CANNON & UNION ANALOGY

["SCOTT R MCLEMEE" <MCLEMEE@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

               Cannon's comparison of the Stalinist state to  a trade union
          -- borrowed so far as  I know from Trotsky himself -- is  as fine
          an example of  the  limits  of analogical thinking as  one  could
          point  to.   The  Stalinist leadership  is  like  a  conservative
          trade-union  leadership,  then?   One   would  think   that   the
          similarity to  a military death squad would  have undermined that
          particular comparison.

               Cannon is  a fascinating and much neglected figure, at least
          by  left historians, though I understand Brian Palmer is doing  a
          biography.   THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   THE  PROLETARIAN  PARTY  is   a
          terrifically interesting book.  But a theorist he wasn't, and the
          union analogy has to  be one of  the least fortunate legacies the
          Trotskyist left has to contend with.

               That, and  the existence of  a two-member Left Opposition in
          merciless  struggle  with  the  revisionists  of  the  Trotskyist
          League.  Sheesh.

          Scott McLemee      mclemee@xxxxxxxxxxxx



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