Paul C wrote in [OPE-L:2816]:
> I think that this shows a certain geographical bias. In working class
> communities in Scotland most people are in favour of socialism. And
> when the USSR existed, there was considerable sympathy with it among
> the working class here.
*What* were they in sympathy with?
> Among the working classes of Europe in general there was widespread
> pro-soviet sympathy in the 40s and 50s. After long periods of
> cold war propaganda during which the USSR was the military enemy,
> this tended to decline. In judging the outlook of American workers
> you must take into account that the effects of US imperialism on
> the US workers movement, otherwise you end up allowing imperialism
> to define what is acceptable to the workers movement.
*Of course*, we have to take into consideration cold war propaganda and
the effects of US imperialism on the US (and other) workers movements. We
should *also* take into account the effect of Soviet propaganda.
It is interesting to ask: what is the source for the pro-Soviet sympathy
that you describe above? Perhaps that "sympathy", rather than a *critical*
evaluation of the USSR, was based in part on the acceptance by large
sections of the Left of the pernicious maxim: "an enemy of my enemy is my
friend." I wonder: how many horrors have been rationalized using that
maxim?
In OPE-L Solidarity,
Jerry