[A-List] Fw: An NLR article on Argentina

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Originally posted by Lou Proyect to Marxmail:



The latest NLR has an article
(http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR25104.shtml) by a liberal professor
named David Rock on the economic crisis in Argentina that covers the
same terrain as the series of articles I posted here some months back
(http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/state_and_revolution.htm).

Although it contains some very useful information, it betrays a certain
waffling on the decisive question of imperialism. This does not surprise
me completely, since Nestor warned me about David Rock when I began my
research. Although Rock's book on Argentina ("Argentina, 1516-1987: from
Spanish colonization to Alfonsin") appears authoritative and can be
found in all your better bookstores, you would be advised to take it
with a grain of salt.

In the NLR article, the word "imperialism" does not occur once. Although
this in itself is not proof of anything, the fact that Rock can write
"Only the Baring Crisis of 1890 disrupted the development of the export
economy" is utter nonsense. As I pointed out in copious detail, Great
Britain's imperial control was manifested through the railway system
which Rock does not even mention.

When it comes to Peronism, Rock describes it as "near-totalitarian",
which should come as a complete surprise to anybody who is familiar with
the period. If anything, the Peron era represented a democratic advance
in social terms, in the same fashion as Chavez's presidency in
Venezuela. I suppose that as the author of "Authoritarian Argentina: the
Nationalist Movement, its History and its Impact," Rock would be
ill-disposed to any attempt by a Latin American country to determine its
own destiny. If they aren't careful, they could easily end up slipping
into fascism.

In the concluding section of the article, Rock manages to avoid any
mention of the grass-roots mobilizations that are transforming the
country. Instead, he seems intent on offering advice to "the dissident
Radical congresswoman Elisa Carrió" who "has emerged as a leftish
alternative, having gained a reputation as a scourge of corruption." It
is somewhat sad that NLR has such limited horizons when it comes to
changing Argentine society. I guess they want to be careful not to
betray any unfashionable ideas about proletarian revolution.


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