Re: Young Liberal Fascist (III)

["Chris, London" <100423.2040@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Shawgi clarified:
----------------

Chris, I no longer have numbers 1 and 2 of the Young Liberal Fascist
series saved.  I have #3, 4, 5 and 6 saved.  I don't remember
when (or even if) I posted them to the Marxism list.  I have often
cross-posted this series (on the PSN list for instance.  Their archives
MAY contain them.  I don't know).  Sorry.  Do you need/want these urgently?


Chris:
------

Thanks for coming back so promptly to sort this out.

I understand from another subscriber now also that they are from a series posted
to  The Marxist-Leninist Daily, the publication of the Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist), as part of a polemic with a reader who was in the Canadian
Young Liberals who was anti-Stalin.

Yes I think this is worth sorting out. The whole question of the historical
experience of socialism in this century is paralysed by one sided
denunciations. You have every right to stand up on this list particularly for
a serious marxist point of view that you think has been neglected.

Obviously others, including myself, will think you are being at least one sided.
But without getting into the debate in this post even if none of us can
produce a completely balanced dialectical assessment of the period, we can at
least organise the dialectic - in the mediaeval sense of a disputation - so that
it is relatively orderly, and there is the best chance of the main issues coming
out.


The title of the series can imply to the cursory reader that anyone who thinks
crimes against humanity were committed in Stalin's Russia might be labelled
by you as a fascist. This can only increase the chance of them skimming over
your posts, as Jerry suggested.

Also while I think Barkley has every right to challenge you to clarify
about this polemic, I worry about his ability to get into a sort of
masochistic victim role, and would not want to see the thrust of this
polemic indiscrimatingly suddenly directed against him if the cap does not
fit.

We need to make a big thing of this because we recognise this list has
cross postings at the discretion of the subscriber mindful of his/her good name,
but cross postings which do not contribute to a debate effectively or give
information are rather an imposition.

I would have preferred a word of introduction, and in a polemic it really is
necessary to understand the starting point of your protagonist too, so other
subscribers have the opportunity to comment.

For example they might want to say, "Shawgi, I agree that this young liberal
has some fascist tendencies but some of the points he/she makes are common among
working people, and we would do better to answer them in a different way."

Since you have cross posted instalments of the polemic through from III to
VI, I would indeed appreciate if you could take the trouble to find for us
instalments I and II and to copy the statement from your protagonist which
prompted this polemic.

There is no rush but I think that would add to your credibility on this list,
when many are hostile to any defence of any actions of Stalin. You are also
free to add any introductory explanation of what you hoped to achieve by the
polemic, the main dangers you saw in your opponents position, and the main
points you wanted to get across.

Many thanks.

Chris B
London.





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