Re: [A-List] Melvin

["viveka" <kaliyuga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael writes:

> Mark Jones died of cancer aged 55. We can speculate as to the causes of
why
> someone as vital as he should be taken from us so early in life. After
this
> little episode it occurs to me that one very plausible reason for Mark's
> premature demise was his deep frustration at the circular firing squads
that
> seem to be the pathological behaviour pattern of the revolutionary left.
> Time after time, despite his constant efforts to bring people of different
> backgrounds together, he would find himself forced to choose sides in the
> most petty, arcane, and wholly unnecessary disputes such as this, amid all
> the very real struggles that affect us all. That sort of experience, when
> coupled with the sort of personality he was, might be expected to produce
> the destructive side-effect of despair, in addition to the obviously
> destructive consequences for organisation and communication. How much
easier
> it would be to simply walk away, but how little would be accomplished.
>
Indeed.  Mark once mentioned that he only would return to the list after
bouts with illness because he felt it was his sacred duty to do so,
precisely for the reasons that Michael so eloquently outlined above.

In a speech by Fidel that Walter Lippman posted on the Marxism list, Fidel
makes mention the following:

"Our Revolution is reborn each day, because the ideas we stand for, the
justice that we defend, the cause we fight for, is today the cause, and
there can be no cause other than that of the billions of people who live on
this planet.


"I say ideas because the struggle we are speaking about will not, in
essence, be a war, but rather a battle of ideas. The world's problems shall
not be solved through the use of nuclear weapons --this is impossible-- nor
through wars.....Today, the real battle is the battle of ideas."

Unfortunately the battle of ideas on this list can often degenerate into a
battle of egos, and our enemies need do nothing more than wait for us all to
destroy each other under "friendly fire."  The cause has taken the very
lives of millions of people, and all we are asked to do is put aside our
egos for a moment, show respect and demonstrate patience.  Sad that we can't
make even such a small sacrifice.

Maggie