Stay in your corner, Adolfo!

[m-14970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Rodwell)]

>CHEERS HUGH! YOU FINALLY DID IT! YOU ARE NOW A MAOIST, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT
>OR NOT!  YOU ARE A MAOIST IN DEEDS AND NOT IN WORDS, LIKE AVAKIAN AND HIS
>MIGNONS, NO MATTER WHAT ELSE MAY STILL SEPARATE YOU FROM MAOISM, IN PRACTICE
>YOU ARE ALREADY THERE!


Adolfo! I think if you read my greeting carefully, you'll find a number of
things that aren't Maoist at all, either in words or deeds.

And lay off the guilt by association thing. There's too much of that around
as it is!

I can support a rebellion without supporting the political line of its
leaders, and I can take part in discussions in a spirit of critical
independence without this making me an automatic supporter of the positions
of the other participants.

Of course actions speak louder than words. But the great thing about
humanity is its ability to think -- it can test out different lines of
action *in thought*, without having to act everything out first. It can
assimilate and learn from other people's experience on the basis of its
own, without having to go through all the same mistakes all over again.

But it can only do this when it takes its thought seriously, and accepts
the logic of its possible actions. If it doesn't, it'll be the same old
comedy of errors. A very good example of this is the interaction between
the Spanish Trotskyists during the civil war and Trotsky himself. They
didn't accept the logic of their positions in relation to petty-bourgeois
nationalism, which Trotsky was warning them about constantly. In this way
they repeated disastrous historical mistakes, and weakened their ability to
confront the Stalinists, who found it that bit easier to defeat them as a
result.

Cheers,

Hugh




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