Re: [Marxism] Re: Aussie left nationalism

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> But I think you've got Gary a bit wrong; as I recall he avowed himself
> something of a left nationalist.
>
> Tom

I cannot find Nick's post but will try and answer Tom.  Am I a left
nationalist?  Well the truth is I am hopeless at the classification
bit.  My temperament is Platonic rather than Aristotelian.  Having said
that I will own up to a sympathy with left nationalism in both the Irish
and the Australian contexts.

It seems to me that the problem always for the Left is how to relate to the
historical and political contexts that they are in.  We are great on the a
priori but hopeless at relating to specifics.

I have always cited as an example here how the Communist League and the SWP
(DSP) staged their  unification process in 75 around debates on the
Portuguese Revolution rather than on the specifics of Australian politics.

IMHO the ISO tradition tends to be strong on anathematising nationalism and
I feel that this tends to isolate them from the only really viable radical
tradition in this country.

Always though in any dialectic in concrete terms one is closer to one of
the two poles.  My reading in Australia at the moment is that we are far
from being in danger of going too far with a left nationalist surge.  Tom I
suspect disagrees, but if I may say so he in tending to formal correctness
here, and it may be that the role of one crying in the wilderness has grown
on him somewhat :).

wr

Gary

Dr Gary MacLennan
Lecturer
Film & Television Discipline
Creative Industries Faculty
Gardens Point Campus
QUT
Brisbane 4001