My final post on this subject: a clarification and apology (Re: Holocaust and Anti-Semitism (was Shaming Redux ) Abortion, Killing etc)]

[Andrew Wayne Austin <aaustin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

List,

I used anti-Semitism as an example to show that ideas matter. I did not
mean to start a debate about the Holocaust. I am sorry that my example
caused the discussion to stray from the topic of Marxism-Feminism. I will
say nothing further on this specific matter right after I make the
following clarification.

Kelley asked me this question of sorts: "while i seriously doubt that this
is your position, it does sound a bit as if you're suggesting that
capitalism played no role in the rise of nazism.... just looking for some
clarification."

I am not sure how what I have said sounds like that at all. In a post I
sent to the list yesterday I wrote: "Unlike one-sided explanations of the
Holocaust (including Goldhagen's), my argument includes both the
political-economic and culture-ideologic features." Since Germany was
capitalist at the time, by "political-economic" I meant capitalism. To
clarify my remarks, of course I argue that capitalism played a role in the
rise of Nazism in Germany. But capitalism is not a sufficient condition to
explain the Holocaust, since capitalist development has not always led to
the extermination of Jews. More is needed, for example, a culture-ideology
of anti-Semitism. But anti-Semitism is not a sufficient condition for mass
murdering Jews, either, since anti-Semitism is widespread but has not
always resulted in the murdering of Jews. Historical systems and
conjunctures are complex phenomena and determined/conditioned by a
constellation of forces and relations.

If my clarification on this particular question has been useful, I am
pleased to have provided it. I sent it publically because it appears that
others are not clear about my position on the subject. In deciphering my
contributions a good rule of thumb to follow is that I do not offer silver
bullet arguments, but neither can I publish a rich historiography for each
of my points in this forum.

Andy Austin