Re: [OPE] Marta Harnecker's Ideas

Anders,

why do you think that 'theoreticians' need to be referred to when writing a
book/article on contempoarry issues? If we look at eg Connolly's Labour in
Irish History there is a single passing reference to Marx. Yet it is a book
widely read after its publication, important for the Irish anti
colonial/imperialist movement, and a valuable short text for any modern
reader. If a work is written as a political polemic then there will be
targets and allies, but for a wider audience should we really worry about
geneology? Isn't your view very 'academic' and 'professionally'
introspective?

Paul Bullock

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anders Ekeland" <aekeland@online.no>
To: "Outline on Political Economy mailing list" <ope@lists.csuchico.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 1:54 PM
Subject: SV: [OPE] Marta Harnecker's Ideas

> Hi Jerry,
>
> - MH probably have written extensively on Cuba, Nicargua and Venezuela -
> but it does not show in her principles, Cuba is just mentioned once,
> Lenin, Trotsky, Martov, Dunajevskaja, Pannekoek or Bahro, Uhl,
> Belocerkovski... I have still not read it properly - but no theoretician
> of marxist organisation that I know of seems to be even mentioned.
> Strange - very strange.
>
> - And as Alejandro points out - what she writes and her postions on Cuba,
> Venezuela etc. are "poles apart" (I do not know her position) but it does
> not suprise me if that is the case.
>
> - And why write about the SWPs, the FI? I agree that these were small, but
> was there anything concious, Marxist, cadre organisations thatt were
> bigger? Is not the real difficulty that rev. org. in the mature capitalist
> countries a) are small b) easily split up? IMHO any kind of "Ideas for the
> Struggle" must adress these challenges.
>
> - ASFAICS - is the only organisation that MH mentiones by name is Frente
> Amplio - but that is a rather particular case focussed on "popular
> consultations"
>
> - MH to me looks like a very soft critique of the authoritarian aspects of
> certain Lat.Am leaders/regimes. But since is is so soft, no names
> mentioned, no concrete affair used as an illustration - it is useless for
> me.
>
> So the question that is interesting is - why do Links promote these
> "truisms" (leaders should listen to the masses etc. etc.) - why do Jerry
> forward it?
>
> Can you throw any light on that issue Jerry?
>
> Regards
> Anders
>
>> From: Gerald Levy [jerry_levy@verizon.net]
>> Sent: 2009-12-04 13:37:00 MET
>> To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list [ope@lists.csuchico.edu]
>> Subject: 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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>>
>

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Received on Sun Dec 6 07:30:29 2009