Revolutionary organization

[Apsken@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Lou wrote,

> If Ken really wanted to raise the
>  theoretical level of this discussion, he'd read and review Marty
>  Glaberman's new book on James' ideas on revolutionary organization

    I don't have the book, and probably won't get to it this month. However,
the suggestion is a good one, and Lou should start that discussion. I've said
previously that this aspect of James's theory was both the most innovative
and, among his followers, the least fruitful (to Chairman Marty's perpetual
consternation), which requires both exploration and explanation. CLR's
anti-vanguardist viewpoint represents his greatest departure from his
Trotskyist roots, but that aspect looks better than ever in light of all the
failed vanguards that dot the political landscape.
    Though it may not be so evident, this does relate directly to the
previous thread, because it was CLR's and Marty's theories of organization
that led them to embrace the New Left, particularly SDS, when the rest of the
Old Left was turning its back on the upstart movement.

Ken Lawrence