Can't we all just get along?

["Matt D." <afn02065@xxxxxxx>]

Being basically a rabid sectarian/Stalinoid dogmatist/Maoist
monkey, and thus one who tends to hide my lack of principles
behind vehement phrases and leftish posturing, I am generally
happy to tail behind Louis in regards to list policy just like
everything else (unless, of course, I receive countermanding
orders from the Ralph Dumain GHQ), substituting opportunism
for coherence and ad hominem for argument.

However, even a sorry fellow like myself may break ranks, or at
least bend from them, once in a while (witness Iagoda's charitable
disposition, if not behavior, towards members of the former opposition
before he was booted from the NKVD).  This is one of those times.

Recently this list has seen a lot of flaming -- well, perhaps flaming
is giving the disputants too much credit, since most of their dia-
tribes have struck this observer as rather soggy, but in any event
-- a lot of flaming, to the dismay of many and the disgust of some.

As a result, we have seen another proposal to split the list between
"academics" and "activists".  Last time this issue was raised, I was
quite strongly against it.  Now, I am even more opposed to what I
think would be a very self-destructive move.

Parallel to the brushfires, I think that the list has recently also been
the scene for a very high level of discussion on a wide variety of
topics: fascism, market "socialism", export of capital vs. export of
means of production, the emerging left-of-Labour political situation
in Great Britain, the unrest in France and the dockers' strike along
w/ a debate on what role, if any the (U.S.?) trade unions can play in
the movement, Althusser, the evolution of hominids and critiques of
the concept of humans as "the tool using animal" (and that w/out anyone
falling into the idealist trap of folks being "the language using animal"
-- something for which I think we all deserve a pat on the back,
especially since just such a mistake felled as imposing a mind as that
of Jurgen Habermas), developments in the former CP's of Italy and
Germany, the very moving exchange on the left in Argentina, et cetera,
ad infinitum.

While I have not read everything in all of these threads, I have read at
least some of every one, and almost all of many.  Sure, there's a bit
of chaff mixed in w/ the wheat -- sometimes more, sometimes less -- but
separating the two of these is good practice for me, so I don't mind
doing it.  More importantly, I don't think we can say that "academics" or
"activists" have been the only group to contribute to _any_ particular
thread, and that we cannot say in advance that some representative of
one of these two tendencies won't have some surprisingly valuable
contribution to make to a discussion that seemingly would be of interest
only to the other party.  No doubt this reflects that fact that in our lived
lives, the distinction between activistism and, well, not academia, obviously,
but let's say "scholarship" is not a sharply defined one -- I think of Justin's
involvement in (the rather unfortunately named :-) ) Solidarity, or Louis'
research and writing on a vast number of topics that he's been kind enough
to share with us.  I myself have been boning up on Soviet history through
the Stalin period for the past two years, and look forward to developing a
discussion of that subject some time in the future.  One of the things I love
about this list is that if and when that happens, an incredibly broad range
of folks will be able to share their thoughts and insights (and, no doubt,
their share of empty rhetoricizing too, but that's okay!) coming from
whatever particular perspective they've developed in the course of their
life and work.

Another thing.  While this is less important for you folks in the big cities,
I value just knowing about the _existence_ of all you folks out there
researching, developing, practicing Marxism.  As far as I know, I am the
only honest-to-god Marxist in this whole miserable town (Gainesville, FL
-- Money Magazine's #1 City in America!), now that my friend and comrade
has left (though he too is on this list! woo-hoo!).  You can imagine
what a demoralizing position that can be.  I need to keep in touch w/ as
many of you cats and kittens as I can....  Well, that's beginning to sound
a little pathetic.  Moving on --

One last bit.  Those (like myself) turned off by academic arrogance and
the tendency of ivory-tower marxists to slide into reformism, revisionism,
and utopianism should keep in mind that one great antidote to that is to
keep these eggheads in constant contact w/ an activist critique.  It not
only helps us to sharpen our positions, but takes tens of thousands of
years off our time in Purgatory -- after all, we are the only thing standing
between a lot of these professors and intellectual autoerotic asphyxiation!
Surely that's worth some indulgences (RPB, could you ring the Pope
about this?).

Well, I'd like to think of some great flourish to wrap this up with, but the
workday is getting old and I'm getting tired.  So, keep grumbling, keep
flaming, keep conversating, keep _building_ (who said it's supposed to
be easy, or even friendly?).  Don't split.

-- Matt "There'll be plenty of time for purges after we've _won_" D.



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