Re: [OPE] Marta Harnecker's Ideas

> If MH had been an OPE member I would have challenged her on that point -
> what is your analysis of Lenin, of Trotsky of the organisational praxis of
> SWP (US), SWP (UK), The FI (United. Secr) - the > Sandinistas, the Cuban
> Communist Party, Chavez etc. etc.

Hi Anders:

I believe she has written about the last three - all subjects worthy of
discussion because of
their historical importance. Why do you think that a critical evaluation of
the
organizational praxis of the first three are of great significance? The
SWPs in both nations
were never mass political formations [at its high watermark in the early
1970s, the SWP (US) had
close to 2,000 members]; most of the parties affiliated with the FI (USec)
are *extremely*
small and relatively insignificant in the political life of their nations.
(It sometimes amuses me to
see all of the discussion about the SWP-US, primarily by former members.
They even have
a yahoo group - made up of _former_ members and for years the US-centric
'marxmail'
list -- ruled over Stalin-like by former SWP membder, Louis N. Proyect --
was obsessed with a
discussion of that group. It reminds me of former members of Scientology or
some other cult
getting together to discuss their cult: the difference is that many of the
former SWPers haven't
really broken with the praxis of that group and look whimsically back on
better days - often
meaning the time just before they were purged.)

In solidarity, Jerry

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Received on Fri Dec 4 07:41:09 2009