From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK)
Date: Tue May 20 2003 - 04:54:04 EDT
Simon Mohun wrote: > I've been reading John Saville's 'Memoirs from the Left' (just published by > Merlin) in which he describes (pp.36-8) the atmosphere prevailing during > the Purge trials 1936-8. The trials were open, with dozens of journalists > and diplomats present. The defendants (mostly) had long records of > revolutionary activity. There were no signs of physical torture. No one > (except Krestinsky in the last trial, and he retracted the following day) > suggested the evidence was faked. The trials were reported world-wide, > there were books and pamphlets, there was widespread acknowledgement of the > correctness of the judicial proceedings, and overwhelmingly the weight of > conclusion was in favour of the genuineness of the trials (which is not to > discount the honourable exceptions). > > Why did no defendant stand up, like Dimitrov in the Reichstag trial, and > denounce the court and all of its proceedings? > If one is being unprejudiced on this, there is at least the possibility that the reason they did not denounce it was that they might actually have been guilty. > > Presumably, because of the increasingly threatening international > situation. (After all, Bukharin was shot 3 days after the Germans marched > into Austria.) This is what underpins the dilemmas in 'Darkness at Noon'. > It is also explicitly the justification underpinning Merleau-Ponti's > 'Humanism and Terror'. And it is wrong, for two (not very distinct) reasons. > 1. It is morally wrong, because unless socialists can behave in ways which > in some sense prefigure the society they want to create, they demobilise > themselves. > 2. It is politically wrong, because one thing the 20C has taught us (well, > me at least) is that compromises in pursuit of some greater goal always end > up compromising the compromisers. > > Supporting Cuba does not mean supporting every last feature of contemporary > Cuban justice, and it does not entail staying silent at injustice and > oppression. It's no different from supporting the Palestinian struggle, but > condemning the suicide bombing of civilian targets. There are obviously > many many such examples in today's pretty grim world. A common riposte is > that you can't make an omlette without breaking eggs. But the end is not > divorced from the means, for the means chosen have an unhappy knack of > shaping the ends that are achievable - another lesson from the 20C. So, > solidarity with Cuba: yes; unconditional support for everything the Cubans > do: no. And silence: no. Hence I'm with Riccardo, Nicola and Chris on this. > Centre for Business Management, > Queen Mary, University of London, > Mile End Road, > London E1 4NS, > UK > > Tel: +44-(0)20-7882-5089 (direct); +44-(0)20-7882-3167 (Dept. Office) > Fax: +44-(0)20-7882-3615 -- Paul Cockshott Dept Computing Science University of Glasgow 0141 330 3125
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