is rapidly approaching. 
 
In an interesting historical reversal, the forces leaning to spontaneity
and 
against organization mobilized far more people to oppose cybernazis than
did 
the ostensibly vanguard "parties." The only group calling itself
democratic- 
centralist that directly supported the VOTE NO campaign was the Freedom 
Socialist Party. Indeed, the louder the claim to be vanguard and to
uniquely 
know how to fight fascism, the more direct and open the abstention in the
VOTE 
NO campaign against "rec.music.white-power." 
 
With the exception of the FSP, non-centralist left groups as far apart as
the 
_Love & Rage_, the Industrial Workers of the World, Radical Women, and
Refuse & 
Resist played a greater informal role than all the "vanguard" parties
combined. 
 
(An exception of the wrong sort was the Revolutionary Communist Party in
the 
United Kingdom (an ostensibly Trotskyist group not to be confused with the 
Maoist RCP in the U.S.A.) The RCP/UK did not abstain; their supporters
actively 
supported the nazis. RCP/UK forces openly invented political positions for
the 
VOTE NO campaign and then opposed the campaign based on those inventions.
It 
was one more piece of evidence of the sort that has led activists in the UK
to 
consider the RCP/UK some form of disguised rightist organization.) 
 
Similar abstention continues with attempts to get a new USENET news group 
called "soc.politics.marxism." Having got a start abstaining on antifascism
on 
the internet, many groups now appear to find nothing to support on either
side 
in the ongoing battle between cybernazis and the Marxist antifascists on
the 
net. This occurs despite the fact that the cybernazis have openly targeted 
"soc.politics.marxism" for defeat. 
 
Other unaffiliated individuals also continue to sleep through the new nazi 
opposition. These Marxists discuss Kronstadt, love, and Feuerbach while
they 
continue to be oblivious to the upcoming vote on "soc.politics.marxism." It
is 
likely that non- and even anti-Marxist individuals are supporting s.p.m. 
against the fascists more than individual Marxists are. 
 
Of continuing interest will be the post-vote rationalizations by both 
individuals and groups for their abstentionism in the latest antifascist 
effort. 
 
The complete CALL FOR VOTES on "soc.politics.marxism" including how to vote
and 
the deadline to do so is attached below. 
 
[BEGIN CALL FOR VOTE, SOC.POLITICS.MARXISM] 
 
 
                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2) 
                 moderated group soc.politics.marxism 
 
Newsgroups line: 
soc.politics.marxism    Karl Marx and his legacy in theory and practice. 
(Moderated) 
 
Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 29 Apr 1996. 
 
This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions about the

proposal should be directed to the proponent. 
 
Proponent: Per I Mathisen <perim-AT-interlink.no> 
Votetaker: Brennan Price <gt0670e-AT-prism.gatech.edu> 
 
 
OFFICIAL SOURCES OF THE CFV 
 
The only official sources for copies of this CFV are the UseNet newsgroups
to 
which it is posted including news.announce.newgroups and the votetaker.  An

official copy will also be sent to the Marxism mail list after it is posted
in 
news.announce.newgroups.  Contact majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu if
you 
want information about the list. 
 
 
RATIONALE: soc.politics.marxism 
 
There is currently no newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of Marxist 
philosophy and politics. Such debate has long taken place in the "Marxism" 
mailing list and occasionally on the newsgroup
alt.politics.socialism.trotsky. 
The "Marxism" list has currently well over 300 subscribers and carries
about 
30-50 posts a day. The above-mentioned newsgroup carries about 10-20 posts
a 
day and is no place for serious discussion since it is haunted by
irrelevant 
crossposts, off-topic conversations and extensive flaming. Neither are 
moderated. 
 
The reason the "Marxism" mailing list is insufficient is because many feel 
30-40, often quite long, mails dropping into one's mailbox is too much, and

would prefer the quicker alternative of browsing a newsgroup. A newsgroup
is 
also more accessible for newcomers. 
 
The soc.politics.* hierarchy was chosen because it fits well with our
intention 
of a newsgroup for discussion about marxism as political, sociological and 
historical theory and as a means of changing the world. 
 
