Re: Why Hobsbawm remained a Communist

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 18 Sep 2002 23:15:15 +0100 Mark Jones
<markjones011@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> At 18/09/2002 22:30, Ed wrote:
> >What shockingly awful, self-serving stuff this is!
>
>
> I'd be interested to hear why you think so, Ed. There seem to be two
> quite
> opposite reasons people have for rejecting Hobsbawm.
>
> The key quote in the Guardian critique of Hobsbawm is probably this:
>
> >Hobsbawm, Judt says, "clings to a pernicious illusion of the late
> >Enlightenment: that if one can promise a benevolent outcome it
> would be
> >worth the human cost. But one of the great lessons of the 20th
> century is
> >that it's not true.

Contrary to Judt, it would appear as Hobsbawn pointed out
to be indeed the truth.  Anyone who believes that fighting
WW II , for instance, was worthwhile accepts this premiss,
whether he or she realizes it or not.

Jim F.

>For such a clear-headed writer, he appears
> blind to
> >the sheer scale of the price paid. I find it tragic, rather than
> disgraceful."
>
> Mark Jones


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