From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Fri May 04 2007 - 17:47:52 EDT
> Has the Marxist internet archive been taken over by the SWP or some > similar Trotskyist sect? Hi Paul: No, I think it's just a transitional problem they are having with the site. You might recall that I reported previously on the alleged attack on the MIA from within the PRC. They are only just recovering from that, according to a mailing I received earlier this week. > The content of the archive seems to have changed significantly recently. > There are now a large number of relatively minor American and British > Trotkyists included, which is probably fair enough, but what is > more insidious is that orthodox communist writers are being > systematically dropped from the index. > Mao, Chou-en-lai, Stalin, Castro have all be edited out of the main web > site index. I found all of them without any problems. Instead of clicking on "Marxist Writers", go down further on the page right under the pictures of Trotsky (!) and make a selection. [btw, the spelling used in the MIA is Zhou Enlai.] > Geuvara is the only orthodox communist or Stalinist still > retained in the index - presumably because his romantic appeal is > taken to redeem his Stalinism. > Whoever is running the archive now is airbrushing out politically > unacceptable marxists just as was done in the USSR, all that has > changed is the particuluar set of marxists who are deemed unacceptable. The MIA is a very diverse collective politically. They have their fights, from what I've read, but they accept the principle that all tendencies and major figures which have identified with Marxism have a place in the MIA. Believe me -- if they ever tried some kind of a cyber-purge of Stalin and Stalinists then you would have heard about it all over the Internet !!! And, of course, I would have reported already about it here. The additions to the MIA sometimes appear weird and eclectic, but it is just a consequence of how they are organized. All of the people who work on the MIA are volunteers and what is added depends upon individual decisions by volunteers about what they want to spend their time on. Inevitably, in such a system it will appear to outsiders that seemingly trivial stuff is sometimes added while important works aren't transcribed. If you or others on the list would like to volunteer to add more works by other Marxists, then I'm sure they would be happy to have your participation. I don't know any of the people really well, but they seem to be well-intentioned comrades who are trying to do the best that they can. I don't have time to help them out myself, but if my endorsement for their very important and worthwhile project means anything I'll be happy to give it. Long live the Marxists Internet Archive! In solidarity, Jerry
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