 
CHARTER: soc.politics.marxism 
 
This group is intended as a moderated forum for the discussion of marxism
and 
political topics in connection to marxism. This includes, but is not
restricted 
to, the political and philosophical theories of Marx, the relevance and 
appliance of Marx's theories in the modern world and the theories and 
activities of Marxist political movements and parties both today and in the

past. 
 
Moderation Policy: 
 
The moderators reserve the right to reject any articles submitted to 
soc.politics.marxism that are insulting, using more than 1/4 quotation,
off- 
topic or not at all related to marxism. Crossposts will not be tolerated
unless 
it is an announcement of relevance or importance to the newsgroup. 
 
END CHARTER. 
 
 
MODERATOR INFO: soc.politics.marxism 
 
Moderator: Per I Mathisen <perim-AT-interlink.no> 
Contact address: marxism-request-AT-stud.unit.no 
Submission address: marxism-AT-stud.unit.no 
 
The RFD stated that Chris Faatz <cfaatz-AT-teleport.com> would be the
moderator 
for this newsgroup. He decided that this work would be too time-consuming
for 
him, and therefore had to pass the responsibility to somebody else. For the

time being, this responsibility has been taken by proponent of the
newsgroup. 
 
END MODERATOR INFO. 
 
 
HOW TO VOTE 
 
Erase everything above the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" line and erase everything 
below the "END OF BALLOT" line.  Do not erase anything between these lines
and 
do not change the group names.  
 
Basically, remove everything except the ballot - we have to save them all
on 
disk. 
 
Give your name on the line that asks for it. For each group, place a YES or
NO 
in the brackets next to it to vote for or against it.  If you don't want to

vote on a particular group, just leave the space blank.  Don't worry about 
spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your reply
inserts. 
 
Then mail the ballot to:    gt0670e-AT-prism.gatech.edu 
Just replying to this message should work. 
 
Quick voting checklist: 
1) Fill in the ballot form shown below. 
2) Delete the rest of the CFV from your reply. 
3) Make sure your reply goes to gt0670e-AT-prism.gatech.edu. 
 
========== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line
========== 
The only official sources of this ballot are Calls |     FIRST CALL FOR
VOTES 
For Votes cross-posted to news.announce.newgroups  |     
SOC-POLITICS-MARXISM 
or e-mailed from the votetaker.  Official ballots  |   OFFICIAL USENET
BALLOT 
are distributed blank.  Failure to use an official |        
<fhjaoiser-0001> 
ballot significantly increases the chances that    
+------------------------- 
the vote-counting software will be unable to process your vote.  Beware.
------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Give your real name here: 
If you do not give your real name, your vote will be rejected. 
 
[Your Vote]  Group (Don't vote on this line--vote below!) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[ yes     ]  this.is.an.example.yes.vote 
[  no     ]  this.is.an.example.no.vote 
[abstain  ]  this.is.an.example.abstention 
[ cancel  ]  this.is.an.example.cancellation 
 
[         ]  soc.politics.marxism 
============= END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line
============== 
 
 
IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES 
 
Anything other than the official ballot may be rejected by the automatic
vote 
counting program.  The votetaker will respond to your received ballots with
an 
automated acknowledgement by e-mail - if you do not receive one within
several 
days, try again.  It's your responsibility to make sure your vote is
registered 
correctly. 
 
Only one vote per person, no more than one vote per account.  Addresses and

votes of all voters will be published in the final voting results list. 
 
Duplicate votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote. 
 
Anonymous votes will not be accepted.  Votes mailed by WWW/HTML/CGI forms
are 
considered anonymous votes.  (The vote must be mailed directly from the
voter 
to the votetaker.) 
 
In cases where voting fraud is determined to have occurred, it is standard 
operating procedure to delete ALL votes submitted by the violator. 
 
Anyone who distributes pre-filled ballots or modified copies of this CFV 
commits voting fraud.  While distributing an unmodified CFV is allowed, it
is 
strongly discouraged, as the process of redistribution often adds headers
to 
the document that confuse the vote-taking software.  Reference to the
official 
CFV in news.announce.newgroups or to a copy mailed directly from the
votetaker 
is preferred. 
 
When in doubt, ask the votetaker. 
 
--Brennan T. Price, UVV 
  Running UseVote 3.0 
 
[END CALL FOR VOTE] 
 



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